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| GUSH KATIF |
JOIN THE ZOA MARCHERS THIS SUNDAY; ATTEND THE RALLY IN CENTRAL PARK FOR GUSH KATIF/GAZA
Posted by AFSI, May 31, 2005. |
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CENTRAL PARK, SUNDAY JUNE 5, 2005 FROM 2:30-6 pm., RAIN or SHINE PLEASE JOIN THE ZOA MARCHERS IN THE ISRAELI DAY PARADE WHO WILL BE ASSEMBLING AT 1 PM AT 53RD ST. BETWEEN 5TH & 6TH AVES. YOU WILL BE GIVEN AN ORANGE T-SHIRT OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE THREATENED COMMUNITIES OF GUSH KATIF/GAZA. OUR DETERMINATION TO STOP THE SHARON EXPULSION PLAN MUST BE MADE OBVIOUS FOR ALL TO SEE. MARCH FOR THE FREEDOM OF JEWS TO LIVE FREELY IN THE JEWISH HOMELAND. 35,000 PEOPLE WILL RALLY AGAINST WITHDRAWAL FROM GAZA AT CONCERT IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE ISRAEL DAY PARADE, THE LARGEST PRO-ISRAEL GATHERING IN THE WORLD. NEW YORK, NY - The Israel Concert in The Park Committee, in association with the National Council of Young Israel will host the 12th annual Israel Day Concert in Central Park, at the East Meadow, located at 97th Street and 5th Avenue, on Sunday, June 5, 2005 from 2:30-6 PM, rain or shine. Over 35,000 people are expected to gather at this year's event, which is dedicated to supporting the Jewish communities of Gaza, and against the surrender of Jewish territories in this region. Speakers will include 2 former Cabinet Members of the Israeli Government, and current Knesset (Parliament) Members: MK Effie Eitam and MK Uzi Landau (of PM Sharon's ruling Likud Party, a number of New York elected officials, and leaders of the American Jewish community, including Rabbis and major organizational heads. The event is organized by Dr. Joseph Frager, and will feature leading Jewish performers. Additionally, the program will be dedicated to the Jewish communities located in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, the more than 1300 victims of Oslo who have been killed since the signing of the Oslo "peace" accords, the more than 700 murdered since the outbreak of the latest War against Israel which began on September 28, 2000, and the 57th Anniversary of The State of Israel. "As New Yorkers, we feel the need to stand up and let the world know on the 55th year of the Anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel that we will not sit silent as the expulsion of Jews from any part of Israel is imminent. We will gather to rejoice at Israel's independence, and to remember that Prime Minister Sharon himself spoke to this same group in Central Park a few years ago, and today his actions pose a grave danger to Israel," said Dr. Joseph Frager, organizer of The Israel Concert in the Park. "We will not sit silent, and expect tens of thousands to join us to publicly say No to expulsion and yes to Jews in Gaza." Americans For a Safe Israel/AFSI asks that you bring your check book and be prepared to write a check to FRIENDS OF GUSH KATIF to enable the beleaguered communities to continue with their efforts to stop the expulsion. Checks may be mailed to AFSI, 1623 Third Ave., Suite 205, New York, N.Y. 10128. Direct contributions may be made through the Gush Katif website: www.katifund.org. Further information on the event is available by calling Ronn Torossian at 212-999-5585 or writing to afsi@rcn.com; www.afsi.org 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. |
| GUSH KATIF |
WE NEED YOU AMERICANS TO SAVE GUSH KATIF
Posted by Susie Dym, May 31, 2005. |
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I am delighted to report that there is now a nationwide cohesive group of Jewish activists in the US who are working together to prevent the displacement, by force, of the 9000 Jews of Gush Katif. The Gush Katif Jews are the only remaining impediment to establishment of a full-fledged World Terror Capital in Gaza. These activists are doing great stuff. For example, they are contacting rabbis in their area to find out who is sympathetic, contacting their local Jewish press and their senators, visiting Gush Katif or sponsoring others to do so, putting together an email list of concerned American Jews, and so forth. Please contact Jon Hambourger at Save Gush Katif
PLEASE EMAIL THIS FLYER TO YOUR DISTRIBUTION LIST. Thank you so much for caring and helping!
On July 25th, 9,000 Jewish residents of Gush Katif (Gaza) will become homeless, by order of the Israeli government. Susie Dym is spokesperson for Mattot Arim, an Israeli grassroots group working towards peace for peace since 1992. As such, she has had a leading role in organizing opposition to Sharon's trampling over the Knesset, his own party - the Likud - and the Jews who live in Biblical Israel. Contact her by email at sddym@bezeqint.net |
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THE WAR ON WHAT?
Posted by Yashiko Sagamori, May 31, 2005. |
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This was written by Zack Lieberberg; and I translated it. The War On Terror Russian people are incredibly rude. They are so rude that even when they make an effort to be polite, they sound threatening. And when they want to sound threatening, it comes out perfectly believable. When Putin, with his face still burning after the heavy slap he had received at Beslan, announced to the world that from then on he intended to strike terrorists preventively on Russian territory as well as beyond, I said to myself, "Uh-oh. We've got ourselves an ally that may cause more problems than all our enemies combined." As it turned out, I had nothing to worry about. In the almost 19 months since the siege that left more than 344 hostages, 172 of them children, dead, Putin has been carefully emulating his more experienced colleagues. Like Sharon, he went after terrorist leaders and managed to kill a couple of them. These tough measures did about as much good to Russia as they do to Israel. The only difference was that the world did not defend the Chechen terrorists' sacred right to kill and maim their victims with the same passion they usually defend the Arab terrorists' sacred right to kill and maim theirs, which means that not only Moscow subway riders can tell a Jew from a Russian. What about ours? It forges ahead. Iraqis enthusiastically kill each other. Unfortunately, they also kill American soldiers, but their sacrifices do not seem to produce any tangible benefits for this country or the remnants of the free world. The price of gas has reached a plateau twice as high as its pre-war level. The terror alert indicator has been frozen in the middle of the scale for such a long time that most people no longer remember if it has a meaning. The Cessna incident raises a few questions. For example, if we are so totally winning this war on terror, why is there still a no-fly zone around the White House? And if there is a no-fly zone around the White House, how can a low-tech, slow, cheap private airplane stumble right into it? And if this is how our Department of Homeland Security protects the President of the United States, what kind of protection can be expected by ordinary people like you and me? And if, after 3 1/2 years of war, we still need protection, then how do we know for sure that we are winning? So, please, remind me once again, what's the purpose of our presence in Iraq and Afghanistan? I don't know if that bill ever passed the Senate and became law. Here's why it doesn't matter. The PA is the PLO; it has the same leaders, the same members, the same goals, and applies the same atrocious means towards achieving its murderous ends. Therefore, the PA is a terrorist organization. Therefore, it is our enemy. As of now (as well as in July 2001), this enemy remains undefeated. Would the US government consider providing humanitarian aid to the German population before the date for D-Day was even chosen? In the immediate aftermath of Beslan, a diplomat accredited at the UN was on TV gravely expanding on terrorism and related matters. He was asked why the UN hadn't taken any steps against the Chechen "militants". "It is so complicated," the diplomat complained. "Those people are not controlled by any government." "Bingo!" I thought. I suddenly saw how simple it was to define terrorism: Terrorism is a military action conducted by a non-governmental organization. Armed with this definition, we can now declare terrorism a capital offense. You participate in it - you are liable to be killed on sight, no questions asked, and no statute of limitation. No more "humanitarian assistance" to the murderers. No more invitations to the White House. No more hiding in the Mukata, in Paris, or even at Berkley. Just an uncomplicated choice between death in battle and death on the gallows. Had we the honesty to implement it, how long do you think terrorism would have remained the favorite weapon of jihad? Oh, Muslims would no doubt have thought of something else, because there is no Islam without jihad, but we would find efficient ways to deal with anything they could possibly bring up against us. It's not that we don't have the power to end jihad; the problem is, we are not willing to. Why will my definition of terrorism never be accepted? Because it would give Israel perfectly legal means to forever stop the unending Arab war against it, and this is exactly what the international community is determined to prevent. The world wants Israel destroyed. As a result, terrorism remains undefeated and behaves like untreated cancer - it spreads, leading to Beslan, to Madrid, to 9/11. "I will curse those who curse you." Do we need another 9/11 to finally wake us up? Or have we become completely incapable of doing the right thing even if our survival, the survival of our country and our entire magnificent civilization depends on it? Can we still tell right from wrong? 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 |
Like Bush, Putin managed to indict just a single participant in the
attack. The man is currently on trial. Unlike my namesake Zacarias
Moussaoui, Putin's defendant, Nur-Pashi Kulayev, looks human and
vaguely resembles a character from That Seventies Show. This indicates
that Western fashions reach Chechnya much slower than the Wahhabi
ideology - a rather ominous sign if you think about it. As far as
striking terrorists goes, Putin summoned all the self-discipline a
martial arts expert can possibly master and managed to contain his
vengeful urges. Instead of fighting a war against terrorists, he
proceeded to sell modern weapons and nuclear technology to the worst
terrorist states in the world. That's his war on terror.
Before the war, there were two no-fly zones, both in Iraq. Now,
there is also a 3-mile no-fly zone around the White House. A few days
ago, a two-seat Cessna came out of the blue and violated it without
even noticing. As we learned from news reports, the White House was
hurriedly evacuated, but our president's life wasn't threatened,
because at the time of the event he was outside riding his bicycle. He
had a similar stroke of luck in Tbilisi, Georgia, where the hand
grenade thrown at him failed to go off due to a manufacturing defect.
When the next 9/11 occurs, it will be comforting to know that riding a
bicycle or making speeches in Tbilisi will be safer than being inside
the White House.
The original goal of defeating terrorism has been substituted with
a pipe dream of bringing democracy to primitive peoples who harbor an
old, deep, incurable hatred towards us simply because we happen to be
non-Muslims, and the fact that we are so much more advanced and lead
so much better lives only makes their hatred burn ever brighter. Even
if democracy and Islam were not mutually exclusive in principle, the
question remains, how would it make the United States any safer than
we are today? And if it wouldn't, then we should ask what concrete
steps our government has undertaken to diminish the terrorists'
capacity to threaten this country and its citizens. The establishment
of the Department of Homeland Security and other reorganizations
within the government bureaucracy has so far failed to bring down the
terror alert indicator, much less produce any tangible results, so I
will not count them in. Liberal media regularly publish tearful
stories about unwarranted restrictions imposed on good Muslims by the
bad government of the United States, but I see too many of those good
Muslims in the streets to believe that these atrocities may have put a
dent into jihad. Astronomically expensive efforts to improve the
security of our airports have been easily sabotaged by
politically-correct government policies, which, basically speaking,
mean that my chances to smuggle a bomb on board an aircraft are better
if I wear a keffiyeh and scream Allahu akbar! during the security
check. How exactly does our government fight terrorism?
Once in a long while we hear of a Muslim "charity" shut down for
financing terrorism. Its runners receive a slap on the wrist and
continue collecting donations for jihad under another phony name. Does
this even put a dent into financing terror? How can it if the United
States government is probably the second, after the European Union,
most generous donor to the Palestinian Authority? Or are we the first?
In July, 2001, a bill passed the House of Representatives which
included provisions to limit financial aid to the Palestinian
Authority if it continues to engage in, and encourage, terrorism. It
suggested various terrible sanctions against the PA, including, as the
extreme measure, withholding United States aid, except humanitarian
assistance, from the West Bank and Gaza. Despite the fact that it is
the Congress' prerogative to declare war, the bill never suggested
simply destroying (as in killing everyone who is willing to resist and
imprisoning the rest) the PA because it is a terrorist organization.
As a sample of unsurpassed legislative wisdom, the bill included a
clause allowing the president, at his discretion, to disregard any or
all restrictions imposed by it.
A war is supposed to be a process. It goes on for a while. Then one
side wins, the other one loses, and everyone who didn't get killed,
moves on. Our War on Terror is no longer a process. It has become a
state. A permanent state. We may succeed in replacing a government we
don't like with a government we hope to be able to control. Trying to
make it look legitimate, we may succeed in putting together a
semblance of elections that can win Jimmy Carter's endorsement. But
the government we are hoping to control will inevitably bend to
pressure from the people who hate us more than they love their own
children. The democracy we are trying to build among the cavemen will
never take root. Jihad will continue unabated as long as Islam is
allowed to wage its war against us.
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WHY IS THE JEWISH MEDA GIVING ABBAS A FREE RIDE?
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, May 31, 2005. |
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Except for a handful of Jewish newspapers, most others are a mirror image of the Hebrew Press in Israel, namely Ha'aretz, Yediot Aharanot and Ma'ariv who each act as a political party, loyal to the Political and Liberal Left. There seems to be some psychological attraction to the destructive Left that makes them want to become reporters, editors, publishers who become adversaries to the survival of the Jewish State of Israel. The following article by David Bedein speaks eloquently to this sickness that plagues the Jewish media - except for some. David Bedein is Bureau Chief of the Israel Resource News Agency. Its website address is http://Israelbehindthenews.com At a time when a massive public relations campaign is underway to get the media consumers of the United States to pay attention to the seemingly moderate tone that Mahmoud Abbas portrays when he speaks in English to the American media, the American Jewish media has by and large refused to relate to the content of Abbas's new regime, which showed a consistent message of virulent anti-semitism, anti-Americanism, advocacy of the absolute "right of return" and the continued inculcation of the Palestinian Arab people for war against the state and people of Israel. Essentially,the Jewish media repeats the mistake of its initial coverage of Arafat during the seven year period of 1993-2000. As a direct result of the Jewish media not warning the Jewish community of the diaspora of the real message of Abbas, twenty Jewish organizations met with Abbas, not knowing of the virulent message of hatred that emanates from the man who was and is the protege of Yassir Arafat. The Jewish media had a responsibility to prepare the leaders of American Jewry for the nature of the man whom they were going to meet, and the Jewish media blew the opportunity. We can recall that the lack of Jewish media coverage of Arafat's message led to a decision of the UJC to provide the Isaiah Award for Peace to Arafat in October 1999 - a decision which was rescinded after our agency reported the decision. On a personal and professional basis, it would give me great pleasure to report expressions of peace, reconciliation and compromise that emanate from the official Palestinian Arabic language media. Unfortunately, I cannot do so, because it does not exist. If the Jewish media had warned the world of Arafat's message, perhaps the US would not have nurtured that PLO terrorist, and perhaps some of more than 1000 people murdered in cold blood by the PLO would not have been murdered. Now the Jewish media protects Arafat's protege, which may result in the US arming Abbas once again. Please remember: Abbas is one of the authors of the PLO covenant which has never been amended. That PLO charter is clear in its intention and its program: To exterminate Israel, using the strategy of phases that the PLO adopted in 1974, an amendment written by none other than Abbas. And please remember that the new school books of the Palestinian National Authority are dedicated to the memory of Haj Amin Al Husseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem who lived with Adolf Hitler and who was the mentor of Arafat and Abbas. The Jewish media has a choice: to report the reality of Abbas's new regime, or to report only the utterance of State Department spokesmen who relate only to the fact that he wears a nice suit and says the right things in English at the White House. The question is whether the Jewish media will adopt a position of integrity on the matter of Abbas. 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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TERRORISM'S EXECUTIONER
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, May 31, 2005. |
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Regrettably, President George W. Bush has found in Israel's Prime Minister Ariel (Arik) Sharon a willing executioner of his own nation. Bush has a loyalty to Arab Muslim desires, the prime one of which is the elimination of the Jewish State. For this bit of dirty work, Bush and his oil confederates hope to secure the approval of the Saudis which includes special consideration in the "oil package." Was it not Father Bush who spoke of establishing a "New World Order" which would include the elimination of Israel because it so irritated his Saudi oil friends. Thus, President George Bush must complete the "New World Order Doctrine" of his father, so reminiscent of German dreams of "another World Order - the Thousand Year Third Reich." This essay was written by Professor Louis René Beres and was published today in the Washington Times (www.washingtontimes.com). Professor Louis Rene Beres lectures and publishes widely on international relations and international law, especially war and terrorism. Our world is "normally" silent in the face of evil. At worst, many are directly complicit in the maimings and slaughters. At best, the murderers are ignored. In this unchanging world Israel must soon decide whether to face the evil of Palestinian terrorism as a pitiable victim or to use whatever reasonable force is needed to remain alive. The use of force is not inherently evil. Quite the contrary; in opposing terrorist mayhem, force is indispensable to all that is good. In the case of Israel, Palestinian terrorism is unique for its cowardice, its barbarism and its genocidal goal. Were Israel to depend upon the broader international community for relief -- upon the so-called road map -- its plea would be unheard. All states have a right of self-defense. Israel has every lawful authority to forcibly confront the still-growing evil of Palestinian terror. Facing even biological and nuclear forms of terrorism, it now has the clear legal right to refuse to be a victim and to become an executioner. From the standpoint of providing security to its own citizens, this right even becomes an obligation. Albert Camus would have us all be "neither victims nor executioners," living not in a world in which killing has disappeared ("we are not so crazy as that"), but one wherein killing has become illegitimate. This is a fine expectation, yet the celebrated French philosopher did not anticipate another evil force for whom utter extermination of "the Jews" was its declared object. Not even in a world living under the shadow of recent Holocaust did Camus consider such an absurd possibility. But Israel lacks the quaint luxury of French philosophy. Were Israel to follow Camus' genteel reasoning, perhaps in order to implement Mr. Sharon's disengagement, the result would be another boundless enlargement of Jewish suffering. Before and during the Holocaust, for those who still had an opportunity to flee, Jews were ordered: "Get out of Europe; go to Palestine." When they complied (those who could), the next order was: "Get out of Palestine." For my Austrian-Jewish grandparents, their deaths came on the SS-killing grounds at Riga, Latvia. Had they made it to Palestine, their sons and grandsons would likely have died in subsequent genocidal wars intended to get the Jews "out of Palestine." Failure to use force against murderous evil is invariably a stain upon all that is good. By declining the right to act as a lawful executioner in its struggle with terror, Israel would be forced by Camus' reasoning to embrace its own disappearance. Barring Mr. Sharon's disengagement, the Jewish state would never accept collective suicide. Why was Camus, who was thinking only in the broadest generic terms, so mistaken? My own answer lies in his presumption of a natural reciprocity among human beings and states in the matter of killing. We are asked to believe that as greater numbers of people agree not to become executioners, still greater numbers will follow upon the same course. In time, the argument proceeds, the number of those who refuse to accept killing will become so great that there will be fewer and fewer victims. But Camus' presumed reciprocity does not exist, indeed, can never exist, especially in the jihad-centered Middle East. Here the Islamist will to kill Jews remains unimpressed by Israel's disproportionate contributions to science, industry, medicine and learning. Here there are no Arab plans for a "two-state solution," only for a final solution. In counterterrorism, Jewish executioners must now have an honored place in the government of Israel. Without them, evil would triumph again and again. For Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah and Fatah, murdered Jews are not so much a means to an end as an end in themselves. In this unheroic Arab Islamist world, where killing Jews is both a religious mandate and sometimes also a path to sexual ecstasy and personal immortality, an Israeli unwillingness to use necessary force against terror will invite existential terror. Sadly, killing is sometimes a sacred duty. Faced with manifest evil, all decent civilizations must rely, in the end, on the executioner. To deny the executioner his proper place would enable the murderers to leer lasciviously upon whole mountains of fresh corpses. 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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JIHAD COMES TO SMALL TOWN USA
Posted by Tamar Rush, May 31, 2005. |
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This can and does happen in any town, anywhere in the western world... This essay was written by Laura Mansfield and appeared in http://www.lauramansfield.com/psk/DesktopDefault.aspx "The extremists have taken over so many of our mosques, one mosque at a time. They have driven out those who disagree with their ideology." Those are the words of Dr. Ibrahim Mohamed, a respected faculty member at a university not far from Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Mohamed is a proud and brave man, but he is also quite concerned that this interview will cause him to be marked as an apostate. At the onset of this interview, he made it clear that he fears retaliation in response to the information he is providing, especially possible during the trip to Cairo he has scheduled for this summer. Dr. Mohamed is a graduate of Ain Shams University in Cairo, and has been in this country since the mid-1970's. He is proud of his U.S. citizenship. "When I came to this country, it was everyone's dream in Egypt to go live in America. Everyone loved Americans. Now when I go back to my home country, I do not advertise that I am an American." He is quite concerned that this interview will cause him to be marked as an apostate, and he fears retaliation, especially on his planned trip to Cairo this summer. "In Egypt, everyone knew about the Muslim Brotherhood, but it was illegal. After the peace treaty with Israel, the radicals came crawling out of the darkness. But they weren't idiots. They were very cunning," he explained. Dr. Mohamed continued, "The US knew there was going to be a problem. They had problems in Iran with the Ayatullah, now they were afraid there would be problems in Egypt. Jimmy Carter and his people were going to reach the next generation of young men by giving them scholarships to come and study in America. They were going to teach them how great the US was. They recruited from universities in Egypt, Syria, Saudia, the Emirates - all the Arab countries." Dr. Mohamed thinks part of the problem was the students themselves. "They [the students] didn't have to be the smartest. Some were just average students. They didn't just come from Cairo and Alexandria, they came from Benha and Assuit and Mansoura and Gharbeya. Anyone who wanted to come to the US and go to graduate school could with a little bit of work, and get a fellowship." He explained that the rural enclaves of Egypt, especially in places like Assuit and Benha, were known reservoirs of Islamic extremism, even back in the 1980's. "The US paid their tuition to go to universities all over the country, and paid them living expenses - around 500 U.S. Dollars per month. You have to understand that was a great deal of money to these men, especially the men from Egypt. Most had been working in an Egyptian university or a public sector job, and they were making less that $50 a month. This is in 1980 money. Much of that $500 a month went to support Bin Laden in Afghanistan, with the blessing of the US," continued Dr. Mohamed. According to Dr. Mohamed, the US inadvertently bankrolled a generation of sleeper agents, educating them, and helping them to become established, respected members of their communities. Many married American women, believing that marriage to an American allowed them to remain in the US. And for many, the two year home country residence requirement was a simple formality. Some took their new wives back to their homelands, remained for two years, and came back to the US. Others found loopholes in the law, or managed to get exceptions to the requirement. "Go look at your newspaper. The US reported that they have a man in prison in Iraq, a man from Jordan, a man who is one of Al Zarqawi's assistants. They say he came to the US, took US citizenship, and lived in the US for over 20 years. How do you think he came to the US? Most likely he came to the US as a student. He probably came to the US to study, maybe paid for by the US, maybe paid for by Jordan. Most likely he married an American girl, got a degree in Engineering, maybe a masters or a doctorate. Or maybe he got lucky and won the visa lottery. Those are the two main ways to get into America and usually it is as a student. They say he lived here for 20 years so he had to have a job, or maybe he started a small business." Dr. Mohamed shook his finger at me, as though lecturing a small child. "There are many like him here. He is not the only one." "Before the 1980's, before Camp David and the ensuing Arab appeasement, there weren't nearly as many mosques as you see now. We met in a classroom or a meeting room at the university, or at someone's home. Then the mosques started going up. They started small. Many started as a simple rented house. Then in a year or two they had the money to buy the land, and buy a building. Where did the money come from? Not the students. The students sent their zakah to Afghanistan. The money came from the governments. From Saudia [Saudi Arabia], from foundations that were set up by the Saudis." "Who ran the foundations, who decided where the money went? The religious men, the ones serious about Islam." But according to Dr. Mohamed, they weren't just serious about Islam. Many were Wahabi Muslims, of the same sect as Osama Bin Laden. And it is these mosques that formed the core of the Islamic terror network that currently sleeps underground in America. "We were very excited to have a mosque to pray in. As Muslims we are required to attend the Jumu'ah (Friday) prayer services. We believe that the reward for group prayer is 27 times that of saying the prayers individually, so having a mosque where we can assemble to say the prayers is something we were very happy about." But divisions emerged, mostly regarding politics, according to Dr. Mohamed. "I prefer that politics and religion be kept separate, the way it is done here in America by your government. The separation of church and state is a good thing. Over the years the mosque became political." Dr. Mohamed explained that at first, the political sermons were against Israel. Most Muslims were sympathetic to the Palestinian issue, and were largely unified against Israeli actions. Still, a few Muslims withdrew from the mosque community, but by and large the group remained together. "First we got our own building. Then soon we needed a full-time Imam, someone who could lead the prayers and lead the community." Dr. Mohamed explained that full-time imams have usually received advance education, maybe a doctorate or masters degree, in Islamic studies. And therein was a problem. Many of these imams have been educated in universities and schools surrounding conservative mosques like the Grand Mosque in Mecca. The Imams brought with them the ideology of Wahabi Islam. And with the first Gulf War, the political divisions within the mosque intensified. As the decade of the nineties progressed, the sermons became more and more radical, says Dr. Mohamed. "Eventually it reached the point, after Bin Laden bombed the embassies in Africa, where I stopped going to the mosque. Anyone with eyes could see what was happening. I didn't want to be connected to that. I love America. But there were so many people in the mosque that hated America. They are still there. Those of us who love this country don't go to the mosque anymore." Has he tried other mosques? Dr. Ibrahim admitted that he had tried several others, in the Atlanta area, and had not found one where he was confortable. I asked how he handles the mandatory Friday congregational prayers? "Several of us get together at our homes, or in our offices at the university, or in a classroom and pray," he explained. "You think there are no terror cells in America? You think the FBI and the Homeland Security has caught them all? I wish they would but they don't. There are cells from Islamic terror groups in every big city in this country." I asked "What about Atlanta?" Dr. Mohamed's answer was chilling. "I am absolutely certain there are groups here in Atlanta. I do not know who they are or where they are. But I am sure they are here. Do you want to know why? Because Mohamed Atta came to Atlanta. Why did he come here? There are flight schools all over America. Why Atlanta? The only answer is he had friends here, he had some sort of support group here." Dr. Mohamed claims that he expressed these concerns to the FBI and he was assured that the matter would be investigated. He admitted that because he didn't have any information other than speculation that it was unlikely that they would be able to do anything about his suspicions. *Note: The name Dr. Ibrahim Mohamed is a pseudonym used to protect the anonmity of the actual source. It is NOT his actual name. |
| GUSH KATIF |
PHOTOS FROM GUSH KATIF
Posted by Judy Lash Balint, May 31, 2005. |
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Here are some photos from my visit yesterday to Gush Katif. The whole collection is at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jerusalemdiaries/ For reprint permission, see http://jerusalemdiaries.blogspot.com
I did manage to see Moshe and Rachel Saperstein at their home in Neve Dekalim for a few minutes--as usual, Rachel was busy with two media crews and Moshe was addressing a group of visitors from Jerusalem. After I conveyed to him how many people have asked what happened to his missives from Gush Katif, Moshe did say he would consider resuming his inimitable dispatches.
Judy Lash Balint is an award winning Jerusalem based writer and author of "Jerusalem Diaries: in Tense Times." Contact her at her website www.jerusalemdiaries.blogspot.com |
Synagogue slated to be
dismantled in Gaza retreat
Peretz family
beachfront home in Shirat Hayam, Gush Katif
Young boy checks pets in
beachfront community of Shirat Hayam
Dairy farmer at Moshav
Katif 
Anita Tucker's new celery seedling, Netzer Hazani
Pepper packing. Cartons labelled in 4 languages
Rachel Saperstein in
TV interview
Moshe Saperstein
addresses synagogue audience
| GUSH KATIF |
DISENGAGEMENT FROM REALITY
Posted by TheRaphi, May 31, 2005. |
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This was written by David Shalom, a leader of Betar in the UK and a research chemist working in the field of nanotechnology. Contact Betar by email at betar@betar.co.uk The plan to expel 9000 Jews from Gush Katif and the Northern Shomron (Samaria) is a precedent for disaster that will endanger the entire state of Israel and the Jewish people. The fight to save Gush Katif is a fight to save the entire state and is a struggle for the very survival of Zionism. There have been several arguments made by the proponents of this suicidal plan which are amateurish at best and deceitful at worst. The New Left, headed by the Likud turncoats including Ariel Sharon himself, as well as the Old Left, headed by the ancient Peres and united with the Arab MKs, have railroaded this plan through the Knesset without a mandate of the people and hope to soon force this calamity upon the nation. Therefore it is necessary to highlight the gaping holes in their logic and to expose the distortions that they have been spinning with the full complicity of the Leftist-traitors that control most of the Israeli media. The argument that we hear over and over again is that the expulsion is necessary since "disengagement", as the plan is euphemistically called, will combat the demographic threat from the hostile Arabs living in the Gaza coastal region of Southern Israel. We are told that it is impossible for 8000 Jews to live amongst 1.5 million Arabs! Firstly, this is a half truth at best since the Jews of Gush Katif are not living inside Gaza city but outside of it and any child who looked at a map of the region could know this. Secondly the number of Arabs in Gaza is far less than that. Indeed a recent comprehensive study presented to the American Enterprise Institute shows that the numbers of Moslems living in Yesha have been ballooned by the PLO and in Gaza, for example, their numbers are actually just under 1 million people. Perhaps more importantly, though is the deeper implication of this logic which ultimately precludes the existence of Israel within any borders. Israel is a state of less than 6 million Jews surrounded by 250 odd million Moslem Arabs- so should we dismantle the state? Isn't the demographic problem impossible to solve? The past century or so of Zionism show that the renewal of the Jewish people within the land of Israel is a glorious feat that will not be defeated by Arab aggressors. We see that such doom merchants, with their history of the "Ghetto" mentality of fear and subservience to the anti-Semites have been proved wrong. History teaches us that the Arabs, who are the authors of the conflict, will have to pay with territorial concessions. A reasonable position for a true Israeli leadership to hold should be that there can be no peace with the Arabs until they take responsibility for their brothers and resettle them within their huge lands. It is not the Israelis, as refugees from the Arab world (as well as Europe) and after 60 years of Arab-initiated conflicts, who should be the ones to surrender territory. Israel is smaller than New Jersey, whereas the Arab world is 500 times its size. The Arab states who have fought Israel in the name of their brothers must now accept the burden of their resettlement as a small compensation for their aggression against Israel and the destruction of Middle Eastern Jewry within their lands. If it is possible to relocate thousands of Jews then surely it is only just and reasonable to advocate the relocation of the Arabs. This is both the only humane option and the true peaceful solution to the problem of thousands of impoverished, fanatical Moslems living in Gaza. Let the Arabs use a small fraction of their oil wealth to build their new homes in Syria and Jordan. Let the Quartet set up programmes to help them adjust to their relocation. This will not be especially hard since they share the same language, nay dialect, as well as history, religion and culture as their Syrian brothers. The other ludicrous argument that is made by the Sharon-Peres regime is that the expulsion plan will allow Israel to separate from Gaza. But this is simply untrue. Israel will still be fully engaged in Gaza, Israel will still provide the Arabs with their electricity, water and of course employment. Thousands of enemy civilians will be allowed to cross the border daily to work in Israel. So whom are we disengaging from exactly? What benefits do we get from this? We are also told that this plan will save Israel money- but how exactly? The government's own conservative estimates suggests that the plan will cost Israel nearly 8 billion Shekels - that is equivalent to 1 billion BP! Is this is the same government that says it does not have enough money to pay for hospital beds for cancer patients? But then again this is the same government that found the funds to appoint 6 new deputy ministers! These ministers just coincidentally happened to be the Likud Knesset members who voted against the Referendum law in direct contravention of their party's decision! Sharon has claimed that his plan will reap Israel international rewards particularly in the form of American approval for the annexation of major Jewish population centres around Yerushalayim. Aside from the fact that Israel does not need American recognition and the very idea that we have to accede to our "masters" in Washington's every wish utterly reeks, the statement has been proved to be utterly false. In fact America's ambassador to Israel, Ghetto-Jew, Dan Kurzer let this slip at a recent briefing to foreign ministry juniors. Kurzer actually stated the obvious, namely that the US has not made any commitments to recognise any Israeli towns in Yesha. The expulsion plan will embolden the Arabs who will rightly see the withdrawal as a victory and as a prize for their terror. The Oslo war, which they initiated 4 years ago was ignited by Ehud Barak's surrender and retreat from Lebanon. The surrender of Gaza will bring the terrorist menace closer to Israel's larger population centres. The 50 Kassam missiles that were fired on Gush Katif, on the day after Sharon concluded a hudna (cease-fire) with PA chieftain Abu-Mazen in Sinai, will be but a drop in the ocean when the Philadelphi route and Gush Katif are in the hands of the PLO and their Hamas allies. The Kassams missiles will then reach Ashkelon and Ashdod and Strellar missiles, recently struggled from Egypt, may threaten Israel civilian aircraft. The most disturbing aspect of the plan is the precedent it will set. If one town or village can be uprooted in Israel than so can all towns. As Professor and MK Aryeh Eldad rightly pointed out, the struggle for Gush Katif is the struggle for Yerushalayim and ultimately the whole country. The world's hostility to the settlement enterprise was based on the premise that such towns once established were impossible to remove, but with "disengagement" completed the push for the surrender of all of Erets Yisrael will only grow. Israel enemies will rejoice and continue their struggle with renewed vigour. Arik Sharon is indeed disengaged, from his party, from his people and most worryingly of all from reality. 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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GET MAD, THEN GET EVEN!
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, May 31, 2005. |
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What may be the most corrupt government since King Herod invited the Romans in to keep him in power, I give you Israel's current Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. With him he has gathered the uglies who snivel in his wake. In that I include Shimon Peres, Ehud Olmert, Shaul Mofaz, Menachem Mazuz, Yossi Beilin and a gaggle of American weaklings who define themselves as Jewish Leaders. These shameful creatures are merely another generation of "Judenratters" who are quick to sell out their own Jewish people if they can attempt to please the nations (friends and enemies alike). These are the lowest of our Jewish people who rush to put up monuments to the Jews who died or will die due to their inept betrayal. They run to lift the bars that hold the gates of the Jewish cities to allow in Terrorists to finish the job of killings off the remaining Jews. When the remnant of Jews escaped the graveyards of Europe to go to Palestine, it was only because the Jew killers of Europe were amazed at the butchery they had achieved. So, in that brief moment they blinked, a remnant escaped. But, like Pharaoh, the Christians of Europe awoke and took up the chase like wolves on the trail of a wounded deer. They joined forces with the Muslims who were always their deadly enemies. But, they could agree that both hated the Jews more than they did each other - for the moment. When they finished off the Jews then they could get to butchering each other to settle the claim of who would be G-d's representative on earth. But this time, even the bedraggled remnants who escaped that poisoned continent fought back. They beat the Arab Muslim armies and shamed the best of Islam. Time and again the Muslims, armed by the Europeans and Americans hurled themselves at the Jews and just as many times were beaten back. With each attack, the Arab Muslims gambled away more and more of the Land they squatted on. Now, with the help of the Bush Oil Dynasty, the trash of Islam must be appeased by giving them Land they never owned and thusly pacify the Saudis. As is the custom among such a backward people, they evolved self-elevating myths about how the Holy Places of the Jews were really Muslim although the Jews created them centuries before there were Arab Muslims. But, the Muslims claimed they were there first. Naturally, the European enemies of the Jews accepted the lies, not because they believed it but, it was one more stick with which to beat the Jews. Now we hear from the Americans and the always hostlie media that even the Temple of Solomon is the third holiest place to Islam. This after even Mohammed rejected Jerusalem and the Jews to name Mecca as the direction of their quibla (prayer). So, we now hear that the President's First Lady visits and echoes a lie whispered into her ear by the pro-Arab State Department tour guide that the Temple of Solomon is somehow Islam's third holiest site. (Incidentally, Laura Bush is a most decent lady and should not have been duped by her husband and the State Department into being a shill for the White House PR campaign to 'win the hearts and minds' of the barbaric Palestinians and Islam generally.) But, it is difficult to wholly blame President Bush simply because he managed to put a willing Sharon in a choke collar and on a short leash like an emasculated bull dog. After all, it is Sharon who is abandoning the Land and using Police State tactics to intimidate the Jews of Israel. There is no doubt that Sharon, Peres plus each of their respective gangs of lickspittles have earned and deserved the hatred of all Jews now and in the distant future. They have bound themselves to the wishes of foreign nations who each in turn have wired themselves to Arab oil sheiks. In any nation that would be called treason and subject to imprisonment and capital punishment. Bush makes speeches about Democracy in the Middle East but, when Sharon adopts the tactics of an Undemocratic Police State, there is nary a word from Bush. The surrounding Arab Muslim States and their European supporters have been at war with Israel since her birth and independence. Therefore, Sharon, Peres and their respective gangs, in collaboration with Arab Muslims and the pro-Arab U.S. State Department, have committed treason against their own people. They simply deserve the most severe punishment the law of a Peoples' Court can mete out. As for the sniveling, hand-wringing Jews of American leadership, they should be driven from office and never allowed a day of peace for their conduct as Judenratters. There is an appropriate saying: "Dumb is curable but stupid is forever." Regarding President Bush, there is no longer any doubt as to his plans to shrink Israel as an appeasement to a demonic Islam that desires to rule the world. Bush has made it plain that the 1967 Armistice lines will be the second phase of his attack against the Jewish State after the retreat from Gush Katif and Northern Samaria. Following that the push (putsch) will be to the 1947 gerrymandered border given to the Jews by the United Nations November 1947 Partition vote. They all expected that those indefensible lines would end with the Jewish State conquered by the Arab States. Israel was supposed to die at birth but she defied the odds. After all, friends and enemies can on occasion agree, particularly where oil and Jews are the issues. For those who feel that I am excessively harsh in the descriptions of our enemies and our friends (including Jews, Presidents, the U.S. State Department, the U.N., the E.U. and the barbaric Arab League states) think about our collective national memory. We have been savaged from time immemorial, ever since G-d made His Covenant with the Jews - until today. The world's hatred has remained unbroken and continues now with the Arabs, the Europeans and a President who appears to be in lock-step with the Arab Muslim oil suppliers. So, Get Mad! Then Get Even and throw Sharon and his corrupt Cabinet out of office. 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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SHARON AND CABINET RELEASE 400 MORE TERRORISTS
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, May 31, 2005. |
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Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's voted to release 400 more Terrorists in addition to the 500 Terrorists he already released earlier. Pressed by President Bush, Sharon had his Cabinet vote for this release in order to elevate the reputation of Mahmoud Abbas (aka Abu Mazen) among the Palestinians. Please note: The 400 terrorists set to be released from Israeli prisons include 170 terrorists who attempted to murder Jews via shootings, bomb attacks and fire-bombings. The release of 400 prisoners is the second installment of an Israeli commitment of three months ago to release 900 such terrorists. The first 500 were freed in late February. Among the criteria for both releases is that the terrorists must have served at least two-thirds of their sentences. Of the 400 prisoners to be released: * 76 carried out shooting attacks, and served an average jail time of 63 months. The data is based on the Israel Prisons Authority list of Arab prisoners slated for release as a gesture to the Palestinian Authority. Most of the other prisoners to be released were convicted of trading in weapons, manufacturing bombs and involvement in the murder of Arabs suspected of helping Israel. The majority were arrested and sentenced during the Oslo War.(1) This follows by one day the story that the Palestinian Authority seeks 5,000 [more] security force recruits for the Gaza Strip (in addition to the 16,000 they already have.) (2) I believe that this far exceeds the number of Police in all of Israel. The true intent of Abu Mazen's recruitment of more Terrorists is to give them arms and to put them in uniform as legitimate Police while they continue their Jihad. Regrettably, statistical evidence developed by Israeli intelligence demonstrated that at least 50% of those released Terrorists went back to Terror. Since these releases have a high probability of generating Jewish casualties there we must cite Sharon and Cabinet as conspirators to Terror against Jews. Thus, subsequent deaths, injuries and psychological trauma for survivors must be laid at the doorsteps fo Sharon and his Cabinet. I cannot help but wonder if there was any justice in Israel, the perpetrators would be cited for crimes against the Jewish people. Imagine if there were penalties such as long jail terms or legal executions where those released committed murders. Would a Cabinet member be so quick to release a Terrorist (or 900) merely so a political figure, that is Abu Mazen was given a false lift because the Palestinian Terrorist groups viewed the release as beneficial to their cause. If such Cabinet members faced prison or death by execution for crimes against the Jewish people (or at least those who will be murdered by the released Terrorists) would they be so casual to follow Sharon's instructions? I think not. In the report by Joel Greenberg of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE he tells us that the Palestinian Authority has already discounted the release of the 400 as inadequate. In other words, the release of Terrorists bought nothing. Sharon aided and abetted the lie by telling us that the release strengthened 'moderate elements' in the Palestinian Authority. (3) (What Moderate Elements?) Sharon in a vulgar effort to pacify Bush and appease Abu Mazen has literally delivered his own people into the hands of Terrorist for their next round of murders of Jews in Israel. Can this be called any less than "crimes against the Jewish People"? After past releases of prisoners convicted of Terrorism, more than half returned to Terror attacks. Therefore, are not Sharon and his Cabinet qualified for maximum punishment? Have they not carried out mandates of foreign governments in a time of war, which qualifies as Treason? (Terror is officially defined as: "low-intensity warfare".) There can be "no crime without a punishment": "Nullum crimen sine poena" (as often reiterated by Professor Louis René Beres as Principle #1 of the binding Nuremberg Principles). Turning loose Terrorists who are known to be fervently committed to attacking your own people is most certainly a crime - before the fact. However, since the Israeli Supreme Court cannot be relied upon to dispense Justice untainted by a politically Left wing bias, the people must wait until this Court is closed down and cleansed of being a political party. One day there will be a Peoples' Court in Israel that will deal with the Osloids and Sharon's lickspittles. But, to provide the catalyst for this correction of Israel's current Courts and Sharon left-wing government, too many people must be killed. There are 1700 dead Israelis (including 48 Americans) resulting from the vulnerability caused by Oslo. Apparently, this is not enough. We must first feel the effects of more dead Jews from the Terrorists that the Osloids and Sharon has loosed upon the people. Remember, Jews do not pour into the streets in protest and violent riots as do the Arabs. Even after there is a horrific Terror incident such as the homicide/suicide bombings of the Sabarro Pizza restaurant, the Pesach Seder in Netanya, the Bus returning from the Kotel (Western Wall), all the other buses, restaurants, schools, homes, drive-by shootings, roadside bombs, Kassam and Katyusha Rockets and mortars..., the people forget within weeks, fall asleep and their anger subsides. We seem to have no memory of the horrors - except in some vague way as we construct memorials and have days of mourning - where only the families mourn. I personally have not forgotten, nor forgiven the Germans, the French, Roosevelt, the Poles, Croatians, the Church of Rome, Haj Amin el Husseini and/or especially Arafat - among others who come to mind on occasion. Nor do I forgive or forget the "Judenratters" of the past and those of today. We must remember the betrayers of the Jewish people and remain angry - in the names of our dead and maimed. I remember the toddlers being led into the Nazi gas chambers, the 5 Hatuel children bombed and the toddlers killed by Kassem Rockets in S'derot. I remember Sharon for becoming a partner in the murders of Jews as he acts as the enabler for jailed Terrorists being released so more Jewish children can be blown up on the street, in their buses or their schools. I will forever remember Shimon Peres and his Osloids who resurrected Yassir Arafat and gave him a Jew-hunting license...telling all that they were somehow "sacrifices for peace". The Jewish people outlawed human and child sacrifice long ago, before any other people. How can we countenance the Osloids and current government's return to such abominations? We have been betrayed time and again by nations, by tyrants, by religious bigots - and now our own people. I suppose there were tribes in the Amazon jungle or the Eskimos at the North Pole who have not been educated to hate Jews. Perhaps that was because they had their own conception of G-d and did not feel in competition with or threatened by the Jews? One G-d. Get Mad! Get Even and throw Sharon and his corrupt Cabinet on the garbage heap of history. ### 1. "Prisoner Release to Include 170 Bombers & Shooters" Arutz Sheva May 31, 2005 IsraelNationalNews.com also Ha'aretz, IMRA and freeman.org 2. "Palestinians Seek 5,000 Security Force Recruits for Gaza Strip" by Mohammed Daraghmeh AP CHICAGO TRIBUNE May 29, 2005 3. "Israel Oks Freeing 400 Palestinians: Release of prisoners part of summit deal" by Joel Greenberg CHICAGO TRIBUNE May 30, 2005 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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OUTRAGEOUS! WE MUST RESPOND!
Posted by Alex Rose, May 31, 2005. |
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I just signed my letter to President George Bush in support of Israel and the Jewish people. I know that you would be outraged by the following speech presented on Palestinian Authority television on May 13, 2005: The day will come when everything will be relieved of the Jews - even the stones and trees which were harmed by them. Listen to the Prophet Muhammad, who tells you about the evil end that awaits Jews. The stones and trees will want the Muslims to finish off every Jew.' The preceding were excerpts from the official Friday sermon on Palestinian Authority TV. The speaker is Sheik Ibrahim Muderis, a paid employee of the PA. (May 13, 2005) We must stand against this virulent drivel and for Israel and the Jewish people. Please take a moment now and add your signature to this letter to President Bush now. Please click here. Alex Rose, an engineering consultant, served for many years on the executive board of Americans For a Safe Israel and was among the founders of the New York chapter of CAMERA. He and his wife Renee have made aliyah and are living in a Jerusalem suburb. |
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MAKING A SILK PURSE OUT OF A SOW'S EAR
Posted by Tamar Rush, May 31, 2005. |
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This is from IsraPundit, which is condemned by Liars, Islamists, and Personality Cultists thw world over! This was written by Ted Belman, cohost of IsraPundit (http://israpundit.com). It appeared in IsraPundit March 2, 2005 and is archived at www.israpundit.com/archives/2005/03/making_a_silk_p.php Israel must also take no actions that prejudice a final settlement, and must help ensure that a new Palestinian state is truly viable. A state of scattered territories will not work.---Condi Rice Unfortunately, no surprise there. It has been the US policy since the Six Day War to prevent Israel from acquiring territory by force. No doubt this position was cooked up in the "Oil Cabinet". As a result, UNSC Res. 242 emphasized "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war" even though this was not then and is not now, a recognized principal of international law. True that the words "all" or "the" were not included when it required "that Israeli armed forces withdraw from territories occupied as a result of the recent conflict", resulting in what diplomats call "constructive ambiguity". The resolution also required the establishment of "just and lasting peace in the Middle East" and "a just settlement of the refugee problem". What constitutes a "just peace" or "just settlement" is anyone's guess. More important it is a cover for any principles that each side demands in the name of justice. For instance is a cold peace a "just peace". Or does the "just settlement" require repatriation or compensation? And if compensation will suffice, who is to pay it? Justice would demand that the Arab countries pay the compensation because it was their war of aggression that created both the Arab and the Jewish refugees. This resolution wasn't accepted by the Arabs until the Oslo Accords were established. It then became the intended basis for settlement within the Oslo Accords... Nowhere did it require that a Palestinian state be created or, if created, that it be viable or contiguous unless the latter were required for a "just peace". Obviously both sides have different opinions as to what would be just. Israel could rightly argue that having been subject to a war of aggression that justice requires compensation in some form in addition to the establishment of secure borders. It is much harder for the Arabs to argue that a just peace requires the creation of Palestine. After all such a state wasn't even mooted in 1967. Any lands that Israel armed forces were to withdraw from would have automatically become part of Jordan or Egypt. No notion of viability or contiguity there. Furthermore, there was no requirement in Res 242 or in the Oslo Accords that settlement activity cease or be frozen. The US position has consistently considered the settlements as illegal, at worse or an obstacle to peace, at best. In fact there is nothing illegal about the settlements. After all the British Mandate was to enable "close settlement of the land by Jews." Nevertheless the Mitchell Report recommended a settlement freeze with no legal foundation and the State Department endorsed it. Not until the release of the Roadmap did Israel accept this freeze at least in name. The fourteen redlines to the Roadmap which Israel articulated did not take issue with the freeze. I have long argued that the establishment of settlements served the purpose of making time be on Israel's side. That is, the more the Palestinians avoided making a settlement the larger the settlements would become. This was the only pressure Israel could really apply. Yet the US demanded that Israel do nothing to prejudge the outcome denying Israel this tool to bring about a settlement. It has also denied Israel the right of self defence from time to time. It effectively worked to hamstring Israel from bettering its position. I argue that so long as the Palestinians resort to terror to better their position, Israel should be permitted to build settlements to better its position. At a minimum, the two should be linked. The Roadmap for the first time imposed the condition that a viable Palestinian State be created. The redlines also took no issue with the word "viable". Israel is being forced to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Israel is thus prevented from arguing that Palestine should not be created because it would not be viable and thus would not be a good or workable solution. Israel is being forced to make it viable at its own expense and peril. This includes sharing water supplies, hiring Palestinian workers, ceding sufficient land so that the state is contiguous and enabling some kind of passageway to Gaza. In addition it includes ceding the Golan, the Jordan Rift and the Philidelphi Corridor. Israel is also being forced to agree that Palestine be fully sovereign, thus allowing it to have control of its borders and air space. Res 242 also contemplated the establishment of "demilitarized zones", yet it will be a fight for Israel to keep Palestine demilitarized even if it was agreed to. Russia has now offered to supply the PA with weapons in violation of the clauses in the Oslo Accords proscribing such. Whatever happened to a negotiated settlement? Whatever happened to "secure borders"? The only thing left to negotiate is who takes out the garbage. Most of the outcome has been predetermined without any negotiation. |
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BRITISH BOYCOTT BACKERS; ISLAMIST INFILTRATION IN U.S.
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, May 31, 2005. |
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EGYPT BEGS FROM U.S. BUT NOT FROM ARABS Egypt's official newspaper, "Al-Ahram," advises Pres. Bush that if he wants democracy in Egypt, the US should divert foreign aid to foster literacy there. IMRA suggests that Egypt turn to the Arab oil states, which are earning billions of dollars in excess profits now that prices have soared (IMRA, 5/21). Since they were making a profit before the price more than doubled, their profit now must exceed 100%. And you thought G.E. was profitable? The US already is donating to Egypt a sizeable portion of its foreign aid budget, which it now can ill afford, since it has to pay the Arabs so much for oil. Egypt, however, doesn't use it to foster literacy. It uses it to build an ever more powerful military. Let "Al-Ahram" demand that most of that money be used for literacy! Would literacy or anything else foster democracy in that culture? The three most popular books in Egypt are the Koran, "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," and Hitler's "Mein Kampf." Hooray, more Egyptians would be able to read those books. Suppose they became partly democratic, not that they are likely to grant true equality to their millions of Christians, against the opposition of adherents of Islam, which relegates Christians to inferior status. Would they use that democracy benignly or in their usual imperialist manner? U.S. REBUILDING ROADS IN P.A. The US is rebuilding seven roads in the P.A., in support of its "democratically elected government." "USAID has spent more than $1.5 billion in the West Bank and Gaza to combat poverty, create jobs, improve education, build roads and water systems, construct and equip medical clinics, and promote good governance." (IMRA, 5/21.) It should put it as the "non-democratically elected, Islamist, terrorist, crooked" regime. If the US didn't give them that money, the Arabs might have had less for warfare and fewer people remaining there to wage it. US aid can be harmful, such as the $2 billion given to Egypt for its hegemonic military and the funds given to Israel, that are directed so as to stifle its military industry and that keep Israel from having to reform its economy fast enough. P.A. WORDS VERSUS P.A. INACTION P.A. Interior Min. Yousef "demanded Friday the Palestinian (Arab) factions to keep up the ceasefire?" "Min. Yousef asserted that the Palestinian National Security Forces would continue preserving the ceasefire by preventing any possible firing of rockets at Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip" "with all possible means and under whatever circumstances." IMRA notes that apparently no one in the P.A. has been keeping to a ceasefire nor is there any punishment for violating it (IMRA, 5/21). RESULT OF P.A. STATEHOOD What does P.A. statehood mean, in practical terms? Russia has been discussing the sale of military aircraft to it. Israel is concerned (IMRA, 5/21). That is only one result of statehood. Apparently Israel is not concerned enough to take steps to thwart statehood. It is accelerating the prospect of statehood by voluntarily abandoning Gaza and northern Samaria, and doing so without the P.A. having complied with any of its peacemaking obligations. UNDERSTANDING THE BRITISH BOYCOTT BACKERS The British Association of University Teachers' vote to boycott some Israeli universities used such a false pretext, as to indicate that the universities were not the issue. "Their claims regarding Bar Ilan and Haifa Universities were simply hooks on which to hang the wider campaign to label Israel 'an apartheid state.'" The leaders for the boycott are veteran anti-Zionist campaigners. This was one skirmish. They probably will lose it when a new vote is taken. They will find some other phony issue against Israel and more false pretexts. What moves them is hatred. The strategy for boycotts to isolate Israel was laid out at the UNO's 2001 Durban conference. The NGOs behind the movement "use the rhetoric of human rights, humanitarian claims and charity to justify terror and promote demonization." It's war by non-military means (IMRA, 5/22 from Gerald Steinberg, Jer. Post.) PM SHARON EXACERBATES ANTISEMITISM Antisemitism is soaring. One reason is PM Sharon's policy of restraint toward the terrorist P.A. that he should overthrow. He releases terrorists who murder again, but refuses to get Pollard released. This is a policy of moral reversal. When Israel barely defends itself, and its restraint incurs the murder of thousands of Jews, antisemites feel they don't have to restrain themselves. Why should anyone respect the Jewish state when it doesn't respect itself? (IMRA, 5/22 from Prof. Paul Eidelberg of Jewish Press.) Appeasing evil does not incur nor merit goodwill. ISLAMIST INFILTRATION IN U.S. A powerful Republican figure, Grover Norquist, married a Palestinian Islamist Arab. She is not allowed to marry an infidel on pain of death, but he refuses to admit it. He promotes Islamist causes, has been associated with Islamists now arrested, and helped form the Islamic Institute financed by notorious Islamist agent Alamoudi and at which his wife worked. Now she is a public affairs officer for the U.S. Agency for International development. This is an example of Islamist infiltration into the US government. Norquist appointed Alamoudi's man to head the Institute, and used the Institute to get al-Arian, a reputed head of Islamic Jihad, White House entrée "and others with similar agendas who used their cachet to spread Islamist influence to the American military and the prison system and the universities and the political arena with untold consequences for the nation." "The right to select military chaplains not only offered Alamoudi and his colleagues the chance to recruit still more Islamists with specialized and highly useful skill-sets. It also was an invaluable legitimating credential to be wielded against those who might otherwise regard the American Muslim Council and its leader with suspicion, or worse." "In addition to the seed money from Alamoudi, the Islamic Institute has also received funding from organizations described by the Washington Post as a "secretive group of tightly connected Muslim charities, think tanks and businesses based in Northern Virginia [and] used to funnel millions of dollars to terrorists and launder millions more" - a number of whom are currently part of the "largest federal investigation of terrorism financing in the world." At Norquist's Wednesday Group meetings, someone from the Islamic Institute often "... would make a presentation to the generally standing-room-only crowds of influential Washington conservatives about the plight of Palestinians under Israeli occupation; the much-maligned and badly misunderstood Islamist government of Sudan (in fact, a designated state-sponsor of terrorism); the innocent nature of the process whereby Muslim chaplains have been selected for the armed forces; the honored status of women in the Muslim world; and efforts to promote Islamic causes and candidates in Republican circles." When Pres. Bush sought Muslim votes and wanted to demonstrate that he was not anti-Muslim just anti-terrorist, Norquist introduced him to Islamist officials. Some of them had publicly admitted Islamist sympathies. These people and groups, sometimes working within the Republican Party, oppose anti-terrorist measures, including the entire Patriot Act, not just its excesses. They may have diverted the Administration from finding and working with moderate Muslims. So successful is this infiltration, that the FBI continues to use Islamist organizations that through their prison chaplains have been converting felons to radical Islam, to train people in "sensitivity" towards Muslims and in community relations. Ironically, the Islamists cite their federal work as evidence of their legitimacy. When confronted with his anti-American activities, Norquist calls his opponents "racist." (Miriam Gardner of American Yated Neeman from Daniel Pipes, email). Real Communists used to call their accusers of "McCarthyism." Yes, there have been racists and McCarthyites, but there also have been subversives. The subversives pretend they are being victimized. U.S. OIL SOURCE THREATENED The US imports as much oil from Africa as from S. Arabia. Oil-bearing Nigeria, with its large Muslim population, has become a haven for al-Qaeda bases and radical Arabs. Al-Qaeda's strategy is to hurt the US economy, by reducing its oil supply. Nigeria is a new target (Op. Cit.). Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at ricshulman@aol.com. |
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DON'T TRUST ISLAMISTS
Posted by Barry Rubin, May 27, 2005. |
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The following may soon be true: the good news is that Islamists are not committing terrorism; the bad news is that they are running the governments. Welcome to the latest Western debate: should Islamists be helped to run in elections in order to moderate them. Both in Washington and Europe this idea is seizing people's minds. The European Union advocates dealing with Hizballah and may decide the best way to promote Israeli-Palestinian peace is to strengthen Hamas. In Washington, the main example is to help the Muslim Brotherhood run in fair Egyptian elections. The easy answer is that radical Islamists will not be moderated by participating in elections or gaining power. The Bolshevik (Communist) party in Russia and the Nazi party in Germany ran candidates for parliament. But there is only one point in responding to the latest bad idea -- there certainly seem to be a lot of them, don't there? -- in the Middle East debate. For example: --Remember the Oslo peace process was based largely on the idea that once Yasir Arafat and colleagues governed Palestinians and dealt with daily problems they would be more moderate, responsible, and abandon terrorism. This does not mean pious Muslims cannot be real democrats. A Middle Eastern equivalent of European Christian Democratic parties might eventually emerge. Turkey, however, is quite different from Arab countries, having a more moderate brand of Islam and entrenched democracy. Its governing Islamic party knows it must act moderately enough to avoid antagonizing the secular-oriented majority and army. In addition, in Turkey three vital preconditions creating Islamist democrats don't exist in the Arab world: --There must be a clear split between radical Islamists and moderates. An obvious but vital point is that radical Islamist groups don't commit terrorism for its own sake. Their objective is to seize power and use it for their own purposes. Once in power, Islamist parties would change laws and society to produce more Islamists. Such regimes will use foreign policy adventurism--attacking the West and Israel in words and perhaps with guns--to mobilize support and distract attention from failures at home. The result will be to replace one repressive authoritarian regime with another, adding two more generations to the process of real moderation and democratization for the Arab world. What is going to stop this from happening, assuming that Islamist parties have enough votes? Here the debate gets silly. To quote a liberal Arab reformer I respect, "This does raise questions about who would guarantee that all parties abide by these rules of the game." He suggests the courts do this, concluding, "There must be faith in the system." Given the risks involved--a bloody, repressive dictatorship, foreign wars, the Islamization of society, and so on--basing one's future on faith in a system that does not yet exist and on rulings from courts that are notoriously impotent is not quite sane. Of course, each specific example is important so let's take three: --Hamas wants to rule a country extending from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea based on what amounts to an openly genocidal attitude toward Jews. Hamas will use power it obtains--including a large share of the Palestinian parliament--to veto any peace with Israel and create a base for more terrorism, including social and educational changes to ensure a hundred-year-long war with Israel. --Hizballah wants to take power in Lebanon but cannot since Shia Muslims are only 40 percent of the electorate. It demands proportional representation to give it the largest possible influence. The Christians, Druze and Sunni resist. What Hizballah will win is the right to remain the country's only armed militia and control over the south. It will bide its time looking for future opportunities. Keep in mind two key points. First, the factor most likely to moderate larger Islamist groups is their knowing power is beyond their reach. Hamas never challenged the Palestinian leadership because it knew it would be crushed in a civil war. In Jordan and Egypt, Islamist parties take the quota of parliamentary seats permitted them and cause no trouble because they know beating the regime is impossible. Once they conclude they can win, the result will be instability and more militancy. Finally, the most likely result of any Western belief that power will moderate radical Islamists will be unilateral Western concessions to such groups. They will be given immunity for past terrorist acts, diplomatic backing against the local regimes, money and other benefits in exchange for promises to be good. They will then break these promises, more likely without cost. Let's not be naïve about radical Islamism and make even more problems for the Middle East Barry Rubin is Director of the GLORIA Center of the Interdisciplinary Center and co-author of "Yasir Arafat: A Prof. Rubin's columns can now be read online at http://gloria.idc.ac.il/columns/column.html. This article is archived at http://gloria.idc.ac.il/columns/2005/05_31.html |
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THE SECOND CITY'S TWIN ACADEMIC NEONAZIS
Posted by Steven Plaut, May 31, 2005. |
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In recent months DePaul University has become something of an international laughingstock. While retaining neonazi Norman Finkelstein on its faculty, a person with no scholarly credentials at all and someone who has been accused by the Anti-Defamation League of being a Holocaust Denier, DePaul also fired Prof. Thomas Klocek because he dared to defend Israel to some fanatic campus jihadnik students. Among those who have denounced DePaul's neonazi has been Alan Dershowitz. Many people are comparing DePaul's employment of Finkelstein to the employment of another neonazi and Holocaust Denier in the Chicago area, Arthur Butz, an Associate Professor at Northwestern University, and some wonder aloud what is wrong with having such people on the faculty if academic freedom is to mean anything. (We, for our part, wonder whether there may be something in the Lake Michigan water that produces these crackpots in the Second City!) But closer examination of the twin Chicago "academic nazis" reveals important differences. Arthur R. Butz is an open nazi and Holocaust Denier who crayoned a "book" insisting that the World War II Holocaust of Jews by Germany was a grand "hoax". Butz even touts his nazi ravings on the Northwestern University official web site. (Interestingly, Butz and Noam Chomsky are among the main advocates on behalf of French Holocaust Denier Robert Faurisson .) But there the similarities with Finkelstein end. First of all, Butz teaches in Northwestern's electric and computer engineering department, where he teaches technical courses and does not engage in political advocacy in his classes. Indeed, he is prohibited altogether from spouting his nazi views on Northwestern's campus. Butz evidently does have some serious academic credentials in his field of expertise. So the lunacies he advocates in the privacy of his swastika-bedecked bedroom are his own business, believes Northwestern. We have trouble understanding why being an open nazi does not signal to the Northwestern University brass that Butz is deranged and so should not be on the podium at all, but we are the first to concede that academia is crawling with other lunatics. Finkelstein, in contrast, is not teaching a technical subject and does not have any serious scholarly credentials in anything, yet is permitted to use the DePaul podium to conduct his little Nuremberg Rallies. In addition, Northwestern evidently did not know about Butz's psychotic nazi agenda when it hired him, but DePaul knew exactly what it was getting when it hired Finkelstein. Finkelstein had earlier been fired from two adjunct jobs in New York due to his lack of any scholarly credentials, his charlatan pseudo-research, his Jew-bashing bigotry and his vicious ad hominem attacks against writer Elie Wiesel and other Holocaust survivors. Finkelstein teaches in DePaul's political science department, where he is allowed to offer a departmental course that is completely one-sided anti-Israel indoctrination and anti-Jewish advocacy. Finkelstein's course syllabus consists 100% of anti-Israel propagandists and anti-Semites, some of them Marxists. Not a single pro-Israel voice of dissent is permitted to be aired. Where are the rights of DePaul students to hear all sides of an issue? Why are they not being defended against Finkelstein's podium bullying? Northwestern - by the way - has been trying to dump Butz for years, by buying out his contract (he has tenure), but Butz has refused. Butz is an enormous embarrassment! But DePaul's chiefs, led by DePaul's President, Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, C.M., Ed.D., are downright PROUD of their neonazi, insisting that he is a serious scholar (even though no serious scholars consider him one). The people other than Brer Holtschneider who take Finklestein as a serious researcher usually run Holocaust "Revisionism" web sites and worship David Irving. DePaul would not hire a faculty member in the name of free speech who was claiming that it was actually Jesus Christ who had Pontius Pilate crucified and not the other way around, so what then is a racist flake like Finkelstein doing teaching political science there? If you would like to ask DePaul Prez Holtschneider yourself, his email address is dholtsch@depaul.edu. The Chicago Jewish Star has been commenting at length on the Klocek affair and on DePaul's toady defense of Finklelstein's presence on its faculty. As the Star notes: "When the university first hired Mr. Finkelstein in 2001, his reputation as an out-of-control, unbalanced analyst who mixes vile and vitriolic attacks on his critics with a gleeful exhibitionism was firmly established. With so many credible, intelligent, informed scholars of Middle Eastern studies available from which to select, why in the world did DePaul decide to bring this man on its staff?" 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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FATHER, FORGIVE THEM...
Posted by Gerald A. Honigman, May 30, 2005. |
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For they know full well what they do. Borrowing and modifying a passage from at least one of the Christian Gospels' versions as to what some of Jesus' last words were on the cross, we can, unfortunately, better understand what is happening to Israel today. For Jews, Israel--collectively, the Jewish people--has been the suffering servant of the Bible...one of the areas of disagreement with our Christian brothers. Given this, please allow me to proceed... Once again, the Jew of the Nations, Israel, is on the verge of being forced to become the perpetually suffering servant of Jewish history--and this time largely at the hands of its alleged friends. No one in the State Department or in the White House can claim ignorance about the extreme dangers that they are setting Israel up for. Arab intentions are well known...even those of the so-called "moderates." Their darling, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, got elected running on a widely-announced platform for Israel's destruction--but by other "more legitimate" means. He consistently still demands, for example, that Israel accept the "right of return" of millions of alleged Arab refugees so that the sole miniscule state of the Jews will be overwhelmed by Arabs who have been raised on homicidal Jew-hatred. Blown buses bring bad press--so better to destroy Israel "democratically." These are the moderate, Holocaust-denying Abbas' own words. And Dubya and the Foggy Folks know this well... As they know that Abbas and his fellow Arafatians have repeatedly called any negotiations with the Jews a Trojan Horse, designed to win back diplomatically what Arab arms have not been able to accomplish on the battlefield. Diplomacy as war by other means, the Arabs well known, post-'67 destruction in phases plan...which American officials also know quite well. Abbas, like Arafat, offers only a temporary hudna -- a ceasefire--(or less) in return for Israel being forced to return to its 1949, United Nations'-imposed, 9-mile wide armistice line -- not border -- existence. Those lines were imposed after six Arab nations invaded a reborn Israel in 1948. As would become the pattern in later wars as well, the UN did nothing to stop the Arabs' initial aggression, but intervened only when the Jews managed to turn the tide. The UN then stepped in to limit Arab losses. That's how Israel gained its rump state status. Abbas refuses to confront Hamas and others who openly call for Israel's destruction and has promised to integrate terrorists who specialize in disemboweling Jewish babes and grandmas into his armed forces. Going down this same road before, Israeli soldiers were previously murdered by their similar Arab security "partners." And Dubya and the Foggy Folks know this well too, as they are aware that a quick visit to any of Abbas' Palestinian Authority's websites, maps, textbooks, schools, television or radio programs, mosques, and such will show that the 22nd Arab state that they intend to create--and second, not first, Arab one created within the original 1920 borders of "Palestine" (Jordan created on 80% of the total area)--expects to replace the sole state of the Jews, not live side by side with it. So, the consequences of what Dubya & Co. are now demanding of Israel-- they get quite upset when folks remind them of the obvious analogy with Czechoslovakia, Chamberlain, Munich, Hitler, and the Sudetenland in 1938 -- fit squarely on their own shoulders. They know all too well what they do... Other "friends" sold out that earlier brave democracy to its enemies for at least some disturbingly similar reasons. But how dare those who fear another Munich-style sellout of Israel bring such things up! On the balance sheet of relative justice regarding distribution of land in the Middle East and North Africa after the collapse of the four century old Ottoman Turkish Empire, it must be repeated time and time again--no matter how upsetting this necessary repetition is to some--that what was to become purely Arab Jordan was indeed created in 1922 out of the original April 25, 1920 borders of the Palestinian Mandate as a gift from the British to their Hashemite Arab allies in World War I. So Arabs have held the lion's share of "Palestine" for three quarters of a century. Most of the almost two dozen states that Arabs already call their own, on over six million square miles of territory, were conquered and forcibly Arabized from millions of other non-Arab peoples in the region...Berbers, Kurds, Copts, Black Africans, and so forth. And for every Arab who fled the fighting that Arabs started, there was a Jew from so-called "Arab" lands who fled in the opposite direction. Etc., etc., and so forth. After Israel was blockaded (a casus belli), became the victim of other hostile acts, and was once again forced to fight a war for its very existence in 1967, it finally became obvious to many that it should not be forced to return to its extremely vulnerable, pre-'67, 9-mile wide, rump state status so that Arabs could get the first part of all that they want in what was left of "Palestine" after the creation of Jordan. As we have seen, for even the so-called "moderates," all of Israel proper is still the openly admitted second part of this wish list. After much debate, the final draft of United Nations' Security Council Resolution # 242 was passed, specifically did not call for a total Israeli withdrawal to the fragile '49 armistice lines, and called instead for the creation of "secure and recognized" borders to replace those lines. During a rare, potentially pregnant moment in terms of Arab-Israeli politics, Dubya, back in April 2004, came close to saying the same thing. Unfortunately, our born-again President now seems to endorse an abortion of that pregnancy. By shedding the courage to stand by the explicit or implicit implications of his earlier statements, Dubya sets back, rather than enhances, the cause of peace between Arab and Jew in the Middle East. He renews Arab rejectionist dreams by insisting that the Jews remain forever vulnerable and exposed. The destruction in phases plans Arabs have had for Israel, ever since their pre-'67 plans for quick destruction proved a failure, are now proceeding nicely. Recall that, standing next to Sharon, who became convinced--despite the many arguments that could be made against this--that a Gaza withdrawal was in Israel's best interests (along with some similar moves elsewhere), Dubya stated earlier, before the whole world, and during his run for reelection that Israel should not be expected to return to the '49 armistice lines (his own words) and should not be expected to be overwhelmed by an alleged "return" of millions of Arab refugees. If Arabs finally understood that, as in other conflicts, a territorial compromise would have to be arrived at here as well, then perhaps--while still a long shot--they would finally get serious about ending their perpetual war with the Jews. But that was before the November 2004 presidential election. Unfortunately, Dubya now appears to have been playing some pre-election politics to solidify his key Evangelical supporters in what was forecasted to be a close election. It worked. I voted for him this time...despite my trepidation over his polluting financiers and such. But now that he has been reelected, and with little or nothing to lose since he can't run again, it seems that his family's huge oil ties, the influence of close family friend and former Secretary of State "_ _ _ _ the Jews they don't vote for us anyway" James Baker, and a heavily Arabist State Department are converging to sweep Israel's concerns under the rug. These days, instead, we get a constant barrage of statements from both Dubya and his Secretary of State that Arab state #22 must be no bantustan and must have contiguity and such. Neither of them seem to care about what any of this means for the Jews. The call by Resolution# 242 that Israel's '49 armistice lines should be replaced with "secure and recognized borders" is never even mentioned any more. How, for instance, will the miniscule, sole state of the Jews remain contiguous itself when Gaza is connected to Judea and Samaria (only recently in history renamed the "West Bank")? Look at a map and, if you can manage to find Israel without a magnifying glass, try connecting Gaza to the West Bank. Now see what this does to Israel. And this can be said regarding other areas as well. So, when considered in light of the President's evident deliberate amnesia regarding the public letter he gave to Sharon in April 2004, which the latter then used to justify his unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, this amounts to nothing less than a sellout of his former position. And it completely nullifies Sharon's arguments as well. There is to be no quid pro quo regarding Israel getting the protective buffer elsewhere envisioned by 242. And the Gaza withdrawal will indeed likely send the message that "terrorism works" (Lebanon II) and will serve only as a precedent for forced Israeli withdrawals elsewhere to the '49 Auschwitz lines. Remember the ads Dubya ran against John Kerry for doing such things? But there he stood at the White House on May 26, 2005, next to Abbas, virtually--if not actually--flipflopping, and proclaiming to the entire world that the '49 armistice lines were the reference point for negotiations and that any deviation must have the approval of the Arabs themselves--those same Arabs whose "moderates" even still insist that Israel within the '49 lines must disappear. Big chance of Israel gaining any increased buffer separating it from those who seek to blow up its kids this way... And Dubya and the Foggy Folks know all of this too. This is the same guy who supposedly once noted that some Texas driveways were longer than the width of Israel at its waist, where most of its population and industry are located. And, again, keep in mind that for caving in to all that their would-be executioners ask for, all that the Jews can hope for in return is a temporary cease fire--a hudna--not peace. The Arafatians have been quite honest about all of this. They call their plans for the Jews the "Peace of the Quraysh," modeled after the temporary pause Muhammad allowed with that pagan tribe until he gained the strength to deal the final blow. That the Foggy Folks expect this of the Jews is no shock. They opposed Israel's very right to exist from the get-go. But we were told that Dubya knew better. Shame on any and all who would shove this down Israel's throat...no matter who they are. And shame on Israel's leaders if they cave into this as well. Many a red-blooded American heart is feeling anguish over these developments right now. Shedding more crocodile tears, a la the Holocaust, and expressing sympathy over more dead and victimized Jews is not the ticket in a post-Auschwitz era. Empathy for live ones is what's needed...not applying hypocritical double standards to the Jew of the Nations. But evidently this is too much to ask of even our own nation's leaders, let alone others. Those who wage war and manipulate and topple governments and who have acquired territories thousands of miles away from home in the name of their own nations' security interests can't seem to figure out that Israel--surrounded by nations still sworn to its demise--also has some crucial security concerns that need to be taken far more seriously. Returning to the New Testament of my Christian friends, the story is told of Jesus being sold out for mere shekels of silver. Jews now ask, what is the Suffering Servant--Israel--once again being sold out for...knowingly, and by those claiming to be friends.? Gerald A. Honigman, a Florida educator, has created and conducted counter-Arab propaganda programs for college youth, has lectured on numerous campuses and other platforms, and has publicly debated Arab spokesmen. His articles and op-eds have been published in both the print media and on websites. |
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PRISONER EXCHANGE
Posted by Israel Zwick, May 30, 2005. |
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The following story was inspired by the Yiddish comedy routines of the late Dzigan & Schumacher, z'l. If they are watching from above, the author begs their forgiveness. Zayt mir mokhel. Prisoner R: Guard, how much do you want for that newspaper? Guard: 10 Shekel Prisoner R: But it's written on there that the price is 7 Shekel. Guard: Since when do you believe everything that's written in the newspaper? Prisoner R: You're lucky that you have a monopoly on newspapers here. Hand it over. Prisoner L: I see that you're reading a paper, could you tell me what today's date is? Prisoner R: It won't do you any good, that guard sold me yesterday's paper, the mamzer. Prisoner L: Is there anything new in the paper? Prisoner R: It says here that the economy is up, employment is down, and peace is right around the corner. Same old hogwash. Prisoner L: I see that you don't have much faith in our country's leaders. Prisoner R: They're all a bunch of phony diplomats. They say one thing, mean something else, then they do something completely different. Wait, here's an article that's very troubling. It seems that the Gush Katif settlers were having an anti-disengagement rally and a Peace Now group held a counter rally nearby. There was an altercation and it got ugly, with some injuries and arrests. Prisoner L: You don't have to tell me about it. I was there. I was the one who hit a settler on the head with a beer bottle. Prisoner R: Why'd you do a dumb thing like that for? Prisoner L: I don't know. I regretted it as soon as I saw the blood gushing from him. I think that I had too much beer to drink and my anger exploded. I'm fed up with those religious extremists who are occupying Palestinian lands. Those 9000 settlers are violating the humanitarian rights of the 1.3 million Arabs living in Gaza. Prisoner R: Is that so? You not only had too much to drink, you've also been watching too much Al-Jazeera TV. Prisoner L: Who are you to reprimand me? Who did you kill to wind up in here? Prisoner R: You should have a little more respect. Do you know with whom you are speaking? I am Mikhail Abramovitch, known all over Israel. I never killed anyone. I am a reputable broker. You'll see. My lawyers will have me out of here in an hour. Prisoner L: What did you do, broker rocket launchers and missiles to the Arabs? Prisoner R: Heaven forbid! I deal with Arabs but I only sell them luxury goods like fine Cuban cigars, Scotch whiskeys, and Italian clothing. Prisoner L: For that they put you in prison? Prisoner R: Well the government calls it smuggling and tax evasion. Prisoner L: Aren't you afraid to go into the territories to deal with them? You're not afraid of getting hurt or shot? Prisoner R: No, they know me already. They think that I'm on their side and against the government. Besides, they want my goods. Prisoner L: Where do they have the money to buy luxury goods? I thought that they're all living in poverty. Prisoner R: That's what they want you to think. There's a lot of money coming into the territories. UNRWA has a budget of 500 million dollars, UNICEF spends 17 million, and the Palestinian Authority received over 2 billion dollars from the Europeans and Americans. The problem is that the money isn't going to the people. It's going into the hands of a select few that have the proper connections. They're the ones that want the luxury goods. Prisoner L: That still doesn't give us the right to humiliate the Arabs and violate their human rights. Our treatment of the Arabs is the leading cause of the worldwide increase in anti-Semitism. Prisoner R: What do you young Israelis know about anti-Semitism? In Russia, I grew up with anti-Semitism. It permeated the air we breathed and the water we drank. I lost my job and career to anti-Semitism. Prisoner L: You mean you weren't always a crook? Prisoner R: When I was your age, I was a promising young geneticist at Moscow University. I have a PhD in Microbial Genetics. Prisoner L: How did you lose your job? Prisoner R: I was a Jewish activist. My group used to meet secretly but the KGB was always watching us. One day, when I left a meeting, a policeman was standing nearby with a big German Shepherd. He tried to provoke me. He said, "Jew, you see that dog, that's your brother." Prisoner L: So what did you do? Prisoner R: I was a brash young man and fell for the bait. I called back to him, "Well, let's see. If the dog is circumcised, he's my brother. If not, he's your brother." So they arrested me for insubordination and Zionist activities. Isn't it ironic that in Russia I was arrested for Zionist activities and in Israel I'm arrested for anti-Zionist activities? Prisoner L: So how did you get out of jail? Prisoner R: Eventually they let me out, but I lost my job at the University. I had to make a living by dealing with the Black Market. I traded in tobacco and liquor. Those Russians would do anything for good tobacco and liquor. Prisoner L: Now that you're in Israel, why don't you go back to working as a geneticist? Prisoner R: It's been twenty years since I studied genetics. The field changed so much that I don't recognize it anymore. Prisoner L: Now I understand why you're so bitter. But that doesn't explain why we should be occupying Palestinian lands. We should be removing all those illegal settlements and give the land back to them. Prisoner R: You don't know what you're talking about! Why don't you pick up a history book instead of a beer bottle? The YESHA territories were never Palestinian lands. Most of those Arabs are not indigenous to the area. They fled there at the onset of the 1948 war. Then Jordan and Egypt illegally occupied the area, and the Jews were driven out. If not for Chamberlain's White Paper in 1939, many thousands of Jews would have settled in those areas during the British Mandate. The Jews have at least as much right to that land as the Arabs. Prisoner L: That was the past. But now there are 3 million Arabs living there. If they had their own Palestinian state, there wouldn't be a conflict anymore. Prisoner R: I'm shocked that you really believe that! A Palestinian state would just prolong the conflict and cause permanent friction with the State of Israel. Prisoner L: How is that? Prisoner R: When I was growing microbial cultures for genetics studies, I knew that the culture followed an S-shaped growth curve. A microbial culture in a confined area, such as a tube of nutrient broth, would grow very rapidly then taper off as metabolic wastes accumulated. Eventually, the whole culture would die off from the accumulated waste products. That same pattern could also be applied to human population ecology. Prisoner L: What does that have to do with Jews and Arabs? Prisoner R: It's simple. King David knew what he was doing when he picked Jerusalem as his capital. The surrounding Judean Hills provided increased surface area for population growth and agricultural development. It also provided accessible underground springs for a continuous supply of fresh water. However, the land can't sustain continuous growth in such a small, confined area. Eventually, the population would have to settle elsewhere or die out. We see that happening already to Jewish populations in the USA. Jews moved out of crowded urban areas into less developed areas in upstate NY and Long Island. Now there are even Jewish communities in Iowa and Montana. Prisoner L: So what do you propose? Prisoner R: The 1947 boundaries of the British Palestine Mandate cannot sustain a growing population of 10 million Arabs and Jews. The Jews have no other country to go to, but the Arabs have more than 20 others with sparsely populated lands. So if you're really interested in promoting the humanitarian rights of Palestinian Arabs, you would advocate for voluntary resettlement to sparsely populated areas in other Arab countries. If you gave them a decent compensation package, most of them would be happy to leave. They have no attachment to the YESHA territories. They would be happy to live anywhere that they had decent living conditions and civil rights. But nobody ever made them an offer or gave them the opportunity to live elsewhere. The Arab governments insist that they must live within the 1947 borders of mandatory Palestine. Under those conditions, Arabs and Jews would be competing for scarce natural resources, with disastrous results. It's definitely not a formula for a lasting peace. Prisoner L: So you mean that I would actually be helping the Arab population by advocating for voluntary transfer with compensation. Prisoner R: Now you're getting it. The effects of the alcohol are finally wearing off. Guard: Abramovitch, you're free to go. Prisoner R: It's about time. What took so long? What about my young friend here, can he come with me? Guard: No, we have to get him a lawyer. He almost killed a settler, a father with four young children. We're very lucky that the rim of his orange baseball cap cushioned and deflected the blow. He got away with only minor bruises. Prisoner R: I'll get my lawyers to help you. You're not a bad kid. You just have to get your head screwed on straight. When you get out of here, you have to visit that settler and apologize. Guard, the next time that I come here, I expect to get a decent bowl of chicken soup. When I looked into that slop you gave me, I heard one noodle saying to the other, "Where are you, it's lonely in here?" Guard: Abramovitch, I don't want to see you here again. Why don't you get an honest job? I bet a shrewd operator like you could probably become an agent for Shin Bet. Prisoner R: Hmm, that's not a bad idea. Maybe I'll give it some thought. Israel Zwick can be reached by email at israel.zwick@earthlink.net |
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ONLINE INTERVIEW WITH GUSH KATIF RESIDENT
Posted by Lise Rubin, May 30, 2005. |
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DAYS BEFORE THE START OF THE PASSOVER FESTIVAL, Rabbi Richman and the GLC film crew paid a visit to the home of Rachel Saperstein, resident of Neve Dekalim, one of twenty three Gush Katif and Gaza Jewish communities, slated to be ethnically cleansed of their Jewish residents, by the Sharon government's proposed disengagement (expulsion) "plan". There they filmed two extraordinary half-hour interviews with Rachel. Each of the two interviews form part of the weekly "Light to the Nations" television series, and have been aired extensively by GLC, before millions of viewers in the United States. Now the interviews have been made available for online viewing. Whether you consider yourself knowledgeable, or whether you feel you are ignorant about what is happening in Gaza and Northern Samaria, these interviews are a must. Learn the truth behind the Sharon "disengagement plan", and the "fanatic" Jewish mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, husbands and wives, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, that this "plan" intends to uproot from their homes, their places of worship, and their communities. Learn what you can, and should be doing about it. To view with Windows Media:
To view with Real Media:
See also: "The Police Storm Satmar Shul, Tear The Place Up."
Israeli elite counter-terror unit terrorizes peaceful Satmars in
retaliation for their protesting desecration of graves.
Contact Lise Rubin by email at elishevarubin@msn.com
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HOW FRANCE SOLVES ITS PROBLEMS WITH LEFTIST "NEW JOURNALISTS"
Posted by Steven Plaut, May 30, 2005. |
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1. This was published today on the Discover the Network website (www.discoverthenetwork.org/moonbatcentral/2005/05/ in-france-you-can-sue-new-journalists.html). In France you can sue the "New Journalists" for Racism! Why not in the US? The French, of all people, have developed a tool for dealing with leftist moonbat journalism and politicalized distortion in the media. They sue the blaggards for racism! Never mind that the damages awarded may be nothing. That is what has just happened to two leftist "journalists" who write biased bigotry for Le Monde. A Versailles court of appeals ruled on an article that ran June 4, 2002, called "Israel-Palestine: The Cancer," was anti-Semitism and prohibited under France's laws against racism and racist defamation. The court ordered the directors, Edgar Morin and Jean-Marie Colombani, as well as the two authors, to pay a symbolic one Euro in damages to a human-rights alliance, and ordered Le Monde to publish a condemnation of the article. Two particular passages were cited for their racist character. The first reads, "One has trouble imagining that a nation of refugees, descendants of the people who have suffered the longest period of persecution in the history of humanity, who have suffered the worst possible scorn and humiliation, would be capable of transforming themselves, in two generations, into a dominating people, sure of themselves, and, with the exception of an admirable minority, into a scornful people finding satisfaction in humiliating others." The second incriminating citation reads, "The Jews, once subject to an unmerciful rule, now impose their unmerciful rule on the Palestinians." SO here is my idea. I say sauce for the Foie Gras is sauce for the moonbat! Let's ship off Alexander Cockburn to France and there sue his derriere off! 2. Repost: "The Israeli Left Was Just Naive, Now It's Treasonous," written by Steven Plaut, Saturday, November 01, 2003. In a recent opinion piece in the Jerusalem Post, Sarah Honig, one of the paper's better columnists, raised the question of whether Israel's left should be regarded as stupid or crazy. She raised the question in response to the latest gambit by Yossi Beilin, the Mother Hen of the Oslo debacle, and his friends--the so-called ''Geneva Understandings,'' which should be better termed the Geneva Misunderstandings. Honig's question deserves to be taken seriously. The most correct answer to her question is that while many leftists are indeed crazy or stupid or both, increasingly Israel's Left is composed simply of people who are evil. This third possibility should be taken very seriously. The growth in the weight of the evil amongst the stupid and the crazy in Israel's left has a simple explanation. While the Israeli left at the time when the first Oslo Accords were perpetrated consisted mainly of the naïve and the foolish, these people have in large part disappeared by now from its ranks. In most cases, they simply became less foolish and naïve over time, and consequently abandoned the left. They were mugged by reality and succumbed to the years of daily empirical demonstrations that the left's understanding of the conflict in 1993 was simply wrong, demonstrably wrong, disastrously wrong. These were the people whose earlier beliefs had remained open to a certain amount of testing and proving in the pudding, whose minds had not been hermetically locked closed. When the pudding proved how wrong they had been, they had second thoughts. They awoke and sniffed the coffee the rest of us had long been sipping. They removed their primrose blinders from their eyes Among the manifestations of these having second thoughts were the near-complete implosion of the leftist Meretz party, which lost half its Knesset representation, and the landslide defeat of Amram Mitzna and the Labor Party left in the last Israeli election. As the naïve abandoned the left in droves, a process of adverse selection occurred. Those who remained in the Israeli left despite the past decade of Oslo experiences are today by and large people who are evil. They constitute the satanic left. Some used to be foolish leftists who evolved into evil leftists. They remain in the left because they are motivated by hostility to Israel, animosity towards Jews, by self-hatred. That a political movement like the Israeli left could be taken over by those motivated by dislike of their own country and hatred of their own people should not come as too much of a surprise. After all, the American campus left is also today little more than a movement of anti-Americanism. It will support any Third World butcher it thinks is sufficiently hostile to the United States and the West. It supports everything imaginable that can harm the United States. In 1993, most Israeli leftists sincerely believed that if Israel would recognize and legitimize the PLO, if it would just make goodwill gestures towards the Palestinians and release them from Israel ''occupation,'' if it offered the Palestinians their own state alongside of Israel, if it allowed Arafat and the leadership of the PLO to relocate from Tunis to the West Bank, and if it showed itself somewhat flexible in terms of the status of Jerusalem, then the Palestinians would respond to the generosity with generosity. The left genuinely expected that demonstrations of Israeli goodwill would trigger outpourings of Palestinian goodwill and moderation, that good sportsmanship would be rewarded with niceness. A decade of goodwill measures later, we now have ample proof. Of course the left was totally wrong. Israeli niceness did not produce Palestinian niceness but rather Palestinian nazification. Israeli goodwill gestures triggered Palestinian fanaticism. Israeli offers to compromise produced Palestinian digging in of heals and insistence that only Israel's destruction through some ''right of return'' was an acceptable solution. When Israel turned over the bulk of the West Bank and Gaza to the PLO, along with perhaps 95 % of the Palestinian population, those areas were not used by the PLO for nation building and economic development. Instead, they were used for nothing except perpetrating endless terrorist attacks, rocket attacks, and mass murders against Jews. It became evident very quickly that Palestinian terrorism was not being caused by Israeli ''occupation'' but rather was skyrocketing as a direct consequence of the REMOVAL of Israeli occupation. Each and every Israeli concession and offer to compromise was met with escalating Palestinian savagery and barbarism, along with blood-curdling screams and demonization of Jews. It became obvious that the terror bonfire was not being fanned by any construction of Israeli ''settlements'' but rather by Israeli offers of appeasement that included proposals to REMOVE those settlements. We are now more than a decade after the infamous White House handshake between Yitzhak Rabin and Yassir Arafat. Frankly, intelligent people should have seen in 1993 that Oslo was not a peace process at all but rather a process of appeasement and defeatism that would end up NOT with a suppression of Palestinian terror but rather with its takeoff to new dimensions without precedent. But in fairness, honest people with good intentions could well have believed in 1993 that Oslo was the path to follow. They were motivated by wishful thinking, by a complete misunderstanding of the Middle East conflict, and by exhaustion. Fast forwarding to 2004: Every single day since the Oslo Accords were implemented has served as new empirical proof that those Accords were founded on a totally incorrect concept of what the Middle East conflict was about. The Middle East conflict was not about any need for Palestinian ''self-determination'' but rather about the total refusal by the Arab world to acquiesce in any form of Jewish self-determination. The problem was not Israeli unwillingness for territorial compromise but Arab rejection of any territorial compromise at all as a form of solution, if it were to allow a rump Jewish state to continue to exist. Oslo proved that the Arabs would not be satisfied with some form of Palestinian statehood restricted to the West Bank and Gaza, but rather would demand all of Israel as well, perhaps in the name of the right of ''self-determination'' for the Arabs of Nazareth and the Negev and Jaffa. If the years of daily proofs were insufficient, surely the events at Camp David II should have been more than enough to convince even the most diehard idealist and obstinate naif on the Israeli left of the errors of its ways. At Camp David, Ehud Barak offered the Palestinians EVERYTHING: virtually all of the West Bank and Gaza purged of their Jewish settlers, all of East Jerusalem including the Western Wall, swaths of pre-1967 Israel, financial tribute, and admission of tens of thousands of Palestinian ''refugees'' into the areas that Israel would retain as partial implementation of the Palestinian ''right of return.'' The PLO response to this suicidal offer by the leader of Israel's Left at the time was complete rejection and the launching of what has now become universally misnamed the ''Al-Aqsa Intifada,'' which should in fact more properly be dubbed the Oslo Pogroms. The carnage is now about 900 murdered Israelis, just since October 2000, and counting. The left's response to the pogroms was characteristically revisionism, to deny that Barak had actually made any generous offer at Camp David at all. It is said that remarriage is the victory of hope over experience (as well as common sense). Israel's leftist politicians continued to court the ugly Palestinian bride who had divorced them over and over and over. To believe after Camp David II that offers of generosity by Israel could ever defuse Palestinian barbarism was simply to divorce oneself from reality and take refuge in fantasy. While the ranks of the left in Israel dwindled, it retained much of its powers, including its near-totalitarian hegemony over Israel's media and universities. But who exactly are these people still in the left? First of all, they are people who insist that Israel continue to pursue the failed Oslo ''strategy'' as if the past ten years of failure never took place. Beilin's Geneva Misunderstandings are perhaps the best illustration. Going somewhat beyond even what Barak had offered at Camp David, they are once again based on endless Israeli concessions, appeasements, and capitulations to Arab demands with absolutely no quid pro quo. They are the child of the same ''concept'' that has been discredited daily ever since 1993. The only thing the Beilin "accord" offers Israel is a promise of yet another empty rhetorical commitment by the PLO to suppressing the terror, which is the same old used Buick the PLO has been reselling to Israel without ever delivering, over and over for the past decade. The PLO was unwilling to countenance even the duplicitous language in the Beliin Capitulations that made it appear that it might someday maybe agree to some compromise over the Palestinian ''Right of Return,'' which is the Palestinian demand for unlimited immigration into Israel even AFTER some Palestinian state is established. The Gargoyle of Ramallah rejected Beilin's Munich offer because of this. Second, the Op-Eds and the official canon being preached by Israel's Left today is increasingly one of treason. Increasing numbers of the remnants who are still denizens of the left openly propose that Israel's existence be terminated. A growing number of Israeli Leftists are promoting the so-called ''One State Solution'' or the ''Bi-National Solution,'' which should more properly be called the Rwanda Solution. This is essentially a No-State Solution. According to it, Israel would cease to exist as a Jewish state. It would be entirely enfolded into a Palestinian state stretching from the Mediterranean to the Jordan with the Arabs the majority and the Jews a minority, tolerated at best like the other non-Arab or non-Moslem minorities in the Arab world. Israeli leftists are increasingly recruiting themselves to serve the very worst anti-Semites of the planet. There are today Israeli leftist professors promoting the views of Holocaust Deniers. Scores of Israeli professors endorse the boycotts being organized by overseas anti-Semites directed against Israel, including even boycotts of the Israeli institutions that pay them their salaries. Israeli leftists are regulars on Islamist fundamentalist web sites and are the universal legitimizers of the very worst haters of Jews throughout the world. There exists today a true axis of evil, which links Jewish leftism with Islamofascism. Third, Israel's left has always been fundamentally anti-democratic, opposing the right of free expression for non-leftists, demanding that non-leftists be prosecuted as ''inciters.'' The left has long insisted that Yitzhak Rabin was in fact murdered because non-leftists and Oslo opponents were permitted to exercise their right to free speech. But lately the left's anti-democratic inclinations have taken a turn towards extremism and outright subversion. The left has long been of the opinion that Leftists should not be expected to obey the law nor submit to the will of the majority because their motives are so nice and pure. Leftists (and Arab fascists) should be able to call openly for violence with impunity. Leftists should be excused from serving in the army or obeying laws or paying taxes if the policies being implemented by the government or the army are not those advocated by the most extremist leftist 5% of the electorate. The left has for years been trying to foment mutiny and "resistance" among Israeli soldiers. It has organized groups who refuse to report to duty as long as Israel ''occupies'' any portion of the West Bank and Gaza. These are people who explicitly refuse to submit themselves to the will of the majority of their fellow citizens. These are not people willing to promote their ideas through persuasion and argument, but rather through subversion and defiance of the rule of law. They seek to impose their minority views on the country through force. Their latest gambit is to organize mutiny among Israeli pilots in the air force, who will refuse to shoot at terrorist mass murderers until Israel ends its ''occupation'' on those leftist terms opposed by the bulk of the electorate. Polls are showing that Israelis oppose the Beilin-proposed capitulations by at least two to one, and Israeli Jews oppose them by about five to one. In 1993 most Israeli leftists supported the left because they believed its ideas would benefit Israel and the Jewish people. Today most leftists support those same ideas because they know they will harm Israel and Jews. In 1993 most Israeli leftists believed in leftist ideas because they thought ''Palestine'' would pursue peace. Today those remaining on the left support Palestinian statehood because they know ''Palestine'' will pursue war. In 1993 most leftists believed in leftist ideas because they thought sraeli concessions would lead to Arab moderation. Today's leftists know that these concessions are seen as signs of weakness that catalyze and energize Arab violence and that is why they demand more of them. n 1993 most leftists believed in Israeli restraint because they thought it would stimulate Palestinian goodwill. Today's leftists demand endless restraint because they do not want Israel to fight terror at all. They want terror to triumph. In 1993 most leftists believed in leftist ideas because they thought Israel would emerge stronger if Oslo were implemented. Today's leftists advocate the very same ''process'' - witness the Beilin-proposed Capitulations - because they desire to see Israel weakened and dismembered. The left of 1993 was by and large a left that could be awakened from its delusions by Palestinian atrocities, endless violations of PLO commitments, Arab betrayal, and the increasingly nazified rhetoric of both Palestinians and Israeli Arabs. The left of 2004 does not need awakening because it has no delusions that Oslo and its ''Road Map'' will produce peace. It supports the Road Map precisely because it knows it will not lead to peace but to a new all-out Arab assault on Israel. The Leftists and their overseas apologists will do anything in their power to underm ine the will of the electorate in Israel and the will of the Jews to survive. They will undermine any government the Israeli voters select. They have no scruples when it comes to collaboration with the worst anti-Semites of the planet. The leftists of 2004 have no delusions that an independent ''Palestine'' will live at peace alongside Israel. They demand a solution precisely because they know it will NOT live at peace with Israel. 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 |
BUSH CALLS SHARON'S BLUFF PREMATURELY; BUT SHARON CAN STILL BULLY KNESSET
Posted by Bryna Berch, May 30, 2005. |
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A couple of weeks ago, Bush was playing kissie, kissie with the Saudi prince [Editor's note: See April Blog-Ed page] and last week he made it a threesome when he declared that Abu Mazan - the PLO'second-best terrorist handler (actually, best since Arafat died) - was for peace (aren't we all?) and therefore entitled to millions to start his own Swiss bank account. And full sail ahead for a Palestinian state to be hacked out of Israel. Now it is official - Gaza is the start of a massive dismemberment of Israel. So does Sharon say: "Too much will be lost in translation. We stop everything until clarification"? No way. He continues to forge ahead, defying and bullying the Knesset, whose members have the collective spine of a jellyfish. I take that back. The Arab members who gave him the margin he needed to continue the Gaza retreat plan aren't going against their principles. They incite the Palestinian Arabs to acts of terror and then continue to show their loyalty to the PLO when they sit in the Knesset. Here are two news items from today's Arutz-7 (www.IsraelNationalNews.com). 1. "Bush Totally Mooted Sharon's Plan to Retain Settlement Blocs" The head of ex-PM Y. Shamir's Bureau says that Bush has voided of all significance Ariel Sharon's promise of U.S. recognition of Israel's right to keep large population centers in Judea and Samaria. The spokesman is Yossi Ben-Aharon - a long-time Foreign Service official and currently a writer and commentator on current events. Ben-Aharon told Arutz-7 that Israel has nothing to be happy about following Abu Mazen's visit to Washington this past Thursday: "Bush said that no change in the 1949 armistice lines could be considered for the final status without the agreement of the Palestinian Authority. This emptied of all content that which Sharon has bragged about the U.S. recognizing, for the first time, Israel's right to annex settlement blocs." Ben-Aharon said that Bush's remarks at his press conference with Abu Mazen shows that the disengagement from Gaza has been incorporated into the Road Map, "and it is no longer what the prime minister said it was, namely, a process that will delay the implementation of the Road Map." Bush promised Abu Mazen a $50 million gift following the disengagement - "a gift that is not conditional on anything," Ben Aharon said. He noted yet another PA achievement during Abu Mazen's visit: "Increased American involvement in the process in general, and in security arrangements in particular. This is unprecedented, because up to now, Israel has zealously guarded its exclusivity in contacts and security coordination with the Palestinians. This could lead Israel to pay a large price in its relations with the U.S." "Bush very gently reminded Abu Mazen of his commitments to rein in the terrorist organizations," Ben Aharon said, "but essentially set him up as one who stands opposite the 'Hamas extremists.' Sharon, too, said at today's Cabinet meeting that we must support the 'centrist' and 'moderate' movement of Abu Mazen - this is the same Oslo trap that Yitzchak Rabin and [Shimon] Peres fell into when they said that we must strengthen and support Arafat. But the fact is that over the years, we have seen that it is the Palestinian Authority that is constantly funding and encouraging terrorism against Israel." "We see that not only has a great question mark been placed on the entire process of the disengagement, but the entire government policy is shown in its nakedness. In short, the emperor has no clothes." "The United States is our friend," Ben-Aharon said, "but if it is dealing with a country that stupidly decides to make concessions, why should it argue with us? It presents the U.S. in a good light vis-a-vis with the Arabs... so why should the U.S. be more Catholic than the Pope?" "Israel's public relations campaign is most strange," Ben-Aharon lamented. "Every time an Arab or Palestinian leader arrives in the U.S., his emphasis is on criticism of Israel: Israel's conquest, the arrests, demolition of houses, everything. But when an Israeli leader arrives, what does he have to say? 'We offer our hand in peace, the Palestinians are suffering, we have done so much for them, we ask the Administration to provide them with aid, etc.' - and he barely says anything about the PA's violations, the terrorism, the incitement, etc. So it's no wonder that the impression is created throughout the world, and especially in Washington, that Israel is the bad guy and that the conquest must be stopped to allow the poor Palestinians their freedom. If we don't change our tune, we will continue to pay a heavy price." Israeli leaders seem to think it's "beneath their dignity" to directly quote PA leaders and their incitement against Israel, Ben-Aharon feels. "If they would show the true picture of how the PA covers up for and encourages terrorism, and shows how the democratization process in the PA is a fraud, this might lead the Congress not to approve the President's $50 million grant to the PA - but rather to demand that the PA really take genuine steps to become democratic." 2. "PM Sharon Rebuffs Knesset Criticism" Explaining, "I'm not naive; this body is political," Prime Minister Sharon refrained from giving answers to questions by Knesset Members as to how his government made decisions on the disengagement. Sharon appeared before the Knesset Audit Committee today, and managed to make the MKs laugh out loud several times - but did not provide substantial answers to many of the questions asked of him. For instance, MK Tzvi Hendel asked him, "You said that the reason for the disengagement is security concerns. If so, why are homes and towns all over the Negev being reinforced and protected against rockets? Why is Ashkelon being similar protected? Is there a fear of 'peace rockets?'" Sharon did not respond. Hendel also said, "When the Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem was moved from one end of the city to another, years of preparation were invested in order to make sure that the giraffes and the lions and the deer would not suffer psychological damage... And an extra year and a half was required to move the fish cages in Eilat - so why couldn't at least the same amount of time and effort be invested for the residents of Gush Katif?" MK Meli-Polishu Bloch of Shinui, who supports the disengagement, accused Sharon of spending all his time dealing with that issue, while ignoring other issues such as violence and the firing of teachers. MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism) asked Sharon, "How do you manage to get every single one of your ideas passed in the Cabinet?" Sharon asked him if he was planning to run for Prime Minister. He then turned serious and said, "If you have a proposal you wish to pass" - at which point he was interrupted by MK Yuri Stern (Yisrael Beiteinu), who said, "all you have to do is fire two ministers." Sharon smiled with the others and said, "That's not always possible... If I don't have a majority, I ask the Cabinet secretary not to raise the matter." Arutz-7's Knesset correspondent Ariel Kahane summed up by saying, "There were some serious answers... but most of the answers were sarcastic, which made people laugh, but they were not serious and were even mocking and cynical vis-a-vis the criticism against him. The bottom line is that there is no bottom line; Sharon will continue in his way, and so will the criticism." |
| GUSH KATIF |
PAINT THE TOWN - ORANGE
Posted by Dovid Ben Chaim, May 30, 2005. |
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Join the Gush Katif Resistance! You can order the same orange t-shirts, flags and hats that
Israelis are wearing everyday to show their opposition to Sharon's
deportation scheme. All proceeds go directly to the heroes of Gush
Katif. Just visit the Gush Katif OnLine Store by clicking here.
Dovid Ben Chaim can be reached by email at chazak@myway.com
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LETTER TO PRESIDENT BUSH FROM PASTOR JIM VINEYARD
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, May 29, 2005. |
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I strongly recommend every effort be made to flood the White House with this letter by Pastor Jim Vineyard so that it reaches the eyes of President George and Laura Bush. Clearly, the Bush claim to be a born-again Christian is merely a cover for a man dedicated to the Arab Muslim nations who sit on the oil that the Bush dynasty covet. Sacrificing Israel to the mammon of black gold speaks of a man who is unethical, unprincipled and unholy. Doubtless, the Bush corruption will bring terrible retribution down upon America - although most Americans support the Jewish State of Israel. IF we stand by silent again, we will deserve G-d's wrath. May 27, 2005 President George W. Bush
Dear Mr. President: Yesterday, we watched in horror, Sir, as the duly-elected Republican, Christian, American President offered to "appease" the so-called "Palestinian" leader by immediately transferring $50 million of American taxpayers' money. In horror, Sir, the world looked on in 1938 when Neville Chamberlain thought he could appease Haman the Second, Adolph Hitler, and gave the Nazi's Czechoslovakia without a shot being fired! What happened, Sir? Six million descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob gave up their lives! But, in addition, Sir, nine times that many Gentiles or 54 million folks gave up their lives in that "effort" to appease tyrants. In horror, Sir, we watch presently as a man, who professes to have trusted the Jewish Messiah (There is only one, Sir; there cannot be two.), feels he can lead a nation to deal "honorably" with tyrants. In horror, Sir, we watch as we see (just over the horizon, but coming soon, Sir) the judgment of the Almighty upon this country, if we continue to proceed "foolishly," against the clearly revealed Word of the living God. In horror, Sir, we watch, as we see you and your "near Arab" State Department plan to stand with the purveyors of mayhem and murder against the dear "Apples of God's Eye" (Zechariah 2:8) and with the sons of Ishmael, Arafat, and Abu Mazen. In horror, Sir, we watch as we see you, so arrogantly and yet also so proudly, state unequivocally that we are for the establishment of "the world's largest protected Islamic terrorist base" right smack dab, Sir, in the middle of the little nation of Israel. In horror, Sir, we watch as we see you speak of the Arabs being "re-assembled" in the land that God Almighty gave plainly to the Jew. In horror, Sir, we watch as we read recent history and know plainly that the so-called "Palestinians" were the figment of the imagination of Yasser Arafat and then became a "popular Arab propaganda tool" after Israel captured Judea, Samaria, and Gaza in the defensive Six Day War of 1967. In horror, Sir, we watch as we read of the 100,000,000 refugees since World War II "Arab-Palestinians" are the only refugee group in the world that has never been absorbed or integrated into their own people's lands. In horror, we watch, Sir, as we see that the Arab nations "intentionally" kept the so-called "Palestinians" in refugee camps in Israel, and now, we, the "great satan" in the eyes of the Islamic folks, are going to dole out our tax dollars to build them houses. In horror, we watch, Sir, as those so-called Palestinian refugees' have been kept in Israel as virtual prisoners by the Arab power brokers with their misplaced hatred for Jews and western democracy. In horror, we watch, Sir, as we fully realize there is only one Jewish state, while there are 60 Muslim countries worldwide, including 22 Arab nations. In horror, we watch, Sir, as we know most of those Middle East countries, including Saudi Arabia, have control over vast sums of Middle East wealth (oil, Sir), and yet, you, our American "born-again" President, believe we can exist peacefully with those who seek to destroy us! In horror, we watch, Sir, as we know the Lord God or Israel said "that land" was "my (His, Sir) land" (Ezekiel 36:5), and that He in turn gave it by "an everlasting covenant" to the sons of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In horror, we watch, Sir, as we know that the Lord God of Israel, Jehovah God, Sir, the only true God, said that He will plead (judge, Sir) all nations which parted (divided, Sir) the land of Israel. In horror, we watch, Sir, as the judgment of God looms just over the horizon for the American people. Neville Chamberlain did not have a clue back there in 1938 as to the "horror," Sir, he was bringing, even also, Sir, upon his dear British people. In horror, we watch, Sir, as we perceive that you the man I voted for twice, the man who professes to know the same Messiah which I know take this beloved country on the road to certain doom. May God Almighty, the Lord God of Israel, help us, Sir! Jim Vineyard
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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PRANKS AND POLITICS
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, May 29, 2005. |
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Aside from the obvious political value of this prank, there is a more serious message to the COS and all the big brass: "You can not hide from your own people. Today it was a can of spray paint. Tomorrow it could be something a lot more serious." If, G-D forbid, there should actually be a Government ordered Pogrom carried out by Israeli security forces of any kind, the American army slang of fragging will very quickly enter the Israeli vocabulary. This is a news item from today's Arutz Sheva - IsraelNationalNews.com (www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=82853). It is called "Israeli Air Force Members Behind 'A Jew Does Not Expel a Jew' Spray Paint at IDF Control Center." (IsraelNN.com) The member of the IDF who spray painted "A Jew Does Not Expel a Jew" on the wall of the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv is a member of the Air Force. It appears the action was coordinated amongst several soldiers, who reported to their friend where Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Ya'alon was located within the heavily secured building. Thanks to the coordination, the soldier succeeded in spray-painting a wall near Ya'alon's office, where the Chief of Staff then saw the graffiti moments after it had been written. 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 |
ORANGE JEWS
Posted by David Wilder, May 29, 2005. |
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Shalom. I spent this past Shabbat with my wife in Beer Sheva. We answered a newspaper advertisement calling for volunteers to speak about Gush Katif and the Northern Shomron during a special Shabbat labeled "Standing Tall." People spoke in cities throughout Israel, focusing on Sharon's expulsion program, and what to do about it. My talks centered around several topics: 1. Why is settling Eretz Yisrael so difficult; 2. Why should people outside of the 'endangered areas' care about Gush Katif and the Northern Shomron; 3. Why it's not too late to prevent the decree; 4. What to do now. 1. Why is settling Eretz Yisrael so difficult? Our sages teach us on the fifth page of the first volume of the Talmud (Brachot 5a) that G-d gave 'three good presents' to Am Yisrael, to the Jewish people, and all of them are received only via suffering and hardships: Torah, Eretz Yisrael and the next world. One of the most important Rabbis of the past hundred years, Rabbi Yosef Chaim, known as the "Ben Ish Chai" asks why these three 'good presents' can be obtained only following suffering and hardship. His answer is, on the face of it, quite simple. He says that G-d is trying us. He wants to know if we really and truly want them. If so, our dedication should be so great that even suffering won't prevent us from desiring them, at virtually any price. Concerning Eretz Yisrael he asks if we want the land because it's comfortable for us, i.e., to enjoy its fruits, or rather, in order to perform the mitzvot (commandments or positive precepts) which are dependant on our being in Eretz Yisrael? Is our desire for Eretz Yisrael superficial, or can we, and do we recognize and appreciate the sanctity of the land? If our love of Eretz Yisrael is authentic, we will pass the test with flying colors. We will be willing to suffer whatever hardships G-d bestows upon us. If our love is superficial, we will give up when the going gets rough. It is clear to me that we are still being tested. We haven't yet proven our dedication to the land, and our belief that Eretz Yisrael is an integral element of our essence. In reality, the test of our endurance hasn't taken too much of a break since 1948, or even earlier, going back to at least, the beginning of the twentieth century. Then too settlers were willing to pay a very heavy price to live on the land. Yet, over the years, for many, that enthusiasm has dwindled. Today we must continue to raise the flag, not surrendering to the shallowness of comfort and despair. 2. Why should people outside of Gush Katif and the Northern Shomron care? Speaking in Beer Sheva, this is a very easy question to answer. In December, 1998, now PA prime minister Abu Ala, (a.k.a. Ahmad Qurei) said in an interview printed in the official PA newspaper 'Al-Hayyat-al Jadida' "...International legitimacy (i.e. UN resolutions) recognized [the existence of] a Palestinian State alongside Israel through the partition resolution [of 1947]. This means that Israel's legitimacy remained dependent and conditional upon the existence of the Palestinian State based on that same resolution, Resolution 181 of 1947." Furthermore, it should be emphasized that the [Palestinian] state has internationally recognized borders, which are the borders set in the [1947] partition resolution..." "...There is no doubt that all the UN resolutions that recognized the creation of the Jewish State, on the basis of [UN] Resolution 181, included an inherent recognition of the boundaries of that Palestinian State, whose legitimacy still exists although it was not established at the time [1947]. [memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=subjects&Area=conflict&ID=SP1898] Any Beer Sheva resident taking a good look at the map of the above-mentioned 1947 boundaries will quickly realize that according to that agreement, the capital of the Negev would have the same status as Gush Katif following the Israeli retreat; i.e., Beer Sheva would be under full Arab control. I asked my audiences, "if Beer Sheva were placed under siege, with all roads leading into the city blocked off, with an ultimatum of 'everyone out,' what would they expect from the rest of the country: that people would watch television, have a drink, and cry along with them; or would they expect everyone to join forces in trying to prevent mass expulsion from their homes?" So too it would be with Hadera, Afula, Eilat or Tel Aviv. The battle today is not for Gush Katif - it is a war for all of Eretz Yisrael. That is a main point which must be understood. 3. Why not despair? Can we really annul the decree? Of course we can. There's no question about it. If Jews fell into the pit of despair, we would have disappeared from the face of the earth a millennia ago. Only faith and hope, prayer and determination kept the Jewish people's collective head above water. Even during the darkest hours, (and there were many of them,) we never gave up. Why should today be any different? The story is told of Rebbi Akiva, who lived some two thousand years ago. An illiterate shepherd, married to the daughter of the wealthiest Jew in Jerusalem, Rebbi Akiva thought that he was beyond all hope, destined to a meager life in this world. One day Rebbi Akiva, watching water drip from above onto a rock below, realized that the water was boring a hole in the stone. "Ah," he thought to himself, "if a substance as soft as water can bore a hole in a substance as hard as a rock, then maybe there is still hope for me too." Rebbi Akiva left home to study Torah, and twenty four years later returned as one of the greatest Torah sages of Jewish history. The pillar of Rebbi Akiva's legacy is 'never lose faith and never give up.' 4. What to do today? Remember, every little bit helps. First, don't forget to pray. That's very important. Follow the Gush Katif web sites: www.katifund.org and www. katif.net in Hebrew and English. Various activities and programs are posted and these sites will keep you up-to-date. (For those of you who read Hebrew and live in Israel, see www.katifund.org/katifund/archives/oldindex.html to participate in an extremely significant project). Do whatever you can - donating time or money or both. Everyone who can get to Gush Katif, this is of paramount importance. Anyone who can plan on being here this summer, participating in various protests, or if and when the need arises, to be on the road to Gush Katif or the Northern Shomron on D-Day, can only be commended. One of the things we're doing here in Israel is to fill the country with orange. Gush Katif leaders chose the color orange to represent the struggle against expulsion and abandonment of our land to the enemy. As a result, people are flying orange flags and ribbons from their car windows and antennas. Everyone is wearing orange Gush Katif shirts. You can do the same. In Judaism, orange is a very interesting color. In mystical Jewish thought, orange is associated with an attribute representing "the power to continually advance, with the determination and perseverance born of deep inner commitment, toward the realization of one's life goals." [www.inner.org/sefirot/sefhod.htm] What could better describe the people of Gush Katif? The Torah verse symbolizing this attribute is in Proverbs 10:9, "He who walks uprightly (innocently), walks securely;" The people of Gush Katif are walking a path of purity and innocence. The result of such righteousness is Divine protection - total security. Despite the bombs, bullets, mortars and missiles, they remain steadfast in their faith, not willing to budge, not one inch. They are the "Vitamin C" of today's Judaism, filling us with faith, strength and energy. They are the genuine 'Orange Jews' of the Jewish people. 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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BUSH MAKES ALARMING STATEMENTS
Posted by Marcel Cousineau, May 29, 2005. |
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This was written by Bill Koenig of Koenig's International News
(www.watch.org/showart.php3?idx=68359&rtn=/archives/oldindex.html&showsubj=1&mcat=1).
President George W. Bush is rapidly moving himself and our nation on a collision course with God over Israel's covenant land. His peace efforts and personal commitments on the surface sound good but they are biblically wrong. He is calling for a contiguous Palestinian state from Ramallah to Gaza, which will divide Israel. Additionally, his plan to put a Palestinian state on God's covenant land and replace Jews with Palestinian terrorists is incomprehensible. The whole peace process is built on lies, deception, misperceptions and unfairness. President Bush's efforts could very well lead Israel into a civil war and further division. He will be responsible for the forceful evacuation of Jews by Jews off the land God gave to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their descendants. If his policies are implemented, Israel will be living with indefensible borders. Is the God of Israel going to let this happen without further judgment? History says no. The war on terror is judgment which has cost $1 trillion in the U.S. and $300 billion in Iraq and Afghanistan - and the cost is rapidly climbing. It's dreadful to ponder what is next for those directly responsible for putting the "apple of God's eye" at risk. I sense that President Bush believes God is going to bless his plan to bring freedom, democracy and peace to the Middle East; he says freedom is a gift from God. He thinks he is going to bring peace to the Israelis and the Palestinians. In reality, President Bush is rapidly moving into territory that could very likely produce events that will cause his presidency to be a major failure. Unless there is a course change, which doesn't seem likely, the Bush Administration and the U.S. will pay an enormous price. Our Lord is not a respecter of man, especially one who puts His people at risk Marcel Cousineau can be reached by email at up2zionsg8@yahoo.com |
| GUSH KATIF |
GAZA JEWS: WE ARE WITH YOU
Posted by Menachem Kovacs, May 28, 2005. |
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This is by Rabbi Elan Adler, who is spiritual leader of Pikesville's Moses Montefiore Anshe Emunah Hebrew Congregation. It appeared in the Baltimore Jewish Times The following remarks were given at Tuesday's anti-Gaza disengagement rally in Washington, D.C., across from the Convention Center, where Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was speaking. Rabbi Adler joined about 45 other Jews from Baltimore for the event. (http://www.jewishtimes.com/site/opinion/oped.stm). I am here with my wife, Dr. Rivkah Lambert Adler, and a busload of concerned Jews from Baltimore, to raise my voice against the Sharon government's plan to remove Jews from Israel. I don't wish to demonize or vilify or insult the prime minister in any way, or to call into question his love for Jews or the State of Israel. ... But for those who conscientiously object to a plan that they feel is anathema to the existing State of Israel, it is a mitzvah to raise our voices. This week's Torah reading begins with God saying, "Im Bechukotai telechu," "If only you will walk in my ways." But the prime minister has a different spin: Im Bechukotai, because of my laws, telechu, you will have to leave. And unusual laws they are - without a referendum, without a majority, ousting Cabinet members who disagree, arresting Jews at the Kotel because they wear orange-colored shirts, withholding pay from rabbis who dare to disagree. The prime minister says, "Because of my laws you will have to leave." But we say, with full confidence and belief in the Almighty, lo nelech, we will not go, we will not budge, we will not abandon our homes and our schools and our synagogues and our yeshivot and our businesses and our playgrounds and our farms and our cemeteries so that our enemies can freely march on the soil soaked with Jewish blood. Lo nelech, we will not leave a land that we love, we will not wave goodbye to our own country, we will not be pawns in a deal that rewards the killers and punishes the victims. Lo nelech! One time in Yerushalayim, a great gadol, Rabbi Aryeh Levin, came upon a street cleaner who seemed dejected. Reb Aryeh asked, "Is everything all right?" The street cleaner raised his head and said, "I can't believe what a lowly job I have, picking up trash and cleaning all the waste that everyone makes." Rabbi Levin reminded him of one person who never even made it into the Land of Israel. "My dear sir," he replied, "don't you think that Moshe Rabbenu would have done anything he could - prayed the right words, done the right mitzvah - to have the z'chus, the merit, to clean even one street in the holy city of Yerushalayim? Wouldn't Moses, our teacher, give everything to hold your broom and to pick up your trash?" And if it were possible for the Almighty to revive Moses and bring him to the Land of Israel, would Moshe feel any less privileged to be in Gush Katif or in the northern Shomron than in Jerusalem? Wouldn't Moshe eat of the produce of Gush Katif or learn in the Kollel of Sanur and feel that he is partaking in the pleasures of Eretz Yisrael? If Moshe stood in Chomesh or Kfar Darom or Kadim or Elei Sinai, would he not look up to the heavens with tear-filled eyes and with every ounce of strength recite the prayer of Shehechiyanu? The prime minister says it costs too much to protect so few Jews among so many Arabs. When will it cost too much to protect Hebron, and Rachel's Tomb, and Jerusalem? Every Jew, in every square inch of the land, must be a priority and must be protected. Does not the prime minister's office and his residence enjoy full and total protection? Will that ever cost too much? Isn't every Israeli entitled to be safe and secure? Is it all about money? The first word in this week's Torah reading is Im, the letters alef and mem. One of our great commentators reminds us that the combination has brought us great victories. In Egypt, we were redeemed through alef and mem - Aharon, Moshe and Miryam. In Persia, we were saved through alef and mem - Esther and Mordechai. And at the end of days, we will have our final redemption through alef and mem - Eliyahu and Mashiach. While we wait for that day, we pray for a speedier redemption, the redeeming of the Jews from Gaza and northern Shomron. We stand with them, and speak up for them. Tonight will be the 31st day of the Omer; the Hebrew letters totaling 31 are lamed and alef. They spell lo. And lo means "no." No to the dismantling, no to the forced evacuations, no to the extraction of Jews from their land, no to the amputation, no to Israel being a challah from which a prime minister can take a motzi through undemocratic means. At the end of this week's Torah reading, which marks the end of the third book of the Torah, we will rise and proclaim, chazak chazak v'nitchazek. Let us be strong, let us gain strength, and let us strengthen one another. Jews of Gush Katif and northern Shomron: Chazak, chazak, v'nitchazek! Be strong, don't weaken, we are with you all the way. Rabbi Menachem Kovacs is Director of the Jewish Roots Center of Baltimore, an education and research center on Torah and social science topics. He is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Montgomery College in Maryland. |
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HIGH REWARDS FOR TERROR
Posted by Dr. George M. Ettinger, May 28, 2005. |
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Not long ago, Saddam Hussein was reported to be paying US$30,000 rewards for each terrorist suicide murderer in Israel, payments made to the murderer's family. Since then, time and reward rates for murder have moved on: Just today, 27 May 2005, President Bush stated that he was making a payment of US$50 million to his favourite Arab leader - Abu Mazen. The Palestinian terrorists have killed 1051 Jews since the beginning of the Oslo Intifada. So the latest payment from American taxpayers, announced by the President, amounts to US$47,600 per Jew murdered, considerably more than Saddam Hussein's rate of US$30,000. (This assumes that President Bush paid no rewards for injuring Jews). However, allowing for 8000 seriously injured Jewish victims, as well as for 1041 killed, the President's gift would cover US$2350 per Jew injured, and US$28,800 for each Jew killed. Are there no Congressional sanctions, like those prior to July 2003? Does the American taxpayer really approve of these payments? This is not all: Go back two years, to July 2003, and look at reports of prior U.S. payments, which included US$30 million (small change?) handed over by the US consul, and US$200 million approved by President Bush. Here is a summary of the earlier report, circulated in July 2003: "Payments For Terror," compiled 13 July 2003 by Dr G.M. Ettinger. Officially released information about payments to the Palestinian Authority for carrying out terrorist murders: Just a week ago, the US Consul is reported to have handed over(1) a cheque for US$30 million as a payment to the Arabs for having successfully killed 850 Jews (and some non-Jews). This means US$35,000 per successful terrorist killing. And now the London Daily Telegraph reports(2) that US congressional sanctions, forbidding aid to Arafat and the Palestinian Authority, "deemed hopelessly corrupt and tainted by terrorist links", has been waived. From the Daily Telegraph: "An official announcement of the waiver was due yesterday, and an initial tranche of GBP 12.5 million (US$ 20 million) has been earmarked." Total US funding "for the Palestinian people" is set to reach some 125 million (US$200 million) this year (2003). The payment of a reward of US$200 million for killing 850 Jews in two years since September 2000 represented US$234,000 (yes,two hundred and thirty- four thousand dollars) per successful terrorist murder of a Jew. This is a very substantial increase over the payment of US$35,000 per killing, made by the US Consul just a week earlier!! Are the rewards to continue increasing? Is this really what the American legislators, and the American people, intended to happen? Here is a question: Once rewards for terrorist killings become a standard procedure, will the United States make retrospective payments to the killers of hundreds of thousands of Tutsis in African Ruanda, to Assad's Syrian killers of their own people, and to Iraqi chemical troops for killing of Kurds in 1991? (Note, added in May 2005): How much reward to the Sudan government for the Darfur killings?) (1) DEBKA.org web site 4th July 2003
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OLEG CARTOON
Posted by Women in Green, May 28, 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 |
| GUSH KATIF |
COME AVERT THE DEPORTATION
Posted by Arieh Zaritsky, May 28, 2005. |
Charlie Levine (clevine@bzdisrael.org, http://www.bzdisrael.org)
writes:
Join Rabbi Gershon and Fran Sonnenschein in Israel for 10-day Family Summer Experience departing August 15. Please RSVP. For more info, contact Fran Sonnenschein at 410-356.1140 or fsonnenschein@bzdisrael.org Jews living abroad who are able, should move to Israel at this critical time to resist the ethnic cleansing and war crimes planned by the Sharon government against its Jewish citizens PLEASE, make efforts to fly to Israel before (IF!) the evil "Jews" Expulsion Project starts (Aug 15) and join the crowds who would come to bodily block it JEWS/SUPPORTERS ALL AROUND THE WORLD:
OTHERWISE (if you are unable to, for any reason) - CONTRIBUTE: MINHELET KE'LA (="the Gaza Absorption Authority)
1) Refurbishing empty homes and structures With Love of Israel,
Please make checks payable to CENTRAL FUND FOR ISRAEL
From Israel please mail checks to Jay Marcus, 13 Hagoel Str, Efrat 90435, Israel Please, write "Women in Green-for Gush Katif" on the memo line of your check. Also please add a note with your address For NIS & $ donations where IRS tax deduction is not required, please make checks payable to MINHELET KELA and mail it to MINHELET KELA, POB 310, Neve Dekalim 79779, Israel Or wire to Minhelet Kela, Bank Mizrachi br #491 in Nevei Dekalim Act #114071 Professor Arieh Zaritsky can be reached at ariehz@bgumail.bgu.ac.il |
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THE STAIN REMAINS
Posted by Barry Shaw, May 28, 2005. |
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So, in Britain, the boycott on Israeli universities imposed by the railroading tactics of malevolent executive members of the Association of University Teachers has been lifted, thanks to a democratic vote that needed to be taken in an extra ordinary session of AUT members. And so the anti-boycott campaigners can congratulate themselves that justice was, in the end, done and they can go home happy in their victory. And yet, the injustice remains. The boycott has been lifted but the vicious slander against the Israeli universities remain. It was strange indeed that no other universities in the world were considered for academic boycott. Singularly, this action stank of anti-Semitism, not criticism of Israeli academic policy. The rationale given for the boycott were proven to be false and malicious. Anything Israeli remains under the threat of future action by the activists who are still determined to pursue their goal of eradicating what they perceive as a scourge - the racist Jewish state of Israel. While the anti-boycott campaigners wend their weary way home, the plotters remain at their posts. Susan Blackwell, the ring leader of the Israeli academic boycott, retains her position on the executive of AUT. She retains her position of power and influence. She has stated that she is determined to continue her actions against Israel from her position within AUT, and we must take her at her word. Sally Hunt, her co-conspirator, remains as general secretary of the union. The Universities of Haifa, of Bar Ilan, and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, would be well advised to continue to pursue their legal actions against the AUT for damage caused worldwide to their name and reputation, at least until the perpetrators of the crime of libel are removed from their posts. The Association of British University Teachers have a vested interest in removing the people who caused their union so much past and, possibly, future damage to their organisation. Until they do so the stain and stench remains. Barry Shaw writes the View from Here columns from Israel. To receive emails, contact him at netre@mataav.net.il |
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FREEDOM HOUSE
Posted by Judy Lash Balint, May 28, 2005. |
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This comes from Bill Mehlman, who is co-editor of ZionNet. He can be reached by e-mail at wmehlman@zahav.net.il or go to http://globalisraelalliance.com The cultural gap between American parents and the teenagers they bring with them on trips to Israel is wide enough to drive a Humvee through. There's a story making the rounds at the Anna Ticho House in Jerusalem (a pre-Shabbat rialto for Anglo ex-pats and their visiting kith and kin) involving a family of tourists from New Jersey that clearly illustrates this point. The family, including two boys, 18 and 15, and a girl of 17, would have made anybody's top 10 list of the most ambivalent travelers ever to alight at Ben-Gurion Airport. They were plain scared stiff. Their fears - exacerbated by too many hours of watching CNN - of being gunned down on the street or emulsified while sipping a café latte, had finally been overwhelmed, but hardly overcome, by the pleas of their children's Jerusalem-resident grandparents and an uncle and aunt who were planning a major family celebration and simply would not take no for answer. Before ordering those fateful tickets to Tel Aviv, the New Jersey couple had their attorney draw up a codicil to their will, appointing the mother's sister in Florida as guardian, in loco parentis, of the three children in the unlikely event they survived the bomb that could be awaiting the family in Israel. That the El Al flight from Kennedy Airport wasn't blown up proved a mild relief, but deeply committed paranoia isn't that easily appeased. Once installed in the grandparents' apartment in Jerusalem, the couple was determined not to leave. Trips to the center of town were out, restaurants were off-limits, and transportation - public or private - was not even to be discussed. It took the three teenagers about 20 minutes to scramble out of the bunker. Before the parents had even unpacked their bulletproof vests, they were off and running with their Israeli cousins to Jerusalem's premier teen hangout, the pedestrian mall on Ben Yehuda St. When they returned to the apartment, several nail-biting hours later, they had two additional teens in tow, instant new pals needing just a little floor space to unroll their sleeping bags. Interspersed between dinner and a café crawl through the German Colony, the teens, their cousins and their friends hatched plans for an early morning departure for Ein Gedi, a hike to the waterfalls, a mud-bath party and a long float in the Dead Sea. Bye mom. Bye dad. It is reliably reported that the New Jersey teens did actually make it to the family celebration. That they spent much more time than that in the bunker during their 10 days in Israel seems highly dubious. Their parents are said to be still in shock. The story offers a microcosmic glimpse of the impact Israel has on the tens of thousands of youngsters- Jewish, Christian and otherwise persuaded - who traverse its paths each year. To their elders, Israel might be anything from a Cook's tour of five-star hotels to a religious experience. To them it spells FREEDOM - a special, euphoric dose of the stuff most of them have never before known. For all its troubles and tragedies, Israel, for the young, is an elixir, defined first and foremost by an aura of informality and commonality unrivaled anywhere in the world. Israel requires no introduction - not if you're 18. Israel introduces itself. It's been anecdotally proven impossible for a teenage backpacker to walk through any town, village, kibbutz, moshav or settlement in Israel without making a minimum of four friends and being offered at least two dinner invitations. Freedom is also defined by Israel's smallness. Even with the so-called "West Bank" thrown in, the whole package is less than the size of Maryland. You can have breakfast on the Kinneret, a mid-morning coffee break on Sheinkin St. in Tel Aviv, lunch on the beach at Ashkelon, high tea in the Arava and a midnight chicken wing barbecue in Eilat. If you haven't got a car and don't want to take the buses, a hitchhike or two- trampim, as they're called in Israel - will do just as well. To the young temporarily on their own, whether for a brief vacation or a year's study, Israel isn't so much a country as a playpen, with adventure beckoning at every turn and nobody around to say no. It's the gratification of that spur of-the-moment youthful urge to do something, go somewhere - and to do it now. It's a crash-pad known to youths on four continents, one that can be pressed into service as easily as the press of a few buttons on a cell phone. Life offers that sort of freedom for only the briefest of periods. Its call is hard to resist. And that's what makes Israel so special to so many of the world's young. Judy Lash Balint is an award winning Jerusalem based writer and author of "Jerusalem Diaries: in Tense Times." Contact her at her website www.jerusalemdiaries.blogspot.com |
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FATAH CONSTITUTION DEMANDS ISRAEL'S DESTRUCTION
Posted by David Ben-Ariel, May 28, 2005. |
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Terrorist Arafat and terrorist business parter Abbas, co-founded the terrorist organization FATAH. In their own words: Article (12) COMPLETE liberation of Palestine, and eradication of Zionist economic, political, military and cultural existence. To Fatah and every other Nazi-Muslim terrorist organization, ALL of the Jewish homeland of Israel is "occupied Palestine." Fatah, and every other Nazi-Muslim terrorist organization, seeks the complete destruction and perversion of Israel into "Palestine." President Bush, Prime Minister Sharon, and every one else who is guilty of aiding and abetting such terrorists, are slitting the throats of every American and Israeli citizen and leading us all to self-destruction with Europe dealing us the death blow. David Ben-Ariel is author of "Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall." Contact him at http://www.benariel.com |
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THE "DEMOGRAPHIC TREAT"
Posted by Yuval Zaliouk, May 28, 2005. |
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Dear friends, Is the "demographic threat" real? Most people of leftist orientation believe that if Israel will not allow yet another independent Arab-Palestinian state, the Arab-Palestinians will have to be absorbed into Israel and through democratic process will turn Israel into a Palestinian state. Thus, separation into two independent states is the only solution that will save the Jewish identity of Israel. I have discussed this matter in several of my previous bulletins. I even suggested ways to counter the "threat." Here is an interesting view point for your consideration by Dr. Aaron Lerner. I am convinced Dr. Lerner hit the nail on the head. If you think Dr. Lerner errs, please let me know why. This is entitled "The Demographic Problem - Excuse Of Last Resort For Palestinian State" It was written by Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis). He can be reached at imra@netvision.net.il; the website address is http://www.imra.org.il "We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority." Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in his last policy address to the Knesset on October 5, 1995 before the vote to ratify the Israel-Palestinian Interim Agreement. That's right. Rabin opposed a sovereign Palestinian state. He considered the "two sovereign state" solution a non-starter. If Rabin were alive today he might find himself more comfortable with the views of NRP leader Eitam, who advocates Palestinian regional autonomy within an Israeli envelope, than he would with the views of either his Labor Party rival Shimon Peres or Likud head Ariel Sharon - both proponents of "two sovereign state" solution schemes. Regional autonomy? Contrary to the radical changes associated with the formation of a sovereign Palestinian state, movement towards regional level autonomy is a natural development as municipal level leadership gives priority to the provision of municipal services over what might be termed "national concerns". "The people elected us because they want better streets, water, electricity, work, schools and hospitals...My job is to give him [the voter] those things that he needs." And for that, Mustapha Sabri, a member of Kalkilya's newly elected Hamas-affiliated council told Jerusalem Post reporter Matthew Gutman this week, "we know we need to talk to the Israelis. We are open to that." But what about the "demographic problem"? The "demographic problem" hinges on what might normally be an esoteric question relegated to political philosophy debates in the ivory tower of academe: is it a sufficient expression of the right to vote for the Palestinians to elect the leaders of an autonomy or must they have the right to vote for the leaders of a sovereign state? The "demographic problem" hinges on this otherwise esoteric question because the "demographic problem" only exists if the Palestinians in the autonomy can vote in the Israeli Knesset elections in addition to elections for the autonomy leadership. Just a few short years ago - even after Oslo was signed - even Shimon Peres thought that autonomy was sufficient. and that thus the "demographic problem" was not relevant. "We thought that autonomy is basically, almost independence," Peres explained. Why then the 180 degree change on autonomy as a solution to the "demographic problem?" Before the horrific Oslo experience withdrawals and even a Palestinian state could have been naively claimed to somehow improve Israel's security. But Mr. Bush's glowing talk about "progress" towards a peaceful Palestinian state notwithstanding, with the exception of the radical Left, the Israeli leadership expects anything but a "peaceful" state. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon isn't preparing for peace and tranquility after he retreats from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria - he's spending millions of dollars reinforcing roofs in preparation for the rockets and missiles he expects the Palestinians to fire from "liberated Gaza" into pre-'67 Israel. And so, with nothing remaining to justify an Israeli policy driven by everything but the Arab-Israeli conflict, the demographic problem has become the excuse of last resort. Yuval Zaliouk writes the Truth Provider columns. To subscribe, send an email to ynz@netvision.net.il |
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AN APARTHEID STATE? OR THE GREATEST LIE EVER TOLD?
Posted by Jock L. Falkson, May 28, 2005. |
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Apartheid in South Africa was based on color separation. It was the whites (the "Europeans") versus the "non-Europeans" (Blacks, Coloreds [mixed race], Indians Malays and Chinese). All suffered from the legalized deprivation decreed by a South African government determined to impose white domination on the rest. It is manifestly clear that Israel has no color problem of any kind. Israel has brought in some 70,000 Ethiopian Jews and plans to absorb 30,000 more. All, including Circassian, Druze, Kurds, Armenians, Beduin and other non-Jewish citizens of the Jewish State, enjoy equal rights. Many Druze and Beduin serve in Israel's army. There is no semblance of South African apartheid here in democratic Israel. If ever a lie has been incessantly repeated to damage Israel, this is a prime example. For as the unlamented and unmourned Dr. Goebbels proved, nothing is more effective than a constantly repeated big lie. While many entries are extensively repeated, a Google search credits Mahmoud Abbas with approximately 19,000 apartheid references. Suffice to say he is an active promoter of the big apartheid lie. The apartheid lie attached to Israel is one of several concocted by Palestinians to publicize their cause. Readers and viewers are led by the nose because lies are so effective in promoting their policies - the bigger the better. Nevertheless the apartheid concept is totally inapplicable to Israel as the following refutations abundantly make clear: 1. Blacks, Coloreds, Indians, Malays and Chinese were legally classified as "Non-Europeans" and did not have the vote in apartheid South Africa. Neither in Municipal, Provincial nor Government elections. Israel's Arab citizens, some 20% of the population, have always enjoyed equal voting rights. Eleven Arabs sit in Israel's Knesset. 2. Non-Europeans exclusively had to carry a "Pass Book". (Identity books were introduced for Europeans round about 1976.) Employers had to sign the pass books monthly. Pass book infringements by blacks led to jail sentences and often to deportation to the black homelands. All citizens and legal residents of Israel carry an identity card as required by law. 3. Job Reservation laws kept non-Europeans from a wide range of jobs. No discrimination of this kind has ever existed in Israel's democratic Jewish State. 4. There was free education for whites till matriculation. Not so for blacks whose educational prowess was strictly limited by an oppressive Bantu Education Act. All school going children in Israel are entitled to publicly subsidized education till matriculation. No racial distinctions whatever are made. 5. Only one university was established for Blacks in South Africa, at Fort Hare. In addition to several Arab universities which Israel established in the predominantly Arab areas, Arab students may study at any university in Israel. 6. Black-white sex was a serious jail time crime. Sex detectives were even employed to catch offending parties in flagrante delicto. Legal sex apartheid in democratic Israel? You must be joking. 7. Medical services for non-Europeans were both restricted and segregated. Arab citizens are members of all the major Medical Service Organizations and benefit equally from government subsidized medical services. 8. Hospitals were largely segregated or had segregated wards. White hospitals were on a par with any in the western world. But black hospitals were under funded, under staffed, and few. Ambulances were also segregated. A "white" ambulance could not take a black to hospital. Not the Israeli way. Israeli Arabs get the full treatment in all State hospitals. 9. Non-Europeans "could not be employed in any of the skilled trades; they cannot become engineers, accountants or pharmacists. ... The Civil Service is closed to non-Europeans, as are also the technical colleges and most of the universities. They may not use the libraries, cinemas, public transport, public conveniences, post offices . ..." [From Prof. Deborah Posel's The Making Of Apartheid.] Arabs can do everything in Israel which non-Europeans in South Africa could not. 10. For many decades blacks had to observe a 9 p.m. curfew or face arrest, jail sentences and deportation. Absolutely unheard of in democratic Israel. 11. No mixed sport was allowed - by law. No such law ever in democratic Israel. 12. Parks and recreational areas provided benches for people to rest. Benches were painted with "Europeans Only" signs. I never saw a bench marked for non-Europeans nor a park. An unimaginable insult in democratic Israel. 13. Non-Europeans were not permitted to use the main entrance to buildings. They had to use the "tradesmen's" entrance at back. An unheard of apartheid stricture in democratic Israel. 14. Black South Africans were given half the pension allocated to whites. They were forbidden membership in trade unions (until the 1980s). Strikes were banned and strikers severely repressed. No such discrimination in democratic Israel. Not only are pensions allocated equally to all citizens but Arabs benefit fully from monthly child allowances to parents of large families. 15. Libraries, public swimming pools and beaches were racially segregated. Even so there were practically no black pools or libraries. No such segregation in democratic Israel. The way the Arabs use "Israeli apartheid" one might think they were protesting because Israel does not permit Arabs in their midst. Of course the very opposite is the case. It is the Arabs who do not suffer Jews in their midst. Many a Jew who has strayed into an Arab city, or taken a chance on doing business there, has been cruelly murdered. To ensure, no doubt, that Israelis do not misinterpret the message of their nazi Judenrein ideology. Last but by no means least, we must not overlook the use of "apartheid wall/fence" - the most often repeated and deliberate misuse of the apartheid calumny. The Arabs speak as though the wall as covers the full length of Israel's anti-terrorist barrier. The unpalatable fact is that it does not. The barrier is 96 per cent fence and 4 per cent wall. Walls are only erected to prevent terrorist sharp shooters targeting Israelis living opposite built-up Arab areas. It takes the chutzpah of an idiotarian* to attach the South African apartheid label to the democratic Jewish State of Israel. For the boot is truly on the other foot. Unlike the Judenrein Arab countries of the Middle East, Israel is the only one which neither believes in nor practices apartheid. *Idiotarian is derisive blogosphere slang for opponents of Zionism, Conservatism and the Bush Doctrine, usually academics, journalists or entertainers. An apparent hybrid of libertarian and useful idiot. Originally coined by Charles Johnson, webmaster of the Little Green Footballs. (Wikipedia) Jock Falkson is a former South African advertising executive, now a free lance writer living in Israel. To be put on Jock Falkson's email list to receive his essays, contact him at falkson@barak-online.net |
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ODE TO JUDE
Posted by Kaustav Chakrabarti, May 28, 2005. |
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I have a short poem on the Jews as a people. Sincerely
A people called the Jew(s) Kaustav Chakrabarti has degrees in modern history and the history of the Calcutta Jewish community. He is currently a lecturer in History at F.C. College in West Bengal, India. Contact him by email at kaustav12000@yahoo.co.in |
| GUSH KATIF |
MONEY WON'T TEMPT US
Posted by Ami Shaked and Yehudit Tayar, May 27, 2005. |
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This appeared in the Jerusalem Post, May 25, 2005.
We, the Jewish people, have an unusual, unbreakable connection to our Land that has lasted through the long endless generations of Diaspora and persecution. We, who live in Yesha, understand the connection of our people and our Land more than many of our brethren in other areas of Israel. However, it was this same spirit of connecting the people and the Land that made the pioneers who drained the swamps in Galilee and faced danger and disease and now in our generation has us determined to stay in the hills and valleys and shores of our beloved homeland. We, through our spirit of fortitude, have turned empty wasteland, barren hills and virgin sand dunes into a Garden of Eden. We have paid in sweat and blood and created towns, built communities and planted fields. We are determined to continue in this direction and protect the birthright of the Jewish people - our Land. Who came up with the idea that if they give us money we would consent to leave our homes? The people of Gush Katif realize that taking such money would destroy the community spirit we have built here. For 30 years we have built here together as a community - more than a family even - and if we were to take money to leave we would be destroying the glorious community that we have achieved. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon did not appreciate the extent of our commitment. He took for granted that by now a mere 20 percent of us would still be here. The opposite is true. One hundred percent of us are here and plan to stay. We are still in our homes and fields and plan to remain here. Our refusal to take money sends a message to the people of Israel. So Sharon intends to banish us from our homes and from our communities and turn our lives upside down. In Gaza, we are farmers, we toil the land and our lives are ordered in accordance with the agricultural needs of our land. What is important to us is our land, our families, and our community. Those who mistakenly thought it possible to translate this into money have been proven wrong. For 30 years we have lived among the Arabs and have surpassed them in our connection to and development of the Land. With determination and fortitude and despite the heavy price we pay, we have succeeded. We personally who deal with security - with life and death situations - have made it clear to our residents that anyone who translates our lives here into money is hurting the sacred memory of our fallen and the honor and dignity of our injured. He is hurting all of the people who night and day are working in Gush Katif's security division to save human lives. We will do all that we can to maintain this ideal combination of people and land. Our struggle is a moral and righteous one against the decision of a passing government to destroy the lives of over 2,000 families and the irreplaceable legacy of the connection of the people of Israel and the Land of Israel. One of the most infuriating aspects of this whole plan is the fact that its implementation will not bring peace and quiet and will not bring security to the people of Israel. On the contrary, it will bring terror into Ashkelon, Sha'ar Hanegev, Netivot and other areas. These regions have no security infrastructure to deal with the prospects of terror as we know it, nor do the populations have the fortitude to live under the terror as we do. We believe in our inalienable right as the nation of Israel to protect our birthright; no amount of money will tempt us to destroy our lives or jeopardize the future of the people of Israel. In May 1966, David Ben-Gurion wrote: "People of the Earth, brave in action, and aware in conscience ... shine... in incomparable human glory and historical depth... future generations will be able to draw on the spirit of our Pioneers, their faith in their own capacities and their knowledge that the great historic labors of our times, and the objectives imposed upon our people, are still at their very beginnings." Ami Shaked is a resident of Rafiah Yam and serves as the director of the security division of the Katif Regional Council. Yehudit Tayar, who lives in Bet Horon, is a veteran spokesperson for the settlement movement and works closely with the security officers in Yesha and the IDF. |
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GKV47 - TOWN MEETING
Posted by Moshe and Rachel Saperstein, May 27, 2005. |
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Several nights ago I attended a Town Meeting in the large hall under our synagogue complex. The residents of Neve Dekalim gathered to listen, confer and speak their piece. The mayor of Neve Dekalim, Mr. Lior Kalfa, asked the people to sign a document with the purpose of alleviating their concerns regarding "the day after". The document - as of now over a thousand residents have signed - declared "One for All and All for One". It is part of a program called AMANA created to unite the people of Gush Katif. Mr. Kalfa explained "We are acting together to remind the government that we are continuing the battle against our expulsion. We want to ensure that if our battle is unsuccessful we will go as a Gush, a bloc. We will all move together, live together, care for each other and function as one unit. We are acting to forestall groups doing their own negotiating and for the individual to know he is not alone." The following morning Israel's dailies purposely distorted the event, declaring that 1000 families had signed away their homes and were ready to leave Gush Katif. After our forceful protests, including the threat of legal action, corrections were printed. At the meeting we were reminded that government bodies dealing with our expulsion were working without direction or information. Not a single committee, not a kibbutz or city planner, not one builder had been issued permits, finances or clear instructions. The army and police remain unable to deal with mass evacuation. In short, there is no disengagement "plan". It is all merely a ruse to convince Jews to leave their homes and begin life elsewhere, without hope of remaining united as a Gush. The government hopes that after years of living separated from each other we will be forgotten by the media and the public and, in despair, will give up the determination to remain as a group. Gush Katif will disappear forever. And, as Vice Premier Shimon Peres told journalists in an interview printed this morning, other "disengagements" will follow one after another. A town meeting means people spoke. And our people spoke from their hearts. One resident told of a friend who said "I just lost my job and was worried. Then I realized I still have a home, my children still have a school, my wife still has her job, I can still pray with my neighbors in our local synagogue. I appreciated that we are not threatened like the Gush Katif people, to be thrown out with nothing at all." Other residents told of strangers calling and writing from every part of the world, each with the same message - Keep Strong! Don't evict yourselves! We are with you and will be out on the streets fighting for you! Just hold on! Others spoke about the panic that the government is experiencing: disputes among ministers, officials under investigation or already under indictment. Chaos! For many in the hall even talking about "the day after" was viewed as a hillul Hashem, a desecration of G-d's name. For these people there is no "day after", only the battle to be continued with a firm belief that the Almighty would see us victorious. With these words of faith and strength the Town Meeting was adjourned. 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. |
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THE HANGMAN SPEAKETH
Posted by Marcel Cousineau, May 27, 2005. |
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Yesterday the hangman let the noose slip a little bit tighter around Israel's neck. We heard him purposely ignore the terrorists but not forget to call on Israel to halt their existence in numerous areas of their ancient homeland. We saw with our own eyes his whitewashing of the spots that cover the leopard. And yet the Zionist train is stuck on the track, completly ignoring the one who divides Israel and rewards her enemies. Israel's politicians there said the noose was nothing to worry about and felt quite comfortable indeed. There's no way the most Israeli-friendly president would turn into our executor said the dazed and confused fools as they ignored the reality now facing them. We must stay asleep and this bad dream will end they said. The only problem is, this is not a dream. The Hangman has a friendly and sincere smile and this keeps the dumb sheep asleep. WAKE UP ISRAEL! Yesterday I head Israel's Consul General on the radio saying that Mr. Bush was one of Israel's most friendly presidents ever. This was after the Bush-Abbas meeting and another $50 million to help the terrrorists finish the job thay began. This was said about the first U.S. President to call for a Palestinian state, the president who is behind removal of Jewish cities and villages in order to reward the terrorists with a better platform to finish the job of destroying Israel. The president who seduced Israel with his false peace under the guise of democracy and freedom. When we have people like this leading Israel it's not a surprise that Israel continues to sink deeper and deeper into the pit it has willingly climbed into, the Bush Road Map. I don't use the word 'fool' in a careless manner, but today Israel is top heavy with fools. Marcel Cousineau can be reached by email at up2zionsg8@yahoo.com |
| GUSH KATIF |
SOLIDARITY VISITS TO ISRAEL
Posted by AFSI, May 27, 2005. |
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The ZOA and AFSI have teamed up for a 10-day trip to Gush Katif and northern Samaria this coming week, and another 100 supporters will fly to Israel the following week. The two solidarity trips are part of the ongoing activities of support for Israel by the Zionist Organization of America and Americans for a Safe Israel. The visitors will be bringing toys and other gifts for the children of Gush Katif, to where they will head immediately after landing at Ben Gurion International Airport. AFSI Executive-Director Helen Freedman said she will protest to the United States Embassy if Israel tries to prevent the group from visiting the towns, as it tried to do earlier this year on a similar trip. Airport officials told members of New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind's visiting group this past March that the Gaza area was a closed military zone. The group called the government's bluff and visited without interference. The group will visit Gush Katif homes, schools and farms for two days before continuing their solidarity mission in Samaria. They will visit Knesset Member Aryeh Eldad (National Union), who recently moved to Sa-Nur, one of the four communities the government plans to abandon to the Arabs after forcing the Jewish residents out of their homes. The two groups and a 100-person mission led by Hikind, which is to leave Sunday, June 5, will celebrate Jerusalem Unification Day on June 6 and will visit the endangered communities. The New York State legislator is bringing 100 Jews and Christians - more than double the number who came on his earlier trip. Half of the group is made up of Baptist ministers, including Reverend James Vineyard, one of the most active Christian leaders fighting the Israeli government plan to eradicate 25 Jewish communities. Vineyard said he has no intention of trying to convert Jews and has never baptized a Jewish proselyte. "I don't go to Israel to win souls. I go to keep America from going down the tubes," he explained. "If America causes Israel to give away Gush Katif, Israel goes down the tubes, and as goes Israel, so goes America." The fundamentalist Okalahoma preacher added, "The Bible says that land [Gaza] belongs to the Jews." He also has raised $50,000 to distribute a DVD film explaining to churches and synagogues the dangers and pitfalls of the expulsion/withdrawal plan. 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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80% OPPOSE SHARON
Posted by Voice of Judea, May 27, 2005. |
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1- 20,000 voted thus far in the independent referendum Mishalot Yisrael has announced that 20,000 people have voted thus far in the independent referendum on the disengagement, www.mishal.org. The referendum is gaining momentum and Mishalot Yisrael continues to call upon every Jew to voice their opinion one way or the other. "Expel our brothers or our enemies" is the new slogan on street signboards and in orange shirts and stickers being circulated throughout Israel. From Gaza in the South to the Golan Heights and Kiryat Shemonah in the North, Israel has become one big chain of Orange signs and ribbons. Mishalot Yisrael is imploring every Jew to forward the website address and to help volunteer to spread the grassroots independent referendum to the widest possible audience. You can cast your vote on www.mishal.org More than 80 percent of the votes that have been tallied are against the Sharon disengagement plan. Vote now on http://www.mishal.org [Editor's note: You can also access the Mishal site from the Think-Israel front page.] ****** 2- EITAN KAVEL: BEGIN COULD NOT EVEN RESURRECT THE LABOR PARTY MK Eitan Kavel, Head of the Labor party faction in the Knesset had some interesting comments published on Mariv online, Iyar May 26, 05. Here are some choice excerpts from Kavels interview: Today, even if Menachem Begin would rise up from the dead to lead the Labour party we still would not stand a chance. The time has come for us to understand that our conception does not work. I have reached the conclusion that as long as the Israeli public views the Palestinians as a threat to our existence we will have a problem to challenge the Likud and the right on issues connected to defense and foreign policy. The public has shown that they prefer the Likud on these issues. Although the majority of generals and chiefs of staff have joined Labor, the simple Likud soldiers keep beating us. Labor needs to raise the issues of economy and the social fabric of Israel Voice of Judea Commentary: That is the political history of the state of Israel in a nutshell. For the past 28 years, Likud has been destroying Labor in national elections because the public is rightwing and nationalist. The Likud leaders get elected and then take a sharp turn to the left and continue the leftwing policies of appeasement to the Arabs and capitulation to terrorists. Sharon is elected and implements policies further to the left than Labor. The only way to correct this madness is by enforcing a program of national referendums that will bind the government to carry out the obvious will of the people on issues such as disengagement. If the people of Israel were given an option they would clearly vote to expel the enemies of Israel out of Israel rather than expulsion of the Jews and surrendering of Gaza to the terrorists. If the issue is the Arab domestic terrorist and demographic threat, then it would be much more effective and logical to expel the hostile enemies. The media reports indicating that a third of Labor members are Arabs and the fact that Likud wins decisive victories for the past three decades are enough evidence that the majority of Jews are against capitulating to the Arabs. It is essential that the nationalist camp do 2 things: 1- Do not allow the left to hoist the banner calling for reform against corruption and the revolution for social and economic change. The left is no less corrupt! And if anyone champions this cause it must be the authentic nationalist Jewish camp and not the leftist politicians and swindlers. The battle against the disengagement needs to be an all out battle calling for an end to the corruption rooted in all of the existing political parties in Israel. The last thing we need is for the Likud to fall and be replaced by Sharon leading a new rightwing centrist party or Labor and Shinui who win elections on the social economic issues. The whole system must be revamped. And we must lead the battle to expose all of the frauds from all of the parties. 2- Support the call for a national emergency referendum to replace the government and clean out corruption as well as to determine policy on issues such as the disengagement. Vote now: http://www:mishal.org ***** 3- Bush backs Abu Mazen Abu Mazen leaves Washington with assurances and support from US Pres. Bush. Oops q- so much for all of the delusions and illusions being peddled by Sharon about how the disengagement will allow Israel to determine its own borders and retain settlement blocks. The truth is that the Arabs, the Americans and the international community are all expecting this to be the first of many Israeli withdrawals, and if anything, the disengagement has only whet their appetites. Hamas has openly said, what a spokesman on Israeli radio reiterated today, that they will resume attacks against Israel after the disengagement. Voice of Judea Commentary: Stop the disengagement! ****** 4- Sharon: The disengagement will ensure a Jewish majority in Israel Sharon repeated the demographic message in every speech he delivered to American Jewish audiences. Sharon explained how he must carry out the disengagement, so as to ensure a Jewish majority in Israel. Sharon explained that by disengaging from areas with dense Arab populations and by building a security fence between those areas and the rest of Israel he will lessen the threat of terrorism and ensure a Jewish majority within Israel. Sharon was applauded by American Jewish leaders in NY and by AIPAC in Washington. There were thousands who protested outside of his addresses and hecklers who were ejected from his speeches. Voice of Judea Commentary: Sharon is a liar! The areas being surrendered in Gaza do not have any significant Arab population. Gaza city is nowhere near Gush Katif. The Jews and Arabs travel on different roads. And the security fence will have zero impact against smugglers and against kassams and will only encourage more Arab attacks after rewarding the terrorists with the land and homes of their Jewish victims. As for the demographic threat, the Arabs will still become a majority and the real demographic threat is within Israel, posed by Arabs with citizenship who vote and who identify with Israels enemies. Moreover, the Arabs in Gaza do not have citizenship. If Sharon really wanted to distance the Arab demographic and terrorist threat, he would drive out our enemies from Gaza and from the rest of Israel and not expel our brothers and sisters. There is not a sane Jew in Israel who would not prefer expulsion of our enemies before expulsion of our most loyal Jews. Sharon will never bring this alternative to a referendum. This is why Mishalot Yisrael is making an independent referendum on this very issue. Vote now and help deligitimize the anti-Jewish, anti-democratic Sharon regime. www.mishal.org Send a contribution now, while there is still precious time to Mishalot Yisrael, Jaffa Road, 210/14 Jerusalem, Israel. Subscribe to Voice of Judea emails by sending an email request to jsid@dorsai.org or read the website - http://www.voiceofjudea.com |
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SHTEINITZ: US NO LONGER SUPPORTS DEFENSIBLE BORDERS FOR ISRAEL
Posted by Bryna Berch, May 27, 2005. |
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The Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee says Thursday's Bush-Abu Mazen meeting is a great blow to Israeli-U.S. relations, and proves that Sharon is deceiving the public. The committee chairman, Likud MK Yuval Shteinitz (pictured), said today that everything Sharon has long said he was promised by U.S. President George Bush amounts to zero, because "Bush said yesterday that the basis for everything is the pre-1967 borders." Prime Minister Sharon has long boasted that Bush has promised him that he would support Israel's right to retain large settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria in any final-status arrangement. However, Shteinitz said, Bush's remarks on Thursday represent "a regression even from previous American positions in favor of UN Resolution 242, which talked about 'defensible borders.'" In fact, Bush referred not to the 1967 borders, but rather to the 1949 Armistice Lines, which are even less generous to Israel in some areas.(1) "It is deception and misleading of the public," Shteinitz said, "when Prime Minister Sharon claimed that the United States and Bush would support the Israeli position in talks after the disengagement..." Shteinitz further said, "Abu Mazen is doing nothing against terrorism, as the Shabak (GSS), and even Sharon himself, have said. The opposite: he is allowing Hamas and the terrorist organizations to get stronger, and even to run in the elections. And this same Abu Mazen receives compliments in Washington for his opposition to terrorism." MK Yitzchak Levy (Religious Zionism Renewal Party) said, "The lie that Sharon has been disseminating about American commitments to maintain the settlement blocs has exploded. Once again, Sharon receives a spit in the face, and yet he still runs as if being chased to expel thousands of Jews from their homes, receiving nothing in return." Associate Prime Minister Shimon Peres said Friday morning that the Bush "promise" regarding Israel's right to retain large settlement blocs no longer exists, for all intents and purposes. Peres explained that this is because Bush made sure to say in the press conference with Abu Mazen on Thursday that the future of the areas requires Palestinian Authority agreement. Analyst Dr. Aaron Lerner of IMRA notes other major gains for the PA following the White House meeting, and one minor gain for Israel. Among the PA achievements are: * Explicit reference to Jerusalem in the phrase "Israel should not undertake any activity that... prejudice final status negotiations with regard to Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem." On the other hand, Bush showed understanding for Israel's demand to control airspace and sea ports in Gaza - at least until conditions change enough to warrant more Israeli trust of the PA. This could even include control of the Philadelphi Route on the southern Gaza border, Lerner feels. (1.) Aluf Benn's article on the topic is called "Background: "1949 Armistice Line" vs '67 Line"; it appeared in Ha'aretz 30 May 1995.
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| GUSH KATIF |
WARNING!
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, May 27, 2005. |
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It is a well know principle that G-D interacts MIDA KENEGED MIDA. As a person acts towards his fellow man, so to speak, G-D acts towards him. If the Jews in the Galut act with such indifference or, even worse, with hostility towards the dangers faced by Jews in Israel, how do they expect G-D to treat them when they will be endangered? The wheel of history has turned itself once more and we are in a period very similar to the 1930's. Hatred of Jews is open, deviant and degenerate behavior is open, accepted and officially encouraged and there are malevolent saviours on every street corner preaching death to the Jews it the road to salvation. If not for the sake of G-D's holy name, if not for the sake of your endangered brothers and sisters then at the very least for your own sake, wake up and come home to Israel and help fight the evil here. Your mundane indifference will soon be met with divine indifference. "Easier to Find Baptists than Rabbis' Against Evacuation,"
is a news item from today's Arutz Sheva (IsraelNationalNews.com).
It is archived at www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=82734
(IsraelNN.com) It is easier to find Baptist ministers than rabbis
who are prepared to join the struggle against the government's
evacuation plan, according to New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind.
He has signed up ministers to join about 100 American Jews who plan to
visit Jewish communities in Gaza in early June.
One of the most vocal Christian supporters of Jewish presence in
Gaza and northern Samaria, which the government wants to give to
Arabs, is Reverend James Vineyard. "The Bible says that land belongs
to the Jews," said the Oklahoma preacher. "The Lord, God of Israel, is
not going to look favorably on the giving-away of one grain of sand.
If America causes Israel to give away Gush Katif, Israel goes down the
tubes, and as goes Israel, so goes America."
Hikind's trip is sold out, but he is frustrated at his inability
to sign up more Jewish leaders to visit the endangered communities in
Israel. Among those scheduled to leave for Israel on June 5 are a
non-Jewish state senator.
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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LIKE PASSING WORDS
Posted by Women in Green, May 27, 2005. |
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This article was written by Sarah Honig and it appeared in the
Jerusalemn Post, May 19, 2005.
History's taste for bitter irony is indisputable. Take the Mahmoud Darwish-Ariel Sharon connection. Poet Darwish, once an Israeli-Arab communist activist, later a PLO luminary and author of the 1988 Palestinian "Declaration of Independence," fled Beirut where he resided in 1982. That was because Sharon arrived to eradicate terror and expel Arafat and his henchmen. Darwish and Sharon couldn't conceivably have been more adversarial then. How surreal and spine-chilling it therefore is to realize that today none other than Sharon is fulfilling to the letter Darwish's venomous prophesy in verse, also from 1988, entitled Passing Through Passing Words. This poem had come to embody the visceral, uncompromising, all-encompassing animus of those whom our homegrown, indefatigable purveyors of fantasy insist on dubbing "peace-partners" - with whom they seek mutual accommodation, and to whom they entrust our security. Undeterred by what Darwish wrote, they kept painting him in their own idealized image as an eminently reasonable man of peace (his vehement rejection of Oslo notwithstanding) and icon of liberal tolerance. Indeed, five years ago then education minister Yossi Sarid did his darndest to introduce Darwish's literary output to the public-school curriculum of the Jewish state. That folly, shortly before Arafat unleashed his bloody intifada, became emblematic of the excesses that made Ehud Barak's government so unpopular and ultimately contributed to its downfall. The alternative to that defeatist mind-set was heroic patriot Arik, the quintessential Sabra man-of-action. He was the surefire antidote to the festering malaise that threatened to crush our collective spirit. That's why Sharon won so big - twice. How ironic, then, that the hawk who so unequivocally opposed teaching Darwish's Jew-debasing lines should end up doing precisely what those lines prescribe, down to the most eerie details, which Sharon did try to keep under wraps for as long as he could in this land of loose lips. BUT VIA inevitable leaks we eventually discovered that a special army reserve unit is now readied to clandestinely exhume Jewish graves in Gush Katif and remove the dead - including terror victims - just as preparations are under way to uproot the living. Ninety combat troops are assigned to the morbid mission, assured their identities won't be divulged and that their grisly work will be conducted furtively to avoid any confrontation with the families. Darwish must feel supremely elated. His poetry, the one Sarid felt so compelled to inculcate in impressionable young Israeli minds, denies any Jewish connection with this land, any history, tie or right to remain here. Jews to him are irreversibly interlopers, and he contemptuously advises them - "those who pass through passing words" - to: Take your names and get out/ Steal what you will/ From the blue of the sea and the sands of memory/ Don't pass amongst us like flying insects/ Take your bony skeletons/ Collect your illusions from abandoned holes and get out/ It's your time to get out/ Reside where you will but not amongst us/ Die where you wish, but not amongst us/ Ours is the past here/ And the present and the future/ Ours is the world here / So get out of our soil/ Our earth, our sea/ Our wheat, our salt/ Our everything. Get out/ Of all memory/ And remove with you your dead What poetic justice the prospect must seem of Jewish soldiers digging open Jewish graves, as if obediently doing Darwish's bidding - literally taking away the names, the bones, and expunging all memory of Jewish life or death in Gush Katif. Emboldened Darwishes know that past experience has taught Jews that Arabs wreak sadistic vengeance even on graves. Even the dead aren't safe. Savagery obviously pays off. Onlooking Arabs can take heart. If the Jews can be frightened from 30-year-old settlements, then their stay anywhere else, even inside what they call their Green Line, isn't permanent. The very man who drove the Palestinian bard from Beirut is now implementing his vision. From the Darwishian vantage point it's an unequivocal triumph over Sharon and, by extension, over all Israelis. It doesn't matter how much Sharon dismisses Darwish's perception. It becomes a pivotal factor too psychologically potent to ignore. Psychology indeed is key. It's the building block of Mideastern reality. Few today would downplay the boost Palestinians derived from Israel's ignominious retreat from Lebanon. Appearing soon thereafter at Bir Zeit University, Darwish mocked Barak's bravado and contention that he was withdrawing from a position of strength: "If that's the Zionists' idea of victory, why argue? Let's wish them many such victories - in Gaza, Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Golan - all through this land." Darwish is now getting the first item on his wish-list and, as per his injunction, we're taking the dead to remove all residue of our transitory sojourn - as transitory, in the poet's idiom, as that of pesky bugs or passing words. 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 IMPACT OF "DISENGAGEMENT" ON U.S. INTERESTS
Posted by Yoram Ettinger, May 27, 2005. |
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This is the 178th issue of Straight From The Jerusalem Cloakroom. Would Congress examine and debate the issue, before transferring foreign aid to the PA and/or to Palestinian NGOs (which are totally controlled by the PA)? Should you wish to examine previous issues, OpEds and PowerPoint Presentations, please visit http://yoramettinger.newsnet.co.il or www.acpr.org.il (Jerusalem Cloakroom and Hatikvah links). Your constructive criticism would be highly appreciated. Shabbat Shalom, and may we heed the lesson of this week's Parasha: Retreat (into larger towns) is a punishment, while chasing the enemy is a reward. Yoram 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% and 40% of the territory (and 100% and 95% 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-US terrorists. US GIs in Afghanistan and Iraq were encountered by Palestinian terrorists. 2. HIGHER US TERROR CASUALTIES. The July 2000 disengagement from Southern Lebanon propelled Hizballah from a local, to a regional, profile, haunting US GIs in Iraq and Afghanistan and threatening US homeland security. 3. CONTRADICTING U.S. WAR ON TERRORISM. Disengagement is perceived, by the Mideast, as cut & run, appeasement and cave-in, in sharp contrast to US 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 US 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 US flight from Beirut (1983) and Somali (1993). It would nurture Arab hope that neither the US nor Israel possess a marathon-like steadfastness, required for a long-term victory. 6. PA FEEDS ANTI-US TERRORISM. A correlation has existed between the bolstering of PLO stock since Oslo 1993 on one hand, and the exacerbation of anti-US terrorism on the other hand (since the 1993 Twin Towers I, through the 1995 Khobar Towers, the 1998 Kenya and Tanzania US 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-US terrorism, irrespective of (and probably due to) US 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-sum-game: The stronger the PLO the weaker the Hashemites. The rise of the PLO/PA has emboldened subversive anti-US terrorists in Jordan and in the Gulf area. 8. STRENGTHENING ANTI-US 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-US Mideast regimes. A stronger PA would be a liability - to the US - in the UN 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 US concerns, including US 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 re-engage them in a terror-ridden area, thus fueling unintentional and intentional confrontations. It could drag the US unnecessarily into such conflict. Egypt has facilitated/tolerated the smuggling of terror hardware, missiles and mortars into Gaza. It has undermined US interests in Africa, in the Red Sea and in the UN, 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. |
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AN APPEAL TO THE CONSCIENCE OF THE JEWISH MEDIA
Posted by Naomi Ragen, May 27, 2005. |
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I agree with David Bedein (his article below). Yeah, the media did it again. A whitewash of Abbas, following in the disastrous footsteps of the whitewash of his mentor, Yasir Arafat. And we all know what happened then. For the past four months, our news agency hired credible Arabic-language journalists to translate and provide the Jewish media with the content of the media of the new regime of Abbas, and place it on an a website, www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com. This was done at a time when JTA did not have the budget to do so. Our agency has also provided this material to members of the US Congress. The Jewish media has by and large refused to relate to the content of Abbas's new regime, which showed a consistent message of virulent anti-semitism, anti-Americanism, advocacy of the absolute "right of return" and the continued inculcation of the Palestinian Arab people for war against the state and people of Israel. Essentially,the Jewish media repeats the mistake of its initial coverage of Arafat during the seven year period of 1993-2000. As a direct result of the Jewish media not warning the Jewish community of the diaspora of the real message of Abbas, twenty Jewish organizations met with Abbas, not knowing of the virulent message of hatred that emanates from the man who was and is the protege of Yassir Arafat. The Jewish media had a responsibility to prepare the leaders of American Jewry for the nature of the man whom they were going to meet, and the Jewish media blew the opportunity. We can recall that the lack of Jewish media coverage of Arafat's message led to a decision of the UJC to provide the Isaiah Award for Peace to Arafat in October 1999 - a decision which was rescinded after our agency reported the decision. On a personal and professional basis, it would give me great pleasure to report expressions of peace, reconciliation and compromise that emanate from the official Palestinian Arabic language media. Unfortunately, I cannot do so, because it does not exist. If the Jewish media had warned the world of Arafat's message, perhaps the US would not have nurtured that PLO terrorist, and perhaps some of more than 1000 people murdered in cold blood by the PLO would not have been murdered. Now the Jewish media protects Arafat's protege, which may result in the US arming Abbas once again. Please remember: Abbas is one of the authors of the PLO covenant which has never been amended/ That PLO charter is clear in its intention and its program: To exterminate Israel, using the strategy of phases that the PLO adopted in 1974, an amendment written by none other than Abbas. And please remember that the new school books of the Palestinian National Authority are dedicated to the memory of Haj Amin Al Husseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem who lived with Adolf Hitler and who was the mentor of Arafat and Abbas. The Jewish media has a choice: to report the reality of Abbas's new regime, or to report on all of those State Department cronies who speak and relate to the fact that he wears a nice suit and says the right things in English a the White House. The question is whether the Jewish media will adopt a position of integrity on the matter of Abbas. Respectfully Submitted, David Bedein
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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OH, THOSE PHONY HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS!
Posted by American Chin High, May 26, 2005. |
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I had to yawn when (yet again) the "official" human rights groups, HAD to single out US, Israel... for the human rights in EVERY single Arab and Muslim country on earth is just sooooo so great, in rights, in torture, fair trials, beating women in public or in private, corrupted "religious" policing, imprisoning with false charges the political opponents, or... Does anyone have any idea How many are missing/dead/injured in the Arab Muslim world by their GOVT, Including "moderate" Egypt, Saudi Arabia, etc.? I am sick and tired that those that are being hammered by these groups are precisely the ones fighting for survival against mass murderers that target children for their Filthy Jihad, covered with cheap false "freedom" slogans. This was an encouraging article out of the Review & Outlook Section of the Wall Street Journal about that ridiculous mask by the name of "Amnesty". It's called "The Trouble With Amnesty: A "human rights" group suddenly wants to keep Iraqis oppressed." and was published December 8, 2002. The next time Amnesty International comes trying to sell you a candle this Christmas tell the volunteer you know exactly where it should be displayed--in the sands of a free Iraq, one this organization suddenly seems unwilling to see materialize. The British government has released a detailed dossier showing the horrors Saddam Hussein has inflicted on Iraqis, but Amnesty is now fretting about a war that would end these abuses. Let's see. The London-based organization does not dispute the contents of the dossier, "Saddam Hussein: Crimes and Human Rights Abuses." In fact, the British Foreign Office relied on human rights groups to put together this report. But according to an Amnesty spokesman, "human rights should not be used as an excuse to go to war." This has been Amnesty's line pretty consistently. Its secretary general, Irene Khan, wrote recently that "this selective attention to human rights is nothing but a cold and calculated manipulation of the work of human rights activists. Let us not forget that these same governments turned a blind eye to Amnesty International's reports of widespread human rights violations in Iraq before the Gulf War." This raises several questions. An immediate one is, shouldn't human rights be the best cause for starting a war? Shouldn't conscientious governments care when human beings are being mistreated, and do something about it? Amnesty maintains that it has for some time been saying that Saddam is guilty of "gross human rights violations," as the spokesman herself put it. It says that the West is now preparing for war only for its own reasons, which have nothing to do with human rights abuses. But obviously if Amnesty really wanted the situation to change in Iraq then it would be cheering that--for whatever reason--some governments have now come around to its own anti-Saddam views. The way Ms. Khan's organization has it now, the mere presence of self-interest on the part of the U.S. and British governments--even if this is the protection of their citizens from terror--suddenly obviates the alleviation of the Iraqis' lot. The Amnesty spokesman emphasized that governments should consider the "consequences" of war on the people, but when asked what the consequences of war had been for Afghans or Kosovars the spokesman suddenly wouldn't be drawn. "That's not something for us to comment on." Why? Shouldn't an organization that purports to monitor human rights actually cheer when something is done to improve them, as in Kosovo or Afghanistan, even when that something is war? Lastly, Amnesty insiders say that the organization believes that even if Saddam's regime is abominable, so are many other governments around the world--including U.S. "allies" such as Saudi Arabia--and nobody is proposing regime change there. Readers of these columns know that we're more than a little perturbed with coddling the Saudis, but the ultimate sanction of regime change must be used only in extreme cases. And why isn't improving the lot of at least the Iraqis a good thing? |
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OPEN LETTER TO STATE DEPT ON WITHDRAWING FROM GAZA
Posted by Evelyn Hayes, May 26, 2005. |
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At a State Department Briefing:
QUESTION: Will there be a push to go on with the negotiations immediately after withdrawal for the final status? MR. BOUCHER: The push as you have seen it from the Quartet and from the United States and others is to make this withdrawal from Gaza work so that it benefits both Israelis and Palestinians, so that Palestinians can get more normal lives, so they can sell their goods and go to their jobs and go to their schools and start building -- putting together organized institutions of a state that they want to create. So that Israelis can live safer lives and not have to worry about terrorism or rockets or mortars or things like that. So the goal is to make that work. If we make that work with both sides, we accelerate progress on all the other things. But that's where we are now, is focused on the present, on what needs to be done now. Michel. I find it outrageous that withdrawal of gardeners comes before withdrawal of terrorists and their infrastructure. I find it discriminatory to remove Jews from their own land and re-refugee them again, especially considering Jews were in Gaza before Egypt invaded in 1948 and before those working for the PLO were imported from so many terrorist countries. Worse, I find it outrageous to remove Jews from their deeded property and communities developed from barren land at all. Let The PLO billions and the Arab oil gauging support their native Arabs. Deport the foreign mercennary jihadists. Furthermore, I can see peace if the PLO sells its weapons and uses the money for tools of trade in their major part of the Gaza which is ethnic cleansed of Jews. The PLO has over 90% of the land, much of which was empty land before Oslo imported an army to bully the Christians, democrats and bully the capitalists and to refugee the Jews again. Since the Jews were expelled from Arab lands, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Perhaps Arabs with those origins should return to their homelands. It is a crime to not let our people stay. No more expulsions. No more ghettos, No more theft of Jewish property, lifework, shuls, homeland, history, facts, burial grounds. If the State Department goes on false premises against the Jews, Americans will also be victims. Our army will be fighting Iraq in vain. Remember Arabs of Gaza support the enemy of America, Iraq and may be getting weapons from the supply that disappeared. The same technology of warfare used by the PLO is being used against our soldiers in Iraq, nuts and bolts suicide bombers. Mr. Boucher, Your Push is a shove out of the Jews and an impetus for more pan-Jihad. Evelyn Hayes,
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JOIN THE ZOA MARCHERS IN THE PARADE; ATTEND THE RALLY IN CENTRAL PARK FOR GUSH KATIF/GAZA
Posted by AFSI, May 26, 2005. |
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CENTRAL PARK, SUNDAY JUNE 5, 2005 FROM 2:30-6 pm., RAIN or SHINE PLEASE JOIN THE ZOA MARCHERS IN THE ISRAELI DAY PARADE WHO WILL BE ASSEMBLING AT 1 PM AT 53RD ST. BETWEEN 5TH & 6TH AVES. YOU WILL BE GIVEN AN ORANGE T-SHIRT OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE THREATENED COMMUNITIES OF GUSH KATIF/GAZA. OUR DETERMINATION TO STOP THE SHARON EXPULSION PLAN MUST BE MADE OBVIOUS FOR ALL TO SEE. MARCH FOR THE FREEDOM OF JEWS TO LIVE FREELY IN THE JEWISH HOMELAND. 35,000 PEOPLE WILL RALLY AGAINST WITHDRAWAL FROM GAZA AT CONCERT IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE ISRAEL DAY PARADE, THE LARGEST PRO-ISRAEL GATHERING IN THE WORLD. NEW YORK, NY - The Israel Concert in The Park Committee, in association with the National Council of Young Israel will host the 12th annual Israel Day Concert in Central Park, at the East Meadow, located at 97th Street and 5th Avenue, on Sunday, June 5, 2005 from 2:30-6 PM, rain or shine. Over 35,000 people are expected to gather at this year's event, which is dedicated to supporting the Jewish communities of Gaza, and against the surrender of Jewish territories in this region. Speakers will include 2 former Cabinet Members of the Israeli Government, and current Knesset (Parliament) Members: MK Effie Eitam and MK Uzi Landau (of PM Sharon's ruling Likud Party, a number of New York elected officials, and leaders of the American Jewish community, including Rabbis and major organizational heads. The event is organized by Dr. Joseph Frager, and will feature leading Jewish performers. Additionally, the program will be dedicated to the Jewish communities located in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, the more than 1300 victims of Oslo who have been killed since the signing of the Oslo "peace" accords, the more than 700 murdered since the outbreak of the latest War against Israel which began on September 28, 2000, and the 57th Anniversary of The State of Israel. "As New Yorkers, we feel the need to stand up and let the world know on the 55th year of the Anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel that we will not sit silent as the expulsion of Jews from any part of Israel is imminent. We will gather to rejoice at Israel's independence, and to remember that Prime Minister Sharon himself spoke to this same group in Central Park a few years ago, and today his actions pose a grave danger to Israel," said Dr. Joseph Frager, organizer of The Israel Concert in the Park. "We will not sit silent, and expect tens of thousands to join us to publicly say No to expulsion and yes to Jews in Gaza." Americans For a Safe Israel/AFSI asks that you bring your check book and be prepared to write a check to FRIENDS OF GUSH KATIF to enable the beleaguered communities to continue with their efforts to stop the expulsion. Checks may be mailed to AFSI, 1623 Third Ave., Suite 205, New York, N.Y. 10128. Direct contributions may be made through the Gush Katif website: www.katifund.org. Further information on the event is available by calling Ronn Torossian at 212-999-5585 or writing to afsi@rcn.com; www.afsi.org 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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IF YOU BELIEVE, HELP PLANT A SEED!
Posted by Susie Dym, May 26, 2005. |
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Call 1-800-20.2288 now and contribute 1000 NIS to the "If you believe -- plant a seed!" foundation (Keren "Ma'amin veZorea"): Because the Gush Katif farmers can't get loans from the banks at this stage, this Keren will give them loans so that they can begin the agricultural season with credit as all farmers need to do (farmers have heavy initial expenses which get paid off when the crops are picked). Enjoy making your contribution, and please - let me know when you make yours. Susie Dym is spokesperson for Mattot Arim. Contact her at sddym@bezeqint.net |
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THE PROBLEM WITH THE GAZA WITHDRAWAL (AS I SEE IT)
Posted by Deb Kotz, May 26, 2005. |
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I know that many ardent Zionists are strongly in favor of Sharon's plan to withdraw from Gaza and dismantle the Jewish settlements there. And I'm not going to launch into a philosophical argument on our Biblical rights to the land or the concept of trading land for peace. The thing that I find most illogical in what Sharon is doing is the way he is doing it. He is giving back Gaza freely with no peace accord, no guarantees from the PA, and no real sign from the Palestinian people that they are encouraged by what he is doing. I don't see the transformation, the hard-won anticipation of freedom or any sign of appreciation from the Palestinians or Abbas, their leader. I only see TV shows broadcast on Palestinian TV laced with venom-filled diatribes against Jews, Americans and everyone else outside of the Arab world. I only see Hamas gearing up for more terrorist attacks as Abbas allows them to re-arm and invites them into his government. Please read the highlights of the statements that Sharon read to AIPAC on Tuesday. Then read the NY Times article about Hamas and Abbas. Do you see the discrepancy here? Sharon speaks as if he is implementing the first phase of the Road Map. Yet, the Palestinians are once again not holding up their end of the bargain. So, this leads me to believe that they've rejected the Road Map and are not planning on making any changes. The truth is, why should they? Sharon is giving them Gaza for absolutely nothing in return. This is precisely what Natan Sharansky was arguing last week when he resigned from the government. This is why all Jews should have a problem with the Gaza withdrawal regardless of their position on the Road Map or the creation of a Palestinian state. This is why we should all see this act of Sharon's as The Oslo Accords, Part 2. If I've missed something here, please let me know. Perhaps I've missed some crucial element because this just seems too obvious. --Debbie Appeasing the Terrorists Will Only Strengthen Them - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (Prime Minister's Office) Prime Minister Sharon told the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington on Tuesday: * I came here from Jerusalem, the eternal, united, and undivided capital of the State of Israel and the Jewish people forever and ever. "Abbas's Gamble: Pulling a Foe into Palestinian Politics" - Steven Erlanger In their meeting on Thursday, Mr. Bush is expected to tell Mr. Abbas that bringing Hamas into politics will work only if he moves against the military wing to disarm it and ensure that the PA has a clear monopoly on weapons and force, a senior American official said. "The U.S. would have to be convinced either that Hamas is not a terrorist organization, or that they are dismantled," the official said. "We don't care about religious people with views we dislike sitting in parliament. But we can't accept militant terrorism brought into politics." "Abu Mazen has to take the guns away from the street - not necessarily seize them from houses," the official added. The PA has enough weaponry now "to at least get started," the official said, relaying the judgment of Lt. Gen. William Ward, the American security coordinator for the Palestinians. The PA police in Gaza recently stopped a truck full of locally
made Kassam rockets produced by Hamas, American and Israeli officials
said, but did not confiscate them. "It's in Hamas's interests to keep
Gaza quiet and even make a success of Gaza," said the senior American
official. "But if Hamas believes that Israel can't deal with
casualties, and that it won the war for Gaza, why shouldn't it
transfer resistance to the West Bank?" (New York Times).
Deb Kotz is an active member of the Brandeis Chapter of the Zionist
Organization of America (ZOA) and maintains an email list to
distribute articles of interest to the local community. She can be
reached at DebKotz@aol.com
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WILD FLOWERS GREW IN THE GARDEN
Posted by Moshe Feiglin, May 26, 2005. |
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David was six years old when Rabin shook hands with Arafat. He didn't understand very much, but only remembered the expression of helplessness on the face of his father, Yehuda. After completing his service in the Israeli army, Yehuda married Tamar who had at the same time received a BA from Bar Ilan University. The loving couple built their home in a well-established settlement located 25 minutes from Jerusalem. This was during Shamir's period as prime minister, when it seemed that the Likud would rule forever. Although the Left continued to apply pressure, nothing seemed to threaten the future of the settlements. Government publicity on TV encouraged Israeli citizens to buy houses beyond the Green Line. The publicity slogan was "a place in the heart" (of the country). Everything was wonderful. David was their first child, followed by a sister and two brothers. Then Shamir gave in to the pressure of the Left and went to the Madrid Conference. There in Madrid it was already clear that Arafat was returning to the scene, and when the Israelis realized that this was the name of the game, they handed over the reins of the government from Shamir, who had waged a fighting retreat, to Yitzhak Rabin. Rabin, the CGS in the Six Day War, was regarded as Mr. Security and, furthermore, promised a peace agreement within six months. Yehuda and Tamar saw their secure world crumbling around then. Rabin (followed by Peres and Netanyahu) handed over the heart of the country to Arafat, armed his murderous organization with great quantities of weapons, and awarded international legitimacy and extensive economic aid to the enemy, while at the same time suppressing the sounds of protest that began to be heard amongst the Israeli public. We could perhaps have swallowed all these troubles, but worst of all was the loss of the basis of national justice. We were no longer the good guys and our enemies were no longer the bad guys. "It's not us against them", explained Rabin, "but peace lovers against the enemies of peace from both nations". Yehuda and Tamar were born a short time after the Six Day War and experienced the feelings of that victory. They remembered Operation Entebbe, and the bombing of the nuclear reactor in Iraq. For them the State of Israel represented justice, readiness to fight for it, and the capability of achieving it. Suddenly everything changed -- the new equation detached Yehuda and Tamar from their just State of Israel, and turned them into enemies of the State and the nation. Their prime minister placed them together with the Hamas and the Hizballah (that were also opposed to Oslo). From now on they would no longer be pioneers in the forefront of Zionism, but its enemies. Yehuda began participating in various protest activities. They didn't change anything, but at least helped him to relieve his frustration. When the Zo Artzeinu movement blocked the roads in the country, little David had just celebrated his seventh birthday. His mother told him to look after his brothers because she had to go and bring Daddy home from jail. Ariel Sharon lay at that time in a protest tent and maintained a hunger strike against the government's policy. Afterwards Rabin was murdered, all the protests were stopped, and Peres took his place. Peres was given a golden opportunity to hand over to the terrorists all the towns in Yesha (Judea and Samaria), without any opposition, and he exploited it fully. Later there were elections, which Netanyahu won, and then continued in exactly the same direction. Now Yehuda was in total despair. At that time the Arab terrorism increased in intensity: buses were blown up and horrors we had never previously experienced became routine events. The lives of the settlers became cheap, and in some isolated settlements they buried almost 10% of their men-folk. Three years later Ehud Barak defeated Netanyahu in the elections. Just as in the time of Shamir, now also the Israeli public wanted a prime minister who could promise them everything. Rabin, the much decorated and determined general, had promised peace within six months and defeated Shamir, and now Barak, a similar figure to Rabin, promised peace within three months and defeated Netanyahu. Neither Shamir nor Netanyahu attempted to propose an alternative to the promise of peace of the Left. Their hesitation was manifest and their defeat was only a matter of time. Barak tried to realize his promise by handing Jerusalem over to the enemy, but the terrorism that naturally increased prevented him from doing so. He ordered the IDF to flee in humiliation from Lebanon, and thus brought the city of Hadera within the range of the Hizballah's missiles. This led inevitably to his defeat. The peak of the terrorist offensive began in 2000 after Sharon visited the Temple Mount. Arafat called it the Temple Mount War, and he was right. In the election campaign that followed, Yehuda stood at road junctions and handed out material in support of Sharon. He wasn't a Likudnik, but for him Sharon represented a lifeboat in the crisis. Apart from that, who else was there to vote for? Barak? The public, that had already begun to realize the meaning of the Left's peace, fled from everything exuding a smell of Oslo. They wanted someone who would achieve real, not imaginary peace, would wage a small war and bring all this horror to an end. The Likud achieved a resounding victory, and Ariel Sharon became prime minister. At the beginning of the decade that followed Rabin's hand shaking with Arafat, Yehuda fought to return to Israel what it had lost. He still remembered the feelings of victory, of belonging to a country in the right, of solidarity that crossed all the political lines. He was an enthusiastic Zionist, and wanted to return to the good, old Zionism that he knew. However, Yehuda had an open mind, and when Netanyahu continued the Oslo process, he realized that the problem didn't lie simply with who was in power, the Left or the Right, the Labor Party or the Likud. A small pamphlet called Lechatchila began to appear in the synagogue in his settlement. The ideas expressed in it seemed to him to be totally naïve. They talked about the need to set up a belief-based alternative for the leadership of the country. Yehuda didn't believe that it was possible, but he also realized that there was no other solution. He joined the ranks of Manhigut Yehudit (The Jewish Leadership Movement), and instead of clinging to the Israel that he had lost, he began to dream and to promote the belief-based one, that would eventually replace the one that had failed. Little David grew up and became a strong, vital boy. A wild flower had grown in the garden of Yehuda and Tamar. David and his friends wore large kippot (scullcaps) and grew long, curly peot -- a kind of unconscious protest against the knitted kippa (scullcap) that was hidden by his father's Palmach-style haircut. Although Yehuda never changed his own appearance, he liked this fashion of the young people living in the hilltop settlements. A new spirit began to emerge in Yesha. Yehuda couldn't explain it, but it made him feel good. He stopped clinging to the old-style Zionism, and realized that his son was representing something far more relevant. His son David had never experienced the feelings of victory. The State hardly existed for him. It had not protected him against the Arabs who constantly hurled stones at the school bus he traveled in. It had not saved the father of Uri, his best friend, from that terrorist attack. It had released jailed terrorists who had blown off the legs of Shmuel, who sat behind him in class. For David a bulletproof bus, concrete walls, and sand bags in the windows were routine things. Not only had the State failed to solve the problem, it had in fact created it, and even persecuted those who tried to defend themselves. Yehuda and Tamar explained to David that the problem did not lie with the State but with the government. We love the State and the government will change. But David didn't really succeed in understanding these nuances. For him the State did not represent justice, but his parents and his friends did. The teachers and the settlement represented justice, but the State, the army, and the police were something mixed up, that sometimes protects me and sometimes persecutes me. They were something pitiful, that you have to hold onto, to prevent it from getting away. David and his friends grew up in this duality during the Oslo decade. When Sharon decided to destroy entire settlements and evict their residents, David and his friends were 16 years old. They grew up with a great contradiction -- between wonderful G-d-fearing education, love for the nation and the country, restraint, pioneering, and self-sacrifice -- that they received from their parents, and the impotence, nihilism, and criminal abandonment radiated by their State. David and his friends grew up with feelings of moral superiority over the State and its institutions, for which his parents still retained some degree of respect. But for David and his friends respect for the State had not ended. It had simply never begun. Yehuda didn't believe that the day would come when he would return his officer's card to his commander in the crack unit in which he served. "I joined the IDF in order to defend Jews and not evict them", he explained. "The day will come when the Israeli Army will return to its former state, and then I will be pleased to serve in it again". Last week David and his friends sat down in the center of a major traffic route. When the policemen hit them, they laughed, as they had already seen far more dangerous things. When the police officer announced that those who wouldn't leave would be arrested at once, David and his friends surrounded him and vied to be the first arrested. David and his friends had already won. When the prisoners were brought to the cells they sang loudly, and when the Police requested them to identify themselves, to give fingerprints, and be released under restrictive conditions, they laughed again and refused to cooperate. Their feelings of moral superiority dispelled their fear of the system and its enforcement agencies. The weapon of arrest and trial had totally lost its power of deterrence. The system found itself helpless in the face of a reality it had never expected. However, the peak of the strength of the act displayed in the "Practice Run" could only be appreciated two days later. David and his friends were brought before a judge for extension of their period of detention. "We are prepared to release them", explained the exhausted police representative to the amazed judge, "but none of these minors is prepared to identify himself or to pledge not to repeat his action." The judge looked in astonishment at the happy youngsters facing him. "Where are their parents?" he cried. "What kind of parents abandon their children in this way!" Yehuda, who sat at the back, stole a glance at his son who was clearly one of the leaders of the group. Tamar held back her tears. It wasn't easy for a mother who wanted to get up and hug her son in such a situation. But David was already in the future, in a liberated Jewish Israel. Yehuda and Tamar had given up the old Israel and they were with him, with little David who had run forward, and had jumped from the existing "enlightened" dictatorship to the consciousness of freedom. Yehuda and Tamar are nearing forty. Their son, David, is aged 16. They are together in this struggle and no-one can resist them. They have already won. 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. |
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ORIANA FALLACI AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH
Posted by David Holcberg, May 26, 2005. |
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Dear Editor: The decision of an Italian judge to indict author and New York resident Oriana Fallaci for being "offensive to Islam and to those who practice that religious faith" is a violation of her right to free speech and an absurd concession to Islamists at war with Western Civilization. Fallaci, as any individual, should have the right to criticize any religion or ideology, free from government censorship or retaliation. If Muslims (or Italian judges) don't like Fallaci's books, they are free to not buy them. They have no right, however, to punish or silence her. David Holcberg is a senior writer for the Ayn Rand Institute (ARI) of Irvine, California (http://www.aynrand.org). |
| GUSH KATIF |
LIES, DAMN LIES AND POLITICAL STATEMENTS
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, May 26, 2005. |
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The amazing thing about this is that it happened at all. It is a clear indication how worried Sharon's lackeys have become. I suspect that Mofaz is expecting all this to blow up in his face and has begun preparing his retreat and defence. By openly admitting that the Government has been lying the whole time about its intentions, he can later say he really, truly and sincerely objected (see he let this 'slip out' didn't he?) but was "just following orders" and trying to influence bad boy Sharon to change his ways. If we can believe the article that was printed in HAARTZ, and that is a very big if, Sharon is losing it both physically and mentally by the day. Even if it is not true, someone just might make it true to avoid the consequences of Sharon's Pogrom. So when it all unravels, all the blame can be shifted to Sharon who will most likely be comatose by then. This is a news item from today's Arutz Sheva - IsraelNationalNews.com entitled: "Gov't Backs Off on Evacuation Promises." It is archived at http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=82718 (IsraelNN.com) Police and defense forces will continue the planned evacuation on the Sabbath and also will use male officers to force women out of their homes, according to testimony before a Knesset panel today. Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz previously has stated that the evacuation process will not take place on the Sabbath and that female policemen would deal with female residents of Gaza and northern Samaria. A special Knesset committee, before approving a special allocation of 224 million shekels ($51 million) for the evacuation, also heard that the government has gone back on its promise to relocate synagogues. 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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ANOTHER TERRORIST IS INVITED TO THE WHITE HOUSE
Posted by Ruth Matar, May 26, 2005. |
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Dear Friends, I have a sad feeling of deja vu as I write today's Letter from Jerusalem. Probably, as I write this Letter, the terrorist Mahmoud Abbas is being royally received by U.S. President, George W. Bush with the "red carpet treatment", just the way former President, Bill Clinton used to receive the terrorist Yasser Arafat. In fact, Arafat was the most frequent foreign visitor to the White House, even though Clinton was aware of Arafat's murderous record, including his well documented murder of Americans. Just a few examples:
To his credit, President George W. Bush refused to meet with the Palestinian Authority Leader, Arafat. President Bush is certainly to be applauded for not having continued Bill Clinton's courting of this murderer! It is, therefore, difficult to understand why President Bush has now agreed to invite the equally murderous successor to Arafat, who is also his longtime collaborator in terror, Mahmoud Abbas, to a meeting in the White House. It is especially difficult to understand, since the President said on June 24, 2002: "The first pre-requisite for progress is for the Palestinian people to produce 'regime change'. I call upon the Palestinian People to elect new leaders not compromised by terror. The Palestinians must have new leaders, new institutions and new security arrangements." SURELY PRESIDENT BUSH cannot believe that Mahmoud Abbas meets the criteria of 'regime change', since Mahmoud Abbas co-founded the Fatah terror group with Arafat in 1964 and worked closely with him until his death in 2004, a period of forty years. SURELY PRESIDENT BUSH cannot claim that Mahmoud Abbas is a new leader not compromised by terror.
SURELY PRESIDENT BUSH cannot claim that Mahmoud Abbas has created new institutions and new security arrangements. * The Palestinian Authority security services are still actively involved in terrorism. In fact, Mahmoud Abbas is openly bringing known terrorists into their ranks. President George W. Bush has recently stated most eloquently: "The goal on the war of terrorism is to bring the enemies to justice, or justice to our enemies!" In the light of this statement, is this meeting of U.S. President George W. Bush with the newly "laundered" terrorist sidekick of Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas, really in America's interest? Ahead of his visit with U.S. President, George W. Bush at the White House this Thursday, Abbas said that he plans to demand that Washington beef up its political and economic support for the Palestinian Authority. This means in simple terms that he wants more American tax payers' money to support the documented corruption of the Palestinian Authority, his terror war against Israel, and his continual incitement against the United States. By inviting Mahmoud Abbas to the White House instead of bringing him to justice, America is encouraging terrorists all over the world, like Osama Bin Laden, to commit further and greater acts of terror. In fact, America is broadcasting the message: "Terror pays and increased terror pays even more." CALL TO ACTION: LET YOUR SENATORS AND CONGRESSMEN KNOW, IN NO UNCERTAIN TERMS, THAT YOU ARE AGAINST EVEN "ONE PENNY" OF YOUR TAX DOLLARS BEING USED TO SUPPORT ABBAS' FRAUDULENT PEACE PROCESS AND THE "PRETEND" DEMOCRACY OF THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY. With Blessings and Love For Israel, Ruth Matar P.S. Don't forget to circle July 19 on your calendar for the WORLD WIDE RALLY against the deportation of Jews from their homes in our Promised Land. 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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ILLOGIC OF TERRORIST RELEASE; FIRST FAIR "TIMES" REPORT; ISRAEL MOST NAIVE
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, May 26, 2005. |
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ONE-THIRD OF ISRAELI LABOR PARTY IS ARAB! The Labor Party, that founded Israel, has about 90,000 paid-up members. 30,000 are Arabs. They will constitute one-third of the Labor Members of Knesset and, because of in-fighting in the Party, bid to take over the Party. Party leaders are said to be worried about this, but intimidated from bringing it up lest they be accused of racism (Arutz-7, 5/19) Is it better to lose your country and your lives to an Arab fifth column than to be accused of racism? Israeli Jews are afraid of being unfairly accused, but the Arabs are not afraid to make truly racist remarks and state truly racist goals or break other laws. A double standard condones Arab racism and lawlessness. ANOTHER PRISONER RELEASE? The Israeli Army favors more concessions to the P.A.. It supposes that without them, Abbas would fall to Hamas, and it considers Hamas worse. Among the measures being considered is the release of hundreds more terrorists. The US coordinator, Gen. Ward, pressed Israel to make such concessions. He countered Israeli complaints of P.A. non-compliance with, "What about your own commitments?" (IMRA, 5/20.) The P.A. commitments are supposed to be prerequisites for Israeli commitments. It is unfair to equate the P.A. commitments to end terrorism with Israeli commitments to end certain building. Israeli did not make any agreements to release prisoners. Releasing terrorists is not legitimate. The whole process of which Gen. Ward is a part is a phony dismantlement of Zionism and a boost for the Arabs, who do not want peace. A release would boost Hamas claims to be bringing Israel to heel. It would boost Hamas recruiting. Releasing terrorists leads to killing more Israelis. May they kill Gen. Ward and those IDF officers guilty of recommending it, rather than innocent Israelis! But it usually is the innocent who pay for the crimes of the cynical, the rigid ideologues, or the overly clever. ABANDONMENT MEANS WAR "Let us stop kidding ourselves. These bloodthirsty Arab terrorists cannot restrain themselves for five minutes from the thrill of killing Jews. They cannot hold themselves back until after Sharon surrenders the land to them in the upcoming disengagement. If their hatred of Jews permits them to continue their terror now, in spite of the risk it should present to the unilateral withdrawal (under fire), what will be after the withdrawal of Israeli troops and the expulsion of the Jews who live in Gaza? What will be when the border controlled by the PA is that much closer to Sderot, Ashqelon and Tel Aviv? What will be when the Arabs improve the range of the rockets and smuggle more sophisticated missiles and rockets into Gaza and into Israel?" "There is one way to distance the threat of domestic Arab terror and kassam style rockets and that is by distancing those who perpetrate those acts of terror and distancing the hostile population that harbors them. The Sharon disengagement plan does the exact opposite: It brings the areas under terrorist control that much closer to major Israeli cities!" "The majority of Jews would gladly vote against the Sharon plan if they were given an alternative plan that would truly distance the Arab threat of Gaza and the Northern Shomron. If only the nation of Israel was given the opportunity to vote and to decide their own destiny and if they were given an alternative Jewish disengagement plan that would call for the expulsion of the hostile Arabs to an area beyond a deep security zone outside of Israel, thereby effectively distancing the threat of Arab domestic terror and kassams from major Israeli cities." (Voice of Judea, 5/20.) ISRAEL'S NEW POSITION ON POLLARD An Israeli Ambassador visited Pollard, after extensive criticism for not having visited in the 20 years of captivity. He came without any plan to demand Pollard's release, but with the old promises that have proved insincere. "Esther Pollard, meanwhile, accused Sharon of conducting a public-relations campaign with no intention of actually pressing for her husband's release." "Nobody in this country believes that with our special relationship with the US, we couldn't get him released after 20 years;" "Israeli agents were released in a matter of days, weeks or months from Jordan, Cyprus, New Zealand and Switzerland." (IMRA, 5/18.) Excessive incarceration is persecution. Why does the US have to be prodded to do the right thing and exercise clemency? When will Israeli politicians stop doing things so shameful that they would rather keep a man in jail beyond reason in order that he not reveal their dirty linen? AS IF ARAFAT STILL RULES "For the fourth consecutive day, Dr. Abbas's state-controlled media praised men who attacked or tried to attack Israel targets with missiles, mortars, rifles and road-side bombs, calling them 'martyrs,' while accusing Israel of war crimes for killing the terrorists in the course of their attacks." (IMRA, 5/20 from Michael Widlanski.) The Arabs continue their war crimes while accusing Israeli defense against them of being war crimes. Friends of Israel should tell people to stop taking Arab complaints seriously. A FAIR REPORT FROM THE "NY TIMES" Correspondent Steven Erlanger's 5/21 report, "Palestinian Attack Hardens Israeli Settlers' Resistance," stated the facts and clearly phrased Israeli opinions and explanations. A variety of P.A. attacks were reported (although usually they are not reported unless there are fatalities or are spectacular, and instead the newspaper goes along with the pretense that there is a ceasefire). It was plainly put that despite having discovered (or been informed) of a pending rocket attack on Israel, P.A. police let it be perpetrated. A Hamas claim to be retaliating was challenged by a more cogent Israeli denial. Israeli restraint was noted. Settlers' faith in preventing their abandonment was expressed without being mocked. PM Sharon's notion that abandonment of some territory would strengthen Israel's hold on the rest was refuted. This is the first fair "NY Times" report on the Arab-Israel conflict that I have seen. See below. ANOTHER ROCKET BARRAGE Although warned about a pending attack, the IDF was not given permission to ambush it. (This the "Times" omitted." The Arabs fired once at a civilian target and several times at the IDF. Not for two hours did the IDF get permission to fire back. Then it killed one attacker and wounded another (Arutz-7, 5/19). Politics and public relations interference with military operations hampers defense and, by letting the war drag on, constantly provides grist for anti-Zionist mills. The gentile world will not treat Israel more normally, as a country entitled to see to its own security, until Israel treats itself as such. Israel must stop bending over backwards. Friends suggest that "the world won't let Israel do" what it needs to. Mostly it would, though with protest. Israel must learn to defend itself in words and in deeds. First it must get a patriotic government system CHALLENGE: FIND A STATE MORE NAÏVE THAN ISRAEL Vice-PM Olmert admitted he had no idea what would follow Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, and had not studied it. Nevertheless, he approves of withdrawal. (Then this is not about Israel doing something for itself but in behalf of outside interests. Those outsiders favor the Arabs). Olmert blithely looks forward to Egypt as sole guardian against arms smuggling. Has Olmert no understanding that Egypt superintends the arms smuggling (and directs the P.A. not to disarm Hamas)? One thing clearly would follow withdrawal. Egypt would place 750 heavily armed troops, rather than the permitted lightly armed police, at the border with Gaza, and another 2,500 troops at the border with Israel, "to ensure that the withdrawal is orderly." Foreign Min. Shalom is willing for the P.A. to open an airport, if it assures Israel that it would not use the airport to attack Israel. He approves pulling out of Gaza, if the P.A. assures Israel that it would not use Gaza for staging rocket attacks on Israel (IMRA, 5/22). Israel wants "assurances" from the P.A., a fanatical, Jew-hating, terrorist entity that breaks all its agreements? Even now, with Israeli troops stopping some of the rocket attacks, the P.A. lets the reste go on. Why, when Israeli troops would have withdrawn, would the P.A. not freely use the arms it now is smuggling in, with the cooperation of Egypt, and why wouldn't it use the airport to ship in heavier weapons? Perhaps Shalom and Olmert should review the PLO Covenant, which holds that it would use any territory it gains from Israel to conquer the rest, including Israel. I challenge you to find another contemporary government more naively self-defeating than Israel. The religious Jews find their present, minimal casualties a miracle. The Israeli government, however, is going along with US demands to give latitude to the Arabs that inevitably would multiply those casualties. The Muslims must be calling Israeli naivete a miracle, too. PERES PLEASED WITH P.A. REACTION TO COMPLAINT Vice-PM Peres complained to P.A. Prime Minister Qurei, after Gaza terrorists had fired 59 rockets at Jewish communities. Peres reiterated, for the nth time, that the P.A. should disarm the terrorists. Qurei promised, for the nth time, that the P.A. would. Peres professed himself pleased that the P.A. "will take all the necessary measures." (Arutz-7, 5/22). Abbas admits that he will not take forceful measures, and the P.A. keeps no promises, but Peres is pleased at their umpteenth promise. Peres always is good for a laugh. ANTI-POLLARD MYTHS PERSIST "Yediot Ahronot" published a claim that the government of Israel paid a million dollars for Jonathan's personal, post-conviction expenses. The newspaper checked with the government, which denied the claim. Now "Haaretz" published the same debunked claim (IMRA, 5/22). KORAN-FLUSHING IN CONTEXT The story about US interrogators flushing Korans down the toilet, to intimidate Muslim prisoners was fraudulent. A well-known true story is that when searching foreign visitors' luggage, and finds Christian Bibles there, it destroys them. Why no indignation over that? (Prof. Steven Plaut, 5/22). 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 |
SHARON GETS HIS ORDERS
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, May 26, 2005. |
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This is called "Washington Sees Gaza Withdrawal as Stage One of Rapid Israeli Rollback." It's a DEBKAfile special report today from Washington (www2.debka.com/article.php?aid=1030). The Bush administration has always shied from getting confrontational with Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon. Eager to see the Gaza and northern Samaria "disengagement" get underway, Washington backed the pullouts with all the diplomatic means and media spin at its disposal. This fitted in with Sharon's strategy of presenting disengagement to the Israeli public as a finite plan that would not lead to additional withdrawals afterward. US officials also had no problem with Sharon describing his three-day visit to New York and Washington this week as nothing more than an opportunity to touch base with American Jewish leaders. But on the quiet, administration officials took the opportunity of a word in the Israeli prime minister's ear to dictate his next steps in the wake of the evacuation of 21 Gaza Strip communities and four out of the 120 in the West Bank. In an exclusive report from Washington, DEBKAfile's sources can reveal that US officials, including national security adviser Stephen Hadley, made a point of seeing Sharon during his visits to New York and Washington in the first part of the week. Tuesday, May 24, he pledged to the AIPAC convention - to loud cheers - that major Israeli population centers in Judea and Samaria would remain an integral part of Israel and be contiguous to the state of Israel in any final-status agreement. That same day, those US officials informed him that the forces assigned to execute the pullout from Gaza must be assigned directly to their next task: the dismantling of each and every "illegal settlement-outpost" in the West Bank. The evacuations would not end there either. Sharon was also told that further steps would be demanded, to be discussed at a later date. Hadley had a simple "suggestion" for Sharon: Since the large forces he deployed for the Gaza withdrawal in mid-August will have been relocated in mid-September to northern Samaria to evacuate four settlements, the prime minister should take advantage of the pullout momentum and the resources dedicated to the disengagement and clear out the "illegal outposts" as well. As to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) and his White House talks Thursday, May 26, the US officials assured Sharon that the Palestinian leader would be made to promise steps suggesting Palestinian cooperation in several disengagement-related issues. The US tactic presented to the Israeli prime minister was clear: President Bush, by forcing Sharon to remove the disputed West Bank outposts without delay, is entitled to demand that Palestinian reciprocity in cooperating with Sharon across the disengagement board - starting from the evacuation of Gush Katif and northern Samaria and continuing through further Israeli withdrawals from large tracts of the West Bank. According to DEBKAfile's Washington sources, the US president was also preparing to warn Abu Mazen to stop trying to jump to the last stage of the roadmap for instant final- status talks. He will be told to stop attempting to put the horse before the cart. Either drop the roadmap or follow through on all its performance-related clauses including uprooting terrorism and reforms. In short, the Palestinians cannot hope to achieve a permanent state with permanent borders in one leap. The US, the Palestinians and Israel, in the Bush administration's view, share in interest in gaining a provisional Palestinian state with temporary borders before the end of Bush's term in office. As for the Palestinian elections on July 17, DEBKAfile's Palestinian sources report that Abu Mazen can now afford to stick to the date without delay and present this as a concession to the US president. In fact, the delay has become superfluous, our sources have discovered, because Hamas has reached a strategic decision not to challenge Abbas' Fatah for the domination of Palestinian government. Its leaders decided that they had better leverage for manipulating Abu Mazen from outside government and leaving him to face the music from Washington and Jerusalem. In opposition, the radical Islamist terrorist group would meanwhile build up its popularity in the Palestinian street. As for Sharon, the administration purposely left Sharon no maneuvering room or a change to explain the new move to the Israeli public. As one senior US source put it, "We did not want to give Sharon leeway for delaying action in the West Bank." The best the Americans could offer Sharon was a vague promise to help him "overcome the domestic difficulties he will face in implementing" the outposts' removal. A startled US official, in Washington for the AIPAC conference and aware of the American maneuver, asked the administration why it had decided to sandbag the prime minister. "There has been no change in the US position. This has always been Washington's position," came the reply. But, the Israeli official argued, Sharon and his chief political adviser, Dov Weisglass, had constantly made clear there would be no additional pullouts after the Gaza and northern Samaria disengagement. "Sorry, but you can't rely on what Weisglass has to say," a US official replied. "He does not understand the way secretary of state Condoleezza Rice thinks. Nor does he understand her diplomatic vocabulary. During his meetings with Rice, he misinterpreted her naturally courteous demeanor as consent to everything he said." 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 HAZARDS OF MAKING "THE CASE FOR ISRAEL"
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, May 26, 2005. |
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This was written by Alan Dershowitz, who is a professor of law at Harvard. His latest book is "Rights From Wrongs: A Secular Theory of the Origins of Rights." Publication of The Case for Israel has made me the target of vicious personal attacks. A systematic effort to discredit the book, and me, has been undertaken by a well-organized group of Israel bashers led by Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein, and Alexander Cockburn. As soon as the book reached the bestseller lists and began to get good reviews around the country, this triumvirate went to work. They had a model for their attack going back 20 years. The mode of attack is consistent. Chomsky selects the target and directs Finkelstein to probe the writings in minute detail and conclude that the writer didn't actually write the work, that it is plagiarized, that it is a hoax and a fraud. Cockburn publicizes these "findings," and then a cadre of fellow travelers bombard the Internet with so many attacks on the target that these attacks jump to the top of Google. Because no one has thus far exposed the pattern, each attack may seem plausible on first impression. But when the pattern is examined and exposed, the entire enterprise becomes clear for what it is: a clear attempt to chill pro-Israel advocacy on university campuses by a form of literary McCarthyism. Many people know who Noam Chomsky is. The jacket of one of his books describes him, without irony, as "arguably the most important intellectual alive."[1] But some are also aware of the darker side of his record - including of supporting, praising, and working with neo-Nazi Holocaust deniers. Chomsky's most notorious bedfellow is Robert Faurisson, who called the Holocaust a "hoax," denied the existence of Hitler's gas chambers, claimed that the diary of Anne Frank was a "forgery," and described the Jewish claims for Holocaust reparations as a "fraud." Chomsky leapt to Faurisson's support, praising him as a scholar who had done "extensive historical research" and to describe his lies about the Holocaust as historical "findings."[2] Chomsky did not see any "hint of anti-Semitic implications" in Faurisson's claim that the so-called Holocaust was a fraud perpetrated by the Jewish people against Germany. Chomsky, the linguist, assured his readers that "nobody believes there is an anti-Semitic connotation to the denial of the Holocaust... whether one believes it took place or not."[3] As Paul L. Berman summarized Chomsky's record on these issues: "Chomsky's view of anti-Semitism is positively wild. His definition is so narrow, neither the Protocols of the Elders of Zion nor the no-Holocaust delusion fit into it... I am afraid that his present remarks on anti-Semitism and Zionist lies disqualify him from ever being taken seriously on matters pertaining to Jews."[4] Ever since his close association with neo-Nazi Holocaust deniers compromised his credibility on "matters pertaining to Jews," Chomsky has tended to leave it to surrogates to continue his campaign of vilification against the Jewish community. His primary surrogate is Norman Finkelstein. Chomsky has characterized Finkelstein as one of his "very close friends"[5] and "a very fine scholar." (Chomsky has also characterized the work of Ward Churchill - the Colorado professor who called the victims of the attack on the World Trade Center "little Eichmanns" - as "excellent, penetrating and of high scholarly quality," and his achievements as "of inestimable value.") Chomsky has urged audiences "to come listen to" Finkelstein because he can speak about Israel "with more authority and insight... than anyone I can think of." This, about a man who boasts of "publicly honoring" and showing "solidarity with Hezbollah," the anti-American terrorist organization dedicated to Israel's destruction by violence. Finkelstein is a transient academic who describes himself as "in exile" at De Paul University because he has been - by his own account - "thrown out of every school in New York."[6] He has been fired by Brooklyn College, N.Y.U., and several other schools for "incompetence," "mental instability," and "abuse" of students with politics different from his own, according to a high-ranking official at one of the schools. Finkelstein has admitted, "Never has one of my articles been published in a scientific magazine."[7] And deservedly so, as Peter Novick, whose book The Holocaust in American Life Finkelstein has characterized as "the initial stimulus for [his] book,"[8] wrote: "As concerns particular assertions made by Finkelstein concerning reparations and restitution, and on other matters as well, the appropriate response is not (exhilarating) 'debate' but (tedious) examination of his footnotes. Such an examination reveals that many of those assertions are pure invention. [...] No facts alleged by Finkelstein should be assumed to be really facts, no quotation in his book should be assumed to be accurate, without taking the time to carefully compare his claims with the sources he cites."[9] Finkelstein has said that he "can't imagine why Israel's apologists would be offended by a comparison with the Gestapo"[10] and asserted that Israel's human rights record is "interchangeable with Iraq's" when it was ruled by Saddam Hussein.[11] He has said that most alleged Holocaust survivors - including Elie Wiesel - have fabricated their past, are "bogus," and that those seeking reparations are "cheats" and "greedy." Because of my support of Israel, he has compared me to "Adolf Eichman [sic],"[12] and accused me of expressing "Nazi moral judgments."[13] When challenged to defend his frequent comparison between Jews and Nazis, he has responded, "Nazis never like to hear they're being Nazis."[14] He is a popular speaker among German neo-Nazis; one, Ingrid Rimland, whose husband, the notorious Ernst Zuendel, wrote "The Hitler We Loved And Why", even referred to him admiringly as the "Jewish David Irving" ("Jüdischer David Irving") - a reference to the British Holocaust denier and Hitler admirer. The comparison is apt because Finkelstein has reportedly praised the Holocaust-denying Irving as "a good historian"[15] and as having "made an indispensable" contribution to our knowledge of World War II."[16] A German writer has observed that "seldom has a Jew been more celebrated by brown propaganda that Finkelstein."[17] Another writer aptly described him as a Jew who "supports anti-Semitism."[18] Gabriel Schoenfeld has labeled his views as "crackpot ideas, some of them mirrored almost verbatim in the propaganda put out by neo-Nazis around the world."[19] His books do not sell in America, but they are best-sellers among the growing number of neo-Nazis in Germany. The third member of this smear team is Alexander Cockburn. Cockburn has used his column at The Nation, and his online radical hotspot Counterpunch, to publicize many of their most outrageous claims. He himself is virulently anti-Israel. In 1984 he was fired from the Village Voice for hiding a $10,000 "grant" he received from an anti-Israel organization.[20] When asked whether he believed the "stories" that he reported were "sloshing around the news" involving Israeli complicity in 9/11 and in the anthrax attacks, his response was, "I don't know there's enough exterior evidence to determine whether they are true or not."[21] Columnist Jon Margolis, after exposing several false charges made by Cockburn, asserted that "Cockburn has been abusing reality for decades" and that "as an accuser, Joe McCarthy was more responsible."[22] The story of this unholy alliance among Chomsky, Finkelstein, and Cockburn begins nearly 20 years ago with the publication of a book entitled From Time Immemorial, by a woman named Joan Peters. The book, an unlikely bestseller, was largely a demographic study of the population of the area that eventually became Israel. Peters' conclusion was that the Arab political claim that the Palestinians who left or were expelled from Israel during the war of Independence (1947-1948) had lived in the area from time immemorial was exaggerated. When Noam Chomsky learned of the Peters book, he became outraged because its thesis undercut his ideological opposition to Israel. He raised questions about whether Peters had actually written the book, claiming in print that it was "signed by Joan Peters,"[23] but "probably it had been put together by some intelligence agency..."[24] In describing the book, Chomsky totally distorted its content, alleging that it "purported to show that the Palestinians were all recent immigrants,"[25] that "there were really no Palestinians,"[26] and that "if Israel kicks them all out there's no moral issue..."[27] Nowhere in Peters' 622-page book does she make any of these claims. Chomsky telephoned Finkelstein, then a graduate student already notorious for the virulence of his anti-Zionism, and directed him to expose Peters' book as "a fraud." According to Finkelstein's own account, Chomsky told him "that if I go through the book more carefully, [I'd] probably discover that the whole thing is a fraud." Any legitimate academic would have rejected Chomsky's unscholarly directive out of hand, but not Finkelstein. Here is how he responded: "Well, you know, I'm a person of the left, and when you get a call from Professor Chomsky, his wish is your command."[29] And, of course, Finkelstein granted Chomsky this wish: he "discovered" that Peters had concocted a "spectacular hoax," a "fraud from start to finish."[30] Exactly what Chomsky had directed him to find Finkelstein also accused Peters of "plagiarism."[31] Having arranged for the hatchet job, Chomsky, who had not himself done any of the research, went even further than Finkelstein in publicizing Finkelstein's alleged conclusions. He said that the entire Peters book "was completely faked" and that "the whole thing was a hoax"[32] - claims that Finkelstein had not come close to proving. The third member of this nasty attack team, Alexander Cockburn, made similar claims. Cockburn wrote articles publicizing Finkelstein's unfair attack against Peters. He characterized her conclusions as "fraudulent," "mad,"[33] and immoral. The Chomsky-Finkelstein-Cockburn mode of ad hominem attack proved particularly successful against Peters because the words "hoax," "fraud," "fake," and "plagiarism" are so dramatic and unforgettable, as is the charge that Peters did not actually write the book, but merely signed a KGB-style forgery concocted by "some intelligence agency." It did not seem to matter that none of these charges made by Chomsky, Finkelstein and Cockburn were even close to the truth. All Finkelstein had managed to show was that in a relatively small number of instances, Peters may have misinterpreted some data, ignored counter-data, and exaggerated some findings - common problems in demographic research that often appear in anti-Israel books as well. To date, Finkelstein has targeted at least the following writers who support Israel and seek justice for Holocaust survivors: Elie Wiesel, Stuart Eizenstat, Martin Gilbert, Daniel Goldhagen, Burt Neuborne, Yehuda Bauer, Gerald Feldman, Richard Overy, Abba Eban - calling these distinguished Jews "hucksters," "hoaxters," "thieves," "extortionists," and worse. The pattern of attack is always similar. Thus, it was only natural that the anti-Israel triumvirate would target me in a similar manner after the publication of "The Case for Israel". The well-planned and carefully coordinated response to "The Case for Israel" employed exactly the same words they had employed so successfully against Peters (and others). They first claimed - as they had with Peters - that I did not "write this book," that I did not even "read it," and that I "had no idea what was in the book." Recently Finkelstein claimed that I don't write any of my books: "[Dershowitz] has come to the point where he's had so many people write so many of his books... [I]t's sort of like a Hallmark line for Nazis... [T]hey churn them out so fast that he has now reached a point where he doesn't even read them."[34] The implication was that some Israeli intelligence agency or propaganda unit wrote it and had me sign it - as they claimed was the situation with Peters' book. The problem for them is that I don't type or use a computer, so that every word of the text was handwritten by me in my own handwriting - and I still have the manuscript. Even after I publicly offered to make the manuscript available for anyone to examine, Finkelstein repeated the false charge on a C-SPAN television broadcast.[35] Well, if I did actually write it in my own hand, I must have copied it or plagiarized it. That was the next charge. And guess who I plagiarized it from? Joan Peters, according to Finkelstein, Chomsky, and Cockburn. The problem with their charge is that Peters' book was entirely demographic and historical, whereas more than 90 percent of my book deals with contemporary events that took place after the publication of Peters' book. The other, even more serious problem for them is that they could not come up with a single sentence, phrase or idea in my book that came from another source and was used without quotation marks, attribution, and citation. Indeed, I explicitly cited Peters' book numerous times while disclaiming reliance on its conclusions because I disagreed with some of them. That, of course, means there was no plagiarism. But Finkelstein knew from his previous experience that the charge of plagiarism, if leveled, would be more likely to garner media attention than simple criticism of my conclusions. In order to level this spurious charge, Finkelstein made up a false quotation, which he called the "smoking gun:"[36] "[I]n the proofs, it... says: Copy from Joan Peters.[37] It does... There was no question about it." He thus alleges that I instructed a research assistant to "copy"[38] from another author without citations. But he simply makes up the word "copy." The note says precisely the opposite: "cite sources on pp. 160, 485, 486, footnotes 141-145." The instruction is to be certain that the material is properly cited. This is not proof of plagiarism; it is proof of scholarship. That is why James O. Freedman, the former president of Dartmouth, University of Iowa, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, concluded after reviewing the Finkelstein charge:"I do not understand [Finkelstein's] charge of plagiarism against Alan Dershowitz. There is no claim that Dershowitz used the words of others without attribution. When he uses the words of others, he quotes them properly and generally cites them to the original sources (Mark Twain, Palestine Royal Commission, etc.) [Finkelstein's] complaint is that instead he should have cited them to the secondary source, in which Dershowitz may have come upon them. But as the Chicago Manual of Style emphasizes: Importance of attribution. With all reuse of others' materials, it is important to identify the original as the source. This not only bolsters the claims of fair use, it also helps avoid any accusation of plagiarism." This is precisely what Dershowitz did. Moreover, many of the sources quoted both by Dershowitz and Peters are commonly quoted in discussions of this period of Palestinian history. Nor can it be said that Dershowitz used Peters' ideas without attribution. He cites Peters seven times in the early chapter of his book, while making clear that he does not necessarily accept her conclusions. This is simply not plagiarism, under any reasonable definition of that word. Professor Charles Fried, the former Solicitor General of the U.S. and the Beneficial Professor of Law at Harvard, agrees, calling the Finkelstein accusation "stupid, unfair and ridiculous" from a biased accuser."[39] The distinguished chief-librarian at Harvard Law School also concluded that I had done nothing improper. An inquiry by Harvard cleared me of any wrongdoing. Finkelstein, of course, knows this, but he also knows that a false charge once made tends to stick, even if it has been authoritatively disproved. The media regards plagiarism as such an explosive charge that even absolute innocence is no defense. After the charge against me was authoritatively dismissed as wholly without merit, it continued to be recycled and even expanded. Finkelstein's tiny accusation that I cited Peters merely eight times instead of a dozen times in two small chapters totaling seven pages of my 264-page book - totally false as it is - has ballooned into a charge that I plagiarized "all" or "large parts" of my book from Peters, despite the fact that the majority of my book deals with events that occurred after the publication of Peter's book. For example, here is what Chomsky has said: "large parts of the book were simply plagiarized from a well-known hoax..." It sounds familiar, doesn't it? The only new element in this tired tactic is the creative use of the Internet. Despite his demonstrable lies, Finkelstein is a popular speaker at anti-Israel events on university campuses around the world. He is not quite as popular as Chomsky and Cockburn, but he is paid handsomely by student groups anxious to promote his anti-Zionist rants. The members of the McCarthyite triumvirate are invited to campuses far more frequently than centrist, moderate pro-Israel speakers. There is something very wrong with this picture, but now that the pattern of literary McCarthyism has been exposed, perhaps the picture will change. [1] Noam Chomsky, What Uncle Sam Really Wants (Tucson: Odonian Press, 1993). [2] Werner Cohn, "Chomsky and Holocaust Denial," from eds. Peter Collier and David Horowitz, The Anti-Chomsky Reader (San Francisco: Encounter Books, 2004), p. 124. [3] Scot Lehigh, "Men of Letters," Boston Phoenix, June 16-22, 1989, p. 30 [4] Paul L. Berman, reply to "Chomsky: Freedom of Expression? Absolutely," Village Voice, July 1-7, 1981, p. 13, 15. [5] Eds. Peter R. Mitchell and John Schoeffel, Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky, (New York: New Press, 2002), p. 245. [6] "I won't lie down and take the insults," Irish Times, July 1, 2003, p. 13. [7] Ibid. [8] Norman Finkelstein, The Holocaust Industry, p. 4 [9] Peter Novick, "Offene Fenster und Tueren. Ueber Norman Finkelsteins Kreuzzug," in: Petra Steinberger (ed.): Die Finkelstein-Debatte, (Piper Verlag: Muenchen 2001), p. 159 (translated from German) [10] John Dirlik, "Canadian Jewish Organizations Charged With Stifling Campus Debate," Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, April/May 1992, p. 43. [11] Norman Finkelstein, "A Reply to Henry Kissinger and Fouad Ajami," Link, December 1992, p. 8. [12] Y.M.D. Fremes, "Interview with Professor Norman G. Finkelstein," Palestine Chronicle, November 24, 2003. [13] May 15, 2004, public forum at the Vancouver Public Library. [14] Simon Rosenblum and Len Rudner, "In a nasty neighbourhood, Israel needs to be tough," Record, June 16, 2003. [15] Anne Applebaum, "The battle for the Holocaust Legacy," Sunday Telegraph, July 16, 2000 (accessible at www.anneapplebaum.com/other/2000/07_16_tel_holocaust.html). [16] Finkelstein, The Holocaust Industry, p. 71. [17] Eds. Martin Dietzsch and Alfred Schobert, "Ein jüdischer David Irving" Norman Finkelstein im Diskurs der Rechten - Erinnerungsabwehr und Antizionismus" (Duisburg, Germany: Unrast Verlag), p. 6 (translated from German). [18] Ibid. [19] Gabriel Schoenfeld's response to critics, "Holocaust Reparations," Commentary, January 2001, p. 20. [20] "Village Voice Suspends Alexander Cockburn Over $10,000 Grant," Wall Street Journal, January 18,1984, p. 12. [21] Franklin Foer, "Relativity Theory; Alexander Cockburn's Dubious Theories," New Republic, April 22, 2002, p. 12. [22] Jon Margolis, "A treatise on columnist Alexander Cockburn," High Country News, May 11, 1998. [23] Eds. Mitchell and Schoeffel, Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky, p. 244 (emphasis original). [24] Ibid., p. 245. [25] Ibid., p. 244 (emphasis added). [26] Ibid. (emphasis added). [27] Ibid. (emphasis added). [28] May 15, 2004, public forum at the Vancouver Public Library, "Is Criticism of Israel Anti-Semitic?" (accessible at http://www.workingtv.com/finkelstein.html). [29] Ibid. [30] Ibid. [31] Ibid. [32]Mitchell and Schoeffel, Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky, p. 245. [33] Alexander Cockburn, "My Life as an 'Anti-Semite,'" from eds. Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair, The Politics of Anti-Semitism (Oakland, Calif.: AK Press, 2003), p. 25. [34]Norman Finkelstein 'Ambushes' Alan Dershowitz (Part II): theExperiment, Dec. 6, 2003, accessible at http://theexperiment.org/articles.php?news_id=1991. [35] Book TV, April 11, 2004. [36] May 15, 2004, public forum at the Vancouver Public Library. [37] Finkelstein, "Israel-Palestine Conflict: Roots of conflict, prospects for peace," Calgary, April 3, 2004 [38] Ibid. [39] Lauren A. E. Schuker, "Dershowitz Defends Book," Harvard Crimson, October 2, 2003, p. A8. 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 |
WE'RE NOT AFRAID
Posted by Batya Medad, May 25, 2005. |
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Justice Minister Livni is trying to scare us, claiming that our opposition to Disengagement will cause "chaos." http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=82567 And what's "chaos"? According to the dictionary, it's: "a state of extreme confusion and disorder." That's what Ariel Sharon and his government are causing. He has abandoned all ideology and his party's long-standing platform. He's the Mr. Hyde after Dr. Jeckyl took the magic potion. I just googled Sharon's visit to New York and discovered that almost all of the articles are identical, superficial and ignored most of his speech. Apparently they were taken from a single press release, which is a timely reminder about the level of the professional journalism in our day and age. Those who did listen carefully, or read the text, discovered that he's treating Judea and Samaria like some unwanted junk at a "garage sale." He's offering a good deal if only the Arabs would promise a bissel quiet, and if they don't, it doesn't matter. He'll give it away anyhow. http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=82495 Yes, this is confusing. Wasn't Ariel Sharon a famous Israeli war hero and general? Wasn't he also one of the strongest and most enthusiastic supporters of Jewish settlement in Judea, Samaria and Gaza? He's the one who pointed to the hilltops, such as my neighborhood, and told Jews to inhabit them, like in the days of Joshua of the Bible. And now all of these thriving communities are on a silver platter to be given to our enemies, the same terrorists who murder, maim and educate their children to kill us. He's planning on throwing good loyal Israelis from their homes and businesses and turn it all over to the same Arabs who are bombing our civilians. Think of the chaos in refugee camps and storage depots where the government is planning on herding the homeless refugees and dumping thousands of crates of furniture, appliances, books, clothing, toys and the rest of the personal possessions of the innocent civilians deported from their homes until they get "permanent housing." The military experts are predicting an enormous increase in terror and more rockets and missles will be fired at Israel if Disengagement takes place. http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=82097 Isn't it "peculiar" when a government declares a policy that they know will endanger the country? Maybe "peculiar" is the wrong word. Will I be arrested for using a different word, like "sedicious"? Those of us who don't agree with the Disengagement policy aren't confused at all, nor are we causing "chaos." We're trying to bring stability and security to Israel. We're focused, and we're not afraid. Just now, as I'm writing this, I saw a news report that anti-Disengagement demonstrators blocked one of Israel's main highway. There were no arrests. Last week the police would have arrested them for the same "crimes." But since the demonstrators aren't afraid of being jailed, and the police don't have the manpower to waste on the legal bureacracy, they're changing tactics. That's a victory for our protest movement. Israel's old, veteran Etzel and Lechi (pre-state underground) fighters must feel that they're transported back to the past, as youngsters brag about how they stuck posters on walls late at night. There are two main differences between now and then. One is that today they're protesting against The State of Israel, and the other is that they don't have to cook the glue. Yes, we'll have the last laugh, b'ezrat Hashem, with G-d's help. This is Musing #121. Batya Medad lives in Shiloh. She can be reached by email at Shilohmuse@yahoo.com or visit her website http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/ or go to http://www.shilo.org.il This essay is also available at http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2005/05/120-natural-treasures.html |
| GUSH KATIF |
THE WRITING ON THE WALL
Posted by Emanuel A. Wilson, May 25, 2005. |
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This was written by Professor Eugene Narrett. It is archived on the Freeman Center, (http://www.freeman.org/serendipity/). If my opinion matters, I agree completely with Professor Narrett'S scenario and conclusions. It is very important that everyone recognize what the Foreign Ministries of Europe, Russia, the Vatican intend to do to the State of Israel. The "peace process" a.k.a. the "land for peace" process, a.k.a. the worldwide 'crusade for freedom & democracy' [sic] intends to expel from their homes, farms, synagogues, etc. not only the Jewish inhabitants of the Gaza region, Judea and Samaria, the heartland of ancient Israel and location of Judaism's holiest sites, but to all of Israel. None of this is new: its modern phase began when the Cairo office of the British Foreign Ministry extended its sway over all British diplomacy during the 1920s and eventually synchronized it with America through the State Department by 1938, as was evident by the upshot of FDR's directing of the Evian and Bermuda conferences in 1938 and 1943. The powers of the world, enflaming and exploiting Islam's long-inculcated hatred of Jews, intend to cripple Israel and insure that it never is a truly Jewish state, and never approaches even that part of its territory (Israel & transjordan) the League of Nations let Britain administer in order to "facilitate Jewish immigration, close settlement of Jews on the land" and to "establish the Jewish national home." Please, people: just step back and look at the consistent direction of western, and eventually global diplomacy since the British fomented the Arab riots of April 1920. The one glaring constant is hindering Jewish return to the Promised Land, and attacking those Jews who manage to return and settle; attacking them by empowering Jewish 'Hellenists' and arming, creating states and apologizing for Arabs. Currently this plan to "cut them [the Jews] off from nationhood, that Israel's name not be remembered any more" is being pushed ardently & with fiendish cleverness by the US State Department whose 'first ladies' (L. Bush & C. Rice) have demanded the tri-section of Israel to facilitate creating another terror state to be named "Palestine," and asserted that the Temple Mount is "Islam's third holiest place." As Goebbels said, "if you want a lie to be believed, make it a big lie and repeat it as often as possible." Ariel Sharon, the 'manchurian candidate' of the globalists, having betrayed Jewish national rights and Jews everywhere, is going to do the dirty work, he and the Labor party hope, of literally dragging Jews from their homes. This is called, "disengagement" though, as many writers have noted, this is not only an ugly euphemism but a lie, since a million-plus Arabs will continue to live and even more commute to work in Israel, in the businesses Jews have built with their sweat, blood, dedication and skills. Please read the following excerpt from a current column on "Mahmoud Abas" (Abu Mazen, planner of the massacre of the children in Ma'alot, and author of a doctoral thesis doubting the holocaust) by Caroline Glick. Sharon and his retinue in Israel and in the USA (through organs like "the Jewish Community Relations Council" currently running poisonously misleading TV ads in the Boston and NYC areas). Then you will see that the threat to Israel goes far beyond the horror they plan to inflict upon the Jews in Katif and the northern Shomron, the tribal land of Ephraim, Joshua and Joseph's tribe. "...the IDF brass, from the Chief of Staff on down has warned that this reorganization and rearmament is the prelude to the next round of war set to begin the day after the IDF expels all 10,000 Jews from their homes, schools, businesses, farms and cemeteries in Gaza and northern Samaria this summer. In the wake of that operation, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz casually mentioned last week that 43 communities in the Negev will be within rocket range of the Palestinians from Gaza. This, of course, will be a temporary situation since the Palestinians will no doubt quickly extend the range of their rockets the moment the IDF is no longer around to stop them from doing so. The powers of the world are planning to inflict a catastrophe on Israel. Even if Israel emerges with most of its population and nominal sovereignty intact, the damage, and certainty of continuing attacks is plain. Just as in the British-American created nation of "Iraq" now being declared "free & democratic" even as Arabs called palestinians kill Americans there, the disaster planned for what now is Israel will be used to help 'justify' the increasing hegemony of a global security state that means to be the ultimate and only god of this world. Israelis, all Israelis, all Jews and others who know what Israel means to the world, now more than ever as the west disintegrates into terrors, broken families, hopelessly corrupted school systems & state treachery -- must call out to the Jews of Israel to stand together, to claim and settle and make bloom ALL of their inheritance. It is the anchor, the cornerstone, and the last best hope of any peace and humanity of which the world is capable. 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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SHARON IS DECLINING PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY - DON'T LET HIM
DESTROY ISRAEL BEFORE HE IS GONE!
Posted by Emanuel Wilson, May 25, 2005. |
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The following speaks to the impact a leader can have upon his and other nations when compromised by ill health both in body and mind. Recall how a sick Presdient Roosevelt gave away half of Europe to the Communist tyrant Josef Stalin. All of Europe suffered for decades and America was forced to spend Billions of dollars to counter the Soviet Union's military and nuclear buildup. President Bush apologized for that mistake and, no doubt, in the years after Bush leaves office he will have to explain how he single-handedly built the Terrorist Muslim Palestinian State which will come to plague the world along with the other Muslims. "Jews Don't Expel Jews," the Freeman Center Blog (http://www.freeman.org/serendipity/).
This article is entitled "They deserve each other," and was written by Amir Oren and appeared in Haaretz May 24, 2005 (www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/579486.html) In Menachem Begin's final months as prime minister, months of physical and mental decline, his condition was concealed by people in his office, starting with the cabinet secretary at the time, a young lawyer from the Likud named Dan Meridor. Now, there's a Meridor of this generation, Yisrael Maimon. Participants at meetings chaired by Ariel Sharon report that Maimon usually sits to the premier's left, and is in charge of waking the premier from occasional dozes into which he sometimes falls. Maimon holds a pen or some other object, knocks the table once or twice like a hypnotist at the climax of a performance, and Sharon wakens and returns to the discussions. Politicians who follow the activities of their senior colleagues, like impatient hawks take note of every slight movement in their health. Pay attention, said one of the Likud ministers to his aide, Sharon has suddenly lost weight and has moved his wristwatch from his left arm to his right. Something has happened to him. No, the minister reported a few weeks later, it must have been a tendon or his elbow, because the watch is back on the left wrist. Last week, in the southern dunes, in a performance carefully controlled and filmed by the cameraman from his office, Sharon was seen in an outburst of energy, haranguing Defense Ministry officials and contractors in charge of building the housing for the settlers due for evacuation from Gaza. "Start working," he said about seven times, like someone searching for new words or forgetting what he had just said. He wanted to emphasize the work going on, but the impression that was received was that the work hadn't started. Sharon wanted to project power and control, and was perceived as lacking both. There's a gloomy spirit pervading the entire chain of command. Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz suffered a ringing slap in the face from senior Defense Ministry officials who are retired and not subject to his commands, when many of them - as a former Mossad chief pointedly noted as colleagues nodded - didn't show up for the annual Defense Ministry reception on Independence Day evening, protesting the display of bad manners toward Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon. Without discounting Ya'alon's own contribution to the gloom in the defense establishment, those of equal rank in that community lay more blame on Mofaz. It's no accident that all-out war has broken out in the General Staff on Ya'alon's ("liars won't be officers") and Mofaz's watch, reaching a climax this week with the judge advocate general's recommendations on the matter of the three major generals suspected of financial misdeeds. The decay has spread through their court. The use made by former chief of staff Mofaz of a misleading document from the Manpower Branch to move up the date of his demobilization retroactively so he could run for Knesset, was met by silence from Ya'alon and the head of Manpower at the time, Gil Regev - an appointment Mofaz made as chief of staff. The false presentation made by Mofaz was only blocked from outside the army, by the press, the Elections Commission and the High Court of Justice. Ya'alon and Mofaz are experienced dairymen and neither are tender young calves. In recent weeks, a new Web site called www.yoshra.com has been running, operated by Ya'alon admirers, not all from his Kibbutz Gofrit, and calling for Mofaz's resignation. "Likud Central Committee members should be enlisted into the cause not to support the defense minister and keep him away from any ministerial position - not to depose the defense minister will harm Sharon's reelection in the coming elections." That's an Israeli innovation if ever there was one: an unofficial Web site for a chief of staff, an officer in uniform, against the defense minister, from the political echelon. The chief of staff has not been heard forbidding his disciples from attacking the elected echelon above him. The site has been quite successful, with eight operators who have brought it to second place, a hair's breadth away from the sites that support Brigadier General Shmuel Zakai, which displayed only 3,753 names in Zakai's favor, against Ya'alon. "If I had been asked to fill out a form evaluating Ya'alon," sighed a veteran of the military justice system, "I would write that `the officer is not experiencing what is happening in his unit." Ya'alon is thus a worthy partner to Mofaz and Sharon. All of them, each in his own way, is contributing to the atmosphere of the twilight of the gods in Israel. 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 |
US OPPOSITION TO SHARON'S PLAN GROWS
Posted by Unity Coalition for Israel, May 25, 2005. |
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The visit to the US this week by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon elicited a surprisingly large opposition response from across the nation, protesting his Disengagement Plan. In addition to demonstrators in New York and Washington DC where he spoke at two events, thousands of protest emails, faxes and phone calls poured in to key members of congress and the administration. Simultaneously, teams of people delivered packets on Capitol Hill, stating explicit reasons for Israel and the US to reconsider a retreat from valuable land that appears to reward four years of Palestinian jihad (terror). Thousands of Christians and Jews from every state responded to an outpouring of information and Action Alerts from the Unity Coalition for Israel. These communications highlighted pitfalls inherent in Sharon's unilateral plan to remove, forcibly if necessary, the residents of 21 Jewish communities of Gush Katif in Gaza and 4 towns in Northern Shomrom in the West Bank. They pointed out a troublesome aspect - that no preparations have been made to accommodate these people once they are removed. Certainly American taxpayers are not interested in footing the bill for their deportation, and that of removing another potential 80,000 people from the West Bank. The very fact that the Israel government feels it must adopt such a racist policy of eradicating any vestige of Jews or Jewish history from the midst of a predominantly Arab population, does not bode well for a peaceful two-state future in this area. Abu Abbas, the new Palestinian leader, already has allowed military hardware to be stockpiled in Gaza, has included terror groups in his new government instead of eliminating their infrastructure, and has encouraged international terrorist leadership to move into this potential vacuum. In fact, a radical new form of Al-Qaida now is active there, as reported May 20 in the Jerusalem Post. One UCI Action Alert focused on this recently organized branch of Al-Qaida in Gaza. It consists of the most radical members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad who have rejected these groups on the basis that they are "too moderate", even though both groups are on the US official terrorism list. As an excuse for forming a new more radical Al-Qaida group, they cite their objection to the temporary ceasefire during the Jewish evacuation of Gaza and also the fact that the US has dishonored the Koran. This new Al-Qaida penetration is already operative in Rafah, Gaza and openly avows plans for attacking the United States and Israel once the "settlers" are moved out. The Unity Coalition for Israel has a new section on its website: www.israelunitycoalition.org detailing the Disengagement Plan. Included is: an 8-page booklet entitled, "Disengagement is Not the Answer", videos depicting beautiful Gaza communities with testimony from residents and victims of terror, Action Alerts on important issues, more than 150 articles from very credible sources, and much more. All information can be downloaded for research purposes or for reprinting by churches, synagogues, study or prayer groups. Organizations may use it for their bulletins and newsletters. UCI has served for 15 years as an information clearinghouse. It is a grassroots alliance of more than 200 organizations representing many millions of Christians and Jews, In addition to the daily news summaries, it has sponsored numerous educational conferences, press conferences, and rallies in Washington and at the National Religious Broadcasters annual conventions. Today's News Summaries, a newsletter on the latest Middle East issues, is available at no charge, by email: voices@israelunitycoalition.org, phone: 913-648-0022, fax: 913-648-7997 or website subscription. The Unity Coalition for Israel (http://www.israelunitycoalition.org) is "the largest worldwide coalition of Jewish and Christian organizations, with more than 200 groups representing millions of people dedicated to Israel. Though we have many different backgrounds, we have one common goal: A Safe and Secure Israel." "Israel is not just a Jewish issue. Millions of Christians resolutely endorse the principle of peace with security for the state of Israel. Because we work closely together and speak with a united voice, our message is being heard!" |
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BUSH: ISLAM IS PEACE!
Posted by Tamar Rush, May 25, 2005. |
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"Islam is Peace" Says President," Remarks by the President at Islamic Center of Washington, D.C., Washington, D.C., www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010917-11.html THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much for your hospitality. We've just had a wide-ranging discussions on the matter at hand. Like the good folks standing with me, the American people were appalled and outraged at last Tuesday's attacks. And so were Muslims all across the world. Both Americans and Muslim friends and citizens, tax-paying citizens, and Muslims in nations were justappalled and could not believe what we saw on our TV screens. These acts of violence against innocents violate the fundamental tenets of the Islamic faith. Andit's important for my fellow Americans to understand that. The English translation is not as eloquent as the original Arabic, but let me quote from the Koran,itself: In the long run, evil in the extreme will be the end of those who do evil. For that they rejected the signs of Allah and held them up to ridicule. The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That's not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace. These terrorists don't represent peace. They represent evil and war. When we think of Islam we think of a faith that brings comfort to a billion people around the world. Billions of people find comfort and solace andpeace. And that's made brothers and sisters out of every race -- out of every race. America counts millions of Muslims amongst our citizens, and Muslims make an incredibly valuable contribution to our country. Muslims are doctors, lawyers, law professors,members of the military, entrepreneurs, shopkeepers, moms and dads. And they need to be treated with respect. In our anger and emotion, our fellow Americans must treat each other with respect. Women who cover their heads in this country must feel comfortable going outside their homes. Moms who wear cover must be not intimidated in America. That's not the America I know. That'snot the America I value. I've been told that some fear to leave; some don't want to go shopping for their families; some don't want to go about their ordinary daily routines because, by wearing cover, they're afraid they'll be intimidated. That should not and that will not stand in America. Those who feel like they can intimidate our fellow citizens to take out their anger don't represent the best of America, they represent the worst of human kind, and they should be ashamed of that kind of behavior. This is a great country. It's a great country because we share the same values of respect and dignity and human worth. And it is my honor to be meeting with leaders who feel just the same way I do. They're outraged, they're sad. They love America just as much as I do. I want to thank you all for giving me a chance to come by. And may God bless us all. |
| GUSH KATIF |
A LITTLE VITAMIN ORANGE IN WASHINGTON WAS SUNSHINE AGAINST BLOOD RED
Posted by Evelyn Hayes, May 25, 2005. |
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It's easy to speak up after the evil reign is over. Everywhere there are Holocaust Memorials. The righteous are paying respect to the dead victims after the victimizers were defeated. But what happened to the brave young heroes of Vilna who named their defense, "We Will Never Die"? Who stopped them from saving Vilna? Who is now stopping to hear the voices of the living victims such as David Hatouel and Maayan, the Ger of Croatia? Embezzlers get away with their crimes done behind closed doors, but the Oslo door is wide open and a revolving door for international corruption and murderers while it would make the greatest citizens homeless. From Oslo Redeployment to Gaza Disengagement, the war is given free rein, even called peace, and the victims are fighting themselves. From Oslo Redeployment to Gaza Disengagement, money transfers are a "world-con" which is taking the yellow out of orange and leaving red again. By red, I mean a "world-con" like the Communism and World-Com corruption that depleted the pensions, banks and so many companies. I mean an Enron that is run by a few big "me-lauds" pocketing what doesn't belong to them. Instead of manna of HaShem and rewards for production, there is a minority reducing the assets of the many. Who is courageous enough to listen to the wise, self-sacrificing, devoted, concerned, empathetic voices trying to stop the self-destruction by self-mutilation of Israel that is being carried out to please the Durban Hate Fetishers stopped in their tracks by the towering of the Twin Towers? As the world suffers the same fate of the Jews, the vocal Jews are not only silenced but muzzled. Since when is it not proper to react to the greatest evil of our times? Since when is it proper to sacrifice the greatest good to the greatest evil. As Sharon, looked downcast and guilty during an interruption of a few minutes at the AIPAC Conference in Washington, the challengers were speaking up for 10,000 possible victims of self-mutilation for treacherous results. Nothing registered in the audience. It was reported that besides a well recognized and admired Jewish leader, a woman who declared Klal Gush Katif is family was evicted roughly and with injuries as she was a voice pleading to stop the casual acceptance of disengagement. Who faces divorce casually? Who faces the replacement of plowshares with swords casually? The muzzle is repulsive, especially when Sharon is not acting according to his platform, mandate and with his full cabinet, Shin Bet and IDF. Cabinet members have quit, been fired or been bribed. Army personnel are also protesting, resigning, warning of the consequences of the APPEASE NOW policy allowing War Nearer. Even the victims of hate cannot bear to acknowledge the fate of their brothers and sisters. They divert their brains and will not look at the gross mismanagement. The disengagement is dehumanization of the Jews so they can suffer again; worse, the silent also know their similar fate. I once asked a storekeeper just attacked about the damage. I was told that a terrorist's bullet landed in the Chumash and didn't go through the name of HASHEM. I asked where was this book? I was told, "gone, we don't want to remember. We have to go on living as if nothing is happening." The suffering of those with a history of being abused by imperialists and Jihad aggression takes on a self-mutilating perspective when venom is spewing from brother against brother. When Sharon was interrupted, the AIPAC audience spewed, "It is not the time. It is not the time." Isn't the time usually before and not after? Wouldn't it be better if justice were now and not later. Perhaps it's a Holocaust Syndrome: Don't shake the Reich because it might happen again. Those who realize, "Not Now" allows sooner to become too late spoke up at the AIPAC Conference and demonstrated outside. They are our pride like Abraham creating civilization and Israel in a majority of decadence. Their emotions are the emotions of so many more than appear because individuals see through walls and connect with reality. The reign of madmen herds those drenched in the stench of those who dirty themselves to appear clean to those who think they are dirty and get filthy. The earth in Gush Katif is the most productive in Israel with the blessing of HaShem. Deserts are green because of the emunah of the descendants of Yaakov. Emunah is orange because it has added humanity to red. I have flooded my wardrobe with orange as a bold statement against the red that chased my ancestors out of Russia Poland and the red that lets blood in Israel be forgotten as if it were never shed. Bless those who were brutally evicted from the AIPAC Conference. Let their injuries heal. Bless those who stood outside, who wore orange, who set aside their daily activity to take an active part in keeping Gush Katif and civilization. The American Israel PAC is not pro-American nor pro-Bible laws when free speech is stifled accepting the Sharon unilateral self-mutilization. Disengagement no matter the victims nor consequences is contrary to American values. One has to say no especially when Sharon has split his party, his country and his unmapping is mutilating little Israel, just 22% of its former legal Balfour mandate. What sane, self-respecting person self-mutilates itself for illegal aliens who blow themselves apart to kill Jews, Americans and even Arabs in Iraq who are saying no to terrorism with the help of America? Those who are expressing themselves with emunah for the rights of the Jews are an umbrella against the reign of hate. Those who appease enable pan-jihad to continue to hail flames of human flesh. Yes, even if you don't want to hear it, there were many representatives of the umbrella to stop the reign of hate in New York and Washington. Those of us who stayed home, called, write and support our heroes of today. We advocate for their umbrella to block the world from evil and the heil to hate. Let our human chains ignored be the major wall that supports justice for Jews and all mankind in Gush Katif, Shomron, Jerusalem and everywhere. Those who might enable the Magen David Synagogue containing a museum of Yamit to be destroyed in Gush Katif, should recognize there were Jewish stars in the audience who AIPAC did not let shine. Onward, Jewish Nation. Am Yisrael Chai. Evelyn Hayes is author of The Plague Series:
"The Eleventh Plague, TWINS, because their hearts are softened to
accept the unacceptable" and "The Twelfth Plague, GENERATIONS, because
the lion wears stripes." and "Thirteen, REDEMPTION, if." Contact her at
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ARAB TIBI: CHANGE YOUR FLAG, ISRAEL
Posted by Yardena Anat Even, May 25, 2005. |
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In today's Haaretz there's an editorial by Danny Rabinowitz that triggers response from all Israelis and Jews of the world. Unfortunately Rabinowitz is not the original or the creator of the sentiment that Israel should change its flag, its anthem and its national symbols to please the Arabs who live in Israel and decorate their wall with posters of Yasser Arafat like Ahmed Tibi. Tibi is the one who originated his discomfort about the issue back then in 1998 and the Economist printed a link to the full article. The Economist printed an editorial April 23rd 1998 when they interviewed Dr Ahmed Tibi, Dr Ahmed Tibi is an Israeli citizen. He is also an adviser to Yasser Arafat, whose photograph hangs behind his desk. Naturally, he is a supporter of the Oslo accords. Naturally, he is despondent about the sluggish progress towards peace. But the really disconcerting thing is what he has to say about the Israeli Arabs, not about the Palestinians. The destiny of Israel's Arabs, he says, is not as part of an independent Palestine. "Our struggle is within the framework called Israel." To further jar your memory, in 1998 Ahmed Tibi threatened ALL Israeli media not to publish Zeevi's murder. To quote from "Employees of Israel Radio allege that Tibi called the country's newspapers, threatening not to allow their reporters into the Palestinian autonomy if they dared publish the story," (www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/2527/press47.htm): Last week's story on Rehavam Ze'evi's accusations of collaborating with Israel - leveled against the father of Arafat-aide Ahmed Tibi and the uncle of Arab MK Abdel Darawshe - has a continuation. It has been learned by Arutz-7 that the story was "buried" by Voice of Israel Radio, after threats by Tibi that if it broadcast the item, its reporters would not be allowed in to the autonomous areas. IMW: Voice of Israel is silent on Dr. Ahmed Tibi The hutzpa is that Tibi is allowed to warm up a seat in the Knesset... Preposterous as it sounds, radical as it is, a handful of Jews at Haaretz subscribe to this idea. A typical Dhimmi example Contact Yardena Anat Even at Yardena3@aol.com |
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HEZBOLLAH IN AMERICA
Posted by Tamar Rush, May 25, 2005. |
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This is an Editorial-Op from yesterday's Washington Times
(www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20050519-092915-7312r.htm). It is
reprinted
from today's Front Page Magazine (www.FrontPageMagazine.com).
Aside from al Qaeda, no terrorist group has killed more Americans than Hezbollah, which is bankrolled by Iran to the tune of at least $100 million a year. Hezbollah's main theaters of operation are Lebanon, its home country (where it killed hundreds of Americans during the 1980s), and the West Bank and Gaza, where it helps Palestinian rejectionists target Israel. But the group is active in the United States as well. Hezbollah is believed to have cells in at least 10 U.S. cities. Although the organization has yet to launch an attack on U.S. soil, its U.S. activities are far from benign. Its work in this country has two major purposes: One is to raise money and smuggle arms to Hezbollah fighters, often by criminal activities ranging from credit-card fraud to cigarette smuggling; and the other is to conduct surveillance behind enemy lines, with a possible eye toward launching attacks on U.S. targets in the event of an armed conflict between the United States and Tehran. Like his backers in Iran, Hezbollah boss Hassan Nasrallah routinely denounces the United States and Israel as his organization's main enemies. Given the events of September 11, and given Hezbollah's own record of kidnapping, torturing and killing Americans when it has had the opportunity, we ignore the group's operations in this country at our peril. Outside of metropolitan Detroit, last month's arrest of Nemr Ali Rahal, a 41-year-old businessman, at his Dearborn home on charges of smuggling funds to Hezbollah, went largely unreported by the news media around the United States. But the story deserves our attention. In Mr. Rahal's house, agents found a videotape of a Hezbollah rally he attended in Lebanon three years ago. The FBI said it found $600 worth of change in buckets in the Rahal home, and that he said the money was meant to go to "orphans" -- the children of suicide bombers. Mr. Rahal has been charged with stealing more than $400,000 by means of credit-card fraud. When Mr. Rahal returned Feb. 9 from a trip to Canada, Customs agents found traces of explosives on his passport. In March, Mahmoud Kourani of Dearborn pleaded guilty to providing material support for Hezbollah. He will be sentenced next month. Kourani ( whose brother is Hezbollah's chief of military security in southern Lebanon) is an illegal alien who sneaked into the United States from Mexico in February 2001. Federal authorities have repeatedly arrested suspected Hezbollah operatives for attempting to smuggle night-vision goggles and other military equipment to the organization. One suspect, arrested in 1998, skipped bail and fled to Lebanon before returning to the United States last year to face federal charges. In 2003, a federal court convicted a Hezbollah cell based in Charlotte, N.C., on charges of aiding Hezbollah by operating a cigarette-smuggling ring. The leader of that group, Mohammed Hammoud, received 155 years in prison. |
| GUSH KATIF |
IN ISRAEL THE TIDE IS TURNING
Posted by Dovid Ben Chaim, May 25, 2005. |
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Everyone needs to understand that the Sharon Scheme is beginning to crumble. In Israel, the evacuation timetable itself is proving infeasible, dissension is spreading in the ranks of Israel's security forces, the generals are calling for "more time," the Israeli people are beginning to stir, the Arabs no longer can contain themselves, the left and their cohorts in the crypto-left are starting to panic, and the US administration, seeing all this, is hedging its bets. Clearly, the balance is beginning to shift but it has not yet reached critical mass. So this is no time for complacency. It is a time for renewed action. We must not look past the game we're playing today. We should work harder, increase our efforts and do more of what every it is we've been doing in the past. Write a letter, forward this email, attend a rally, stage your own, wear an orange Gush Katif t-shirt*, contact the White House, contribute to the Gush Katif resistance, fly to Israel, move to Gush Katif, pray, argue with a neighbor. Whatever you do keep doing it and more! We can tip the scales and turn back the evil decree!! *Striking, bright orange Gush Katif t-shirts are available in the US for only $10. Simply call 212-828-2424, or write, afsi@rcn.com. Tax-deductible contributions to FRIENDS OF GUSH KATIF may be sent to 1623 Third Ave. Suite 205, New York, N.Y. 10128 or may be donated directly through the website: www.katifund.org. BS"D The March to Stop the Deportation Americans Say Never Again! Never Again to indifference. Never Again to silence. Never Again to deportation. Dear Friend of Israel, The Sharon Government plans to deport close to 10,000 Jews from Gush Katif and Northern Shomron later this summer. Jewish lives are at risk both there as well as in Tel Aviv, Haifa, and other major population centers. Even PM Sharon's own newly appointed head of the Shin Bet Yuval Diskin paints a bleak picture of Israel's security situation after the expulsion. According to Diskin, "Northern Samaria and Gaza without the IDF means terror and the firing of missiles at Israeli targets all over the Land. It would leave the IDF without an effective method of fighting terror." Our brothers and sisters in Israel have pleaded for us to do something to prevent this crime against humanity and violation of G-d's commandment to the Jewish people. They are counting on us. We will not let them down. Join Us Wednesday, June 22, 2005 10:00 am-5:00 pm Outside the Israeli Embassy, Washington DC Register Now: www.stopthedeportation.org Questions/Comments: sbarkochba@yahoo.com A Program of Ascendant Redemption |
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THE RETURN OF YELLOW JOURNALISM
Posted by Max Yas, May 25, 2005. |
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A new WMD (Warmongering Media Disinformation) has been creeping up on us for years, but finally got our attention when Newsweek published a story about guards flushing down the toilet a copy of the Holy Koran in Guantanamo Bay in order to humiliate the confined terrorists and induce them to give up valuable information. In the ensuing riots in Muslim countries 17 innocent people have been killed, more than a hundred wounded and much property destroyed. Newsweek rushed to print based on an unverified tip, which proved to be false. They have now apologized and retracted. A lot of good this will do for the dead and wounded! No matter how firmly and frequently Newsweek may apologize and retract, hundreds of millions of Muslims will continue to believe this story as they believe that the Twin Towers were demolished "by the Jews." Newsweek is not alone in allowing their prejudices to get the better of their judgment. Dan Rather lost his (talking) head by reporting against President Bush, based on forged documents; and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported, in a short documentary on the evening news, that Israelis in Gaza are spreading poison in Arab fields to kill their sheep. This story was based on the death of two newborn lambs. During the Dark Ages the Jews of Europe were accused of poisoning wells and spreading the Black Death - now it's poisoning sheep and spreading HIV. How little we have progressed in the intervening centuries!!! Guilt by omission: In addition to spreading obvious disinformation, the Media misinforms by omission of any news that does not fit their party line. FOR EXAMPLE: Those who follow world news remember the 13 year-old Palestinian boy caught in a crossfire during a shoot-out between terrorists and the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) and eventually shot to death. The media immediately jumped to the conclusion that the IDF killed the boy. Newspapers gave the story big headlines and followed up for days; TV ran the story and photos over and over again daily. When forensic tests eventually proved conclusively that the deadly bullet did not come from a weapon used by the IDF, the media barely mentioned this part of the story. Please think back to the "massacre in Jenin." The media reported, with photos, for weeks on this dastardly action by the IDF. The United Nations, where anti-Israel resolutions are routinely passed frequently and always with lopsided majorities, launched a probe and found that there was no massacre in Jenin!!! In fact 26 IDF members lost their lives by defusing the many booby-traps and mines set by retreating terrorists. They could have demolished the slum area from the air without incurring casualties, but chose instead to avoid "collateral damage" by sending in a mine-clearing team with predictable losses to IDF soldiers. How did the media react? With barely a mention. William Randolph Hearst (1863 - 1951) created the largest newspaper chain in the USA. To build circulation he resorted to what became know as Yellow Journalism: a combination of spurious excitement, exaggeration, and frenzied promotional methods. He seized on the Cuban Revolution of 1895 and by inflating accounts of Spanish "atrocities", aroused public indignation and helped bring about the Spanish American War (based on Encyclopedia Americana - 2000 edition). "News is something someone is trying to hide. Everything else is just advertising." (W.R. Hearst) Today, the second part of Hearst's quotation should be: "Everything else is propaganda." After a century, Yellow Journalism is flourishing again and leading to an unintended conclusion: WORLD WAR III BETWEEN THE MUSLIM WORLD AND THE WESTERN COUNTRIES. Contact Max Yas by email at maxyas@victoria.tc.ca |
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"NY TIMES" MISSES UNFAVORABLE NEWS; LEGALIZING PROTEST IN ISRAEL? BOMBARDMENT IN GAZA
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, May 25, 2005. |
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"NY TIMES" MISSES UNFAVORABLE NEWS Every day the independent, patriotic, but small-scale Israeli media report undemocratic measures by the Sharon regime. The "NY Times" does not. This neglect of crucial news isn't for love of Israel or lack of staff. The "Times" has its own personnel in Israel. So do the major wire services; Western reporters abound in Israel. They are not there to report news, however, they are there to support views. They ignore issues of police brutality and whatever would, if known, sully Sharon's abandonment plan. WHY ISN'T NOTION OF "RESISTANCE" DEBUNKED The Arabs are trying to redefine terrorism so as not to include resistance to national occupation and so as to consider the western Palestinian Arabs occupied. Both concepts are erroneous. Here, let's take up the notion that any fighting by the Arabs is justified. It isn't justified. The Arabs signed a peace agreements. They have no justification for warfare. They could negotiate a final settlement, but do not. Now they say they want to, but they violate agreements already reached. Israel wants to let them alone, but their warriors seek out Israelis aggressively. Why do the Western media not debunk the Arab notion? Do our media not understand it or are they too biased to report accurately and would prefer leaving readers with pro-Arab impressions? UNSAID AT STATE DEPT. PRESS CONFERENCES Most people don't bother to read the text of the question period at press conferences held by representatives of the State Dept.. If people read one or two, they would find it eye opening. The questions about the Arab-Israel conflict are like a cross-examination, seeking to goad the representative into admitting a conflict with Israeli policy and to make a threat against Israel. The representative falls back on vague phraseology, references to previous agreements and that each side "should" do what is expected, i.e., of Israel, what the US demands but denies it is demanding. Like the State Dept., the journalists treat the two sides sometimes as equals, although the Arabs are the aggressors, and sometimes as if Israel were the aggressor. Israel's innocent civilian activities are assumed to be of grievous injury to the Arabs. The Arabs guilty military activity is assumed not to be of grievous harm to the Jews. More important are the questions not asked: (1) Why does Pres. Bush want statehood for the western Palestinian Arabs, after the eastern Palestinian Arabs already have a state and the Arabs have many other states? (2) While waging war on terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq, why does Pres. Bush offer them financial aid in the P.A.? (3) Since the P.A. media officially preaches a religious duty to murder Americans, why does the Administration propose statehood for it, whether it terrorist leadership be elected fairly or unfairly? (4) Since the PLO/P.A. breaks all their agreements, and since their religious faith, secular ideology, and popular opinion all reject the notion of genuine peace with Israel and acceptance of just the Territories for an Arab state, and since the Arabs call for ceasefires that they violate and which they use to escalate their military preparedness for a renewed offensive, why does the Administration call for restraint from both sides, rather than calling for Israel to go all out and destroy the Arab aggressors? The media invited to the briefings are biased, ignorant, or subdued, and the government is pursuing a policy of folly that the media fails to be a watchdog over. PRETENDED CEASEFIRE "Israel will use 'all necessary means' to stop mortars and rockets fired from Gaza at Israeli towns and settlements, Defense Min. S. Mofaz said ..." "At the same time, Israel promised restraint, unwilling to risk breaking the cease-fire..." (Steven Erlanger, NY Times, 5/20, A8.) On page 4, Mr. Erlanger had a rare human interest story about Israelis. Unlike such stories about the Arabs, this one did not put the subjects sympathetically. Instead, as is "Times" practice, first it had a damning but false and unchallenged Arab claim that the Jews are usurpers, and are interfering with Arab plans to set up a state. Only paragraphs later did a tepid and incomplete Israeli reply appear. Mr. Erlanger found an Israeli who used the expression about Gaza, "give back to the Palestinians." It never was theirs. The Land of Israel is the Jewish homeland that the Arabs had conquered and lost centuries ago. An expression of greater accuracy and for historical justice would be fore "the Arabs to give back the land to the Jews." The Israelis are masters at self-contradiction, the Arabs are masters at having it both ways, and the "NY Times" is masterful at obscuring such news. The Arabs call for a ceasefire, but open fire. With the help of the "Times," they pretend there is a ceasefire, while they go on arming themselves and killing Jews. Subjected to constant unfair criticism, Israel is afraid to declare that the Arabs have ended the ceasefire, so it joins the pretense of there being one, letting the Arabs have it both ways. Israel will use all necessary means to stop the bombardment, but will use "restraint" so as not to break what the constant bombardments prove is not a ceasefire. That is self-contradiction. It answers bombardment with bombast. This is an old Israeli governmental practice of appeasing its people without protecting them. If it exercises restraint, then it doesn't use "all necessary means" to stop the bombardment. To the contrary, it continues to plan abandoning Gaza to the Arab rocket squads. That would enable more attacks. If the times were a news paper rather than an anti-Zionist propaganda paper, it would puncture the illusion that the Arabs have ceased firing, that the Arabs ever honor their agreements with Israel, that the government protects its people, and that the Arabs are deserving of any consideration after their constant terrorism. The paper should not take seriously the Arabs' complaint about Israel preventing their setting up a state, as if statehood were their right. U.S. SHOULD SHOW RESTRAINT After Arab terrorists attacked Israel, and the P.A. failed to try to stop them (even when Israel informed it where the rocket-launchers were and its forces went there), Israel undertook some measures of self-defense. (Israel also destroyed three Hizbullah posts, after Hizbullah fired a salvo at Israel.) The US reaction was to urge all parties to show restraint. That is not fair. Worse, it indicates what Israel can expect when and if Israel abandons Gaza and the Arabs step up their attacks. It can expect a denial of Israel's right to fully defend itself. PM Sharon's forthcoming trip to the US affords an opportunity for him to rally a pro-Israel constituency here over such matters. Unfortunately, he does not take advantage of such opportunities. (No, he comes to take orders.) All he is interested in is retreating (Dr. Aaron Lerner, IMRA, 5/19). US policy is for Israel to abandon all of Yesha, regardless of the consequences to Israel. That should not be Israeli policy. Israeli policy should be to get the US to withdraw and for the US to show restraint in its pronouncements. If it must comment, let it encourage Israel to throw off all restraint in cracking down on terrorism and ending the use of autonomy to promote terrorism. HAMAS VS. RUSSIA According to documents and videos that Israeli forces seized from Hamas in Gaza, Hamas is recruiting Palestinian Arabs to go on jihad against Chechnya, as well as in the Balkans, P.A., Kashmir, and Lebanon. Hamas is making international Islamist contacts (IMRA, 5/19). Left to brood, evil brews. Russia is allying itself with the P.A., which coddles Hamas, which, in turn, gets Russians killed. Is that in Russia's self-interest? Or should Russia ally itself with Israel, and get Hamas crushed and, in turn, Russians saved? Do governments act in their national interest? Do they know what is in their national interest? ARAB OPPOSES ACADEMIC BOYCOTT OF ISRAEL The head of Al-Quds U., Sari Nusseibeh, and the head of Hebrew U, both in Jerusalem, signed a joint declaration of their universities' cooperation and their opposition to the British professors' pledged boycott of some Israeli universities. The declaration affirmed mutual respect as the basis for attaining common objectives (IMRA, 5/19). "Common objectives?" "Mutual respect?" Nusseibeh's objective is the overthrow of Israel. To that end, he has had his university train youths in terrorism. What is his real motive in this statement? WHAT FORMS OF PROTEST ARE LEGAL IN ISRAEL Attorney General Mazuz of Israel was asked what forms of protest against abandonment are legal. Shoving, spitting and throwing stones at soldiers or police are not a legitimate form of expression. Neither is road blocking, which may endanger people's lives. Posters stating, "Disengagement is tearing the nation apart," "The transfer (of Jews) will not be passed," and "Sharon is a dictator" are legal forms of freedom of speech. He noted that "part of the public" demands banning such sloganeering and punishing protestors. "Mazuz said he has asked police to examine complaints whereby legitimate demonstration posters have been confiscated, and people wearing t-shirts with slogans protesting the disengagement have not been allowed into certain events." (IMRA, 5/19.) Well said! Let's hope he means it. BOMBARDMENT IN GAZA Arab terrorists fired 40 rockets at the mostly civilian Jewish communities in the Gush Katif area in Gaza, within a 24-hour period. In response to this Arab escalation, the IDF declared that it would not escalate its response, which was to attack and scatter a few rocket squads, and then halt. Residents told reporters that they consider the dearth of casualties miraculous. Their faith keeps them from moving out. So does realization that their departure would weaken Israeli security (Arutz-7, 5/19). Pres. Bush had asked both sides not to escalate. Israel heeded; the Arabs did not. Have you noticed that the US is ever patient with the Arabs, rarely scolding them for their escalation? Bear in mind that escalation in self-defense is normal. 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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AUT AND ANTI-ZIONISM
Posted by Jock L. Falkson, May 25, 2005. |
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D Day is tomorrow, 26 May, for the AUT's meeting to reconsider its boycott of Israel's academic fraternity. This essay was written by Howard Jacobson. It appeared oon http://liberoblog.com/howard-jacobson-on-anti-zionism/ Never heard of Howard Jacobson previously and what a pity that is (for me). Here, in a powerfully expressed and closely reasoned argument, Jacobson exposes the vilification of Israel by Sue Blackwell and her Association of University Teachers. Allow me, in the light of the Association of University Teachers decision to boycott Israeli Universities, to voice a heresy. Anti-Zionism is, after all, anti-Semitism. I say after all because until now I have always resisted the conflation of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. I have suffered very little anti-Semitism personally, and don't find it under every stone. I don't think Jews, by virtue of their victimization in the past, have any right to expect exemption from the usual rough and tumble of opinion. And I don't consider it a mark of ill will towards Israel - indeed it might well denote the very opposite - to oppose its policies when they are inhumane. It is important to hammer in this nail. No, no, and no again, I do not accuse all those who censure Israel of hating Jews. Which nail hammered, it is equally important to drive in another. In the boycott by the Association of University Teachers what has been expressed is not criticism or censure but villification. Criticism, the more particularly as university teachers should be expected to understand it, implies the free exchange of judgement and idea, the give and take - however harsh - of argument and counter-argument. Anything less is merely the closing of minds. And a boycott - especially a boycott of thinkers, scientists, philosophers, etc, those for whom open-mindedness should be paramount - is an expression of the closing of minds en masse. There is some fancy abroad that where large numbers of people agree to close their minds together you have democracy in action. You don't. What you have is mobilized prejudice. In this instance, therefore, it is plain to me that the mantra "Criticism of Israel is not anti-Semitic" has no bearing, because we are not confronted with any operation of judgement or debate to which the word "criticism" approximates. But if we are not dealing with fair or open minds, does it necessarily follow that we are dealing with anti-Semitic ones? Let me explain the reasons why I believe it does. No other country has been singled out for similar treatment. No boycotting of Chinese universities, or Universities in African or Arab countries where infringements of human rights are state sponsored and racism is so routine it is part of the curriculum. Were all the charges brought against the State of Israel true, that would still leave it as one sinner among many. By isolating Israel as the worst offender of all - the ne plus ultra of criminal brutality - those who support this boycott consent to conferring unequivocally upon Israel the status of pariah. A degraded and despised place. An outcast from civilized society. The very position, in fact, which Jews have occupied in most countries of the world, not least the countries of the Middle East, for as many years as you care to quantify. Is this merely coincidence? Or do we bring it on ourselves? One thing is clear, in the case of Israel, as in countless instances in Jewish history, an exception has been made of Jews. A Jewish enterprise, this time the Jewish state itself, is found to be unlike no other, not only to be censured more comprehensively than any other, but to be kept outside the city walls, not to be conversed with, a thing unclean, untouchable. "Jewish science" was how the Nazis referred to psychoanalysis and relativity. Because Freud and Einstein were Jewish, the German people had to be protected from the contamination of their work. Now the contaminating science is not Jewish but Israeli. Which we are told is somehow different. I ask the question again and defy the authors of the boycott to answer it - is this merely a coincidence or do we bring it on ourselves? Coincidence or not, Sue Blackwell, the prime sponsor of this boycott, has insisted that yes, Israel is uniquely reprehensible, illegitimate as no other country is illegitimate in that "it is founded on ethnic cleansing". Not occasionally guilty of this heinous crime, notice. But founded on it - ethnic cleansing, if you like, written secretly, as is the way of Jews, into its inauguration and constitution. Here is not the place to detail the socialist aspirations of those Zionist pioneers who saw in Palestine an opportunity to reconfigure their own ethnicity - who, far from wishing to drive out the local Arab population, dreamed an almost Utopian dream of co-operation with them. I have met such idealists myself in kibbutzim up and down Israel, still active despite all their disappointments so far. To talk of ethnic cleansing as hardwired into the Zionist enterprise is a violence not only to history, it is a violence to Jews living and dead. It hates Israel before there was an Israel to hate. And before Israel there were only Jews. The ethnic cleansing accusation has taken hold recently as a sleeker alternative to the charge of Nazism. While it is simple to refute the claim that the Israelis are the new Nazis - show us the extermination camps, show us the gas chambers, show us the will to wipe out an entire culture - "ethnic cleansing" sticks the easier for being vaguer while doing the same job of making Jews guilty of the very crimes of which they were once the victims. Call it a sort of retroactive justice. In a number of public letters over the last months, Ken Livingstone, for example, has accused Israel of systematic ethnic cleansing, citing not some "virulently anti-Israel critic" but the Israeli historian Professor Benny Morris. If a Jew says it, you see, it cannot be anti-Semitic. In fact Professor Morris denounces Livingstone for quoting from his book "without invoking the context in which this occurred. It was in a war of aggression launched by the Palestinian Arabs in November/December 1947 against the Jewish community in Palestine with the aim of preventing the emergence of a Jewish state and possibly throwing them in the sea." A context is not, of course, an excuse. But the villification of Israel of which the academic boycott is the latest example rests upon contextlessness, Israel's every act an unprovoked aggression, at every turn the doer and not the done to, all mention of war waged by the other side expunged. Here, too, I recognize the age-old strategies of anti-Semitism. Jews clung together unwholesomely, the anti-Semites said, and never mind that as a deliberate act of segregation they had been herded into ghettos. They were money-lenders and financiers, and never mind that all other opportunities had been closed to them. The Jew was contextless. He came evil into the world. As did, for those who would shun it, Israel. Like the Jews who founded it in their image, Israel - alone among nations - stands outside history. But then for Sue Blackwell the argument of history is only circular anyway. It is no defence of Israel that it has had to fight against being driven into the sea, because the sea, in her view, is where it belongs. Again, alone among the peoples of the earth, Jews are to have no home but must seek shelter wherever they are lucky enough to find it. A "Holy Land in which people of all races and religions have equal status" is Sue Blackwell's ambition. Forgive a Jew for wondering like unto which other harmonious Middle Eastern country, where Jews have enjoyed equality of status, this would be. St Augustine saw perpetual exile as our mark of Cain, the price Jews paid and must go on paying, for being murderers. Not much has changed. It is anti-Semitic to refuse in principle a homeland for the Jews, or to suppose that they have yet again showed themselves to be unworthy of one. Never mind that there are Jewish academics among those who have signed up to the boycott. The admiration of one's fellows is a seduction few of us can resist, and in the current climate a Jewish academic is a hero (isn't this the very logic of the academic boycott?) only when he publicly signs up to be no friend of Israel. Dark rumours surround Sue Blackwell's feverishly pro-Palestinian website. A Commons committee is said to be investigating possible links with a site blaming Jews for 9/11. An "inadvertent" link, Sue Blackwell insists. Whatever the truth of it, the University of Birmingham, where Sue Blackwell teaches, currently disowns her site. Myself, I don't think it makes much difference to her position whether she has links with overt anti-Semites, or simply wants to sell olive oil made by Palestinians on the web; her politics are virulent either way. More to the point is that she teaches in an English Department. English as an academic subject has lost its way in the last three or four decades, deconstructing itself into a relativism which leaves its practitioners hungry for anything that looks like an absolute. Thus, whereas every text yields itself to a thousand interpretations, the state of Israel yields itself to only one. In this manner do minds which should be enquiring box themselves at last into that darkness where no enquiry, no departure from enforced orthodoxy, is permissible. To a Jew, then, who understands the history of his people as one long subjection to absolutism - where all else shifts, the Jew at least is constant in his graspingness and inhumanity - no, it is no coincidence that in our time the one pariah state is the country of a pariah people. Anti-Zionism, now, is anti-Semitic because by the actions of its members the Association of University Teachers has made it so. Jock Falkson is a former South African advertising executive, now a free lance writer living in Israel. To be put on Jock Falkson's email list to receive his essays, contact him at falkson@barak-online.net |
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'RIGHT' OF RETURN, OR RIGHT TO EXIST?
Posted by Michael Gropper, May 25, 2005. |
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I think the attached article says it all. I hope the American administration is prepared to put the truth to test in the Bush-Abbas meeting scheduled Thursday. I wish someone could talk to Bush and tell him that peace will never materialize in the Middle East when blatant lies are allowed to continue to grow with the world's eyes closed, and too many Israelis are still blinded by their battle fatigue and misplaced dreams. This article was written by Zalman Shoval, who served twice as Israel's ambassador to the United States. It appeared in the Jerusalem Post yesterday. It is archived at www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ ShowFull&cid=1116901693566 When Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) calls on President George Bush at the White House on Thursday, he will certainly receive renewed support for Palestinian statehood. We also know that Abbas, when pressed about the reforms he promised and his failure to act decisively against terror and incitement, will complain about the Israeli "wall" and checkpoints, and his trouble imposing authority. In all this litany, the one issue most central to the Arab-Israeli conflict may not come up at all: the Palestinian refusal to renounce the so-called "right of return" of Palestinian refugees to Israel. In a recent article in The New York Times Magazine, James Bennet, the paper's former Israel correspondent, wrote that Abbas's "stated goals are like Arafat's - [he] also rejected the deal which Barak offered at Camp David." This means, to recall, that in addition to rejecting a state over 97 percent of the territories and most of east Jerusalem, Yasser Arafat would not consider consenting to an end of conflict declaration if he had to give up the "right of return" to Israel. In his letter of April 14, 2004 to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Bush wrote that "it seems clear than an agreed, just, fair and realistic framework for a solution to the Palestinian refugee issue as part of any final status agreement will need to be found through the establishment of a Palestinian state, and the settling of Palestinian refugees there, rather than in Israel." Though certainly a step in the right direction, this formulation leaves much to be desired. The phrase "rather than in Israel" is disturbing as it might imply that settling the refugees in a future Palestinian state is only an alternative, though a preferable one, to settling them in Israel. More importantly, what "seems clear" to the American President is anything but as far as the Palestinian leaders, including Abu Mazen, are concerned. In his televised speech on the so-called "Nakba (catastrophe) Day," the latter not only called the decision to create the state of Israel a crime, but also reiterated his demand for solving the refugee issue on the basis of UN General Assembly resolution 194 - which means getting the "right of return" in through the back door. If that was not clear enough, he went further, stating that the refugees' being in the Arab countries was only temporary "until the day of carrying out the UN resolutions will come." As Haaretz columnist Ari Shavit wrote last week, "Abu Mazen couldn't have been more precise: For him there will never be peace or security, nor stability in the Middle East, without enforcing the "right of return" in practice. In other words, there is no connection between Palestinian statehood and the solution of the refugee problem." Abbas, in other words, completely rejects the basic premise of the Bush letter. THE FACT that the Palestinians refuse to renounce their claim creates a clear gap between the Israeli and Palestinian positions. Israel, by signing on to the road map, has accepted Palestinian statehood; the Palestinians, by claiming the "right of return" are still refusing to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Furthermore, though the Bush letter sees in a Palestinian state the solution to the refugee problem, it seems to gloss over the fact that, even in the best case, this mini-state would not be able to economically or demographically absorb more than 10% of the refugee population. What about the rest? For unless the Palestinian refugee problem is dealt with it will remain a festering wound, destroying any chance of resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. It is no coincidence that the Palestinian refugee problem has not only not been resolved all these years, but encouraged to multiply. Israel successfully absorbed and integrated a much larger number of Jewish refugees than the number of Arabs who left Israel after 1948, despite its lack of resources and space compared to the Arab world. The Arab states and the various Palestinian leaders over the years, not without a measure of complicity on the part of the UN, deliberately rejected any suggestion to settle the refugees and shut down the camps in which they languished, often under inhuman conditions, and grant the refugees basic civil rights. The obvious aim of prolonging all this Palestinian suffering was to multiply the political and terrorist pressure on Israel. For some of the Arab "host" countries there was an added advantage: cheap labor without fundamental benefits of education, healthcare, job security or workers' rights - let alone the rights of permanent residency and to travel freely. At a recent meeting in the United Kingdom with Palestinian leaders, including ministers in the present Palestinian government, I raised the question of helping to solve the refugee problem by following the Jordanian precedent of at least partly integrating the refugees in the countries in which they reside. The reaction was viscerally negative, even violent: Never! If this is a true reflection of Palestinian attitudes - and I am afraid it is - it is a clear and discouraging indication that the Palestinian concept of peace is still very different from that of Israel and of Abbas's host in the White House. The greatest contribution Bush could make to peace would be to say the plain truth: Until the Palestinians have abandoned their claim of a "right of return" to Israel, they cannot claim to have recognized Israel's right to exist. Dr. Gropper and his wife Ruth made aliyah with two children; he now has 4, one of whom was just made a commander in the tank corp. |
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WHY DOES OPRAH SYMPATHIZE WITH TERRORISM?
Posted by Naomi Ragen, May 25, 2005. |
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Friends, I am a fan of Oprah's, and a subscriber to her wonderful (until now) magazine. And so, I was outraged at O Magazine's publication of an article sympathetic to a young Palestinian girl who wants to be a suicide bomber! She's "helpless," blah,blah, blah. What about the nonstop incitement of children to kill by the Palestinian Authority? What about the rich Palestinians, and Saudis and Egyptians who blow themselves up? We can't let this go unnoticed. Please go to the following site, which will give you information on who to contact to express your disgust and outrage: http://tinyurl.com/bfvn8 Opraqh, you are getting bad advice, and are jumping on the antiSemite, trendy pro-terrorist, hate-America bandwagon. I'm horribly disappointed. To register your protest about the article in Oprah Magazine, write: youropinions@hearst.com Please include your name, address, and daytime phone number. Naomi From a reader: This is not the first time Oprah has taken on the Palestinian cause. Shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, she aired a show on the suffering of people at the hands of terrorists. One segment detailed the suffering of the Palestinians at the hands of the Israelis. She interviewed mothers of suicide bombers who were distraught because their houses were bulldozed. There was not one mention of Israeli babies and their mothers being blown up on buses. Not one mention of Israelis being blown up while eating pizza. Not one mention of the teens who were blown up while dancing at the disco in Tel Aviv. That was the last day I watched the Oprah Winfrey show. I have no respect for her. Benita
Friends, The same day I got the alert from HonestReporting concerning David France's outrageous article in about would be homocide bomber Yusra Abdu in Oprah Magazine's June issue, I got my issue. I thought I'd read it carefully and rebut. But, friends, by the second paragraph, I was hyperventilating. This is the worse piece of pro-terror propanganda I have read, ever. Mr. France lies with every word, including "and" and "but." He quotes enemies of Israel, leftists, and unidentified human rights activists, spouting wrong statistics, disproven facts (ie. Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount started the Intifada...as if the memos proving Arafat planned the whole thing months before and was looking for an opportune moment were never discovered) and pschobabble about "helplessness" and deprived childhoods. He reduces the number of Israeli casulties, and hikes up the number of Palestinians who "die" at checkpoints. It's really, really sickening. And absolutely inexcusable. Enough to make me send back the magazine to its publishers and ask them to cancel my subscription. Enough to make me boycott the sponsors: chevy.com; redken.com,nissanusa.com; clinque.com; lvidocs.com; banana republic; redenvelope.com; shop@lancome.com; target stores; www.prescriptives.com; aveeno.com; subaru.com; visa.com; myswitzerland.com. etc. Just look through the magazine. If you can e-mail just one of these advertisers to let them know your outrage, it will help. And if you haven't e-mailed Oprah at youropinions@hearst.com please do so. Below, some like-minded thinker. Naomi Ann Coulter says Katie Couric is "the affable Ava Braun" of daytime TV. But Couric's got nothing on Oprah Winfrey. Oprah is the affable Joseph Goebbels of daytime talk ... of chick magazines ... of Oprah seminars - and every other medium in which the self-anointed high priestess of the religion of Oprah has her hands. Through all of these, Oprah preaches "how to be your best self" and "live your best life." Unfortunately, a predilection for radical Islam and excusing terrorists is a prominent element of Oprah's "best self." Cheating husbands don't get off as easy as Islamic terrorists, murderers, and torturers in Winfrey's world. Take "O" Magazine, Oprah's monthly print version of self-conceit. Like every other month, the cover of the June issue of "O" features Oprah - for the gazillionth time. Unfortunately, also for the gazillionth time, the inside of the glossy mag features Oprah's unique brand of understanding and empathy for terrorists and radical Islam. Last month, Oprah's "O" asked readers to understand "The Heart of a Destroyer," Mohammed Atta. You remember him - the Al-Qaeda ringleader of the 9/11 hijackers who murdered 3,000 Americans. But that's not exactly the way "O"'s "reading room" wants you to remember him. Beneath a picture of young Mohammed and his smiling sister on the Egyptian beach, "O" exhorts you to read a book that "sets out to understand the hearts and minds of the men behind the photos" of the 9/11 hijackers, a group of "lonely, exiled young men." But the fatherless and motherless children who lost their parents to Atta - they aren't lonely, are they? The book, "O" tells us, "is a simultaneously passionate, compassionate, and dispassionate book that [doesn't] indict Islam." Just what we need - the CEO of the Oprah Book Club urging America's women to have compassion for Mohammed Atta. On the next Oprah, "Stupid Talk Show Hosts and the Terrorists Who Love Them." (Or is that, "Brave Terrorists and the Stupid Talk Show Hosts Who Love Them"?) I think Stedman's starting to get jealous. To add insult to injury, the latest issue, "O"'s June 2005 edition, demands that we understand the pain and turmoil of Yusra Abdu, a teen-age Palestinian would-be homicide bomber, fiancee of Hani Akad, leader of Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist group. Akad's group, funded by Libya (one of "O" Mag's "Five Places to See in Your Lifetime"), murdered 27 children and injured 134 when they attacked a Jewish school in Ma'alot, Israel. Note the map of hate and swastika in the group's May 22, 2005 Syrian-based newsletter. But in Oprah's world, Muslims aren't terrorists, and terrorists aren't Muslim (more on that, below). Instead, "O" calls Akad "a charismatic and young rebel." "O" describes the cold-blooded, hateful Abdu and Akad as "a Shakespearean tragedy." Yes, in Oprah's world, Islamic terrorists aren't terrorists. They're James Deans, Romeos, and Juliets. And it's not their fault that they're homicide bombers. Or Islam's fault. "O" quotes Saudi-funded Islam apologist John Esposito blaming not Islam, but the desperate "context" of their lives. Reality: Most Palestinian homicide bombers, like the 9/11 hijackers, come from wealthy families, but they hate Jews, Christians, and Americans. That's the "context." Incredibly, super-heroine Oprah calls this psychobabble-ish, understanding-the-world's-Islamic-terrorists sob-story, "Rescuing the World's Girls, Part Five." And some people actually have the nerve to say Savioratrix Oprah is conceited. And what is Oprah's solution? That's easy. Donate to Oprah's Angel Network, "which is awarding a grant to one or more programs that work to prevent Palestinian children from becoming suicide bombers." No thanks. Or donate to UNICEF, "which runs summer camps and trauma programs for Palestinian children." No, actually, UNICEF helps UNRWA (both UN agencies) propagandize future Islamic terrorists from cradle to grave. What about Israeli children's trauma? How about donating to some Israeli children who are victims of Palestinian terror and need prosthetic limbs, even face implants - because half of their faces were blown off at the Dolfinarium Disco in Tel Aviv? Not a word about them in "O." They simply don't exist. Oprah's agenda isn't new. Her unique understanding of Islamic terrorists is manifest in: * A post-9/11 "Islam 101" show - a pandering presentation featuring Jordanian Queen Rania Al-Abdullah. Rania claimed she doesn't have to wear a hijab head-covering and that honor-killings of raped women doesn't really happen in her country. Of course it doesn't, since "her country" is a swanky Fifth Avenue New York apartment in the US, where she mostly lives. Over the past year, Oprah and her publicity team have pushed Oprah's latest weight loss - to loud, gushy media acclaim. Oprah, girlfriend, if only you could have gained the weight of a conscience. The next time we need someone to "Rescue the World's Girls," keep Oprah out of it. Friends, Several people have been concerned about my use of the word boycott concerning sponsors of O Magazine. I agree we shouldn't boycott them. We should suggest to them that advertising in O Magazine is going to alienate people who don't have sympathy for homocide bombers. That is, unless and until Oprah Magazine apologizes and prints a rebuttal. I'm happy to say that public pressure does work. The AUT in Britain, which decided to boycott Israeli universities? Well, they've backed down. Hurray for us. Read the details at: http://tinyurl.com/agbd6 Naomi Dear Naomi- I whole heartedly agree with you about the sentiments in OPRAH! It's a disgrace. But, please don't blame Chevrolet...we own two Chevrolet dealerships (and one Cadillac) and hire anyone who is qualified, providing jobs for 200 employees (and hence, support for their families.) We don't tolerate intolerance of any kind. Unfortunately, Chevrolet (my husband has been on the advertising board and currently sits on both national and regional boards) purchases ads based on demographics. Please don't blame Chevrolet for OPRAH's stupidity...but feel free to ask them to choose other, more suitable magazines, instead. Please do not blame the fine line-up of GM vehicle products for Oprah feeling like she rules the world. Let's come up with another way to let her know we are displeased. It's hard enough doing business these days with high gas prices and the negative press GM has been receiving. You may share this, but please clarify that we are disgusted with Oprah and NOT with Chevrolet. Peri Lieberman
Dear Peri, We really don't intend to boycott anyone. But we need to let the sponsors of her magazine know that their advertising dollars could be better spent elsewhere, because what she's done is hurtful to terrorist victims everywhere. I hope your husband can help suggest this. If you like, I'll be happy to circulate your letter and mine. Best,
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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SHEIK IBRAHIM MUDEIRIS SERMON - THE TRUE FACE OF THE PALESTINIAN-ARABS
Posted by Yuval Zaliouk, May 24, 2005. |
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Dear friends,
The following link will open before you the shocking true world of Arab-Palestinian hate, violence, incitement and propaganda.
http://switch5.castup.net/frames/20041020__PopuMemriTVp/
video_480x360.asp?ClipMediaID=60227&ak=null
Please watch this sermon, worthy of the worst Nazi anti-Semitic manifestations. While you watch, please remember that the sermon was given by a paid official of the Palestinian Authority and broadcast on the official Arab-Palestinian TV. Yes, the official Palestinian TV, controlled by the Palestinian Authority and Abu Mazen, the "moderate" who is doing so much to "reform" his people in accordance with the wishes, hopes and blessings of President Bush and PM Sharon. Please remember that the government of Israel is now preparing to evict dedicated loyal Jewish citizens from their homes in Gush Katif and hand over their beautiful homes and cultivated lands to the enemies, the assassins, who eagerly consume this murderous incitement uttered by the preacher. In two days President Bush will welcome Abu Mazen to the White House. Why? Has anything changed to merit such visit? Such a gesture? If you are as shocked and disgusted as I am, why won't you express your sentiments directly to your Congress representative, and to the President? The support given to Sharon's eviction plan by most official American Jewish organizations is the most bizarre anti-Zionist capitulation act in history. May I suggest that the sermon by Sheik Ibrahim Mudeiris should be shown in every synagogue and church in the USA. Here is a related article called "When Abbas Comes To Call." It was written by Cal Thomas, a nationally syndicated columnist. It appeared in the Washington Times, May 22, 2005. (www.washingtontimes.com/functions/ print.php?StoryID=20050521-100532-5690r). Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is scheduled to meet President Bush in Washington May 26. He is getting this meeting because the Bush administration has concluded Mr. Abbas has done more than his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, to reduce violence against Israeli civilians and reform the Palestinian security services, among other preconditions in the road map for Middle East peace. That's debatable, but one issue beyond debate is Mr. Abbas' failure to end the incitement to violence that President Bush mentioned nearly three years ago as a precondition for carrying out the road map. In its print and broadcast media, the Palestinian Authority has increased the invective against Israel, the Jewish people and the United States. According to a report commissioned by the Center for Near East Policy Research, the invective, incitement, paranoia, false accusations and rumors and inflammatory sermons in Palestinian mosques has not changed under Mr. Abbas. These include assertions from Palestinian officials and their media that Israel plans to attack Islamic holy sites such as Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem's Temple Mount, that Israel uses radiation to poison Palestinian travelers and claims on radio that "America is using her troops to uproot Islam and [true] belief from the hearts of those imprisoned in her jails." On official Palestinian television, viewers saw three hours of nonstop incitement against Jews and Israel. And on "Good Morning Jerusalem," calls were taken from viewers who berated Jews and Americans with approval of the show's hosts. From numerous Palestinian mosques comes rhetoric that, if used by an American preacher about anyone, would properly be condemned as bigotry and an incitement to violence. Sheik Ibrahim Mudeiris, a paid PA employee, said in a sermon aired May 13 on PA TV, "Allah has tormented us with 'the people most hostile to believers' -- the Jews ... and the polytheists." That's code for Christians, who believe in a triune God. "You will find that the Jews were behind all civil strife in this world. The Jews are behind the suffering of the nations." If that isn't enough incitement for the president, how about this from the same sermon: "We have ruled the world before, and by Allah, the day will come when we will rule the entire world again. The day will come when we will rule America. The day will come when we will rule Britain." What about those "troublesome" Jews? The sheik said, "The stones and trees will want the Muslims to finish off every Jew." In case people think this is merely the ranting of a single cleric, they should visit the Palestinian Media Watch Web site where there is a full report outlining the PA's systematic justification for genocide (www.pmw.org.il/KAJ?eng.htm). This isn't only a sermon; it is official policy of the Palestinian government, which the Bush administration believes can make peace and living side-by-side with Israel. If it weren't official policy, one would expect Mr. Abbas to denounce and silence it. If words have meaning, the definition of "incite" should inform administration policy: "stresses a stirring up and urging on; move to action." (Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary) Sermons from Palestinian mosques, along with words and images in Palestinian media, are not the American equivalent of an editorial or opinion column, or a sermon or homily from an American church or synagogue. They are designed to stir up and move to violent action. A preponderance of sermons I have read call for eradicating Jews, Christians and anyone else who doesn't believe as they do. In his meeting with Mr. Abbas, will President Bush raise the issue of incitement in Palestinian media and sermons? Will he demand that Mr. Abbas order a halt to this inflammatory rhetoric intended to incite murder and war and not peace? Will he ask Mr. Abbas if he believes these things? If he won't, what is the meeting's purpose? Yuval Zaliouk writes the Truth Provider columns. To subscribe, send an email to ynz@netvision.net.il |
| GUSH KATIF |
COLOR ME ORANGE
Posted by Paula R. Stern, May 24, 2005. |
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Unlike many in Israel, including hundreds of thousands of Jews born in Eastern European or Arab countries, I have always had the honor and luck to live in a democracy. Born in the United States and then having relocated to the only real democracy in the Middle East, I have always been proud of the lengths to which our justice system has gone in order to protect the democratic rights of the inhabitants of Israel. Having stated without reservation that I am proud to live in a democratic country, one dedicated to honoring the individual while serving the whole, I feel free now to admit my utter amazement at the actions of the police and security forces. I am not surprised that Ariel Sharon's government is afraid of everything orange. Orange, the color of the sunrise. Orange is the color of those who oppose Sharon's plan, but in its own way, orange is becoming the voice of democracy in a country where suddenly irrational fear is replacing freedom and paranoia is rampant. What else is it but paranoia when security guards at the Western Wall spend more effort determining the color of a child's shirt or bracelet than the contents of a backpack? What else but irrational fear would cause security guards at the Knesset to confiscate orange scarves from a delegation of Indian visitors simply because of the color? What did they think the Indians were going to do? Did they fear our honorable leaders would be strangled? Was something possibly hidden by or under the scarves? No, the security threat to the nations leaders came from the simple fact that the scarves were orange. Orange, the color of the sunshine. Young girls wearing orange t-shirts were refused entry to the Western Wall. A boy wearing an orange t-shirt under other layers of clothing was forced to undress before being allowed to proceed. If you approach the Western Wall wearing an orange bracelet, the new police regulations suggest you will be forced to remove it or surrender your right to pray at Judaism's second holiest site (the first being the actual Temple Mount itself). A boy wanting to take part in the national Bible competition was refused the right to participate until he removed or covered his orange t-shirt. Bracelets, orange strips of material, t-shirts, hats. All forbidden because of the color... and more importantly the fact that it represents opposition to the government's plan. Orange, the color of the sunset. A Knesset member was ejected from the proceedings because he donned an orange hat. He did not scream, as they are wont to do, nor did he threaten. The simple act of putting on an orange hat was enough. And the more the Sharon government exhibits this incredible reaction to orange, the more powerful the symbol becomes. Day by day, Israel is turning orange as people realize that Sharon's plan endangers the security of our country. Top IDF members have expressed their hesitation. The highest officers are warning that Hamas is re-arming and getting ready to thrust yet another, more intense terror battle against us. According to some dream-related websites, orange can symbolize "generosity, optimism and nobility." Dreams in orange, says one site, are usually associated with "warmth, sunshine and brightness." But there is another side to orange, suggests the text. Orange is also "a warning, or a caution." Those who chose orange to symbolize the anti-expulsion plan could not have chosen better. As Israel colors itself in orange, we are sending a signal that we believe in the bright future of Israel. We are committed and optimistic that the sun will shine on us. But we are also issuing a warning that we are not blinded by either the sun or Sharon's plan. We see what it will do to Israel. We know, as he has forgotten, that the so-called "unilateral disengagement" is anything but true disengagement and anything but a fulfillment of the promise of peace and security Sharon once made to the people of Israel. As my children go to school with their orange t-shirts and I drive my car draped in the colors of protest, I realize that orange has become the symbol of democracy itself, the right to protest, the right to withhold support, the right to voice opposition. It amazes me that something as simple as a color could come to symbolize not only something we hold so precious, our freedom, but also the lengths to which a corrupt government will go to stop this legitimate expression of our concerns. Out of his blind fear and paranoia has been born the power of orange. Paula R. Stern is a freelance journalist and technical writer living in Israel. Her personal website is www.paulasays.com. |
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IS PRESIDENT BUSH THE CULPRIT? TWO POINTS OF VIEW
Posted by Marcel Cousineau, May 24, 2005. |
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J.: Dear Marcel, Israel is bulldozed into disastrous concessions only because she is pliable, docile and compliant. The infirm attitude of the Israeli leadership actually calls for pressures. This the name of the international power game - the weak pays, the strong wins, as simple as that. I do wonder why you fail to understand that basic fact of life. Marcel: Bulldozed by who? Why ignore this? Why not name the Bulldozer? Is it a form of deep denial that 95% of Zionists ignore the TRUTH? Would an ally or friend act in this way,like a bully rewarding Israel's enemies and restraining Israel at every opportunity? I am convinced that it is because the U.S. has become the only god to most Israeli's that they must deny reality. The U.S. is their only hope, so they cannot face the truth. They must ignore reality as they have no faith to trust in the God of Abraham. The level of denial by the vast majority of Zionists is apalling and breathtaking. It's as if a dark cloud has decended over them and they grope in the dark. Their limited view only reveals the rotund front man for the plan to destroy Israel. J.: Whenever Israel was self-confident, assertive and steeled by the spirit of her just cause, she was considered a strategic asset and was duly respected by the international community. But weak Israel amidst the Middle East conflict, that troubles the entire world, is doomed to be pushed to the corner. Any normal leader of America would have done the same. Marcel: Wrong ! A true friend and ally does not treat his friends the way Israel is treated by the U.S. You along with so many in Israel COMPLETLY ignore that it is the Bush plan to have a Palestinian state and to do this he must steal Jewish land. J.: Henceforth, complaining against President Bush is downright ludicrous. USA administration has always displayed an ambivalent attitude to Israel, a staunch ally as well as an opponent. Marcel: It is ludicrous of you to ignore that it is the Bush call for a Palestinian state that is a grave threat to Israel. EXTRTREMELY ludicrous I might add. Staunch ally? So this is what you call the nation who divides up your land? You sir are deceived and cannot see. Blinded. J.: That dualistic stance stems from the American intricate feat to retain its interests as a world superpower and at the same time remain a ally of an isolated internationally-antagonized miniature state such as Israel. Marcel: Betrayel is not so intricate. I'm sure the Trojans thought they were recieving a gift. And so Israel cannot even awaken to reality that the primary force in her dissection is NOT a staunch ally. J.: But the bottom line is obviously that Israel gets what she deserves. Marcel:God will be the judge of that,not you. But rest assured that the one who divides up Israel for sorrid and duplicitious reasons will recieve justly what will come upon her at His hand. Just you watch and see!
America will be made an example of to all the Jewish people who IGNORE their God,and trusted instead and ran to this IDOL for comfort and protection and silently went along with the EVIL Bush Plan. Marcel Cousineau can be reached by email at up2zionsg8@yahoo.com |
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THEY DON'T CATCH ON; NEW GSS HEAD ECHOES WARNINGS AGAINST ABANDONMEN
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, May 24, 2005. |
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The American Jewish Congress (AJC) reports general Israeli "concern for the welfare of the families who (s.b. "that") will be affected by disengagement." AJC describes the problem at Columbia U. of one of anti-Israel comments and harassment of Jewish students by (mostly Arab) professors. Some people accuse the harassers of trying to stifle challenges to those professors by claiming it is a matter of academic freedom (Congress Monthly, 3/2005, pp. 21,23). That is indeed what such professors claim. Why put it as "some people accuse," as if any doubt? Neither the Israelis, if their reaction is as reported, nor the AJC, get the point. It isn't just the families to be expelled whose welfare is at stake. There also are 44 Israeli towns that, as a result of Yesha abandonment, the government declared "frontline". The government admits those towns would be bombarded by P.A. Arabs, freely moving rockets up closer. Further Israeli towns would come within range when the P.A. develops or imports more effective missiles. Infiltrators, no longer blocked en route, would endanger all of Israel. Since the international airport could be paralyzed by anti-aircraft missiles, Israel tourists and goods could be kept out. From then on, but especially if there is more abandonment, Israel would become decreasingly viable. (As for the P.A. Arabs, they probably would sink in their own sloth.) Israelis would become demoralized and try to emirate. But to where? They have been given false reputations as evil. The Arabs, whose bigotry and terrorism is evil, would have murdered Jews and then inherited the Jewish patrimony. Stop this abandonment and assert Jewish independence and values, and Israel might survive. Pursue it and Israel would not survive. It is a slippery slope on whose edge all of Israel stands. At Columbia, it is not just a matter of opinions against Israel, which is permissible, or of harassment, which is not. It also is the hiring of teachers without academic integrity and whose goal is a false propaganda jihad against Israel and the Jews. Those professors are not performing their job, which is to teach knowledge and elicit independent thought. The matter of opinions is misunderstood, too. One is free not to like something. However, one should be honest about admitting what is factual and not asserting what is fabricated. Those professors are not honest about it. They slander Israel, and preach myths instead of facts. AJC, like each successive conventional organization, makes the same thoughtless analysis as the rest. NEW GSS HEAD ECHOES WARNINGS AGAINST ABANDONMENT "Northern Samaria without the IDF," Diskin, the new head of the secret service, told a Knesset committee, "means terror and the firing of missiles" at Israeli targets. It would leave the IDF without "an effective method of fighting terror in the region." "Diskin also pointed out the dangers of handing over the Philadelphi route on the Gaza-Egyptian border to the PA, in the event that IDF forces withdraw totally from the Gaza district. He took the line of his predecessor, Avi Dichter, who opposed the government's plan to abandon the route to PA forces and rely on beefed-up Egyptian forces to secure the border from their side." "Another serious problem facing Israel is the growing strength of terror organizations in Gaza, particularly Hamas. Diskin said that if Hamas becomes involved politically in governing the Palestinian Authority, Israel would have difficulty targeting its leaders as it has done in the past. He said it would be easier for Israel to deal with Hamas when it functions primarily as a terror group." "Abbas will neither fight terror nor give up the Palestinians' (Arabs') claim to the 'right of return' which if implemented, would flood Israel with hundreds of thousands of Arab 'refugees,' and their descendants, from the 1948 and 1967 wars." (Arutz-7, 5/17.) Sharon had fired Dichter for honestly warning against abandonment. He got Diskin, honest, too. LIMITS TO MY WRITING More stories are coming out about arbitrary police arrests and police brutality against Jews protesting Sharon's abandonment plan. I find the stories convincing, but am not reporting many of them, for two reasons. First, they are coming from one side. They are not verified. This is the sort of thing that should be videotaped and then publicized. Second, some of them involve long stories. My forte is the news brief. I digest the news and comment about it. WHAT WOULD THE P.A. HAVE ISRAEL DO? Israel fired missiles at two terrorists, killing one and wounding the other. The P.A. protested. IMRA wonders, "Since the PA essentially concedes that the Palestinians targeted were engaged in shooting missiles at Israeli targets it remains unclear what the PA expects Israel to do under circumstances that Palestinian 'resistance fighters' are shooting and the PA itself does not act to stop them." (IMRA, 5/19.) It's the usual Arab brazenness in condemning defense against its aggression. The Arabs are unfair in acting if Israel were unreasonable or should restrain itself. WHY DOESN'T "NEWSWEEK" REPORT THIS? US interrogators have stripped or inappropriately touched Muslim prisoners, forcing them to break religious taboos, in order to break down their resistance to interrogation. This not only is illegal, it may be counter-productive. "Newsweek" reported an apparently false story about US troops flushing pages of the Koran down the toilet, to intimidate Muslim prisoners. That led to sympathy about the sensitivities of Muslims being trampled. When the story was found false, it led to sympathy for the maligned US troops, indignation over "Newsweek" carelessness, and some inkling that Muslim prisoners lie about prison conditions. On the other hand, Muslim prisoners have protested their conditions by stuffing their toilets with Korans (Anne Applebaum, NY Sun, 5/19, p.8). If Muslims are willing to put Korans into toilets, why do Muslims riot over GIs doing so? Prof. Steven Plaut asks why they don't report this true story, about lack of Muslim sensitivity towards other faiths: In a sermon on P.A. TV, Moslem cleric Ibrahim Mudayris, an appointee of the PLO, said, "The day will come and we shall rule America, Britain, we shall rule the entire world, except the Jews. According to Mudayris, the only fate awaiting Jews is death by extermination, unlike the Christian countries, which will only be subjugated." (Plaut, 5/19.) That kind of Muslim Arab bigotry is broadcast week after week. Why isn't it reported? If the "Times" reported it every week, how long would it be before Pres. Bush had to stop asserting that those P.A. Arab "aspirations" should e met with statehood rather than with expulsion? A REASON NOT TO RETREAT The Arabs in Gaza complain that the presence of Israelis in Gaza prevents Arab statehood there. That is an excellent reason against withdrawing that presence! OTHER TRICKS OF THE POLITICIANS' TRADE A good source of information about federal ways around our democracy is the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Pres. Bush and his GOP majority in Congress are particularly duplicitous about circumventing and sabotaging environmental law and regulation for short-term gains for big corporations. The following is from its four-page May, 2005 "Nature's Voice." Pres. Bush's "Clear Skies "bill was "Crafted by some of America's Biggest polluters, the bill would have weakened the Clean Air Act?" The Senate Environment Committee rejected it. NRDC suspects, however, that it would be brought up for a full Senate vote by means of a "procedural trick" "or simply attach it as a rider to a spending bill." The Senate vote to allow oil drilling in the Arctic Refuge is under the false premise that it would reduce gas prices. It would not reduce over-consumption of oil. (It would take years to develop, and there isn't much oil there. The Administration refuses to impose conservation, able to save many times as much oil.) The Administration claims that oil development would disturb only 2,000 acres of the refuge, but it would disturb much more. The Fish & Wildlife Service doesn't respond to NRDC's petition to add the yellow-billed loon to the endangered species list. That bird is in the Arctic Refuge. The Administration plans to remove the grizzly bear from endangered status near Yellowstone National Park, so as to help loosen restrictions on drilling and other development there. This would expose the bears to hunting and isolate the ones in the park from others. The Administration "ordered government biologists to rewrite a report warning that a plan to divert million of gallons of water from California rivers would harm Chinook salmon and other endangered fish." (The order is to give the public false assurances in behalf of industry.) Further ignoring the scientific evidence, the Environmental Protection Agency negotiated a secret deal with the manufacturer of atrazine, so it could continue to sell it. The product is a toxic herbicide that gets into US waterways and endangers humans and wildlife both, including Chesapeake Bay sea turtles. This private set-aside is a common tactic. The evidence shows that US naval sonar is killing and injuring whales, but the Administration refuses to take "commonsense steps" to protect them. (The Republic law-and-order cohorts also reduce funding for compliance and enforcement. BUSH-SPEAK "The President expressed our appreciation for Egypt's leadership and active involvement in promoting peace and stability in the Middle East." IMRA noted Pres. Bush's omission of Egypt's tolerance of arms smuggling into Gaza (IMRA, 5/18.) Instead, Bush praised Pres. Mubarak for promoting peace when he is promoting war. When will people realize that Bush is part of the conspiracy to bring Israel down? HUMAN BOMBERS ARE EDUCATED & OF MEANS Gleanings from terrorist web sites about human bombers show that most of the ones in Iraq are Saudi and other foreign Arabs of education and means if not wealth. They found the 9/11 attack inspiring. In their late 20s, most leave wives and young children behind, to cope without them. S. Arabia tries to deny that most of the human bombs are Saudi. It worries that the US may become fed up with the desert kingdom as a source of jihad against it (sorry, lost source). Their education is narrow or their religion and culture prevail over 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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ABBAS, THE CIRCUS MASTER
Posted by AFSI, May 24, 2005. |
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This article was written by Caroline Glick and appeared in the Jerusalem Post yesterday (www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ ShowFull&cid=1116814792573&p=1006953079897). How long is the Bush administration planning on putting up with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's terror circus? Ahead of his visit with US President George W. Bush at the White House this Thursday, Abbas said on Saturday that he plans to demand that Washington beef up its political and economic support for the PA. Abbas believes he has the right to expect US support because he has come through so well on his promises to reform the PA. He will tell the president that, just as he promised, he has reformed the PA security forces. He will further tell the president that in reaching an agreement with Hamas for a pause in terrorist attacks against Israel, he has done his part in combating terrorism. Finally, he will tell the president that in pushing ahead with the PA legislative elections in July he is the very model of a democratizing leader, in tune with Bush's plan to bring freedom and liberty to the Arab world. These are all lies. Abbas's claims find their basis in a distortion of language. Ahead of the president's meeting with Abbas, it therefore behooves us to understand how he has twisted the meaning of the terms "reform," "combating terrorism," and "democracy" to serve his interests, all of which are inimical to everything Bush is trying to achieve in the Middle East. Three years ago, Bush called for the PA to transform its 13 security services from terror organizations into counter-terror militias. This demand was immediately emptied of all substance by the Palestinians and their friends, then foreign minister and now Vice-Premier Shimon Peres, the heads of the EU, and the Near Eastern Bureau at the US State Department. Inside of a New York minute, the call for an overhaul morphed into a call for reorganization. Suddenly, the be-all and end-all of PA security reform became the merging of the 13 Palestinian forces into three proto-military organizations under a clear chain of command. This demand had the advantage of being concrete and measurable, but the disadvantage of being completely meaningless. As long as the PA's security services are actively involved in terrorism, who cares how they are organized? It is far from clear that Abbas has actually fused his various militias into three groups, as he claims he has. But what is absolutely apparent is that not one of them is taking any action whatsoever against terror cells. On the contrary, they are openly bringing known terrorists into their ranks. For years Abbas consistently stated that he would take no action against Hamas, Fatah or Islamic Jihad terror organizations. His mantra has always been that he will not start a Palestinian civil war. Since he replaced Yasser Arafat last November, far from changing his view that no harm should befall terrorists, he has strengthened them in every possible way. The first steps Abbas took involved legitimizing these organizations by openly meeting with their commanders. Next he sought to bring Hamas and Islamic Jihad into the PLO (of which his Fatah party and terror group is the largest faction). He has agreed to finance them from the PA budget and lavished them with respect and adulation. SINCE LAST December Abbas has been selling Israel and the US the fiction of his cease-fire with the terror groups. This is a magical cease-fire that gets concluded anew, daily, right after the Palestinian shooters have finished their terror attacks on Israeli targets for the day. And, every day, the press duly reports that a cease-fire has been reached and ignores the fact that, on the one hand, Israel is the only side that has stopped fighting and, on the other hand, that the PA's "reformed" security forces are helping the terrorist groups to rearm with rockets, mortars, bombs, anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns and missiles, small arms and ammunition. Assessing the increasingly dangerous situation, the IDF brass, from the Chief of Staff on down has warned that this reorganization and rearmament is the prelude to the next round of war set to begin the day after the IDF expels all 10,000 Jews from their homes, schools, businesses, farms and cemeteries in Gaza and northern Samaria this summer. In the wake of that operation, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz casually mentioned last week that 43 communities in the Negev will be within rocket range of the Palestinians from Gaza. This, of course, will be a temporary situation since the Palestinians will no doubt quickly extend the range of their rockets the moment the IDF is no longer around to stop them from doing so. As for Abbas's proclaimed ardor regarding democracy, it is important to notice the character of the support bases he is building for himself. During his campaign for PA leadership in December and January, he went out of his way to endear himself to the Palestinian public by visiting terror masters in Syria and Lebanon and being photographed every day with wanted terror bosses in Palestinian cities and villages. Since his election, Abbas's pro-democracy work has involved enabling Hamas to participate in the Palestinian election process; signing the death warrants of Palestinians accused of assisting Israel in combating terror; and ratcheting up incitement in the PA media against Israel and the US. Indeed, the only thing Abbas's "pro-democracy" machinations point to is just how premature the calls for Palestinian elections and statehood actually are. And yet, rather than reaching this forthright conclusion, the Bush administration has been willfully ignoring it. This weekend we learned that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's representative here - the invisible US security coordinator for the PA, General William Ward - ordered the government to release yet another 400 Palestinian terrorists from prison and allow the terrorists who laid siege to the Church of the Nativity in 2002 to return to the PA from European exile. Ward's argument apparently is that Israel cannot expect Abbas to abide by his commitments to Israel (and to Bush) unless it fulfills the promises it made to Abbas at the Sharm e-Sheikh summit last February. As reported in Haaretz, Ward told his Israeli interlocutors: "You complain that the Palestinians are not fulfilling their commitments, but what about your commitments?" So for Ward, in order to get Abbas to fight terrorism, it is necessary for Israel to strengthen the terrorists. The Bush administration seems absolutely committed to ensuring that the PA will not become a failed state on the model of Somalia or Lebanon. And yet, in its rush to strengthen Abbas in order to prevent chaos, the US is backing his bid to establish a Palestinian rogue state. If President Bush really believes in his vision for freedom and democracy for the Palestinians, he would be well advised to tell Abbas that as long as the choices are between a failed Palestinian state and a rogue Palestinian state, the US opts for no Palestinian state. 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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LYING ABOUT MIDDLE EASTERN LAND
Posted by Stephen Plaut, May 24, 2005. |
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One of the few things unchallengeable about the Middle East conflict is that it has virtually nothing to do with land. Arab countries already control 6,145,389 square miles of land. That is almost twice the land area of the United States, which is 3,537,438 square miles, and about the same as the land area of Russia. Israel, even when including all of the "occupied territories" retained from the 1967 SIx Day War, controls less than 10,000 square miles. The West Bank and the Gaza Strip comprise about 2300 square miles (a bit less when deducting Jerusalem and its suburbs from the account), which is about half the size of the Everglades. The Moonbats-against-Israel lobby wants us to believe that with 6,145,389 square miles, the Arabs want war and genocide, but with 6,145,389 plus 2300 more, then they will want peace. If Israel only trades "land for peace" with the land-deprived Arabs, and never mind that its abandonment of the West Bank would leave an Israel ten miles wide and waiting for the Arab armies to annihilate, then all will be well. The "anti-Zionists" want the world to believe that the entire Middle East war is due to the fact that those evil selfish Jews are unwilling to share their 10,000 square miles with the poor land-starved Arabs. But in reality, the obvious true cause of the Middle East war is the fact that the Arab world is unwilling to allow the Jews to control even a sixth of one percent of the territory of the Middle East. The Arabs, controlling more land than any other ethnic group on the planet besides the Russians, are simply unwilling to share even the tiniest sliver of the Middle East with the Jews. If the "anti-Zionists", for their part, get what they want, then there will be no Jews left alive in Israel. www.discoverthenetwork.org/moonbatcentral/2005/05/lying-about-middle-eastern-land.html 2. Aharon Barak's pupil? Massachusetts Chief Justice opposes Free Speech In Massachusetts (where else?) there is many-a-moonbat liberal munching beans who is opposed to free speech for non-liberals. Many of them teach at Harvard and Brandeis. But none are as openly in favor of suppressing the rights of conservatives to dissent from liberal dogma as is the chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court herself. Justice Margaret H. Marshall who has been widely criticized as a judicial activist since writing the court's 2003 decision allowing same-sex marriage. She expressed her opposition to free speech for non-liberals when she spoke before a crowd of 7,000 at Brandeis University's 54th commencement this week. Among those who evidently need to be denied freedom of dissent regarding judicial activism (which is a euphemism for judicial tyranny), in her learned opinion, are Governor Mitt Romney, who accused her and her comrades on the state Supreme Judicial Court of "judicial overreaching" in the Wall Street Journal last year, and President George W. Bush, who has lashed out at "activist judges" -- those who use their decisions to push a social agenda. Marshall dismisses such criticism as "gratuitous attacks on judges undermine that trust." Marshall insisted that rhetoric about judges destroying the country and the suggestion that court decisions should conform to public opinion are threatening the judicial system. Among other comments, she said: "I worry when people of influence use vague, loaded terms like 'judicial activism' to skew public debate or to intimidate judges," Marshall said. "I worry when judicial independence is seen as a problem to be solved and not a value to be cherished." Marshall's exploitation of her invitation to Brandeis to bash critics of loose-cannon judges was probably part of her attempts to defend herself from groups like Article 8 Alliance, a Waltham group founded to remove Marshall and the other three justices who ruled for same-sex marriage from the bench. Its spokesman said, " 'Activist judges' is a specific term that refers to judges who rule outside the rule of law. It has to do with whether they use objective, legal, constitutional means to base their decisions." Marshall is native of South Africa who fought apartheid before coming to the United States. Now she no doubt endorses American apartheid, also known as affirmative action. 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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DON'T SIGN ON
Posted by Herb Sunshine, May 24, 2005. |
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It has come to my attention that Seymour Reich [president of the Israel Policy Forum] is organizing an ad campaign signed by Jewish leaders to proclaim their support for Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan. Mr. Sharon, like Mr. Peres before him, has come up with another "turn your back and run" plan that has no hope of succeeding for one simple reason. The Palestinian Arabs, together with their "brethren" world-wide, have embarked on a dangerous campaign to emulate the Nazis. No land deal, no negotiation, no compromise, no appeasement will satisfy them. I know this sounds extreme, but I ask you to re-read this after you listen to a sermon made two days ago and broadcast on official Palestinian television. Please watch it! Please ask your organizations (including Hadassah!) not to sign! Listen to http://memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=669 Simon Wiesenthal Center has called on Mahmoud Abbas to dismiss the head of Palestinian TV after broadcasting a sermon which said: "The Jews are the cancer spreading all over the world...the Jews are a virus like AIDS hitting humankind...Jews are responsible for all wars and conflicts... Do not ask what Germany did to the Jews but what the Jews did to Germany. True, the Germans killed and burned Jews but the Jews exaggerate the numbers to gain propaganda advantages and sympathy. " - Sheikh Ibrahim Mudairis, May 13, 2005, Gaza During the sermon, in the presence of uniformed Palestinian Authority police, the Sheik also asserted that God has predetermined that the Jewish problem will be solved with the extermination of the Jews, and that God has also predetermined that Christian-Islam interactions will end with today's Christian countries under Islam. "Even in the days of Arafat, we did not see such a blatant antisemitic and Holocaust-denying canard broadcast on Palestinian TV, whose current chief was personally appointed by Mahmoud Abbas," charged Rabbis Marvin Hier and Abraham Cooper, Dean and Associate Dean of the Wiesenthal Center. "This attack comes just days before Mahmoud Abbas' scheduled meeting with President Bush, and during the week which the civilized world commemorated the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany. Is this genocidal sermon the kind of peace dividend that the people of Israel can look forward to? Center officials called on President Bush to raise this issue at the White House during his meeting with Mahmoud Abbas next week. They also called on the US government to link funding of Palestinian entities to their actions, not their promises. Please forward this message to your friends, family, and colleagues. Herbert B. Sunshine is Professor of Law (US). He and his wife Miki live in Jerusalem. |
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MK'S SEEK ADVICE OF US JEWS ON ISRAEL'S CONSTITUTION
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, May 24, 2005. |
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A Constitution written by Israelis and American Jews is merely the last phase of a disastrous process one could liken to self-immolation. The Jews who would write such a document would be obsessed with a type of obligatory fairness to the hostile Arab Muslim population - both inside and outside of Israel. This document would insure the Arab Muslims eventual dominance, creating one State of all its citizens...meaning that the Jews (if left alone) would go back to the status they had when living in Arab Muslim countries as a Dhimmi (low, second class, despised citizen who (they said) needed to be 'protected' by their Muslim overseers and rulers). Of course, they w4ere never protected but they did have to pay a special "jiza" tax for this non-protection. The already biased Leftist Israeli Courts would be further diluted with Arab Muslim judges and eventually insuring that the description "Jewish State" would fade into merely a 'state'.. Following that, Islamic law (Sha'riah law - Strict Islamism) would control the system. Such a Constitution - if drafted by Left Liberal Jews, who want to be loved by the entire world, will insure the final death knell of the Jewish State of Israel. Jews love the words in the Law and cannot imagine how laws can be used against them - even as it is happening. Most have forgotten the Nuremberg Laws which stripped Jews of all their Jewish and human rights. It stripped them of all they owned and eventually their very lives. Hitler started slowly in 1933 and when the Jews and the world did not object, he upped his ante, increased the anti-Jewish restrictive laws and began their extermination. Germans, French, Poles, Croatians, Rumanians, (you name it) and they fell on what the Jews had built and owned like ravenous dogs, fighting over bones. It's all happening again as Arab Muslims salivate over what the Jews have created in Israel - only this time with a Jew leading what is to be the condemnation of what other Jews have built. With that I give you Sharon, Peres and their respective gangs of aberrant misfits. Wherein the once admired, pre-Hitler, German Judiciary then accepted and promulgated anti-Jewish laws, today in Israel we see Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon easily creating new laws or "re-interpreting" standing laws by using the "strong man" tactics of intimidating his Cabinet and Knesset (Parliament) to get whatever he wants. We observe the activist Israeli Supreme Court, under its "strong man" Chief Justice Aharon Barak, using the power of law to create new laws, mostly biased toward Arab rights. Israel's court system has abandoned her role as an impartial dispenser of Justice for Jews and, instead, has become a Political Party to a great degree. These examples remind me of the compelling film: "Bridge on the River Kwai". Here the actor Alec Guinness plays the role of a British officer captured by the Japanese who are unsuccessfully trying to build a rail bridge over the River Kwai to transport Japanese military equipment and men to fight the Americans and British. Guinness volunteers his men, merely to give them work to keep discipline - and because of his own strong character, he can't do anything less than well. So he stops the prisoners' attempts at sabotage in order to create the Bridge. It has become his compulsion. Unknown to the Guinness, the British officer, an outside team comes to blow up the Bridge, unknown to the officer. On a last inspection, the British officer sees a wire leading to an explosive detonator. He is so consumed with "his bridge", he tries to alert the Japanese and expose the wire leading to the explosives. Only in the last moments of his life does he come to realizes that he was aiding the enemy and, in fact, had become a traitor to his own country. The point being is that today we see people like Sharon, Peres, Olmert, Mofaz, Beilin, among others, so consumed with succeeding at the work of appeasement, they cannot see themselves as committing treason or that they are acting as traitors to their own people. A Constitution sounds great but, not if it includes giving the Arab Muslims the legal rights to take the Jewish State away from the Jews by killing Jews, by taking their G-d given Land, by making the Jews vulnerable and eventually turning the world's one Jewish State into another Islamic Arab nation - the 24th in the world. Jews mention in the Heilman Jerusalem Post article will be consumed with what they believe to be "fairness to all". For Jews, there is no law of fairness by Arabs or the Europeans or the United Nations. We Jews are as Arnold Toynbee opines, a "fossil people and state", which by all logical history, should not have reappeared as a strong, religious, national people, but should have disappeared into history as did all the other ancients. Toynbee thought Jews were outside of the Three Prime Estates: Monarchy/Aristocracy, Church and Peasantry and are therefore the "fourth estate" and are to be treated as if we are outside of the laws adopted by and for the first Three Estates. (Not "fourth estate" as later refers to Journalism) Jews, especially those who aspire to higher office, are merely mouths - unconnected to the brains needed for survival. They invariably confuse words with reality. I would hate to think of the words and thousands of pages devoted to "fairness" for their most dedicated enemies. Such a group would insure that Israel would no longer be a Jewish State but, rather a mixture of its citizens - as often expressed by Chairman Yassir Arafat. Such a gaggle of Jews could not bring themselves to draft a strong Constitution to protect either the Jews, the Jewish character of the Jewish nation or to hold at bay the Arab Muslim hostiles - both within and outside of her borders. If a Constitutional Congress were convened, be assured that, in addition to the dominance of the Left Liberal Jews of Israel and America, the pro-Arab U.S. State Department, the United Nations, European Union, Arab League would be promoted as helpful advisors. Israel could use a Constitution which would act as a restraint on the Government, Supreme Court and correct the drift of the current Government toward a Police State to fulfill the dreams of the few to dictate their will. Regrettably at this moment in time, the Israeli Government, her Courts and her Media are all in the hands of those who wish to de-Judaize the Jewish State and are simply not to be trusted to codify a document to be called a Constitution. They are building bridges, not to help the Jewish State to survive but, rather for the unalterably dedicated Arab Muslim enemies to cross over and bring destruction to a Nation abhorred by Islam. ### 1. "MK'S SEEK ADVICE OF US JEWS ON ISRAEL'S CONSTITUTION Visit to America Generates Rare Coming Together of Rival Jewish Organizations" by Uriel Heilman JERUSALEM POST May 13, 2005 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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URGENT ACTION ALERT: AL-QAIDA SPREADS TO GAZA
Posted by Unity Coalition for Israel, May 23, 2005. |
This ACTION ALERT is based on the newest information on the spread of Al-Qaida to Gaza in the aftermath of the Disengagement withdrawal. Read the entire Jerusalem Post article of May 20, 2005 below. CLICK HERE to send this email to the leadership of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and Asia of the International Relations Committee. Dear Congressmen and Senators, There are many unanswered issues that have surfaced in respect to the Disengagement Plan. Primary among them is the fact that the Plan runs counter to the Bush Doctrine "to oppose any state that harbors terrorists." To date, Abu Abbas has not even started to eradicate the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza. In fact, The Jerusalem Post reported on May 20, 2005 in headlines that read "Al-Qaida-linked terrorists in Gaza". This radical group is now added to the list of those already harbored by the Palestinian Authority under Abu Abbas. It is the same global enemy the United States is fighting. The Jerusalem Post reveals that their ties extend to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq. The US must be consistent in battling Al-Qaida at home and abroad, and certainly in Gaza. We respectfully ask that you consider this new threat, connected to Al-Qaida, operating under the name of Jundallah or "Allah's Brigades". This terrorist group consists mostly of former Hamas and Islamic Jihad members who launched their first attack on IDF soldiers near Rafah earlier this week. According to PA security officials, "they are especially active in the southern Gaza Strip." The article quotes their spokesman, Abu al-Khattab, in declaring their goal to "avenge those Palestinians and Muslims who have been victims of Israel and the US...US interests will be attacked since the Americans have desecrated the Koran and have been killing Muslims in Iraq. Soon everyone will see operations against the US that would make all Muslims delighted." Congress must take a stand and stop the Disengagement Plan before the 21 Jewish communities called Gush Katif leave a vacuum in Gaza, that will likely be filled by the leading international terrorists, including Al-Qaida. Signed, A new Muslim terrorist group linked to al-Qaida has started operating in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian Authority security officials told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday. Jundallah, or "Allah's Brigades," consists mostly of scores of former Hamas and Islamic Jihad members, the officials disclosed. They said Jundallah gunmen launched their first attack on IDF soldiers near Rafah earlier this week. The IDF said four soldiers were lightly wounded in the attack. Jundallah is a radical Muslim group that has close ties with al-Qaida in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq, said one official. "We know for sure that the group is especially active in the southern Gaza Strip," he added. Another official said that, according to intelligence gathered by the PA security forces, Jundallah consists largely of Hamas and Islamic Jihad dissidents who were unhappy with their groups' ostensible pragmatism. "They believe that Hamas and Islamic Jihad have become too moderate," the official said, referring to the two groups' agreement to temporarily suspend terror attacks on Israel. The emergence of Jundallah in the Gaza Strip confirms suspicions that al-Qaida has been trying to set foot in the area ahead of Israel's planned withdrawal. Abu Abdallah al-Khattab, who identifies himself as the spokesman for Jundallah in the Gaza Strip, on Thursday denied that his group was part of al-Qaida or any other international terror group. He also denied that the group was receiving funds from Muslim terror groups around the world. "Jundallah does not belong to anyone and we don't receive money from any group," he said. "Our group, which was established recently, has vowed to avenge the blood of all Palestinians and Muslims who have fallen victim to Israel and the US." Khattab hinted that his group was also planning to target US interests in the region. "Our people will not remain idle in the face of American crimes in Muslim countries," he said. "It is forbidden to shed the blood of Muslims and it is our duty to respond. The blood of Muslims is not cheap." He accused the US of desecrating the Koran and killing Muslims in Iraq. "Soon everyone will see operations [against the US] that would make all the Muslims delighted," he cautioned. He said Jundallah would not honor the unofficial truce with Israel. "We don't attach any importance to this truce because the occupation forces are continuing their crimes against our people," he added. Khattab said the attack near Rafah, which was carried out by a Jundallah cell named Abu Dajaneh, was the first in a series of operations that his group was planning against Israel.
The Unity Coalition for Israel
(http://www.israelunitycoalition.org) is "the largest worldwide
coalition of Jewish and Christian organizations, with more than 200
groups representing millions of people dedicated to Israel. Though we
have many different backgrounds, we have one common goal: A Safe and
Secure Israel."
"Israel is not just a Jewish issue. Millions of Christians
resolutely endorse the principle of peace with security for the state
of Israel. Because we work closely together and speak with a united
voice, our message is being heard!"
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WHAT'S A 'HASSID,' ANYWAY?
Posted by IsrAlert, May 23, 2005. |
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This was written by Matt Lipeles, a Classic Jew (see http://www.chabad.org/library/article.asp?AID=248950) who also is a writer and teacher. He can be reached at mlipeles@earthlink.net It appeared at http://www.chabad.org/278337 You might have heard the old saying, "There's no such thing as a dumb question." But do you really want to ask one? Most people don't want to be embarrassed, so if there's a question they feel they should already know the answer to, it usually goes unasked. Or perhaps, it never occurs to them to ask the simple question: What exactly is a Chassid? Most Jews, no matter their education level, have heard the terms 'Hassid' or 'Hassidic' (also spelled "Chassid" and "Chassidic"). I was recently visiting a friend back east and while I was there, the subject came up. He was trying to explain to another buddy what a chassid was.
They went back and forth for a while. It was like a Laurel and Hardy bit, which was funny to me at first, but it got me to wondering if I really knew what a Hasid/Chassid was myself. So, I decided to investigate. I vaguely remembered having seen the term "chassid" somewhere where it had looked out of place; somewhere in some book written way back then, before there even was a "Chassidic Movement" in Eastern Europe. It had bugged me, but in that hazy, lazy something-doesn't-seem-quite-right-but-I'm-not-going-to-stop-to-figure-it-out-right-now kind of way. But now that the question had come up, I decided to go back to it. It turned out I'd seen the word in Pirkei Avot, or "Ethics of Our Fathers." Pirkei Avot is a book of very short and pithy but quite profound statements written by the rabbis of the Talmud era. The first time I read it, it reminded me of something out of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching or Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac. I loved it. It's called a book, but the whole thing is barely 25 pages, six chapters of about four pages apiece; each chapter containing a little over a dozen short bits of wisdom so deep you could mull it over for the rest of your life. And people do. Anyway, the fifth saying in the second chapter of Pirkei Avot includes the statement, "a boor can't be sin-fearing, and an ignoramus can't be a chassid." In the English translation, in the parenthesis next to the word chassid it says, "one who does more than the letter of the law requires." That's it. I was amazed. My friend and his buddy could argue all day long about hats, coats and beards. You and I might be more philosophic, but still not get to the heart of the matter. But our sages didn't waste words. A chassid is simply someone who does more than he has to, someone who goes the extra yard. You've got to love those Talmud guys. Totally to the point. Very clean. Not even a wasted syllable. Man, I wish I could be like that. Anyway, reading it really got me excited, because it made me remember something else I'd once heard a Chabad rabbi say. He said that there are plenty of mitzvahs that you can do that are basically between you and G-d: putting on tefillin, lighting Shabbat candles, etc. These are definitely awesome mitzvahs that you should do. However, he continued, what can you do that will really get G-d excited? Well, suppose a friend of yours confides in you that he is heartbroken because his son in second grade was just diagnosed with a learning disability and is having a lot of trouble learning to read. Well, you could bring the guy a pound cake and that would be nice, but if you could find the right tutor or reading program that would help his kid, well that's what he really needs. You could save him endless heartache. Talk about going the extra yard. The point is, if you want to make G-d happy, be nice to his children. Don't say mean things to people. Don't gossip about them. Smile once and a while. And if you really want to be a chassid, help a fellow Jew who is really having a big problem. Or show him how to do a mitzvah he's never done before. That's what a real chassid would do. Still, if reading all of this, you find yourself with a hankering for a long black coat and a wide brimmed hat, go for it. You've got to start someplace. 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 |
ARUTZ SHEVA GETS IT RIGHT - LARGE CROWDS HECKLE PM SHARON IN NY
Posted by AFSI, May 23, 2005. |
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These photos come from AP - sent in by Marlene Young - and from the Chabad website (www.chabad.org). They were taken of the large anti-Disengagement Rally outside NY Baruch College where Ariel Sharon was speaking yesterday. Below is a news item in today's Arutz-7 (www.IsraelNationalNews.org). Prime Minister Sharon was greeted in New York with signs reading, "Let My People Stay" and "Shame on You," and crowds protesting his plan to give away the homes and lands of Gush Katif and Shomron. As Sharon began that paragraph in his speech, several members of the audience took off their outer shirts, revealing orange shirts underneath, and called out, "Jews don't expel other Jews!" Security personnel escorted them out, and Sharon smiled and said, "Thank you so much for your help; usually I handle these things myself." He did not specify the methods he and his government use to "handle" those who oppose him. The protestors outside, estimated at between several hundred and 3,000, included many Chabad Hassidim and Kach members, as well as Knesset Member Benny Elon and NY State Assemblyman Dov Hikind. Helen Freedman, Coordinator of the American Coalition to Save Gush Katif/Gaza and N. Shomron, and Executive Director of Americans For a Safe Israel/AFSI, MCed the event. She wrote, "As the crowd gathered, wearing their orange T-shirts declaring 'Let My People Stay' and 'Gush Katif Forever,' carrying orange balloons and brandishing orange signs protesting the expulsion, it became clear that the small area the police had cordoned off would be insufficient. The thousands spilled onto 23rd Street, almost bringing traffic to a halt... Everywhere, there was a sea of orange." More protests await Mr. Sharon in the course of his U.S. visit, which continues until Tuesday. Demonstrations will be held this afternoon at Capitol Hill, and on Tuesday morning outside the Washington Convention Center, where Sharon will be speaking. Other planned anti-expulsion events include: * the AFSI/ZOA Chizuk 3-day mission to Gush Katif, Hevron, and eastern Jerusalem, beginning on May 29; For up-to-date information about Gush Katif/Shomron events on AFSI's
Action Program, consult "www.katifund.org" or "www.afsi.org," or write
to "afsi@rcn.com."
Americans For a Safe Israel/AFSI is a pro-active pro-Israel advocacy
group. AFSI may be contacted by mail at 1623 Third Ave., Suite 205,
New York, N.Y. 10128 (Tel: 212-828-2424; Fax: 212-828-1717); by email
at afsi@rcn.com; or by accessing its website: www.afsi.org.
Helen Freedman is Executive Director.
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Benny Elon addressing protesters
| GUSH KATIF |
AN ISRAELI ASKS HELP QUESTIONING ARIEL SHARON UPON HIS VISIT TO US
Posted by Jerome S. Kaufman, May 23, 2005. |
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This is an open letter to Malcolm Hoenlein, Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish organizations from Moshe Dann, a political commentator who lives in Jerusalem. The photos come from http://chabad.info/index.php?url=article_he&id=11361 and were taken in NYC yesterday. A large crowd protested when Ariel Sharon addressed the Presidents of the Major Jewish Organizations. Dear Malcolm, I know you must be under tremendous pressure regarding PM Sharon's visit, but I wanted to ask you if someone (you?) could ask the following questions (we have no opportunity to do so here!) of Ariel Sharon? How can Israel ask the international community to boycott and
eliminate terrorist organizations like Hamas when Israel is
negotiating with them (which gives them recognition and legitimacy)?
Since it appears that Hamas is the controlling force in the Gaza
Strip, is Israel prepared to turn over that territory to them? What
are the implications of that move for any future withdrawals and
policy decisions?
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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The current Commander of the IDF (Yaalon), the former and current
heads of the Shabak (Secret Police) and all the heads of military
intelligence have indicated clearly and openly (publicly) that the
security situation will be much worse after Israel's retreat from
Gaza. They have revealed that Hezbollah and al Quida are also active
in the areas to be evacuated.
In the meantime, the PA refuses to stop incitement let alone
collect illegal arms and stop terrorist attacks. The Egyptians
continue to allow weapons to be transferred to Palestinian terrorists.
How will retreat under fire and under these circumstances improve
Israel's security and strategic position?
| GUSH KATIF |
26 MINORS RELEASED FROM PRISON WITH MINOR RESTRICTIONS
Posted by Hillel Fendel, May 23, 2005. |
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Approximately 40 anti-expulsion youths remain in prison, after 26 minors were released today with only minor restrictions. Their goal: to prove that disengagement will shut down the country. A spokesman for Honenu, a civil rights organization that is providing legal aid for the arrestees, told Arutz-7 today that today's release of the 26 was considered a victory. "The police caved in," he said. "They had refused to be released under severe restrictions, such as four months of house arrest. In the end, the only restrictions are that they may not enter the greater Tel Aviv area until June 15." Thirteen other youths, including 8 girls, still refuse to identify themselves, in a further effort to confound the police and courts. The Prison Service is considering dispersing them in other prisons in order to pressure them to divulge their names. The arrestees' goal is to show that an attempt to implement the disengagement will shut down the country. Over 500 people were arrested after last Monday's mass road-blocking campaign. Organizers expect that many times that number will begin marching towards Gush Katif and northern Shomron, sitting down on the road at police roadblocks, if the order is given to close these areas. The special new Disengagement Wing at the Maasiyahu Prison in Ramle has room for 900 prisoners. Among the 80,000 students taking their high school English matriculation exams today were 11 road-blocking students in Maasiyahu Prison. Their demand to be tested in jail was immediately accepted by the Prison Service, which often affords other prisoners the chance to study and be tested. The demand was originally turned down by Education Ministry officials, however. Yesterday, Education Minister Limor Livnat gave in, saying that only students who agreed to identify themselves could be tested. All the students who asked to be tested identified themselves several days ago. Hillel Fendel is editor of Arutz-Sheva (www.IsraelNationalNews.com) |
| GUSH KATIF |
ARABS STONE GUSH KATIF VISITOR
Posted by Matis M. Zahav, May 23, 2005. |
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A member of the Zaka rescue and identification team visiting Gush Katif suffered minor injuries this evening after Arabs stoned his car at the Ganei Tal hothouses where he was visiting. A large stone broke the windshield and hit the Zaka member, who was treated on the scene by first aid personnel. Arab stonings have been frequent in the area. In Samaria, Israeli soldiers intercepted an Arab youth who was hiding two pipe bombs under his shirt. He was arrested at a checkpoint near Shechem. Matis M Zahav is with Zaka Rescue & Recovery, 1-877-ZAKA-911, www.zakausa.org |
| GUSH KATIF |
BAGHDAD IN JERUSALEM
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, May 23, 2005. |
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What will Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, Deputy PM Ehud Olmert, Deputy PM Shimon Peres, etc. do when their "Disengagement" brings the radical Islamist Mujahadeen into Jerusalem - as it has in Baghdad? Clearly, so many fat behinds cannot crowd under the same table when the Kassam Rockets start falling. Doubtless, after the Mujahadeen have done as much damage in Iraq against the Americans, they will again lift up like a flock of locusts and head for Israel. There will be plenty of room in the cities of Ram'Allah, Tulkarem, Nablus and the large area of Gaza. Like locusts who devour all the greenery in sight, so too will the Mujahadeen. But - while locusts eat greenery, the Mujahadeen feed on human flesh and suffering. As in Iraq, they will try to terrorize the local Jewish population into obeying their Sha'aria laws (strict laws of Islam), interpreted at did the Taliban with a mix of Wahaabism preached by the Saudis. Where will you run then, Mr. Sharon? Will you evacuate Tel Aviv, Jerusalem? Will you circle the Israeli Defense Force wagons around your Sycamore Ranch? Yes, I do think we will again see car and bus bombing, individual homicide/suicide bombers, in addition to Kassam & Kaytusha Rockets, mortars, snipers, artillery coming in from Gaza, the Lebanon border (courtesy of Ehud Barak's cowardly retreat). I have no doubt that the Mujahadeen will pour in to all the areas turned over to the Muslim Arab Palestinians. The loss of Israelis to these unremitting attacks will fall squarely on the shoulders of Sharon, Mofaz, Olmert and Peres, et al. For their participation and initiation of this opening of the city gates to the Muslim Arab Terrorists, each should pay a price. I suggest a Nuremberg Tribunal for their crimes against humanity, the Jewish people and the Jewish State. I confirmed guilty, to be hanged as were Hitler's enablers and Haman's family. While I entitled this article: "BAGHDAD IN JERUSALEM", you can be certain that every city in Israel will come under fire, thanks to a government who has become co-conspirators with the Muslim Jihadists. Sharon and company know that the cities turned over by the Osloids (by the Oslo Accords) already have operational cells of Hamas, Hezb'Allah, Al Aksa Martyrs' Brigade of Fatah, and dozens of other Terrorist organizations - each with its own agenda. Jenin, Nablus, Bethlehem, etc. are back in the Terror business, despite occasional visits by IDF troops retaliating for their Terror attacks. The ability of the IDF to counter Terror or to chase in 'hot pursuit' or to stop a 'ticking bomb' will be emasculated by the inexplicable ethnic cleansing/retreat/withdrawal/deportation policies of the former great warrior, Arik Sharon and his cohorts. Sharon, in lockstep with President George W. Bush's agenda to "win the hearts and minds of the Arab Muslim people" (for the sake of the oil they sit upon) has signed a death certificate for the Jewish Nation and the Jewish people world-wide. If we Jews didn't have enough museums, memorials, day to honor our Jewish fallen - no doubt, there will be more. Too appropriately, Sharon picked Tisha B'av (or the day after) to begin his uprooting of Jews - again. Sharon, like all of us who have grown into our 70s and 80s, there is a certain decline in our ability to defy, think as we used to, climb a ladder or drive with a steady hand. You are old, Arik Sharon, clearly past your days of competence and you are killing your own nation and your own people. Go away and take your gang with you. You have SHAMED the nation and we have no forgiveness for you. 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). in |
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ISRAEL BETRAYED POLLARD
Posted by IsrAlert, May 23, 2005. |
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This was written by Yossi Melman and appeared yesterday in Haaretz. The truth should be stated. For 20 years, the governments of Israel have all acted nastily toward Jonathan Pollard. Last week's visit with Pollard by Israel's ambassador in the United States, Danny Ayalon, only underlines this fact. Why until now have prime ministers refrained from instructing the Israeli ambassador to visit Pollard? The importance of the ambassador's visit was in the very fact that it took place and in the precedent it set. Beyond this, it was an empty gesture. The ambassador brought no real message to the American navy intelligence analyst, sentenced to life in prison for delivering information to his Israeli handlers. The visit was just another in the list of hundreds of visits to Pollard by government ministers and MKs. They come, talk, try to encourage, are photographed, pass on the photos to the media and nothing happens. The ministers and MKs cleanse their consciences and Pollard continues to rot away in prison. More than the words of encouragement from envoys of the State of Israel, Pollard needs action - action by a moral government that is prepared to take responsibility for its decisions and to exercise its capabilities and connections, forcefully and without fear, in order to persuade the American administration that enough is enough. Twenty years in prison is a sufficiently severe punishment and the time has come for Pollard's release. It is not a cliche to say that the governments of Israel owe Pollard a moral debt. He was an agent of Israeli intelligence. As such, there was an unwritten covenant between Pollard and the state, based on a mutual guarantee: You help us, and we will come to your aid and do everything we can if something goes wrong. He was a fully authorized operative. According to foreign sources, this was not the first time that Israel's intelligence community, and the Lakam scientific liaison bureau, in particular, had operated agents in the U.S. and engaged in bribery and theft of information, equipment, technology and more. Precisely because this behavior was practiced for many years, no one in the top security and political echelons was really shocked by the endless stream of information Pollard delivered to Israel. No one asked questions or raised an eyebrow about the fact that Israel was acting in betrayal of its great and important ally. All of the top political and security brass were aware of this during the period of Pollard's activity (1984-1986), including two prime ministers, Yitzhak Shamir and Shimon Peres, defense ministers Moshe Arens and Yitzhak Rabin, chief of staff Moshe Levy, air force commander Amos Lapidot, Mossad chief Nahum Admoni, military intelligence commanders Yehoshua Sagi and Ehud Barak, and above all, Rafi Eitan, the head of Lakam, the organization that directly handled Pollard. They knew that Israel had an elite spy with access to secret information and took advantage of the excellent material he provided. When he was arrested, they tore themselves away from him and fled as if from fire. They did, secretly, order the formation of a "public committee" for Pollard, which received money from the government of Israel to finance his defense. And the government also paid for the personal expenses of Pollard and his first wife, Ann. But to mount a vigorous public campaign on his behalf, to bang on the desks of American presidents and strongly demand that his punishment be eased - this no one dared to do, and this was cowardly and treacherous behavior. There was also another crime that is unprecedented in the annals of intelligence. Not only did Israel recruit and operate Pollard, and later abandon him, it also was responsible for his conviction. After Pollard was arrested and interrogated, Israel apologized and announced that it would cooperate with the investigation. American investigators came here and asked to receive all of the documents that Pollard delivered in order to assess the scope of his espionage activity, which was, indeed, enormous. Based on this material, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. A decent country that honors its commitments could have set conditions for this cooperation. It could have conditioned its handover of documents with a demand that they not be used as evidence against Pollard, or at least with a promise to reduce his punishment significantly. If Israel had acted in this way, the U.S. might have responded angrily. So what? The mutual interests would have soon overcome the holy rage. But it is also possible that the U.S. would have respected a country that honors its agents. It is true that Pollard is not an easy person. In recent years, he has surrounded himself with a bunch of extreme right-wingers. (Perhaps this is because the left and center, with a few exceptions like MK Ophir Pines-Paz, have unfortunately taken no interest in him.) This bunch acts in a blatant way, bordering on rudeness, and this certainly does not help enhance public sympathy for Pollard. But this does not detract from the government of Israel's obligation to exert efforts to attain his freedom. This is definitely something the prime minister can do. All he needs to do is to make at least the same effort he did to liberate the criminal Elhanan Tannenbaum and Azzam Azzam, neither of whom were emissaries of the state. 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 |
ATTORNEY-GENERAL NIXES COMPENSATION OPTIONS FOR GUSH KATIF FARM
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, May 23, 2005. |
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This is a news item from today's Arutz-7 (www.IsraelNationalNews.com).
Att.-Gen. Menachem Mazuz has thrown another monkey-wrench into the Gaza disengagement plans, disqualifying two out of three options for compensating the Jewish farmers for their confiscated lands. The Cabinet, in its session of 15 days ago, decided to offer the farmers of Jewish Gaza one of three alternatives: land of equivalent size in the Negev or Galilee; up to 40 dunams (approx. 10 acres) of land elsewhere in Israel; or financial subsidy in purchasing land elsewhere in Israel. Mazuz nullified the latter two alternatives, saying that as presently worded, they stand in opposition to the Evacuation/Compensation Law. The Cabinet will have to reformulate the proposals and submit them again to Mazuz for his approval. The only alternative that Mazuz left intact was the first one, namely, "plot for plot" in the Negev or Galilee. A list of available plots of land was to have been prepared by the Israel Lands Administration for the Disengagement Authority by May 13, and then to have been given to the farmers. No such list has yet been submitted. Mazuz's decision leaves the Gush Katif residents in total bewilderment as to their future. Avner Shimoni, head of the Gaza Coast Regional Council, said today, "This merely proves that the government has no idea what to do with us, and the entire disengagement will not come to pass." Presented with claims that it was the residents' fault for not talking with the government, Shimoni said, "The government wants to throw its citizens out of their homes and farms, so let it prepare a plan for what to do with them. As far as we're concerned, we're staying right here." Yossi Tzarfati, head of the Agricultural Committee in the community of Atzmonah, said, "The Attorney-General is debasing himself and the government, because what the government voted to approve is not monetary compensation, but rather passing the responsibility onto the farmers to go themselves and find, under restricting conditions, alternate lands that the government itself cannot find. The proof is that the government has not yet released its list of available lands - because there apparently aren't any! But have no fear: the farmers will continue to raise and export the best agricultural produce for many years to come." "A normal country can't expel its citizens and farmers so humiliatingly without finding them solutions," Tzarfati told Arutz-7 today. "It's impossible to find these solutions in such a short time. A normal person does not throw out his old worn-out shoes until he finds a replacement - but apparently our government, relating to us as old shoes, doesn't work that way." 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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GILA KATZAV HANDS LAURA BUSH PLEA TO FREE POLLARD
Posted by Mordechai Ben-Menachem, May 23, 2005. |
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This is a news item from today's arutz-7 (www.Israel.NationalNews.com) First Lady Gila Katzav gave U.S. First Lady Laura Bush a letter signed by 13 MKs demanding the release of Jonathan Pollard. Bush was later nearly attacked by Arabs on her visit to the Temple Mount. First Lady Gila Katzav, wife of Israeli President Moshe Katzav, gave her American counterpart, Laura Bush, a letter signed by 13 Members of Knesset demanding the release of Jonathan Pollard from federal prison. Mrs. Bush, on a visit to the Middle East to support woman's rights, narrowly averted being attacked by Arabs on a visit to the Temple Mount on Sunday. Israeli police were required to lock arms around the American First Lady in order to prevent an Arab mob from physically attacking her. One Arab shouted at her, "How dare you come here, and why are you hassling our Moslems How dare you come in here!" A CNN broadcast showed an Israeli police officer holding back a man with a thick beard who was shouting at Bush's entourage. Another guard needed to draw his gun on a boy who got dangerously close to the U.S. President's wife. Mrs. Bush, who arrived in Israel from a visit to Jordan, has been urging Arab leaders to expand women's rights in Arab society. "Freedom, especially freedom for women, is more than the absence of oppression," she said. "It's the right to speak and vote and worship freely." Ironically, women studying inside the Dome of the Rock, the site of the First and Second Temples, were visibly upset at Bush's presence in the mosque and waved their fingers disparagingly at her entourage. Just prior to her visit to the Temple Mount, the two First Ladies spent a few moments together at the Western Wall. Mrs. Bush placed a note in a crevice of the holy site, an undisclosed message which she reportedly wrote on the plane on her way to Israel. As she approached the Wall, Bush encountered a group of young female demonstrators calling for the release of Jonathan Pollard. Pollard is a former intelligence analyst for the U.S. Navy who risked his career and freedom to pass sensitive security information to Israel. Since his conviction in a plea bargain arrangement in 1986, Pollard has been serving a life sentence in federal prison. As she entered the wall area, the girls chanted, "Free Pollard Now." At the same time, a group of men held a similar demonstration in the plaza opposite the Wall. The letter demanding Pollard's release that Gila Katzav gave to Laura Bush was initiated by MK Gila Finkelstein (National Religious Party). "We're happy that Katzav did not act in the manner of [Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon, and did not forget to hand over the letter," said Finkelstein. Following her visit to the Temple Mount, Bush went sight-seeing at the ruins of Hisham's palace in Jericho, where she reiterated her husband's call for an independent Palestinian state. "We're reminded again of what every one of us would want," she said. "What we all want is peace, and the chance that we have right now to have peace, to have a Palestinian state living by a secure state of Israel, both living in democracy, is as close as we've been in a really long time." The Hamas terror organization, which is attempting to wrest power from the Fatah faction of the PLO in democratic elections for the Palestinian Authority scheduled for July 17, issued a statement condemning the Bush visit. "We see in the visit of Mrs. Bush an attempt to whitewash the face of the United States, after the crimes that the American interrogators had committed when they desecrated the Koran." Hamas was referring to a discredited Newsweek report, which claimed that U.S. soldiers had flushed a copy of the Koran down the toilet at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Despite denials of the report's validity, the International Committee of the Red Cross said it had submitted numerous reports to the Pentagon late last week that U.S. personnel had mishandled the Koran. Mordechai Ben-Menachem is at Ben-Gurion University. He can be reached by email at quality@computer.org |
| GUSH KATIF |
MK ELDAD EXPLAINS HIS CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE WEBSITE
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, May 23, 2005. |
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Democracy is more than a political structure. It is a cultural attitude. It is the attitude that the Government serves the people and is subservient to them. This has never been true in Israel. The typical Israeli has been educated to serve the State. Serving the State is considered a noble and great duty. The worst abusers of this concept have been the National Religious public who have added the concept of a holy obligation to serve the State. All this is pure idolatry and is no doubt part of the reason we are going through such trauma. The State of Israel is a State like all others. Its Government are not holy saints dedicated to serving the best interests of the nation. They are for the most part low life thugs out to grab as much as they can for themselves and their gang. Only by understanding this is there a possibility to change the underlying culture and create a State that serves it people. Civil disobedience is, aside from its political dimension, an excellent tool for attitudinal change and thereby cultural shift. The public and especially the National Religious public, have got to be weaned from this idolatrous concept of "serving the State." The essence of Democracy is that the State and its Government exist to serve the people. Any thing else is tyranny in one form or other. This is a news item from today's Arutz-Sheva (www.IsraelNationalNews.com) MK Aryeh Eldad has launched an internet site calling for civil disobedience against the expulsion/retreat plan, with examples, justifications, and legal tips for those who are arrested. The National Union Knesset Member's new website explains that the steps he proposes - such as not paying taxes, turning in one's ID and reserve-duty cards, blocking roads, large groups taking extended vacation from work, mass sit-ins at ports and the like - are "illegal, but accepted in the framework of civil disobedience around the world." The site - in Hebrew, at "www.meri.org.il" - also proposes that soldiers and reserve soldiers refuse to participate in the implementation of any orders related to the expulsion. Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin, who, like Eldad, opposes the disengagement plan, is not pleased with the site. Eldad's call for civil disobedience is "absolutely forbidden," Rivlin said yesterday. "The blanket nature of the site is liable to be interpreted wrongly by those who don't understand the nuances as a call to violate the law passively and non-violently. I told MK Eldad that his call must be changed, and that it is not appropriate for a Knesset Member to call for civil disobedience in response to democratically-made Knesset decisions." Rivlin stopped short of calling for Eldad's removal as Chairman of the Knesset Ethics Committee, saying this is not an ethical matter but rather one of "boundaries and restrictions of [an MK's] job, and the essence of MKs' parliamentary immunity." MK Eldad told Arutz-7's Ariel Kahane that he has no "copyright on civil disobedience, which has already been well established in the world... Some of the activities are very illegal, and some are less so. One must be willing to pay a personal price of going to jail, in the thousands and ten-thousands, but without raising a hand against a policeman or soldier. We will wage the struggle the same way other racist and immoral laws have been fought in other democratic regimes." "Civil disobedience is a measured response to expulsion and uprooting," Eldad said. "It is a response to the fact that we are fighting an irregular plan that will lead to uprooting and expulsion of Jews. The fight against an unethical law - one that is not Jewish and not Zionist, which is being implemented by mass expulsion of Jews and the declaration of a part of the Land of Israel as forbidden to Jews - must be on par with its severity, as this is a war on our home, the Land of Israel." Asked if there is no fear that the campaign will lead to an increase of hatred, Eldad said, "Certainly there is, for people are being disturbed and negatively affected. But when we place the law-breaking and inconvenience on one side of the scales, and the tremendous danger facing the State on the other side, it is clear that there is no comparison." Eldad brought the Supreme Court in his defense: "The Supreme Court often uses the concept of 'proportionality' in its decisions, saying that there are times when even a Basic Law can be harmed for the purpose of a worthy goal. An example of this is the State's claim regarding the disengagement itself. The State claims that very great diplomatic benefits will result to the general population, outweighing the damage to a small amount of people. We too say that if this plan goes through, the damage will be so great that we are willing to pay a personal price and make life somewhat difficult for many people. It is inconceivable that when Jews are being thrown out of their homes, the rest of the populace will go about their regular business as usual." The website banner states: "Civil Disobedience: non-violent resistance, with the willingness to pay a personal price, to fight against laws that undermine the very existence of the State or its character as the State of the Jewish Nation." The site also includes legal aid information, such as, "If you are arrested, remain silent, but explain that it is because it is a political interrogation... Object to being released with restrictions... As long as you have not yet been officially arrested, you may use your phone - use these minutes to call the legal aid center..." 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 |
NEXT DATES TO PROTEST GAZA RETREAT
Posted by Ken Heller, May 23, 2005. |
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Boker tov! Great opportunities for your towns to become actively involved in the ever growing anti-disengagemnent movment. All that is needed if for someone to take the bull by the horns and develop, organize, coordinate and promote your program. Having been in New York yesterday at the prayer vigil I became re-invigorated when I saw at least 2,000 people protesting the Prime Minister's evil plan. 6/22 there will be a protest in Washington from 10-5 pm. 7/19 has been called the International Day Against the Disengagement with major rallies in Washington and Tel Aviv. If you can't make it to either, how nice it would be to create your own anti-disengagemnt force in your hometown. Please give special attention to July 19th!!! Thank you.
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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HOW A POLICE STATE STARTS; JEWISH STATE CRUMBLING?
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, May 23, 2005. |
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LATEST POLICE STATE TACTICS IN ISRAEL qCivil service employees paid by the national treasury may not participate in political demonstrations. However, certain categories of rabbis are paid by municipalities; they are exempt from that restriction. Nevertheless, the government intends to stop the salaries of those rabbis, if they express opposition to Sharon's abandonment plan. Someone pointed out that broadcasters are paid by the national treasury, so if the rabbis do not have freedom of speech to oppose the abandonment, broadcasters should not have freedom of speech to support abandonment. Students coming to the W. Wall were forced by police to take off their orange shirts and orange bracelets, signs of their opposition to abandonment (Arutz-7, 5/15). A stream of police state tactics is being employed, in the service of looming national disaster, but everybody calls Israel a democracy. People are slow to recognize political change. HOW A POLICE STATE STARTS A police state may emerge from a parliamentary system whose leader becomes impatient with societal restraints. He plants agents in various agencies, and lets them know they may act with impunity. Craving power, themselves, they know no shame. They do what he wants and what they want. The signs of this are manifold in Israel (as we have been reporting. Israelis have been noticing, but are so awed by the supposed rule of law, they have not waged a coup in order to restore actual rule of law.) Police are harassing or arresting various leaders of the opposition to the abandonment plan (and, says Barry Chamish, framing them or blackmailing them to desist). Police also are beating up and arresting peaceful protestors. The judges are allowing this. The Left, which used to protest against preventive detention of dangerous Arabs, applauds its new use against harmless Jews. (The Israeli Left is closer to Bolshevism than were the W. European Socialists.) Even American leftists approve of at least some of the police excesses, though the protestors are using the civil methods common in the US (and by the Left). The Secret Service spies on Yesha Jews and has agents provocateurs try to expose them to indictment. (Few succumb. That demonstrates the settlers' decency and the government's indecency.) People suppose that these methods are necessary and temporary. (Necessary? What happened to winning elections honestly, carrying out campaign pledges, following democratic procedure, and attempting to persuade people?) Temporary? After building up a totalitarian mentality and corrupting the judiciary and the civil service? Foreign powers are urging swifter and harsher measures, to fulfill their agenda. PM Sharon makes it seem as if he is waging the battle of Gaza. Actually, he is setting a precedent that would end where the US wants it to, with Jerusalem. Therefore, this is the battle of Jerusalem. If the people can stop Sharon in Gaza, he wouldn't be able to give away Jerusalem (Winston Mid East Analysis, 5/15). US conservatives in the major media are not warning of Israel turning into a police state in order to betray its people. THE P.A. GOAL FOR THE U.S. & THE JEWS A sermon on official P.A. TV by a preacher on the P.A. payroll foresees Muslim rule over the US and Muslims finishing off the Jews (IMRA, 5/16). Is this how Abbas prepares another peace process? JEWISH STATE CRUMBLING? The Cabinet voted to permit Arabs from Judea-Samaria who marry Arabs from Israel, to move to Israel and apply for citizenship. In recent years, 150,000 Arabs moved into Israel. The Jewish majority is decreasing (and Israeli Arab terrorism is increasing). Some officials thought the old restrictions violated human rights, because they favored Jews over Arabs. Another pointed out that aliens do not have rights, but, rather, a country has the right to decide whom to admit. Another pointed out the inconsistency between expelling Jews from Gaza as if Gaza belongs to the Arabs, but then letting Arabs into Israel, as if Israel does not belong to the Jews (Arutz-7, 5/16). Have you noticed the great deal of inconsistency in conventional opinions about the Arab-Israel conflict, and that it favors the Arabs? What sense is there to worry about fairness, in letting in a collectively murderous religious group, who would work to push out (or under) the tolerant Jews? Already the Arab parties in Knesset tip the balance in favor of appeasement of the Arab enemy outside. There is a particular stupidity in the supposed idealism of sticking to democratic forms that let an Arab fifth column come in, stay, grow, and vote, while the country is under existential threat from the Arabs. That isn't democratic but politically correct according to foes of real democracy. Under Arab rule, the Jews would be oppressed. Ironically, the Jews are losing their democratic rights under the Sharon-Peres regime. P.A. PRAISES ASSAILANT OF ISRAELI TROOPS Reuters reported that at Tulkarm, an Arab wielding a long knife ran at Israeli soldiers and ignored warning shots. The soldiers then shot him dead. The P.A. called the youth a "heroic martyr" and denounced Israel for not treating the body with more respect (IMRA, 5/16). With respect, a would-be wanton killer? The trouble with Israel is that it treats the Arabs, who have no respect for their enemies, with too much respect. It should smear his body with lard, to forestall his martyr status. Is it Israeli violence (really in self-defense), checkpoints (also self-defense), or Arab slander that enrages Arabs into committing random terrorism? Do those who think it is due to poverty care to explain why many poorer cultures do not commit terrorism or to deny that Islam preaches conquest by the sword and that the P.A. media, schools, and mosques preach hatred and violence to powerful effect. WHO SMUGGLES ARMS TO THE P.A. WAR? Private gangs from Egypt, Libya, and Yemen smuggle arms through Egypt into the P.A. with the knowledge of their governments, according to Israeli intelligence (IMRA, 11/17). Since Egypt has many checkpoints along the few roads from Sinai to Gaza, and the terrain is flat, one may conclude that Egypt is an accomplice. It is working against peace. PM Sharon is particularly foolish to entrustit with Israeli security there. As for Libya, US policy makers and pundits have praised its government for abandoning terrorism and nuclear weapons development. We see that it has not abandoned terrorism. It just tries to keep it quiet. Probably the same is true of its nuclear weapons development. 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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PLAYING 'MORTARS AND MISSILES'
Posted by David Wilder, May 23, 2005. |
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High level sources, close to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon are leaking. Drip, drip, drop. The rabbit is out of the hat. Sharon is in big trouble. Behind the scenes political analysts say that, quite literally, "the oil is boiling and an overflow is immanent." Recent secret polls show that a majority of Israelis now oppose the government's intended retreat from Gush Katif and the northern Shomron. The reversal of public opinion began following media revelations of missile factories in the Shomron and terrorist plans to start shelling coastal cities this summer. The downward trend continued with reports that the terrorists have obtained shoulder-launched surface-to-air Stinger missiles and plan on using them to knock down planes flying in and out of Ben Gurion airport. Last week's massive bombardment of Gush Katif is the icing on the cake. Presently Sharon has given orders to hush up media accounts which reported that senior officers in Gush Katif are being denied the ability to prevent terror attacks upon civilians and soldiers. It was reported that senior IDF commanders are being denied permission to 'selectively eliminate' terror groups on their way to perpetrate attacks, such as the massive attack on Kfar Darom early Friday morning. Israeli combat helicopters, having spotted the terrorists, were denied permission 'to take them out,' and ground forces were not allowed to ambush the terrorists before they began their attack. The forces were ordered to 'guard at the fence.' As a result, the terrorists took over an abandoned UN school and started shooting missiles into Kfar Darom. It took an hour to receive permission to use tanks against the terrorists, by which time two of the three Arabs had fled. One reaction was the following letter addressed to Brigadier General Aviv Kochavi, commander of the Gaza division of the IDF from Dan Amiel of Kfar Darom: "You are certainly aware that we in Gush Katif, and especially in Kfar Darom, have been suffering now for years. We have sustained losses, mothers and fathers who were murdered, children with amputated legs and other serious injuries, and now we are under enormous pressure because of the threat of expulsion. Friends of ours are in prison. So you will understand that we are not prepared in addition to all of the above also to have our security undermined. Several other items seem to have Sharon on the run. A new Israeli web site, initiated by MK Aryeh Eldad, [www.meri.org.il] calls for massive civil disobedience and includes suggested methods of operation, including: stopping paying taxes; returning Israeli ID cards (teudat zehut); returning IDF ID cards and/or reserve call-up orders; refusing to obey orders connected to the expulsion, blocking roads; closing the airports and docks with massive sit-ins; massive coordinated vacations from organizations backing and preparing the expulsion, thereby disrupting their ability to function; tying up the police and other security forces in various places in Israel, preventing their participation in the actual expulsion; violating orders placing the areas endangered by expulsion off-limits to civilians. On top of this, Israeli media reported this morning that very senior IDF officers are suggesting/demanding that the expulsion be 'postponed' for at least six months, saying that "Disengagement on August 15 will be very bad for Israel." The current Hamas attacks, fully coordinated with Abu Mazen and the PA, together with intelligence information pointing at substantial terror planned for this summer, lead military sources to view the Gush Katif/Northern Shomron expulsions as a dire threat to Israeli security. Yet, the Prime Minister persists. In New York, he declared that the expulsion will take place as planned, that no changes are foreseen. Really? I must relate a story I recently heard, from reliable sources: The IDF is having trouble finding people willing to participate in the expulsion. Not too long ago a meeting was held with two hundred pilots of the Israeli air force and high-ranking members of the General Staff. "We haven't found anyone else, so you're going to have to do the job, to go into Gush Katif and implement the disengagement. You will have support from the outside, but the main job will be yours." When the speaker finished, one of the pilots stood up and said, "We will not be your garbage pails, we will not do your dirty work for you. None of us are going into Gush Katif to expel people from their homes." The other pilots applauded, all stood, and left the room. In Jerusalem, dozens of students are staging a hunger strike, protesting the planned expulsion. According to one Gush Katif leader, Aryeh Yitzhaki, some three hundred new housing units are presently being built in the Gush. Three new Gaza Jewish communities are in the works. And on the other side, very few Gush Katif families have agreed to leave their homes. The cooperation between the expulsion forces and Gush Katif residents is virtually nonexistent. There is one other side to this that I've neglected to mention. Again, a short story from a book called 'The Miracles of Gush Katif,' which details dozens of life-saving miracles that have occurred in the past five years in Gush Katif. A group of children, arriving home from school in Gush Katif, decided to play a little game they call 'Mortars.' (Just like we used to play cops and robbers or cowboys and Indians, in Gush Katif, they play 'mortars and missiles.' The game consists of one of the children yelling out 'mortar.' All the others have to immediately take cover. So, one of the kids cried out 'Mortar' and they all scattered, finding a place to hide. Just as they all found a place of protection, a mortar fell, exactly where they'd been standing, literally seconds before. Miraculously, none of the kids were hurt. What I'm trying to say is, G-d is on our side. 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 |
I am twenty years old, a father to a child, who under other
circumstances could have been under your command. Seven months ago as
I came out of the synagogue in Kfar Darom still in my prayer shawl
and phylacteries I was wounded by a mortar bomb. My injuries were
considered fatal. I hovered between life and death for three weeks in
the emergency ward. One of my legs was amputated and the other is
paralyzed. I also have arm and stomach wounds. At the moment I am
undergoing rehabilitation, together with soldiers such as Ophir
Livius and others.
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LONDONISTAN - CAPITAL OF EURABIA
Posted by Barry Shaw, May 22, 2005. |
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It is difficult to evaluate who is driving who.
Is it the British Muslims who are driving the far left, the loony academics, and the naive leftist liberals towards a new England of Shari'a Law and Communist repression? Or, is it the other way round? Are the vehement leftists, with their deceitful and malevolent agenda, leading a Muslim population towards their 'promised land' - a Europe reshaped to reflect a global combination of Leninism and Islam with London as its capital? The weekend display of passion in rainy Trafalgar Square would have us believe that it is the savvy politicians and academics who have achieved positions of power and influence through street-smart tactics and trickery that have deceived the public who head the advocacy of a reformed Europe and, eventually, a reshaped and less attractive world. It is easy to dismiss the rabble-rousers of the packed demonstration in one of London's major sites as cranks and misfits, but these people are on the ascendancy in the British Parliament and, therefore, on the British streets. They also hold the keys to important institutions such as the Union of British Teachers and certain Trades Unions. Their growing influence on future movers and shakers in British politics and the media stems from the misinformation they are able to disseminate to eager students from their protected positions of academic strongholds in the ivory towers of British universities and seats of learning. Just consider some of the colourful phrases of venom that were passionately received in Trafalgar Square that Sunday. Sue Blackwell, the unrepentant lecturer who led the AUTs boycott of Israeli universities said, "What we said about Haifa is an understatement. This is a university, which just hosted a conference, two days after the anniversary of the Nakba, entitled 'The demographic problem.' Brothers and sisters, a university which organizes a racist conference as Haifa has just done deserves every bit of trouble it gets from trade unionists in the UK." Labour M.P., Tony Benn, said, ""the apartheid wall should be removed," referring to the security fence built by Israel to prevent Palestinian suicide bombers from reaching Israeli cities. Calling American president George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon the "two most dangerous men in the world," Benn condemned America's military presence in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Israel's anti-terrorism measures. Benn declared that the world is facing another world war. Political leaders like him seem blind to the fact that it is they that is stoking the flames of a potential conflagration as, eventually, a weakened West will rise up against the growing dangerous combination of radical Islam and passionate left wing activists groping their way to a new Jerusalem. Fresh from his abusive display in the US Congress, George Galloway called for a total boycott of Israel. "It's about time that the British government made some reparations for the Balfour declaration," said Galloway. "Instead, Tony Blair said that Israel has no better friend than the British government. We say to Mr. Blair: You should be ashamed by that. The Palestinian people are like the 300 Spartans holding the pass of Thermopylae, until the others can arrive and come to their side. We will join them, by boycotting Israel. By boycotting Israeli goods. By picketing the stores that are selling Israeli goods," he said to cheers and applause. Paul Mackney, the general secretary of Britain's second largest university teachers union, NAPHTE, said, "We stand in solidarity with our Palestinian brothers and sisters. Palestinian refugee camps are like open air prisons," said Mackney. "The Israeli army frequently invades them. There will be no peace in the Middle East until there is justice for the Palestinian people. Andrew Birgin of the Stop the War Campaign said "Israel is a racist state! It is an apartheid state! With its Apache helicopters and its F-16 fighter jets! The South African apartheid state never inflicted the sort of repression that Israel is inflicting on the Palestinians," he said to loud applause. "When there is real democracy, there will be no more Israel!" concluded Birgin. "Allahu Akbar!" yelled several men repeatedly in response. Added to the abuse against Prime Minister Blair and President Bush, under the guise of free speech, was the wall to wall demand for the eradication of Israel. Azzam Tamini, the head of the Muslim Association of Britain gave an Islamic speech in which we called for a worldwide Islamic state instead of nation states. The first victim of his Islamic agenda is, of course, Israel. "There are 22 stupid Arab states, why have another stupid Palestinian state?" he asked. "I don't want another Palestinian state, I want Jaffa free, I want Haifa free, I want every inch of Palestine free! "I don't want to see any form of racist nationalism. And the most racist form of nationalism is Zionism. The problem is with a nationalist ideology that is the most racist on the face of the earth." Apparently Mr. Tamini found no objection to his form of international Islamic racism in Trafalgar Square. Not from the British Members of Parliament. Not from the academics. Not from the Tradesq Union leaders. Not even from religious representatives. Stuart Pexley, a former Catholic bishop, and a member of Pax Christi, said: "Jesus Christ attempted to create a new humanity without divisions. As a Christian I am opposed to the apartheid wall." Even Jews found their representatives at the rally in the loony Naturei Karta. "We are abiding by the Torah," said one member. "They [the Israelis] have no right to exist. Israel will fail. Before Israel, Jews were living well in Arab countries," he added. They held banners calling for a Palestinian state 'From the River to the Sea' a political ambition that reflects the aims of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The immediate danger of this lethal combination is that it is driving the political current in Britain as evidenced by the British media, by the results of the recent General Election, by the recent trends in British universities and decisions taken by major British unions. As the Muslim population expands, and as a student body leave academic cloisters in search of future positions of influence and power, they will further carry and graft the message of a deconstructed history on to an increasingly vote-catching political platform that will satisfy both the Left and the Islamists but will marginalise those in Britain who will not adopt a dhimmi attitude of submission. Some European countries have woken up to the danger that their traditional identities and culture have being submerged and lost to this passionate and active march of repression. It seems that Britain is still slumbering and dreaming of long-held values, values that are being undermined and abused by those clamouring for a new world order in Trafalgar Square. Part of this ambition is to turn Europe into Eurabia, and London into Londonistan. It seems that they are well on their way. Barry Shaw writes the View from Here columns from Israel. To receive emails, contact him at netre@mataav.net.il |
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KNIFE IN THE HEART
Posted by Yuval Zaliouk, May 22, 2005. |
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Dear friends, Two weeks ago, during Israel's somber Memorial Day, I had the great privilege of visiting Gush Katif and each and every village and community within it. I met the most incredible people in Israel. Not until you see the place, this blooming paradise built by these pioneers in the sand dunes, can you pass judgement on its and their fate. In a few days I will send you a link to a site in which the photos I took will be posted. In the meantime, here is an opportunity to watch an important video which exposes the dangers of the so called "Disengagement" Plan. The video can be viewed or downloaded with English subtitles at:
After entering the site you will find the video on the left. My suggestion for smooth viewing is that you save the video to your hard drive (a download of about 15 minutes) and watch from it. Please send this important link to all your family and friends, even to those on the left who support the eviction. The uprooting of Jews by Jews from their legal homes and businesses should be watched and understood by all. Your Truth Provider,
Yuval Zaliouk writes the Truth Provider columns. To subscribe, send an email to ynz@netvision.net.il |
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NATURAL TREASURES
Posted by Batya Medad, May 22, 2005. |
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I think that there should be a "people's uprising" to protect our "natural treasures." I'm not talking about Gush Katif or Disengagement, and I'm not referring to the sand dunes of Nitzanim, which Interior Minister Ophir Pines considers so valuable and precious. "The sands of Nitzanim are a national resource," he said today, "that we must carefully preserve for our own sake and for future generations. We must now make sure to prevent any construction from creeping into the area of the sands." "... important national interest of preserving Israel's natural treasures." http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=82412#responses The "Natural Treasures" that concern me are our future generations, our children, grandchildren and theirs. They are being endangered by the same government that is trying to reverse the miracles of the Six Day War and give our enemies the Land G-d liberated for our use. This isn't about security or health; it's about education. When I was a student, receiving a "D" meant failure. So it's rather ironic that this government is known for its two D's. D for Disengagement and D for Dovrat. Both are failures. Disengagement will destroy whatever security we have, and Dovrat will cause severe decline in Israeli Education. Thousands of teachers have already been fired because of the Dovrat recommendations. Now, I have a very simple question. How will this improve education? Class size won't shrink if there are fewer teachers for the, bli eyin haraa, our ever increasing number of school-age children. According to Dovrat the school day should be much longer, and teachers should work the same hours as clerical staff and factory workers. Young accademics should be given financial incentives to encourage them to teach, and experienced teachers will get a reduced salary or "pink slip." Yes, one of the key recommendations of Dovrat is a total overhall of salaries. Don't they realize that once they reduce to salary of veteran teachers, their new ones won't stay very long. Anyone who becomes a teacher for the money won't be foolish enough to stay after the incentives have expired. Employment agencies are recruiting potential teachers to work as "scabs" if there's a major teachers strike. Yes, I've heard from people who have been approached. And at best these people will be used to fill-in when schools have difficulty finding qualified teachers. No where in this "restructuring" is any talk of changes in curriculum and methodology to those with proven success. So, where's the rebellion? I'm not talking about teachers. I'm talking about parents. Why aren't the country's parents taking a good look at these Dovrat recommendations? Don't they know what's being planned? Don't they care who will be supervising their kids all day, and I used the term "supervise" for a reason. The kids aren't going to be studying all those hours. All the Israeli school buildings that had never had gymnasiums and lunchrooms haven't sprouted them since you last looked. When I was a young student in an over-crowded, baby-boom New York City Public School, we ate our lunch in the auditorium when it was too nasty outside to walk home. How many Israeli elementary schools have auditoriums? Lunchrooms? Gymnasiusms? And if all the teachers are supposed to be in school all day everyday, where are they supposed to plan lessons and correct exams? And when can they study for advanced degrees and take professional courses? If teachers seem tired now, just wait. But honestly, who's going to really suffer from this rediculous experiment? The school children. Why don't their parents care? Increasing time in school will not raise educational standards, and remember, the teachers aren't the sole providers of education. The chief responsibility for a child's education lies with his or her parents. Parents, don't wait until the damage is already done. Prevent it! Take to the streets. Protest against Dovrat for the sake of our precious children. This is Musing #120. Batya Medad lives in Shiloh. She can be reached by email at Shilohmuse@yahoo.com or visit her website http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/ or go to http://www.shilo.org.il This essay is also available at http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2005/05/120-natural-treasures.html |
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MUSLIM TOLERANCE TO OTHER RELIGIONS
Posted by Barry Shaw, May 22, 2005. |
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An important presentation. Please view and pass to others. This is taken from the official Palestinian TV channel this May 2005 when they talk about a new leadership, a new reformed society. See the true face of Islam. Muslims will offer tolerance to Christians who play a submissive 'dhimmi' role to Muslims. Muslims, however, offer no tolerance to Jews. All the world's ills, even those perpetrated by Muslims, can be loaded, malevolently, on to the Jews. Death and murder is the only Islamic demand of the Jews. See the presentation and prepare to be shocked. Muslims cry out for religious tolerance. When Newsweek wrongly reports the US servicemen flushing a copy of the Koran down the toilet, Muslims rampaged and people were killed. Yet the Bible is banned in Arab countries. Owning a Bible can get you killed, arrested, or deported. In Saudi Arabia, they burn discovered Bibles. Christians are not free to practice their religion. Jews are banned completely. Where is the Islamic tolerance? In Holland Theo Van Gogh was killed by a Muslim for making the movie 'Submission'. Dutch Parliamentarian, Ayaan Hirsi Ali has been threatened with death. Where is the Islamic tolerance in Holland? In Britain, Oona King was attacked and lost her Parliamentary seat by a Muslim constituency for being Jewish. In Britain, Muslim demand tolerance for their religion, but give none to others. We increasingly hear of Islamic no-go areas in Britain. In Nigeria, fifty people were killed not over the Miss World beauty pageant in their country but over a journalist who flippantly suggested that the Prophet Mohammed may have taken the winner as his wife. Christians, Jews, and Buddhists don't lash out in homicidal attacks when their religion is insulted. They don't call for jihad. If they did, hundreds of Muslims would be dead in Europe and America. So, where is the Islamic tolerance? In Palestinian territories churches and Jewish holy sites are desecrated. The Christian population in Palestinian-controlled territories is dwindling to nothing. Where is the beneficial face of Islam? I invite you to add to this world list of Islamic intolerance to other religions. However, please see the footage in the video link listed below. This is what Islam has in store for us Jews. Forward to all people that you know! And then question the motives that drive Muslims when they demand their rights - yet not only deny it to others, but hold an evil agenda for Christians, but mainly Jews. Barry Shaw writes the View from Here columns from Israel. To receive emails, contact him at netre@mataav.net.il |
| GUSH KATIF |
CHABAD JEWS WERE AMONG THOSE JAILED FOR CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
Posted by Lise Rubin, May 22, 2005. |
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These pictures come from http://chabad.info/index.php?url=article_he&id=11292. The original text is in Hebrew. Thanks are due Dr. Yoram Shifftan for preparing a summary of the text. Pictures tell the story from within the prison walls. "Scores of innocents were arrested during the road blocking operations that took place last Monday. Together, they strengthened and encouraged the spirits of those arrested and some used their time in prison to come near to the rabbi melech mashiach shalita [rabbi king and messiah] and to the torat hasiddut [to the doctrine of hassidut]. The innocents were in the Russian compound in Jerusalem [a police prison in Jerusalem] and had a hassidic 'convention' in one of the cells." Contact Lise Rubin by email at elishevarubin@msn.com |
| GUSH KATIF |
ARRESTED? YOU WON!
Posted by Rachel Saperstein, May 22, 2005. |
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A group of teenage boys had lunch with us on Independence Day. They had been our guests for a "Youth Shabbat" a few months ago and had returned to regale us with stories of the work they had been doing in the "Battle for Gush Katif." One of the boys wore the ubiquitous orange t-shirt, but the slogan was new: "Arrested? You won!" "Tell me about your t-shirt," I asked. "What does it mean?" A big smile appeared on his face. "We're planning to block the roads very soon and many of us will be arrested and we're going prepared. We'll go to jail with pride in order to protest the disengagement plan. It's called 'civil disobedience.'" These boys come from the very best homes. Their parents are professionals and epitomize religious middle class values. Their children do not commit crimes and go to jail. Their children are the cream of Israeli society - hard working, future soldiers in the elite IDF units. They will go on to university and be successful husbands and fathers. They will pay their taxes and show their allegiance to the State of Israel. Today they are carrying out the laws of good citizenship, fighting an unjust law, the Disengagement Law. On Monday, May 16th, thousands of people - mostly youth - blocked traffic on 42 main roads. Each participant in this "non-violent civil disobedience action" had received a booklet explaining their rights and a telephone number of the Legal Aid Station they are to call if arrested. The lawyers of the Legal Aid Station are volunteers on call 24/7. As I write this close to 500 people have been jailed. Some are below the age of 12. They were told beforehand, do not give any information to the police, do not tell them your name and identity card number, take down the name of police officers who physically or verbally abuse you, refuse to be photographed or fingerprinted. They were told not to be afraid, and to say "I am a political prisoner and have a right to remain silent." Demonstrators are urged to bring cellphones, cameras, pen and paper. They are to come prepared for possible arrest, with prayer shawl and phylacteries, a prayer book, toothbrush and toothpaste, soap, a clean sheet, a change of clothing and some food. And religious texts for study during the time in jail. We were told that many of those arrested refused to sign up for house arrest which would keep them locked up at home for at least three months. The atmosphere was one of pride as they sang Am Yisroel Chai, "The People of Israel Live." They sang Hatikvah, the national anthem, and Ani Ma'amin, "I believe in the coming of the Messiah." Police and jailers were taken aback by the joy with which the young people marched into jail. The jailers had never seen the sense of exhilaration and freedom exhibited by the prisoners. One young man, a father of six, knowing that his large family would suffer, accepted house arrest. His wife informed me that when he came home he felt saddened by his decision. "When I was in jail and uncomfortable I felt free. Now I am comfortable but feel jailed." He insists that we wants to return to prison. The police begged parents to come and identify their children so they could be released. The parents refused to betray the cause and their children's right to fight for that cause. "Next time," said one parent, "I will be on that corner and I too will choose jail rather than surrender to the edict of expulsion. My child is learning citizenship and the right of the citizen to fight evil laws. I am so proud!" 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. |
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GUESS WHO REALLY KILLED TOM HURNDALL!
Posted by Steven Plaut, May 22, 2005. |
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The original article, which was published at http://www.discoverthenetwork.org/moonbatcentral/2005/05/ guess-who-really-killed-brian-hurndall.html, has live links to additional material. Alongside Rachel Corrie, who commited suicide on behalf of Palestinian terrorism when she tried to stop an Israeli bulldozer from demolishing a terrorist smuggling tunnel, the other martyr of the pro-Jihad "International Solidarity Movement" terror organization has been one Tom Hurndall. Hurndall, like all the other ISM hoodlums and useful idiots of the Islamofascist terrorists, was in Israel to engage in violence, to assist terrorists, and to serve as a human shield for Palestinian murderers. The ISM openly endorses Palestinian terrorism against Jewish civilians, which the ISM calls "armed struggle". Hurndall became a victim of the armed struggle of Israeli troops shooting back at Palestinian terrorists, who had just opened fire upon them while Hurndall was in the vicinity. Hurndall was hit by a shot fired by an Israeli Bedouin patriotic soldier from a low-income family, a soldier who was defending himself and his comrades against Palestinian gunfire. The Bedouin soldier has been persecuted by the ISM thugs and their lobby, and is on trial now in Israel for manslaughter. A court ruling is expected soon. He should never have been charged at all. Now it turns out that the real killer of Tom Hurndall was not the Bedouin soldier at all but rather .... (drumroll) ... the British socialized medical system! In the trial of the Bedouin soldier being harassed by the Israeli military court at the behest of the ISM, the defense has presented evidence that the real reason Hurndall died was because of died because of malpractice by his British doctors when he was taken back to Britain. Hurndall actually died of pneumonia, not the gunfire wound. Defense lawyer Yariv Ronen said that the soldier should be acquitted of a manslaughter charge because Turndall "did not die from the wound but because the doctors, together with the family, made a very clear decision to end his life." Ronen said the doctors denied Hurndall antibiotic treatment and gave him an overdose of morphine. A second Israeli Bedouin soldier has already been sentenced to prison in the Hurndall affair. We think the ISM racists should stop abusing and tormenting patriotic Israeli Bedouins! And of course stop supporting randam mass murder of Jews. 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 |
OH, HOW ENTERTAINING
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, May 22, 2005. |
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I wonder how he entertains his audiences? Bites the heads off live snakes or what? This is a news item from today's Arutz-7. It's called "Pop Singer: 'Break Settlers? Bones.'" and is archived at http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=82405 (IsraelNN.com) Entertainer Muki Brown has called on the police "to break the bones of settlers, [who should be] thrown in a corner and gagged." The student group "Orange Cell" filed a complaint with police charging the singer with incitement. Brown told a Tel Aviv student newspaper that Jews in Gaza and northern Samaria "moved to areas that are not legal parts of Israel." He cited the police for not taking a heavy hand against evacuation protestors, adding that police should shoot them, in his words, just like they shoot Arabs. He said Yesha residents should be afraid because "we are their bosses." 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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PROFESSOR JANE CHRISTENSEN'S VIEWS ON THE HOLOCAUST
Posted by Steven Plaut, May 22, 2005. |
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This is called "Professor disputes Holocaust" and was written by
George A. Chidi; it appeared in the Rocky Mount Telegram yesterday.
The phone call inquiring about Professor Jane Christensen's views on the Holocaust was brief. Asked directly about her view of the Holocaust - Do you believe that the historic accounts of the Holocaust are true? - Christensen's response was cryptic and evasive. "Do you mean the Holocaust in Fallujah?" she said. No. The question referred to the conventionally held definition of the Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews were killed by Nazis, many in concentration camps. The question was redirected - Do you beliieve Germany killed 6 million Jews in concentration camps in World War II? "I believe that Germany killed many people in concentration camps in World War II, and that some of them were Jews," she replied. Charges of anti-Semitism have been among the accusations leveled at Christensen in recent weeks as bloggers and pundits picked up on her faculty Web site and course syllabus at N.C. Wesleyan College last month. She also has come under fire because the syllabus of one of her political science classes questions the truth of the U.S. government's accounts of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Her Web page, Megalinks in Political Science, has been retooled since the first columns appeared. Links remain to articles such as "Joint U.S.-Israeli plan to bomb Iran" by Michel Chossudovsky and "Mossad - The Israeli Connection To 9/11" by Christopher Bollyn. Most of the site consists of links to other writers for other organizations. A link titled "Mossad Planning Another Attack in U.S." links to an April 11 article by the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs - a Washington think-tank on U.S.-Israeli military relations - actually titled "Al Qaeda Preparing for Another Attack in U.S., WMD Use Probable." In a letter to the editor published in the Telegram on May 1, Dr. Ian Newbould said Wesleyan would ask a team of respect political scientists to evaluate the academic appropriateness and integrity of Christensen's approach to teaching. The letter said Christensen suggested the approach would be helpful. Little of Christensen's own writing appears on the school's Web site. Similarly, Christensen said she hoped little of this conversation would be published. Finally, the question was rephrased again - Do you believe that the Germans and their allies engaged in a systematic program to kill Jews during World War II? "If there was a systematic program to kill Jews, it was done in collaboration with the Zionists," Christensen answered. Steven Plaut is an American-trained economist, a professor of business administration at Haifa University and author of "The Scout." He frequently comments - both seriously and satirically - on Israeli politics and the left wing academic community. His website address is http://www.stevenplaut.blogspot.com. |
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WAR BY OTHER MEANS
Posted by Gerald M. Steinberg, May 22, 2005. |
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This appeared today in the Jerusalem Post.
When the council of the Association of University Teachers (AUT) in the UK meets on Friday to reconsider the boycott of Bar Ilan and Haifa Universities adopted last month, there is a good chance it will retreat. The opposition to this desecration of free academic inquiry has been surprisingly widespread, despite the pervasive anti-Israel bias in Britain and Europe. Perhaps there is more sanity and common sense in post-modern and post-colonial intellectual discourse than has been apparent. But a tactical defeat of the boycott this time should not be confused with a strategic change - the extremists who are waging the political dimension of the war against Israel lost an earlier round, but kept trying. They realized that the 45,000 members of the AUT have either been unwilling or unable to tell their leaders that further exploitation of universities for vitriolic attacks against Israel is unacceptable. To win this wider political war, the sources of the incitement and hatred directed against Israel need to be understood and defeated. In the case of the AUT boycott, its main proponents - Susan Blackwell and Steven Rose - are obsessed anti-Israel campaigners. Their claims regarding Bar Ilan and Haifa Universities were simply hooks on which to hang the wider campaign to label Israel "an apartheid state." This political assault, which accompanied the Palestinian terrorism that ended the Oslo process, was outlined at the UN's 2001 Durban conference on racism. According to the logic of this movement, just as terror and boycotts in the case of South Africa were justified, the actions of "Palestinian victims of Israeli occupation" can be perceived in the same way. But South Africa was unique, and in no way comparable to the ethnic and religious conflicts in Northern Ireland, the Balkans, Sri Lanka and the Middle East. Like other "great lies," this analogy exploits and diminishes the suffering of the victims of real apartheid, and disfigures basic principles of morality. BOYCOTTS ARE a major part of this offensive, and the powerful heads of activist NGOs (non-governmental organizations) are driving the process. Instead of giving voice to the legitimate and peaceful needs of "civil society," according to the standard jargon, these NGOs only use the rhetoric of human rights, humanitarian claims and charity to justify terror and promote demonization. The link is particularly direct in this case - the AUT boycott resolution specifically repeats the accusations of the PNGO - the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organization. The PNGO has indeed played a central role in the assault on Israel's legitimacy and the right of the Jewish people to self-determination. This goal is reflected in many activities that PNGO supports, such as the December 2004 conference at the School of Oriental & African Studies, London on "Resisting Israeli Apartheid Strategies & Principles." This theme advanced the boycott process, accompanied by the justification of Palestinian terror. As documented in NGO Monitor's detailed reports on PNGO, this umbrella organization and its constituent members (real and virtual) receive funding from the British Department for International Development, parallel groups in Europe and Canada, and from private sources such as the Ford Foundation. BADIL, which focuses on refugee claims, uses money from the Canadian International Development Agency, Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation and the Swiss Foreign Ministry for anti-Israel incitement rather than humanitarian assistance. To spread propaganda, the PNGO created Al-Marsad and the Palestine Monitor. Another branch - the Grassroots International Protection for the Palestinian People (GIPP) - uses its resources to repeat demands for a "civilian boycott of all official Israeli organizations and institutions," expulsion of Israel from "intergovernmental organizations," and demands that foreign states refuse entry to Israeli officials. Their reports use demonizing terms such as "colonization," "the Judeaization of Jerusalem," "ghettoize," "land grab" and "apartheid" as often as possible. Slogans of hatred and rejectionism that create support for boycotts are also promoted by the major international NGOs. For the past two years, Christian Aid has focused its main Christmas campaign around themes such as "Child of Bethlehem" and "Peace Under Siege," which highlighted Palestinian victimization at the hands of Israel, while essentially ignoring Palestinian terror. War on Want also uses "charitable" contributions to promote incitement against the "apartheid wall." And Human Rights Watch joined the extremist pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement to advance the boycott campaign focusing on the Caterpillar machinery sold to Israel and used in fighting Palestinian terror. The evidence - for those who care to look - is clear. Now that their eyes have been opened, if the members of the Association of University Teachers act morally to unconditionally repeal the academic boycott, they would be setting an important example in halting this assault. Gerald M. Steinberg is editor of NGO Monitor and director of the Program on Conflict Management at Bar-Ilan University. |
| GUSH KATIF |
MORE SHOCKING APPEASEMENT TO TERROR
Posted by Marlene Young, May 22, 2005. |
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In the last few days, the PA allowed Hamas terrorists to launch Dozens of Qassam Rockets at Israeli Civilian Population Centers. If this were any other country, a massive military operation would be underway to stop this aggressive attack and remove this threat to the safety and security of its citizens. After releasing some empty tough words to the media yesterday, Sharon had a meeting with his Cabinet and consultations [arm-twisting] with the U.S. Security Coordinator, General William Ward, and then authorized...more gestures to the PA to "strengthen" it! At the exact same moment that Israeli law-abiding, loyal citizens are facing deportation, Israeli PM Ariel Sharon is going to allow, as a concession to Hamas terrorists, and in deference to the White House ahead of Abu Mazen's visit to the U.S. next week, the freeing an additional 400 Palestinian prisoners, allowing the return of wanted Palestinian terrorists deported to Europe after the standoff at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity in 2002, and allowing the return of Palestinian terrorists deported from the West Bank to Gaza. Can these echos of Oslo, the exact same words, the exact same Leftists, be repeating themselves YET AGAIN? The PA is armed to the teeth, and it does not lack the means to stop Hamas. It is apparant that henceforth the PA can simply use Hamas to attack Israel, and then demand endless concessions, money and weapons to "restrain" them. We are now at a juncture when the Israeli socialist Left has completely paralyzed the IDF and allows the Israeli public to be Blackmailed and live under the Hamas threat of a sword held to their throats. A new player in this evil game is The U.S. Security Coordinator, General William Ward, who is behind this latest arm twisting of Israel. How can we, the public, respond to Mr. Ward's perposterous demands that Israel ignore every PA violation and respond to Hamas terror with more concessions? This article is called "PM okays gestures to PA despite renewed shelling" and is by Aluf Benn and Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondents. (www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/578321.html)/ Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz on Thursday approved a series of gestures to the Palestinians, over the objections of the Shin Bet security service and despite the continued barrage of mortar shells in the Gaza Strip. Shin Bet Chief Yuval Diskin opposed the proposal on the grounds that there are too many warnings of terror attacks. But the Israel Defense Forces supported the decision. At a meeting with Mofaz on Thursday, senior officers warned that if Israel did not act to strengthen Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, "he'll fall, and then we'll have to give more abatements to Hamas, which will gain power in his stead." The measures, which will be brought to the cabinet for approval after Sharon returns from the United States later this month, involve steps that Israel originally promised at February's Sharm el-Sheikh summit: freeing an additional 400 Palestinian prisoners, allowing the return of wanted Palestinians deported to Europe following the standoff at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity in 2002, and allowing the return of Palestinians deported from the West Bank to Gaza. The U.S. security coordinator, General William Ward, had pressured Israel to take these steps in recent days. "You complain that the Palestinians are not fulfilling their commitments," he told his Israeli interlocutors. "But what about your commitments?" The decision to approve these steps now is also related to Abbas' planned visit to Washington Thursday. Thereby, Sharon hopes to deflect Abbas' expected complaint to U.S. President George W. Bush that Israel is not helping him. Sharon approved the gestures despite the ongoing escalation in Gaza. Palestinians fired at least 14 mortars at the Gush Katif settlements on Thursday, and four Qassam rockets landed in Israel - including one in the courtyard of Sderot's municipal offices. The shelling caused property damage, but no casualties. Palestinians also shot, and launched antitank missiles, at IDF troops in Gaza. The IDF did not respond to the shelling, even though the government has authorized it to respond to mortar and rocket launches, particularly if Hamas seems to be trying to cause escalation. Israeli intelligence believes that while Hams does want some escalation in the run-up to new local elections in Rafah, it also does not want the cease-fire to collapse. Thursday's shelling, therefore, was not carried out by Hamas, but by other Palestinian factions - primarily the Popular Resistance Committees, a Fatah breakaway, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. It is possible that Hamas is financing, or even giving orders for, shelling by other groups, army sources added, but Hamas leaders seem to want to end the current round of violence - which is why Israel responded to the shelling mainly with threats rather than action. Hamas did not even attack, as the IDF had expected it would, when a Hamas operative wounded by an IDF air strike Wednesday died of his wounds on Thursday. Despite the Gaza escalation, the IDF believes that abatements should continue in the West Bank, because the PA has begun security coordination with Israel - albeit not against the terrorist organizations. The army proposes removing roadblocks and allowing more West Bank residents to work in Israel. It also recommends preparing to hand Qalqilyah over to the PA once the latter makes progress on collecting weapons from wanted men in the two cities it already controls, Jericho and Tul Karm. Also on Thursday, a group of Israelis, apparently Breslav Hasidim, visited Joseph's Tomb in Nablus without coordinating with the IDF. Palestinians opened fire at them, and the IDF had to rescue them. None of the Israelis were hurt, and the group is now being investigated by the police. Minister Haim Ramon met with Palestinian Minister Mohammed Dahlan Wednesday to coordinate the disengagement from Gaza. Government sources said the talks were "difficult" and full of mutual recriminations. Contact Marlene Young by email at marleneyoung1@yahoo.com |
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LOVE LETTERS TO HAMAS, HIZBULLAH
Posted by Tamar Rush, May 21, 2005. |
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First it was displays of true affection with the Saudipoofs.....now this! [Editor's note: See pix of Bush and Prince Abdullah. ] Now this - from www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/ 1,2506,L-3088380,00.html#n Senior Hamas and Hizbullah members both received official letters from the U.S administration and British government, two United Arab Emirates' newspapers reported Saturday. According to the al-Bayan newspaper, the U.S. sent the Islamic terrorist groups a letter, expressing its respect for the organizations' broad popular support - support that is expected to only grow with the upcoming elections in Lebanon and in the Palestinian Authority. The newspaper also reported the administration has invited the Islamic organizations' leaders to a meeting with senior U.S. officials at a still-undecided location. According to sources quoted in the newspaper, the Americans have even demonstrated their willingness to cooperate with the organizations, should they develop into political parties following the elections. Britain changes direction too Furthermore, the al-Halij newspaper reported that Britain has considered changing its foreign policy regarding the Middle East and may agree to direct dialogue with Hamas and Hizbullah for the very first time. The newspaper reports that this move is based on the assumption the organizations will strengthen their political positions after elections next week in Lebanon and on July 17 in the PA. A British Foreign Ministry spokesman refused to confirm the newspaper's report but said that Britain's current foreign policy is aimed at contact with Hamas field commanders "not connected to terror." The spokesman said that the motive for such controversial contacts was to "strengthen the Palestinian Authority." However, the spokesman said his government's ties to Hizbullah were severed years ago, as its military wing has been included in the list of terror organizations since 2001. |
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WHAT HOLOCAUST?
Posted by Jerome S. Kaufman, May 21, 2005. |
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For about a minute and a half, Frontline/PBS had me fooled. I had sat down at the TV with my two boxes of Kleenex to watch on Public Broadcasting System (PBS), a documentary called, Memory of the Camps. I was sure it would be about the concentration camps and Hitler's Final Solution to exterminate all the Jews of Europe. Immediately seen on the screen was that Frontline had the TV special produced. But, how could Frontline and PBS be involved in a TV special that I expected to be sympathetic to the extermination of over 6 million Jews? Invariably they had taken every pro-Palestinian Arab position possible in their TV productions and on PBS radio stations. What is Frontline? Their literature states that "'Frontline' is the registered trademark of WGBH Educational Foundation." WGBH is a Public Broadcasting Station (PBS) in Boston, MA. Frontline is thus an organization that is an integral part of PBS nationwide. Frontline formulates ideas, usually of political interest, which are then submitted to different TV production companies that are commissioned to create an apparent TV documentary that subtly propagandizes the public to Frontline's and ipso facto, PBS's agenda. Of course, the operative words are "apparent" and "documentary" - especially since the term "documentary" long ago lost its original definition. These are not the objective newsreels the public might expect from the former terminology. They are most frequently political ploys as demonstrated so expertly by the "documentaries" of Michael Moore. There were no Jews in the TV film about concentration camps! Why then was Frontline involved in this production that I imagined had to be sympathetic to the Jews? After a few minutes, the answer became crystal clear. Frontline had created real magic. There were no Jews in the TV film about concentration camps! All credit, if one could possibly call it credit, for 6 million Jews dying, had been eliminated from the production! PBS had created a generic with no Jews - just the "peoples of Europe", the "German people" when they meant the German Jews, and not one Jewish star shown - which had been routinely sewn on the uniform of Jewish prisoners - was seem in the entire film. The gut rending actual pictures of the piled up corpses and barbed wire and starvation and filth could not be denied. It was the script that was so cleverly used to promote the Frontline agenda. It began with the introduction "for decades the film had been stored in the Imperial War Museum in London. The documentary was unfinished with missing sound tracks. But the directors, including Alfred Hitchcock had developed a script to go with the pictures." (How convenient!) Frontline then makes the totally disingenuous statement that it "presents the film unedited, as close as possible to what the producers intended over a half-century ago." Never mind the dubbed in sound track that was missing from the original and how do they know what the producers intended over a half-century ago? Then the magnificent voice of Trevor Howard begins the narration. The allied troops enter the Bergen Belsen concentration camp in the Spring of 1945 and are horrified. In the narration the prisoners are identified simply as "they" or "the people" and referred to as no particular ethnic group. At the end of the segment Trevor Howard states, "We shall never know who they (the victims) were or from what homes they were torn. Whether they were Catholics, Lutherans or Jews, we only know they were born, they suffered and died in agony in Belsen Camp." No mention of the fact was made that Bergen-Belsen became a collection camp for thousands of Jewish prisoners evacuated from camps closer to the front as Allied forces advanced into Germany in late 1944 and early 1945. With the arrival of prisoners evacuated from the east, there were over 60,000 by April 15, 1945 - by far, the major portion Jews. Later in the narration Howard states, "On the 28th of February, 1933, a Presidential Emergency Decree suspended the basic civil rights of the German people - no mention of the fact that almost immediately afterward, April 1933, the Jews were singled out and dismissed from the public service, the universities and other professions and their lives made absolute hell from that point forward. In fact, the only reference to Jews in the one hour narration was a statement by Herr Schoker, the camp commandment of Dachau, who said, "I want at least 600 Jewish deaths reported in the camp office every day." At one point the narration speaks of the liberation of Buchenwald, April 13, 1945 with 20,000 inmates remaining. The narration lists them: "African Negroes, Albanian, Austrians, Belgians, Brazilians, Canadians, Chinese, Croats, Czechs. Danes, French, Germans, British, Greeks, Dutch, Italians, Yugoslavs, Latvians, Letts, Norwegians, Mexicans, Poles, Rumanians, Spaniards, Swiss, Americans and Russians." Really! How convenient. No Jews identified as such and just how many of these prisoners actually represented the individual nations listed? What percentage of those in the camp? What an outrageous, disingenuously constructed lie! My initial bewilderment was therefore solved. Frontline and PBS had not produced a "documentary" sympathetic to the Jews or Israel. They had produced a deliberate generic whose obvious goal was to re-enforce the gross lie of Holocaust denial which claims not that many Jews were killed at all. The Holocaust must have been just a grand plan to establish the State of Israel and steal "Arab Land" - another gross lie that has been well-promoted in many other Frontline/PBS productions. Jerome S. Kaufman is National Secretary of the Zionist Organization of America. and host the Israel Commentary website (http://www.israel-commentary.org). This article is re-printed from The Jewish Post - NYC and St. Louis Jewish Light. |
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A LEGAL RULING BEFORE THE JUDICIARY LINED UP BEHIND SHARON
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, May 21, 2005. |
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This article rom the IMRA Archives: "Israeli judge suggests OK for Leftists to block roads & beat cops: Court slams state for indicting Left protesters," by Yaakov Katz, The Jerusalem Post, Oct. 18, 2004 (www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ ShowFull&cid=1098072902724&p=1078027574097). I wonder if he holds the same opinion today? Contact IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis) by email at imra@netvision.net.il or visit the IMRA website: http://www.imra.org.il [IMRA: Judge Muki Landman leapfrogs back in history to the early 1980's to justify his ruling, thus ignoring the legal treatment of Oslo protestors.] Tel Aviv Magistrates' Court Judge Muki Landman harshly criticized the prosecution Monday regarding its decision to press charges against 11 left-wing activists who held an anti-security fence demonstration in February opposite the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv. The activists were charged with unruliness and of preventing a police officer from carrying out his job by violently resisting attempts by the police to evacuate them from the road they were blocking. "The state needs to know when to hold back," Landman told the state prosecutor, adding that the youths who sat on the road opposite the Defense Ministry and refused to be evacuated were involved in an "active protest" and that their actions should not necessarily draw criminal charges. "The states should not run and file an indictment in cases of protest," he said. "If I am sitting on the road and they come to evacuate me and I fight back, I am not sure that filing an indictment is the right thing to do." Landman added that in his view decisions regarding charges against demonstrators need to be made at the highest level. He added that the indictments against the demonstrators are out of the ordinary and that the state did well not to press charge against activists who resisted the evacuation of the Sinai in the early 1980s. "In my opinion a decision needs to be made by the attorney-general," he said. "Especially considering that we are in the midst of a period filled with protests from both sides of the political spectrum." Despite the criticism, the prosecution repeatedly claimed that the activists had assaulted police officers who had tried to break up their protest. Landman ruled that the prosecution would be able to present its arguments at a second hearing scheduled for October 25. |
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OLEG CARTOON
Posted by Women in Green, May 21, 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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IS THE NPT STILL RELEVANT FOR THE MIDDLE EAST?
Posted by Gerald M. Steinberg, May 21, 2005. |
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This article was published 19/5/2005 in www.bitterlemons-international.org.
In the Middle East, the status of the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty has always been shaky. Now this unique international regime is in danger of losing its remaining relevance. A number of the most problematic signatories are located in this region, beginning with Iraq, which acquired the French-built Osiraq reactor and other technology in order to produce material for use in making weapons. Later, Libya attempted to follow a similar path, and Algeria remained outside the treaty structure until 1995, when US satellite images discovered a reactor that had been secretly acquired from China. There are also unconfirmed reports of clandestine programs in Syria, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere, based on the assistance provided by Pakistan's nuclear entrepreneur, Abdul Qadeer Khan. As a result, confidence in the ability of the NPT regime, including the IAEA safeguards system, to prevent proliferation in the Middle East has never been particularly high, even before the illicit Iranian program was revealed. The question of the NPT's relevance has been further highlighted by the conflict surrounding Israeli exceptionality. For over three decades, successive Israeli governments have concluded that the NPT requirements are incompatible with Israel's core deterrence requirements. But unlike the regimes in Iraq and Iran, Israel did not try to have its nuclear cake (by signing the NPT), and eat it too (by cheating). Nor, in contrast to the other two non-signatories (India and Pakistan), has Israel declared itself to be a nuclear power, or exploded weapons to demonstrate such capabilities. The policy of ambiguity remains in place as the least bad option, which both meets Israel's security needs and also limits the impact on the NPT regime. In this context, the continuous efforts to press Israel to accept the terms of the Treaty and relinquish its nuclear deterrent option have not made significant headway. The current NPT Review Conference taking place in New York is unlikely to change this situation. These efforts are generally based on claims of "universality", which is the diplomatic equivalent of "one size fits all", in which all states, large or small, powerful or weak, democratic or dictatorial, are forced into a single set of requirements. Universality also fails to consider the problem of countries that sign treaties and then find ways to violate them. This distorted framework ignores Israel's unique strategic situation and political environment, which includes missiles paraded through the streets of Tehran decorated with signs that read "Wipe Israel off the Map". Thus, until the concept of universality is also applied to requirements for democracy, mutual acceptance and strategic depth, there is no justification for demanding it with respect to the Non- Proliferation Treaty alone. The main cost of this public relations campaign regarding Israel's status is to deflect the focus and resources from the much more important challenges facing the NPT system, particularly in the Middle East. Despite the weaknesses, for most of the past three decades the terms of this treaty and the verification mechanisms under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have prevented many countries from acquiring nuclear weapons. Notwithstanding its flaws, the NPT has been an unusual success, and rather than promoting policies that will lead to its collapse, positive action needs to be taken in order to strengthen its effectiveness. As noted, the holes in the fabric of this treaty come from a few countries and regimes. Saddam Hussein was the first major violator to be exposed--he signed the NPT to acquire peaceful technology while secretly using the materials and knowledge in making weapons. In many cases, his illegal facilities were literally across the street, but IAEA inspectors could not go beyond the buildings designated by the Iraqi government. The international response was too weak and slow to provide an effective response. After this ruse was exposed following the 1991 war, the IAEA tightened its inspection system, but it failed to deter other NPT signatories, including Iran, from violating its terms. Iran continues using the nuclear energy facade in an effort to acquire weapons, and while the IAEA has reported on these activities in great detail, the diplomatic process led by the European Union appears to be going nowhere. If Iran continues on this path and begins to produce significant amounts of fissile material for weapons production, this is likely to end any role for the NPT in the Middle East. The resulting arms race between Israel and Iran--with no diplomatic relations, no means of direct communication, and a high potential for conflict--could quickly lead to widespread regional instability, and generate efforts by Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and other countries to gain similar capabilities. And without this unique arms control framework, warts and all, the region and the world would be far more dangerous.- Gerald M. Steinberg is editor of NGO Monitor and director of the Program on Conflict Management at Bar-Ilan University. |
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SAUDIS SHRED BIBLES; JEWISH RESPONSE TO DESECRATION
Posted by IsrAlert, May 20, 2005. |
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Two articles. "Saudis Shred Bibles, Rights Campaigners Claim," by Patrick Goodenough, Cyber News Service, (www.cnsnews.com//ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page= \ForeignBureaus\archive\200505\FOR20050519a.html). (CNSNews.com) - Bibles found in the possession of visitors to Saudi Arabia are routinely confiscated by customs officials, and in some cases copies allegedly have been put through a paper shredder, according to religious rights campaigners. Reports from the Islamic world of the abuse of Bibles and other items important to Christians emerge from time to time, but generally have little impact - in contrast to the wave of Muslim anger sparked by a Newsweek report, since retracted, of Koran desecration by the U.S. military. "The Muslims respect the Koran far more than Christians respect the Bible," says Danny Nalliah, a Sri Lankan-born evangelical pastor now based in Australia. During the 1990s, Nalliah spent two years in Saudi Arabia, where he was deeply involved with the underground church. "It's a very well-known fact that if you have a Bible at customs when you enter the airport, and if they find the Bible, that the Bible is taken and put in the shredder," he said in an interview this week. "If you have more than one Bible you will be taken into custody, and if you have a quantity of Bibles you will be given 70 lashes for sure - you could even be executed." Nalliah had not himself seen a Bible being shredded but said the practice was widely acknowledged among Christians in the kingdom. Abuse of Christians and their symbols was not restricted to the destruction of Bibles, he added. A friend of his, a fellow Christian in Saudi Arabia, told him of witnessing a particularly unpleasant incident involving a Catholic nun. The man had been in the transit lounge at the airport in Jeddah - the gateway to Mecca, used by millions of Hajj pilgrims each year - when a nun arrived at the customs desk. "Some fool [travel agent] had put her on a transit flight in Jeddah. You don't do that to a Catholic nun, because she's going to be tormented." "They opened her bag, went through her prayer book, put the prayer book through the shredder ... took the crucifix off her neck and smashed it, tormented her for many minutes." Eventually another Muslim official objected to their conduct, came across and "rescued" her, pointing out to the customs officials that she was not entering the country but only in transit and would be leaving on the next plane. Briefed beforehand about the risks, Nalliah said he did not carry a Bible when he arrived in the kingdom in 1995. Subsequently, however, he took possession of hundreds of Bibles that had been smuggled into Saudi Arabia to be used by believers there. Nalliah said he had a close call one morning when armed members of the notorious Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice - the religious police, or muttawa - hammered at his front door at 1 a.m. With 400 smuggled Bibles "sitting on the dining room table," he believed his life to be in serious danger. "That was a crime equal to rape, murder, armed robbery, and in Saudi Arabia you get the same punishment," he said - the death penalty. Nalliah said he had prayed earnestly and, in what he could only describe as a miracle, the men left without entering his home. 'Contraband' Claims of Bible desecration in Saudi Arabia have been made by others. "One Christian recently reported that his personal Bible was put into a shredder once he entered customs," the late Nagi Kheir, spokesman for the American Coptic Association and a veteran campaigner for religious freedom in the Middle East, wrote in an article several years ago. "Some Christians have reported that upon entering Saudi Arabia they have had their personal Bibles taken from them and placed into a paper shredder," the U.S.-based organization International Christian Concern said in a 2001 report. In its most recent report on religious freedom around the world, the State Department made no reference to Bible destruction, but said they were considered contraband. "Customs officials routinely open mail and shipments to search for contraband, including ... non-Muslim materials, such as Bibles and religious videotapes," it said. "Such materials are subject to confiscation, although rules appear to be applied arbitrarily." In a 2003 report on Saudi Arabia, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent watchdog set up under the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act, said: "Customs officials regularly confiscate Bibles and other religious material when Christian foreign workers arrive at the airport from their home countries initially or return from a vacation." Inquiries about the legality of Bibles and about the shredder claims, sent to the Saudi Embassy in Washington and the Saudi Information Ministry in Riyadh, were not answered by press time. Koran vs. Bible After Nalliah left Saudi Arabia in 1997, he went to the U.S. and took part in the lobbying effort on Capitol Hill in support of what eventually became the International Religious Freedom Act, signed into law the following year. He heads an evangelical ministry in Australia, where late last year he and a colleague became the first people to be found guilty under a controversial state religious hatred law, after Muslims accused them of vilifying Islam during a post-9/11 seminar for Christians. Nalliah said this week it did not surprise him that Muslims have reacted strongly to the claims that U.S. interrogators at the Guantanamo Bay base, where terrorism suspects are held, had thrown a Koran into the toilet. While Bible scholars say the Bible is written by men who were inspired by God, Muslims believe the Koran is "the copy of an original that is sitting in heaven, and has been sent down [by revelation to Mohammed]." The book is seen as something sacred in itself, he explained, its words having come "directly from Allah. That's why they are so mad when they think something [unseemly] is being done to the Koran." A Muslim will never keep a Koran at ground level, for instance. The Pentagon says a January 2003 memo issued to U.S. personnel at Guantanamo Bay instructed them to "ensure that the Koran is not placed in offensive areas such as the floor, near the toilet or sink, near the feet, or dirty/wet areas." Even in Western societies, Nalliah noted, copies of Bibles could often be found in witness boxes of courts, ready for use when witnesses are sworn in. But the Koran will generally be kept in safe storage elsewhere, covered in cloth, to be brought in when required by a Muslim witness. He said such reverence for the Koran stood in stark contrast to some Muslims' feelings about the Bible, however. Nalliah said the Koran was "confusing" on this score. In places (e.g.: sura 29:46-47) it appeared to urge Muslims to respect the Bible and those who believe in it; elsewhere it exhorts them to fight those who don't accept Islam until they pay tribute and accept inferior status (sura 9:29-31). According to author and Islam scholar Robert Spencer, "a devout Muslim might very well mistreat a Bible, because traditional Islamic theology regards it as a corrupted and unreliable version of the genuine revelations that were given to Moses, Jesus, and other Prophets." Spencer noted that in sura 9:30 the Koran says those who believe Jesus is the Son of God are under Allah's curse. "Throughout history, most Muslim theologians have held that the New Testament has been tampered with since it teaches that Jesus is the Son of God." Some of the more notorious reported incidents of Muslims abusing Christian symbols implicate Palestinian radicals, including the trashing of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in 2002; and the desecration of Maronite churches in Damour, Lebanon in 1976. In the Damour episode, Yasser Arafat's PLO killed more than 500 of the Christian town's inhabitants before turning it into a stronghold, and used the interior of the St. Elias church for a shooting range, according to published accounts. "Jewish Response to Desecration: Grief, Not Violence," by Julie Stahl, Jerusalem Bureau Chief, (www.cnsnews.com//ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page= \ForeignBureaus\archive\200505\FOR20050519d.html), May 19, 2005. Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - Although Palestinians have desecrated Jewish holy books and Jewish holy sites for years, it is not the Jewish way to respond with violence, said Jewish leaders here. A brief item in the May 9 edition of Newsweek magazine said U.S. troops had flushed a Koran down a toilet in an effort to rattle Muslim detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The report -- since retracted -- sparked deadly riots in Muslim countries, including Afghanistan. But Jewish leaders said such a thing would not happen here -- although there are plenty of provocations. In October 2000, near the beginning of the Palestinian armed conflict, the Tomb of the Biblical patriarch Joseph in the West Bank city of Nablus came under fierce attack. One soldier died of wounds he suffered there. Joseph's Tomb was one of several Jewish holy sites in Palestinian areas protected in the Oslo Accords, which Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization signed in 1994. Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem and the Shalom al Yisrael (Peace on Israel) Synagogue in Jericho also were included in that agreement. The Israeli army agreed to withdraw from Joseph's Tomb, after the P.A. pledged to protect and defend it -- and with the understanding that Jews would return. But within hours, an angry Palestinian mob burned, looted and ransacked the place. Rabbi Daniel Shilo, spokesman of the Council of Rabbis of Judea, Samaria [West Bank] and Gaza, said since then, the Palestinians have burned Joseph's Tomb a few more times. The Jewish reaction, Shilo said, was one of grief. "We know the Arabs burn and destroy like it's a regular thing," he said. In the 19 years (1948-1967) when the Mount of Olives in eastern Jerusalem was under Jordanian rule, Palestinians used tombstones from the ancient Jewish cemetery there for building and paving, Shilo said. Rabbi Mordechai Rabinovitch, secretary of the Council of Rabbis of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, said that when Joseph's Tomb was ransacked there was no military or civilian response. Instead, as a result of the devastation, Jews were prevented from going there to pray and a religious school at the site was moved elsewhere. "It was an absolute violation of Oslo agreements," said Rabinovitch. It's not the Jewish way to ransack holy places or take vengeance, he said, adding that he wishes it weren't the Arab way, either. Rabinovitch headed the Jewish religious school at the Shalom al Yisrael synagogue in Jericho before it, too, was ransacked at the beginning of the Palestinian armed conflict. Although scrolls containing the Jewish scriptures were safely retrieved, the building itself was ransacked and the tables and chairs all disappeared, he said. Oddly enough, during Passover, Jewish worshippers were allowed back into the synagogue for a prayer service; the building had been painted, apparently by the Palestinians, Rabinovitch said. They want to use the place as a showcase, he said. He added that he's not optimistic about the Jewish school being able to return to that spot. Speaking in general about how Jewish people would react to the idea of a desecration, Jonathan Rosenblum, an ultra-Orthodox Jew who runs Jewish Media Resource, said Jews would not retaliate to desecration by rampaging. "How would that desecration have been helped by killing people?" asked Rosenblum. Jewish books have been desecrated throughout the ages, and while that is treated with great seriousness, he said, it would not have prompted killing. "No one has ever been killed [over a desecration]," Rosenblum said. "There have been desecrations here in shuls [synagogues]," he said. "It provoked rending of garments." Dr. Efraim Zuroff, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem, said absolutely "nothing" would have happened if Jewish scriptures were defiled. "If some U.S. military personnel did [something like that], no one would think the U.S. government was the great devil," said Zuroff. "We [would realize] that it was a personal problem rather than a [government policy]. "But then there's nothing like blaming America if you're a Muslim," he said, adding that to some Muslims, the truth doesn't seem to matter. "I don't think people would riot and get killed," said Laura Kam Issacharoff, director of the Anti-Defamation League office in Jerusalem. "This is a region where passions are inflamed to extremes," Kam Issacharoff said -- and the riots in reaction to the Newsweek article proves that to be the case, she said. Christian places have also been desecrated. The most prominent example was the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, seized and held by Palestinian militants for more than a month. The church is built over the grotto where many Christians believe Jesus was born. During the 39-day siege, in which the militants held clergy captive, militants reportedly urinated on the floor, used pages of the Bible as toilet paper and stole all the gold and other religious ornaments they could find. When the militants left, the Christian response was to clean the place in time for Sunday Mass.
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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BRASILIA INTERNATIONALISM AWRY; SHARON ADDS INSULT TO INJURY; HUMAN BOMBS
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, May 20, 2005. |
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CAN THE U.S. CREATE DEMOCRACY ABROAD? Democracy is not a simple product that can be manufactured and consumed. Democracy is "about consensual government, an independent judiciary, obedience to the rule of law, a free press and minority rights, and they require a very different set of beliefs form those required for survival under tyrants, dictators and despots." (Mark Silberberg, Outpost from AFSI, 2/2005, p.10.) Where is any of that in the P.A.? THE "RESISTANCE" TO THE COALITION PRESENCE PROLONGS IT Foreign allies of the insurgents in Iraq call it "resistance to occupation." Actually, by attacking Iraq forces in training, the rebels force the government to rely on coalition troops. Foreign Arab regimes sympathize with the rebels, because they do not want Iraq to turn into a democracy. If the rebels win, however, they would go on to attack some of those other regimes (IMRA, 5/11). BRASILIA SUMMIT OF ARAB & S. AMERICAN STATES The summit resolved against US sanctions on Syria for terrorism, Israeli "occupation" of territory, intellectual property rights; and the global rules of commerce for harming the poor. They asserted a right to "resist occupation" and pledged closer relations among themselves. Abbas claimed that the P.A. but not Israel had honored its peace agreements. They did not inveigh against OPEC's oil price gouging for what it does to the poor. There is no right to "resist." The Arabs imply that they may resist by terrorism (IMRA, 5/12). P.A. head Abbas officially ordered his forces to disarm terrorist militias in Tulkarm and Jericho. Nevertheless, they were not (IMRA, 5/11). US sanctions against Syria mostly have not been imposed. It would be a strange and counter-productive feature of international law not to allow sanctions against one of the worst terrorist states. If true, then it would be better to abandon international law. The alternative is the US right to make war on Syria for aiding gunmen who attack US troops, etc. If the conferees would study international law honestly, they would find that Israel is not occupying territory of another country. Attending that conference were some of the chief violators of international law. What gives them the right to complain about others? And if they are so faithful to international law, what is this about not conceding intellectual property rights? We invent, and they steal? Isn't that the kind of exploitation that they complain that the first world does against the resources of the third? The P.A./PLO had not honored its 200 agreements up until Oslo and none of its agreements with Israel since. The chief obligation in those agreements is to demolish terrorist organizations and terrorism and the incitement to hatred and violence that motivates terrorism. Not only has the P.A. not done those things, Abbas refuses to arrest and disarm terrorists. To the contrary, he seeks to have terrorist prisoners released and armed in his official police. His great "reform": put all the terrorists into 3-4 official forces. Israel has gone further than honoring its commitments, taking great chances to make things easier for the unappreciative Arabs. When it found that the hatred and attacks and other violations continued, it stopped being a total sucker and instead wait for the Arabs to come through. Besides, Arab implementation is a prerequisite for Israeli implementation The Brasilia summit is an example of internationalism: Biased, deceitful, warmongering. ISRAELI OCCUPATION? The "Jordan Times" thinks Israel should respect the P.A. for establishing a democracy despite being under occupation (IMRA, 5/12). There is somewhat of a choice among terrorists, but no other manifestation of democracy such as the rule of law, a free judiciary and media, minority rights, lack of torture, etc.. What does the "Times" mean by "occupation?" The P.A. has autonomy. When and where its terrorism dwindles, Israeli troops withdraw. Israel does not interfere in its domestic affairs. ARMY RADIO JOURNALIST ADMITS CENSORSHIP A journalist for Israeli Army Radio, Kaveh Shafron, admitted having failed the public on the matter of PM Sharon's abandonment plan. Journalists traveling with PM Sharon got too chummy with him. They failed to report negative news about the abandonment plan. Thus they ignored his having lied when he pledged to abide by a Likud referendum. They ignored High Court criticism of his having fired Cabinet members for disagreeing with his plans and for firing the Chief of Staff and the head of the secret service for finding the major security flaws in Sharon's plan. They ignored his bribing MKs with jobs and greasing his acceptance by the ultra-religious and anti-religious parties by allocating funds for their projects. They hardly treated of his family corruption. Mr. Shafron "... said that the following questions should have been asked by the media, but were not: 'What happens the day after the disengagement from Gaza? Who will rule there? What's the next stage in Judea and Samaria? What will be the status of the territories that will be evacuated? ... What will happen if the GSS Chief's warnings about Kassams fired at Ashkelon come true? Why are there no housing solutions for the evacuees? What does Sharon want and what is he planning?'" "Shafran is the second journalist in the last two months to admit to journalistic incompetence over disengagement. Yediot Acharonot's Nachum Barnea, considered one of Israel's top journalists, recently wrote that the media 'supported disengagement more than they supported democracy.'" (Arutz-7, 5/13.) Imagine, he would prefer that the Chief of Staff not find the national security risks in his abandonment plan! ARMS SMUGGLING TUNNELS "We are the most advanced in the world in underground fighting, but we have yet to find a good enough way to locate tunnels and hit them. In order to find a tunnel we have to go house-to-house and fight in a built-up area. There is no other solution. There is no complete solution either in the matter of the tunnels or rocket and missile fire." "... under the planned retreat, the houses mentioned by Major General Harel will be beyond the sphere of control of Israel as Israel will - at best - retain control of the Philadelphi Corridor." (IMRA, 12/14.) Universities offered to find a technical solution, but the Army reportedly refused to let them try. ADDING INSULT TO INJURY PM Sharon gave as partial consolation to Israeli families of people murdered by Arab terrorists an album about the life of PM Rabin. He did not go into Rabin's role in bringing Oslo about (IMRA, 5/14). By means of Oslo and other policies of appeasement, Rabin, Peres, and Sharon created the conditions under which the terrorists were able to murder Israelis. BUSH DOING WHAT HE DEPLORES Pres. Bush apologized in several foreign countries for the US WWII role in letting the Soviets dominate them. That was in addition to Britain and France carving up Czechoslovakia in behalf of Nazi Germany (and the US embargo on arms for the Republic of Spain, that let the fascists take it over). The irony is that his current policy of appeasement would enable the Arabs to dominate Israel. For that he is not apologizing. He has Israeli puppets, such as Peres and Sharon, carve up their own country, the way the great powers carved up Eastern Europe. The US again is talking about peace and democracy in behalf of fascist warmongers, this time, the Islamists (Winston Mid East Analysis, 5/14). UNRWA As the number of people whom UNRWA mis-defines as Arab "refugees" multiplies, per capita service to them has declined. UNRWA is asking for money to make up the gap and help them become self-sustaining. IMRA notes that it forbids resettling them where they were born and reside, and that the Arab states contribute little to UNRWA (IMRA, 5/15). Thus UNRWA perpetuates their refugee status, at significant US expense (their misfortune, and Israeli risk), instead of trying to solve the problem of the Arabs' own making. P.A. ELECTION QUANDARY Pres. Bush called for free elections in the P.A., but nobody barred Hamas, although Israel said it should be. Instead, it bars Kahane's Party, which did not commit terrorism. In the West, Hamas would not be allowed to run even if disarmed. If it wins, would Bush overturn what he said would be democratic? (IMRA, 5/15.) No other democratic institutions have been built in the P.A.. P.A. OPPRESSION In the P.A., journalists are coming under attack, sometimes fatal, sometimes damage to their cars or houses. They complain to the police, who don't know who the culprits are but advise the journalists they won't examine the vandalized car unless the owner makes out a complaint against a specific person. The journalists profess puzzlement at being attacked (IMRA, 5/16). "DISENGAGEMENT" TO BE FOLLOWED BY RE-ENGAGEMENT Independents had predicted that the so-called disengagement would be followed by heavy engagement of armed forces. The Winston Mid East Analysis finds a societal re-engagement planned, too. The US does not want to be stuck like UNRWA with millions of Muslim Arab welfare clients, so besides getting Israel to give up Jewish territory for those Arabs, regardless of what the Israeli government puts out about it, Pres. Bush wants Israel to turn over the Gaza houses and greenhouses to the Arabs who have been fighting to take them away from the Jews. The US also is joining the World Bank in demanding that the Jewish state find employment within its borders for those Arabs who want the Jews dead (5/16). What a national security breach! This is a plan that rewards murderers and punishes the innocent. 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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ARABS TORCH VALUABLE DESERT FOREST
Posted by Lise Rubin, May 20, 2005. |
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This is a news item from Arutz-7 (www.IsraelNationalNews.com). 2Arabs resumed using arson as a weapon against Israel Friday morning and destroyed more than 10,000 pine trees in Israel's largest planted forest. Shortly after noon, firefighters overcame the fire at the Yatir Forest but still were trying to prevent it from rekindling the trees as afternoon winds become stronger. The forest is on the edge of the Negev and Judean deserts, about seven miles (12 kilometers) northwest of Arad and 15 miles (25 kilometers) northeast of Be'er Sheva. "This is the largest and worst arson in the forest," said Abu Abukyan, Yatir Forest superintendent. He said there were no signs of who set the fires. Police chased in vain after several suspects who fled to nearby Arab villages southwest of Hevron. Forest workers for the Jewish National Fund speculated that the reasons for the arson could be anger by Arabs at the building of the nearby security fence, the refusal of soldiers to allow unauthorized Arabs from entering the Be'er Sheva area or part of terrorists' fight against Israel. Arson was a frequent Arab tactic in the early 1990s when thousands of acres of trees were destroyed throughout the country. "Arabs stopped setting fires when they began to get a bad reputation in European countries," according to Zev Shapira, security officer and rescue team leader at the nearby community of Bet Yatir. The first blaze began at 7:30 Friday morning, and by noon the fires had burned about 50 acres (200 dunams). Hebron Hills Regional Council fire chief Asa Medad said the arsonists were setting the fires as workers and volunteers were extinguishing them. "We put out one fire, and another one started further away," he explained. "Most of the trees were planted 30 years ago," according to Shapira. "If the winds had whipped up, we would not have succeeded. The dry brush and dead branches on the ground were fuel for the fire. The trees themselves didn't burn, but the intense heat of the ground will kill most of them." Shapira said that volunteers and Jewish National Fund workers carried water tanks on their backs and watered around the burnt areas in an effort to prevent afternoon winds from whipping up the blaze again. Volunteers came from nearby southern Hevron Hills communities, including students from the Yatir Pre-Military Army Academy (mechina). Fire trucks from the nearby communities and from Be'er Sheva helped put out the fire. Contact Lise Rubin by email at elishevarubin@msn.com |
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URGENT: LIVER TRANSPLANT NEEDED
Posted by IsrAlert, May 20, 2005. |
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A liver transplant is desperately needed for Dr. Michael Harris (Michael Shraga ben Rachel), Chief of Pediatric Hematology at Hackensack University Medical Center and a member of Congregation Ahavat Torah in Englewood, NJ. Dr. Harris contracted hepatitis C from a needle stick while treating one of his pediatric cancer patients and needs a cadaver liver with blood type A or O. If you can help with this great Mitzvah, please call Dr. Joel Budin at 201-567-4891 or Annette Jotkowitz, R.N. at 201-692-1861 or cell # 201-446-1274. Dr. Harris has devoted his life to the loving and compassionate care of pediatric cancer patients, and it behooves us to try to help him. 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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FLAP OVER USED 'HOLY BOOK' INCRIPTION SOLD TO ABUSIVE CUSTOMER
Posted by Marion Dreyfus, May 20, 2005. |
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[Background: As described by http://www.yahoo.news.com LOS ANGELES (AFP) - A US Muslim group demanded a public apology from online book retailer Amazon.com over the delivery of a desecrated Koran to a shocked customer. Los Angeles-based graduate student Azza Basarudin told journalists she received the holy book with the words "Death to All Muslims" and a short, profanity-laced statement scrawled across the inside cover. The second-hand Koran was ordered through Amazon.com from a third-party seller, Bellwether Books based in the eastern state of Pennsylvania. But when it arrived, the words "Death to All Muslims" and a short, profanity-laced statement were scrawled across the inside cover, the recipient said. It was unclear when or by whom the book was defaced. But Muslim lobby group, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said that while Amazon had apologised for its part in delivering the desecrated Koran, it needed to do more. "An apology isn't enough because an apology recognised that there was a mistake, made but we have received no guarantees that this mistake won't be repeated," MPAC spokeswoman Edina Lekovic told AFP.] To: Amazon Dear Ms. Smith, As a pluralistic American (of foreign birth), I am grateful for America's freedoms and privileges. I read with interest and dismay of the recent, regrettable instance of an [extremist] purchaser of a used Koran complaining about its possible defacement and the hoops through which you were forced to jump at the behest of a pumped-up partisan constituency that has proved itself time and again irresponsibly self-promoting. I say 'possible' because it seems to me, after seeing the deplorable commotion, apologetics and expense to which you and Amazon and Bellwether Books have been put through, for absolutely no fault of yours or Bellwether's or any employees' of either place, this entire episode reminds me of nothing so much as that disreputable customer of the national chain eatery where a fingertip was supposedly found in the chili. The story smelled of self-promotion and extortion, and was soon proven false, as it rightly should have been. Unfortunately, the food chain suffered enormous loss of business before the hoax was publicized. Similarly, Amazon and Bellwether are being put through their unneeded paces by the same sort of extortionistic performer. Here, the extortion is artificial breast-beating and bloviation over some 'offense' that was nobody's responsibility and was, indeed, not really any offense. A scribble in a book is a scribble in a book. No one need know of it or be aware of it beyond the owner. Amazon and Bellwether ought not suffer. Nor should there be the unneeded expense of lessons in 'tolerance.' All employees have common sense enough to know that fanatics don't like their buttons pushed. Such extremists deserve to be responsibly ignored or quietly shut up, as they want nothing but trouble for the United States, in at least one observer's opinion. Any lessons in tolerance ought to be, instead, visited upon the perpetrators of this rubbishy excuse for a press conference. These perpetrators ought to be instructed in the need for gratitude at America's provenance. That some rabble-rousing customer of a used book finds a scribble of any sort in any book is of no moment whatsoever. You are not responsible. A responsible customer would have erased or whited-out the offending words. Or given away the book, even. It is a mark of her true intent to disable and discomfort American industry that she chose to make it the magna carta of used-book inconsequential consequentialities. I advise you and your good offices to go on the offensive if such a thing ever again recurs (I hope it does not) and instead ask why anyone, on any level, is responsible for a graffito that one might somewhat expect to find in the purchase of a used book -- which is why the costs are so proportionately diminutive in the purchase thereof. Respectfully, Marion DS Dreyfus
Marion Dreyfus is a writer and travelor; she has taught English in China on the university level. She can be contacted at dreyfusmarion@hotmail.com |
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RELIEF AND DELIVERANCE WILL COME TO THE JEWS FROM GUSH KATIF!
Posted by Moshe and Rachel Saperstein, May 20, 2005. |
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This letter was written to us by Nadia Matar of Women in Green. A week ago, on the eve of Yom Ha'atzmaut, our family moved from Efrat to Gush Katif. With the help of the Kela Authority (Gaza Absorption Authority) in the past months we renovated a karavan (mobile housing unit) in the yard of Arik and Datia Yitzhaki in Kfar Yam, and together with another family from Tekoa ( another leader of Women in Green), we moved our homes from the Judean Hills to the most breathtaking of Israel's coasts: the coast of Gush Katif. I can't begin to describe the place's beauty. The blue sea, the clean sand, the dunes and the palm trees turn this into an earthly Paradise. I end our first week in Gush Katif with the most optimistic feeling that, with God's help, we will succeed in frustrating Sharon's destruction plan. We registered our children at the Neot Katif school in Neveh Dekalim, and every morning they take the school bus from Kfar Yam, together with the children of Shirat Hayam. Our baby, Navah Elisheva, spends her morning in the day care center in Ganei Tal (incidentally, her name is an acronym for Ein lanu Yehudah ve-Shomron bli Aza - "We don't have Judea and Samaria without Gaza"). Their reception in the school and the day care center was especially warm. The principal and teachers spare no efforts so that our children will feel at home, with all the school supplies they need and catching up on lessons, and the children of Gush Katif have taken our children into their circle of friends. The school itself is very impressive: a complex of well cared for buildings, surrounded by a gorgeous lawn, flowers in a riot of colors, and trees that give the children shade during recess. If my small children were a bit apprehensive about the transition to a new school, the Katifari put them at ease. The Katifari is a very impressive zoo next to the school. The children, who love animals and care for them, visit the Katifari during recess. Camels, mice, sheep, hamsters, and parrots are only a few of the animals in the zoo. My sixth-grade son, who is just crazy about basketball, has joined Elitzur Gush Katif, and plans to spend hours on the basketball court in Gush Katif's impressive Matnas - a community center that offers countless activities for residents of all ages, both children and adults. We are among the dozens of families who, like us, have come from throughout Israel to live in Gush Katif. We came to strengthen, but, the truth be told, we are the ones who are strengthened. Just a few days together with the veteran residents of Gush Katif taught us that they are heroes, infused with faith, who cannot be moved from here by any force in the world. Here are a few examples: Anyone who visits Shlomo's hothouses in Ganei Tal sees thirty dunams (about 7.5 acres) of breathtaking geraniums, in different colors. Some of the flowers are for export. The Europeans prefer the flowers from Gush Katif since they grow in the conditions that are most suitable for them, with the fine seashore climate; such conditions are very difficult to find anywhere else, in Israel or even throughout the world. This week Shlomo is preparing the hothouses for next year, and he declares that no one will remove him from their home. He invites visitors to come and pick his geraniums next year as well. It's the same with Anita, who grows celery and, like Shlomo and the other farmers, spends the rest of her time in explanations to visitors, who receive clear and inspiring messages of faith and the justness of our cause, faith in G-d, steadfastness, and love of the people, the land, and the Torah. All in all, the 500 dunams (= 125 acres) of greenhouses produce countless plants, vegetables, and flowers that are on the shelves of every self-respecting store in Israel and throughout the world. Anyone who visits the greenhouses and hears the farmers is strengthened and inoculated against the campaign of lies and the witch-hunt in the governmental media. The same is true for Neveh Dekalim. At the entrance to the town, the plants, flowers, and dazzlingly green grass provide a fantastic welcome. The message is clear: this is not a place that is about to be uprooted and destroyed. The people here continue to care for everything, to plant, to clean and polish, and to develop. The stores in the shopping center sell everything you want. The owner of the pizzeria has just finished renovating the walls of his store with bright new wood paneling. The clothing store sells stylish clothes that would not be out of place in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. The restaurants offer their diners varied menus of tasty dishes. In the restaurant we meet many soldiers and journalists who receive, together with their food, a lesson in love of the homeland and the residents' determination to remain there forever. On to Shirat Hayam and Kfar Yam, that are right on the coast, as their names imply: "Song of the Sea" and "Sea Village." As soon as you enter the gate, you hear the jackhammers and see the construction. Yes, Shirat Hayam is renovating the abandoned structures there, and, with God's help, in the next few days the sixteen families who live in Shirat Hayam will be joined by dozens of new ones. Shirat Hayam was established as the Zionist response following the attack on the school bus from Kfar Darom. The Arabs kill us, in order to drive us out from Eretz Israel? The response is unequivocal: we establish a new community in the land of Israel!! Today, Ariel Sharon's "disengagement" plan is a sort of mega-attack against the Jewish people's existence in its land, and so it, too, must be met with a Zionist-Jewish response. Sharon, like the PLO and Hamas, wants to deport Jews from parts of Eretz Israel? Our response is unequivocal: we build, absorb new families, and declare to the entire world: "The Land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel, according to the Torah of Israel" - and we will not let anyone, Jew or Arab, drive us out! The more families that come, the easier it will be for us to prevent the deportation. The renovations and absorption of new families are spearheaded by a wonderful couple, Dr. Arik and Datia Yitzhaki, who founded the Kela Authority two months ago. They succeeded in convincing a considerable portion of the residents of the need to speedily absorb dozens of additional families, in all the structures that can serve as housing. In addition, the Kela Authority is collecting second-hand furniture, electrical appliances, and emergency supplies for D-Day (the "d" word is deportation - don't forget that), such as food, blankets, and tents, all stored properly. The Administration distributes the furniture, mattresses, and refrigerators to the new families, and stores the emergency supplies for D-Day. If and when Prime Minister Sharon will attempt to implement his malicious plan and close the Gush, the human shield of tens of thousands of Jews from all of Israel who will cut the fence and reach Gush Katif in order to defend the Gush with their bodies will receive food and tents from those stores. But Arik and Datia don't think that day will come. The government will realize that it is incapable of carrying out its plan. If we provide enough of a deterrent, the government will retreat and find some way to cancel its evil decree. If that happens, Arik and Datia promise to distribute the food stores to needy families before Rosh Hashanah. Anyone who spends even a few minutes together with this couple, as in meetings with the owners of the greenhouses, cannot help but be impressed by their faith, determination, and love of the people and land. Arik and Datia already invite all the people of Israel to the gigantic sukkah that they will erect in their yard for Sukkot 5766, five months from now. We haven't mentioned the wonderful youth of Gush Katif, the hundreds of young people who spend their days and nights in different activities in defense of their homes, knowing that this struggle is not just for their homes, but for the entire State of Israel. "Gush Katif is the flak jacket of the country" is a slogan with which every Gush Katif child is familiar, and anyone who visits here knows that this is true. On Memorial Day, at the very emotional ceremony in Ganei Tal, one girl from the settlement lit a torch and said that this torch was in honor of Prime Minister Sharon, thanks to whom the entire settlement of Ganei Tal has been filled with new families; thanks to whom hundreds of thousands of people, who didn't know where Gush Katif was on the map, have come to visit; and thanks to whom the youth have mobilized for the labor of love on behalf of the land and homeland. Another youth lit a torch in honor of all the parents of the children of Gush Katif who continue to smile and to raise their children with love and joy; who do not despair; and, driven by their faith, mobilize for all the difficult and exhausting struggles against Sharon's destruction plan. This boy thanked all the parents, in the name of the children of Gush Katif, for the great merit of growing up in the Gush. He said how proud the children are of their parents, and promised to follow in their path and develop Gush Katif for the generations to come. This is the same youth that, instead of having a good time like their peers, contend every day with the mortar shells that land in their settlements. They don't understand why the government ties the hands of the IDF and refrains from responding. My children, as well, who already experienced their first mortar shelling, in their first days in school, right next to the schoolyard, were, on the one hand, impressed by the heroism of the children, but, on the other, were strongly disappointed by the army's turning tail. They asked me: "Mother, how is it that the army invests so many forces to the paving of roads for the deportation of Jews, but doesn't do anything against the Arabs who want to kill us?" I answered that the army doesn't respond because the government won't let the army act. I wanted to add: "Honey, we're actually talking about a government that implements the platform of Hamas and the Jihad. Both want to drive us out. Both think that Jewish blood is free for the taking." But I restrained myself. I knew that when he grows up he will already understand this by himself. Then, with God's help, there will already have been a Jewish revolution in the country, the state will be headed by a true Jewish-Zionist leadership, and people like Sharon and the rest of the Oslo criminal crowd who surround him will be just a nightmare from the distant past, written in the history books, with their names tarnished forever. I could give many more examples of the heroism and steadfastness of the inhabitants of Gush Katif. The media turns the spotlight on the few weak ones, and hopes to thereby chip away at the other families. As in poker, the first to blink loses. All the knowledgeable commentators report that the government is on the brink of collapse, and it's just a matter of time until the "disengagement" plan is relegated to the trash bin. The government already knows that tens of thousands of soldiers will not obey the illegal and immoral deportation order. After the successful trial run by Habayit Haleumi, it is clear to the government that what we saw in the roadblocking operation will be nothing compared to what will happen on D-Day. Therefore, all eyes are turned to Gush Katif. If, Heaven forbid, they collapse and sign on in large numbers to plans that are actually deathtraps, like the Nitzanim plan or any other plan, then it will be extremely difficult to frustrate the Sharon plan. But if, on the other hand, the inhabitants of Gush Katif continue their firm and determined stand, and declare to all: "They will never move us from here," then we will have won, and the residents of Gush Katif will be written in the history books as those who saved the entire State of Israel, and not just the settlement enterprise in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza, from destruction and ruin. After a week in Gush Katif and my firsthand acquaintance with the inhabitants, my impression is that, thank God, the decisive majority of Gush Katif's residents are strong and steadfast and understand how fateful is the hour and the responsibility that they bear. Dear brave and heroic residents of Gush Katif, continue to be strong! It is a great honor for our family to be part of you. With God's help, together with those faithful to Eretz Israel in Israel and abroad - we shall prevail! Nadia Matar,
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. |
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SAVING RUSSIA'S SUBBOTNIK JEWS
Posted by Michael Freund, May 20, 2005. |
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This article appeared today in Arutz-7 and is archived at http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=82349 Dozens of Subbotnik Jews from Russia have been allowed to move to Israel after the Jerusalem-based Shavei Israel (www.shavei.org) organization helped them overcome years of waiting due to bureaucratic delays. The Subbotniks are descendants of Russian peasants in the Voronezh region, located hundreds of miles south of Moscow, who converted to Judaism nearly two centuries ago and clung to their new religion despite facing persecution and discrimination at the hands of the Czars. They came to be known as "Subbotniks," as a result of their observance of the Subbot, or Jewish Sabbath. In the early 19th century, Czar Alexander I expelled them from their homes and deported them to various parts of his empire as punishment for their adoption of Judaism. During World War II, many Subbotniks in Russia and the Ukraine were murdered by the Nazis. Since the beginning of the mass aliyah from the former Soviet Union, thousands of Subbotniks have moved to Israel. Although they are Jews according to Jewish law (halacha) in every respect, former Interior Minister Avraham Poraz imposed restrictions on their immigration in 2003, claiming their Jewish origins were unclear. On a recent visit to the Subbotnik village of Vysoki, not far from Russia's border with the Ukraine, Shavei Israel Chairman Michael Freund met with dozens of members of the community, most of whom have relatives and friends already living in Israel. Some 800 Subbotniks live in Vysoki, and they told Freund about the anti-Semitism they continue to endure at the hands of their non-Jewish neighbors, which includes job discrimination, threats and verbal abuse. The Subbotniks presented Freund with a petition addressed to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, demanding the right to join their loved ones in Israel. "After returning to Jerusalem, I contacted the Prime Minister's Office and sent them the Subbotniks' petition," Freund says, adding, "I also insisted on receiving an explanation as to how the government could possibly justify its policy on legal, Zionist and moral grounds." Shortly thereafter, dozens of Subbotnik families in Vysoki were granted approval to make aliyah. Many of them had been waiting more than three years for an answer from Israel's Interior Ministry. Over a dozen Subbotnik Jews from the community moved to Israel last month and settled in the Beit Shemesh area outside of Jerusalem. While pleased at this "positive development", Freund, remains far from satisfied, noting that there are thousands of Subbotnik Jews located in various parts of the former Soviet Union who still wish to come to Israel. He cites research carried out by Dr. Velvl Chernin, an ethnographer who works as a Jewish Agency emissary in Moscow, according to which there are an estimated 10,000 Subbotniks spread throughout Russia, Ukraine, Siberia and the Caucasus. Chernin asserts that Soviet-imposed assimilation on the Subbotniks succeeded in weakening the younger generation's ties to Judaism such that unless they are allowed to come to Israel, they will largely disappear within a generation or two. "The Subbotniks are Jews in every respect, and we need to pressure Israel's government to save them before it is too late," Freund said. "They want to come to Israel, and it is shameful that the Interior Ministry continues to place obstacles in their path." "They braved czarist cruelty and Soviet repression to be Jews, at great risk to their lives and well-being. Don't we owe it to them now to bring them home?" Freund said. For more information on the Subbotniks, contact: Michael@shavei.org. Michael Freund served as an aide to former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. |
| GUSH KATIF |
MIRACLES IN GUSH KATIF
Posted by Moshe and Rachel Saperstein, May 20, 2005. |
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During the past two days Palestinian terrorists fired over 60 rockets and mortar shells into Gush Katif settlements, whose residents were advised to remain closed indoors to escape injury. Sadly, and ironically, our Israeli army (the strongest in the Middle East) fired hardly a single shot in response, and merely threatened the enemy that they, Israel, would retaliate if, and when, enemy terrorist action "exceeded the `red line`"! Miraculously, thank G-d, despite the massive rocket attack, only one person was slightly injured in Neve Dekalim. And the following true miracles really happened: 1. At home and in the car Shay Mazaki, Director of the local branch of Mizrahi Bank in Neve Dekalim, and his wife, Bat-Oren, a teacher in the Ulpana in Shaar HaNegev, have lived in Neve Dekalim for l4 years. Yesterday, l8th May, 2005, Bat-Oren was on a Teachers` yearly tiyul away from the settlement; the children - the daughter, Li-Noi, aged l0 years, and two sons, Shilo - 6 years and Yehonatan - 4 years - were at home while their father, Shay, worked in his office. Suddenly at 4.30 p.m. a rocket crashed near their home, and while Li-Noi, terrified, was relating this to her father, another rocked plummeted and landed in their back yard. Luckily, the double-fitted windows in the lounge where Li-Noi was standing didn't splinter, and she wasn't hurt! Shay immediately started driving home but on the way a third rocket found the Mazaki family - and landed just behind his car. Shay drove even faster and when he stopped he realized that a third miracle had occurred. The fuel tank had been hit ---and hadn't exploded! Tires were punctured, windows smashed and the car-body was perforated with holes ---altogether a very badly damaged vehicle But Shay, thank G-d, was unharmed, and not particularly worried about the car. His main concern was to reach his children and home as soon as possible. It was clear that a miracle had taken place and all, thank G-d were safe. Today, the Mazaki family are functioning as usual and will continue to do so in the future in Neve Dekalim, Gush Katif. 2. when the school bell rang Yesterday, 18.5.05, at l:30 p.m., a group of l5-year old schoolgirls left their school building (which is near the Municipal offices in central Neve Dekalim) after the school bell rang for recess and they were on their way to carry out a project nearby. A minute after walking over the pedestrian crossing a rocket fell where they had passed. Fifteen young pupils of Neve Dekalim were saved; thank G-d - not by the bell, but by an open miracle! Maybe one can find some significance in yesterday's date: You can help by contributing funds to the Gush Katif community to
help them fight to save their homes. In Israel, write:
In USA, write:
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. |
Sderot automobile hit by rockets
A Kassam rocket fired into Sderot
| GUSH KATIF |
SDEROT HIT AGAIN WITH KASSAM ROCKETS
Posted by Voice of Judea, May 20, 2005. |
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Thursday night, a kassam rocket fell near the municipal basketball court of Sderot directly into the front yard of one of the local residents. Seven people have been killed over the past year in Sderot by kassams fired from the nearby Gaza Strip. Thousands of mortar shells and rockets have also been fired onto Jewish towns in Gaza over the past year. Voice of Judea Commentary: Let us stop kidding ourselves. These blood-thirsty Arab terrorists cannot restrain themselves for five minutes from the thrill of killing Jews. They can not hold themselves back until after Sharon surrenders the land to them in the upcoming disengagement. If their hatred of Jews permits them to continue their terror now, in spite of the risk it should present to the unilateral withdrawal (under fire), what will be after the withdrawal of Israeli troops and the expulsion of the Jews who live in Gaza? What will be when the border controled by the PA is that much closer to Sderot, Ashqelon and Tel Aviv? What will be when the Arabs improve the range of the rockets and smuggle more sophisticated missiles and rockets into Gaza and into Israel? As we have learned from the Philadelphi line that separates Egypt from Gaza, the security fences and borders do not stop massive smuggling of weapons. And as we have learned form the Gaza crossings, the sophisticated walls and fences between Gaza and the rest of Israel do not prevent kassams from landing on Sderot and the Western Negev. There is one way to distance the threat of domestic Arab terror and kassam style rockets and that is by distancing those who perpetrate those acts of terror and distancing the hostile population that harbours them. The Sharon disengagement plan does the exact opposite: It brings the areas under terrorist control that much closer to major Israeli cities! If the majority of Israelis have let Sharon continue with his dsiengagement scheme it is only because they seek to separate themselves from the hostile Arab population of Gaza and Northern Shomron. Sadly, enough, running away from Gaza, will not bring about that separation. The majority of Jews would gladly vote against the Sharon plan if they were given an alternative plan that would truly distance the Arab threat of Gaza and the Northern Shomron. If only the nation of Israel was given the opportunity to vote and to decide their own destiny and if they were given an alternative Jewish disengagement plan that would call for the expulsion of the hostile Arabs to an area beyond a deep security zone outside of Israel, therby effectively distancing the threat of Arab domestic terror and kassams from major Israeli cities. Why expel brothers, run away from terrorists and bring them closer to the heart of Israel, if you could expel enemies and distance them from major Israeli cities? Sharon needs to understand that by refusing to allow the people of Israel to vote in a government sponsored referendum he is only widening the opposition and causing the intensification of the Jewish uprising against him and his suicidal disengagement plan. The people of Israel will not wlak to their death like sheep. The majority of Jews oppose this plan and they will use any and all tools of protest and civil disobedience to challenge Sharon, who they feel is behaving like a dictator. Referendum now! Allow the Jews to decide their own destiny! Allow the Jews to decide who to expel! There is a small group known as Mishalot Yisrael that is presently conducting an independent referendum offering these very alterantives. If you have not yet voted you can do so by visiting the sepcially designed referendum site http://www.referendumforisrael.com Please circulate this anywhere you can. Please contribute funds to sponsor this private referendum to save Israel from Sharon and his dangerous disengagement. Send funds to Mishalot Yisrael, POBox 6592, Jerusalem, Israel, 91060. We desperately need funds to sponsor ads, banners, and ballots! Call 718 8742057 from USA or in Israel 054 7 910 341 [Editor's note: See HOME page.] 2. Hundreds participate in memorial for child Kassam victim Hundreds of Sderot residents participated in a memorial marking 11 months since the death of Ofek Ohayon, the 4-year-old boy, murdered by Arabs who fired Kassam rockets into Sderot, last June. In the attack, Mordechai Yosefov, another resident of Sdeort was also murdered. Ruth, Ofek's mother was seriously wounded in the attack along with ten others who were lightly to moderately injured. To read the rest of this story visit: http://www.voiceofjudea.com/featured.asp?featured=24 3. Thousands block traffic Hundreds Arrested For the first time in Israel's history, thousands of Jews blocked traffic in more than 40 intersections, throughout the land. The grass protest was arranged by a new group known as "Habiet Haleumi" to show opposition to Sharon's "disengagement" plan. Approximately 300 protesters were arrested. To read the full story visit: http://www.voiceofjudea.com/featured.asp?featured=22 Subscribe to Voice of Judea emails by sending an email request to jsid@dorsai.org or read the website - http://www.voiceofjudea.com |
| GUSH KATIF |
SETTLER'S ALAMO AT GUSH KATIF'S KFAR YAM
Posted by Women in Green, May 20, 2005. |
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This was written by Yaakov Katz and Amir Mizroch and appeared in today's Jerusalem Post. "The barbed wire will keep the evacuating forces out of my house on the day they come to uproot us," Yitzhaki said Thursday. "They will never succeed in getting me or my family out of here alive. Am I a lamb that will just let them come in and take us out?" Yitzhaki, who has a doctorate in history, is also the head of the Kela Authority - an acronym for the Gaza Absorption Authority and a play on the Sela acronym for the Disengagement Authority - together with his wife, Datia, and is in the process of renovating homes in Gush Katif to accommodate the hundreds of right-wing activists he expects will arrive in Gaza to participate in the resistance to the evacuation this summer. According to Yitzhaki, 100 families have already moved into the newly renovated homes and "hundreds more are on the way." Kfar Yam, a settlement of six families, sits on one of the most beautiful strips of beach in the Gush Katif settlement bloc. This week, the compound absorbed a new resident: Women in Green leader Nadia Matar. On Thursday, Matar, running around in her trademark baseball cap and jeans, met with potential donors and showed them the Kela Authority's various projects. Matar is working with Yitzhaki to fortify her new home in Kfar Yam. With much vigor, Matar was overseeing several of her children and some other local youngsters, who were busy painting the recreation area inside the walled-in compound. "The kids have just come back from school," Matar said, brushing off concerns that this last-ditch compound would one day be the scene of a traumatic confrontation with Israeli security forces. Not far from the Yitzhaki compound, several dozen Hilltop Youth members were busy giving a face-lift to the beachside Palm Beach Hotel, empty and in ruins for the past three years. The youths, who refused to give their real names, saying they were from "the North" and "Eretz Yisrael," have taken up residence in the abandoned hotel rooms and have even set up a synagogue, where they sat Thursday poring over the works of Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav. Another large group was running on the white beaches while others swam and surfed in the Mediterranean. One of the youths, who called himself Ze'ev (Hebrew for wolf) "because they always say I warn of things that don't happen," said he had come to the hotel to check up on his little brother who had made it his home "for eternity." Gaza police chief Asst.-Cmdr. Shimon Ben-Harush told The Jerusalem Post that while he was aware of Kela's work and the new Hilltop Youth residents, for now there was nothing the police could do but keep an eye on their recent arrivals. Ben-Harush said police intelligence indicated that some 200 to 400 right-wing activists from across the country have recently taken up residence in Gush Katif to participate in the resistance. The Gaza police chief said he did not expect violent resistance from the Gush Katif settlers, whom he has known for years and calls "the salt of the earth." Police intelligence, he said, was "acutely aware" of the activities of the new residents streaming into the area. "There is no law preventing them from coming here, and the police work within the framework of the law," Ben-Harush said. "As long as there is no such law we cannot do anything, even if they are provocateurs. For now we can only keep an eye on them." Predicting the evacuation would in the end be canceled, Datia Yitzhaki said the Kela Authority "did not believe in miracles" and was therefore working to prevent the pullout by whatever means necessary. The authority has even bought stockpiles of diapers which will be needed for all the babies in Gaza during the evacuation. "For now we are settling the new residents in the 300 vacant homes we have located in Gush Katif," she said. "The second stage will be when we begin erecting the 2,000 tents we have purchased to house resisters." Between the barbed wire and the hotel renovations, the Yitzhaki couple is keeping busy. "We believe the evacuating forces won't even get here since all the roads will be blocked," Arik said. "But if they do, God forbid, get into the settlements, the Palestinians will begin firing thousands of Kassam rockets and mortars at us and there will be a massacre here. We won't let that happen since we know that the war is not over our home but over the future of the entire country." 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 |
A MOCKERY OF CONCERN
Posted by Yehudit Tayar, May 20, 2005. |
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It is very sad to reflect upon the deep and sudden concern of certain of our fellow countrymen with regards to the welfare and safety of our children. It is hypocritical to suddenly worry about our children being injured in traffic accidents when the Israeli government plans to evict our children from their homes, schools, communities and drag them away from all that they know and love. In truth uprooting our children from their homes would be far more dangerous and damaging than a possible traffic accident. The government intends to reward the murderers of our children, of our babies, and adults by uprooting thousands of loyal patriotic citizens for no valid reason. The government because of this horrific plan intends to build new and more sophisticated fences and barriers in the vain attempt to prevent the upscale in terror attacks that they know will follow if indeed this madness is implemented. And these enlightened people are worried about our kids getting hit by a car? These people are upset because they are stuck in traffic? How will they feel when the missiles begin to hit their homes and neighborhoods? Or will they also silently allow themselves to be uprooted from their lives? This selective hypocritical concern today, when our young people out of deep concern for the future of our country, are even willing to go to prison in the name of non-violent civil protest is if nothing else sad. As parents we try to teach our children traffic safety, respect for other peoples feelings and privacy. We - meaning not only the residents of Yesha, but indeed any Jewish Israeli parent who remembers who we are and where we come from. Any parent who believes in the deep connection we have with our Land and history believes in our right to fight to protect the future of our people in our Land. Where were these same concerned people when our children were gunned down because of weapons given to terrorists to prevent terror? Where were they while the Arab children continued to learn to hate and murder us by the official propaganda taught in schools under the Palestinian Authority? Where are they while over 5,000 missiles hit Katif, and hundreds of more in the Negev? This is not dangerous? Does anyone imagine that we prefer having to go out and demonstrate in an attempt to wake the public up? Does anyone imagine that we would prefer to stand out all hours of the night and be dragged sometimes very brutally by the police and soldiers and thrown into jail? We are teaching our children the same lesson taught by our people throughout the ages, that we are mutually responsible for one another. We Jews will go, and have gone to the end of the earth to save our people. We will not sit quietly as if we were in the Diaspora pretend that this is not happening, and that if we close our blinds and ignore it then we will be safe. We know that aside from the moral issue of this plan to uproot and turn our fellow Jews into refugees, even the Prime Minister expects a deterioration in the security situation if this diabolical plan is implemented. We know our children; our youth are the ones who are muralim - (crazy) to go and volunteer for the most dangerous combat units. We know that they, like us, believe in the motto that we as Israelis live by - "after me". This mockery of concern portrayed by certain of our fellow Jews is pathetic and lacks honor. It is hypocritical to worry about our children in traffic and do nothing to prevent this undemocratic, dangerous plan from being implemented. We shall continue to follow our consciences, to actively protest and to try and wake the public up before it is tragically too late, and these same concerned people find that traffic jams and being late for an appointment is nothing compared to what a future with no moral fiber, no security and a split nation would be. Yehudit Tayar lives with her family in the Shomron and is one of the veteran spokespeople for the Settlement Movement |
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HIDDEN HOLOCAUST
Posted by Janet Lehr, May 20, 2005. |
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For those who still read the NY Times, this article is a MUST READ. Yesterday is not different from today. The Sulzberger in charge of the paper today, has a very poor relationship to his Jewishness. This article was written by Eric Fettmann and is archived at http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/pfriendly_new.php. It is a review of "Buried By The Times: The Holocaust and America's Most Important Newspaper" by Laurel Leff (Cambridge University Press, 426 pages, $29.) ON this 60th anniversary of the allied triumph over Na zism, do we need another book examining The New York Times' failure to report news of the Holocaust? After all, the refusal to seriously report the mass murder of Europe's Jews as it was unfolding was a failing of the entire American press. (The New York Post was one of the few Exceptions.) And the Times itself has publicly acknowledged that it grossly underplayed coverage of the Holocaust. But, as Laurel Leff documents in this important book, which makes extensive use of the Times' corporate archives, there are many memos that document how and why the paper failed so abjectly. And that failure had tragic repercussions: "The Times was unique . . . in the comprehensiveness of its [foreign] coverage and the extent of its influence among American opinion makers." Indeed, she writes, "no American newspaper was better positioned to highlight the Holocaust than the Times, and no American newspaper so influenced public discourse by its failure to do so." Part of the problem was journalistic: The paper's Berlin bureau chief, Guido Enderis, was a Nazi sympathizer; its Paris correspondent viewed things through the prism of the pro-Nazi Vichy regime. Throughout the war, Europe was covered by second-string reporters, many of them disdained by the paper's editors. Ultimately, however, this is the story of one man: Times publisher Arthur Hays Sulzberger, whose relationship to his own Jewishness clouded the way his paper covered the extermination of European Jewry. Sulzberger's assimilationist beliefs and fierce anti-Zionism have long been known, but even those versed in Times history will be astonished by the depths of his feelings, as uncovered by Leff in previously unpublished memos. Jews, decreed Sulzberger, should "not be treated as a group in the pages of the Times or in public policy." He refused to accept that Jews were being persecuted solely because they were Jews - and even when the evidence became overwhelming, he refused to accept that Jews should be the subject of separate rescue efforts. "A minority, it seems to me, cannot save itself through its minority status but can only be successful it if can, with integrity, merge its cause with a larger movement," wrote Sulzberger, explaining why the Times had "deliberately referred to those persons of Jewish faith who battled so gallantly in [the] Warsaw [Ghetto] as unfortunate citizens of Poland." The paper's editors knew of his feelings - because he made them clear in written orders. Stories about refugees and persecution could not single out Jews as victims; Times editorials "never emphasized the Jewish side of the question." And such stories - at a time when the number of Jewish victims already had reached the millions - inevitably appeared inside the paper, not on the front page. Yet, writes Leff, Sulzberger "had no trouble giving prominent display to articles about atrocities" against other people. News about the Jews, she writes, "was perceived as a footnote to a larger narrative that fit comfortably on an inside page." Even after V-E Day and the liberation of the death camps, Times stories refused to focus on the Jewish victims: "The thrust of the reporting was to document what the Germans had done, not to show to whom it had been done. . . . The Times, both deliberately and through happenstance, continued to bury the story of the Jewish genocide." Perhaps the best summation of the tragedy of the Times' coverage of the Holocaust was offered in 1944 by Oswald Garrison Villard, a former publisher of The Post and The Nation: "If ever there was a case where the Times should have risen superior to fear of consequences, it is this. For never were human beings more entitled to be defended and championed by a great organ of public opinion; certainly, never have men and women anywhere been tortutured and slaughtered in such numbers for less reason."
Janet Lehr is publisher/editor of IsraelLives. To receive email
articles, contact her by email at janetlehr@mindspring.com
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MORE TERRORISTS RELEASED AS CONCESSION TO HAMAS QASSAM ATTACKS
Posted by Marlene Young, May 19, 2005. |
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MORE SHOCKING APPEASEMENT TO TERROR In the last few days, the PA allowed Hamas terrorists to launch Dozens of Qassam Rockets as Israeli Civilian Population Centers. If this were any other country, a massive military operation would be underway to stop this aggressive attack and remove this threat to the safety and security of citizens. After releasing some empty tough words to the media yesterday, Sharon had a meeting with his Cabinet and authorized...more gestures to the PA to "strengthen" it ! At the exact same moment that Israeli law-abiding, loyal citizens are facing deportation, Israeli PM Ariel Sharon is going to allow, as a concession to Hamas terrorists, the freeing an additional 400 Palestinian prisoners, allowing the return of wanted Palestinians deported to Europe following the standoff at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity in 2002, and allowing the return of Palestinians deported from the West Bank to Gaza. Can these echos of Oslo, the exact same words, the exact same Leftists, be repeating themselves YET AGAIN? The PA is armed to the teeth, and it does not lack the means to stop Hamas. It is apparant that henceforth the PA can simply use Hamas to attack Israel, and then demand endless concessions, money and weapons to "restrain" them. We are now at a juncture when the Israeli socialist Left has completely paralyzed the IDF and allows the Israeli public to be Blackmailed and live under the Hamas threat of a sword held to their throats. A new player in this evil game is The U.S. Security Coordinator, General William Ward, who is behind this latest arm twisting of Israel. How can we, the public, respond to Mr. Ward's perposterous demands that Israel ignore every PA violation and respond to Hamas terror with more concessions? This article is called "PM okays gestures to PA despite renewed shelling" and was written by Aluf Benn and Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondents. It is archived at http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/578321.html Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz on Thursday approved a series of gestures to the Palestinians, over the objections of the Shin Bet security service and despite the continued barrage of mortar shells in the Gaza Strip. Shin Bet Chief Yuval Diskin opposed the proposal on the grounds that there are too many warnings of terror attacks. But the Israel Defense Forces supported the decision. At a meeting with Mofaz on Thursday, senior officers warned that if Israel did not act to strengthen Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, "he'll fall, and then we'll have to give more abatements to Hamas, which will gain power in his stead." The measures, which will be brought to the cabinet for approval after Sharon returns from the United States later this month, involve steps that Israel originally promised at February's Sharm el-Sheikh summit: freeing an additional 400 Palestinian prisoners, allowing the return of wanted Palestinians deported to Europe following the standoff at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity in 2002, and allowing the return of Palestinians deported from the West Bank to Gaza. The U.S. security coordinator, General William Ward, had pressured Israel to take these steps in recent days. "You complain that the Palestinians are not fulfilling their commitments," he told his Israeli interlocutors. "But what about your commitments?" The decision to approve these steps now is also related to Abbas' planned visit to Washington Thursday. Thereby, Sharon hopes to deflect Abbas' expected complaint to U.S. President George W. Bush that Israel is not helping him. Sharon approved the gestures despite the ongoing escalation in Gaza. Palestinians fired at least 14 mortars at the Gush Katif settlements on Thursday, and four Qassam rockets landed in Israel - including one in the courtyard of Sderot's municipal offices. The shelling caused property damage, but no casualties. Palestinians also shot, and launched antitank missiles, at IDF troops in Gaza. The IDF did not respond to the shelling, even though the government has authorized it to respond to mortar and rocket launches, particularly if Hamas seems to be trying to cause escalation. Israeli intelligence believes that while Hams does want some escalation in the run-up to new local elections in Rafah, it also does not want the cease-fire to collapse. Thursday's shelling, therefore, was not carried out by Hamas, but by other Palestinian factions - primarily the Popular Resistance Committees, a Fatah breakaway, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. It is possible that Hamas is financing, or even giving orders for, shelling by other groups, army sources added, but Hamas leaders seem to want to end the current round of violence - which is why Israel responded to the shelling mainly with threats rather than action. Hamas did not even attack, as the IDF had expected it would, when a Hamas operative wounded by an IDF air strike Wednesday died of his wounds on Thursday. Despite the Gaza escalation, the IDF believes that abatements should continue in the West Bank, because the PA has begun security coordination with Israel - albeit not against the terrorist organizations. The army proposes removing roadblocks and allowing more West Bank residents to work in Israel. It also recommends preparing to hand Qalqilyah over to the PA once the latter makes progress on collecting weapons from wanted men in the two cities it already controls, Jericho and Tul Karm. Also on Thursday, a group of Israelis, apparently Breslav Hasidim, visited Joseph's Tomb in Nablus without coordinating with the IDF. Palestinians opened fire at them, and the IDF had to rescue them. None of the Israelis were hurt, and the group is now being investigated by the police. Minister Haim Ramon met with Palestinian Minister Mohammed Dahlan Wednesday to coordinate the disengagement from Gaza. Government sources said the talks were "difficult" and full of mutual recriminations. Contact Marlene Young by email at marleneyoung1@yahoo.com |
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ME AND THE FOREIGN MINISTRY
Posted by Naomi Ragen, May 19, 2005. |
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Me and the Foreign Ministry: or Why Australian Book Week has Two Palestinian Writers and No Israelis Friends, One of the reasons I started this e-mail list was because of the appalling state of Israel's information efforts. Now, I am just a private citizen, and yet I've worked many hours every day in my little office for years sending out e-mails all over the world to counter Arab lies and media misinformation. All that time, I was never contacted by the Foreign Ministry of Israel, whose work I was helping (I won't say doing, because that would be hubris.) Finally, in January this year, a member of the Foreign Ministry called me. He set up a meeting. He was a fine fellow, eager to help me. He wanted me to go abroad and speak in foreign countries... What can I say? I was flattered. I was pleased. And even though I would be a volunteer, and it would be more time and effort expended, I would have the chance to further Israel's best interests. Would I consider going to Sydney in May? He didn't officially ask me, and I didn't officially say yes, but we both said we'd think about it. In the meantime, I'd already agreed to go to the London Jewish Book fair in March. Again, as a volunteer. Of course, I had no doubt I would be speaking about my latest book on terrorism, "The Covenant." To my surprise, even though the Foreign Ministry was paying my fare, the organizers only wanted me to talk about books I'd written ten years ago, concerning the haredi world. So I insisted, that at the very least, I be allowed to set up another venue in London to speak about Israel's war on terrorism. The Consulate promised to help. Then they said they couldn't. And finally, fed up, I arranged this myself through my e-mail list. I traveled to London (still haven't been reimbursed for the fare) was put up at a hotel without central heating, made my speeches and went home to find my father in law dying. I called the Foreign Ministry and said I would not be able to leave Israel, and they should find someone else to go to Sydney. They had over three months notice. When my dear father in law passed about two months ago, I called the Foreign Ministry. I told them I was now free to go if they still needed me. I was told they had found someone else to take my place. The truth was, I was disappointed. I love Sydney, and would have loved to go. A few days ago, I got the following letter from a list member in Australia: "I have just read the Australian Jewish News and discovered that you have decided to cancel your visit to Sydney to attend the Australian Book Week. As a result of your late decision there is to be no Israeli delegate....Don't you think that is a dreadful pity? Especially in these difficult times when we need as many wise Israeli mouths to counter the propaganda and lies being put out constantly by the Arabs. It is such a shame that you could not attend or at least found someone to replace you.... naughty Naomi." Astonished, I asked her to please re-read the piece. She confirmed that on 29th April 2005 on page 4, the Sydney edition of The Australian Jewish News printed an article by Oryana Kaufman which repeats several times that I cancelled at the "last minute" and for that reason there was no opportunity to secure a replacement. Mention is made of an Israeli author called Michal Govrin who "was set to come to Sydney but by the time Ragen had cancelled and Govrin had confirmed, the festivals' itinerary had been printed". I contacted the editor of the paper, Dan Goldberg, who wrote me the following "Here's the story: You cancelled for personal reasons, which we wrote. I've asked Mr.Goldberg to print my letter with the truth. I've asked the fine fellow at the Foreign Ministry who got me into this mess to admit what really happened. But he doesn't answer his phone, and has so far ignored my e-mails. So, if you are wondering why the Israeli Embassy is having trouble with it's hasbara effort, remember this story. Naomi Ragen 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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MODERN-DAY ASSASSINS FORM NUCLEUS OF ISLAMIC TERRORISM
Posted by IsrAlert, May 19, 2005. |
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This article was written by Tad Trueblood, who has more than 20 years of experience as an officer in the U.S. Air Force and as an analyst in the national security community. He is a Santa Clara resident. This article appeared in The Spectrum of Southern Utah (www.thespectrum.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ article?AID=/20050518/OPINION02/505180320/1014/OPINION). It is also available at the author's website. One of the toughest things about the global war on terror is figuring out who the enemy is. The enemy is certainly not Islam itself and even Islamic "fundamentalism" is not specifically the adversary. Fundamentalists are not necessarily terrorists. When we get down to defining "radical" Islam, or the so-called Islamists, we are a bit closer. The Islamist philosophy starts with an immutable demand - that God's laws (as defined by the Islamists) are superior to man's laws and it is justified to establish God's laws by force. Islamism also declares the strategic goal of reestablishing a worldwide Caliphate. However, to find the main enemy, we have to peel layers off the onion, to uncover various schools of Islamist thought such as the Wahabis, and terrorist groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the infamous al-Qaida. But hidden within this nest of vipers is a small group, sharing a dangerous and deadly philosophy that makes them the core terrorist enemy. They are known as Takfiris and they have become the modern embodiment of the Assassins, that ancient order of secret political killers. Their doctrine, or movement if you will, is called "Takfir wal Hijra" - translated as "excommunication and exile." In many ways, their existence was obscured by the attacks of Sept. 11 and the subsequent hunt for al-Qaida operatives around the world, but the Takfiri are now a main focus of counter-terrorism experts. It is said that both al-Zawahiri (bin-Laden's number two and ideological mentor) and Abu-Musab Zarqawi (his man in Iraq) share in Takfiri views. The March 2004 train bombings in Spain were the work of Takfiris from Morocco and North Africa. Jonathan Schanzer, a terrorism analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy has dubbed the Takfiris "al-Qaida 2.0". The Takfiri movement was born in the Egypt of the 1970s, the breeding ground of so much of Islamic extremism. Today Takfirism has taken root mainly in North Africa, in the slums of Morocco and Tangiers. It has also spread among the growing Islamic minorities of Europe, particularly among the younger generation that feels excluded from society - not just from Western society, but traditional Islamic society as well. And that is perhaps the defining characteristic of Takfiris, the sense of being complete outsiders, of being beyond the pale. For Takfiris, the enemy is not just the United States, Israel or even secular Muslim leaders and regimes. For those who espouse this violent outlook, armed jihad is a life-long obligation and other Muslims are apostate (and therefore fair-game) if they are not likewise inclined. A core concept for Takfiris is that of "taquyaa," which makes them the ultimate sleeper agents. Taquyaa is practicing the art of deception by adopting Western dress, lifestyle and habits in order to better blend in. Adherents are encouraged to essentially abandon traditional Islamic values, so that they can better fight the holy war in Islam's name. This justifies all sorts of very un-Islamic behavior, including shaving beards, frequenting nightclubs and strip joints, engaging in fraud and petty crime, drug use and drug dealing, and of course, murdering innocent people. As an example, Spanish police reported that the Madrid train bombers traded 55 pounds of hashish for the explosives they then used to kill 189 innocent people. 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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STABBED IN THE BACK ONCE AGAIN
Posted by Tamar Rush, May 19, 2005. |
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Read this one carefully....we've all been sold to a bunch of Saudi slave-drivers. This is from the DEBKAfile. It is called "Saudi Oil and Backing for US Are Contingent on Israeli Concessions." Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon is due in Washington Monday May 23 to address the pro-Israeli lobby AIPAC's annual conference. So far, DEBKAfile's political sources know of no appointments set up for him with any Bush administration officials. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is tentatively scheduled to arrive three days later on May 26. After telling his confidants "Nothing will come of the visit," Abbas is making sure that something does. The first move he pulled off was to persuade the White House to make sure Sharon was out of the capital before he arrived. The Palestinian leader is meanwhile spinning out a complicated globe-girdling itinerary. He went to Brazil last week for the first Latin-American Arab conference (where he worked hard on anti-American and anti-Israel resolutions that denounced the American occupation of Iraq and the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.) This week he touches down in China, Japan and India. If for some reason, the prime minister prolongs his stay in the United States, Abbas will draw out his Far East travels until Sharon is gone. How was Abbas able to manipulate the Bush administration's timetable and marginalize Sharon's presence in the US capital? DEBKAfile reveals that it was the Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah who set the maneuver up for him when he visited US president George Bush at the presidential ranch in Texas on April 25. DEBKAfile's Washington sources report exclusively that the US and Saudi leaders ended their talks with understandings that restored the Saudis to a dominant role Washington's Middle East policies. Bush agreed to enlarge US-Saudi arms deals - out in the open now, not under wraps as in the last three years; Saudi capital for investment and the purchase of US government bonds would flow back to the United States; and most of the post 9/11 restrictions would be lifted on the entry of Saudi businessmen and students to the United States. Abdullah promised to pump up oil production from 10 barrels per day to 12.5 million short term and 15 million long term. But he insisted his immediate priority for the royal purse was the promotion of reforms and better education, health and social welfare systems for his subjects. Therefore investment in expanding oil production would take some time, but it would come about. Abdullah then laid down his price for "opening a new chapter in US-Saudi strategic relations." One, Sharon must be pushed towards keeping step with Abbas and meeting his demands, to continue propping the Palestinian leader up and to do nothing that might hasten his downfall. Two, Sharon must be urged into serious negotiations with Syria. Three, The Bush administration must avoid any action that might topple Bashar Assad or bring about the demise of the Assad regime in Damascus. The Saudi prince put it this way: We did as much as you to force Syria to pull its troops out of Lebanon. It is now your turn to meet us halfway. Neither Assad nor Syria must be humiliated any further. DEBKAfile's sources have not discovered the US president's response to these demands. More tellingly, neither has the Israeli prime minister's office. The blackout Bush has ordered on the conversation is dense. But, upon his return from Washington, Abdullah lost no time in visiting neighbors to brief them on his achievements at Crawford. He saw Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, Assad and King Abdullah of Jordan. For Israel, these achievements are major setbacks: 1. If the Bush administration is not briefing, let alone consulting with, Jerusalem on key elements of its Middle East policy, then the special Israel-US strategic relations are far from being all the Sharon government has cracked them up to be. 2. If Bush accedes to Abdullah's request on Abbas, then Sharon and defense minister Shaul Mofaz might as well abandon their efforts to achieve accords with the Palestinian Authority on the evacuations of the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank. All the Palestinians will need to do is make their demands known. For example, Israel will be required to demolish abandoned homes against its will because that is what Abbas wants. He is also demanding that the Gaza Strip be turned over complete with international border crossings to Egypt and full sovereignty over Gaza's air space and sea waters - all this without spending a minute on the road map or peace talks. Israel will also have to turn a blind eye Abu Mazen's refusal to disarm the Islamist radical Hamas and Palestinian terrorist units at large. Instead, Abbas will be allowed to integrate them with their weapons into the Palestinian security forces. To get around Abbas' pledge at Sharm el Sheikh in February to crack down on and dismantle terrorists, The Palestinian Authority from time to time reports some small group or other has handed in its weapons, describing this as "the beginning" of its decommissioning operation. In fact, the operation stops there and the majority of terrorists have been left fully armed and with their structures intact. 3. Ahead for the Sharon government is a uniquely polarizing, painful and costly withdrawal that makes a free gift to the Palestinians after five years of terrorism. It is hard to see any Israeli leader being in any state soon to plunge into a peace process with Syria that would entail a pullback - be it even in stages - from the Golan. On the other hand, the Syrians, cheered on by the Saudis, will no doubt maintain that if Israel is capable of one unilateral withdrawal, why not another? Israeli military experts believe that the three days of Hizballah rocket fire last week at Israeli positions guarding the disputed Shaaba Farms area were aimed more at pointing up Syria's case for talks with Israel than jockeying for position in Lebanese politics. Syria will make full use of Hizballah and its belligerence to keep the heat on Israel before and during any talks. In the coming months, the Sharon government will therefore be faced with radical policy adjustments to the new reality generated by the Saudi ruler's enhanced standing in the Bush White House. |
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MILLIONS OF DOLLARS FOR OIL AND GAS, WATER AND SEWAGE?
Posted by Dr. Arieh Zeritsky, May 19, 2005. |
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This was written by Dr. M.G. Ettinger. * First of all, Oil and Gas. The Prime Minister of Israel, together with General Mofaz, in deciding to dump the Gaza district, must have been aware that we get millions of dollars' worth of offshore gas from the Gaza coast. If the Sharon/Mofaz plan were to be implemented, we would be cut off from our gas supplies, and from all potential on-shore and off-shore oil and gas. No more motor cars, no more electricity, no more air conditioning! * Secondly, but even more important: Does the Sharon/Mofaz team understand that dumping the Gaza district means giving away vital water resources for Southern Israel and for the Northern Negev? Also giving away the possibility of sea water desalination? And have they reviewed the sewage data? Their dumping of the Gaza district would ensure that, what little remains of our underground water, will be heavily polluted by the sewage from Gaza and Khan Yunis. * And who is responsible for the proposed sacking of 4500 Israeli teachers? Would the "saving" of their salaries pay for the overtime expected by (actually, already being paid to) the police or SA men heavily engaged against the Jews wearing orange shirts or black kipot? Who paid for 100 highly trained German police horses, and how much? * So, Israel would be forced to import most of its water from Turkey. And most of its oil and gas from Egypt - probably in a very few years from the Palestinians. But Israel would receive vast quantities of Arab sewage absolutely free! * Some of these facts may appear incredible. But ask the British Gas company, and see the 1995 Oslo agreement (surely not written by friends of Israel). This refers to oil and gas exploration (page 247), and to prevention of harm to water resources (p 200). * Is it really possible that a new district, with housing and infrastructure for the expellees, can be established in three months in the Nitzanim area, as foretold by the PM on 17 May? Even the Germans must have taken longer to set up their camps! |
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"WAR ON WANT" ESCALATES POLITICAL ASSAULT ON ISRAEL
Posted by NGO Monitor, May 19, 2005. |
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SUMMARY: War on Want, a registered UK "charity", has launched a new attack in its ongoing campaign against Israel. Using highly inflammatory rhetoric, WoW exposes its extremist political agenda, in alliance with members in the radical political NGO network, while fabricating numerous allegations which are presented at face value. War on Want, a registered "charitable" organization claiming to "fight global poverty", has launched a new round of the ongoing political campaign to boycott and isolate Israel globally. This public relations effort appears timed to reinforce the academic boycott and a parallel the HRW/ISM-led campaign in the U.S. As demonstrated in previous NGO Monitor analyses of War on Want, its leaders advance their fringe political goals under the guise of a charity. WoW was formerly headed by British MP George Galloway, currently implicated in the "oil for food" scandal with close ties to former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. WoW routinely uses hate rhetoric such as "apartheid", "slavery", and "a heavyweight beating a child" in its assault against Israel, while accusing Israeli leaders of attempting to simulate the aftermath of a natural disaster for Palestinians. Repeating terms used routinely by the radical Palestinian NGO network regarding refugee claims and calls on Israeli citizens to refuse military service, War on Want's program seeks to undermine the survival of the State of Israel and its right to defend itself. Like the other elements in the movement to demonize Israel, War on Want's latest campaign focuses on the security barrier, which it calls "the world's biggest prison". WoW's incitement makes no mention of the terrorism that has killed over 1000 Israelis (mostly civilians), and which highlights the moral rationale of this defensive response. Following the standard pattern, War on Want repeats the messages of other members in the extremist NGO network, such as the Democracy and Workers' Rights Center, the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees (UPMRC), PNGO, BADIL, Electronic Intifada, www.stopthewall.org, etc. On the basis of these "sources" alone, WoW's alleges that Israel's security barrier "is destroying the possibility of a Palestinian state, because Palestinian land is being divided into ghettos." Other false allegations include electrification of the barrier, "with watchtowers and sniper positions every few hundred metres." In several instances their website unsettlingly features a photo of a Swastika inside the Star of David, reflecting the fundamentally immoral comparison of Israeli self-defense with the Nazi Holocaust. In a similar assault, WoW blames Israel for a lack of sufficient healthcare facilities in Palestinian towns, going on to proclaim that "the Wall is part of an on-going attempt to make life unendurable for Palestinians." Highlighting its fraudulent abuse of the "charity" banner, War on Want acts as if the concept of human rights does not apply to Israelis. Instead, this assault justifies terror and brutality, claiming that the violence "is a result of Palestinian anger and desperation at the situation they have suffered." The campaign presents figures on Palestinian casualties, while failing to mention Israeli victims of Palestinian terror. And War on Want adopts traditional antisemitic libels (such as "poisoning the wells") in repeating allegations that the Israel Defense Forces targets Palestinian water sources "as a form of collective punishment". Similarly, in WoW's distorted image, Israel alone is to blame for the "seemingly endless downward spiral of violence". Towards the end of this statement, which is the antithesis of its official charitable mandate of combating poverty and world hunger, WoW's leaders recognize their vulnerability. In an awkward attempt to hide the evidence, they ask: "What's this got to do with Poverty?" The answer they present is that "the Palestinians' poverty is deeply political" - a telling reflection of the primacy of their radical ideological agenda. When it comes to the Middle East, WoW exploits the charitable status to promote its extremist position. The NGO Monitor organization (www.ngo-monitor.org) promotes critical debate and accountability of human rights NGOs in the Arab Israeli Conflict. Note that the original article contained dynamic links to additional material - see http://www.ngo-monitor.org. |
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A BOLSHEVIK STATE COMES TO ISRAEL
Posted by Women in Green, May 19, 2005. |
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Professor Israel Hanukoglu, a well-known genetics scientist and former Chairman of Professors for a Strong Israel,and former Science Adviser to the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and formerly associated with the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, was arrested during Sunday's demonstrations. He recently was part of a delegation of Christians and Jews who visited Congress in the States in behalf of Gush Katif and Northern Samaria. He also spoke at the successful rally of Christians and Jews that was held in Crawford, Texas, on April 11, when Prime Minister Sharon was visiting the ranch of President Bush. That Rally was arranged by Christian Pastor Jim Vineyard, a Minister of a large Baptist Congregation in Oklahoma City. Dear Ruth, During the demonstration in Rishon Lezion we had a small group of a few women and two men myself included. We were not involved in road blockings. We did not lay on the road. I took on myself the task of distributing stickers with the message: People of Israel are with Gush Katif. Policemen apparently did not want to deal with the elderly women. They approached me and asked me to stand aside. I followed their order. Then they asked me to get into their car, transferred me to the Police station. After police interrogation (that included physical threats, ridicule, etc., but this is another story), I was put in a small cell of about 1X1 m that is normally used for visitor communication with jailed mates. I spent there several hours. Then at night I was transferred to the Maasiyahu jail. The policemen who transferred explained to me that distributing stickers is against the law! After I was jailed all night long demonstrators kept pouring into my section. By the morning my cell of eight people was full. I had the great honor that one of the people put in my cell included Rabbi Levinger from Hebron the Founder of the Hebron community. I was brought before a judge who released me to partial house arrest with option to go to work during day hours. These limitations hold until my case will be brought for further discussion on next Wednesday. The case was delayed because the large number of people arrested did not permit proper trial of each case. Welcome to USSR. Best regards,
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 [Editor's note: Lise Rubin wrote Professor Hanukoglu and received a letter from him. Some excerpts: Dear Ms. Rubin, The story is true. According to the newspaper Makor Rishon, the police have confirmed that they have arrested people who were bystanders who were not involved in road blockings. The threats of the police against me included, physical threats to make my hands "unusable". One of the interrogators at the police station made the following comments. "I moved to Israel from Ukraine. Just I moved from there to here, people in Gush Katif can move to Israel." He boasted that he has undergone training in removal of the people from their homes, and he knows how to remove the babies from their mother's hands. He asked me: "what would you do if I pull your baby from your hand? Wouldn't you rather let the baby go, rather than having a damage caused to your baby?" In the jail I met people who had marks of beating or signs of being dragged. The worst case was told to me by an 18 year old high school boy. He said that policeman asked all people leave the room, beat him with his fists and kicked him. I must say that the Israeli law enforcement agencies have become forces directed against the national-religious Jews (kipa wearing Jews). Sorry that I have to report to you these incidents. But you have to be aware of what is happening here. I immigrated to Israel from the USA. Not even for a second do I regret that I made Aliyah. The fullness of life here and the feeling that we are reestablishing our Nation in the Promised Land is worth all. The fight has intensified because the religious Jews are becoming a majority while the leftists who control all centers of power are losing their electoral base. So they have formed a coalition with the Arabs. There is hardly any law enforcement in Arab cities or villages. Not against building without a permit, not against tax evasion, not against crime. The worst case now is the lack of action, against terrorists who are showering missiles on Gush Katif communities. So clearly Sharon, to save his skin from his corruption problems, has joined the left-Arab coalition to suppress the religious Jews. Shabat shalom, Best regards,
Israel Hanukoglu, Ph.D. Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
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REPORT FROM THE FRONTLINES
Posted by Batya Medad, May 19, 2005. |
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I finally started moving myself from my comfortable office chair and onto the frontlines of the Anti-Disengagement Movement. Last week I went to the big rally in the Jerusalem Hyatt. When I was a teen the worst insult was to call someone "an armchair liberal." We were hypersensitive to anything that even hinted of hypocrisy. Honestly, that's one of the reasons we made aliyah so young. How could one be "an American Zionist?" What an oxymoron! Either you're a Zionist and live in Israel, or you're not a Zionist. So how could two young idealists stay in America? And when we made aliyah we moved straight to the Old City of Jerusalem, which wasn't the upper middle class neighborhood it is today. Today the building we were in is considered a convenient and desirable part of the Jewish Quarter, but then, thirty-five years ago, there was no "Jewish Quarter," and it was surrounded by Arabs and accessible by mud paths. I must admit that it was a bit too much, so we moved to a more conventional Jerusalem neighborhood, straight from the maternity ward, after the birth of our first child. But the yearning to live in a part of Eretz Yisrael liberated in the Six Days War of 1967 didn't leave us. Ten years later we moved to Shiloh. Personally, I find living in Shiloh rather effortless and am constantly amazed anew when people think that we're doing something admirable or that visiting us would endanger their lives. When people do come here they're amazed at the pastoral beauty and calm. Unfortunately, I haven't made it to Gush Katif recently. No excuses. When I got a call about the big rally over a week ago in Jerusalem, I knew that I had to attend. It was a long day, beginning with testing over twenty students in Ulpanat Ofra (girls high school) and the rally only in evening. The enormous room in the Hyatt was set up with hundreds, maybe even thousands of chairs. A half an hour after the official start, people were still milling around. Then it began. From my vantage near front center, I didn't notice hundreds more arrive; a short while later I turned around, and it was full. We listened to a large variety of speakers, who spoke short and to the point. There were almost no politicians, just activists. MK Arye Eldad was given a standing ovation, but I consider him an activist, not a politician. He's one of the world's best plastic surgeons, specializing in skin transplants for burn victims and left his profession to save our country. The theme was totally optimistic. Various speakers, very logically, pointed out how Disengagement is losing momentum and how the government's goals can't be met. Nomi Ofan, wife of Neriya - the first Administrative Detainee, standing with their four children, told the crowd how proud she was of her husband and how jail isn't a deterrent. That was definitely one of the main themes. Certificates of Honor were given to government employees who wouldn't cooperate in the expulsion of Jews from their homes and to people who had already been arrested or detained. Arrest is seen as a way of choking the system. It's a badge of courage against an unjust regime. After it was over, I was determined to do more than type. So when a neighbor called asking me to speak at a local information rally Saturday night, I was surprised at his request, but agreed. I told the story of my son's Bar Mitzvah during the Oslo nightmare. Most people have forgotten that according to the Oslo Accords, we were supposed to have been thrown out of our homes before Passover 1994. We were scheduled to be homeless refugees at the time of my son's Bar Mitzvah. I couldn't plan anything; for months I was paralyzed in terror. As you all know, we're still here in Shiloh, but Disengagement is a direct descendent of Oslo. And just like our community wasn't destroyed, G-d willing Gush Katif will continue to flourish. And so this past Monday, I traveled with a neighbor to a major intersection to photograph and participate in one of the demonstrations. Apparently we missed the big excitement at the beginning, when some neighbors, fathers of large families, walked into the streets, hands high, tied in orange, stopped traffic and were arrested. There were people from a number of different places, not just Shiloh. The police were there in numbers, but much less than the demonstrators. The junction was very large with at least eight traffic lights, and the mostly good-natured cat-mouse choreography went on for a couple of hours. Every once in a while, there would be a shout, and everyone would run after the police who were dragging someone away. There were many photographers, including the police taking pictures of us. One demonstrator spent his time trying to talk to a policeman, convincing him to refuse to carry out immoral orders. All of us with cameras kept focusing on the tagless (those without name tags) policemen. In general, where we were the atmosphere was "civilized." Simultaneously there were dozens and dozens of demonstrations at various intersections all over the country. Some groups really managed to stop, rather than just slow down, the traffic, and some of the police were a lot more violent than the ones I encountered. On the whole it was a success. This was just a rehearsal, a bit of practice. In the courts, some of those arrested managed to be freed without paying or promising anything, because their lawyers were able to prove to the judges that the police had just rounded up demonstrators who weren't doing anything illegal. It's sad that we have to demonstrate against the Israeli Government, but the government is made of people, and people sometimes make terrible mistakes. We must stop the Disengagement before it destroys our country. This is Musing #119. Batya Medad lives in Shiloh. She can be reached by email at Shilohmuse@yahoo.com or visit her website http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/ or go to http://www.shilo.org.il This essay is also available at http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2005/05/119-from-frontlines.html |
| GUSH KATIF |
A MASSIVE POLICY WRECK WAITING TO HAPPEN
Posted by Ruth Matar, May 19, 2005. |
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Dear Friends, In today's Jerusalem Post there is a "must read article" by Daniel Pipes, a Member of the United States Institute Of Peace (to which office he was appointed by President Bush in 2003). Daniel Pipes' article "A Massive Policy Wreck Waiting To Happen" is timely and relevant, since Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) has been invited to meet with President Bush at the White House for the first time since he was elected in January of this year. The meeting between George W. Bush and Abu Mazen will take place next week, Thursday May 26, at the White House. The talks will focus on Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and Abu Mazen's request for further U.S. financial aid. The PA Foreign Ministry said that Abbas will call for intensified U.S. pressure on Israel to implement its Road Map obligations, including a total freeze on settlement activity and the immediate dismantling of unauthorized outposts in the West Bank. Daniel Pipes wrote at the time of Abu Mazen's election to head the Palestinian Authority that: "He is potentially a far more formidable enemy to Israel" than was Arafat. Mr. Pipes says in this article that his prediction has unfortunately come true and that Abu Mazen is unambiguously leading the Palestinians to war after the Israeli retreat from Gaza in August 2005. It is essential that you read Mr. Pipes' article very carefully, in order to understand that Abu Mazen and his Palestinian Authority is a danger, not only to Israel, but also to the United States. (The article follows after my letter.) For example: A few weeks ago the Palestinian Authority sent a public birthday greeting to Saddam Hussein: "We wish him long life for the sake of Iraq and to free the Arab nation from the enslavement of foreign imperialism. Oh, the glory of victory, with the help of Allah." (Of course, "foreign imperialism" refers to the United States). It is interesting to note that not only the Palestinian Authority Chairman, Abu Mazen, is coming to Washington, D.C. to promote the "Israeli disengagement from Gaza plan" but Israel's Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, as well, is descending on New York City and Washington D.C. during the same week to defend his intention to deport Jews from their homes in Gush Katif. It is not difficult to understand why Abu Mazen relishes a possible Israeli disengagement from Gaza. He is coming to ask President Bush for further economic aid from the United States, so that he can most effectively build a Palestinian economy in the areas of Gush Katif and northern Shomron, when, G-d forbid, the Arabs inherit the possessions of the Jews expelled by their own Sharon government. It is much more difficult to understand, or, as a matter of fact quite impossible to understand, why the Israeli Prime Minister is coming to New York City and Washington, D.C., to convince American Jews about the wisdom of his plans to unilaterally expel Jews from their homes in their own homeland. (Hillary Clinton is the other speaker at the AIPAC Conference. No surprise that she is supporting the transfer of Jews). The good news is that a Coalition of Christian Zionists and Jews is in formation to protest the Sharon expulsion of Jews plan, and also President Bush's official meeting with the terrorist, Abu Mazen, who co-founded the Palestine Liberation Organization together with Arafat in 1964. Abu Mazen is a Holocaust denier who wrote his doctoral thesis, which later became a book, on "The Other Side: The Secret Relationship Between Nazism And Zionism." Abu Mazen raised doubts in his work that the gas chambers were, in fact, used to kill Jews. He was, as well, the financier of the Munich Olympic massacre of Israeli athletes in 1972. When Abu Mazen was elected last January, he stated: "I present this victory to the soul of Brother Martyr Yasser Arafat and to our shahids. The little jihad has ended and now the big jihad is beginning!" Americans who believe in Jewish Biblical, historical, and moral rights to the Land of Israel must use every opportunity to demonstrate that belief. The following is a schedule of demonstrations against the Disengagement Plan (Deportation of Jews Plan) and its supporters, Israeli Prime Minister Sharon and Palestinian Authority Chairman Abu Mazen: SUNDAY, MAY 22, 2 P.M., in NYC Prime Minister Sharon will be speaking to The Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations. We will hold a Prayer Vigil at the same location, to be announced. Participants are urged to wear ORANGE clothing, the color of solidarity with Gush Katif/Gaza. OUR MESSAGE: DON'T EXPEL THE JEWISH PEOPLE FROM THEIR PROMISED LAND! MONDAY, MAY 23: People are urged to travel to Washington, D.C., by car pool, train, plane, bus or chartered bus (if we get enough people signing on for one, call 212-828-2424) in order to arrive by 1 P.M. The plan is to visit Congressional offices in the House and Senate to distribute information packets explaining the dire world-wide consequences of removing the Jewish community from their homes in Gush Katif and Northern Shomron. Plans should be made to stay overnight so that we can form a protest group on Tuesday morning. Again, ORANGE bags and clothing are suggested to demonstrate solidarity. TUESDAY, MAY 24: Prime Minister Sharon is scheduled to speak at the AIPAC Conference at the Washington Convention Center on Tuesday morning between 9:30-11 AM. (Hillary Clinton is the other speaker. Maybe we could have some placards with Hillary Clinton kissing Suha Arafat.) We must be there in our ORANGE clothing, with signs, sleeping bags and tents, indicating the homelessness of the Jews being expelled from their homes. All media should be alerted. Bring your family and friends. THURSDAY, MAY 26: Palestinian Authority Chairman, Mahmoud Abbas, is expected to visit Washington on May 26 for talks with President George W. Bush. The PA Foreign Ministry said that Abbas will call for intensified U.S. pressure on Israel to implement its road map obligations, including a total freeze on settlement activity and the immediate dismantling of unauthorized outposts in the West Bank. He also said that he would seek financial aid to boost the Palestinian economy. OUR MESSAGE TO BOTH PRESIDENT BUSH AND ABU MAZEN: ISRAEL BELONGS TO THE JEWS! FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE ABOVE FOUR DEMONSTRATIONS, CONTACT: HELEN FREEDMAN, COORDINATOR AT 212-828-2424 SUNDAY, JUNE 5: The 12th Annual Israel Day Concert in Central Park, at the East Meadow, located at 97th Street and 5th Avenue, on Sunday, June 5, 2005 from 2:30 - 6:00 PM, rain or shine. Over 35,000 people are expected to gather at this year's event, which is dedicated to supporting the Jewish Communities of Gush Katif and Northern Shomron, and against the surrender of Jewish Land in this region. Further information on the event is available by calling Romm Torossiam at 202-999-5585. TUESDAY, JULY 19 (This date is not as yet firm) THIS IS THE BIG ONE! We hope to have simultaneous demonstrations in Washington, D.C. and Tel-Aviv, Israel and in cities all over the world by a coalition of Jews and Christians to prevent Ariel Sharon from expelling close to 9,000 people from their homes, farms, schools, synagogues and graveyards, and turning the Jewish Land over to the Arab enemy. *** Dear Friends: I am a Holocaust Survivor, born in Austria. I was fortunate to be able to become a naturalized American citizen after World War II. My husband is an American Jew born in New York City. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1942, my husband immediately volunteered to fight in the American Army. When we were first married, I said to my husband: "I admire you as a committed American who fought on the Japanese front for the duration of World War II. But during that war, 6 million of your own Jewish People were murdered. How come you didn't raise a hue and cry at that time?" His answer was very simple: "But We Didn't Know!" But, dear friends, YOU do know! With advanced technology (computer technology, faxes, television, world-wide radio, newspapers and widespread telephone networks), it is no longer possible for the British Foreign Office and the U.S. State Department and other special interest groups to deliberately suppress what happens in the rest of the world. It is a different world today than what was during the Nazi domination of much of the world during the reign of Hitler. When a bus in Jerusalem full of innocent civilians is bombed, you see it almost immediately on your television screens. When Jews are murdered for no other reason than the fact that they are Jews, you can read about it in your morning newspaper. When a sermon is broadcast on Abu Mazen's Palestinian Authority television, calling for the subjugation of all Christian countries under Islam, and the extermination of every Jew, you can read about it shortly thereafter. Dear friends: Don't permit another Holocaust to happen! Don't permit the Islamic takeover of the Western Judeo-Christian Civilization, and Islamic rule over Christian countries. It is, therefore, the duty of every Jew and Christian in the world to fight the evil radical Islamic plan to divide G-d's Holy Land. With Blessings and Love for Israel, Ruth Matar Yasser Arafat's demise in November excited great hopes among those who saw his malign personality as the main reason for Palestinian intransigence. But those of us who saw the problem as larger than Arafat - as resulting, rather, from the deep radicalization of the Palestinian body politic - expected little change. Indeed, I wrote at the time of Mahmoud Abbas's election to head the Palestinian Authority that "he is potentially a far more formidable enemy to Israel" than was Arafat. How do things look a half year after Arafat's death? About as awful as anyone might have expected. Specifically, Abbas is unambiguously leading the Palestinians to war after the Israeli retreat from Gaza in August 2005. Consider some recent developments. Hiring terrorists as soldiers: Rather than arrest terrorists, as required by the informal February 2005 cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinians, Abbas has instituted a unique employment program for them, incorporating them into his security forces. The Associated Press explains the charming point system to determine who gets what rank: "A high school diploma... is worth eight points, while a year in an Israeli prison or on the run count for two points each. Gunmen don't get credit for time served in Palestinian lockups, but they win extra points if they were wounded by Israeli army fire or had their homes demolished." The Israeli authorities have accepted that even convicted Palestinian killers carry weapons. Arming terrorists: The Palestinian military intelligence agency facilitates terrorist groups smuggling SA-7 Strella shoulder-fired missiles into Gaza to use against Israeli aircraft. Inciting the population: As Palestinian Media Watch, the Center for Special Studies, and Michael Widlanski have exhaustively detailed, the political speeches, media content, mosque sermons, school textbooks and wall posters remain as rabidly anti-Israel and anti-Semitic as during the worst days of Arafat's rule. For example, Ahmed Qurei, the PA's so-called prime minister, has threatened "an explosion" over Israel's handling of Al-Aksa Mosque. Pretend arrests of terrorists: As under Arafat, the PA plays the charade of arresting terrorists with fanfare and then allowing them quietly to "escape" from prison. Two examples of these revolving-door arrests: two perpetrators who assisted a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv in February left jail in April; and the Palestinian police arrested their first Hamas terrorist on May 2 but promptly released him one day later. AS A result of these steps, Palestinian terrorism, especially coming out of Gaza, has dramatically increased since April. Things have reached such a low point that one analyst, Leslie Susser, finds that the February cease-fire "may be on the verge of collapse." It is hard to argue with Caroline Glick's conclusion that the Sharon government and the Bush administration were both "horribly wrong" in betting on Abbas. And yet, neither of them concedes this error because, having stressed Abbas's good intentions, both now find themselves deeply invested in the success of his political career. The planned Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in August is likely to precipitate new rounds of violence. One could come in July, as the IDF engages in a massive sweep of Gaza to ensure that the forthcoming retreat does not take place under Palestinian fire. More violence will likely follow in September, as the Palestinians, Gaza now under their belt, begin a new assault on Israel. That round presumably will feature the substantial rocket arsenal that Hamas has been amassing. Israel's chief of General Staff, Moshe Ya'alon, is on record predicting, "Immediately after the disengagement we can expect a burst of terrorism." Thus has Ariel Sharon neatly arraigned all the elements for a massive train wreck. Ironically, the one thing that might prevent this scenario from playing out would be a Hamas victory in the Palestinian National Council elections scheduled for mid-July. Increasing numbers of Israeli voices are calling for the Gaza withdrawal to be postponed or even annulled should Hamas do well, as seems likely. For example, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom has said, if Hamas wins the elections, it would be "unreasonable" to implement the disengagement plan and allow Hamas to create a "Hamas-stan" in Gaza. So, there are many possibilities in the next four months. Their common element is that by September the Arab-Israeli theater will be in yet worse shape than it is today. 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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ONE OF EVERY THREE LABOR PARTY MEMBERS IS ARAB
Posted by Bryna Berchuck, May 19, 2005. |
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This is incredible. One-third of those who are professed members of the Labor Party are Arabs. Peres - who probably controls Sharon - has shown his loyalty to the Arabs by lowkeying their barbaric behavior and by urging the world to give the Arabs more money, more sympathy and more land. And consider another statistic. Over the years, Israeli Arabs have been radicalized - that's a nice way of saying they are sympathetic to the terrorists in the territories. Many of them have been more than sympathetic. They have actively helped by supplying cars and information to Arab bombers and snipers. What's the point of having a fence when these Trojan horses - or should we say Arabs in automobiles - can freely drive terrorists around Israel? Some knowledgeable Israelis suggest that anywheres from 80% to 90% of the Arabs in Israel proper are not to be trusted. And the Arabs - thanks to Leftist nuts like Peres - are going to determine the fate of the Jewish state! Five candidates vying for Labor Party leadership submitted their candidacy at the party's Tel Aviv headquarters. Party leaders are in shock at the fact that Arabs comprise 1/3 of its membership. The five men who feel they are worthy to lead the party, and who filled in and submitted the relevant forms today, are: current temporary leader and former Prime Minister Shimon Peres, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak (pictured), Histadrut Labor Union chief Amir Peretz, former IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Matan Vilnai, and former Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer. It has been learned that 30,000 of the newly-revamped party membership are Israeli-Arabs. Investigative journalist Yoav Yitzchak writes, "The significance of this is that they will be able to place Israeli-Arabs in one-third of the party's Knesset seats, and in effect, because of the in-fighting in the party, take control of the party's path." Most of the Arabs were registered in the "camps" of Ben-Eliezer, Peretz and Vilnai, and some in Peres' camp as well. Yitzchak writes that party leaders are concerned about this development, but are keeping quiet so as not to be accused of racism. The shock is particularly acute because the Labor Party is the continuation of the movement that largely founded and built the State of Israel. The party is undergoing another crisis regarding "irregularities" in its just-ended registration drive. It was announced originally that 130,000 members had signed up. However, some 35-40,000 forms were found to be illegal, duplicates or otherwise disqualified. In the previous Labor membership drive, which took place a number of years ago, some 80,000 members signed up, of which 11,746 were Israeli-Arabs. |
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SHARON ADMITS PLAN'S DANGER INDIRECTLY; HALKIN DOESN'T GET IT;
GOVERNMENT BY TRIAL BALLOON
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, May 19, 2005. |
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WESTERN TOOLS OF P.A. NGOS The Palestinian Non-Governmental Organization (PNGO) network has the goal of delegitimizing the State of Israel. Like the former Communist agit-prop, the PNGO wields the language of incitement and defamation. Thus it accuses Israel of seeking the demise of the P.A. Arab people and its proposed joint industrial zones as schemes to enslave Arabs. (But the rest of the world insists that Israel hire Arabs and strengthen the P.A. regime that seeks the demise of Israel.) That umbrella group for P.A. NGOs conceived of the boycott of certain Israeli universities. In voting for the boycott, the UK Association of University Teachers (AUT) cited a PNGO report. PNGO constantly calls for various boycotts of Israel. PNGO has been circulating false reports about Israel, this being one of them. A letter to AUT from the attorneys for one of those universities points out that the boycott was voted upon without having elicited the university's explanation. (Facts would be inconvenient; bigots want pretexts.) Although PNGO claims to value transparency and accountability (just buzz words, to it), actually it does not reveal its sources of funding (IMRA, 5/10). The narrow and small AUT voting majority did not care about getting accurate information before voting. They seized upon this new complaint about Israel. Like most accusations against Israel, this one was false. The more general problem is one of Westerners being led to unfair positions by Arabs. If the Westerners want to be fair not only to Israel but also to themselves, they must learn to distrust the Arabs, who lack integrity. The Arabs will make any accusation they can think of. Ironically, the Arabs are guilty of most of what they charge Zionism with. In this case, the charge is lack of academic integrity. The Arab world has little of academic integrity. They degrade the West's. GOVERNMENT BY TRIAL BALLOON Deputy PM Olmert announced that the current abandonment plan is part of a larger one. One can see that it would "leave Israel as a huddled, indefensible ghetto surrounded by deadly enemies." PM Sharon denied the claim. A few months later, PM Sharon's personal aide, Dov Weisglass proclaimed the opposite. The abandonment of Gaza and northern Samaria would be the final one, intended to keep the rest of Yesha under Israeli control. Sharon denied that, too. Both aides couldn't be wrong. Then Sharon must be lying about one or the other denial (sorry, lost source) unless he changed his mind.) IRAN HAS A REALISTIC PLAN TO DEFEAT THE U.S. Congress has heard testimony that Iran successfully tested its ability to detonate by remote control a nuclear or non-nuclear missile still in the air. Iran is working on magnetic pulse technology. Using that technology, Iran's bomb would emit pulses that would destroy America's technical and electronic infrastructure. Rogue states and organizations might be working on the same weaponry. Iran is thought to be negotiating in order to buy time to complete its preparations. It would take months or years for the US to recover. Without electricity, US society might collapse. (Meanwhile, the enemies of the US would not be idle.) This is a far worse danger than another 9/11 attack. The US has been warned. It must act. Backup facilities would be relatively inexpensive to provide. However, the US probably should start attacking the enemy to prevent the catastrophe here (Winston Mid East Analysis from Joseph Farah). I think there would be too much to back up. We must resume the war on terrorism, but it would have to be a total war and one largely of annihilation. It's them or us. THE SCENARIO SHARON FAILS TO ENVISION Suppose PM Sharon engineers enough withdrawal for the P.A. to become sovereign. The P.A. would sign defense treaties with other countries. It would disavow terrorism, but, as always, allow it and finance it. If Israel retaliated, a full-scale regional war could ensue, involving weapons of mass destruction (Moshe Dann, Outpost from Americans For a Safe Israel, 2/2005, p.9). There has been almost no "what-if" thinking by Sharon and his fellow leftists. There has been a great deal of such projection by the Right, but the major media pay no attention to it. Thus Israel enters foreign policy based on unsupported assumptions and unanswered questions. SHARON INDIRECTLY ADMITS HIS PLAN ENDANGERS ISRAEL Sharon's Cabinet has declared 44 towns in Israel "frontline," all the ones within 7 kms. of the Gaza security fence. The 44 would replace the half as many so designated now in Gaza and northern Samaria that he would abandon. Abandoning them means that instead of having the Israeli Army intercepting rocket squads in the P.A., and preventing most of the bombardment, he expects Arab terrorists freely to move up to the lengthy Green Line and target more Israeli towns. He would have to spread those troops out in a greater area. He is spending a great deal putting up concrete shelters and reinforcing roofs in those towns, mostly in vain. Meanwhile, the P.A. is testing rockets of greater range. More than 44 would become "frontline." He has turned the police into thugs, trained to use violence to remove Jews from Gaza and northern Samaria. All this is so criminal, that the government should be put on trial. It is no excuse or a false excuse that Sharon thinks this would establish good relations with the US. He has the Judenrat mentality, that he can save some Jews by sacrificing some. It didn't work before and it wouldn't work with today's fanatics (Winston Mid East Analysis, 5/10, e-mail). HILLEL HALKIN WRITES Mr. Halkin is sanguine about Hamas possibly taking over the P.A.. He considers Hamas a more implacable enemy of Israel than the PLO and to have committed more suicide-homicide. On the other hand, once in power, Hamas would have to be accountable and responsible. To be taken seriously it would have to move towards peace, so it would tend to avoid armed confrontation (NY Sun, 5/10, p.9). Inasmuch as the PLO has not been responsible and made peace, why would Hamas? Appeasement-minded people used to mollify fears about a Nazi takeover of Germany with the argument that once Hitler took power, he would have to be responsible. He took power, but pursued Holocaust and war. He was a fanatic. So are the Arabs, whose second favorite book is Hitler's autobiography. Many aggressor states are not responsible. Many Muslim rulers do not care about their people, as proved by Iran, the PLO, and Saddam. They care about themselves or their religious cause or both. Whether it is the PLO or Hamas, they use power to further their cause. The PLO is just as implacable an enemy of Israel as is Hamas. The distinction made between the two, as one being extremist and the other being moderate is a Western fabrication. The fabrication comes out of a duplicitous anti-Zionism or Western journalism's desire to create a sense of dramatic choice. The PLO has committed more terrorism than has Hamas, and has deployed more human-bombs in recent years. Halkin discusses Hamas and the PLO as if not understanding Muslim fanaticism and dictatorship. A theme of his articles is rationalization to prepare public opinion for Israeli capitulations. 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 BIG LIE CONTINUES
Posted by Marcel Cousineau, May 19, 2005. |
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I think it must be something in the water in the Knessett dining hall. When I hear ludicrous statements coming from Israeli politicians that the Palestinian Terrorist Authority is no match for Hamas, I'm reminded of George Orwell's new speak. Their deceptive spin is that poor Abbas and his gang are doing all they can for the peace but are too weak to do anything about the 'others' so Israel must do nothing to harm the nonexistent peace that may harm Abbas chances to do nothing. In this Road Map scam, Israel is always the blamed the Palestinians always the poor victims who need more time, more money, more excuses. The loud and clear message from Washington to Israel is ALWAYS 'Restraint, do nothing.' Sharon, the good General, always follows orders well. The message to the Palestinian terrorists from Washington is a wink and a nod, a 'we're with you all the way to the creation of your own terrorist Palestinian state on Jewish land.' The reality is that a moslem will never stop his fellow moslem from the religious duty of Dar Al Harb against who they see are infidel Jews and not peace partners. The fact that most Jews can't figure this out yet appears to be some kind of mental condition that consists of delusions and early stages of madness. There is no way to end the Dar Al Harb except to defeat the enemy totally, fully and completely. Totally, Fully. Completely. The reason why the false peacemaker on the Potomac calls for Israel to show restraint is to allow the losers in five wars to finally win one. There is a fog, a heavy cloud of deception, that has clouded the rational mind of so many in Israel. My hope is that there is a cure before it is too late. A total, full and complete defeat of the Palestinians is Israel's only TRUE solution. That's always been the true road to peace. Instead, today, we have Israel pressured to appease and retreat, a sure recipe for disaster. Marcel Cousineau can be reached by email at up2zionsg8@yahoo.com |
| GUSH KATIF |
HAMAS VICTORIOUS
posted by Barry Rubin, May 19, 2005. |
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Let's not mince words: The Hamas landslide victory in the recent Palestinian local elections is a disaster for the Palestinians, hopes for peace, and Israel. It is a historical turning point. The West will have to choose between recognizing what is happening or veering onto some very dangerous ground. It is first necessary to dispose of the desperate, outrageously naíve attempts to soften the blow. The main ones are to claim Fatah "won" the election despite the fact that it received only 40 percent of the votes or that victory will moderate Hamas. The key point is that Hamas now will be able to veto even the smallest steps toward peace or compromise by Abu Mazin. In effect, a peace process that might produce a comprehensive agreement in the next few years is finished. Consider these points: --Fatah will not rise to the challenge by stamping out its own corruption or elevating better leaders. The essential issue is this: If Abu Mazin was too afraid to crack down on terrorists, to moderate Palestinian ideology, or negotiate a compromise peace with Israel when he had all the power, he will now be even more timid. Who cares if Fatah is still in control if it does nothing and changes nothing? If he would not disarm Hamas or use force against terrorists before will he act against such a powerful organization now? Two examples from before the election. Palestinian terror attacks rose 54 percent between March and April due to Abu Mazin's passivity. When his forces arrested one Hamas member for firing a rocket at Israel, Hamas simply closed down Gaza with demonstrations for a few hours and threatened government officials' lives until they released him. Is anyone going to be constrained now from attacking Israel or defying the Palestinian regime? In turn, this means that no matter how many concessions Israel makes by withdrawals and prisoner releases or how much money and support the West gives Abu Mazin, there will be no serious peace process. The Palestinian leadership is paralyzed and will do nothing to offend Hamas, which will veto any real peace negotiations, taunting Abu Mazin for real or imagined concessions. Whether Hamas, for its own purposes, lets the ceasefire continue or not, any hope of a real breakthrough is finished. So great is the assumption that the Palestinian movement must be moderate and pragmatic that many will simply ignore the new situation and go on expecting that Abu Mazin - all evidence to the contrary - to make peace. Others, especially in Europe, will argue that Hamas can be moderated if appeased at Israel's expense. Having failed to moderate Arafat or his successors, they would use the same tactics on the much tougher, more extreme Islamists. Aside from all the obvious points about its ideology, which has consistently demanded Israel 's destruction, why should Hamas abandon a program so demonstrably appealing to Palestinians and a strategy clearly working? Its great advantage is terrorist violence. Carrying on more attacks against Israelis, its leadership reasons, will even further show how much more effective it is than rivals. Ironically, the foundation for Hamas's victory was created and maintained by Fatah, the child of Yasir Arafat's combination of extremism and incompetence. It is the natural outcome of his rejection of peace in 2000 and his launching a four-year-long terrorist war. The nationalist leadership daily told the people for years that Israel will collapse, the Palestinians have a right to all its land, violence is the only tactic that works, and compromise is treason. Now Israel is faced with the problem of withdrawing from a Gaza Strip where Hamas will be dominant, turn over West Bank towns to a Palestinian Authority showing no interest in disarming or stopping terrorists, and try to help a regime that has no interest in making a peace agreement. The other factor is how the West will see these developments. Observers are already dragging in irrelevant analogies without reference to the specific facts about Hamas and Palestinian politics, concluding that a little kindness and running some town councils will moderate Hamas. Many will blame Israel for not making more unilateral concessions. But it was Abu Mazin's failure to break with the past and his colleagues' disinterest in real change that made Hamas seem an attractive alternative. The problem remains the same as before: a Palestinian movement shaped by Arafat, extremism, terror, and demonization of Israel has not produced a moderate leadership or ideology. Western forces appeasing and even cheering the extremists ensure their intransigence. The last peace process took seven years to arrive at its bloody, depressing result; this round seems likely to last less than one year. Barry Rubin is Director of the GLORIA Center of the Interdisciplinary Center and co-author of "Yasir Arafat: A Prof. Rubin's columns can now be read online at http://gloria.idc.ac.il/columns/column.html. This article is archived at http://gloria.idc.ac.il/columns/2005/05_17.html |
| GUSH KATIF |
PHOTOS OF HAMAS "PEACE PARTNERS"
Posted by Marlene Young, May 19, 2005. |
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[Editor's note: Rafah is a town where they bring in weapons and
equipment directly from Egypt via underground tunnels that exit into
the houses of the townspeople. Rafah is the town that Arab-aiders
like Rachel Corrie and others of the International Solidarity Movement
came to support the "innocent" Palestinians.]
These are AP photos of the "partners for peace" Hamas Terrorists, winners of PA "Democratic" elections, marching today, May 18 in Rafah, Gaza. Under the Disengagement Plan, These Hamas members will be the New Owners and Residents of Jewish neighborhoods, homes and farms in Gush Katif and Shomron, after the Jewish residents and farmers are transferred out to Jails and Trailers in a temporary Deportation Camp:
Contact Marlene Young by email at marleneyoung1@yahoo.com
You can subscribe for free to Arutz-7 (http://www.IsraelNationalNews)
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Destroyed
gravestone at traditional burial site for biblical patriarch Joseph.
Building at
Joseph's Tomb site after Palestinian Authority took control.
Arresting Rabbi Levinger
Photo from Guysen Israel News
Merav next to sign: "Together we will be victorious - Gush Katif"
Entrance to Morag
Two of Rabbi Cohen's children
Memorial at site of bus bombing
Tamar Sudri of Kfar Darom
The Jews have created beautiful towns from a desolate land.
Celebrating on the Gaza
Beach today (JPost)
What ceasefire? Hamas Kassam
rocket hits Israeli roof, May 5
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TO BE A "JUDENRATTER"
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, May 10, 2005. |
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The mind set of the "Judenrat" must be understood within the context in which it was formed. We will not go back to the times of the Romans but, the Jewish "Judenrat" has always been with us. Today it is called the Labor Party and those who surround Sharon. The "Judenratters" did not necessarily hate the Jewish people whom they sent to their deaths. They convinced themselves that, by giving up "some" of the Jewish people, they would save others...especially their own families. During the times of the German Nazi rule when a number of Jews had to be listed for transport to the death camps, the "Judenrat" salved their consciences by offering perhaps 100 names for transport, saying to themselves that they were saving another 100 whom they did not list. Today we see Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon carrying on the tradition of the "Judenrat" by offering some Jews for transportation out of Gush Katif (only 21 farming communities) and four Northern Samarian "small" settlements. That is 9,000 Jewish men, women and children who did nothing wrong except to make the barren Land fertile. Sharon tells us he is saving more Jews of YESHA (Yehuda, Shomron and Gaza). When questioned about his extraordinary reversal of strategy and policy, Sharon tells us that - like the "Judenrat" before him, he is saving a greater part of the Land and the Jewish People. But, that did not happen all during the 1940s when the Germans, the Europeans and the Americans chose to ignore the daily quota of Jews to be disposed of. Today, we see a crippled Sharon adopting the role of today's "Judenratters" as he tries to appease the Arab Muslims, the Bush Administration, the Europeans and the United Nations by offering up lists of Jews to be deported from Gaza and Samaria. He is certain that his appeasement will bring forth the good will of the Arab Muslims and the World's nations so the remaining Jews can live - merely live. But, at each gesture of abandonment, the World's anti-Israel influentials say more and more are need to be sacrificed after the first 9,000. The new King of "Judenratters", Sharon accommodates their ambitions to result in there being no Jewish State. Jews who are well beyond being merely short-sighted liberal Leftist Jews, "think" they are saving other Jews by offering up a sample sacrifice. Other Jews cannot even be called "Judenrat" because they know exactly what they are doing and intend to save no more. This is a killer species who has not a twinge of conscience in setting up the vulnerability of the Jews they wish destroyed. These are the radical Leftists, with such a reservoir of hate that making common cause with the Muslim Arab Palestinians to kill Jews is acceptable. To be named "Judenrat" would be equal to a pardon for lesser charges. There must be another name or title for this group of Jews who betray those who they should defend as their own people. But, as a practical matter, these "Judenratters" are not new to the Jewish nation from our earliest beginnings. They have attached themselves to the Jewish people like parasites feeding on their hosts. We have had them with us even before Moshe Rebbeinu allowed the "Erev Rav" (non-Jews and trash of Egypt) to join the exodus of Jews from Egypt. The "Erev Rav" have betrayed us at every opportunity, trying to destroy us from within. Sometimes they are all Leftists or other cover names but, they are always the same collective "Judenratters". Now they wear suits, receive Nobel Prizes along with Master Terrorists because they have always been reliable traitors to the Jewish people. How they are loved, funded and collaborated with by the Jew-hating Europeans and the pro-Arab U.S. State Department - who (just like the "Judenratters" betray the Jewish people), they betray the American people because they are allies of the oil maggots - the oil industrial/military complex. Yes, it always comes back to oil with the extra twist of Jew Hatred thrown into the mix. Sharon, Peres, Beilin most certainly would find it difficult to prove that they are NOT "Judenratters" of the worst order IF they had to face an honest judicial process. 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 |
44 COMMUNITIES NEAR GAZA CLASSIFIED AS FRONT-LINE TOWNS
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, May 10, 2005. |
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As reported in Ha'aretz May 4, 2005, the Israeli Cabinet (read "Arik's Cabinet") agreed that they will now classify 44 communities near the Gaza District as "front-line" towns. The affected communities are located up to 7 Kilometers from the Security Fence surrounding the Gaza Strip. Let's analyze what's being said in a proper and realistic context. First, Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is removing Gush Katif as the now existing "Front-Line" Communities and retreating to a line nearby, making many more communities "Front-Line" than the 21 Jewish communities now flourishing for 3 generations in the Gaza Strip. Sharon has never spoken clearly about the benefits of his retreat but, he alludes to being able withdraw troops from the Gaza area. The facts speak otherwise as Sharon has increased the vulnerability of many more Israeli communities, towns and cities. His Defense Minister is reinforcing roofs and installing ugly concrete shelters in the middle of streets in S'derot, a frequent target of Kassam missiles now. These 'defensive' efforts will cost millions of Shekels. And they would not have prevented the 4 deaths these missiles have caused to 3 young children and one grandfather. Nor would a reinforced roof have prevented the Kassam which hit a house recently for blowing up anyone in it. Fortunately, the house was under remodeling and the family was not present. With that Sharon must re-deploy the army units that were constantly breaking up Muslim Arab Palestinian Terrorist units in Gaza, keeping their planners and suicide bombers on the run. Now, with more towns, closer to the proposed abandoned Gush Katif, many more soldiers will have to be posted to protect a broader range of Israeli targets within easier reach of a mix of Terrorist organizations, allowed to set up excellent firing positions against Jewish civilians - courtesy of Arik Sharon. The 7 KM range designated by Sharon's controlled Cabinet will soon have to deal with improved Kassem Rockets, Katyusha Rockets and other missile devices supplied by Russia, the Europeans through Iran, Syria, Egypt, et al. The 7 KM range for "Front-Line" towns will very soon move to 10 and 20 KM as these armaments are being maneuvered into Gaza, courtesy of Sharon on one hand and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt on the other. Blatantly stating that Sharon and his submissive Cabinet recognize that they are putting 44 communities within firing range of self-declared Terrorists - making the danger exponentially greater is nothing less than voluntarily committing a crime against the Jewish people. Sharon, his Cabinet, and all connected with this crass eviction and deportation of 9,000 Jewish men, women and children must be placed on trial for aiding and abetting Terrorist organizations. There is no excuse, no defense for what Sharon is doing - since it will knowingly lead to more Jews being killed by Terrorists - all of which is known in advance by Sharon and his spineless Cabinet. This is the time for the Jewish nation to rise up, as recommended by MK Aryeh Eldad, military and intelligence experts. Even the selfish Leftists, thinking they will become safe in Tel Aviv, must now come awake to the growing danger approaching their city. I believe that putting the people in mortal danger is no less a hanging offense that what was decided at the Nuremberg Tribunals or during the trial for Adolph Eichmann. While the "7 KM" firing distance, marking the 44 communities is the first fallback retreat line, it is not the last. The "7 KM" may be the maximum range for the present Kassam Rockets, but Israeli Intel already knows that the next version is an "11 KM" Kassam named: "The Arafat" has been under development and test fired. Sharon, enslaved to the Bush Family consortium is no longer of value as a protector of the nation. There is little doubt that Sharon has become the business director for President George Bush, the pro-Arab State Department and follows his earliest Leftist leanings of the Mapai Party and his own failed Shlomzion Party. Sharon has proven that he is an inveterate liar and cannot be trusted on any issue. His incompetence in running the financial affairs of the Jewish nation is clear as budgets are cut for teachers (4,500 fired), hospitals, funds for the poor, a of Israel's children live under the poverty level - all the while Sharon is dragging the nation down toward a real Third World Banana Republic. Sharon has been the greatest disaster and disappointment the Jewish nation has ever experienced. That he has been allowed to stay in office now only speaks to the corruption and low level of his Cabinet and the Knesset (except for a handful of true patriots whom Sharon's gang calls "rebels".) Sharon has destroyed the ethics and integrity of the Police Force and possibly the Israel Defense Force, turning them into thugs symptomatic of a police state. He plans to use the Police and the IDF to uproot and evict Jewish men, women and children - with violence, if the residents decide to stay home. And he is using the Police, IDF and Secret Services to spy on the people, creating individual files - just as the East German, the Stazi of East Germany, the Iron Cross of Romania and the KGB of Russia. This is what Sharon has done to the Jewish nation. This is his legacy that shall go down in history. He, like Rabin and Peres, continues to use the politically correct Supreme Court as his personal slaves as the Judges go along. They have even adopted Sharon's slogan of how "personally painful" this deportation is, while they act as Sharon's co-conspirators in driving the Jews off their Land - given by G-d to the Jewish people in perpetuity. Be assured there will be a reckoning in Heaven or on earth with a Nuremberg type tribunal. Those who worked so diligently to destroy the world's last bastion of safety and sovereignty for the Jewish people will face a terrible Justice. 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 |
THERE IS NO NITZANIM PLAN
Posted by Rachel Saperstein, May 10, 2005. |
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The government tried to frighten us into leaving. As Arab bombing increased, the IDF response decreased. But we stood firm. The government tried to hound us into leaving. They tried to turn our supporters against us by demonizing us as "evil settlers" and "extremists". But every day the number of our supporters increases. And we stand firm. Now they are trying to trick us into leaving, using the Nitzanim Plan. Nitzanim is a strip of coastal land between the southern cities of Ashkelon and Ashdod. Situated on the Mediterranean it has been designated as part beach, part nature reserve, part cultivated orange orchards. Nitzanim is the area the government of Israel has promised to give the people of Gush Katif as the site of their future homes and farms. Gush Katif's 1500 families would be moved en masse to this site to begin their new lives in homes similar to the ones they now occupy, to be built within three years. Trailer parks adjacent to the site would house the residents while homes were being built. Farmers would rebuild their hothouses in similar soil and climate to what they had in Gush Katif, also a desert-coastal region. Sounds good. But we smell a rat. It's all deception. The Nitzanim Plan is simply a lure to convince the people of Gush Katif to sign away their homes and businesses so the government can get on with its step-by-step dismantling of the country. Gush Katif's families will not be moved en masse to this site, as promised, but will be dispersed in housing throughout the Negev area. As the Gush Katif people are divided, housed and schooled in different communities they will lose their unique identity and become absorbed into local populations. The Nitzanim area will be tied up in litigation for years. First the municipalities will lay claim to the land, then Nature Protection Societies declaring that this area must be protected from human habitation, then? Expulsion Committee Chairman Yonatan Bassi, director of a company that owns the orange groves, will sue for exorbitant compensation for the loss of land. A fourth litigant may be the prime minister's son, Omri Sharon, who appears to have business interests in this area. As the Gush people lose their identity through the many years of lawsuits, their Israeli and foreign supporters will lose interest. This unique population will disappear completely. Nitzanim will cease to be an issue and Gush Katif will become a memory - a gallant one - of a battle well fought - but only a memory. There never was a Nitzanim Plan. It is only a smoke screen, invented by the Prime Minister's Office to trick the people of Gush Katif. The people of Gush Katif have not signed away their homes. They refuse to be lured into a false Nitzanim Plan or any other plan to remove them from the Land of Israel. The battle for Gush Katif will continue, and with G-d's help we will succeed. We are standing firm. 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. |
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ISRAEL'S GREATEST THREAT
Posted by Marcel Cousineau, May 9, 2005. |
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Where was Oslo signed? Who always call's Israel's Prime Ministers on the phone demanding restraint when the IDF moves into the terrorist swamp to clean it out? Who protected Arafat from Jewish justice when Sharon had the Mukata surrounded robbing Israel of due justice? Who always pressures Israel to release terrorist for the false peace? Who continues to send millions and millions of dollars to the Palestinian Terrorist Authority even though they continue all out Jihad against Israel? Who has rearmed Egypt and Israel's Islamic neighbors with the latest and best weapons that will be used against Israel someday? WHo tramples Israel's sovereignty with impunity without shame while mouthing freedom and democracy? Who always call's on Israel to remove security road blocks and do more goodwill gestures for the false peace and never call's on the Pal's to do anything of substance? Who bemoans Israeli's for settling and building on their land and their removal more than he bemoans and demands removal of hamas, fatah, i.j.? Who refuses to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capitol even though spineless Congress passed this law in 1995? Who treats the Jew Jonathan Pollard like a dog for helping Israel? Who proudly flaunts his arrogant hypocrisy while holding hands with the Saudi wahhabi terrorist Kingdom's King? Why are Jews so blind when it comes to the truth that Mr. Bush and his Road Map are the gravest threat to Israel's survival, and why are they so silent on this. They speak out against the puppet Sharon but not on his Master who has called for a Palestinian state on once Jewish land. The Man is Israel's Greatest Threat! Are they blind? in denial? afraid to face reality? political hostages to the snake W? I don't get it? Anyone have an answer? Contact Marcel Cousineau by email at up2zionsg8@yahoo.com |
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B'NEI MENASHE: THEIR HOMES MAY BE FAR AWAY - BUT THEIR HEARTS ARE IN ISRAEL
Posted by Michael Freund, May 9, 2005. |
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Members of the Bnei Menashe community, who reside along the border between India and Burma, are waiting to make aliyah. And they haven't forgotten to observe Israel's Memorial Day and Independence Day. This article was written by Eitan Rabin and appeared today on Maariv Online. As Israelis are busy organizing ceremonies this week to mark Yom HaZikaron (Memorial Day) and Yom HaAtzmaut (Independence Day), members of the Bnei Menashe community in northeastern India are also preparing to commemorate Israel's fallen soldiers and celebrate the country's independence. The Bnei Menashe, who live near India's border with Burma, claim descent from the Biblical tribe of Manasseh. Nearly 1,000 of them have immigrated to Israel in recent years. Many of the community's younger members have volunteered to serve in the Israeli army, and some of them are in elite combat units, including the paratroopers, Golani, Givati and the Nahal HaHaredi. In March of this year, Israel's Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Shlomo Amar, decided that the Chief Rabbinate would recognize the community's connection with the Jewish people, and will dispatch representatives to convert them, thereby enabling them to make aliyah. Currently, the Bnei Menashe are planning to mark Israel's Memorial Day and Independence Day later this week, and have equipped themselves for this purpose with all the necessary gear, including the "Yizkor" (memorial) prayer as well as blue and white Israeli flags. "It is remarkable how the Bnei Menashe, who have been waiting so long to come to Israel, go to such great lengths to celebrate Yom HaAtzmaut and conduct a special ceremony for Yom HaZikaron, even though they are living in a distant land. It shows how much their hearts are here - in Israel," said Michael Freund, Chairman of Shavei Israel (www.shavei.org), which is primarily responsible for the Bnei Menashe aliyah. "I am moved that they are doing so. It is really heartwarming to hear the sense of excitement and anticipation that they feel. Soon, with the government?s help, I hope that we will bring the remaining members of the Bnei Menashe to Israel," Freund said. Michael Freund served as an aide to former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. |
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SIXTY YEARS AFTER THE HOLOCAUST: THE CONFUSED MEANINGS OF JEWISH AUTHENTICITY
Posted by Boris Celser, May 9, 2005. |
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This was written by Louis Rene Beres, Professorof International Law in the Department of Political Science at Purdue University. He can be contacted by email at beres@polsci.purdue.edu One would imagine, in the current midst of our endlessly painful Holocaust remembrances, that each and every Jew on earth would now want to scream affirming cries of Jewish authenticity to the whole world. But, alas, this is not the way it is. On the contrary - and in a stunningly ironic resonance with palpably new waves of European and Middle Eastern anti- Semitism - some Jews are even identifying with their most dangerous and sworn enemies. Although Jewish history has always had Jewish villains ready to undermine Jewish heroes, the present situation regarding "Palestine" is altogether unique. This is the case because the emerging state of Palestine would be openly genocidal, making no secret of its intention to embrace a one-state solution to its "Jewish Problem." Anyone who pays even scant attention to the Arab press knows that the enemy is always the "Jew," not the Israeli. The underlying issue is not Zionism, but Judaism. So, how does one explain an individual Jew's willingness to accept a solution to the Israel-Arab conflict - now, especially, sixty years later, in the midst of sacred and plaintive cries of "Never Again" - that is unambiguously a "final solution?" Consider this. Recently I met a Jewish man in his early fifties who attends a reform temple here in the midwest. Recognizing an Israeli accent, I asked the man, "Where are you from." He answered: "I come from Palestine, from Jerusalem." Now this was a more than curious response from a Jew, one that I had a hard time understanding. It is not unusual, of course, to hear an Arab or a European refer to Israel as "Palestine" or as "Occupied Palestine." Israel does not even exist on the official maps of the Palestinian Authority, the maps of its post-Holocaust "peace partner." On these maps it is conveniently "included" in Palestine. Cartographically, let us be clear, the next genocide against the Jews has already been implemented. But a Jew? And speaking about Jerusalem, no less. I was stunned. Was he being ironic; perhaps I was only hearing the bitter irony of a "right wing Jew" who finds unbearable the terrible and suicidal foolishness of the so- called "Road Map?" No, not at all. Rather, his commitment to anything Israeli was less than minimal. So minimal a commitment, in fact, that it was literally off the charts; the reductio ad absurdum of the strange Israeli who would proudly deny legitimacy to his own nation, his own people, and even to himself. With such a minimal level of commitment, one discovered these days in certain Israeli universities and one complemented by the unwitting indifference of hundreds of thousands of American Jews more concerned about their lavish weddings and crudely ostentatious Bar- Mitzvahs than the physical survival of Israel, one conclusion is incontestable: The Jewish State is now threatened with eradication not only from "disengagement," mega-terror and catastrophic war, but also from the plain indifference of Jews. How have we come to this point, where certain individual Jews are so filled with self-loathing that they dare call Israel "Palestine?" Amongst millions of Arabs, it would be hard, perhaps impossible, to find a single soul willing to make a comparable statement. Moreover, the Jew's statement that he comes from Palestine is one that would be seconded unhesitatingly by virtually every Palestinian. Hence, this Jew is in volitional synchrony with a people that plans to annihilate his own state, while this same people would never dream of displaying perversely parallel sympathies. Why? This man displays a still-rare (but decreasingly so) sickness of the spirit, a peculiarly anxious dread that can only be alleviated by palpable self-loathing and - ultimately - by collective self-destruction. Whether this sickness is a uniquely Jewish disorder, or "merely" an especially Jewish disorder, it is indisputably a virulent pathology that now threatens, in symbiosis with Arab and Islamic armies and European anti- Semites, to turn Israel into dust. Were Israel's enemies "only" the guns and tanks and missiles of enemy states and peoples, the coming war would be easy to fathom, and relatively easy to plan. But Israel's Order of Battle must account for a different and indecipherable kind of foe. After all, even if the IDF were capable of maintaining military superiority in the region, it would still be helpless in the face of Israelis who are unwilling to acknowledge themelves. What does this hideous phenomenon say of Israel's capacity to endure? Like the Israeli professor who now links his academic freedom to irrational self-hatreds and to the presumed right to speak treasonably, this despairing Jew who comes from "Palestine" already lies mortally wounded. If we could look into the opaque darkness of this despairing Jewish soul, we would see that the dread which is inexplicable to itself was born of his own lack of faith and meaning. Anguished that the creation of Israel may have brought pain to others, this Jew ignores that most such pain has always been self-inflicted. He forgets also that millennia of pain have been inflicted upon his fellow Jews and that all Jews have proper claim to at least some indescribably tiny measure of post-Holocaust justice. Atoning for the imagined sins of Zionism, this sick and despairing Jew now combines a profound lack of historical understanding with the patently ritualized fantasies of cosmopolitan fairness and an empowered largesse. In so doing he has brought Jewish self-hatred to new pinnacles of refinement. Indeed, for him, Jewish self-destruction is merely a comforting expression of high art. We Jews, of course, are always in critical condition. always in preparation for intensive care. Even a phenomenon so revolting as an Israeli who teaches Jewish guilt to his university students or one who claims to hail from "Palestine" is not at all unprecedented. What is so startling about this sort of Israeli is that his debilitating self-identification is hurtful and injurious to everything Jewish on this earth; that it also flies in the face of more generic definitions of basic human rights (even Jews are entitled to these general protections); that it defiles the memory of the Six Million at a very special anniversary moment of consecration; and that it even stains the "memory" of those thousands upon thousands of Israelis whose still-impending casualties in the coming paroxysms of war and terror should elicit an anticipatory form of respect. What is more, this war and terror will itself be made possible, in part, by precisely such individual acts of Jewish defilement, which - beyond any question - give significant comfort to Israel's many enemies while they weaken materially and spiritually the Jewish State. Despair is assuredly universal, but amongst certain Jews is has turned, on occasion, into a terribly immobilizing consciousness. For these Jews, disillusionment becomes the only true religion, and suffering (the suffering of one's fellow Jews) becomes the only genuine source of satisfaction. For them, even a tiny Jewish national existence implies guilt, a fact now "proved" by the Israeli government's own engineered "disengagement" of Jews from their own land. Every human statement is a hieroglyph that can be fathomed, but an individual Israeli's claim that he comes from "Palestine" requires some very precise decoding. In the final analysis, this claim stems from an observation, made famous by James Joyce, that "History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awaken." Overwhelmed by the pain of being a Jew, and preferring freedom from such pain to Jewish authenticity, this Israeli who claims to come from "Palestine" is both plagued and pleased by an altogether irrational guilt. Without such an identification, this guilt would swell to a magnitude that he could never sustain. "I come from Palestine." Shall we be deeply troubled by such a Jewish claim? Of course. What does it teach us about Israel's problematic survival amidst steadfastly genocidal enemies in the years ahead? Above all else, we must learn that before we should become too compassionately concerned about the common humanity of those who would once again bring us enthusiastically to slaughter - before we should agonize over the suffering of others who wish us only harm - we, too, have a right to self- determination in our land. We, we Jews who never speak the inexcusably loathsome language of our enemies, have a sacred and indisputable right to live and prosper everywhere, but especially in the Land of Israel. Until we fully recognize and stand up without apologies for this essential right we shall remain at existential risk not only from these enemies, but from ourselves. Boris Celser lives in Canada. Contact him by email at boriscelser@hotmail.com. |
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KILLING THE MESSENGERS
Posted by David Haimson, May 9, 2005. |
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This was written by Arlene Kushner who lives and writes in Jerusalem. She had done four major reports on UNRWA for the Center for Near East Policy Research. Her book, "Disclosed: Inside the Palestinian Authority and the PLO," has just been released and is available at www.IsraelBehindtheNews.com. The article appeared today in Front Page Magazine (www.frontpagemagazine.com Rashid Abu Shabak has just been named by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as the head of P.A. Preventive Security for the West Bank and Gaza. Much is being made in Israel of the fact that he is known as a "collaborator hunter." Indeed this is so. During a press conference on August 22, 2002, Shabak - who at that time was serving as head of Gaza Preventative Security - put on display one Akram Muhammad al-Zatma, a Palestinian student suspected of informing Israel of the whereabouts of Hamas leader Selah Shehadeh. Zatma had been arrested a month earlier and held in detention until the press conference, when he was turned over to Hamas gunmen and summarily executed. Shabak's involvement in persecuting "collaborators," however, is merely one aspect of a much larger story. If his appointment keeps the issue in the public eye, this is to the good. On February 17, news broke in Israel that Abbas himself had ratified the execution of three "collaborators" who had been charged with treason. According to the reports, the information came from one Sakher Bseiss, governor of the Northern Gaza Strip - who, it would seem, was providing a service to the P.A. by going public with this. The full story, as provided by Bseiss, was that there were 51 people on death row who had been convicted of various crimes and sentenced to death within Palestinian Authority courts during Arafat's regime. Abbas, in accordance with Islamic law, which requires that all death sentences be approved by a religious authority, turned the cases over to Sheikh Akrima Sabri, the mufti of Jerusalem, who approved the sentences as religiously valid. Abbas then put his signature on some or all of the death warrants. Why it was said that there were three "collaborators" to be executed is not clear. Perhaps these three were simply those being scheduled to go first. For by the second week of March the news carried stories of 15 "collaborators" due to be executed before the month was out. According to Avi Leitner of the Israel Law Center, Shurat HaDin, there have not been 15 "collaborators" who have been tried and sentenced to death; the Center, which monitors these matters, is aware only of some seven or eight. Many more are inside the prisons, but have not been put on trial. In any event, the trials that have proceeded have been precipitous and have conformed only dubiously to any coherent system of law: from place to place within the P.A., the rules vary. Those who were convicted and sentenced had been sitting for some time on death row. They might have sat there indefinitely. The reason why Abbas decided at this particular juncture to move on the executions is of more than passing interest, and has precious little to do with genuine due process. "Collaborators" are Palestinians who have cooperated with Israeli authorities to locate wanted arch-terrorists, who then are usually executed. That this cooperation constitutes treason within the P.A. courts is a matter of considerable significance. The Palestinian Authority itself is supposed to be locating and imprisoning and presumably trying terrorists with blood on their hands. In fact, as the death penalty is a common sentence for murders within the P.A., it would not be outrageous to suggest that such terrorists, if tried, might have received such sentences in due course. Yet so great is the influence of terrorist groups such as Hamas within the Palestinian society that their extreme displeasure with the "collaborators" has to be taken very seriously. Abbas himself has made it clear that the members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad are brothers who will be incorporated into the society, and not outsiders to it. The terrorist groups, however, were creating a problem for Abbas, who has been working mightily to generate the impression that he is heading a nation-in-the-making that conforms to democratic principles and functions with law and order. In point of fact, the Palestinian Authority is on the verge of anarchy and control of renegade forces is close to nil. Particularly embarrassing for Abbas are extra-judicial executions, in which members of Hamas and others drag individuals accused of collaboration out of their homes and summarily shoot them or hang them. This is not a situation that could be tolerated. But Abbas had neither the desire nor the ability to come after those who carry out such executions. His solution was to co-opt the situation and demonstrate to those inclined take part in extra-judicial executions that the system viewed the matter of "collaborators" seriously and would be dealing with them within the bounds of the legal processes of the P.A. "Don't worry, guys," he was telling them: "we'll handle this." This may have moved Abbas one very small step towards creating greater order within the society, but it most certainly has not moved him closer to principles of democracy. There is first, the significant matter of his seeking the approval of a Muslim religious authority, even after the P.A. courts had handed down their rulings. With this Abbas has tipped his hand: The Palestinian state will be ruled by Islamic law. Then too there is the critical fact that the human rights of those "collaborators" scheduled for execution have been abrogated. U.S. policy with regard to issues of human rights in the international arena has been vastly complex. Where, it is appropriate to ask, does the United States stand in this instance? Recent U.S. history is replete with instances in which Realpolitik prevailed and human rights issues went out the window. When it has suited the national interest, totalitarian regimes have been uncritically supported. And yet, we wouldn't be totally wrong to have favorable expectations with regard to U.S. support of human rights. Thirty years ago Congress passed the Jackson-Vanick Amendment, which denied most favored nation trade status to nations that did not grant its citizens the right to emigrate. That was a stunning success. The U.S. rose to the occasion when called to do so, and Jews trapped in the Soviet Union were able to find their way out. Now is perhaps a time when the U.S. is again called upon to rise to the occasion. From Jerusalem, where I work, I decided to clarify the United States position on this matter. On March 8th I called the U.S. Embassy Spokesman Paul Patin in Tel Aviv. When I put the question to him about the U.S. position, he alluded to extra-judicial executions and made it clear that the U.S. was opposed to them. I in turn then clarified that I was not speaking of anything extra-judicial, but something that had gone through legal process in the P.A. "Was the U.S. going to do anything about this?" I asked. "Well," he intoned, "we're not going to send in the army." I was not certain if he was being flippant or if this was a poor and inappropriate attempt at humor, but I decided to play it straight. "I know you're not sending in the army," I replied. "There is no official position on this," Patin said. "Ah," I answered, "but maybe unofficially the U.S. might do something - like, you know, tell Abu Mazen that if he wants full support from the U.S. this cannot be permitted." At this, Patin stonewalled: It was not in his jurisdiction, he explained. The Embassy deals only with relations with Israel. It is the Consulate in Jerusalem, which takes its orders not from the Embassy but directly from the State Department, that deals with U.S. relations with the P.A. "Call Chuck Hunter," he advised. I did, and found Mr. Hunter, the Consulate Spokesman, to be totally without flippancy or humor as he spoke with me. "This is an important question," he said. He wanted to check locally and with Washington in order to get more information, and would then get back to me. Late in the day, March 9th, he did call me. "I've checked with my people locally," he told me, "and there haven't been any executions." "But," I protested, "Abu Mazen has signed off on the executions and the people are sitting on death row." "You know how it is with death row," he demurred. "They can sit there forever." "Then the U.S. doesn't intend to do anything about this situation?" I asked. "No," he answered, in closing. Was Mr. Hunter giving me something with his comment about sitting on death row indefinitely? Was this indeed an instance of very low key, informal, back-door protection of rights? There is no way for me to be certain. But if he was, it is insufficient. President Bush has been adamant about the need to cultivate democracy in the Muslim states in the Middle East. He has indicated repeatedly that peace between the Palestinians and Israel will not be possible until the Palestinians achieve a democratic state. This has been a cornerstone of his policy. Is he now going to sell that policy short and cut Mahmoud Abbas far more slack than he should? A true democracy is about more than elections and a legislative body. It is concerned with the value of human life, and protection of civil liberties and genuine due process of law. Mr. Bush knows how to speak out forcefully with regard to what he expects, in accordance with his vision of what is required for peace. He even says Israel has some responsibility to ensuring Palestinian economic viability. Is he going to accept a mere semblance of democracy within Palestinian society - an empty shell without the soul of democracy - without an effort to help develop more? The ostensibly moderate leader of the Palestinians is moving, without genuine due process of law, to execute individuals whose crime was to aid and abet the capture of murderers and to likely prevent the loss of additional human life at the hands of these same murderers. In the face of this, can the American government afford to remain silent? Contact David Haimson at DvHaimson@aol.com to receive emails with direct links to articles on Israel that are well-worth reading. |
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SO THE POPE WANTS GOOD RELATIONS?
Posted by Beth Goodtree, May 9, 2005. |
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The media and political pundits have been falling all over themselves since the new Pope came to power to say what a nice guy he is and how he wants to have good relations with the Jews. Never mind that he was in the Hitler Youth Corp, he was forced. But now he wants to make nice to the people who still practice the religion that Jesus did. (And no, Jesus was neither a Christian nor a Catholic; he was a Jew.) You wanna make nice Your Eminence? How about returning our stuff? All of it. It is an established fact that the Vatican holds in its vaults priceless Jewish artifacts with both religious and historic significance. This includes a manuscript by Maimonides, which was written by a scribe in the 1400s.[1] Maimonides, also known as Rambam, was the 12th-century doctor and sage in Egypt whose works include the first codification of Jewish law. He is considered one of the most influential of all Jewish thinkers. Recently, Jewish scholars were allowed to view this manuscript, but it has never been returned to the Jewish people. Can you imagine the hue and cry if, say, a work by St. John were being held by the Jews and not returned to the Vatican? Heck, they'd probably start another Crusade. According to George Krupp, the Vatican has the largest repository of ancient Hebrew and medieval Hebrew manuscripts in the world. Krupp is one of three living Jews to be knighted by a pope and facilitated the loan of the Maimonides manuscript, along with a few others. Then there is the whole issue of the Temple artifacts being held by the Vatican.[3] The Temple referred to here is the Second Temple of Jerusalem. When the Romans sacked Jerusalem in AD 70, they took Temple treasures with them. Legend has it that religious articles from the Temple, including the menorah, were among them. The Vatican has consistently denied the menorah is there. However, the Arch of Titus in Rome depicts victorious Roman legions marching off with the seven-branch menorah in hand. A former Israeli Minister of Religion, Shimon Shitreet, had requested the Vatican to return the holy golden Menorah from the Temple as well as vessels and other holy artifacts. He presented that Vatican with the results of historical research that proved that the Menorah and vessels were taken to Rome together with the Israeli captives. The artifacts remained there when Rome became Christian and were then transferred to the Vatican. Shitreet's research was also based on the ornamentation of Titus' triumphal arch in Rome that confirms it in a very clear manner. This request was not merely ignored, it evoked antagonism and denial in the Vatican. This denial of the return of priceless and theologically imperative Jewish objects raises more than one question. The first one is political. Does the Vatican really want good relations with Jews? If so, it will immediately return those items it retains that are most precious to the Jewish people. The second question, and perhaps the most important, concerns the entire philosophy of the Vatican as the representative of the Catholic peoples, and may be crucial to its very survival. Catholics pray for the day that the Messiah comes. Catholics also incorporate into their religious doctrine the Hebrew bible as well as the New Testament. Their savior, Jesus Christ, was a Jew and followed the Hebrew bible in exactly the same form as it is written today. In the Hebrew bible, it clearly states that the Messiah won't come until the Third Temple is built. It also states that the Jews will build this Temple. And the Jewish people need the holy artifacts and documents held by the Vatican to build this Temple. So, when the Vatican refuses to return holy items to the Jews, it is, in essence, trying to prevent the Messiah from coming. And isn't that, according to Christian doctrine, the ultimate evil? To quote a cliched bumper sticker, "What would Jesus say?" End Notes 1. http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0105/maimonides_vatican.php3 2. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=36631 3. http://www.cephas-library.com/prophecy_temple_artifacts_list_demand.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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BETRAYING THE REAL FREEDOM FIGHTERS
Posted by Elan Journo, May 9, 2005. |
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It is a gross injustice that America endorses a sovereign Palestinian state--but shuns Taiwan's claim to independence. People striving to create free societies properly deserve the moral support of anyone who loves freedom. So it is dismaying that, despite President Bush's rhetoric about freedom, the United States shuns one brave group of people attempting to escape the clutches of a mighty totalitarian regime--but endorses another group seeking to establish a tyranny. These two groups--the Taiwanese and the Palestinians--both assert that they are entitled to a sovereign state. Observe that the United States did not laud the huge March 26 rally in Taipei protesting China's aggression and upholding Taiwan's independence. But President Bush frequently affirms his support for a sovereign Palestinian state, a sentiment echoed by other world leaders who lately pledged $1.2 billion in foreign aid to the Palestinian Authority. The U.S. contribution to these "freedom fighters" this year is a hefty $200 million. Taiwan, bereft of diplomatic recognition in Washington and other capitals, is decidedly unwelcome at the United Nations, an organization which once invited former Palestinian leader, arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat, to address its General Assembly. To appreciate the magnitude of the injustice in how the Taiwanese and Palestinians are treated, consider their respective claims to sovereignty. Palestinian leaders assert that their people would be better off in an ethnic homeland with a sovereign Palestinian government. They demand "liberation" from Israel's supposed yoke, but their claim is belied by reality. Arabs living under Israeli rule have long enjoyed political rights and a standard of living unmatched by any other Middle Eastern country. For example, Arab citizens can freely air their views without fear of retribution; they can serve as members of parliament; they can seek legal redress under a rule-of-law judicial system. What is the alternative for which Palestinian leaders are clamoring? It is obvious if you look at the Palestinian Authority, the provisional governing body in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This tyrannical regime has become notorious for systematically trampling its subjects' rights. Critics of the Palestinian leadership have been brutally silenced, their printing presses burned and broadcasting facilities shut down. There is nothing approaching an objective judiciary: arbitrary arrests and imprisonments are rampant. While many prisoners rot in jail without ever being charged, terrorists are quickly set free or allowed to "escape." The several competing Palestinian "security forces" are known to confiscate property and murder anyone who stands in their way. What has kept the Palestinians afloat economically is billions of dollars in foreign aid--the most aid per capita for any "people" in the world--money that has helped fund anti-Western terrorist groups. There is no right to establish (or expand) a tyranny. Sovereignty will not transform the Palestinian regime into a thriving free society, but perpetuate the regime's hostility to human life. Only those who seek to escape political oppression and create a free state are entitled to invoke a moral right to statehood. That precisely describes Taiwan's struggle. Threatening war if Taiwan declares independence, Beijing regards the island as belonging to China and insists on "reunification." But Taiwan is justified in seeking to preserve its hard-won freedoms from China's encroachment. Over the last thirty years, the island nation has gradually established a government that protects the rights of individuals. By 1987, more than a decade after the death of its longtime authoritarian ruler, Chiang Kai-shek, martial law was lifted; political dissidents who had been jailed by the government were released; and, two years later, opposition parties were legalized. Today Taiwan is a powerful economic dynamo whose people are free to express their views, to start businesses and keep their wealth, to seek legal redress in the courts, to elect their political leaders. What would "reunification" with China mean? In the twenty years since government forces slaughtered pro-freedom demonstrators in Tiananmen Square, China has opened itself up to some international commerce--but it remains a dictatorship. Iron-fisted censorship now extends beyond the print and broadcast media to the Internet; those who petition the government for legal redress risk being arrested on ominously vague charges of "disturbing the social order"; "political criminals" are persecuted, imprisoned, and killed. Were it governed by Beijing, Taiwan would see its political freedoms corroded. Failing to endorse Taiwan's legitimate claim to independence means consigning its people to the predations of a totalitarian regime. Endorsing the Palestinians' baseless demand to a state means condemning its subjects to the living hell of tyranny. If we truly want to see the spread of freedom around the world, we must reverse the contemptible injustice of supporting Palestinian thugs while withholding our moral support from Taiwan. Elan Journo is a junior fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute (http://www.aynrand.org/) in Irvine, Calif. The Institute promotes the ideas of Ayn Rand--best-selling author of "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead" and originator of the philosophy of Objectivism. |
| GUSH KATIF |
A MESSAGE TO THE RESIDENTS OF GUSH KATIF
Posted by Moshe Feiglin, May 9, 2005. |
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My brothers, the heroes of Gush Katif, it is now clear to the destroyers that if you don't evict yourselves they will simply be unable to do so. In despair they are trying to tempt you to agree to go quietly, and in return they will build you a "new Gush Katif" in Nitzanim. This means that earlier, when they said that those who would sign first would receive more, they were lying. Do you really think that now they're telling the truth? Heroes of the Gush, listen to what I say: This is a most trying situation. In every trial that one faces, the hardest stage is at the end. It is terribly hard for you, but for the destroyers it is even harder. I am near to them, I see them, I smell them, and I know that they are hysterical. I know Tzippi Livni. I know how all these people think. They are panicking. They'll promise you anything now. You must realize that the turnaround is gaining momentum. More and more soldiers are refusing to obey orders. More and more demonstrators are going to jail. These are only the first signs of the coming of the great Israeli spring of freedom. But everything depends on you. If you evict yourselves, nothing will be of avail. It won't help if we block the roads. It won't help if we get arrested. It won't help if we refuse to obey orders. It won't help if we come to Gush Katif. And it won't help if we organize mass civil disobedience. It will only result in an improved version of Yamit, but no more. The destroyers know this, and therefore all their efforts are now being focused on you, so that you evict yourselves. Please hold on. You are the boy stopping the hole in the dyke with his finger. Gush Katif and Northern Shomron are only the beginning. Do you really believe that the person who doesn't keep his word, the liar who declared publicly that he would accept the results of the Likud members' referendum, will keep his promises to you? The moment you leave there will be a new spin. Eyal Arad will concoct something. The front will shift to Beit El and Ofra, to the Golan and Jerusalem, and no one will remember you. You will be last year's snow. The Finance Minister will explain that there is no money now, perhaps in the future? in the meantime just wait... Don't bother to unpack your suitcases. Perhaps Sharon will explain again that it was a mistake to promise anything. Perhaps Netanyahu or Olmert will replace him and explain that the promises cannot be implemented just yet. You will receive what they promised you, just as the Southern Lebanese Army did, and just as the families of the Arab collaborators did, and just as Pollard did, and just as anyone who was tempted to do business with a person lacking G-d did. Those who are unfaithful to the Land of Israel and the G-d of Israel are also unfaithful to the Jewish People. In fact, they cannot be relied on for anything. My brothers, the heroes of Gush Katif, you must realize that the option of giving up everything you've believed in, in return for a promise of a material future, simply doesn't exist. If you persevere you will retain your honor and proud spirit, together with your homes and property. And even if, G-d forbid, they succeed in robbing you of your homes and property, they cannot rob your of your honor and spirit. If you believe in Sharon and follow him, you will lose it all - your homes and your honor. I am not in your situation, and I cannot judge you. But regardless of your decision I shall always admire you for your stand up to now. However, perhaps from the place where I am now I can see some things better than you. I only want to tell you that you are winning. The destroyers are beginning to crumble. I only want to tell you that now the fate of the country depends on you. The lives of millions of Jews in the Land of Israel simply depend on you. I only want to tell you that after you have withstood over 5000 mortar bombs fired at you, it is inconceivable that you should give in because of a promise made by Tzippi Livni. Inconceivable! You are the silver platter on which the State is given to the Jewish People. I am certain that if only you continue to hold out, with G-d's help you will win. You will save all of us. And yourselves, and your honor. And you and your children and grandchildren will flourish and prosper until the end of time, in your land, in Gush Katif and Northern Shomron. With love and admiration, Moshe Feiglin 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 |
GUSH KATIF REACTS WITH DISDAIN TOWARDS SHARON'S ULTIMATUM
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, May 9, 2005. |
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This was written by by Arutz-7's Gush Katif correspondent Hillel Fendel. "If 1,000 families don't sign on the Nitzanim program, we won't be able to implement it," said Ilan Cohen of the PM's office this morning. Gush Katif: "Sharon has no solutions; we're here to stay." With the date of the scheduled expulsion of thousands of Jews from northern Shomron and Gush Katif only three months away, the Sharon government still has no concrete housing solutions to offer the residents. Government officials have been meeting with representatives of the residents, and have presented a proposal to build them four new communities in choice real estate in the Nitzanim area, north of Ashkelon. Ilan Cohen, Director-General of the Prime Minister's Bureau, said this morning, "No one in his right mind would try to build four communities for only a few dozen families. If we get 1,000 families from Gush Katif to sign their willingness to live there, then we can do it." The residents, on the overwhelming whole, treat such threats with disdain. "For one thing," one influential resident told me, "we don't need alternative communities; we already have these beautiful communities that we built up with great dedication and camaraderie, and we have no plans to go anywhere." When pressed, however, the speaker - Ami Shaked, the security coordinator for the Gaza Coast Regional Council - is willing to add something else: "The Nitzanim project is one big deception. It sounds great on paper, but for one thing, it's not in Nitzanim [geographically very similar to the Gush Katif coastline sand dune areas - ed.], but rather in the Mesilah area closer to the highway. But more basically: how do they plan to fit in our 23 communities, each one with its own character and so on, into 4" It just doesn't work. The time frame, of course, is totally unrealistic. They will place us in caravans for months, years? And then, in a few months from now, who will remember us at all? They'll put families with 10-12 children into little caravans? What will happen afterwards? It has to be made clear to everyone that if this disengagement goes through, the State of Israel is headed for its worst humanitarian disaster ever." I met Avner Shimoni, Mayor of the Gaza Coast Regional Council, at a gathering this morning of hundreds of nursery-age children from all over Gush Katif in N'vei Dekalim, in commemoration of this week's Independence Day holiday. "Prime Minister Sharon says that If 1,000 families don't sign, you won't have a place to live," I said. "What will you do?" "Sharon knows the truth," Shimoni responded. "He knows he has no solutions, and therefore, he's trying to shift the blame onto us. His plan is simply one of deception. There's no way they can accomplish this in three months, and so instead of admitting this, he blames us. They have no solution; it's obvious that we will remain here." "You sound even more optimistic than you were a month ago," I said. Shimoni: "Quite right. The government is showing that it is confused by our strength, bewildered by the growing rate of opposition to the disengagement plan as shown by public polls, and it simply is not sure what to do. By the way, the city of Ashkelon now has a 'Red Dawn' missile alert system just like they do in Sderot, and in addition, the government is beginning to implement a plan to reinforce houses in communities that border on Gaza. Apparently the government is expecting something that it doesn't want to talk about publicly." MK Tzvi Hendel (National Union), a resident of Ganei Tal in Gush Katif, agrees that the government is on the defensive. All talk that the Nitzanim project might not succeed unless people agree now to join it is merely "psychological warfare," he feels. He wrote as much in a special pre-Sabbath letter to the residents. There are those who are not as confident, however. Several residents have braved the objections of their friends and neighbors, and in fear for their future, met in recent weeks and days with government officials. "Thanks to the rabbis in Gush Katif," said one woman, "this has not become a major source of contention. Most of us believe that it is harmful to meet with the government, but many of the rabbis here, such as Rabbi Kaminetzky in N'vei Dekalim and Rabbi Netanel in Atzmona, keep reminding us of our theme, 'With love, we will win.' These people are merely showing weakness, nothing more, and therefore we must embrace them. Without their guidance, the atmosphere really might not have been as positive as it is." "By the way," she added, "note that even those so-called 'realistic' ones who say that we have to plan for our future, etc. - they're still here. By any standard, it is inconceivable that none of us have left, given the threat hanging over our heads. The same happened with the mortar shells - people said we should leave, but no one did. There is a fundamental truth that is keeping us all here, connected to our land and people." 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 JEWS WILL BE VICTORIOUS: AN INTERVIEW WITH NAOMI OFEN
Posted by David Wilder, May 9, 2005. |
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Shalom. Last night 34 year old Neria Ofen, from the Yitzhar community, was incarcerated via an administrative arrest warrant. This morning I interviewed his wife, Naomi. Tell us a little about your family: We have a regular family with four cute children. We live on the eastern hilltop of Yitzhar, we've been here for about six years. We are married almost 9 years. Our oldest child is eight and the youngest, one. Neria grew up in Jerusalem and learned in Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva in Shechem. What kind of activities is Neria involved with? Neria helped found and organize Sivuv Sha'arim (Around the Gates), when Jews sing and dance around the walls of the old city in Jerusalem, on the eve of every new month, hoping and praying for the for rebuilding BetMikdash, the Temple in Jerusalem. They began this about four or five years ago. He works very closely with the policemen and police officers. Everything is done with full cooperation and coordination with police - As a matter of fact, the policeman who arrested him last night said, "I know Neria him from Sivuv Sha'arim. What's this all about?' So Neria knows a lot of people? As a result of these activities, Neria knows tens of thousands of people. What did he do when Sharon's expulsion plans started? Did he do anything? Of course, just like every Jew who cares and cannot sit quietly, watching such a terrible thing. He worked primarily with the project, "Jews don't expel Jews," explaining to soldiers and police to listen to their Jewish conscience and not participate in this. What kinds of persuasion did he use - would he try to convince anyone violently? No, he is very gentle. He only talks, even when he's arrested, he just sits and talks with police, helps them put on them tefillin - he's not a person of force - he's an ideologue - he speaks and explains, but not with force. What happened last night? We were on the way to Sivuv Sha'arim, the monthly program in the old city. It had been canceled because the police were afraid that Jews would try to get onto HarHaBayit, Temple Mount. But Neria's conscience wouldn't allow him to stay home, abandoning the plaza in front of Temple Mount, by the Wall. The organization has a rule that if the event is canceled, someone has to be there to greet those who didn't hear that it was canceled, and to tell them. We all drove in. And when we arrived in Jerusalem we were stopped by plain clothes police who identified themselves and told Neria to accompany them. They wouldn't let me give him money or a cell phone. I said to them, "let me give him money so he'll be able to get home after he's released, how will qhe get home?" They laughed at me and said "no he won't be coming home, it will be a long time, within 48 hours he'll see a judge." I asked why 48 hours, because according to law, he can see a judge within 24 hours. They answered, "yes, but this is a special case, the defense minister himself signed the warrant so it will be 48 hours." When I said, "I understand that it's an administrative arrest," they didn't answer me. They ignored me. Has anyone called you? From the police? No. And I haven't spoken to Neria since. No one else has called me except MK Aryeh Eldad who wished me a kind of congratulations (yashar koach). Did you expect this to happen? From the beginning of this expulsion plan we would talk, with neighbors, on Shabbat, it was clear that they would do this, use administrative arrests, like with the Oslo Accords. When they want to do something like this and there are opponents, they use these kinds of tactics. Did he see himself as a candidate for administrative arrest? No, not on a personal level, we discussed it more on a more general level, and unfortunately I don't think he'll be the last one. According to media reports today, Neria was arrested because he was planning attacks against Arabs. That's a good joke. He's not the right person. I'm not saying it's good or not good to do such things, but it's not him. Let's put it that way, it's not Neria! He wouldn't touch a fly. So why was he arrested? It's Ariel Sharon. He knows that there are people who are so dedicated that they are willing to give everything for our land and Neria is one of them. Sharon's under pressure, pressure that's preventing him from doing what he wants. Neria isn't an organizer, he was never a 'public figure' who was invited to meetings, someone who everyone knows his name. We are very simple people. He wasn't really involved, except for Sivuv Sha'arim, which was his pet project. He's not one of the heads of Yesha. Did he ever receive any kind of warning due to his activities with 'Jews don't expel Jews?" Never. Neria is not a secretive person. Everything he did was out in the open. Everything. He's not secretive. The opposite is true. When talking with friends, he would tell them to be openly arrested, not to be afraid, not to do things 'behind other's backs.' That's the way it was with Sivuv Sha'arim, everything was done with full cooperation with the police. He's not the right person. Did you take a lawyer? Take a lawyer? It was really funny. The policeman told me to call Zangi (Shmuel Medad) from Honenu [www.honenu.org.il] - (Watch the movie!). "He'll take care of everything, he knows what to do, they do the work great." I told him I know Zangi and thanks for the advice. And they are taking care of it, it's not my responsibility. It's a big mitzvah to donate to Honenu. Anyone who wants can contribute to them and say it's for Neria. I'm not involved in the legal side of things. Thank G-d I have four children and I'm a teacher. That's what my time is for. You don't sound overly upset. Look, I can't tell you that I'm happy and that I slept well last night. But, if this is what's right to do, if this is the price we have to pay because we love Eretz Yisrael, we'll pay it with joy and happiness. So you wouldn't tell people to stop being active, because they might be arrested and leave their wife and kids alone for a few months? No, to the contrary, I would tell everyone that they should be arrested, they should go out and block roads and be arrested. Look, I have four children. I live in a hill-top community, not in a regular community, not in a protected house with everything close by. My children are very dependant on me to get from place to place and I work a full-time, I'm a classroom teacher. My life isn't a summer camp. I don't have a grandmother living next store to make our lunch every day. It's clear that now things will be more difficult, we'll have to rearrange our lives - Shabbat, holidays, that's clear. He's supposed to be arrested until after the expulsion, the order is for four and a half months. What did you do after Neria was arrested? We went shopping in Jerusalem. After Passover the house was empty. What happened to you on your way home? On the way home they threw a fire-bomb at us near an Arab village, near Eli. It didn't hit the car, we saw the fire and kept driving. There weren't any security forces in the area, not even one jeep. That area is very problematic. Not long ago they threw rocks at us there. It's a well known Arab village. There's an Arab house there that the army used as an outpost but now, because of the peace? they removed the outpost, but the army know about the area? And now? Now we are rearranging our lives. We are happy with our lot in life. We have a father - a good father - a tzadik, a righteous man, and we're proud of his deeds. Let me conclude with the words of Adir Zik, of blessed memory: "The Jews will be victorious." With blessings from Hebron. The feared wave of pre-disengagement administrative (without formal charges) arrests of activists may have begun Sunday with the jailing of an anti-expulsion activist without trial. The activist, who organized the renewal of traditional monthly prayer marches around the gates of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, is the first Jew to be jailed without due process ahead of this summer's withdrawal of Jews from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria. He is a resident of the town of Yitzhar, south of Shechem in central Samaria. The order to jail Neria Ofan was signed by Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz, and was handed to him as he pulled up to the Hizmeh checkpoint near the northern Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Ze'ev. Ofan was on his way, with his wife and children, to take part in the monthly encirclement of the gates of the Temple Mount, which he helps organize. Ofan was told that he will spend the next six months, until after the implementation of the withdrawal from Gaza and northern Samaria, in an Ashkelon prison. Security services sources have spread numerous leaks to the press, alleging that Ofan was suspected of illegal activity and violence, but both human rights groups and anti-expulsion activists are demanding the government either file charges or admit they are stepping over the boundaries of a democratic society. Ofan's friends say his efforts to sign up thousands of soldiers to declare their intention to refuse to expel Jews from their homes is what made him a target. "The witch-hunt has already begun," said one Land of Israel activist, "the Saison is upon us." The Saison refers to the period when Jews fighting the British alongside eventual Prime Ministers Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir were handed over to the British by their fellow Jews for imprisonment and torture. "Neria is, in fact very well known to Jerusalem police from his full cooperation and coordination of the monthly marches," said Michal Ben-Avraham of Yitzhar. If Ofan, a father of four who engaged in legitimate activities in a public manner against the expulsion, can be jailed in such a simple manner, "then anybody can simply be placed in prison - and there is truly no Democracy in Israel." Ben-Avraham told Israel National Radio's Stutz & Fleisher Show that she believes Ofan was targeted because of his ability to contact and mobilize large numbers of Land of Israel activists. "They want to neutralize him," she said. MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union) offered his blessings to Ofan, lauding him as the first Jew in Israel to be arrested and detained without indictment or trial, prior to the withdrawal. "I want to bless the first administrative detainee in a wave of democracy coming from [Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon," Eldad said, "and to say to him: 'Your arrest is your victory.'" MK Eldad condemned the use of administrative detention and said it was a sign of the government's weakness. "The Shabak, instead of being used to defend Jews, is being used as an arm to intimidate those opposed to the disengagement," he said. The Shabak (General Security Service) has reportedly submitted several other names to government officials in hopes of obtaining additional administrative arrest orders ahead of the implementation of the Gaza expulsion plan. Ofan's attorney Naftali Wurtzburger told Army Radio early today he feels his client was selected in the hope of sending a message to other disengagement opponents, seeking to persuade them to back off and end their protest activities. Wurtzburger added that his client is a law-abiding citizen and a family man who does not have a criminal record despite efforts by government officials to paint a damaging picture in the media. Naomi Ofan, Neria's wife told Army Radio that if someone should be put in prison for endangering Israel it is Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. "When he started talking about this evil expulsion plan we knew there would be arrests. We just didn't know who would be targeted." She added that if the government's goal is to demoralize her and other Jews who plan to fight the withdrawal, it has failed. "This arrest makes me laugh. Every time they arrest someone, they come up with loads of bogus material against him, but it eventually proves to be lies." Shevach Stern, Chairman of the Likud Values Forum, wrote a strongly-worded letter to Defense Minister Mofaz demanding that Mofaz either put Ofan on trial or set him free. "Ofan, like myself and many others, is acting legitimately and in an open manner to thwart the 'disengagement plan' that in our opinion endangers the State of Israel," Stern wrote. "Administrative detention signals an undemocratic attempt to stifle legitimate protest of political opposition." "Mr. Defense Minister - this is not the way of the Likud movement," Stern added. "If there is evidence against Neria Ofan of criminals acts - then put him one trial, if not - then set him free. From this point, the next step is the arrest of members of the Likud Central Committee who oppose you as part of the scare tactics of the disengagement machine, and then those who are against your election to the Knesset. There is no glory down that road." Adding near-injury to insult, Ofan's wife, on her way home with her young child from witnessing her husband arrested and taken away, was attacked by Arab terrorists who threw a firebomb at her vehicle. The attack occurred near the Arab village of Luban a-Sharkia, along Route 60 in central Samaria. Neither she nor her child was injured. The Honenu organization, which assists in the legal costs of those
brought to trial defending themselves from Arab terror, responded to
the attack, saying, "While the Shabak is accusing Neria Ofan of
attempting to harm Arabs, we see that the ones who are causing harm
are the Arabs themselves."
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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| GUSH KATIF |
UPCOMING ACTIVITIES AGAINST SHARON'S DISASTROUS "UNILATERAL DISENGAGEMENT PLAN"
Posted by Women in Green, May 8, 2005. |
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Dear friends, Good News: the last few weeks have seen an increase in activities against Sharon's disastrous "unilateral disengagement plan". More and more grassroots groups, religious and non-religious, young and old, are being formed spontaneously all over the country, each one organizing different kind of protests. Demonstrations at intersections, solidarity marches to Gush Katif and the Shomron, blocking of major intersections in the Gush Dan area, students dressed in orange sleeping in the streets, campaigns convincing soldiers and policemen not to give a hand to the crime of the uprooting, have all become daily occurrences. Those activities have already proven to be effective. Even the leftist media in Israel was forced to admit that the public in Israel does not favor Sharon's transfer plan. According to a poll in this Friday's Maariv now only 54% of the Israeli public (including Israeli Arabs) favors disengagement, down from 65%. Our protests must continue and increase. The more we keep the security forces busy, the less they can get organized and ready for Deportation) day. As we have said before, five elements will, please G-d, thwart Sharon's plan: 1) The steadfastness of the Gush Katif and Shomron residents in their unwillingness to leave on their own free will for compensation. Women in Green call upon all to take part in the different activities and protests. There follows a partial list of events and announcements: A) This coming Monday Evening, May 9th, 2005 at 7:00pm at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Jerusalem-Conference planning the upcoming Civil Disobedience.Organized by "Habayit Haleumi." Speakers: MK Prof Arieh Eldad, Atty Elyakim Haetzni, Moshe Feiglin, Nadia Matar and more. Come one, Come all. B) Yom Haatzmaut- WE WILL ALL BE THERE IN GUSH KATIF Moetset Yesha is organizing a mass rally at 4:00pm around the lake in Gush Katif. On that day, only buses will be let in. Buses will leave the Jerusalem Central bus station at 10:00pm. For details- Moetset Yesha tel: 02-5822224 C) After Yom Haatzmaut- Women in Green continues its weekly campaign convincing the soldiers not to give a hand to the crime of the uprooting. We will hold a vigil and hand out leaflets to soldiers, EVERY SUNDAY MORNING from 9:00 am till 11:00 am, opposite the Jerusalem Central Bus station (on the side of Binyanei Hauma). On Sunday mornings thousands of soldiers go back, by bus, to their base. We urge you to join us. For details call Jaqueline at 054-424-8365 In addition, Women in Green leaders Nadia Matar and Anita Finkelstein, who have recently moved to Gush Katif and are the proud new residents of Kfar Yam, will organize similar weekly vigils in the Ashkelon-Sderot area. Details to follow. Anyone living in that area and want to join can contact Nadia at 0505-500834 or Anita at 0505-777254 D) A must see: E) Update on Minhelet Kela-please read and forward to all:
MINHELET KELA
Minhelet Kela (a Hebrew acronym for "the Gaza Absorption Authority)
was founded this past February as part of the Zionist answer which
will, please G-d, defeat Ariel Sharon's criminal "unilateral
disengagement" plan.
One of the most important ways to prevent the implementation of
Sharon's 'disengagement" (deportation of Jews) plan is to bring masses
of people to Gush Katif who, in a non-violent way, will simply make it
impossible for the security forces to carry out their mission.
Minhelet Kela works towards this end on two levels:
Firstly, There are hundreds of empty homes and structures in Gush
Katif that need to be fixed up in order to enable families to move in.
Minhelet Kela, with the generous financial help of Jewish and
non-Jewish lovers of Zion, has already refurbished tens of homes.
Thanks to Minhelet Kela, three communities in Gush Katif have filled all their empty buildings with tens of new families. It has now become apparent to all, how much new families in Gush Katif strengthen the local residents in their steadfastness to stay and not to cave in to all kind of spurious compensation offers.
Work on more homes has started in five more communities, and depending on your help, Minhelet Kela hopes to finish them too, thus adding more and more families to Gush Katif. Hundreds of people are on the waiting list, waiting to be able to move to Gush Katif. Volunteers working for Minhelet Kela have started, before Pessach, a campaign collecting around Israel second-hand furniture, mattresses, old fridges etc and bringing it to Gush Katif in order to help those new families get adjusted more easily into their new homes.
In addition, Minhelet Kela has arranged for three different college
level institutions from around the country to have a branch in Gush
Katif. Those tens of young yeshiva boys and girls have brought renewed
and fresh enthusiasm to the communities in Gush Katif, who are under
constant shelling. Minhelet Kela is now in the process of bringing
students from more such institutions to each community in Gush Katif.
Parallel to this endeavor, Minhelet Kela is also preparing for the
tens of thousands who will come to Gush Katif closer to
D(eportation)-day itself. Those people will need to be fed, to have
shade, to sleep in tents, use the facilities, etc, Minhelet Kela has
rented a huge hangar and is working now towards filling it up with
emergency equipment such as tons of dry goods, pasta, cans,milk, water
canisters, thousands of tents, sleeping bags, diapers and Materna
formula for babies, etc. A lot of this equipment must be bought in the
very near future, and brought with rented trucks to Gush Katif, before
the army closes down the area. Only with your generous help, will this
be able to be done.
The fight against Sharon's deportation plan is not only a fight for
the survival of the tens of communities in Gush Katif and the Northern
Shomron; it is a fight for the survival of the State of Israel and for
the survival of Western civilization. We must stop Sharon's plan. We
cannot have a situation where a Jewish government would capitulate to
Arab terror and agree to deport Jews, destroy entire Jewish
communities and hand over large portions of our G-d given Biblical
homeland to the murderous Arabs. Their goal is to first destroy the
Jewish state, and then go on with their war of Jihad to take over the
western world.
Women in Green, who have been active for over thirteen years since
the criminal Oslo agreements, in fighting for the right of the Jewish
people to its homeland, is working closely with Minhelet Kela. In
fact, two of its active leaders, Nadia Matar and Anita Finkelstein,
have recently moved with their families to Gush Katif and are the
proud new residents of Kfar Yam. Women in Green calls upon all its
members, supporters and friends, to help Minhelet Kela to your utmost
capability.
Helping Minhelet Kela save Gush Katif is to help ensure the very
survival of the state of Israel.
With Love of Israel,
Datya Yitzhaki, Administrator of Kfar Yam,
Ruth and Nadia Matar, co-chairs of Women in Green
DONATIONS:
For US tax deductible donations
For US tax deductible donations from Israel please make checks** payable to
CENTRAL FUND FOR ISRAEL
** Please be sure to write "Women in Green-for Gush Katif" on the
memo line of your check. Also please add a note with your address.
For shekel donations, and dollar donation where IRS tax deduction is not required, please make checks payable to:
MINHELET KELA and mail it to:
Or wire it to:
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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NY TIMES REPUTATION UNDESERVED; HOW AMERICANS DISCUSS POLITICS
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, May 8 2005. |
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READERS OF THE "NY TIMES" Reputations can be undeserved. The "NY Times'" is. It was anti-Zionist before we were born, practiced advocacy journalism about it, and campaigns against Israel in a sophisticated rather than in an obvious way. But it has cultivated a reputation of great journalism and objectivity. Most of the people with whom I discuss the Arab-Israel conflict read that newspaper. They are aware neither of its anti-Zionist record nor that the State Dept. was anti-Zionist from before modern Israel's independence, which it opposed. How easily those sources deceive such people! Readres have little basis for doubting sources they have been brought up to revere or respect. Credulous about devious sources, they become indignant against Israel for the few sensible things it does. They mistakenly think that Israel is the warmonger and understand Jihad. How are they to know, when the "Times" studiously omits relevant history, and readers already have been imbued with nonsensical theories and attitudes of political correctness, moral equivalency, "the world won't let Israel," etc.. How manipulated these unaware people are, to become indignant as a result of sources with axes to grind! Yet most of them consider themselves as thinking people and informed. They are surprised upon hearing that there are other facts in the case, and that what they thought factual is false! They cannot or won't grasp that they have been imposed upon, though I try to point that out as a conclusion from their having the wrong notions. HOW AMERICANS DISCUSS POLITICS My fellow Americans increasingly discuss political issues in ways that are unethical, uninformed, unproductive, and even irrational. Here are some examples selected not to be about the Arab-Israel conflict, in order to promote an objective insight how poorly topics are approached. Social Security: sacred cow, cow to be milked, or golden egg-laying goose to be killed to get at the gold? Social Security had certain premises, bases, and goals. The logical way to discuss it would be to analyze whether its premises, bases, and goals hold, and therefore how sufficient are its means. The subject and its illness should be understood before a prescription is written. That is not how it has been approached. Instead, the prescriptions came first. Partisan wrangling ensued. Politicians and journalists take emotional positions without much economic analysis. They impugn each other's motives, but all profess concern about the common good. Only after some months do they mention the goals,still piecemeal rather than comprehensively. The Bolton nomination for UN Ambassador: some Democrats seize on controversy about him to stymie Republicans, rather than to consider how he might represent the US. They dig up a littler dirt, and it is just a little, that he may have lost his temper. Republicans then dug up evidence of unreliability by the witness. (These days, single witnesses are suspect. Having stopped reading about this subject, I may have missed something new.) Their main stated objection is my main reason for approving of him for that post. They assert, and I am not sure they are right, that he is hostile to the UNO. (He may not be so much hostle as reformist.) They complain that he would not get along there and win other representatives over. They have the wrong concept about what is needed. Our Ambassador must represent us to the UNO, not the UNO to us. If he gets along too well with, say, the French, whose main foreign policy is anti-Americanism, then he fails to represent us. France cannot be won over unless we proclaimed Gallic society superior. Bolton is our last chance to save the UNO from demise as evil, ineffective, and corrupt. Personally, I think we should turn to a league of democracies, but only US pressure could save the UNO. We need an Ambassador who can press demands for reform and be tough enough to be taken seriously. HOW MUCH IDEOLOGY IS PROPER? Faults that people see in others, they fail to perceive in themselves. Psychologists probably call this a "defense mechanism," but it maintains a harmful status quo. One such presumed fault is being overly ideological, which the Left attributes to the "settlers." Unsettling those pioneers, however, is the overly ideological stance of the Left. The Left accepts the proposition of Land-for-peace without evidence of its workability and in the face of evidence that it boosts Muslim Arab war fever (as students of Islam would know). Is it a matter of, "my ideology is proper, yours is not?" Frankly, partly it is. The Jewish people are entitled to their homeland, and the gentile world that once generally agreed, for proper reasons, including having made Jewish settlement of the Land of Israel indispensable for the salvation of millions of Jews, now disagrees, for improper reasons. Anti-Zionists oppose that salvation. They are in the wrong. The Left, whose ideology was more socialist than Zionist, and has become more Third Worldism and anti-Zionist, is in the wrong. I would put the problem differently and more generally. Religion for some, philosophy for others, and ideology for still others is an important framework for one's ethic. It guides policy. It should be fundamental and based on eternal or at least decent principles. The problem occurs when one's ideology is based on bigotry, appeasement of bigots, or just plain nonsense, and when one takes it too seriously and refuses to find out about other viewpoints. People should be more open-minded about their ideology. I don't mean to the point of being vacuous. When a young person calls himself "open-minded" about whether there was a Holocaust, he uses the wrong adverb. He should say, "empty-headed." Certain things have been proved. The Holocaust is one of them. One should be open to new events, overlooked facts, and missed analyses. One should either integrate them into one's ideology or modify or abandon the ideology. During the Cold War, pro-Communists gradually admitted that the Soviet system committed atrocity-after-atrocity. In my own case, I had to admit that the Israeli Left betrayed its country and that Jewish leadership practices appeasement. When I was a Socialist youth, I hadn't even heard of the Jabotinsky movement nor knew of the Jewish nationalist struggle against the socialist establishment there. Upon finding out, I learned to look for other news and opinions, before forming my own. I want the most accurate compendium of facts and the most reasonable assessment, and reject arguments by "my side" that are not correct, fair, or reasonable. Some of the best analyses are found in "Commentary" magazine. Nevertheless, it has itsr biases and play to them. It supports Pres. Bush, as a Republican, regardless of how anti-Israel some of his policies are. It gives almost all credit for overthrowing the Soviet system to Republican Pres. Reagan, though one would think it would be glad to have the credit shared by the Soviet system's partly falling from its own weight of incompetence and illegitimacy, and from its illegitimacy having been made manifest by the Jewish exodus and the dissident movement for freedom. "Commentary" circles hew too fast to their ideology, making too few allowances. The "NY Sun's" ideology is conservative and capitalist. The newspaper constantly derides liberal ideology for going too far in trying to use the government to correct every social problem, real and imaginary, regardless of whether its methods work. The "Sun" goes too far, itself, in assuming that capitalism has no faults that the market wouldn't correct. It forgets that unrestrained capitalism was a nightmare of wage-slavery, environment degradation, and frequent depression. Reforms kept the system afloat and thwarts the tendencies to sink it again. The conservatives are just as quick to point a finger at opponents, and just as slow to see the fingers pointed at them. RUSSIA, MERCHANT OF DEATH Pres. Putin now admits that Russia IS selling shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles to Syria, but reassures Israel that it would not let Syria give them to terrorists (IMRA, 4/20). Reassurances by arms merchants, including the Pentagon, about not letting the customer misuse the weapons, are not reliable. The merchants are not strict and the customers are not scrupulous. Syria has armed Hizbullah with thousands of missiles. Will it stop now? THE POWER OF A FATWA A couple of dozen Saudi terrorists captured in Iraq traced their motivation to a fatwa issued by Saudi clerics. Some Saudi government officials denounced the religious ruling (IMRA, 4/20). Many in the West probably yawned over fatwas' lurid and verbose or at least exotic language. Fatwas, however, bring death. Their issuance is not a matter of freedom of speech, but of incitement to violence. It is a weapon of jihad. HARVARD DISINVESTS No, not from Israel, despite the campaign to do so. Harvard is disinvesting from an oil company for collaborating with the genocidal regime in Sudan (Prof. Steven Plaut, 4/15, e-mail). LAND HUNGER "Haaretz" described Jewish building in Judea-Samaria as "greed" (Foreign Ministry, 4/21). It isn't greed for Jews to build on their own homeland in those Territories, whose status is as unallocated under the Palestine Mandate, which specifies "close settlement on the land by the Jews." It is greed for the Arabs to try to drive the Jews out of their country, the Christians out of the P.A., the Kurds out of Iraq (Saddam did) and now the Christians out of Iraq, the black Christians out of Sudan, etc.. As Prof. Steven Plaut noted, "Haaretz" has become the voice of the PLO in Israel. WHAT BUSH ASKS OF SYRIA On April 20, when Syria had withdrawn most of its troops but not intelligence agents, Pres. Bush demanded that Syria also pull out the intelligence agents and disarm Hizbullah (Arutz-7, 4/20). Syria would have had to use those troops to disarm Hizbullah. It would have had a real fight on its hands. That demand was made of Syria without enough thought and specification. Syria could stop arming Hizbullah. That is not likely, not with Syrian cooperation with Iran, which furnishes much of the arms, and with Hizbullah, which extended its operations to the P.A.. ANOTHER ISRAELI MEDICAL ADVANCE When a surgeon inserts a needle into a patient, blood vessels and other structures may bend into its path. Israel has invented a robotic needle that a surgeon can direct around the blockage (Arutz-7, 4/19). By contrast, P.A. Arab ingenuity is devoted to death. 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 |
CONCERN IN THE IDF OVER THE "DAY AFTER" WITHDRAWAL
Posted by Eliezar Edwards, May 8, 2005. |
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Southern District Commander Maj.-Gen. Dan Har'el has expressed great concern over what will happen after a unilateral withdrawal from Gaza and northern Samaria. A military source told Arutz-7 that Har'el predicts that security dangers to Israel from Arab forces in PA-controlled Gaza will increase after the Disengagement Plan is implemented. One indication of such, the Southern District commander explained, is the incessant weapons smuggling into Gaza and the Shomron. Har'el says that the Arabs of the Palestinian Authority have stepped up their efforts to smuggle arms. In some of the cases, the army has succeeded in thwarting these efforts, but in others, the Arabs have smuggled in huge quantities of weapons. The Southern District Commander feels that the barrages of Kassam rockets and mortar shells will not only continue after the unilateral withdrawal, but will extend deeper into Israel territory striking more Jewish towns. In a meeting earlier this year between journalists and police officers in the southern region, one officer present divulged that the IDF Homefront Command would soon install the early warning missile detection system in Ashkelon, one of Israel's largest southern cities. Lachish District Police Spokesperson Michal Chaim confirmed this report and went on to explain the concern regarding Ashkelon: "Naturally, the evacuation of the towns [on the northern tip of Gaza] will enable them to get closer to launch Kassam rockets. If indeed they wish to, the moment the area of Elei Sinai [in northern Gaza] is evacuated, they will close in on range to fire rockets deeper into Israel." At the political level, as well, there is concern regarding the predicted increase in Arab attacks on Israeli towns if the Disengagement Plan is implemented. The Sharon administration cabinet last week gave 44 municipalities in proximity to the Gaza region "frontline status", entitling those towns to government benefits currently offered to Sderot as a result of the ongoing enemy shelling of the Negev city. The government has also allocated funds to reinforce roofs of public buildings in the region to enable them to withstand rocket attacks. As of now, there has been an increase in recent weeks of over 300% in Gaza-based attacks aimed at civilian and military targets throughout Gaza and other parts of southern Israel. Other problems for the IDF, especially in the Southern District, in the coming months include the evacuation itself and the expected strong resistance by Land of Israel supporters. The army is also not yet coordinated with the police department regarding this operation. |
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UNDERMINING MAHMUD ABBAS: THE "GREEN REVOLUTION" AND THE HAMAS STRATEGY
TO TAKE OVER THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY
Posted by Dr. Reuven Erlich, May 8, 2005. |
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This was written by Lt. Col. Jonathan D. Halevi, a researcher of the Middle East and radical Islam, and a founder of the Orient Research Group Ltd. He is a former advisor to the Policy Planning Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the IDF.
The Goal: An Islamist Regime in All of Mandatory Palestine Recent examination of Hamas's new strategy to join the political process within the Palestinian Authority (PA) has led many researchers to posit that the terrorist organization is undergoing a pragmatic shift, whereby it has renounced terrorism in exchange for participation in the Palestinian democratic process. Citing Hamas's participation in Palestinian municipal elections and its acceptance of the temporary cease-fire with Israel, many believe that Hamas is ready to join the mainstream leadership of the PLO. However, this "new face" is based on recognition of hard lessons learned by radical Islamist groups elsewhere in the Middle East. In essence, Hamas has switched to a "phased plan" that prioritizes long-term political popularity over force against the Palestinian government. In the end, the goal is still the same - the establishment of an Islamist regime in the entire area of mandatory Palestine. By exploiting the democratic process, Hamas is simply attempting to gain international legitimacy and recognition without actually changing any of its basic tenets or its militaristic approach toward Israel and the West. Meanwhile, participation in Palestinian elections and the exploitation of Fatah's weaknesses may allow Hamas to achieve the ultimate goal of its strategy: to reach power and change the PLO from within. In the near future, Israel will need to adopt a new strategy in dealing with Hamas since the organization is likely to continue its efforts to gain international recognition and legitimacy, while also rehabilitating its military infrastructure. Lack of a clear policy toward Hamas might lead to the tacit understanding that Israel accepts de facto the participation of Hamas in PA politics. Hamas has recently put into play a new pragmatic political outline, understood by international politicians and commentators alike as an expression of Hamas's ongoing transition from a jihadist movement to a political party. The major milestones in this context include Hamas's acceptance of a temporary cease-fire with Israel, its participation in Palestinian municipal elections, its decision, for the first time, to take part in general elections to the Palestinian parliament, expected to be held on July 17, 2005, and its explicit readiness, however conditional, to join the PLO. Factors Behind Hamas's New Strategy Hamas leaders and spokespersons have explained the pragmatic shift in the movement's policy, which was approved after prolonged discussions at all organizational levels, from prisoners to the leadership abroad. According to Hamas, the main factors leading to this recent political change are as follows:
A Long-Term, Phased Plan Inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood The Hamas road to power, or "the Green Revolution" (the Hamas flag is green), is based on a long-term, phased plan inspired by the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood. This doctrine eschews using force against the government and gives priority to " da'awa " (Islamic propagation) as a means of gradually expanding Hamas's popularity and influence until it gains enough political power to rule in an Islamic regime. It seems that Hamas has internalized the hard lessons of the experience of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) in Algeria in the 1990s. The FIS won the parliamentary elections in December 1991, but lost all of its political achievements a month later when the regime outlawed the party and launched a crackdown against it, beginning a long and ferocious civil war. Unlike the FIS, Hamas leaders are communicating a calming message, directed at the PA as well as Israel and the international community. According to this strategy, Hamas is not interested (at least at this stage) in challenging PA rule, but rather seeks to take part in the political process and cooperate with the PA.[8] On the other hand, Hamas regards its strong military wing as a vital shield, necessary for deterring the PA from trying to repeat the Algerian experience.[9] Hamas's consent to a temporary cease-fire (tahdi'a - calm) also characterizes its strategy. Hamas has, in fact, ceased terrorist attacks inside Israel since the tahdi'a was officially declared. However, its interpretation of the meaning of the cease-fire differs completely from Israel 's understandings and demands. Hamas regards it as a mutually obligatory cease-fire and thus seeks to undermine Israel's claim to be defending itself against terror. As Hamas views it, such a stance reflects the "position of strength" the Palestinians have gained through "armed resistance" in forcing a unilateral Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria that is not conditioned on any Palestinian concession. Hamas denies Israel 's claim of a mutual cease-fire and therefore named it a tahdi'a, signifying only a "temporary or conditional cease-fire" with "escape clauses." Hamas made it clear that terror would likely be renewed if Israel fails to meet Hamas demands, including the release of all prisoners, halting construction in the settlements, and abstaining from any activities which interfere with basic Palestinian interests (such as those involving the status of Jerusalem, the security fence, etc.). Hamas leader Khalid Mashal referred to the cease-fire as a "rest for the warrior," one which serves the paramount interest of Hamas and Islamic Jihad to reorganize and rebuild their capabilities, after they had been severely degraded by the Israel Defense Forces.[10] Hamas Seeks International Legitimacy The main goal of the Hamas strategy is, thus, to pave the way to reach power. Achieving international legitimacy is an essential move toward this goal. Hamas is aware of its limits and understands the importance of the international community in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Its new, pragmatic policy is also designated to convince the EU that Hamas is a constructive political power and therefore should be struck from the EU blacklist of terrorist organizations. Khalid Mashal has argued that only an intertwined policy based on ideological determination and gaining political dominance will eventually force the EU to recognize Hamas as a legitimate partner.[11] Al-Sharq al-Awsat reported in early March that France and Spain were working together diplomatically to remove Hamas from the EU terrorist blacklist.[12] EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana also implied in an interview in El Pais that if negotiations between Abbas and the Palestinian factions succeed, then the EU may reconsider its position regarding Hamas.[13] The political developments in the Palestinian arena present complicated challenges for Israel, the most important of which is the possibility of Hamas gaining international legitimacy. Under the guise of democracy, Abbas's policy rolls out a red carpet for Hamas to become an acceptable political partner, one that can no longer be ignored. The PA municipal elections last December elevated Hamas senior operatives to the position of mayors, and Abbas himself appointed Hamas businessman Mazen Sonoqrot to serve as minister of national economy. Sonoqrot was the chairman of the Hamas holding company Beit al-Mal when it was designated by Israel and the U.S. as a terrorist organization (in 1997 and 2001 respectively).[14] Israel will in all likelihood have to reassess its policy toward Hamas after the parliamentary elections, which most probably will be marked by the emergence of Hamas as a significant political power. This challenge may be even more problematic if Hamas takes part in Palestinian government. Joining the executive branch of the PA will also give Hamas the authority to control the budget of several ministries and funnel funds to Hamas-affiliated institutions. These include charitable societies, which directly and indirectly support Hamas's military wing and the spread of its radical Islamic ideology. Financial support designated for the PA might also eventually find its way into Hamas hands. Moreover, Israeli cooperation with a PA government that included Hamas ministers is likely to be interpreted internationally as de facto Israeli recognition of Hamas. Israel may face great difficulty in leading the war against Palestinian terrorism and Hamas's plans for a financial jihad after Hamas wins ministerial positions through a democratic process. Implications for the Future Looking forward, the main implications of the present political situation within the PA and Hamas's new political pragmatism are as follows:
Notes 1. http://almoslim.net/figh_wagi3/show_conv_main.cfm?id=79 2. http://www.palestine-info.info/arabic/palestoday/dailynews/ 2005/apr05/5_4/details3.htm#1 3. Okaz (Saudi Arabia), 27 March 2005. 4. http://www.palestine-info.info/arabic/palestoday/dailynews/ 2005/apr05/6_4/details5.htm#1; http://www.palestine-info.info/arabic/palestoday/ dailynews/2005/apr05/1_4/details.htm#1 5. http://www.minfo.gov.ps/mawqef/arabic/10-03-05a.htm 6. http://www.alquds.co.uk:8080/archives/pdf/2005/03Mar/18MarFri/Quds12.pdf 7. http://www.alhaqaeq.net/defaultch.asp?action=showarticle&secid=3&articleid=27270 8. http://www.palestine-info.info/arabic/hamas/hewar/2005/ghazal.htm; http://www.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C41D6A56-3843-49EF-9485-55F91DBE9B99.htm? wbc_purpose=basic_current_current_current_Current 9. http://almoslim.net/figh_wagi3/show_conv_main.cfm?id=79 10. On Hamas and the PA's outlook regarding the cease-fire, see Jonathan D. Halevi, "The Palestinian 'Temporary Cease-Fire': Israel's Political Risks and Opportunities with the Sharm el-Sheikh Summit between Prime Minister Sharon and Chairman Mahmud Abbas (Abu Mazen)," Jerusalem Issue Brief 4-16, 7 February 2005; http://www.jcpa.org/brief/brief004-16.htm 11. http://www.palestine-info.info/arabic/hamas/hewar/2005/mesh3al05.htm 12. Al-Sharq al-Awsat (London), 6 March 2005. 13. Al-Hayat al-Jadida (Palestinian Authority), 25 February 2005. 14. http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC05.php?CID=2269 Dr. Reuven Erlich is Head of the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center in Israel. Its website address is http://www.intelligence.org This essay was prepared for the Jerusalem Project for Democracy in the Middle East (JPDME) as part of its sponsorship of the Knesset Forum on the Middle East. A version of this essay originally appeared on April 11, 2005, on the JPDME website: www.JPDME.org. |
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MEDIA FRAUD; ISRAELI HOLOCAUST DENIAL? SHARON: MASTER MANIPULATOR
Posted by Voice of Judea, May 8, 2005. |
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1- Media Fraud - 54 Percent support Gaza Retreat?
(http://www.voiceofjudea.com/news.asp?news=20&type=breaking)
The headline in the weekend edition of Maariv, May 6, 05: "Only 54 Percent of Israelis support the Gaza evacuation," is typical Israeli media manipulation and fraud! The Mishalot Yisrael organization has commissioned surveys with various major Israeli polling agencies and their findings are very different indeed. The surveys show 32 percent to 48 percent favoring a Gaza pullout. One survey taken by Mutagim, shows a plurality against the Sharon disengagement plan and for the "alternative Jewish disengagement plan" which calls for the evacuation of the Arabs instead of the Jews. Why does the media refrain from publishing the results of the polls That offer the Israeli public an alternative to the Sharon plan? Mishalot Yisrael is currently holding an independent referendum, offering every Jew an opportunity to vote on this very crucial question. The very same Maariv newspaper sent a reporter to cover a press conference several weeks ago, the day after the Knesset rejected the referendum law. At the press conference Mishalot Yisrael unveiled their plan to continue with the independent referendum. Mishalot Yisrael also revealed some very newsworthy and embarrassing Tapes of well known Israeli pollsters and polling institutions where they said that they would not want to run such polls, because "it would hurt Sharon" and that "if the results would ever get to the media it would not be good." The reporters ate it up and all wrote articles. Maariv's editors mysteriously yanked the story. We are left with their false findings and half baked poll results. They will never publish polls and poll results proving that Sharon is in the minority or that offer a sane Jewish alternative to the present madness. Anyone who wishes to vote in the independent referendum that offers a Jewish alternative to Sharon's plan can visit http://www.mishal.org and circulate the address everywhere. Funds are also needed to publish the referendum, the results, and to print more ads, posters and ballots. Mishalot Yisrael can't rely on the twisted and distorted Israeli media to inform their readers about the referendum. Funds are desperately needed. Funds can be sent now to: Mishalot Yisrael
2- "Sharon - The Master Manipulator" (http://www.voiceofjudea.com/featured.asp?featured=16). Sharon said repeatedly in Poland, "With all due respect to the peace process, Israeli can only rely on itself to defend itself." Sharon might be a very poor excuse for a Prime Minister but he is the world's greatest manipulator and a master at twsiting facts and disinformation. Sharon is talking about not relying on the gentile to defend us? Sharon? He is about to make a unilateral surrender of the Gaza Strip and Northern Samaria, in the hope that the terrorists will lay down their arms and with the delusion that the Egyptians and PA will patrol and defend our borders. There has never been an Israeli leader who has placed more faith in Washington than Sharon! Sharon's whole master plan is based on some ambiguous letter written by Pres. Bush. Israel's fate and destiny rests on Sharon's misinterpretation of this foggy letter. Scharansky said it all in his weekend interview, May 6, to Maariv. Scharansky laughs at Sharon's interpretation of the letter and said that Bush does not even agree to "settlements" in Jerusalem such as Maleh Adumim. Even if Sharon's understanding of the "Bush promise" were to be correct, where will Bush be and where will Sharon be in two years? And Sharon is speaking in Aushwitz about not relying on the goyim? 4- DISENGAGEMENT HOLOCAUST FEELINGS - On Holocaust Remembrance Day While Israeli Jews do not like anyone comparing anything to the Holocaust so as not to diminish from the unique, unparalleled tragedy that the Holocaust represents to all Jews, it is truly difficult to avoid making certain associations these days. For the whole story visit:
http://www.voiceofjudea.com/featured.asp?featured=14
Subscribe to Voice of Judea emails by sending an email request to
jsid@dorsai.org or read the website - http://www.voiceofjudea.com
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DAVKA!
Posted by Batya Medad, May 7, 2005. |
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Davka, this year I'm hanging flags, Israeli flags, on my house. Davka this year, when my country is treating me like a potential rebel and traitor. Davka this year, when my simple opposition to the government's policies is considered incitement. Davka this year, when the prime minister's policies are endangering the security of ordinary citizens. And davka this year, when the army and police are being trained to battle innocent civilians protecting their homes and families. Over eleven years ago, when the Oslo Accords were announced, I took a small piece of white fabric and on it drew two blue lines and a Jewish Star. Then I ripped it, like a mourner tears his clothes. http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2005/10/my-ripped-flag.html#comments I wore it for a long time, every place I went, even to my son's Bar Mitzvah. When I pinned that homemade flag onto my blouse I was certain that it would catch on as the perfect way of demonstrating our pain at the abandonment of our Land, but it didn't. Most people considered the ripping of our national flag too traumatic, too drastic. This year we suddenly have a lot of flags. One of the big Israeli banks has been giving them away for free with the newspapers. And as some of you may know, we get more newspapers than anyone. The note with the flag instructs us "to decorate our homes with flags, so we will all have a happy holiday." That's not why I'm hanging flags. I'm hanging Israeli flags davka because the government and media are treating me like a rebel who is causing a civil war. http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=80009 They're treating us as if we're seceding from our nation. The truth is that we are fighting for the integrity of our nation, to keep it whole and strong. We are not rebels; we are patriots. The truth is that it's incitement to use the language, terms, innuendos that Sharon, his followers and the media use against us. http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=80066 The children raised in YESHA are today's best soldiers. They receive Citations of Excellence, volunteer for the most dangerous missions. In the early years of the state, it was the kibbutz youth that achieved disproportionately high rank in the Israeli army. Today's kibbutz youth have other priorities. Today the gauntlet of Zionism has been picked up by those raised in YESHA. This Shabbat there was a guest in Shiloh, Rabbi Yigal Kamenetsky, the Rabbi of Gush Katif. He spoke to us Shabbat afternoon, the hour when most people are usually napping, but the building was packed. I must trust my memory to report what he said, since it's forbidden to take notes on Shabbat. He told us some amazing things about the constant miracles in Gush Katif. First of all, as crowded as the Arab city of Gaza is, the area of Gush Katif was deserted, desolate, not even the minimal desert plants and wildlife. The Arabs considered the area cursed, haunted and weren't willing to live there. Today Gush Katif is a miracle. Plants grow under conditions that the experts all insisted were doomed to failure. Bli eyin hara'a, the blitz of bombs the Arabs launch at Gush Katif rarely injures anyone. According to the laws of nature and statistics, all of this is inexplicable. Instead of celebrating this or at least appreciating it, the Israeli government is plotting Gush Katif's destruction. According to HaRav Yigal, there is a reason for this. The people in government, the media are battling with us for the identity of the "Israeli." The Zionist movement had dreamt of a "new Jew," strong and fearless, who worked with his hands, with a kova tembel (workers cap) on his head, work clothes, blue eyes, sun-bleached hair, a Jew who wasn't restricted by old-fashioned Jewish Law. All of a sudden, after over fifty years of statehood, they looked around and realized that their children and grandchildren had thrown out their kova tembel and instead were decorated with "piercings," planning their next trip abroad. The proud Israeli farmer of today is in Gush Katif, and there are tzitziyot (ritual fringes) streaming out from under his shirt and a kippah under his work hat. To make matters even worse, this coming year more than fifty percent of the first grade classes will be in the religious (and chareidi) education streams. The demographic trend is clear, and it's not what the "Zionist establishment" planned. Throughout our history there were other instances when there was a struggle, a conflict between the spiritual and the "rational," and the spiritual, the religious has always won. And this time we will again, G-d willing. Those who want to wipe us of out of history will be the ones to disappear. The blue and white flag is ours, and it will decorate my home. Let no one doubt the loyalty and patriotism of religious Jews, because Israel is still our country, despite its faults. No one can take that from us. Chag Ha'Atzma'ut Sameach, And Let Us Be a Truely Independent Nation, This is Musing #117. Batya Medad lives in Shiloh. She can be reached by email at Shilohmuse@yahoo.com or visit her website http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/ or go to http://www.shilo.org.il |
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WOULD THE HOLOCAUST HAVE OCCURRED IF ISRAEL WERE AROUND?
Posted by Janet Lehr, May 7, 2005. |
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This article was written by Dov Greenberg, who is the executive director of Chabad at Stanford. It was sent by Rabbi Leibel Baumgarten of the Chabad of East Hampton. Elie Wiesel was once asked whether the world learned anything from the Holocaust. Wiesel, a man who lost most of his family in Auschwitz, responded, "Yes, that you can get away with it." If Wiesel is right - and the international fury released against the Jewish state in recent years seems to confirm his words - then for us Jews the lesson must be the exact opposite: Never again will anybody get away with it! And that means first and foremost that Israel must be strong. A home and a power Between 1939 and 1945, the Nazi regime, with help from millions of other Europeans, murdered almost every Jew on that continent. Had there been an Israel in the 1930's, the Holocaust as we know it could not have taken place. Here's why: Hitler at first wanted only to expel the Jews; only later did he decide to slaughter them. When the nations of the world gathered in Evian, France in 1938, fully aware of the danger facing European Jewry, one country after another said, "We have no room for the Jews." From the beginning of World War II, the world was divided into two types of countries: countries that expelled or murdered Jews and countries that rejected Jews who fled or were expelled. On the whole vast earth of ours, there was not an inch that Jews could call home. Had there been an Israel, there at least would have been one place on the planet that welcomed Jews. A second factor that needs to be considered is that unlike the Allies, who could not find it in their power to spare a few airplanes to bomb the tracks to Auschwitz and other death camps, an independent and powerful Jewish army would have. That and the bombing of the concentration camps themselves could have saved untold numbers of Jews. In his book A Durable Peace, Benjamin Netanyahu describes how easily the gas chambers could have been destroyed. "Until I stood there at Birkenau, I never realized how tiny and mundane the whole thing was. The factory of death could have been put out of operation by one pass of a bomber. Indeed, the Allies had been bombing strategic targets a few miles away. Had the order been given, it would have taken but a slight shift of the bomber pilot's stick to interdict the slaughter. Yet the order was never given." The lesson from Entebbe On July 4, 1946, 42 Jewish Holocaust survivors who had returned to their home village of Kielce, Poland were murdered in a brutal pogrom by their Polish Christian neighbors. Thirty years later to the day, on July 4, 1976, more than 100 Jews who were about to be murdered in Entebbe, Uganda were saved by the Israeli Defense Force in one of the most daring rescue missions in history. More than anything else, Entebbe demonstrates the importance of having a competent Israeli defense machine. When Jews had no military of their own, they could be killed with impunity. With armed forces, for the first time in 2,000 years Jews who were standing at the threshold of death did not need to rely on the goodwill of others. When Pope Paul VI criticized Israel's "fierceness" during a private audience with Gold Meir, she replied: "Do you know what my earliest memory is? A pogrom in Kiev. When we were merciful and when we had no homeland and when we were weak, we were led to the gas chambers (1)." "Mama!" One day, while strolling with my child through the campus of Stanford University, a student began badgering me with questions and hostile remarks about Israel. Finally he asked me, "Why does Israel possess nuclear weapons? What is it that you Jews really want?" I responded by telling the student the following story: At Stolpce, Poland, on Sept. 23, 1942, the ghetto was surrounded by German soldiers. Pits had been prepared outside a nearby village where the Jews would be led and then shot. The Germans entered the ghetto, searching for the Jews. A survivor by the name of Eliezer Melamed later recalled how he and his girlfriend found a room where they hid behind some sacks of flour. A mother and her three children had followed them into the house. The mother hid in one corner of the room, the three children in another. The Germans entered the room and discovered the children. One of children, a young boy, began to scream, "Mama! Mama!" as the Germans dragged the three of them away. But another of them, only 4 years old, shouted to his brother in Yiddish, "Zog nit 'Mameh.' Men vet ir oich zunemen." ("Don't say 'Mama.' They'll take her, too.") The boy stopped screaming. The mother remained silent. Her children were dragged away. The mother was saved. "I will always hear that," Melamed recalled, "especially at night. 'Zog nit Mameh - 'Don't say Mama.' And I will always remember the sight of the mother. Her children were dragged away by the Germans. She was hitting her head against the wall, as if to punish herself for remaining silent, for wanting to live (2)." After concluding the story I told the student, "What do we Jews really want? I'll tell you what we want. All we want is that our grandchildren should be able to call out 'Mama' without fear. All we want is that the world leave us alone." Remember! In his Inaugural Address on Jan. 21, 1961, President John F. Kennedy put it well: "We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt, can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed." The same is even truer for tiny Israel. While military strength is not the only factor that guarantees national survival, weakness in the face of a strong and evil enemy has guaranteed national destruction. Ask the Tatars, Kurds, Tibetans, Bosnians, Tutsi Rwandans, Cambodians and the non-Muslim population in Darfur. Of course, the political, military or economic arenas are not the only, or even the most important, factors that will guarantee Jewish continuity. Many more powerful nations long ago vanished. Our faith, our Torah and mitzvot are what have sustained us for close to four millennia thorough thick and thin. Yet to suggest we don't need a strong military to secure a safe state is wrong. One of the basic tenets of Judaism is that we do not rely on miracles and that we must employ all of the natural means to protect and save human lives, occasionally even our own (3). We are obligated by the memory of the people who were incinerated simply for being Jews to take the prospects of Jewish vulnerability seriously. We must all take part in the defense of Israel and the Jewish people, whether on the physical battlefield or on the battlefield of words and ideas. We honor the victims of the Shoah not only by building more Holocaust museums, but also by re-dedicating our efforts to protect Jewish children that are still alive today, and to cultivate the kind of Jewish community that these children deserve. A community in which every Jewish child and adult has the opportunity to be exposed to the grandeur and majesty of Jewish history, the enthralling insights and special sensitivities of Jewish thought, the sanctity and meaning of Jewish existence and the power and profundity of Torah and mitzvot. Those who fail to remember, said Santayana, are destined to repeat. Without memory, human history becomes a scratched CD endlessly replaying itself. The Torah is full of the command to remember. The word "zakhor," or "remember," occurs in its various forms in the Torah an astonishing 169 times! Memory is crucial to very existence. Let us never forget Hitler's horrors by ensuring that Israel is forever strong. Footnotes: 1) Golda Meir's exceptionally interesting biography, My Life. 2) Martin Gilbert, The Holocaust, page 465. 3) There's actually an explicit ruling about this in the Code of Jewish Law (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim, section 329.) The law describes the following scenario: A hostile neighbor threatens to attack you, and demands a piece of territory. The enemy says, "Give us this piece of land, and we'll leave you alone." Do we go to war to prevent the enemy's occupation of the territory, or do we relinquish the territory in return for a promise of future non aggression? The Torah rules not to yield the territory that makes you more vulnerable to attack, even if you must go to war on Shabbat to prevent that. A question could be posed. Since we are a small nation, we certainly need G-d's help in our battle. If so, why should we take up arms and desecrate the Shabbat? Should we not instead recite psalms for our deliverance, or engage in Torah study? Yet the unequivocal ruling in Jewish law in this case is that G-d desires that go forth against our enemy well armed and, if necessary, to desecrate the Shabbat for this purpose. The course of action mandated by the Torah is also an act of serving G-d. Just as one must study Torah and fulfill the mitzvot, so must one perform one's duty with regard to the saving of lives. Contact Janet Lehr by email at janetlehr@mindspring.com |
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OLEG CARTOON: ABU MAZEN, A LEADER OF A NON-EXISTENT PEOPLE
Posted by Women in Green, May 7, 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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WAKE UP, WASHINGTON!
Posted by Evelyn Hayes, May 6, 2005. |
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This article is by Caroline Glick and appeared in the Jerusalem Post. One of the first concrete acts that the Bush administration took in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks was to outlaw the Holy Land Fund for Relief and Development and freeze its financial assets. The HLF was one of the principal funding arms of Hamas. Israel had tracked its financial activities for over a decade, and had repeatedly requested that the US take action against it, but the requests came to nothing until after 9/11. In an article in National Review from December 2002, terrorism investigators Ritz Katz and James Mitre documented that HLF, like several other US-registered non-profits that since September 11 have been closed down or placed under federal investigation, was funding arms not only for Hamas but also for al-Qaida. The Saudi-headquartered International Islamic Relief Organization; Benevolence International Foundation; and terror financier Yassin al-Qadi, to name just a few, were all funneling millions to both Hamas and al-Qaida. Hamas and al-Qaida share more than financial networks. They share the same ideological roots. Hamas is the Palestinian branch of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaida is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. In his column in The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday, Daniel Pipes noted that in February, FBI Director Robert Mueller testified before the Senate's Intelligence Committee that Hamas's "US network is theoretically capable of facilitating acts of terrorism in the US." As well, a senior US counterterrorism official was quoted stating that Hamas is merging with elements of al-Qaida's "all inclusive military arm that will carry out military strikes" against the US. So, a cursory glance at the wealth of documentation regarding Islamic terror organizations shows that Hamas and al-Qaida are linked financially, ideologically and operationally. This, at the same time as the know-it-alls from Washington to London to Riyadh insist that the Palestinian terror war against Israel has no connection to the global jihad being launched by the likes of "real" terrorists, such as Osama bin Laden and (Palestinian) Abu Musab Zarkawi. The terror attacks in Madrid in March 2005 brought about the fall of the pro-American Spanish government of Jose Maria Anzar. Bush supporters were quick to condemn Spain's new leader, the leftist Jose Luis Zapatero, for his decision to immediately pull the Spanish military contingent out of Iraq to appease the terrorists who struck Madrid. The newly elected Spanish government, it was argued, was telling the terrorists that terrorism pays, thereby increasing the likelihood of attacks throughout the world. Since the September 11 attacks, there has been continuous pressure exerted on the Bush administration from within and without to refuse to accept that the war against Israel has anything to do with the war against the US and the rest of the non-Islamist world. And President Bush's embrace of Sharon's plan to withdraw Israeli forces from Gaza and northern Samaria, while expelling thousands of Israelis from their homes and communities - like his embrace of the so-called road map to peace - is an indication that the pressure has succeeded. While Bush and his supporters were quick to see the ruinous impact of Spanish appeasement of terrorists on the war efforts, in backing Sharon's plan and in showering the Palestinians with money and support, the president is showing that as far as Israel is concerned, the policy he has adopted is the same one the Spanish voters opted for: appeasement. In his letter of resignation from the Israeli government, Minister Natan Sharansky wrote, "In my view, the disengagement plan is a tragic mistake that will exacerbate the conflict with the Palestinians, increase terrorism, and dim the prospects of forging a genuine peace. Yet what turns this tragic mistake into a missed opportunity of historic proportions is the fact that as a result of changes in the Palestinian leadership and the firm conviction of the leader of the free world that democracy is essential to stability and peace... an unprecedented window of opportunity has opened." Yet the fact of the matter is that as far as Israel is concerned, the Americans have shut the window of opportunity. Gone is the president's strong rhetoric from three years ago about US support for Palestinian statehood being conditional on the transformation of Palestinian society into a democratic, liberal, terror-fighting society. The Bush administration has been pushing Israel to arm the PA security forces in spite of their overt connection with terror cells. The Bush administration has refused to back Israel's opposition to Hamas participation in the July legislative elections despite its links to al-Qaida. The Bush administration has insisted that Israel hand over the homes of the Israelis set for expulsion to the Palestinians, in spite of the fact that this means Israel will be handing their homes to the same terrorists who have been shooting and bombing them for the past four-and-a-half years. If the Bush administration had not made the intellectually unsupportable decision to refuse to accept that the Palestinian war against Israel is a crucial front in the global jihad, the president and his advisers would no doubt be asking Sharon some very hard questions right now. Israel's planned withdrawal from Gaza and northern Samaria present a tangible threat to US national security interests from both military and psychological warfare perspectives. On the military level, one of the core principles of the US counter-terror strategy is to deny terrorists sanctuary. Yet Gaza and northern Samaria are both poised to become new operational bases for global terror organizations. During his negotiations with the terror chiefs in Cairo in March, in the presence of Syria's foreign minister, PA chairman and US favorite Mahmoud Abbas invited the leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command to relocate from Damascus to Gaza after Israel withdraws. How does this square with the US strategy to bar terrorists from receiving shelter? Then there is Egypt's role as a spoiler in all this. This week, the Palestinians claimed that Egypt pressured the PA to release a Hamas terrorist it had apprehended en route to launching rockets at Sderot. This claim is believable given that it was Egypt's dictator Hosni Mubarak who pressured Yasser Arafat not to accept Israel's peace offer at Camp David in July 2000. And yet, in spite of the fact that Mubarak has played a central role in fomenting and eternalizing the Palestinian war with Israel, in his favored role as broker between Israel and the Palestinians and among the Palestinian terror groups, he has built a reputation in Washington as the irreplaceable peacemaker. After Gaza becomes an international terror center in the wake of the Israeli pullout, Mubarak will be poised to increase US dependence on him. If this occurs, his payback will be Washington's shoving its plan to bring democracy to Egypt into a circular file in the recesses of the Old Executive Office Building. On a psychological level, the images of an Israeli retreat from Gaza and northern Samaria will be footage for jihadi recruitment videos for years to come. In Iraq, a large proportion of the insurgent groups' energies are devoted to producing images that portray them as strong and the US forces as weak. Al-Jazeera and its clones - along with cameramen employed as stringers by Western news networks and agencies - work hand-in-glove with the terrorists to produce just such images. The point, of course, is that in at least one central respect, Arabs are no different from Americans. Both like winners. Videos showing the decapitation of hostages are meant to mobilize supporters. Yet there can be no doubt that, as attractive as watching helpless hostages getting beheaded may be to potential recruits, the spectacle of Hamas and Fatah flags being foisted onto Israeli homes in Gaza and Samaria is even more alluring. And footage of Jews attacking one another as Israel comes apart at the seams will also serve the terrorists' purposes wonderfully well. What will "friendly" Arab states demand from the US in exchange for their combating of Islamist forces energized by the footage of Israel's withdrawal? Shelving democracy perhaps? And will these governments be appreciative of US efforts to pressure Israel into destroying its own villages? No, they will demand more such destruction. What will happen to the Arab democrats from Baghdad to Damascus to Beirut to Riyadh when they are force fed footage of mosques being built on synagogues in Gush Katif 24/7? Will they believe in US promises of support when they see the US supporting terrorists in Gaza? Will they be willing to stick their necks out when they see how America lets Israel, its ally, lose? This week, Fatah leaders sent a public birthday greeting to Saddam Hussein. The greeting ended, "We wish him long life for the sake of Iraq and to free the Arab nation from the enslavement of foreign imperialism. Oh, the glory of victory, with the help of Allah." The Bush administration, like the Israeli government, wants Fatah to win the elections because it is considered "moderate." Friends of Israel in Washington, like former CIA director James Woolsey, say of Sharon's planned withdrawal from Gaza that they cannot second guess the Israeli leadership about what is best for Israel's national security. This is a true and honorable statement. But the US can discuss the impact that Israel's decisions will have on its own security interests. Unless one ignores reality, it is impossible to sustain an argument that as presently constituted, Israel's withdrawal from Gaza will do anything other than strengthen the cause of global jihad and Arab authoritarianism. Unfortunately, until the US abandons the contrived belief that what happens to Israel has no connection to what happens to the US, it will be unable to see - and thus thwart - the dangers that await it. Evelyn Hayes can be contacted by email at haze@rcn.cm |
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NOTES FROM THE RESISTANCE
Posted by Dovid Ben Chaim, May 6, 2005. |
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This is from Moshe Feiglin, leader of Manhigut Yehudit. Please forward. It is the correct analysis. When a thousand honest Jews find refuge in jail, the criminal regime will fall. Until then it is right and proper to draw encouragement, in a balanced way, from the cracks appearing in the wall of evil. The disengagement bulldozer is breaking down from several directions. This doesn't mean that it's going to be easy, but it's important to understand that it's far more difficult for the destroyers than for us. The basic assumption of the destroyers was that, as in the precedent of Yamit. By this stage most of the residents would have evicted themselves voluntarily and become dispersed. It's important to realize that the State (in fact no State) does not have the physical strength to rule the nation. An amazing historical fact from the peak period of Stalin's dictatorship, that murdered 20 million of their own people, is that less then a thousand people served in the relevant departments of the KGB. Despotism is based on fear and blind obedience. Those who have no G-d form excellent raw material to be exploited by dictators, while people with belief always remain free. The destroyers didn't take into account that in contrast to Yamit, this time they are dealing with people with belief. Consequently Gush Katif and the Northern Shomron are full of life. Sa-nur never in the past experienced such a wave of new applications as that following the disengagement plan. "We don't have an empty building left", explains Yossi Dagan. "Young couples are arriving and renovating rotten caravans by themselves ". The three branches of the struggle against the disengagement are as follows:
But this is only the first course. The political timetable is starting to go wrong. Likud primaries that will come a short time after the terrible national trauma will guarantee a defeat for Sharon. He didn't plan for elections immediately after the disengagement. On the other hand, it is obvious that the Left will cause the government to fall if he won't immediately continue with the destruction of the other settlements in Yesha. However, it is already clear to Sharon that his own party won't permit such a continuation. Likud Knesset Members who are currently dreaming of another period of office are making sure to distance themselves as far as possible from Ariel Sharon. Minister Sharansky has just resigned. Others will hopefully join him soon. Suddenly Disengagement Authority chairman Yonatan Bassi, the merciful religious Jew, discovered that the Gush would fall during the period preceding Tisha be'Av ("The 9th of Av" -- the fast day commemorating the catastrophic day in Jewish history when the First Temple and Second Temples were destroyed). Suddenly the media volunteers to explain that the plan must be postponed because nothing is ready. These cracks and many like them must not be allowed to make us feel complacent about the certain victory. On the contrary, we must realize that it is very difficult for the destroyers, and draw encouragement from this to step up our efforts leading to a decisive victory. An excellent example of the right struggle is currently being given by the people of the National Home movement. We shall all come to the meeting they are holding on Monday, at 7:00 pm, in the Hyatt Hotel in Jerusalem. In conclusion it's important to remember that when the Left finds itself with its back to the wall, it opens fire. Grave acts of provocation are to be expected, of the kind that led to Rabin's murder. We must not be dragged into such things. We must not bear arms during activities of the struggle. We shall retain our composure and shall not be dragged into a civil war. We are the great majority, we are in the right, we are carrying out the wishes of our Father in Heaven -- and therefore we shall win. Announcements Visit the new updated Manhigut Yehudit English Website at: www.jewishisrael.org A short (9 min) film (in Hebrew) called "Soldiers With a Heart," can now be viewed online. The film shows the daily life of families living in Gush Katif and the reaction of both settlers and soldiers to the planned disengagement. Click here to view online (to download visit the Baitle website). We also recommend that you visit the Gush Katif websites. They are full of pictures and up-to-date information. http://english.katif.net/,
Dovid Ben Chaim can be reached by email at dovchai@myway.com |
| GUSH KATIF |
BETTER THAN NOTHING, MAYBE
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, May 6, 2005. |
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I suppose that this is better than nothing but not by much. In the past I have advocated massive resignation by Government employees as a means of stopping this betrayal and forcing the fundamental political changes we so desperately need here. Hiding under the bed is one way of dealing with a burglar but there are better ones. My fear is that the average Jew still does not yet realize the true existential danger the Oslo process poses to Israel as a State and to the Jewish people all over the world. Of what use will your pension be if the State of Israel is destroyed? Do you expect the PLO to recognize your years of service? This news item is called "'Refusal' Spreads to Govt' Workers, Reservists," and was in today's Arutz-7 (www.IsraelNationalNews.com). Government workers are beginning their own "refusal" movement to stop work during the planned expulsion of more than 8,500 Jews from their homes. Reservists also are finding ways to avoid serving. Tel Aviv tax inspector Tamir Bergman has asked for a six-month leave of absence on the grounds that his conscience does not allow him to serve the government. "Since it is not appropriate for a government worker to openly oppose a government decision and to demonstrate... I request leave of absence for the next half a year," Bergman wrote to his superiors. He explained that his supervisor noted his lack of motivation and inability to work efficiently as a tax inspector. Bergman wrote that Israel is the "only country in the world that forbids Jews to live where they want in the country." Earlier this year, a government employee in the Negev also requested a leave of absence for similar reasons. Many reservists who have been ordered to appear for duty this summer during the planned disengagement are finding ways to avoid the summons without actually refusing orders, a phenomenon known as "gray refusal." One Be'er Sheba resident says that he is ordering a plane ticket during the period the military expects him to serve. "They check my passport to see if I really left the country, so I will find the cheapest destination and tell the army that I have to be abroad." Other soldiers have said they simply will report assorted illnesses. An enlisted solider serving in the south near the Egyptian border reported that most of his company will not have enough motivation to carry out orders, if they are to help the evacuation. He added that he knows of several left-wing soldiers who "are waiting for the opportunity" to assist in evacuating Jews out offrom Gaza. One army captain told Arutz-7, "The army does not know what is facing them. It will not able to carry out the evacuation." 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 |
JOIN ME IN ENCOURAGING DIALOG
Posted by Yoel Ben-Avraham, May 6, 2005. |
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Is the future of the State of Israel important to you, and your children? Are you disturbed by the growing acrimoniousness of the debate over the "Disengagement" initiative of the Sharon government? Are you frustrated over your inability to contribute to some form of constructive "conflict resolution" initiative? It is my firm personal belief that the manner in which the "debate" is being managed is potentially more damaging to the future of Israeli's society than any other aspect of this inner conflict! The polarization and acrimoniousness is reaching new levels never before experienced. Whether the "Disengagement" takes place or not, we all have to continue living together in the same country the day after. I'm realistic to recognize that reading articles or ewxchanging emails is unlikely to change people's log held opinions, but possibly it might open participants up, if not to agreement, as least a better understanding of the other side, where they are coming from and why! In a real way I would have prefered to call the site "Engagement". I challenge all sides of the "Disengagement" debate to "engage" their oponents in words and with reason. I invite you to join others and myself in what appears to be a unique initiative in an atmosphere of growing divisiveness. Join me in encouraging all sides to this debate to contribute their views to one central forum where we hope to encourage:
Please take a few minutes to see what can be achieved:
Any and all feedback on this initiative will be gratefully accepted! I look forward to hearing from you and working together to encourage real dialog between all involved. P.S. You can receive a daily digest of of new posts by subscribing to the Disengagement list at http://groups-beta.google.com/group/Disengagement. Yoel Ben-Avraham is Moderator of Disengagement.org. |
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ABANDONMENT STIMULATES TERRORISM; REGIONAL WAR IN 2006; HAMAS ADMITS CEASEFIRE SUBTERFUGE
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, May 6, 2005. |
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THE "CAUSE": TERRORIST PRISONER RELEASE "Thousands of supporters of the Islamic Jihad, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and Hamas terror groups rallied yesterday in Gaza for this cause. Carrying weapons and grenades, they threatened to kidnap Israeli soldiers and civilians and hold them hostage until the Arab prisoners are released." (Arutz-7, 4/17.) A few dozen Israeli planes could have scrambled and shot thousands of armed terrorists. It would have set back the coming Arab offensive. Why has Israel never done this, before? Perhaps because the West has developed an ethic against vigorous prosecution of its wars. IDF PREDICTION OF POST-ABANDONMENT GAZA The intelligence consensus about the abandonment of Gaza is that it would unleash so much terrorism, that the IDF would be sent back into Gaza by January (IMRA, 4/16 from Haaretz). The scenario is: withdraw during the summer, retake the cities of Judea-Samaria in the fall, and return to Gaza in January. PM Sharon is aware of this. Nevertheless, he blindly pushes on. The Arabs are trying to smuggle in dynamite, with which to line Israeli highways (Arutz-7, 4/17). There also would be rockets slamming into Israeli towns. Remember the notion that if Israel withdraws from Gaza, it could better defend Israel? SHARON DENIES INTENT FOR FURTHER ABANDONMENT PM Sharon denied published speculation that this first abandonment is the precursor of others. He just would follow the Road Map, once the P.A. eradicates terrorism. "President Bush has stated repeatedly that he views the Road Map as a means for establishing an independent, sovereign, and territorially contiguous Palestinian state in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. Such an interpretation of the Road Map cannot be implemented unless additional Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria are removed." (Arutz-7, 4/17). Sharon has not defined how terrorism would be judged eradicated. Neither does the Map. Usually, foreign powers do not expect the Arabs to live up to their agreements. They do expect Israeli to live up to agreements that the Arabs violated. Israel does not take this into account when it accepts such pacts. Why doesn't Sharon want to abandon more areas? If, as he insists, this abandonment is so good for Israel (in unstated ways), why not more, as his leftist allies insist on pain of abandoning his Cabinet? In denying intent to abandon more areas, Sharon, as the quotation shows, inadvertently indicates intent to abandon more areas. He does not score high on the truth index. On the other hand, since the first abandonment is likely to inaugurate intensive terrorist bombardment of Israel, it would be difficult to abandon more territory without inviting still more terrorism. After all, abandonment confirms to Muslims the efficacy of terrorism. If Sharon strengthens his budding dictatorship sufficiently, however, he might be able to do it. With all his power, why doesn't he instead neutralize those who hold over his head the threat to prosecute him unless he follows through with the abandonment? ABANDONMENT A HEADACHE The P.A. says it doesn't want the houses left behind, because it would rather build apartment houses than fight over the loot. (What an uncivil society!) Israelis don't want to hand over housing to their enemies, but it would cost the country a fortune to demolish thousands of houses and store the debris (Arutz-7, 4/17). "HAARETZ" ERRS AGAINST ISRAEL IMRA caught grievous errors in a "Haaretz" article that apparently the major media did not. The story quoted unnamed experts as claiming that Israel intended to build for itself a wet garbage dump in Kedumim, P.A., which is illegal for an occupying power to do. The dump would be of no use to local residents but would contaminate the water sources of "Palestine." Already there are many illegal Arab dumps in the P.A., because the Israeli civil administration does not allow any legal, proper ones. All false statements. At present, the only site for hazardous waste from Israel and the P.A. is in Israel. What we have, then, is the P.A. dumping waste in Israel, and not the reverse. Nor does the civil administration have any say over the P.A.-controlled areas. Moreover, the new dump is chartered to serve both ethnic groups, as already is the case with other facilities Israel built. The dump would handle only 5% liquid, which meets international standards. As a modern facility, it would not contaminate water supply but prevent their contamination from the Arab practice of illegal dumping. Israel would not want contamination, first of all because the one aquifer serves both Judea-Samaria and the State of Israel. If it were contaminated, Israel would lose a third of its water supply. It is incorrect to refer to the P.A. as "Palestine." Once part of the Mandate, Israel and Jordan are just as much a part of Palestine as are the Territories (IMRA, 4/17). It also is incorrect to refer to the P.A. as "occupied." When Germany offered to build sewage treatment plants in the P.A. free, Arafat declined the offer, because it would mean tacit recognition of Israel. P.A. sewage was creeping towards Israeli wells. The other day, "Haaretz" undeservedly praised a leader of Hamas. Here "Haaretz" not only is incorrect about all its factual allegations, it also is engaging in the sordid blood libel that the Medieval Christians used to do, and now the Arabs do -- that Israel is poisoning the gentiles. These issues about which "Haaretz" is ignorant or contrary to good sense involves national survival! MORE CORRUPTION OVER ABANDONMENT The government is using the abandonment plan as a pretext for subsidizing leftwing kibbutzim. The rationalization is to build infrastructure to receive the Jewish D.P.s from Gaza. Catch: the mostly religious Jews from Gaza don't want to live on those secularist kibbutzim (IMRA, 4/17). HAMAS ADMITS CEASEFIRE IS A SUBTERFUGE The head of the Hamas political bureau told a convention called by "al-Ahram" that the cooling off period or "tahdiah" was just a trick, not an end to the armed struggle. It is designed for several Arab purposes, one being to avoid internecine strife and another to make it seem that the problem is with Israel, not with the Arabs (IMRA, 4/18). DIFFERENCE BETWEEN P.A. & ISRAELI APPROACH Pres. Bush has made an ambiguous statement about an interim authority for Gaza. The P.A. is asking him for clarification (IMRA, 4/17). When Pres. Bush wrote an ambiguous letter to PM Sharon, PM Sharon touted it as upholding his own assertions. The State Dept. then insisted it did not. The P.A. is more careful than is Israel. WHAT U.S. HAS IN STORE FOR ISRAEL PM Sharon seem to think that after he abandons Gaza and northern Samaria, the US would leave Israel alone for a couple of years and focus on the P.A. eradicating terrorism. "Yediot Ahronot" thinks that the State Dept. does not care much about eradicating terrorism but about whether the P.A. can be self-governing in Gaza. Accordingly, soon after the abandonment (when the terrorists would launch a bigger war against Israel) the US would come up with a new list of demands upon Israel (Foreign Ministry, 4/18). I agree. The State Dept. is relentless in its anti-Zionism. Israel should have learned that by now, for this constantly happens, but Israel is not run by patriots, and it does not strategize. It does not realize how anti-Zionist the State Dept. is, not even after eighty years of experience with it! Likewise, half of the older American Jews who remember FDR have not caught on to how anti-Jewish he was. For example, he held phony refugee conferences to make it seem he would help save European Jewry even while his administration's directives helped doom it. WHAT THE P.A. IS DOING, NOW In mid-April, the number of terrorist attacks tripled. The P.A. made no effort against it. "The Israeli government has instructed the IDF not to respond to these attacks, but rather to show restraint in accordance with the understandings reached two months ago at Sharm el-Sheikh. Those understandings featured an Israeli pledge to end its counter-terrorism activities, in return for Palestinian Authority leader Abu Mazen's announcement that he had reached an agreement with all the terror factions for a ceasefire. In fact, however, most of the terror organizations agreed only several weeks later to a "tahadiye" - a calming-down period - which is considered to be somewhat less than even a "hudna," or temporary ceasefire." (Arutz-7, 4/18.) As the proof of the pudding is in the eating, the proof of the ceasefire is in the shooting. The Israeli government instructions to the IDF not to respond to terrorist attacks based on an understanding with Abu Mazen, who has not fulfilled his part, gets Israelis killed. The current Israeli leaders exhibit the same criminal negligence as Peres did with Oslo. WHAT PM SHARON HAS IN STORE FOR ISRAEL His plan to bring 750 heavily-armed Egyptian troops up to the Gaza border, in violation of the treaty with Egypt, is bad enough. It has been likened to bringing in Iranian Guards to monitor the Lebanon border with Israel. But PM Sharon has called the new plan just a pilot project that he hopes to expand. What happens when, as is likely, some incident occurs between the two sides' War? (IMRA, 4/18.) TUNNEL DETECTION The IDF released a statement about building a new Gaza security fence that would include advanced techniques for detecting tunnels. The IDF would rely upon those techniques not to need as intrusive a searching in Gaza. Upon questioning by IMRA, the IDF admitted that it had not developed any advanced techniques (IMRA, 4/18). The IDF had been dissembling. In any case, technology should never replace hands-on management. The two are needed together, to overcome enemy technology and actions. HOW "HAARETZ" ASSESSES ABBAS "Haaretz" portrays Abbas sympathetically as in a dilemma between Fatah and Hamas. It says Israel should figure out how to help him (Foreign Ministry, 4/19). The portrayal assumes that he deserves help. He doesn't. He vows struggle against Israel by a combination of diplomacy and arms, as he always has. After all, what is Fatah but his terrorist organization? Whichever organization dominates the P.A. would make war on Israel. "Haaretz" mistakenly thinks that Fatah serial killers, as contrasted with the fanatical Hamas murderers, would make peace. Therefore, the editors try to find ways to strengthen the Fatah serial killers. I think that Israel should be figuring out how to bring down Abbas and his P.A. and how to assert the Jewish national interest in that Jewish national patrimony. WHAT SECURITY FENCES? The news is full of reports (from Jewish nationalist sources, not the "NY Times") of terrorists sneaking from Syria into the Golan and beneath the border at Gaza, firing rockets over the security fence between Gaza and Israel, and using technological means to get over the supposedly effective new security fence in Judea-Samaria. The technological means: ladders. "... disengagement type border walls and 'security fences' can't replace sterile buffer zones and aggressive military operations to distance the Arab terror threat." As for the US, "The false notion that one can be considered an ally and a friend by helping us commit suicide will no longer be an option." (Voice of Judea, 4/18). Israel spent billions on the fence, instead of fighting hard are taking territory out of enemy hands. ISRAEL EXPECTS WAR IN 2006 US officials heard from Israeli analysts that the vacuum of a 2006 US withdrawal from Iraq would be filled by an Iran-led war on Israel. Iran is forming the necessary coalition. It would be emboldened by Iranian nuclear weapons and intermediate-range missiles. Dr. Aaron Lerner points out how poorly PM Sharon is preparing for that war. Sharon invites heavily armed Egyptian troops to the border, allows a build-up of P.A. forces, and withdraws from parts of the P.A. expected to fill up with rockets that would bombard Israeli cities (IMRA, 4/19). TERRORISTS' WEAPONS UNCOLLECTED Abbas told Israeli reporters that the P.A. had collected the weapons of the wanted terrorists in Jericho and Tulkarem (wanted by Israel and not turned over to it), before enrolling the men in the P.A. police. Terrorists denied that their weapons had been confiscated (IMRA, 4/19). Whether Abbas is lying about collecting those weapons is secondary. If the P.A. collected weapons but did not turn them over to an outside party to destroy, the P.A. might reissue them. If the P.A. collects terrorists but does not turn them over to Israel to jail, the P.A. will reissue the terrorists arms. What a charade: he confiscates their arms, enrolls them in the police, and gives them arms! Is that eradicating terrorism? Why do the journalists not mock that deceitful maneuver? 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 |
NO REWARDS FOR SOLDIERS
Posted by Rachel Saperstein, May 6, 2005. |
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According to the Thursday, May 5th Jerusalem Post soldiers who will participate in the ethnic cleansing of Jews from their homes in Northern Samaria and Gaza will be rewarded with personal hygiene and snack kits to make their work "good, clean and sweet". Revolting! As I sit here in my living room in Neve Dekalim I think of the clean, sweet-smelling soldiers at my door - breaking it in if I am not quick to answer, and forcibly removing me and my husband from our home. I see their freshly brushed teeth as they smilingly destroy our picture window with its view of dunes and sea. I smell their after-shave as they drag me out and they pummel my one-armed husband with their freshly washed hands. I have always loved the Israeli soldier. He/she was always a symbol of the strong and heroic Jewish army ready to defend the ordinary Jew like me. How proud I was when my husband went to serve in the IDF only months after our arrival in Israel. When he lost his arm and part of his face during the Yom Kippur War we understood the sacrifices we had made to live here and to literally give our bodies to defend our country. When my son came home on his first leave in his IDF uniform I once again felt that surge of pride that now our only son was an Israeli soldier. Our son-in-law served in the IDF as a career officer. Our youngest daughter chose to serve in a NAHAL unit [kibbutz and army service] during her stint in the IDF. As my children grew up in Jerusalem I remember the packages we prepared before Remembrance and Independence days to be given as gifts to our soldiers defending our country from the Arab enemy. How touched our children were when they received gifts from youngsters abroad when their father was wounded. But NO! NEVER! can we give gifts as an incentive to soldiers carrying out the illegal and immoral orders of the State of Israel, the removal by force of decent, hardworking Jews because they are Jews. We cannot encourage soldiers to carry out illegal and immoral orders by giving them a friendly, warm-hearted hug by way of these kits. We cannot ask Jewish children in Israel or in Jewish day schools abroad to collect money in order to buy "loving presents" for soldiers about to commit hateful acts, soldiers willing to destroy Jewish homes and communities, even Jewish lives. Not one child, not one adult, is to give money to this cause. Jews do not aid in the destruction of Jewish homes, communities and lives. Give to the legal aid fund of those who will be arrested for resisting this outrage. Give gifts to the threatened children of Northern Samaria and Gush Katif. But not one cent for soldiers who are afraid to say NO! "No, commander, I will not remove Jews from their homes. I did not join the IDF to destroy Jewish lives, but to protect them." When this evil edict is defeated we will reward our Jewish soldiers with our gifts of love. 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. |
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SDEROT STRUCK BY ROCKETS, SCHOOL VAN TARGETED IN GAZA, MORE WAR ZONE TOWNS
Posted by Bryna Berch, May 6, 2005. |
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I've underlined one incredible paragraph in this otherwise too-familiar news item from Arutz-7. S'derot has often complained because even though it is in "Israel proper," it's constantly being shelled by the Arabs in Gaza and Israel does nothing about it. Now Israel is planning to leave Gaza, supposedly for better security. And 44 towns are now designated as "war zone" towns! Obviously, the Israel Government - like the rest of us - EXPECTS that the Arab terrorists that run Gaza will expand their war against Israel - now there will be 44 town under enemy fire, not just S'derot. So why in heck is the Government leaving Gaza? If it wants security for Israel, it should be making the Arabs leave - for comfy homes among their Arab brethren in Saudi Arabia or Jordan or whereever. Arab terrorists fired Kassam rockets last night at the city of Sderot, heavily damaging a home. This morning, terrorists fired a rocket at a school van. One of two rockets fired by Arab terrorists last night at Sderot exploded in an open area outside the western Negev town, while the other exploded near the site of an attack last year that killed two children. Gandi Davidov, who lives in the house neighboring the site of the attack, said windows and doors were shattered in his home. Several Sderot residents were treated for shock. This morning, Palestinian Authority terrorists fired an anti-tank rocket at a school vehicle traveling to Kfar Darom. In another attack in the area, an anti-tank rocket was fired at IDF forces near the community of Netzer-Hazani. No injuries were reported in either incident. The Kassam rockets that fell on Sderot were fired from northern Gaza, according to defense sources. The IDF Southern Command reported that PA security forces are not taking any action in the area to curtail terrorism. Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz ordered a "measured response" to the attack. As has been the case with many recent rocket attacks in the region, the Gaza-based Popular Resistance Committees, affiliated with Abu Mazen's Fatah organization, claimed responsibility for the shelling of S'derot. On Tuesday, the PA released two Hamas terrorists who were arrested the day before while carrying Kassam missiles. Thursday morning, a rocket fired by PA terrorists fell just outside Sderot. Terrorists have renewed rocket attacks on Sderot the past two days, after several days of restricting mortar shell and rocket attacks to Jewish communities in Gaza. In general, there has been an increase in recent weeks of over 300% in Gaza-based attacks aimed at civilian and military targets throughout Gaza and southern Green Line Israel. According to a cabinet decision made Tuesday, 44 municipalities in proximity to the Gaza region were approved to receive frontline status by the cabinet. This will entitle residents to government benefits currently enjoyed by Sderot residents as a result of ongoing Kassam rocket attacks into the Negev area. The proposal was presented to the cabinet by Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz. |
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NGOs TARGET ISRAEL AT UNCHR MEETING
Posted by NGO Monitor, May 6, 2005. |
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SUMMARY: The recently concluded 61st Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, was again characterized by intense political attacks focused against Israel, in which many NGOs played a major role. The 61st Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, which took place in Geneva from 14 March to 22 April 2005, was again characterized by intense political attacks focused against Israel, despite the warnings of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and UN Human Rights High Commissioner Louise Arbour. The UNCHR, however, continued the past practice of singling out "Israel and the Palestinian territories" as a separate agenda item ("Question of the violation of human rights in the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine") in addition to Agenda Item 5 - "The right of peoples to self-determination and its application to peoples under colonial or alien domination or foreign occupation". The UNCHR's failure to condemn Palestinian terror and its assaults against Israel were analyzed in detail by UN Watch. In the process, the NGO network was particularly active, and its biased reports and rhetoric was echoed in the Commission's discussions and resolutions. The Palestinian NGO Al-Haq, a participant at the 2001 Durban conference, joined with the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) to condemn "numerous forms of collective punishment", the "devastating system of checkpoints and other movement restrictions", and the "construction of the Annexation Wall". This submission criticizes only Israel while failing to acknowledge Palestinian violence. The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) also continued its anti-Israel emphasis, criticizing "excessive use of force, indiscriminate killing of civilians" and the security barrier. The ICJ, did, however, condemn Palestinian terror attacks against Israeli civilians, marking a change for this NGO. Save the Children, while refraining from using intemperate language to criticize Israel, failed to acknowledge Israeli security concerns when referring to restrictions on movement and protection of children's rights. Similarly, ignoring the context behind Israeli operations in the Gaza Strip, the highly partisan Habitat International Coalition and Al-Mezan (a recipient of Swiss and Dutch governmental funding) condemned "Israel's systematic and aggravated violations of Palestinian civilians' right to adequate housing" while endorsing the standard Palestinian political demand "for the immediate deployment of an international protection force in the region". Israelis, in these reports, appear to have no human rights. Demonstrating an amoral equivalence between Palestinian terrorism and Israeli self-defense operations, Medecins du Monde called on both Israel and the PA to prevent attacks against civilians. This NGO also referred to the "mental and physical suffering of Palestinians" caused by Israel's security barrier and checkpoints, while ignoring Israeli suffering in the face of terrorist acts. Employing the language of extremism and demonization, the International Organization for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (EAFORD) referred to Israel's "war crimes", "ethnic cleansing policy", and "Jenin massacres", while claiming that the "apartheid practiced against the Palestinian people is worse than the former South African one". Major NGOs such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch did not participate in this session of the Commission's activities, instead, questioning the credibility of the UNCHR as a whole. Amnesty referred to "The selectivity and double standards that characterize the Commission's approach to addressing country situations", while HRW expressed "the need to scrap the Commission and replace it with something new and better". HRW also called on the UNCHR to halt the neglect of "abuses by Palestinian armed groups" (i.e., terrorists), to actively condemn "deliberate and indiscriminant [sic] attacks on civilians" and to demand that the Palestinian Authority "undertake all efforts consistent with international human rights standards to curb these attacks". However, HRW's position was highly inconsistent, and included contentious language used to describe Israeli anti-terror policy. The NGO Monitor organization (www.ngo-monitor.org) promotes critical debate and accountability of human rights NGOs in the Arab Israeli Conflict. Note that the original article contained dynamic links to additional material - see http://www.ngo-monitor.org. |
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THE ULTIMATE ALIYAH
Posted by TheRaphi, May 6, 2005. |
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This was written by Dani Wasner. Dani Wassner made aliyah from Sydney, Australia in 1995. An attorney by trade, he currently works in public relations and lives in Jerusalem with his wife, Danielle. Dani is a former leader of the Betar Youth Movement in Australia. In Israel, among other interests, he is involved with Ma'avak B'Tabak, Israel's anti-smoking lobby. Now, before you get too confused, let me dispel some rumours about whether or not one can, in fact, go up to the Temple Mount. When Israel liberated the Old City of Jerusalem in 1967, General Motta Gur declared the famous words over his communications equipment: "Har HaBayit beyadeinu!" - "The Temple Mount is in our hands!" Unfortunately, his declaration turned out to be somewhat hollow. For reasons best known to himself, immediately after the war, General Moshe Dayan handed the keys of the Temple Mount back to the Wakf, the Muslim religious authorities, and gave them full control of the Mount, including the power to make rules over who can go up, when, where and how. The Wakf immediately established a number of laws that included restricting most of the entrances to the Mount to Muslims. Non-Muslims could go up through only two gates, at very restricted times (a few hours each morning, except Friday, and between 1:30-2:30pm most days). They also declared that Jews could not pray, sing or worship in any way while up there. At the same time, the rabbis were aware of the significant challenges under Jewish Law (halacha) to entering the Temple Mount. Examples include the problems of treading where the Holy of Holies once stood, as well as the complications of ritually impure people going up (from a halachic perspective, just about every Jew is ritually impure, to varying degrees, at various times). In addition, halacha forbids the wearing of leather shoes on the Mount, as well as a host of other actions that are considered inappropriate for the site. As a result of all of these factors, the Chief Rabbinate decided that the best solution was to forbid anyone from going up to the Temple Mount whatsoever. For the next two decades, this situation remained in place with very few Jews going up to the Mount. However, in recent years, a growing number of people and organizations have been "re-discovering" Har HaBayit. The most famous of these was then-Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon. Today, there are essentially two types of people and groups who go up. The first are the "protesters". These are people who are fighting hard to assert Jewish rites on the Mount. They attempt to go up in large groups with protest signs, and they shout, sing and chant. In the vast majority of cases, the Israeli police do not let them on to the Mount. These groups are also constantly lobbying the police and politicians, as well as appealing to the Supreme Court, to expand Jewish rights on the Mount. These groups include organizations such as the Temple Mount Faithful. At the same time, a much larger body of thousands of people are slowly, quietly asserting Jewish rights by providing a steady stream of Jews who go up without protest, and who, by and large, obey the rules. These people are mainly observant Jews who conform with all of the relevant halachot and try to go up as often as possible: all with rabbinic sanction. In fact, more and more halachic authorities are openly stating that "aliyah leHar HaBayit" is permissible, and many significant rabbis are doing so themselves. It was such a group of people that I joined last Thursday. The rabbi who was organizing this particular "tour" sent me a long document a few weeks beforehand describing in detail the various halachot to which I needed to adhere in order to go up. So, on Thursday morning, I went to a mikveh and dunked with a b'racha (this is the only occasion for which a male dunks in the mikveh with a b'racha). Dressed in non-leather shoes, the group of 15 or so Jews gathered at the bottom of the ramp near the women's side of the Kotel. After an extensive security check by police, the head policeman carefully examined our ID cards and wrote down our details. Apparently, the police often photograph those going up, for their records, but in our case, this did not happen. We were then gathered in a group where the police lectured us as to what was permitted on the Mount: no praying, no moving your lips in prayer, no bowing down, nothing that looks like prayer. No singing, dancing or holding signs. No shouting. The police ended their speech by saying that "anyone seen praying will be immediately arrested, while the rest of the group will be thrown off the Mount." The words seemed more appropriate for the Vatican in the Middle Ages; one had to pinch oneself to believe that this speech was being given by a Jewish policeman, in the Jewish state, regarding the holiest site in Judaism. Nonetheless, we all nodded our agreement and began our short ascent. It is difficult to describe the overwhelming feeling that came over me and my group as we approached the actual platform of the Mount. I felt like I was walking into the Palace of the King, similar to the final moments of Yom Kippur. A guy next to me was actually trembling and I thought that he may faint. Once we were up on the Mount itself, we were constantly followed by three to four Israeli police officers, as well as four to five members of the Wakf. These Wakf guys ran around watching our every move, making sure that our lips did not move in prayer while they conferred with each other over their walkie-talkies. Our guide, Rabbi Nachum Schnitzer, ensured that we only walked in those areas of the Mount that are permissible. (In short, dunking in the mikveh only obviates certain kinds of ritual impurity. Today, with no Red Heifer, we cannot become completely ritually pure. As such, the more important parts of the Mount are still off limits to observant Jews.) Although this meant staying mainly on the outer extremes of the Mount, the views of the main platform where the Temple once stood were extraordinary. It did not take much imagination to see the Temple standing exactly as it had 2,000 years ago. Our guide was also able to somewhat circumvent the "no prayer" rule by saying things along the lines of "So this is where the pilgrims to the Temple Mount would stand and say...." We were also, of course, able to pray "in our hearts", and every one of us used various opportunities to secretly turn our backs and mumble some words of actual prayer. At one point, we were astounded to run in to a group of Haredi Jews on the Mount. They were being led by Rabbi Yosef Elbaum, a leading proponent of going up to the Mount. Apart from the occasional tourist, most of the people on the Mount were Muslims of all ages, male and female. They seemed to be largely just milling around, sitting on the grass, talking etc. They did not give us a second glance. When we left the Mount, we stood on the other side of the gate and sang (permissible now because we were officially off the Mount) "Adir Hu", perfect for Pesach, with the appropriate words "yivne beito bekarov" ("May His House be built soon"). Ironically, two of the police that had been escorting us joined in the song. As we came off the Mount, I saw the thousands of people at the Kotel. As important as the Kotel is, I can unfortunately never again look at it in quite the same light. I felt like shouting to the people: "No. Look up there. You're all looking straight ahead at the outer wall. The real thing is up there!" I'd urge everyone to start talking about the Temple Mount and to begin considering a personal trip for themselves. This year, Pesach 5765, I finally made a true aliyah leregel. 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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DOV GRUNER'S YARZEIT
Posted by Moshe Brodetzky, May 5, 2005. |
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Today, the 26th of Nissan, is the yahrzeit of Dov Gruner HY"D. Before Dov Gruner was hanged by the British in Acre Prison in 1947, he sent this final letter [translated from Hebrew] to Menachem Begin, commander of the Irgun Zvai Leumi: Sir, Moshe Brodetzky is an American, now living in Jerusalem. He was a leader in the "Let My People Go" campaign to persuade the USSR to let Jews leave for Israel; he developed innovative and creative ways of dramatising the plight of the Soviet Jews. |
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REMEMBERING JOSHUA AND CALEV
Posted by Mordechai Ben-Menachem, May 5, 2005. |
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From Arutz-7 (www.IsraelNationalNews.com) Close to 2,000 people prayed at the gravesites of Joshua bin Nun and Calev ben Yefuneh in Shomron last night, in a special army-protected event in honor of the 3,249th anniversary of Joshua's death. The graves are located just northwest of Ariel in central Samaria. Each one features a large room and a large half-oval stone marking the spot. The Book of Joshua specifies that Joshua was buried in Timnat Serah, on the border of the inheritance of Ephraim, near Mt. Gaash - corresponding to this location. In fact, the visitors passed through the similarly-named Arab-populated village of Kifl Hares under the relaxed but watchful protection of IDF forces. Busloads and private cars filled with Jews from Bnei Brak, Jerusalem, nearby areas and elsewhere arrived throughout the night. Calev, as well, was buried here, according to many traditions. The trip was organized by the "Shechem Achad" society and the Shomron Religious Council. Many of the participants distributed free copies of the Book of Joshua, in honor of the occasion. "Spirits were very high," recounted one participant. "We walked through the village and up a hill to the gravesite of Yehoshua, and then down a bit towards the grave of Calev. Unfortunately, the army did not allow us to reach the burial place of Nun, Joshua's father." Dov Shapira, head of the Shomron Religious Council, told Arutz-7, "We pray at the site every year on this date, but this year we wanted to make it an extra large event. For one thing, we wanted to increase awareness of the power of prayer, and in addition, during these critical times we wished to connect with these men, who told the People of Israel, 'Aloh naaleh - let us go up to the Land, for we can succeed... the Land is very very good.'" Shapira expressed his thanks, both on the personal and communal level, to the soldiers for their help in securing the event. "It was particularly poignant," said one participant, "to visit the graves of these two giants, Joshua and Calev, who stood against their fellow spies [sent by Moses] and came back with a positive report. But they had to wait 40 years in the desert before they could return, and then led the nation in capturing the Land that G-d had promised. We, too, are commanded to repair the Sin of the Spies - we must not find fault in the Land, but strive to inherit it." Mordechai Ben-Menachem is at Ben-Gurion University. He can be reached by email at quality@computer.org |
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ONE YEAR AGO: THE BARBARIC MURDERS OF TALI, MEIRAV, RONI, HADAR, AND HILA HATUEL
Posted by Marlene Young, May 5, 2005. |
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Please take One Minute to remember and Pray, Only One Year Ago 5/2/04: The barbaric murders of Tali, Meirav, Roni, Hadar, and Hila Hatuel. One year ago, the Palestinian terrorists approached eight-month pregnant Tali Hatual, a counselor of families of terror victims, as she was driving on the road to Gush Katif and riddled her car with bullets, then approached and shot her several times into her pregnant stomach, murdering her, and also shot her four beautiful daughters at close range, murdering them mercilessly, as they screamed and cried for their mother and their lives, Meirav, 2, Roni, 7, Hadar, 9, and Hila, 11. The Palestinian Barbarians shot each child in the head multiple times at close range to ensure they were dead and mutilated, Meirav, 2, Roni, 7, Hadar, 9, and Hila, 11. Security later found the children's blood-stained toys and books below their bodies. Several Palestinian terror groups, including the Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility for these barabaric cold-blooded murders. These same terror groups have not been dismantled nor disarmed by Abbas in violation of all agreements. Please say Psalms, Tehillim, for this beautiful family so tragically and cruelly murdered because of their religion and address. With prayers for Geulot, Yeshuot, V'Nechamot,
Contact Marlene Young at marleneyoung1@yahoo.com |
| GUSH KATIF |
GAZA WITHDRAWAL DIVIDES ISRAEL'S MILITARY
Posted by Zionist Organization of America, May 5, 2005. |
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New York - On Tuesday, May 3, 2005, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) ran a front page article entitled, "In Israel, Pullout From Gaza Divides Its Military, Too," the subheading was, "(Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief) General Harel tries to overcome resistance among troops." The WSJ article stated that, "after decades of unifying Israel, the IDF must carry out an order that could split it." When former Cabinet Minister Natan Sharansky resigned his post this week, he said, "alongside my concerns, about the dangers entailed in a unilateral disengagement from Gaza, I am even more concerned about how the government's approach to disengagement is dividing Israeli society. We are heading toward a terrible rift in the nation and to my great chagrin, I feel that the government is making no serious effort to prevent it." The WSJ added, "this divide is reflected within Israel's military...Already, at least 10,000 soldiers in the IDF's reserves have signed a petition vowing not to participate in the Gaza Mission - the most serious refusal of duty the IDF has ever faced." The WSJ then pointed out that "in the U.S., a law forbids the military from being deployed against its citizens." They also quoted IDF Chief General Harel saying that in a recent speech before 120 senior officers of the IDF, "he guessed to himself that 4 out of 10 of them didn't agree with Mr. Sharon's decision to evacuate Gaza." In fact, said ZOA President Morton A. Klein, "the list of prominent Israeli military leaders and others opposed to the Sharon/Peres Gaza Withdrawal Plan is long and distinguished. They include outgoing Chief of the IDF General Moshe Ya'alon (who said this Gaza Plan will blow up in our faces); Director of Shin Bet Avi Dichter; Chief of Military Intelligence Aharon Farkash; Speaker of the Knesset Reuven Rivlin; Chief of Likud faction Gideon Saar; former Minister Natan Sharansky; former Chair of Foreign Affairs and Defense Uzi Landau; former Defense and Foreign Affairs Minister Moshe Arens; former Chief of Military Intelligence Shlomo Gazit; former Deputy Chief of Military Intelligence Yaacov Amidror; and even Foreign Affairs Minister Silvan Shalom and Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "Many IDF officers are worried about the military wisdom of this Plan. In fact, several weeks ago, Israeli Military Intelligence Chief Aharon Ze'evi Farkash testified before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee stating that Palestinian Arabs are moving terrorists and its infrastructure from Gaza to Judea and Samaria. This may well be happening due to the Arab conviction that Israel is leaving Gaza and forcefully deporting 9000 Jews primarily because of Palestinian Arab terror and murder. Once Gaza is Judenein, the terror war will resume in Judea and Samaria where Palestinian Arabs believe renewed terror against Jews there will force them to leave the West Bank." In fact, Israel's largest newspaper, Yediot Ahronot (April 1, 2005), reported that the Palestinian terror/murder war against the Jews of Israel will resume as soon as Israel completes the forced deportation and transfer of 9000 Jews according to the Sharon/Bush Gaza withdrawal plan. Military sources said that the focus of renewed Palestinian terror attacks will be in Judea and Samaria, especially major roads, military camps, and Jewish communities there. The Palestinian Arabs will use mortar and Kassam rockets to attack the trans-Israel Highway and on the cities of the coastal plain. The IDF Central command said it is already preparing for the next round of armed conflict with the Palestinian Arabs. To further confirm this report, the Jerusalem Post wrote on March 31 that an internal Shin Bet document said that Hizbullah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas have intensified their efforts to smuggle weapons from Egypt to cells operating in Judea and Samaria. The document stated that from last summer to this winter, 180 anti-tank rockets, 600 kg. of explosives, 3000 rifles, 400 handguns and 400,000 rounds of ammunition were smuggled from Egypt to Judea, Samaria and Gaza. A security official said that "terror groups abroad have intensified their efforts in recent months to smuggle weapons from Egypt to the Negev to the West Bank and Gaza." Another route is by sea. Weapons are coming in through fishing boats as well. It is interesting to see that the most recent polls show that Israelis are almost evenly divided on this issue. This strong groundswell of opposition is especially surprising since Sharon and his government are so strongly committed to this Plan. Sharon's support among his own party has also dropped. In a survey released recently by Israel's Midgam polling company in conjunction with Radius radio, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has dropped to 8th place as choice for PM among Likud Central Committee members. The poll was based on 401 members of the Likud Central Committee. Several months ago, polls showed PM Sharon handily defeating Bibi Netanyahu, Silvan Shalom and Uzi Landau among Likud Central Committee members. The new survey shows Tzahi Hanegbi topping the list followed by Netanyahu, Dan Naveh, Uzi Landau, Gideon Saar, Silvan Shalom, Yisroel Katz and then Sharon. Defense Minister Mofaz is number 11. ZOA President Klein said: "It is stunning to see the dramatic drop in support for Gaza evacuation supporters during the last few months. This includes Gaza evacuation supporters such as Sharon, Mofaz, Ezra, Shteinitz, Livni, Livnat, Boim, Sheetrit and Ohlmert." "One can only conclude that Likud members see that Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas has refused to dismantle and disarm the terrorists, close the bomb factories, end the incitement, or arrest the terrorists since taking power - thereby giving pause to the notion of rewarding Abbas' pro-terror inaction with more Gaza land and the removal of 9000 Jews from their homes there." "In addition, Chief of General Staff, Gen. Moshe Ya'alon said last month, 'Do not get intoxicated by the current calm in the region, the terror groups are utilizing the calm to further arm themselves, as well as produce explosives and build up their depleted ranks.' In fact, Abu Al-Walid, for the leadership of Islamic Jihad, said, 'We aim to take advantage of the lull to prepare our military apparatus to confront any eventuality.' In light of these troubling facts, more and more Israelis are questioning the wisdom of making any concessions to Abbas' regime especially unilateral concessions. Therefore, supporters of these concessions are becoming less popular while opponents are gaining support." The Zionist Organization of America, founded in 1897, is the oldest pro-Israel organization in the United States. The ZOA works to strengthen U.S.-Israel relations, educates the American public and Congress about the dangers that Israel faces, and combats anti-Israel bias in the media and on college campuses. Its past presidents have included Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis and Rabbi Dr. Abba Hillel Silver. Contact the ZOA by email at email@zoa.org or visit their website: http://www.zoa.org |
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HAMAS STRATEGY; ISRAEL NON-STRATEGY; POLLARD, PERPETUAL BARGAINING CHIP
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, May 5, 2005. |
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HAMAS STRATEGY "Abbas is exploiting the Bush effort to spread democracy, by opening the door to radical Islamic elements." Americans want to see in Hamas' entry into politics an exit from terrorism. (There is no logic to that conclusion). Hamas leaders point out that they would continue fighting, but enter politics to gain respectability and end European blacklisting of it as a terrorist organization (that would be denied fundraising rights). The EU appears to be accepting this. As members of the Cabinet, Hamas could not be disbanded by the government. The Cabinet ministries would get funds for Hamas charities and militia and for the spread of its doctrine. This funding would increase Hamas popularity. "Israel will face greater difficulties in leading an international struggle against the financing of Hamas." "Hamas has switched to a 'phased plan' that prioritizes long-term political popularity over force against the Palestinian (Arab) government. It retains its military as a shield against a P.A. crackdown. In the end, the goal is still the same - the establishment of an Islamist regime in the entire area of mandatory Palestine." In entering the PLO based on the PLO agreeing to certain principles, Hamas is starting to change the PLO from within. Calling for new elections to represent PLO factions outside the P.A., Hamas hopes to take over the PLO as well as the P.A.. Another part of Hamas strategy is to cast Israeli resistance to terrorism as illegitimate. Hence Hamas proposes a ceasefire against Israel, itself, though not against Israelis in Yesha. It then acts indignant when the IDF moves against it. The Hamas ceasefire is full of loopholes, conditions that Israel is not likely to accept. Then Hamas would renew terrorism against Israel. If Israel doesn't enunciate a clear policy towards Hamas, and if it cooperates with a P.A. regime that includes Hamas, Israel would imply recognition of Hamas as legitimate (IMRA, 4/14). The trouble is, Hamas thinks out long-term goals and strategy, but Israel does not. WHAT CEASEFIRE? IMRA reported on 4/14 another thwarted terrorist attack. I come across a couple every day. INCREASED SMUGGLING The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies (C.S.S) reports that arms smuggling from Egypt into Gaza increased greatly during the lull in fighting. The P.A. took some steps against it, but mostly for show. Mostly it ignores it or its forces assist it. Hence terrorist organizations stepped up their efforts. The CSS report omitted comment on Egypt's failure to intercept the smuggling (IMRA, 4/14). Politically correct but poor reporting. WHY UNARMED ARABS INFILTRATE SETTLEMENTS When Israel reduced its no-pass zones for Arabs in the Territories and its rules enabling Israel to fire on suspected terrorists but only if fired on, lest the troops strike civilians, the Arabs resumed infiltrating into Israel for jobs and into settlements not for jobs. They were gathering intelligence for future attacks on the settlements. Thus Israeli compassion for the enemy lacks compassion for its own people (as the Talmud warns). The Arabs also found ways through the security fence (IMRA, 4/14). Never depend on current military technology. It may be neutralized rapidly. "ZIONIST PROPAGANDA MACHINE" An American company manufactures a hologram-making machine. It does not use x-rays. Israel has put that machine into passenger-screening usage at an entry from the Sinai to Gaza. The P.A. has been making frequent complaints that it: (1) Dangerously x-rays Arabs in order to kill them, by causing cancer, mental illness, and congenital deformities; and (2) Humiliates Arabs because it shows them naked (IMRA, 4/15). The machine probably is a humane method for expediting passage. Thus it provides Israel with security at minimal delay for the Arabs. As a collective society wholeheartedly irredentist and approving of violence, P.A. Arabs are fortunate to be given any consideration. They would not be ethically entitled to complain about collective punishment, even if it were administered to them. I have seen no Israeli response to the charges. Where is the "Zionist propaganda machine" that the Arabs frequently allude to? Israel hardly defends its measures and even more rarely carries the propaganda battle to the enemy. A totalitarian regime engaged in total war, as is the P.A., devotes itself to constant propaganda. Being totalitarian, fanatical, and deceitful by official policy, it engages in the lowest of falsehood, which is blood libel. Blood libel, you may recall, is accusing the Jewish people of mass-murder of their enemies or rivals, so as to invoke mobs to commit mass-murder of Jews as if in justified retaliation. It is a form of bigotry akin to racism, for it supports a notion of the Jewish people being genetically, or inherently through culture, depraved. Those who engage in blood libel are depraved. The Arabs engage in it. Therefore, the Arabs are depraved. WHO TRIES TO POISON WHOM? London police arrested some Algerians trained by al-Qaida for producing poison. They hoped to murder hundreds of Jews. They did some of their plotting in a mosque there (Arutz-7, 4/15). Casual, mass-murder of innocent people. Some "holy war!" MORE ISRAELI DIRTY TRICKS - AGAINST OWN PEOPLE "What a week for intelligence provocations! It began with the graves of Yitzhak and Leah Rabin being defaced by foes of the "disengagement" and ended with an IDF memorial service disrupted on national tv by these same foes, causing General Ehud Barak to call for the "disengagement" within five days. Of the first provocation, Prof. Wiseman of the Weizmann Institute discovered that the Rabin graves are surveiled 24 hours a day by two video cameras. The defacers were caught on camera and found to be Shabak agents. For this reason the police have stopped investigating and the media has ceased reporting the incident. Of the IDF ceremony, needless to say it was heavily guarded and the incident wouldn't have happened unless it was supposed to have happened." Dirty tricks, police complicity, and journalistic support! A wild provocateur named Eskin threw a pig's head at the Jerusalem mosque, among other sensational stunts attributed to the Right, that really does not approve. For calling him a secret service agent, Barry Chamish is being sued for slander. If Mr. Chamish is to utilize this case to expose secret service provocation and the Rabin assassination, he would need donations. Meanwhile, Rabin's former bodyguard and likely murderer, Yoram Rubin, has been reassigned as PM Sharon's bodyguard. Sharon must get the hint (Chamish, 4/15, e-mail). One would suppose that Sharon would ask for a guard without a record of failure at best. How many dirty tricks and how much media manipulation does it take for a country to be considered a police state? POLLARD, THE PERPETUAL BARGAINING CHIP Rumor, or is it a leak planted to gain support for the abandonment plan, is that the Israeli Ambassador finally will visit Pollard and lead him out of prison, after Israel abandons territory. Pollard does not want to be used for ulterior purposes. He is tired of being offered as a bargaining chip (Arutz-7, 4/15). Then Israel betrays him, and he remains in prison. PM Sharon admitted that he did not raise the issue of Pollard with Pres. Bush. The Committee to Release Pollard points out the likelihood that the false leak was to divert attention from policy problems. If the release were seriously intended, Pollard would have gone home with Sharon, to celebrate the Jewish holiday of freedom. At least, it would have been done immediately, not be just another long-range promise. It would be done without the fanfare that agitates opponents and gives them time to lobby against it (IMRA, 4/15). THE ECONOMIC LINK TO TERRORISM The official Egyptian paper attributes some domestic terrorism by its youth to their unemployment of the million. It supposes that their frustration renders them exploitable by religious extremists (IMRA, 4/15). Why no terrorism is most impoverished non-Muslim countries? It does not occur to the editor to reexamine the Islamic resistance to contraception. Neither does it question how entrenched the jihadist doctrine is in the Egyptian schools and mosques. Can't preach hatred of the Jews as evil sub-humans plotting to take over Arab society, which is a violent society, without anticipating that some of the Arabs will commit evil. Can't call terrorism against Israelis proper without finding terrorists believing that terrorism against corrupt Arab regimes is proper. The Arabs have unleashed a demon. IT'S ALWAYS SOMEONE ELSE'S FAULT The "Jordan Times" accuses PM Sharon of undermining the Road Map and Abbas by complaining that Abbas has not dismantled terrorist groups although he has gotten them to make a ceasefire, and by not pursuing the Road Map. However, Sharon points out that the eradication of terrorism is to precede Map implementation. The US is not sufficiently resolute about this. IMRA notes the absence of US criticism of Abbas, who at best is afraid to test his authority with his violent people (IMRA, 4/15). The Arabs always blame other peoples for their own shortcomings. Nor are they accurate about the facts. The ceasefire is partial, leaves the terrorists in place to resume violence when they wish, and in fact enabled them to rearm. Therefore, the ceasefire was counter-productive for Israel. It is not honest of the Arabs to present this partial ceasefire as an achievement for peace. EGYPTIAN PROFESSOR ANALYZES U.S. POLICY He accuses the US of using democratization as a pretext for breaking up Arab states into mini-states for the ultimate benefit of Israel (IMRA, 4/15). No such state named. To the contrary, US policy in Iraq was to maintain the integrity of the country. Israel has persuaded the US to spending hundreds of billions of dollars and sustain thousands of casualties in order to benefit Israel? Bosh! It was in reaction to the terrorist war on the US. What bosh! Israel influential? It can't even persuade the US to stop demanding withdrawal. CHIVALRY DANGEROUS COUNTER-TERRORISM "Troops searching a West Bank house for the wanted Hamas gunman found his sister hiding his gun in her underpants, the Army said, adding that it would consider renewing strip-searches among Palestinian women when searching and screening for potential terrorists." "An army spokesman said the incident raises serious questions about the need to search Palestinian (Arab) women, mainly at checkpoints. Until now we have gone easy on women, a spokesman said. Perhaps we need to reconsider that policy." Perhaps? "Meanwhile an armed 15-year-old Palestinian (Arab) was arrested near Nablus after being discovered wearing five pipe bombs strapped to his body. The boy aroused suspicions by wearing a heavy jacket on a hot day." (Prof. Steven Plaut, 4/15, e-mail.) When Israel tries to be chivalrous about Arab women, children, and the elderly, terrorists exploit the exemption from careful searches to transport weapons for killing Jews of all ages and genders. Israel should expose Arab treachery, so that the world would understand the need for Israeli security measures, rather than condemn them. That would require a change in policy. It would require an Israeli commitment against the Arabs. Israel, however, is diverted by false hopes of making peace with the Arabs, so it thinks it inadvisable to portray the Arabs as they really are. If they did, people would wonder why Israel is dealing with those Arabs instead of defeating them. SHARON'S LIES NOT CHALLENGED Although every statement by PM Sharon turns out false or a distortion, Jewish leaders accept without question his new statements. After all, Oslo was instituted with the prompting, "trust us." It failed, and the promoters were found wanting. These charges by Emanuel Winston are followed by other indications of what amounts to a campaign of falsity by Sharon and Bush. Thus there is the false notion that Bush has not been pushing the abandonment plan and the false notion that Abbas has been helpful against terrorism. What might Jewish leaders challenge Sharon about his abandonment? For one thing, it should ask what can Israel expect to get out of it. The real answer, provided by intelligence experts, is a greater war (Winston Mid East Analysis, 4/15). If Bush were decent, he would say, "Don't do it!" ISRAELI LEFT'S LACK OF COMPASSION Avirama Golan of "Haaretz" writes with bitter resentment that the Jews uprooted from Gaza are likely to be resettled in their own town in Israel, at public expense (IMRA, 4/16). In a country where every group seeks government subsidy, and the Left has gotten enormous subsidy, it seems greedy and heartless of a left-wing journalist to complain that a right-wing group may get subsidy. The Left has accustomed itself to hating the "settlers" for so long, that it has forgotten that these are fellow Jews, often sent by the government to help, like the first seedlings after a forest fire, to pioneer and hold down the area. Settlers bore much of the daily attacks by terrorists, who invested years of effort to building a unique type of agriculture and industry from barren sand, and who now are being uprooted from their part of the Jewish homeland without explanation, amid predictions that their departure and that of the troops would be followed by greater terrorism. The Left is supposed to be compassionate. From whom is it compassionate? For the antisemitic racist Arabs who hate Left and Right, alike, and who, as a society are trying to uproot them. Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at ricshulman@aol.com. |
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NEW FILM: "A STAB IN THE HEART"
Posted by Marlene Young, May 5, 2005. |
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Our new film, which reveals the dangers of the "Disengagement" Plan, can now be viewed or downloaded with English subtitles at: http://www.leumi.org.il/ Please send this to any English-speaking friends you think should see this important film. Contact Marlene Young at marleneyoung1@yahoo.com |
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KINDNESS BROADCAST
Posted by Mordechai Ben-Menachem, May 5, 2005. |
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On Thursday, May 5 (Holocaust Remembrance Day), PBS will broadcast "Sugihara: A Conspiracy of Kindness," an important new documentary about Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese diplomat in Lithuania who risked his career by saving thousands of Jewish refugees in 1940. It will be shown at 9:00 pm Eastern Time (for local listings, check http://www.pbs.org/previews/sugihara). Sugihara's story has been publicized in recent years by the Visas for Life Project, which has created a traveling exhibit about diplomats who helped rescue Jews during the Holocaust. Another diplomat featured prominently in the Visas for Life Project is Hiram Bingham IV, the U.S. vice-consul in Marseilles, France, who worked with Varian Fry to save thousands of refugees from the Vichy French in 1940-1941. Bingham's son, Connecticut attorney Bill Bingham (who has been a featured speaker at two Wyman Institute conferences), was present during the filming, in Jerusalem, of a segment of the film in which Sugihara's widow, Yukiko, met with some of the rabbis who were rescued by her husband. "It was one of the most moving events I have ever experienced," Bill recalls. "Buckets of tears were shed as these old men poured their hearts out in gratitude to the humble little Japanese woman whose bravery helped save thousands and may have cost her the life of her own son, who died in a Soviet camp when they were arrested because they had waited too long to escape the Sovet advance. Mrs. Sugihara told me that as she was nursing her son, she looked out into the eyes of the children and the mothers beseeching Sugihara for visas in long lines and crowds, when she finally told her husband, despite the orders to the contrary from the Japanese government, that 'we must DO this!' (i.e. help them escape) And they did. She helped him stamp the visas day and night until they left the city by train and finally, it is said, he handed the stamp off as the train left the station--he was still stamping visas as the train moved away ... Traveling with Mrs. Sugihara in Israel was among the most magical experiences of my life." Another interesting segment of the film, according to advance press reviews, concerns Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, who was leader of the American Jewish Congress and World Jewish Congress during the 1930s/1940s. It describes how an emissary of the Japanese government met with Wise in early 1940 to express Tokyo's interest in permitting European Jewish refugees to settle in Japanese-occupied Manchuria. Wise refused to discuss the proposal, saying it might seem "rather unpatriotic" for American Jews to have contact with a government with which the Roosevelt administration was not friendly. Mordechai Ben-Menachem is at Ben-Gurion University. He can be reached by email at quality@computer.org |
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WAR OF THE WORDS
Posted by Michael Freund, May 5, 2005. |
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It is a war that Israel has never really fought, despite the inestimable damage which it continues to inflict. And while our foes have been on the offensive for decades, claiming one victory after another, most of us have yet to even acknowledge its significance. It is the "War of the Words," or of terminology. It is a battle to define and describe Israel's conflict with its neighbors, and it is time that we started thinking ahead and fighting back. Glance at any major Western newspaper and it quickly becomes clear who is winning the linguistic tussle in the Middle East. The territories are "occupied," Jews living there are "settlers," their supporters are "extremists," while those trying to kill them are mere "activists" or "militants." On the whole, the language is clearly loaded, helping to shape public opinion against the Jewish state. And thanks to repeated use over the years, these terms have come to be accepted in nearly all public discourse regarding the Middle East. Needless to say, this is far more than just a struggle over semantics. It is about influencing international opinion and shaping policy. Words, after all, are an instrument of persuasion. As George Orwell noted in his 1946 essay "Politics and the English Language": "If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought." And corrupt it most certainly has. An entire generation has grown up imbibing a slanted version of reality, one that is peddled on a daily basis by the Arabs and their supporters. Our foes long ago understood that by fixing the definition, you also effectively fix the debate. In the process, they have succeeded in laying the conceptual groundwork that has come to dominate the world's (mis)understanding of the issues at stake in the region. Now, you might be thinking: so what? What difference does it make? The answer is a whole lot. Indeed, anyone who doubts the political role and significance of words need only take a look at the energy and effort expended by others to deploy them effectively. Take, for example, the Bush administration. Say what you will about the conduct of the war in Iraq, but there can be no doubt that the US has managed the war of words in a compelling manner. Saddam Hussein's government was always referred to by the ominous-sounding term "regime," and the war itself was dubbed "Operation Iraqi Freedom" to underline its main objective. From the start of hostilities, administration officials were careful to refer to troops stationed in Iraq as "Coalition forces," rather than GIs, in an effort to stress international backing for the war. Of course, finding the right phrase is not necessarily going to change people's minds or transform their positions, but it can and does have an impact on the way an issue is viewed and understood. And over time, this can have a cumulative and often decisive effect. Is it any wonder that after being told for so long that the territories are "occupied," many Jews and Israelis have now come to view that as being the case? By conceding the point, Israel unwittingly set the stage for conceding the territory, too. And that is why it is so essential that we prepare ourselves for the next phase of the propaganda war, and start thinking more clearly and effectively about how to get our points across. Consider the term "settlement blocs," which Prime Minister Ariel Sharon himself has used on occasion, including in his April 22 interview with this newspaper. Is that really the best phrase to be using when describing Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria that Israel intends to retain in any final-status agreement? Over the years, our foes have succeeded in demonizing the word "settlement." By adopting this label, Israel is playing directly into their hands, giving them an unnecessary advantage. Various other expressions, such as "Israeli population centers" or "suburban Jewish communities" should be used instead. They sound less menacing, and are more in line with our national interests. At this point, it is perhaps too late to turn back the clock, or to press the rewind button and start fighting the linguistic battles that were lost decades ago. But it is certainly not too late to begin applying a little foresight, and to anticipate the clashes that inevitably lie ahead. As John F. Kennedy once said regarding Winston Churchill, he "mobilized the English language and sent it into battle." After decades of forsaking this important arena, it is time for Israel at last to do the same. Michael Freund served as an aide to former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. |
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SWIFTY BOLLINGER IS AT IT AGAIN
Posted by Janet Lehr, May 5, 2005. |
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It would seem that 3 Columbia University Trustees including the board chair were bamboozled by President Bollinger. The following shows Bollinger double dealing again. Read this amazing record of Bollinger's breach of fiduciary responsibility. This is called "Taken for a Ride - Columbia University president hits bottom," and is a New York Sun Staff Editorial, May 4, 2005, http://www.nysun.com/article/13271 If a university president's job is to raise money, then perhaps critics of Columbia University's president, Lee Bollinger, have misjudged his performance throughout the months-long controversy over the university's Middle Eastern studies department. For he managed to turn fears among Jewish alumni about anti-Israel sentiment on campus into donor interest in establishing a professorship in Israeli studies. Just before a university committee exonerated all but one of its Middle Eastern studies professors, Columbia announced that four of its trustees - Mark Kingdon, Richard Witten, Philip Milstein, and Chairman David Stern - had pledged more than $3 million toward an Israeli studies chair to be named after historian Yosef Yerushalmi. What Columbia did not mention in its announcement of the chair was that two members of its search committee - Rashid Khalidi and Lila Abu-Lughod - are among Columbia's bitterest opponents of Israel. Mr. Khalidi in his writings and speeches has placed the blame for the Middle East conflict squarely on Israel and has said Israel's actions have made a two-state solution almost impossible. Ms. Abu-Lughod, as The New York Sun noted last week, is a signer of the anti-Israel divestment petition that circulated on campus in 2002 and that Mr. Bollinger reckons is inappropriate. After Edward Said died, she wrote a grief-stricken letter on behalf of his memory: "I sit here on the earthen terrace with the sunset warming the pharaonic temple across the field, wondering how to carry on your work. The first step, I know, is to keep talking about Palestine." The composition of this search committee certainly makes it appear that these trustees have been played for suckers. There could be a surprise, but that's how it looks at the moment. Tel Aviv University's Martin Kramer, who has a Ph.D. in Middle East studies from Princeton and who is the author of Ivory Towers on Sand: The Failure of Middle East Studies in America, wrote recently that the composition of the search committee leaves Messrs. Stern, Kingdon, Witten, and Milstein "looking like cuckolds for the next year - and possibly, forever." Mr. Kramer wrote "whenever guys in master-tailored suits get taken for a ride by the tweed jacket gang, you've gotta chuckle." Those with an interest in high-quality Middle East studies at Columbia can't be laughing. And as this charade goes on, the full board of trustees looks worse and worse for not exercising its authority. Contact Janet Lehr by email at janetlehr@mindspring.com |
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ISRAEL - BRUTAL POLITICAL REPRESSION & RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION
Posted by Lise Rubin, May 4, 2005. |
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This is News and Commentary that was written by Yaakov Ish Tam
at the HaMeir Organization (http://www.hameir.org) website. The
mission of the organization is to "spread Torah truth to hasten the
redemption."
1. Revava Offices Raided On Tuesday morning May 3 2005 policemen burst into the Revava offices in Kfar Tapuach, Master Printing Press in Atarot Jerusalem and the homes of David Ha'Ivri and Yisrael Meir Cohen. The two were arrested along with Lenny Goldberg and taken in for questioning. All of the Revava: Changing the Rules of the Game board games were confiscated along with examples of books and other printed material. Surprisingly the computers and other office materials were not touched. The three were accused of Sedition, Rebellion, and Incitement to Racism for the game and for material printed in Darka Shel Torah were questioned and released. This was the third or forth time that people were questioned over the games and there was no reason to raid the offices as David Ha'Ivri took full credit for the game and admitted to distributing it. It was clear that this latest harassment comes from Jerusalem Chief of Police Ilan Franco and Attorney General Mazuz. They were greatly embarrassed by the Revava to the Temple Mount campaign and have made it clear through unofficial channels that if we do not cease and desist with our activism that the harassment will continue. All three were released and we are moving forward as usual with all our activities. They will not break us!! 2. Packages for Worldwide Israel Day Celebrations Packages of Kahane Books and other Revava merchandise is being sent to cities across the US, England and Australia in order to set up stands at the various Israeli Independence Day celebrations. We are looking to have a presence in as many cities as possible and there is still time to receive packages for anyone who is interested. The Books are being given at a substantial discount to allow those setting up the stands to benefit as well. Anyone interested in setting up a stand in their own community at any major Jewish events please contact info@hameir.org as soon as possible in order that the material arrive in time. 3. Haivri Convicted of Incitement to Racism Today Wed May 4th, David Ha'Ivri was convicted by the Jerusalem District Court for Incitement to Racism for allegedly distributing No Arabs No Terror T-Shirts. Ha'Ivri was originally acquitted of the racism charge in the lower court but convicted of obstruction of justice. The appeals court reversed the decision and convicted Ha'Ivri of the racism charge. The case will be brought back to the lower court for sentencing. 4. Parlor meetings We have set up parlor meetings for the next few weeks and are looking for hosts in the future. On Mon May 9 Kfar Darom, Gaza at 8:30 PM location TBA Tue May 17 Sde Yaakov Time and Location TBA In the upcoming weeks we will also be in Modiin and Safed. For more information or to host a parlor meeting in your own community please contact ishtam@revava.org 5. David Ha'Ivri comments on Arrest and Police Harassment In response to his arrest and interrogation David Ha'Ivri issued the following statement: Jerusalem police chief Ilan Franco yesterday played director of a very twisted and silly game of entrapment, luring Revava leaders to the Temple Mount and then arresting us on charges of disregarding his ban on our entering the old city (a ban that I never knew existed). Over the last months the leaders of the Revava movement have gone to great extent to try to co-ordinate our activities on the Temple Mount with the Israeli police of whom we expected some level of responsibility. Unfortunately we have been disappointed again and again. Yesterday's circus was a disgrace to the State of Israel. We have learned the hard way that Israeli police at this stage are not a relevant force in the equation of who really rules the Temple Mount. The Revava movement will continue to promote new and different programs to bring forth a true dialog that will return the administration of the Temple Mount to its true owners - the Jewish People. 6. Foul Play by Ilan Franco, A recollection of events by David Ha'Ivri The Following article was published by Arutz 7 in Hebrew: On Wednesday Chol Hamoed Pesach 4-27-05 I received a telephone call from Avi Bitton, Police officer in charge of the Temple Mount, who wanted to arrange a time for our ascent to the Temple Mount the next day 4-28-05. This call was in addition to 3 other calls which I received from Avi Bitton both before Pesach and earlier during Chol Hamoed in which I was told that I would be permitted to ascend the Temple Mount and even to bring a group. He asked that we arrange in advance a time in order that we can speed up our entry and the security check which takes place at the Mugrabim Gate. To his question "When are you coming" I answered Thursday morning at 9:30 AM and he agreed. Let it be noted that after I received a call from Avi Bitton on the eve of Pesach 4-22-05 in which he informed me that I would be permitted to ascend the Temple Mount on Chol Hamoed. I received a call from veteran Temple Mount activist Rabbi Yosef Elboim who said that he also received a call from Avi Bitton informing him that I would be permitted to do so. On Thursday 4-28-05 I left my house in Kfar Tapuach with my son Yair Macabbe and others, arrived at the Mikeveh in Mea Shearim where we paid 4 NIS each to immerse, and we then continued on foot in the direction of the Old City, myself my 11 year old son and 2 other youths aged 15 and 11. When we arrived at the Jaffa Gate at 9:20 we ran into Yisrael Cohen and 5 children. We walked together on David Street towards the Mugrabim Gate with the intention of entering the Kotel Plaza from the Northern entrance on top of the stairs. Approximately half way to our destination on David Street we encountered a plainclothes policeman named Natan Gur #97436 with a group of police officers (all in civilian clothing). The officer told Yisrael and I that he needed to speak to us for a few minuted and that we should go with him to the square in the Jewish Quarter. I asked that he explain himself briefly because we were en route to ascend the Temple Mount with the permission of Avi Bitton, officer in charge of the Mount. At first he said things like "I need you for a few minutes" and "we need to clarify something" "come with me", then another officer also in civilian clothes asked in a threatening manner "Is there a problem" and turned to Natan Gur and asked "Do you want me to help"? At this point none of the officers had identified themselves as policemen and as I said above they were all in civilian clothing and I did not recognize them from the past. I asked that all of the men identify themselves and show their police cards. All of them quickly flashed their blue cards and quickly returned their wallets to their pockets. I asked to see their identification again and that Yisrael Cohen could write down the details and Natan Gur informed us that "We were detained" and that we "must accompany him to the police station". I asked him why I was being detained and he said "An illegal attempt to violate a legal order." I went with him but I kept asking him to specify what action that I allegedly carried out would lead him to such suspicions and to justify his detaining us and bringing us to the police station. He answered that his isn't required to specify anything more than he already said and during questioning in the station they would explain exactly what I allegedly did. I informed him that he was in violation of the law for falsely arresting us that we didn't do anything, and that he is required at the time of the arrest to specify what crime we are suspected of committing. I also informed him that if he continued to violate my rights and take away my freedom without cause that I would sue him personally for 20,000 NIS damages. He said that I can sue him for however much I want and that it doesn't interest him. I also informed the second officer that he was a partner in the acts of his friend and that I would also sue him for damages. On the way we encountered a high ranking officer in uniform who turned out to be Ilan Franco, Chief of Jerusalem Police who told the officers to arrest us and bring us in by force if we "make trouble". Read more at http://www.revava.org To our readers: is it important to you that our straight, clear message continues to be heard? Are the words of this newsletter of interest to you? Are they important to you? Is it important to you that in contrast to hypocritical and ideologically bankrupt politicians, there should exist a message that consists of pure unadulterated truth? Can you tolerate the fact that your leaders lie to you, know it, and toss you aside when they no longer need you? If the answers to these questions are the same as ours, there is no doubt that you want to help. Remember; we need you just as you need us. It is only good, simple Jews who will support our words of truth. And so we turn to you to give a generous contribution to the truth. Donations can be sent to: (in the USA) HaMeir L'David P.O. Box 960121 Doughty Blvd. Inwood NY 11096 (in Israel) HaMeir L'David P.O. Box 4005 Ariel 44829 David Ha'ivri, chairman of Revava, is also editor of Darka Shel Torah and Ideas in Action newsletters, and the publisher of books teaching Jewish pride and faith in HaShem. He has set a goal to put the Jewish people back on the footpath of our fathers, and build a proud and strong nation whose national policy is based on Jewish values. He can be reached by email at haivri@hameir.org or at his website: http://www.hameir.org/ |
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APOCALYPSE NOW - THE PLANNED DESTRUCTION OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL
Posted by Bernard J. Shapiro, May 4, 2005. |
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There have been two major stages in modern Israel's development: Construction - the building of the State and Destruction - the tearing down of the state. What follows is a brief description of these significant stages. A Roman legionnaire stands on a hill overlooking Jerusalem. He watches the city burn and proclaims proudly, Judea capta est - Judea is destroyed. It will never rise again. Rome's rulers even decreed a change of name for Judea. Henceforth it would be named after the Philistines (or Palestine) and the Jewish connection would be obliterated forever. Yet, like the legendary Phoenix, rising from the ashes of its own destruction, the new nation of Israel burst onto the international scene in 1948, with the lusty cry of a newborn infant, yearning to breathe free. Five Arab armies rushed to invade Israel and crush the life from the new Jewish State. With unbelievable bravery and heroism the new state survived. Six thousand of its young defenders gave their lives that Israel might live. In blood and fire was Israel born, and on a hot anvil was she forged. Her youth understood that life in the new Jewish homeland would require sacrifice. With stories of burning flesh from the ovens of Auschwitz embedded deep in their psyches, the young Israeli soldiers fought with the firm conviction that there was "no alternative" (ein brera)....(from the author's private diary) The history of the modern State of Israel can be divided into two stages. The first began with Theodore Herzl's convening of the First Zionist Congress in Basle, Switzerland in 1897. Herzl proclaimed prophetically that there would be Jewish State in 50 years: "If you will it, it need not be a dream." In the half century that followed, with blood sweat and tears, a modern Jewish State was born. Israel prospered as millions of new immigrants returned to their homeland. Displaced persons from Europe, survivors of the Holocaust, were reborn as proud citizens of a proud Zionist State. Jews from Arab lands, expelled from their homes of over a thousand years were welcomed in an Israel yet to be built. Jews from Russia, Ethiopia, Europe and the Americas joined the exotic mixture that makes up the Jewish State's vibrant character. In 1967 Israel fought and won an impossible war of survival and with the help of HaShem. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and Gaza were returned to their rightful owner. The covenant with Abraham had been fulfilled. "And it came to pass, that when the sun went down, and there was thick darkness, behold a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch that passed between these places. That day the L-RD made a covenant with Abraham saying: "UNTO THY SEED HAVE I GIVEN THIS LAND."........Genesis 15:17-18 Some Israelis, and many liberal/left intellectuals from the West were disconcerted by Israel's great victory. They loved the Jews as victims and could not appreciate them as victors. As Golda Meir use to say: A lot world leaders would love to say the nicest eulogies should Israel be destroyed. She preferred Israel to survive as do I. This period following the Six Day War was the beginning of the second stage that I call the deconstruction of Israel. This period marked the rise of the post-Zionists and historical revisionists. There was, indeed, also a surge of Zionist messianic fervor following the Six Day War. Unfortunately the Left managed to persevere and infiltrate the universities, schools, media, judiciary, and military of Israel. Over a 25 year period they were able to destroy most Zionist principles and destroy the nation's patriotism. In rapid succession, a series of events turned the deconstruction from a gradual drift to a sickening free fall. Those events in brief: 1. 1987 -- Intifada and Loss of Deterrence The Israeli government lacked the will to put down the revolt decisively. The Israeli Defense Forces were defeated by 12 year old Arab boys. It is important to note that the world media used this conflict to slander Israel and create a myth of David (Arab) versus Goliath (Israel). Back in 1965, in a small meeting room in Tel Aviv, former Defense Minister Moshe Dayan gave a pep talk to a group of RAFI (Rishimat Poalai Israel) volunteers, myself included. At that time, RAFI, a breakaway faction of the Mapai Party, included such notables as former Prime Minister David Ben Gurion and former Defense Minister Shimon Peres. Peres and Dayan had been considered the "hawks" of Mapai and it was no accident that in the 1965 election they supported a strong defense and security policy. Dayan was always interesting to listen to, but this talk was something special and we paid attention to every word. "The essence of Israel's security in this region (Middle East) is deterrence," he said. "When we formed the State in 1948-9, we were very weak. The Arab States had planes, tanks, heavy artillery and many more soldiers than us. We had very little heavy military equipment. In the period 1949-55, we absorbed almost a million immigrants. Tent cities sprung up all over the country. We were totally disorganized. Had the Arabs mounted another major invasion, we could have lost. We devised a solution to this problem. It was deterrence. Think about being lost in a forest and surrounded by hostile animals. If you light a torch, boldly approach them showing no fear -- they will retreat. But, if you show fear -- they will attack and you are lost. We used this principle to save Israel during those early years. Every time we were attacked, we retaliated ten fold. We showed daring and penetrated deep within their borders to attack our targets. We were fearless, brave, and even a bit bloodthirsty. You know the result. The Arabs were afraid and never attacked. Deterrence worked. By 1956 when we invaded Sinai, the Israel Defense Force was not just strong, it was invincible." The story above was not told just for nostalgia. The lesson is extremely important for the survival of Israel today. Unfortunately Israelis are daily witnessing the consequences of seven years of declining deterrence vis a vis its Arab population. In 1987, the intifada presented Israel with a new challenge. It was a new kind of war, but with the same aim of driving the Israelis out of their country. The Israelis fought the intifada with many handicaps, not the least of which were their own rules of conduct. Israeli soldiers failed to cope with attacks by teenage Arab boys. In the course of several years, the Arabs learned that the soldiers would not aggressively retaliate for their attacks. They became emboldened. THE LESSON: What seemed like moderation and civilized behavior to Israelis was seen as brutality by the West and weakness by the Arabs. The failure to learn this lesson still continues. 2. 1990-91 -- Persian Gulf War & Loss of Deterrence The failure to retaliate against Iraq for its SCUD attacks greatly weakened Israel's policy of deterrence. All the world saw Israelis cowering in their sealed rooms. The Arabs loved the sight and it emboldened the Palestinian Arabs. More serious damage was done to the Israelis psyche. From a proud macho national image, was born a new vulnerable, dependent (on America), ghetto mentality. The Israeli public was "tired of fighting" and felt they could not cope with the new threats to their survival. The looked for a new peaceful solution. 3. 1993 - Oslo Accords: The movement toward destruction speeds up The Israelis had always yearned for peace. Shimon Peres, Yossi Beilin and others secretly negotiated the Oslo Accords, which created a Palestinian State. Israelis were told that this was a "peace" agreement, but they soon found out that it would lead to more death and destruction. Eventually they would learn of its fatal consequences in strategic territory, water and the surrender of its Holy Places. Oslo set in motion the following negative forces: *Creation of a new political entity which claimed Israeli territory, water and history as its own Here are the benefits that Israel received as a result of its participation in Oslo: 0 (zero) Israel did not get peace, cooperation, good neighbors, an end to anti-Semitic incitement, security, etc.... ..........Israelis got nothing!! THE BOTTOM LINE The process that is going on now is nothing less than the destruction of the State of Israel. Everything that is happening strengthens the Arab claim to Eretz Yisrael. Nothing helps Israel. The truth, which many find inconvenient, is that the Land of Israel was promised by G-d to Abraham and his seed in perpetuity. The Land of Israel is not speculative real estate to be bartered away for some high sounding false promise of peace. The hills and valleys of Judea and Samaria contain the collective memory of the Jewish people. It was here that the Israelites first entered the Holy Land. And it was here they fought the battles, built the towns, elected their kings and were preached to by their prophets and judges. And it was on this soil that they wrote the Holy Scriptures we call our Bible. The Israeli governments of Rabin, Peres, Netanyahu, and Barak are transitory. They hold office for a few years and then pass into history. G-d's covenant with Abraham is eternal. Israel holds these lands as a sacred trust for the Jewish people for all time. It would not only be sinful, but also criminal, to abuse that trust by denying future generations of Jews their Holy Land - Land of their Fathers; the one tiny spot on planet earth given to them by God. Bernard J. Shapiro is the executive director of the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies and the editor of The Maccabean Online and the Freemanlist. Contact the Center at Freeman Center For Strategic Studies, P.O. Box 35661, Houston, Texas 77235-5661. Phone or Fax at 713-723-6016 |
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THE SACRIFICE
Posted by Yuval Zaliouk, May 4, 2005. |
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Dear friends, I am writing to you from Israel. The reasons you do not see or hear about acts of terrorism against Israel are twofold:
The left in Israel and abroad are quick to praise the "new" Abu-Mazen, but nothing is new or different. Not a day passes without Arab attempts to commit acts of terror against Israel. Not a single day! Thus, the Bush Road Map's precondition of dismantling the terrorist organizations by a new, reformed and democratic Palestinian leadership untainted by terror, has not even begun and it is a total joke. Some of the less biased newspapers, such as JP, do report the daily outrages, but is anybody listening? Please read the following two article. Now, stop praising a weak ineffective Abu-Mazen. Stop supporting the eviction of thousands of Israelis for no reason whatsoever. Just stop already! Your Truth Provider,
These two articles were written by Margot Dudkevitch and appeared in the Jerusalem Post. 1. "Shin Bet: 54% increase in terror in April" by was written, The Jerusalem Post, May 4, 2005 (www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ ShowFull&cid=1115086698495&p=1078027574097). There was a 54 percent increase in the number of terrorist attacks in April compared to the previous month, a report published by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) revealed on Tuesday. In April there were a total of 205 terror attacks in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, compared with 133 in March. While no Israelis were killed in either month, 10 were wounded in April, compared with 11 in March. In what Israel had hoped would be a period of calm and mutual faith-building measures that would allow Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to strengthen his control over the terrorists, there were an average of 55 daily warnings in April of planned attacks, compared with 41 in March. On Tuesday, 52 terror alerts were recorded, officials said. Israel on Tuesday partially lifted the general closure imposed on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip at the beginning of Pessah. Due to the mounting terror warnings stemming from northern Samaria of plans to launch attacks inside Israel, the crossing points between Jenin and north Kalkilya will remain closed. Palestinians will also be prevented from heading south via the Hizme crossing northeast of Jerusalem. Palestinian workers and merchants from the Gaza Strip, Judea district and southern Samaria will be permitted to enter Israel for work. There are no plans to change Israel's current policy of restraint, security officials told The Jerusalem Post. "We had hoped that after the four-way summit in Sharm e-Sheikh, Abu Mazen would act, disarm fugitives and prevent attacks. However the reality on the ground tells a different story," one official said. The need for the PA to combat terror is usually the first issue raised in meetings on all levels between Israeli and Palestinian officials, the sources said. "Abu Mazen will continue to receive our support - there are no plans to reverse the policy. The last thing we want to see is a return to the situation we were in prior to the summit," another official said. While security officials express concern over the increasing violence, which according to assessments will escalate as the disengagement draws closer, Israel will continue to act in the event of "ticking bombs" and will not hand over additional cities to Palestinian security control until Abu Mazen disarms the fugitives. The officials refrained from commenting on what would lead Israel to reverse its current policy and deploy troops in PA-controlled areas and initiate operations. While suicide bomb attacks in Israel could trigger a breakdown in talks, such decisions can only be made at the time, the officials said. "Israel does not measure its change in policy to the number of dead and wounded in attacks. Whether eight or 18 are killed, any decision to change the situation can only be made at the time," the officials said. Additional details revealed in the report showed a sharp rise in the number of Kassam rocket and mortar shell attacks in April, with Palestinians firing 12 Kassam rockets compared to five in the previous month and 57 mortar shells compared to 10 in March. There were a total of 71 shooting and 17 bomb attacks in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in April compared with 55 shooting and nine bomb attacks in the previous month. Meanwhile on Tuesday, Palestinians fired a mortar shell at hothouses in a northern Gaza settlement. No one was wounded in the attack. Shots were fired at an IDF patrol near Rafah several times and at IDF posts in Neveh Dekalim. 2. "Bomber caught near Tulkarm" by Margot Dudkevitch, The Jerusalem Post May 1, 2005 (www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ ShowFull&cid=1114913914292&p=1101615860782) Security forces arrested an Islamic Jihad would-be suicide bomber in Danabe near Tulkarm on Sunday, just days before he planned to blow up inside Israel. It was the first IDF operation in the Tulkarm area since the Palestinian Authority received security control of the city on March 21. Despite the handover and Israel's agreement to abide by a policy of restraint, the security forces maintain the right to act in the event of "ticking bombs" and the failure of the Palestinian security forces to take action against them. Ever since the handover of Tulkarm and Jericho to the Palestinians, the transfer of additional cities has depended on whether the Palestinian security forces disarm wanted fugitives dwelling in the cities where they already control security. In a combined operation conducted by the IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) security forces arrested Muhammad Jamal Ghanem, 19, at his home in Danabe. Searching his house, officials found a videotape film of Ghanem which was to be distributed to the news networks after he carried out the planned suicide bomb attack. Ghanem, a member of the same Islamic Jihad cell responsible for the suicide bomb attack at the Stage nightclub in Tel Aviv in February, also dispatched his sister in February 2002 to stab soldiers at the Taibe checkpoint. She was shot and killed by security forces that succeeded in thwarting the attack. In the afternoon a Palestinian minor suffered gunshot wounds to the leg when he attempted to evade arrest by soldiers for throwing firebombs at Israeli cars on Road 60 on the Hussan bypass road, east of Bethlehem. At least four firebombs were thrown at cars before the Palestinian was spotted and arrested by troops. The soldiers accompanied him to his home because of his age, where they planned to question him and warn his parents. However, on arrival at the house the father helped the boy to flee. Soldiers fired warning shots in the air and then aimed for the boy's legs, wounding him. He was taken to a Bethlehem hospital where doctors described his condition as satisfactory. The army has launched an investigation into the incident. The IDF Spokesman said the soldiers had acted according to regulations. In another incident, several people were hurt during clashes that erupted near the village of Bil'in near Ramallah during a demonstration against the construction of the security fence in the area. In the Gaza Strip, Palestinians fired a mortar shell at a settlement in southern Gaza, but it landed in an open area causing no damage or injury. Also during the day, security forces neutralized two Kassam rockets recently fired at settlements in southern Gaza. In the
afternoon, soldiers thwarted two separate attempts by five unarmed
Palestinians to cross the north Gaza security fence. The five were
handed over to security officials for questioning.
Yuval Zaliouk writes the Truth Provider columns. To subscribe, send
an email to ynz@netvision.net.il
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ISRAEL HAS BEEN SEDUCED
Posted by Marcel Cousineau, May 4, 2005. |
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Why are so many Israelis so naive, so easily seduced?
Democracy and freedom in the paper bag and they bow down to kiss and grovel over the snake oil salesman and his cheap trinkets. Iraq, Iran, Islam, Freedom and Democracy are sold as a magic cure and just about everyone has fallen over for this lie. Iraq is a $300 Billion dollar failure. The elitist idiots who rule the globe from Washington really believed Islam would be tamed by refrigerators and ice cream along with the worthless vote of the dumbed down masses. Look what voting for 'likud' Sharon has brought Israel. The same scam goes on in the U.S. and the real power brokers continue to fool the stupid voters as they sell democracy and freedom to the stupid world. They continue to follow the Pied Piper as his sharp sword cuts Israel into pieces. They don't seem to mind because this fellow says all the right words. Israelis are so easliy seduced by words as the dagger is thrust deeper and deeper into them. Why is that? Freedom and Democracy is not the cure or fix for either. It's a lie just as the fraud of democracy is evident in the U.S. and Israel. It is long evident to those not so gullible and stupid that the Road Map is the final solution to the problem of Israel. What Israel's enemies could not succeed doing in five wars, Mr. Bush with his 'sincere' scam is accomplishing by the snare of peace. It's working brilliantly, as the fools blame Sharon and ignore the true villan. The blind fools still wait for Mr. Bush to do the right thing even though his intent in rewarding evil and carving up Israel for Islam is out in the wide open and not hidden. Darkness covers the face of the earth and Israel as Satan's Road Map gains momentum. The Jews are once again on the track towards the Final Solution. Hey, but what the heck, Mr. Bush is such a sweet fellow and the majority in Israel are willing to die for his vision of 'freedom and democracy', which in reality is Israel's sacrifice to the god of the Moslems. Marcel Cousineau can be reached at up2zionsg8@yahoo.com. |
| GUSH KATIF |
HIDDEN HEROS OF ISRAEL
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, May 4, 2005. |
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These are two articles from Arutz-7. 1. "Gush Katif Terror Victims Return Gift To Sharon"(IsraelNN.com) A Gush Katif couple has returned to Minister Ariel Sharon a book given to families whose children were killed by Arab terrorists. "We don't need a book or anything. We want our home," wrote Bennie and Rachel Yafet of Netzer Chazani to the Prime Minister and Deputy Social Welfare Minister Avraham Ravitz. The book was about modern Israel in light of the story of the life of assassinated Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin. Yafet's son Itamar was murdered while on the way to nearby Kfar Darom to help families after terrorists had bombed a school bus and murdered several children. The Yafet couple also wrote Sharon and Ravitz that they were hurt that the government, several days before Memorial Day for fallen soldiers, sent such a book to families for murdered terror victims. They reminded the Prime Minister that their son was killed with weapons that Rabin agreed to hand over to Arabs. 2. "IDF Martial Arts Champ Refuses to Train Soldiers to Expel Jews" (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=81346) The IDF's champion hand-to-hand combat instructor has refused to train soldiers to use the Israeli martial art Krav Maga against Jews during the expulsion from Gaza and the northern Shomron. Corporal Idan (his last name cannot be published at this time) won the IDF Krav Maga championship just a few weeks ago and received his prize from Chief of Staff Lieut. Gen. Moshe Yaalon at the awards ceremony. Friends of his told the Yediot Ahronot newspaper (IDF soldiers themselves are prohibited from speaking with the press) that Corporal Idan was asked recently to give a course to Givati troop. He expressed reservations, asking his commanders whether the training had anything to do with this summer's withdrawal from Gaza and northern Samaria. He was assured it did not and accepted the task. Once he began preparing to teach the course, though, he was told to show the soldiers what to do when attacked by "a settler with a knife" and other such situations, making it obvious that the training would, in fact, be used against those opposing the disengagement. Corporal Idan told his commanders that he refused "to train soldiers against Jews" and demanded that soldiers sign a declaration promising not to use the training against Jews under penalty of imprisonment. That offer was refused, so he said he was prepared to stand trial for his position in an IDF court. Yitzhak, Corporal Idan's father, told Yediot that he supports his son's decision fully. "My son has a Jewish soul and is not able to train soldiers to fight Jews. I understand and support him completely. I'm against refusal, but my son is not refusing orders, he is a conscientious objector." Despite his willingness to stand trial for refusing to take part in the "flagrantly illegal" withdrawal, as he called it, Corporal Idan was not put on trial. Instead, he was removed from his position and sent to stock IDF warehouses. "There is no reason to try him for refusing orders," an unnamed IDF officer told Yediot, denying that the episode had taken place. "Had that been the case, he would have been tried and would serve his punishment. But he didn't want his new role so he will be returned to his original regiment." Thousands of IDF soldiers and officers have already signed declarations that they will refuse to take part in the uprooting of Jewish towns. Arutz-7's Haggai Huberman reports that two cadets were thrown out of an officer's training course for refusing to take part in classes preparing the soldiers to take part in the expulsion/withdrawal plan. The incident happened Sunday, when the cadets were sent to a course entitled "Strengthening our Knowledge Base in Light of the Disengagement." The class was based on material prepared by the IDF educational corps and included material on the history of Jewish settlement in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, the place of the military in a democracy, explanations about the plan, and the outlining of various projected outcomes of the disengagement. The two soldiers, one who lives in the Gush Katif town of N'vei Dekalim, told their commanders that their participation in the course would symbolize their approval of the expulsion and they would therefore be unable to attend. Both cadets were kicked out of the course, despite the fact that they had already completed one third of the training. 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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FLAWS IN DISENGAGEMENT PLAN; GIVING AGGRESSORS A VETO; "TIMES"
PRAISES ABBAS, HAARETZ PRAISES HAMAS
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, May 4, 2005. |
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GIVING THE AGGRESSORS A VETO Israel accepted too completely Security Council Resolution 242, that the status of the Territories should be negotiated. The trouble with resolutions and agreements is that Israel fails to set a time limit and to emphasize that if by that time the Arabs have failed to fulfill the conditions of the resolutions (usually involving ending violence and striving for peace), then the Arabs will have nullified the resolution or agreement. It really was not proper in the first place to demand that the two sides negotiate. One side, Israel, has the best claim to the Territories and is the victim of the other side's aggression. The other side, the Arabs, seek by aggression to conquer Israel, using whatever deceit and force it takes. The two sides are not on a par morally or legally. But the demand that they negotiate puts them on a par. The Arabs routinely use negotiations not as a means of jont conflict-resolution but as a means of conflict-enhancement. Requiring Israel to depend on negotiations with the Arabs gives the Arab aggressors a veto. Where is the ethics and logic of that? Arab negotiators will make extravagant demands. Israel must settle its Territorial disputes by itself and in its national interest. The Arabs obstruct joint resolution, because they don't want resolution but conquest. I reject as arrogance the Security Council contention that resolutions it calls binding are international law. The Security Council is a gaggle of posturing, biased, self-interested or evil parties. FLAW IN DISENGAGEMENT JUSTIFICATION The main argument for PM Sharon's abandonment plan is that Israel would not have to divide its troops up among the communities in Gaza, to protect the Jews there, but would be drawn back into Israel, the better to defend it. It is an argument that should not appeal to anyone who understands military matters. Just as it is easier to strike down a missile before it is speeding into one's country, it is easier to strike down terrorists before they are in one's country and amidst a civilian population. It is safer to detect terrorists when they are traveling on their roads and approaching IDF checkpoints, than when they have arrived and are ready to detonate bombs. Prevention and arrest is better than victory in a bloody firefight. The argument for abandonment loses persuasiveness if one follows its logic. Just ask, when does this process stop? All of Yesha? Then the brunt of Arab terrorism would fall upon Israel. As we've discussed, terrorists could line up artillery along the borders, which are twice as long without Yesha as with it. Then there are outlying or Arab-populated areas of Israel. Should they be abandoned, too? Let those who propose Jewish abandonment also suggest some (or only) Arab abandonment! Whoever proposes to retreat from Yesha and its secure borders, strategic depth, water supply, and historical and religious heritage either knows what folly that would be but thinks you wouldn't, and therefore doesn't deserve to be leading the Jewish people, or don't knows what folly that would be, and therefore doesn't deserve to be leading the Jewish people. Gen. Ariel Sharon knows that the border with Jordan is a natural tank trap. When was the last time that his supporters mentioned it? Do you think readers of the anti-Zionist "NY Times" are apprised of it? Sharon also knows that the mountains of Judea-Samaria, like those of the Golan, give Israel early warning of an incoming attack. Such a warning is invaluable. Another thing that a general knows is that it takes a sizeable area to place the various units on the field of battle, with support units behind them. Judea-Samaria and Gaza stick so far into Israel as to leave it too little space for maneuver and insufficient space for its airplanes to turn around. It would give the Arabs ample opportunity to shoot down plans slowly taking off from Ben-Gurion airport. Of all that, not a word by Sharon. The US comment is that his plan is a "bold step." He is stepping boldly onto thin ice. THE "TIMES" VS. THE TRUTH ABOUT ABBAS By declaring a truce, Abbas achieved a "significant drop in violence." (The Arabs continued attempting much terrorism, but Israel desisted from most of its raids on terrorists and their bases. Fortunately, Israel managed to block most attempted terrorism. Such a reduction in violence is NOT an achievement by the P.A.. The IDF had had the terrorists on the run. Now that the IDF holds back and backs off its checkpoints, the terrorists are rearming. They would be able to inflict much more damage on Israel. Thus Abbas will have multiplied violence. The "NY Times" gives the wily terrorist leader undeserved credit.) Since then, Israel complains that he has not dismantled the militias, so it cannot "ease conditions" for the Arabs, i.e., security measures. The Arabs complain about their movements still being restricted and that Arab prisoners remain in Israeli jails. Abbas complains that Israel has not withdrawn from three Judea-Samaria towns it had offered to. (Israel did reduce security restrictions on a couple of P.A. cities. Abbas was supposed to halt terrorism from those cities. He didn't. The result of Israel's "easing" restrictions turned out to facilitate terrorism. Why should Israel extend that process of pulling back restrictions? This is a question that the "Times" should be asking, instead of leaving Abbas' unwarranted complaint standing, as if valid. Point is, the Arabs do not meet the terms they promised to induce promises from Israel. When Israel finally holds back, the Arabs accuse Israel of breaking its promises. The "Times" fails to make this clear.) (Why should Israel release terrorists, who are war criminals, and not execute them like pirates? The very demand that they do is suspicious. It is calculated to increase terrorism. Besides, Israel did release hundreds! Unsurprisingly, half of them resume terrorism. A great newspaper would bring these facts out.) Although the P.A. has foiled attempted attacks by terrorists, Israel has not stopped raiding the P.A., complains Abbas. (P.A. troops mostly fraternize with terrorist militiamen, but did stop some from raids, though not others. They stop them but then release them - to try again? The development and firing of rockets and smuggling of arms is so intense, that Israel had to raid the P.A.. Israel warned, if Abbas doesn't stop them, it would. However, its raids have been minimal.) The P.A. claims it is meeting its obligations by tracking down hundreds of wanted terrorists on a list Israel gave it, and getting their signed pledge to abide by P.A decisions, meaning "not to attack Israel." (Getting a pledge is not the way to deal with duplicitous, fanatical, wanted killers. What good are fanatics' pledges? What happens when the P.A. decides they should attack?) If Abbas cannot show gains from negotiations with Israel, then he will have difficulty improving P.A. society. (By quoting an Arab on this, the "Times" can deny responsibility for the statement's dubious coinciding with anti-Israel propaganda. The propaganda line is that since Abbas is weak, Israel should make concessions to him so he can gain sufficient stature to make peace. The same line was made with Arafat, who was not weak and who did not want to make peace. Abbas may be weak, but his explanations indicate that he, too, does not want to make peace, as one would expect from Arafat's assistant of 40 years.) Abbas asks for Israeli indulgence, to give him more time to accomplish something (Greg Myre and Taghreed el-Khodary, 4/24, p.17). It might be a reasonable request, except that Abbas has misused the time he has had. He recruits terrorists and lets the P.A. media and schools incite to antisemitic violence. He tells the US he wants peace, but assures the terrorists that if his diplomatic offensive ends "unsatisfactorily", they may resume the armed struggle. The "Times" leaves misleading and false statements stand uncorrected and makes some, itself. These errors favor the Arabs, as they usually do. Therefore, I think they are deliberate. GOVERNMENT REPRESSES PROTEST Reports are emerging of police barring of legal, peaceful protestors (and of severe police beating of people who voiced objection to Sharon's plan, as well as of police attempts to deny them medical attention). Two different buses of Jews from Gaza were turned back from entry to Tel Aviv, where they were going to give out leaflets, etc.. The police confiscated the identity cards of passengers, contingent on their crossing back into Gaza. Another bus was delayed. The police are going beyond preventing public disturbances to repressing protest. They are treating legitimate protest as criminal. In this, the police are criminal, as by confiscating ID cards (Arutz-7, 4/13), and removing their own ID when about to beat up people. Politicians drum up hysteria about feared right-wing violence, so the Left has an excuse for "preemptive" violence. Is this Sharon's way or Israel's? The police long have been brutal and the Left long has suppressed dissent, but Sharon carries police state tactics further. HIZBULLAH PENETRATES ISRAELI DEFENSES AGAIN Hizbullah sent a drone over Israel for some minutes, photographing military bases. An Israeli plane rose up too late to find the drone. The Israeli military passed off the incident as of no consequence. Hizbullah, however, threatens to attach explosives to such drones (Op. Cit.). Hizbullah, like the P.A., constantly escalates the war. Israel just sits still for it. GO FIGURE The Israeli Army admits gays without reservation. Although some homosexual groups endorse the P.A. struggle against Israel, PLO and Hamas sex police hunt down unmarried couples walking together and hmosexuals. The PLO threatens to murder gays. Many Arab gays flee to Israel for refuge (Prof. Steven Plaut, 4/14, e-mail). ZOA REBUKES BUSH Pres. Bush has criticized legal Israeli building in Judea-Samaria and not the ten times greater and illegal Arab building there. ZOA condemned Pres. Bush for that and for discussing rewards to the P.A. without consequences to them for non-fulfillment of their peace requirements (IMRA, 4/14). HOW TO NEGOTIATE The P.A. is demanding negotiations without its ever having complied with prior requirements. Dr. Aaron Lerner suggests that if Israel agrees, it base its negotiations not upon the past, disproved assumptions that the P.A. would comply, but upon the realistic assumption that the P.A. would not comply and remains an enemy. But it is not realistic to expect Israeli officials to be normal and represent their people rather than the US and the Arabs (IMRA, 4/14). ABBAS MAKING CHANGES Abbas has retired much of the elderly police officials. He also has ordered the many police forces to coalesce under three or four, to list for him their members, and to minimize their outside contacts (IMRA, 4/14). That is the reform that the Quartet demanded. It is not a reform for peace or democracy. But it would make the P.A. forces into an army more formidable against Israel. YOU NEVER KNOW WHO IS A TERRORIST The IDF is building a new type of security barrier that it thinks can block arms smuggling. The Arabs have sent children to observe it and report back to them (IMRA, 4/14). The Arabs are confident that the Israeli troops won't shoot the children as spies. That refutes P.A. propaganda claims that those troops routinely shoot at Israeli children. The troops don't, but the terrorists, as this news brief shows, do put children in harm's way. THE ARABS' CULTURAL INTIFADA The P.A. has extended Holocaust denial to Temple denial. It denies the existence of the ancient Jewish temples on the Temple Mount. It also denies the significance to Jewry of Joseph's Tomb (and other ancient sites). Aided by the unconcern of the timid, secularist rulers of Israel, the Waqf illegally removed 70 truckloads of debris from its illegal excavations on the Mount, and illegally dumped the debris in the Kidron Valley. Removing artifacts denies scholars the opportunity to assess them within their physical context. On his own, an archeologist elicited people's help to at least sift through the debris to see what he could learn about the past. He found important artifacts from the First Temple and other periods: an arrowhead of the type used by the Babylonian army that destroyed the First Temple in 586 BCE; a bronze arrowhead from the Hellenistic period; a figurine fragment from First Temple period; pottery from the First and Second Temple periods; an inscription on a jar fragment from the First Temple period; remnants of animal sacrifice; mosaic tiles; prehistoric flint instruments; part of a Hasmonaean lamp; a coin from the Great Revolt with the inscription, "For the Freedom of Zion"; about a hundred coins mostly from the Hasmonaean period; arrowheads from the Crusader and earlier periods; a seal imprint from the Hellenistic period; oil lamps from Second Temple period and the Byzantine period, with menorah decorations; and an ivory comb from the Second Temple period. These artifacts testify to the type of life and culture practiced. Only a sixth of the debris has been examined. The archeologist thinks much could be learned from deeper analysis. He needs funding, but the government doesn't offer (Arutz-7, 4/14). The leftist government is hostile to Judaism and to the ties it holds to the Land that the government wants to give to the Arabs. So it lets the Arabs operate illegally and in accordance with their jihad against Judaism. That is separation of religion from state, Israeli style. That is, it favors Islam! HOW NEAR TO NUCLEAR ARMS IS IRAN? The US says Iran is years away. Israel says Iran is months away (Arutz-7, 4/14). Usually the US underestimates foreign progress in research and development. PM Sharon may be referring to technical problem-solving, rather than to production. "HAARETZ" INTERVIEWS HAMAS LEADER It called Sheikh Yousef the leader of Hamas' "moderate" wing. IMRA sarcastically called it miraculous that Hamas has a moderate wing. Yousef led Muslim attempts to thwart what he called Jewish attempts to "desecrate" the mosque on the Mount. IMRA takes that as typical extremist incitement. The Sheikh told the interviewer many tolerant and moderate things without being challenged (IMRA, 4/14). 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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KUDOS AND A KLOP FOR MR SHARANSKY
Posted by Ellen W. Horowitz, May 4, 2005. |
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A good number of Israelis as well as Diaspora Jews -religious and secular alike - harbor a common fantasy. Some day, when the world is a better place, we'd like to see Natan Sharanksy as Prime Minister. It would be the ultimate in poetic justice if the former Soviet Prisoner of Zion who one-upped the KGB, made aliyah and became a member of parliament, would rise to the very top of Israel's political echelons. Heaven, not Hollywood, owns the exclusive intellectual property rights on scripts like that. But it's not just the romantic in me that craves such a scenario. It's also the simple fact that Natan Sharansky is a good, honest, and humble man - the flip-side of the archetypical political personality - and he's remained true to form in spite of his exposure to the wiles of politics, power and fame...well...almost... While I am thrilled over Sharansky's moral stand against disengagement and his intentions to lobby on behalf of the endangered Jewish communities of Gaza and the Shomron, I am less than happy with the arguments and logic he used when presenting his letter of resignation. The democratic double-speak didn't quite make the grade, and indeed both the international and local press were happily confused and used Sharansky's mixed messages to dilute the impact that his resignation should have had. The international press didn't bother getting past the first half dozen paragraphs of a resignation letter which was heavily padded with democratic dialectic. They never got to the heart of the matter, because Sharansky was overly concerned about protecting his democratic guru status. By and large the press summed up the primary cause of Mr. Sharansky's angst as being caused by the following dilemma: "He isn't against an eventual pullout from occupied Palestinian lands in Gaza and the West Bank, but he said he can't support a plan that asks nothing from the Palestinians." (Canada's Globe and Mail) On the other extreme, Yahad MK Roman Bronfman (who more than lives up to his first name) was so brutal and hateful is his exposure of Sharansky's supposed true intentions, that the following comments were rightfully dismissed in disgust: "A human rights activist who fought against the Soviets has become a warmonger for the occupation... He [Sharansky] only represented the interests of the settlers and his resignation unmasks the face of his true priorities." Sharansky's biggest concern that everyone seems to have missed appeared more than halfway through his letter and reads as follows: "Alongside my concerns, about the danger entailed in a unilateral disengagement from Gaza, I am even more concerned about how the government's approach to disengagement is dividing Israeli society. We are heading towards a terrible rift in the nation and to my great chagrin, I feel that the government is making no serious effort to prevent it." He was even more forthcoming as to the real agenda in his heart when interviewed by Israel national radio. "We are speaking about three generations of Jews that were sent on an important mission by the Israeli government and made an empty desert into a blossoming garden. Now we will just destroy all these beautiful communities, with their unique agriculture and incredible Judaism - for what?" Sharansky asks. "For nothing," he added, "as a reward for terrorism." Sharansky's resignation was a moral decision from a man who stands for integrity. His muddled presentation is indicative of a man who is grappling with the conflicting interests of both mind and heart. He should not feel obligated to fit his just stance into the outline of his bestselling book in order to please President Bush or to remain true to the image he's fashioned for himself. We Jews need to learn that it's perfectly correct to stand up for what we feel is right and to step down or remove ourselves from something that we feel is wrong. We don't need to candy-coat our positions with politically correct, in-vogue or intellectual jargon. Nor do we need to soften our stance in an attempt to please the untenable demands of a world that rejects our legitimacy. Why is Israel willing to sacrifice her security, ideology and founding principles for second-rate respect and a rather pitiful place among the nations? Plain and simple, disengagement from Gaza poses an existential threat to Israel. Our destroying of Jewish communities is morally wrong and biblically prohibited. Our sanctioning of the creation of a criminal state of terrorists is criminal in and of itself. I believe Mr. Sharansky is a little too beholden to the forces of democracy which were instrumental in his rescue from behind the iron bars of the Iron Curtain. He can't quite shake the image of the untarnished white knight called the "free world". He does his best to polish any grimy build-up that clings to his glistening democratic model. But it seems that economics and a very harsh reality has put Sharansky's democratic idols in bed with the likes of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Egypt, and caused them to turn a blind eye to Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas. And now, just this week, is was reported by Reuters that The Bush administration has forged a close intelligence partnership with Sudan. The same Sudan which played host to Osama bin Laden and is now perpetrating something along the lines of genocide to a segment of their population. With a very popular Hamas prepping for elections, the harsh lesson that a lot of us - including Natan Sharansky - is beginning to learn is that the creation of any democratic nation bereft of moral foundations will evolve into a populist supported and endorsed tyranny. And it becomes a lot harder to deal with populist-fueled evil than it is with dictatorial tyrants or isolated terrorist groups. Force-fed democracy is a dangerous oxymoron. It seems the time is not yet ripe for the likes of Sharansky. Perhaps he's just too good and naive while the times are just too bad. Or maybe this recent shedding of his parliamentary skin will allow him to emerge as a true leader. Mr. Sharansky may be comfortable as Mr. Democracy, but the democratic world is currently in the midst of a morality crisis. Perhaps he could do himself and all of us a favor by exposing himself as the Mr. Morality that we know he is. Although small in stature and far from good-looking in the classic sense, Sharansky's looking very good to a lot of us Israelis. His moral stature puts him heads above the rest - both here and abroad. He need not diminish himself with democratic double-speak, because he'll paint himself into a hypocritical corner. No need to qualify or make excuses for choosing to do the right thing. Keep it clear and simple. Ellen Horowitz and her family live on the Golan Heights. She is a painter, columnist and author of the upcoming book, "The Oslo Years- a mother's journal." |
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NEW ELEMENT DISCOVERED
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, May 4, 2005. |
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Thanks for this, Pie & Jim in Arkansas. A major research institution has just announced the discovery of the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element has been named "Governmentium." Governmentium has one neutron, 12 assistant neutrons, 75 deputy neutrons, and 224 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 311. These 311 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected, as it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A minute amount of Governmentium causes one reaction to take over 4 days to complete, when it would normally take less than a second. Governmentium has a normal half-life of 4 years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutron exchange places. In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes. The characteristic of moron-promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a certain quantity in concentration. This hypothetical quantity is called "Critical Morass." When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium, an element which radiates just as much energy, since it has half as many peons, but twice as many morons. 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 EMBATTLED ARAB BANK
Posted by Bryna Berch, May 4, 2005. |
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So is the Bush Adminstration fighting terrorism - and that means Arab terrorists - or it is playing footsies with the money source for the terrorists? This article was written as an Editorial/Op-Ed piece by Joel Mowbray, who occasionally writes for The Washington Times. When a House Financial Services panel today takes up the issue of Islamic charities and terror financing, what won't be seen is far more interesting - and important - than what will. The story of how what had promised to be an explosive session was gutted is a tale of international lobbying, partisan protection and misplaced animosity. And of course, it wouldn't be genuine intrigue without loads of Saudi cash. Rep. Sue Kelly, New York Republican, chairwoman of the Oversight and Investigations subcommittee, had originally scheduled a hearing for last month that was to include administration officials, experts who were prepared to provide evidence of financing for specific terror attacks, and - to make the human toll tangible - victims and families of victims of terror. Though there have been dozens of hearings on the general topic of terror financing, this one was special: The sole focus was to be the suddenly embattled Arab Bank. The bank earlier this year suffered the partial closure of its New York branch - it can no longer establish new accounts there or accept deposits - after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency reportedly found gross violations of money-laundering and terror-finance regulations. Today's emasculated hearing is the first bit of good news the bank has received in nearly a year. When trial attorney Gary Osen - a free-market conservative who has a penchant for tackling larger-than-life cases - discovered evidence last year suggesting that Arab Bank was knowingly funneling money to Palestinian terrorists, he filed a civil suit on behalf of terror victims last July. (Famed trial lawyer Ron Motley of asbestos and tobacco lore has since filed a parallel suit.) Spurred on at least in part by the victims' lawsuit, the OCC and the Office of Foreign Assets Control conducted investigations into Arab Bank, which has $32 billion in assets and was founded in 1930. Published accounts indicate that the OCC report is damning. Arab Bank is waiting for the other shoe to drop as OFAC, which by design has a more targeted focus on fighting terror financing, could issue an even more scorching report. Why the feds have waited until this year to act is a question that Congress should have been exploring today - if only Arab Bank were still the focus of the hearing. Mr. Osen learned of Arab Bank's alleged terror financing not through a well-placed source or covert whistleblower, but on the Internet. Documents captured by the Israeli Defense Forces during targeted raids of terror outfits yielded a massive cache of evidence tying Arab Bank to funding of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and families of suicide bombers - and the IDF posted much of it on the net. Though Arab Bank denies it was ever knowingly involved in terror financing, the public record appears to contradict such assertions. Various jihadist Web sites openly raising funds informed prospective donors to direct contributions to numbered accounts at Arab Bank. But even more openly than that, advertisements in prominent Palestinian newspapers told families of "martyrs" - suicide bombers - to collect money from Arab Bank. One February 2002 ad listed names entitled to receive $5,316.06 from the "Saudi Committee." The "Saudi Committee" referenced is likely at least part of the reason that the feds are hustling to shield Arab Bank, despite the wealth of evidence that led to the partial shuttering of the institution's New York branch. The Saudi Committee for the Support of the Intifada al Quds, which was established shortly after the start of the current intifada, attained international notoriety when its 2002 telethon netted over $100 million. Part of its ability to raise such funds was its open embrace of "martyrdom." The Saudi Committee's stated purpose is to fund "all suffering families - the families of the martyrs and the injured Palestinians and the disabled." Aside from ostensible Saudi pressure, both Jordan and the Palestinian Authority have been lobbying the U.S. government to go easy on Arab Bank. The largest private bank in both economies, Arab Bank faces little risk that the United States would allow it to become insolvent outright. But given its $32 billion in assets, it would likely take more than a handful of lawsuits to sink Arab Bank. Regardless, State and Treasury Department officials did not want to appear at a hearing featuring terror victims - and then they also insisted that Arab Bank no longer be the hearing's focus. Apparently believing it should side with the Republican administration over trial lawyers, the Republican Congress played along. Mrs. Kelly will be allowed to hold another hearing featuring terror victims, but the powerful combination of evidence tied to its devastating consequences will be lost. If Arab Bank and its influential allies have their way, the public will never learn most of the contents of the OCC and OFAC reports. For those hoping Congress might fulfill its duty to inform the public, the tale of today's hearing is anything but encouraging. |
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THE MOONBAT ASSAULT ON THE COLLEGE OF ARIEL
Posted by Steven Plaut, May 4, 2005. |
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The original article (www.discoverthenetwork.org/moonbatcentral/2005/05/ moonbat-assault-on-college-of-ariel.html) contains links to additional material. One of the biggest bugs that the Moonbat Left has discovered in its bonnet the past few weeks is the College of Ariel. It is a college that Israel set up in the Samarian town of Ariel, a town that was constructed outside Israel's 1967 borders (the "Green Line") in land liberated from illegal Jordanian occupation when Israel expelled the Jordanians in 1967 (following the coordinated Arab assault against Israel that started the Six Day War). The Left is upset because the college operates in "occupied territory". Never mind that the college has oodles of Palestinian Arab students among its student body. The College of Ariel was the official excuse for the anti-Semitic British leftists to announce a boycott of Bar Ilan University in Israel, one of two universities so named, all because Bar-Ilan has some partial connection to the College of Ariel. (The other target of the British academic pogrom is the University of Haifa, about 20% of whose students are Arabs, and which has the largest group of Arab students getting a liberal Western education in the entire Middle East.) Then, to upset the Moonbats even more, Israel this week announced it was going to spend large amounts to upgrade and expand Ariel College and turn it into a full-scale university, in which its Jewish and Arab students will get an even better education. The Left, including Israel's own local ultra-moonbats, had a conniption when they heard that. Now the PLO has chimed in, to oppose expanding a school that threatens to educate Israeli and Palestinian students. "Israel has decided to build a university inside a settlement that was built on Palestinian land, and this is something that we can't accept," Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei (sometimes claimed by the lib'ruh media to be "moderate") said after the weekly meeting of the PA cabinet in Ramallah. Qurei called for US intervention to prevent educating of students in Ariel. Arab residents of the town of Salfit, which is located near Ariel, took time off from the Saddam Hussein birthday celebrations issued a statement in which they warned that transforming the college into a university effectively means "killing the peace process." The statement, signed by the "national and Islamic forces" in Salfit, called on PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas to suspend talks with Israel until it revoked its decision regarding the college. So let's clear things up. Ariel is on land that was NEVER "Palestinian land". None of the West Bank and Gaza was ever part of a "Palestinian Arab state". There has never been a Palestinian Arab state. Israel has far more legitimate claims to ALL of the West Bank and Gaza than does the PLO and its affiliates, although successive Israeli governments have expressed willingness to relinquish Israeli claims to some of those lands in exchange for peace. Israel has never been offered peace in exchange for relinquishing those lands, although some foolish Israeli politicians have tried to delude themselves into thinking such an offer has been made. The Palestinians have no more legitimate right to statehood than do the Arabs of Marseilles or Detroit. Even if the Palestinian Arabs could be thought to have once had legitimate claims to statehood, they forfeited all such rights through engaging in a century of terrorist atrocties. Israel building a college or university is no more a violation of "Palestinian rights" than construction of Harvard and Yale on lands once claimed by Indians. The assault by the Left against educational institutions in the democratic countries that they hate is part of a generic Leftist dislike of all education. You see, education allows humans to see how ridiculous and stupid leftist "ideas" are. The Pink Floyd song "We don't want no education" has long been the Left's real mantra! 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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PETITION AGAINST THE BRITISH ACADEMIC UNIONS BOYCOTT
Posted by Judah Tzoref, May 3, 2005. |
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The Rescind the AUT Boycott Petition to British Association of University Teachers was created by and written by Dr. Denis M. MacEoin (maceoin@btinternet.com). Please go to the Petition website by clicking here. Please sign the Petition. This came from the Israel Action Committee at B'nai Torah in Boca Raton, Florida. Please forward it. Thank you.
Shalom If you have been following the British Academic Unions Boycott of Israeli Universities you should be pleased to note that there is tremendous pressure being put on the AUT to rescind the boycott vote. Pressure is coming from all over and it must continue. If they get 25 executive signatures from their counsel - they will have to meet in a few days to review their decision. I along with a group I work with have started an online petition to rescind the vote. It is being spread out from England, Ireland, Scotland, Peru, Japan, Germany, Israel, Greece, and of course the USA and Canada. We started it only minutes ago. You can go to the petition web site by clicking here. Read the Petition and sign. Your name but not your e-mail address will be disclosed. This is an extremely important cause and I would hope you broadcast this as far and as wide as you can. Dr. Judah (Yehuda) Tzoref is a scientist, trained at the Technion in Haifa and Oxford University in England. His expertise is in physics and energy engineering. He is a grass-roots activist on behalf of Israel. He lives in Rehovot. |
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IGRU BARZEL - AN EERIE PREDICTION AND VISION
Posted by Talya Lapidot, May 3, 2005. |
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When the Oslo fiasco surfaced, Jacob Gurewich, author of The Enemy Within, published an article entitled: "It's Time to Try Rabin and Peres for Treason." The piece appeared both in The Washington Post and in the Algemeiner Journal on Friday, March 10, 1995. At the end of the piece, Gurewich wrote: "How prophetic was Moshe Sharett, the second Prime Minister of Israel, when he spoke of Peres 40 years ago: 'I said that I utterly reject Peres and see in his ascendance the most malignant form of political corruption. It will be a cause for national mourning if Peres becomes a minister in the government of Israel' (Moshe Sharett, Personal Diaries, 1957)." Gurewich continued: "It is time for the Jews of Eretz-Yisrael and in the Diaspora to cry: Enough! And bring the traitors to judgment before they and their ilk bring inestimable disaster upon the Land of Israel and the Jewish people. It is time for the lawyers and jurists of Israel to bring Peres, Rabin and Beilin to the bar of justice; to try them for allowing murderers into the heart of Israel and giving away the people's inheritance to the sons of Amalek. It is time for the traitors to be judged in the High Court of Justice in Jerusalem, and their fate must serve as an example to generations of leaders to come." In his numerous essays and open letters, Jacob Gurewich beseeched the settlers in the Land of Israel to: Igru Barzel! When I first interviewed him 12 years ago, I asked him, what on earth is Igru Barzel? He explained that in biblical times, Barzel (iron) was weapons, and in Ze'ev Jabotinsky's novel Samson, Samson who judged Israel for 20 years urged the sons of Israel to gather weapons (Barzel) against their enemies. Gurewich urged the revered settlers of the sons of Israel to Igru Barzel. They would need weapons for confronting not just Arab murderers, but their own enemies within the Jewish Nation - the descendants of those who marched in the streets of Jerusalem and chanted in the Hebrew tongue the Internationale. They would face such enemies within as Ben-Gurion and his ilk; the mentors of Peres, Rabin, and villains such as Beilin, Barak and their coterie. Gurewich told me he was in Jabotinsky's BETAR youth movement when he witnessed the enemies within marching in the streets of Israel, waving the red flag and chanting the Internationale. Many years before the Holocaust, Ze'ev Jabotinsky, my mentor, beseeched the European Jews in the Diaspora and repeated his famous cry: "If you do not eliminate the Diaspora, the Diaspora will eliminate you!" Alas, our Enemy Within conspired with the evil British regime in the Land of Israel to blockade the shores of the Land of Israel against Jewish refugees. These poor souls had barely escaped extermination in German death camps, wherein a third of our Jewish Nation perished in 33 death camps throughout Europe. In contrast to Jabotinsky's vision and entreaty, the Enemy Within collaborated with the evil British regime and handed over our freedom fighters from the IRGUN and LECHI to the British hangman. (Gurewich himself narrowly escaped being hanged by the British, as he scrupulously detailed later in his books, The Enemy Within and Fear Factors.) "Excuse me," I interrupted him. "I still do not understand the IGRU BARZEL issue." For a moment, looking at his expression, I thought he was about to tell me to go to hell. He looked straight into my eyes, nodding his head, and after a long pause in a vexing voice, said: "I see the settlers as well as the State of Israel and the Jewish Nation for that matter, facing a dangerous enemy within ourselves, more dangerous than the evil British who invented the Palestinians and the TransJordanians, by viciously violating the decree of the League of Nations, tearing off 77% of the Land of Israel, crowning a Bedouin to watch over the Iraqi/Haifa oil pipeline. They, our Enemy Within, are even more dangerous than the 22 hostile Arab countries that surround the Land of Israel - which is barely discernable on the world's atlas. The Enemy Within attempted in 1948, with the aid of the evil British regime, to annihilate the fledgling liberated State of Israel - but failed. They were severely defeated by the survivors of the terrible Holocaust." (This, too, is scrupulously detailed in The Enemy Within and Fear Factors.) After a long pause, Gurewich continued: "Our Enemy Within ourselves is caving in to Israel's pseudo friends - those who are petroleum-dependant. Petroleum was, and will always be, more important to them than Jewish blood. May they be remembered in shame and everlasting contempt! Hence, I beseeched especially the settlers: Igru Barzel! Gather arms, in order to resist, preempt, and vigorously react against the notorious policy of our own Enemy Within - of today, and our own Enemy Within of the days to come, because they will come! Our Enemy Within is only pretending that they value democracy - democracy is like love, advocating it is only if you mean it and exercise it, which they do not!" They, the Enemy Within - including some of the religious factions like the Shas party and the leftovers of the so-called right-wing party - still have the Galutti Diaspora attitude, and a dependence on shnorring from the USA. (In The Enemy Within as well as in the Fear Factors, Gurewich shows us how terrorism has been allowed to thrive today due to faulty decision-making by Israeli and U.S. leaders - along with the failure of the Jewish Nation to separate politics from religion. With careful analysis reaching to the biblical roots of the conflict, Gurewich outlines a multi-step plan to make Israel a stronger, more self-sufficient nation.) Thus, my brief interview with Jacob Gurewich ended on September 1993 in the town of Charlottesville, Virginia, where he resided at that time. In his own words: "I exiled myself from the Land of Israel after the Yom Kippur War Shoah." (as described in The Enemy Within.) 12 Years Later: I never forgot the brusque encounter with Jacob Gurewich 12 years ago in Virginia on the subject of Igru Barzel. I had long since moved from Virginia to Long Island, happily married with two children. But I was keenly aware of the dire situation in Israel, and it constantly haunted me. One day, at the entrance to Penn Station in New York, on my way home from my office to board the train to Long Island, I noticed a small folding table with a stack of pages, and a gentleman guarding it. I passed by and like other commuters, helped myself to a page and moved on toward the gate. Sitting on the train, I began reading the page. Its contents sounded very familiar. And before reaching the bottom of the page I sensed right away that the author of this piece, called "The Mantra", was indeed Jacob Gurewich. I also realized that the man who stood behind the folding table was Gurewich, but it was too late to exit the train. When I read Gurewich's The Enemy Within and Fear Factors, along with his numerous essays on the internet, I vividly remembered our encounter in Virginia. I was stunned to learn how keenly he predicted 12 years ago the very present dire situation in Israel. At the bottom of the hardcover of The Enemy Within, Second Edition, there is a blurb: "Now includes 'The Orphaned Nation's Kaddish' - an original work by the author!" Perusing his "Orphaned Nation's Kaddish," there is no need to read between the lines. The Kaddish is crystal clear. The page on the folding table" Wait not for signs from Heaven Jacob Gurewich - Author of The Enemy Within
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BRIGITTE GABRIEL TAKES ON COLUMBIA U.
Posted by Naomi Ragen, May 3, 2005. |
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Now, this is a perfect combination: That fearless Lebanese Christian woman
I've been telling you about, who has the guts to tell it like it is, taking
on the notorious lies of Columbia University's pro-Palestinian intimidation
squad who call themselves professors and pretend to be teaching about the
Middle East.
If you can't read the whole thing, read the part where she tells off Columbia professors and the ACLU. Love you Brigitte! Attached is a copy of Brigitte Gabriel's stirring speech before the Columbia University Conference on the Middle East and Academic Integrity in New York City: Middle East and Academic Integrity on the American Campus. It's called "Environments of Hate: Indoctrination in the Arab World and Propaganda Advocacy in Americas University Classrooms" and was delivered March 6, 2005. Naomi I'm honored to bring Columbia a unique perspective concerning the academic freedom issue. I see similarities between the issue and my personal experiences growing up. I was raised in an Arabic society in Lebanon that took impressionable young minds and filled them with propaganda. Minds that were young and didn't know any better. I am an eyewitness and a victim of the indoctrination of hate education, racism, intolerance, intimidation and fabricated lies by my government and religious influences. This indoctrination was for one purpose: To eradicate the newborn state of Israel; To foment hatred and wipe out Jewish presence in an Arab dominated world. For Arabs, the simple existence of Israel was viewed as a catastrophe...al nakbah! This pan Arab hate indoctrination was a reaction to Jews returning to their homeland after Arabic and Islamic belief for 1400 years that the Yahuds were vanquished and subjugated as Dhimmi. I believe hate motivated indoctrination fosters irrational thinking and faulty reasoning whether it influenced my education as a child in Lebanon or the "advocacy education" that roils the classrooms here at Columbia. This is the root cause, for the controversy swirling around several members of the Middle East Asia Languages Arts and Culture (MEALAC) faculty and their alleged intimidation of students and other faculty! What is at stake is our future, the students of today who will become tomorrow's leaders. If their minds are poisoned with irrational hatred and the hate is not combated and eliminated, then academic freedom and free speech in an open marketplace of competitive ideas is dead. But let me begin by talking about my experience growing up in Lebanon where doctrinal hatred of Jews and Israel was ever present. From Television programs, to national songs, hourly radio newscasts and newspapers, our citizens were fed a steady diet of lies poisoning our attitudes towards the Jews. Israel - Aaesrael - Israel is the devil. Al-Yahud shayateen, The Jews are evil. Sarakou Al-Ard Al Arabiyah. They stole Arab land. Al Wakt al wahid allazi yassir endana salam huwa lamma naqtul kul al yahud wa narmihum bil bahr, The only time we'll have peace in the Middle East is when we kill all the Jews and drive them into the sea. Every time Israel was mentioned it was attached to the phrase, Al adew al Israeli. The Israeli enemy. My country and others saw nothing wrong with practicing this form of mind abuse. Of taking a generation hostage, molding them into misguided weapons; some willing to be martyred in the name of Islam or Palestinian nationalism. It's a form of mental child abuse taking place in every Arab country. As a Maronite Lebanese I went to a Christian private school. The pervasive national animosity toward the Jews affected us there to the extent that our Bibles did not include nor did we study the Old Testament. We didn't even know it was a part of the bible. We were told that the Torah is the enemy's book. We were young. We didn't know any better. These were our teachers. We respected them and trusted them. Had I not had the opportunity for an up-close and personal experience with the Israelis, I would have had nothing by which to judge or compare what I was being told by my society. My eyes were opened when I spent 22 days in a hospital in northern Israel in the early 1980's. I watched unbelievably as Israeli doctors treated my mother wounded by an artillery shell before he treated the wounded Israeli soldier lying next to her. They treated Lebanese Muslims and Palestinian militia fighters on a par with wounded IDF soldiers. I was shocked that this enemy, hated by the Arabs, treated us all with utmost courtesy, compassion, and respect. It was a transforming experience countering the lies and all the propaganda that I had been indoctrinated in as a child. Ultimately, I made a commitment to leave my home country and move to Israel to be with these people whose values I respected. I ended up working in Israel as a television news anchor. I never felt like a second class citizen in Israel. To solidify my commitment to Israel I buried my beloved parents remains in the same Mount Zion cemetery in Jerusalem where the grave of a "ger t'zeddik" or righteous gentile-Oscar Shindler would one day be. I was tired of the lies, exaggerations and manipulations of Arabic society, which brings me to another parallel concerning academic freedom and objectivity. Where is objectivity in the Arab world when they claim that the destruction of the World Trade Center was a CIA/Mossad plot? Where is objectivity on campuses when similar claims and distortions are made? Can there be objectivity when advocacy and hatred is involved? Professor Richard Bullet was right when he coined the term "advocacy education". How can a student get the facts by which to make a decision when professors advocate in their courses using ideological distortions to force form opinion instead of providing objective information for students to form their own opinions? The lies that Arab society tried to teach me as a child in Lebanon are the same as those spread under the guise of academic freedom on the Morningside campus of Columbia. During a recent speech at a Columbia Law school forum, Professor Massad repeated 24 times in a half-hour that, "Israel is a racist Jewish apartheid oppressive state." His exercise in academic freedom ignores the facts. As a Middle Easterner brought up on this patent "Israel is a racist state" propaganda, I discovered it is total hate inspired nonsense. I've seen with my own eyes what kind of society Israel is. I consider Israel to be one of the most multi-racial and multi-cultural countries in the world. There are no racial restrictions on becoming a citizen of Israel like there are in many Arab countries. Remember, Jews can't live in the neighboring Arab Kingdom of Jordan or in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Israel's multi-racial society belies the charge of Racism. More than 100 different countries of the world are represented in the population of Israel. Consider how the Israeli government spent tens of millions of dollars airlifting more than 40,000 black Ethiopian Jews to Israel in 1984 and 1991. Since 2001 Israel has reached out to help others taking in non-Jewish refugees from Lebanon, the Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Vietnam, Liberia, Congo and even Bosnian Muslims. How many such refugees have the 22 states in the Arab league taken in? The Arab world won't even give Palestinian refugees citizenship in their host countries. Over one million Arabs are full Israel citizens. An Arab sits on the Supreme Court of Israel. There are Arab political parties expressing views inimical to the State of Israel sitting in the Knesset, Israel's parliament. Women are equal partners in Israel and have complete human rights. Professor Massad... show me an Arab nation with a Jew in their government. Show me an Arab country with half as many Jewish citizens as Israel has Arab citizens. I'll borrow some of your academic freedom now and say that Arab nations are the real racist and oppressive states. In the David Project film, "Columbia Unbecoming," you hear a word familiar to us in the Arab world mentioned by these brave students and Rabbi Charles Sheer, the emeritus executive director of Barnard /Columbia Hillel. The word is: intimidation. And people here at Columbia are up in arms that intimidation is mentioned? Let me tell you about intimidation. I know what using fear to deny freedom of thought is. In parts of the Arab world freely expressing your thoughts can get you killed. I said things as a news anchor that the Arabs did not like and it got my picture published in Hezbollah and PLO newspapers and magazines saying I should be killed. What sort of academic atmosphere do you think that would foster here on American campuses? I'd like to think the ACLU would be up in arms and coming to my defense. As one who escaped repression and came to America I'm shocked that such elitists as the ACLU are the enemy to the pursuit of freedom. That people in America support the oppressive actions that I left in the Middle East simply astounds me. Here at Columbia or DePaul I find more irony. When you speak out as a student you are told by some of the MEALAC faculty to leave the classroom. In the case of Professor Thomas Klocek at DePaul University you are suspended without due process for challenging lies about Israelis being Nazi occupiers by a Students for Justice in Palestine campus group. These are matters to be addressed by the Columbia administration, the ACLU and the AAUP now. What we're getting is people hiding behind psychobabble about academic freedom and free speech." What we see is freedom being used to spread lies, bar the facts, bend the truth and poison the minds of future leaders. Speaking for millions who suffered and those still suffering under tyranny and oppression... we don't understand how people in American universities, who have enjoyed freedom for so long, can abuse that very freedom by doing things that hinder the spread of freedom throughout the world. I see another parallel involving history that is happening here at Columbia and on other campuses. Anti Semites and anti Israelis have tapped into that part of the DNA of most Jews that paralyzes them from being confrontational when attacked. It's as if the Arabs studied Krystallnacht...the night of broken glass November 9th, 1938 in Nazi Germany. Scare Jews off and they will not respond or won't come back. Turning academic freedom into academic intimidation is the tactic being used here at Columbia and other campuses across the nation. These ideologues know that they are teaching students who have no background or prior knowledge of the Middle East situation. What they are doing is an extension of what is taking place in schools in Palestinian and Muslim madrasses across the Islamic crescent. Repeat a lie enough and it becomes truth. You listen to what we say. If you don't there will be consequences. I have heard that a graduate student at the School of International and Public Affairs here at Columbia approached a professor about holding programs on global anti-Semitism. The tenured faculty member said that he would be "blacklisted." Blacklisted by other Columbia faculty for even raising the topic. Further, this young graduate student was told not to even think of bringing up the subject of Genocide in the Sudan! Sounds like intellectual fascism to me. This brings me to something I was surprised to discover. I have always known that Jews are into studying and debating and being informed people. I knew about the Bar and Bat Mitzvah preparation and really thought that American Jewish children were prepared for life. What shocked me, really confounded me was how totally unprepared teenage Jews are when it comes to understanding the history of the Middle East conflict. The Jewish community has let freshmen down in preparing them to face what biased or hate filled college environments are throwing at them today. Let me tell you something else about hate in the Arabic environment. Arab children are taught hatred of the Jew from their mother's milk. They are constantly bombarded with stories and information presenting the Jew as barbaric, conniving, manipulative, warmongering people. You name it. While the Jew is taught patience, humility, service and charity to all - Olam tikkun olam - to repair the world. No wonder professors with an agenda of hate propaganda can intimidate and belittle young Jewish students. It is time for the Jewish community to wake up. It is time that Jewish youths are prepared to do battle in the open cockpit of debate in college classrooms. It is also time for tenured faculty at Columbia, Carnegie Mellon, DePaul, Duke, the University of California at Irvine to find their moral compasses and rise up with their colleagues and administrations to reclaim their campuses from the poisonous indoctrination of hate. Reclaim it and return the classroom to an intimidation free environment for young minds to learn the truth through open debate and give them, us and the world a better future. Thank you. 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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CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
Posted by AFSI, May 3, 2005. |
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This article is by Member of the Knesset Arieh Eldad. It was translated from the Hebrew by Moshe Aumann. It is our great pleasure and privilege to distribute this important article. We applaud the moral stand of the author. Jean Jacques Rousseau, one of the leading philosophers of the 18th century, was among those who laid the foundations for modern democracy. In his book, The Social Contract, he warned of the danger in a majority decision on behalf of particularistic interests opposed to the common good. He determined that the decision of the majority in such circumstances is liable to be wrong as well as unjust. Rousseau referred here to a situation in which the majority decision was reached in a proper way - while realizing that a forceful leader would be capable of imposing his will on the majority, to the point where it will submit to that will. In these circumstances, too, the minority is entitled to oppose the decision. All the more so, then, when we are dealing with a corrupt ruler and with a decision that was adopted by open bribery: for example, through the wholesale appointment of Government Ministers and Deputy Ministers, and through a campaign of dismissals and threats directed at those who refuse to toe the line. In circumstances like these, and when the nation's ruler does a total turnabout, carries out a policy diametrically opposed to his pre-election commitments and then refuses to put his policy to the test of a public referendum - the minority remains with no choice except civil disobedience. Remember Gandhi and King? When, last week, I called for non-violent civil disobedience, my words were greeted with a hysterical chorus of reactions. Some - such as those that charged I was calling for armed rebellion, or was liable to lead to bloodshed - were simply demagoguery. Others testified to a lack of comprehension, or to an astonishing ignorance of the basic rules of democracy. In any event, I would like to clarify my words. Non-violent civil disobedience means exactly what it says. This is precisely the kind of passive protest practiced by Mahatma Gandhi in India and Martin Luther King in the USA. They deliberately violated duly legislated laws of the land that were immoral or racist. And they earned undying respect for their civil disobedience. The laws of "disengagement" are racist laws directed against 8,000 Jews. Moreover, they are flagrantly immoral, in that they violate the fundamental rights of those to be expelled from their homes. Hence there is a supreme moral imperative to break these laws in a non-violent fashion, and in readiness to pay a personal price - like going to jail, for example. Non-violent civil disobedience can take many different forms: refusal to take part in the execution of the decrees and orders connected with the expulsion; blocking roads and highways; shutting down seaports and airports through massive sit-down strikes; organized time-offs from work by all opponents of the disengagement plan, in order to disrupt the operations of the government agencies dealing with its implementation; drawing police and military forces to places all over the country to deal with demonstrations and other protest actions, thus preventing them from taking part in the expulsion of the villagers in Gush Katif and Samaria - and this is just a partial list. To which I might add: If it's okay for our labor federation, the Histadrut, to "shut down the country" because of the dismissal of a few hundred workers, it surely is a moral obligation to do so because of the expulsion of thousands from their homes and the destruction of everything they had built up over the years and decades. A Badge of Honor How would the authorities respond to such violations of the law? Well, they can arrest the lawbreakers and imprison them, possibly for extended periods of time. It stands to reason that, if the number of people arrested and jailed comes to a few dozen, these people will suffer the stigma of a criminal record, and being deprived of their freedom will constitute a significant punishment. If, however, thousands - perhaps tens of thousands - will have to be detained, the sting will in effect be removed, and their incarceration for the sake of the Land of Israel and the People of Israel will actually be a badge of honor. What will the State do with thousands of students imprisoned with their teachers, and continuing with an intensive program of studies? Will the State fully cover the cost of their education and of the accommodation and upkeep of these students? And what will the State do with the thousands of soldiers who are going to do what Ariel Sharon has counseled them to do, and will go and tell their commanding officers that they are incapable of driving their brothers and sisters from their homes? How many prison camps will the State be prepared to set up in order to impose the "tyranny of the majority" - which actually is nothing more than the tyranny of a handful of politicians who stole the votes of those who had elected them? Non-violent civil disobedience is a moral and democratic tool of the highest order. Blind and indiscriminate obedience to every law, even when it has passed all the tests of legal legitimacy, has at times in the past thrown peoples and regimes into the darkest periods known in history. In the absence of a public referendum, the refusal to carry out racist and immoral laws, and the disruption of the implementation of these laws in non-violent ways, remains today our country's last refuge in saving itself - from itself. 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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A TRIAL FOR TRUTH FOR MK ARIEH ELDAD
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, May 3, 2005. |
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Background: MK Arieh Eldad walked from the Shomron to Gush Katif as a protest to Sharon's "disengagement". And (see above) he recommended civil disobedience to fight the retreat from Gaza. WHAT A BRILLIANT CHESS MOVE! By all means put MK Aryeh Eldad on trial for recommending civil disobedience to Prime Minister Ariel (Arik) Sharon's illegal perverse order of evicting 9,000 Jewish men, women and children from their homes! Let's reiterate exactly what MK Eldad said: "I would relish a political trial," because it would be "very interesting" and he believes it would help him politically. "My call for civil disobedience was no different from that of [Histadrut chief] Amir Peretz threatening to shut down the country because people were underpaid," Eldad said. "But there are some racist laws which it is a moral obligation to break." At the Wednesday April 27th rally in Gush Katif, Eldad told the crowd that they would have to explain to their grandchildren why they did not go to jail to try to stop Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip from happening. Add to that, as reported on May 2nd that MK Natan Sharansky, Minister of Diaspora Affairs, will soon leave the Government over Sharon's "Disengagement Plan". One wonders if Sharon will exercise his corrupt authority and fires Sharansky (before he can quit an immoral government for highly moral reasons) as he did MK Uzi Landau, MK Beni Elon (Minister of Tourism). The leading Leftists are hurling inciteful accusations at Eldad in hostile personal terms. Eldad has stated that he never called for violence again soldiers, only civil disobedience. The concept of the Israeli public's rejection of "Disengagement" has its links all the way back to the illegal secret pre-Oslo talks in the early 1980's between Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Yassir Arafat. The Oslo Accords concept of abandoning Jewish territory was discussed and planned back then, which eventually morphed into a fully blown Oslo surrenders of 7 cities to Arafat, the World's Master Terrorist. Arafat and his cohorts who were effectively neutered when Israel (under Minister of Defense Sharon) drove them out of Lebanon into Tunis until Rabin, Peres and Yossi Beilin resurrected these Terrorist organizations, giving them effective Terrorist bases and world approval - even the Nobel Prize. Oslo was the precursor to Prime Minister Ariel (Arik) Sharon's "Disengagement". Interim attempts to abandon the formerly barren territories made fruitful by the Jews was given impetus by former PM Ehud Barak who offered Arafat 97+% of the territories, by PM Bibi Netanyahu who surrendered 80% of Hebron plus the Wye fiasco - all variations of Oslo, including Yossi Beilin's Geneva Agreements. All were illegal or not sanctioned or approved by the Knesset or the Israeli people. Each Agreement of Retreat was negotiated as a conspiracy with foreign governments. Then there was the Peres Institute which is an outpost for foreign intervention in Israeli affairs. Unofficially (official), we see the NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) James Baker's Institute at Rice University working under the radar to achieve these same goals. Baker supplied new Secretary of State with "her" plan for a "contiguous" new State of Palestine, in all the territories liberated by Israel from Jordan's illegal occupation in 1967 - including most of Jerusalem as the capital of that State. A trial has two sides - even when the courts are hopelessly corrupt and dispense Leftist judgements. In open court, even the Leftist Media of Ha'aretz, Yediot Aharonot, Ma'ariv, the radio and Israeli TV will be forced to print the testimony of both sides or forever show themselves as the biased media outlets they have always been. When or if MK Aryeh Eldad is charged by Attorney General Menahem Mazuz, that will allow his defense to offer the linkage dating back to the early 1980s which carried forward through Oslo and then adopted by Sharon in collusion with Shimon Peres. (Personally, I think that Sharon's appointed Attorney General will likely NOT bring charges lest he and his boss expose themselves and their corruption. They would probably become cell mates - if all is exposed.) The planned evacuation of the 9,000 men, women and children from Gush Katif and four settlements in the Northern Shomron was never an isolated idea of Sharon only. It covered the span of at least a decade and more with plans to eject Jews from all Judea, Samaria, the Jordan Valley, the Golan Heights and most of Jerusalem - in other words, ALL those parts that Jordan had occupied after the 1948 War of Independence and whatever parts can be grafted to a Global Terrorist State and base of operations, in formation. Gush Katif and the 4 northern Shomron settlements were merely to give impetus to a stalled peace plan to cleanse the Land of Jews for the direct benefit of self-proclaimed Arab Muslim Palestinians. But, in this trial, more will be exposed as the defense must question the Oslo Gang and Sharon's Gang as to their collaboration with foreign nations in deep secrecy which, even in Israel translates into treason. Sources of money flowing into the treasuries of Political Parties and into pockets of high ranking Politicians from American and European political interests will have to be exposed. Peres and Beilin - with their private Institutes taking money from representative foreign nations whose goals are to cripple the Jewish State from within - will have to explain their suspicious funding in open court. The Peres and Beilin Institutes are located in Europe to avoid oversight by Israeli tax law. Naturally, Chief Justice Aharon Barak, high priest of the Leftist Supreme Court will try to bury an d disallow testimony which would show the Courts significant collusion over the years with the Leftist Parties. My guess is that Attorney General Menahem Mazuz who is on Sharon's political leash and who was 'persuaded' to accept the hot seat of Attorney General now - because he apparently 'promised' NOT to investigate any of Sharon's or his sons' illegal financial deals, will be interested to NOT bring Aryeh Eldad to trial. Remember that Sharon, whose platform to keep all the Land of Israel won in 1967 and strengthen the State, won his landslide election against Amram Mitzna who pledged to give away YESHA. Upon winning the election 60% to 40%, Sharon reversed his positions 180 degrees - violating Israel's democracy - wholly adopting Mitzna's plan to dispose of all of the land won in 1967. Sharon succeeded in getting his votes for "Disengagement" by firing his own Cabinet members to gain a vote in his Cabinet and by bringing in the opposition Labor Party to win the Knesset vote. In effect, Sharon lied his way into office, continued to lie to the people throughout his Administration. Legal descriptions of malfeasance and misfeasance in office could be applied if the Courts were not so thoroughly corrupt with heavy political bias. Later, Sharon accelerated the departure of Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon and the Head of Shabak, Avi Dicter because they also spoke out against the "Disengagement". They declared publically that Sharon's "Disengagement" would cause a vicious "Intifada 3". Regrettably, both the political system and the Israeli Courts have slowly but surely gained the reputation among those knowledgeable, international jurists that they are corrupt. These Courts were once a leading institution of integrity until they were co-opted by the Labor Left as part of their planned control of all facets of the nations ruling institutions. By all means, let's have a trial and then line up the Police Wagons to take the participants to jail. It won't be Aryeh Eldad but, if justice reigns true, we may likely see Sharon, Ehud Olmert, Dov Weisglass, Peres, Beilin, Aharon Barak and many others spending a few years in solitude to think over their crimes against the Jewish people. Clearly, civil disobedience to bring back honesty into the Israeli government, justice into the Court systems and accurate unbiased reportage in the Israeli Media would be far better than a French Revolution accompanied by Mr. Guillotine. Indeed, it would be a sensational trial equal to "J'Accuse" by Emil Zola regarding the Jewish French soldier Dreyfus or the trial of Adolph Eichmann. In an open trial the facts, whether good or evil had their day in court. Even John Demanyuk had a chance to display all his evidence, despite the fact that, like Eichmann, he was clearly guilty. Soon, we will see the trial of Saddam Hussein, although many in the oil industry, the U.N., the E.U., and the Arabist State Department would rather see him dead lest he name them as his co-conspirators (with proof). Yes, by all means, let us have a sensational open trial in Israel. There are political rats nests built one layer over another through the years until the nation is sinking in 'zevel' (garbage) of impossible corruption. The stink arises from every political institution from the Prime Minister's office through the Knesset, the Courts, the Police, Intelligence (Shabak) et al. In America it is called 'Reform' which is difficult to achieve because once the crooks saturate the system, they do not want to leave. Corrupt politicians, judges have a prejudicial interest in keeping their seats glued to their official chairs, salaries and the extra perks that go with the job. As the Mafia will not give up stealing, drug sales or prostitution nor will politicians give up cheating, lying, stealing from the people's treasury for their parties and more. The Greek Island Affair, trading the Land, casinos linked to Terrorist investment and protection, taking foreign dollars to manipulate elections...it's all the same - especially when the crooks (politicians and mafia) trade favors. Is there one or a few honest men in Israel who have the confidence of the people? Of course. But the people of Israel seem uniformed - mostly because the news comes from Israel's rendition of Pravda or Al Ahram. The only difference is that the Media of Israel is biased by self-choice. The Israeli Hebrew papers of Ha'aretz, Yediot Aharonot, Ma'ariv, the radio and TV news are dedicated Leftist to either twist the news - not to report the news or simply make up what best suits the Labor Left parties. Yes, let's have a trial to air the truth - which is a rare commodity in the Israel government, courts and media. I should include the so-called intellectuals of academia who instead of teaching their courses without their personal politics, insist on corrupting the minds of their students with only their biased view of life and the world at large. Sometimes I wish I were a Jewish Robbespierre conducting a form of the French Revolution in Israel. I would clean house of those greedy pigs who have come to feed at the public trough. There are honest people in Israel and in the Knesset but they are overwhelmed with the political trash who feed on the public's money. Today they plan to fire 4,500 of Israel's teachers because there is no money in the Treasury - even as they raise the price of gasoline 2-3.5%. The people cannot seem to understand that Sharon's incompetence in matters of commerce and industry has driven Israel's economy into a tail spin. We see some strong, honest people - like MK Arye Eldad - come to the fore in these perilous times. We see Mks Uzi Landau, Ruby Rivlin, Effie Eitam, Aryeh Eldad and many others who are pejoratively called "Rebels". These are the honest people while the crooks and suicidal lunatics scream like madmen. They are comporting themselves as allies to Israel's worst and most dedicated enemies. There is no statute of limitations for treason, betrayal of one's country in time of war. Israel has been in a formal state of War since it declared its independence in 1948 (with intermittent and continual Terrorism before and since). The people who subverted the safety of this nation by secretly dealing with her direct enemies and foreign nations who supported those same enemies with weapons, politically are indeed war criminals. When the cities of Israel are struck by missiles, rockets, mortars, artillery and Katyusha rockets because the ruling party in collusion with foreign governments not only reduced Israel's security but created attack opportunities and policy position which make Israel appear to be vulnerable, thereby inviting attack. As it was declared at the Nuremberg Tribunals "Nullum crimen sine poena" (No crime without punishment). So don't despair. If G-d doesn't get the bastards maybe the wheels of Justice will do the job. Of course, there are always the guidelines of the French Revolution where Justice went snicker-snack. 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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TEACH KIDS PEACE!
Posted by Mordechai Ben-Menachem, May 3, 2005. |
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This is an excellent. It describes how the Palestinian Authority and otherr groups are abusing their children by training them for war and death. Go to http://www.teachkidspeace.com/flash.php Mordechai Ben-Menachem is at Ben-Gurion University. He can be reached by email at quality@computer.org |
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BANGLADESHI PRISONER OF ZION RELEASED!
Posted by David Frankfurter, May 3, 2005. |
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Dear Friends, In June 2005, I wrote(1) to you highlighting the plight of Bangladeshi journalist Shoaib Choudhury, who was arrested in Bangladesh on trumped up charges, as he boarded a plane bound for Israel, where he was to deliver a speech promoting tolerance and cooperation between Israel and the Moslem world. (The article was published by Israel Insider(2) and the Jewish Ledger,(3) amongst others.) Thanks to the untiring efforts of friend Dr Richard Benkin, after 17 months of incarceration and humiliation, Choudhury has been released(4). The ordeal carried a stiff price for Choudhury. His health has deteriorated significantly, his mother died partly as a result of the distress, and his family businesses have been looted and bankrupted. Just as you joined the protest which helped achieve his release, I would ask you to write to the Bangladeshi Prime Minister (Ms.) Begum Khaleda Zia at info@pmo.gov.bd,(5) letting her know that the actions in Bangladesh have been noted, and encouraging proper restitution and rehabilitation of Shoaib Choudhury. Bangladeshi Ambassador to the US, Shamsher M. Chowdhury (bdootwash@bangladoot.org - no relative), was the other critical mass in this. Please include him in your correspondence. It would also be very appropriate to thank US Congressman Mark Kirk through his aide, Jeff Phillips (Jeff.Phillips@mail.house.gov)(6), for their pivotal assistance in freeing Choudhury. If you wish to read more about Choudhury, offer words of encouragement - or even something more practical, visit the Free Choudhury website(7). Best Regards, David Footnotes 1. http://www.livejournal.com/users/dfrankfurter/30373.html
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FIRST DAY IN AUSCHWITZ
Posted by Mordechai Ben-Menachem, May 3, 2005. |
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This week is Holocaust Remembrance Day. This article is called "First Day In Auschwitz" and is by Israel I. Cohen. It is a section from "Destined To Survive" (http://www.artscroll.com). See other Holocaust articles online at: http://www.innernet.org.il/catagories.php?pid=13. InnerNet Magazine is published monthly as an on-line digest of articles from the Jewish world. Topics include relationships, spirituality, personal growth, philosophy, incredible true stories, and special editions for the Jewish holidays. We arrived in Auschwitz on Friday morning, erev Rosh Chodesh Elul, 5704 (1944). We were confused, overcome with fear, and in a state of shock. In the Lodz ghetto, we would rarely have anything to do with the German soldiers, as all matters were directly handled by the Jewish authorities of the Judenrat, headed by Chaim Mordechai Rumkowski. Only when we would look at the barbed-wire enclosure would we see SS guards there, every few yards, pacing slowly, machine-guns nestled casually on their shoulders. Now, in this new place where terror lurked in every corner, there was a sudden swarm of SS troops running to and fro, barking orders at us, shoving us in all directions, beating us indiscriminately. It was frightening beyond words. "Leave everything! Leave everything behind! Out of the wagons! Schnell!" From the ghetto we had brought with us backpacks into which we had hurriedly stuffed clothes and other belongings. Now, as we disembarked from the railcars, we were ordered to leave these behind, and to run. We had arrived in the valley of sorrow -- in the valley of death. I grabbed my most precious possession, my tefillin, and began to run in the direction I was ordered to. At once, I felt a stinging blow to my back and my head. Turning to face my assailant, I realized he was a kapo, one of the many overseers appointed by the SS to help torment us, who began shrieking in a frenzy, "Do you want to get killed right here on the spot?" Grabbing the tefillin from my embrace, he tossed them, like a baseball, right onto a pile of personal effects that was off to the side. Then, without warning, he shoved me into the mass of people that continued to move from the direction of the train in an endless human flow... Shortly after, the next phase of our affliction took place, as the segregation commenced. First, the men and the women were separated, husbands from wives, brothers from sisters. Families were ripped apart mercilessly, with no chance for parting words or a hug from a loved one. Children were torn away from their mothers amid panic-filled shrieks of agony. People were pelted right and left to prevent them from running back into the embrace of a parent or child beckoning to them helplessly. Somehow my mother managed to throw her arms around my neck for a fleeting moment and to utter her final blessing with tears in her eyes. "May the Almighty grant you the same grace that Joseph was favored with in Egypt." Then we too were forcibly separated, with no time for a goodbye. Numb and distraught, I felt myself being pushed along with a mass of men until we came face to face with an SS officer, standing on a podium, shiny black shoes on his feet and a whip in his right hand. Almost capriciously, he motioned to each of us in turn, "Right!" or "Left!" As the infamous selektzia took place on this hellish spot, one line grew on either side of the clearing, maintained with the assistance of the SS guards. I proceeded forward, dumbfounded and totally bewildered, not even noticing where I was headed, unaware that a simple word, either "right" or "left," would be the determinant of my life or death. "Line up in fives!" the SS guards now yelled at us. They told us to march like soldiers. "Links, zvei, drei, vier! Left, two, three, four!" and to march in rhythm, like the well-fed soldiers of the Third Reich. If one of us did not catch on to the beat and the pace, an SS guard would help him to catch on, with the use of a whip or a stick. How I managed to march, I can't recall; my mind was blurred. I simply remember being motioned off to the right and continuing to drag my feet amid the constant screaming and cursing. Suddenly, from a distance, I heard someone calling excitedly, "Srulek! Srulek!" Surely there were others with the same name, but the voice was unmistakably that of my sister Mirel. I looked around and saw her being led along with a large group of women in the opposite direction. She was sobbing as she called out to me, "They have taken Mammashee to the left." At the time I did not realize the significance of that statement. I simply assumed that it meant that my mother and my sisters had been separated. Within the next few minutes, we were herded into an enormous barracks, where we were ordered to stand off to one side... When a total hush was effected, one of the SS officers positioned himself at the front of the barracks and announced, "You will remove any and all valuables from your pockets and deposit them into these barrels. These include gold, silver, watches, pens or anything else. In a short while, you will each be inspected. Anyone who will be found in possession of any of the aforementioned items will be shot on the spot." The kapos weaved in and out of the mass of people, shouting and cursing as they conducted a person-by-person inspection. Within moments, as if from nowhere, mounds of valuables began to form at the front of the building, on top of the blanket. A pile of watches here, a heap of gold coins there -- pens, golden chains and American dollars. I had in my pockets my own little cache of personal effects. One item was a precious golden pocket watch on a golden chain, which I had inherited from my beloved grandfather. I also had a few small pieces of gold and some U.S. dollars that my mother had sewn into the lining of my garments. With a trace of defiance growing inside me, I decided not to allow the cherished pocket watch to fall into the hands of any accursed German. I would rather simply break it. I looked about me to make sure I wasn't seen, and dropped the watch on the floor, then placed my foot over it in order to crush it. Suddenly a kapo appeared out of nowhere and treated me to a stiff punch in the ribs, and then said, "Pick up that watch and throw it into the barrel." More quietly, he added, "You're lucky that I'm the one who saw you. Had it been another kapo, you would have been on this day hanged from one of the poles outside." Had I succeeded in carrying out my little venture, the SS would have considered it sabotage. Naturally I wasted no time in picking up the watch and throwing it into the barrel... Suddenly, we were being shoved into a blockhouse. In Auschwitz, we learned, inmates would be jammed together into one half of the block, while the other half remained empty. Then the kapos shouted out their instructions at us (kapos were forever shouting out instructions in Auschwitz) that we remove our clothes as we were going to the showers to bathe. Anyone who was even slightly reluctant to remove his clothes, or who was slow in doing so, promptly received a different kind of shower - blows from the stick-wielding kapos. The forbidden question entered my mind, "Master of the Universe, what are You doing with us?," but I could not continue my train of thought, as I noticed a kapo rushing in my direction. Aware of the sticks always poised to beat us, I swiftly removed my clothes and placed them in a neat pile to the side, so I would be able to recognize them later on. When we had still been in the Lodz ghetto, a couple of days earlier, in preparing ourselves for the transport, many of us had donned several shirts, two pairs of pants, sweaters and other garments, figuring that we would need them in the days ahead. Also, my mother had sewn some small pieces of gold coins and a few American dollars into the lining of my jacket. But I didn't have too long to worry about the fate of my clothes, for sure enough, all our clothing was immediately carried off by the kapos and thrown into large piles. For any of us who dared voice any disapproval, a rain of blows on the head would be the response, along with the explanation, "Fools that you are, you will not be needing your clothes anymore, anyway." ...We were suddenly rushed to another large chamber of the building, where a crew of kapos met us with scissors and hair-cropping machines in hand. Within minutes we were further "refined," as our heads and our entire bodies were completely shaved. The procedure was torturous as well as humiliating. Using razors and machines that were dull, the kapos, victims in their own right, were under pressure to process a few hundred inmates within a short time. With their blunt instruments, they hurriedly tore out our hair as much as they shaved it off. We emerged from that department of horrors bleeding painfully. To further dehumanize us, they dealt each of us a sudden violent blow on the back so that we doubled over in pain, at which they took the opportunity to check inside our bodies for any items that might have been concealed there... We were made to file into an enormous room that had dozens of showerheads jutting out from the ceiling overhead. We were all packed into the shower hall, too small to contain the mass of people. Horror dawning on his face, my friend Yosef turned to me and said, "I heard in the ghetto about a room with showers, but instead of water coming out, people are showered with gas and end up dying from suffocation. It looks like those rumors were true." I did not know what to answer him. It was too incredible to believe. In the ghetto we had been forced to work for five years to aid the German war effort, and now they were about to kill us, in cold blood. It made no sense at all. But even the logic of my reasoning did not fully convince me, as we waited for several endless minutes, the smell of sulfur going to our heads and further amplifying our fears. Then, all at once, water came down. At first we were still afraid that perhaps some sort of poison was being rained down on us. But after a few moments of panic, we relaxed somewhat as we realized that the liquid was water indeed. Then, spurred on by a new drive for survival, we began to vie for a better position, to obtain more of the water. But just as quickly as it had started, the water was shut off. The initiation process went by rather quickly. We suffered the worst while we stood in line waiting our turns. But there was more to come. For our next trial we were moved into another room in the same building, an ominously dark room, with a recessed floor filled with blackish liquid. It was an enormous pool of water heavily treated with what smelled like sulfur and disinfectant, into which we were ordered to enter and dip in over our heads, while SS guards watched us from above to make sure that our heads went underwater. The strong chemicals in the water caused the fresh wounds we had acquired from our shearing experience just minutes before to sting excruciatingly. When we stepped out of the pool we were driven out of the other side of the red brick building, and pushed outside, as we were, naked. By now it was the dead of night. For a brief moment I stood there, among others like myself, who were perhaps also reflecting on the events of the day, as I was, wondering how to account for the passage of time of the past 12 hours in particular, so terrible and harrowing had been the events that had occurred. The black sky and the chill of the Polish early autumn night brought a shiver to my bones. Suddenly the darkness around us was obliterated by the blaze of powerful floodlights. The hunger that we all felt gnawing at us was not yet uppermost in our minds, as we experienced the next segment of our transformation into proper citizens of Auschwitz. Off to one side, there were immense piles of various articles of clothing, with a kapo standing next to each pile. We were made to file by, one by one, and receive one item from each pile. First I was given a pair of briefs, then a shirt. From a third pile I was handed a pair of trousers and from a fourth a jacket. The last item I received was something that looked like a rag, and I hadn't the slightest idea of what to do with it. First I thought it might be a sock, but then I saw other people putting theirs on their heads, like hats. Looking all around me, I realized that everyone was in disguise. We all resembled a bunch of clowns. Here was a tall man in a jacket several sizes too small, and there was a short man with sleeves amply covering his entire hands, and on all of our heads, rags. Were it not for the tragedy of our situation, we could all have enjoyed a bout of hearty laughter while viewing the Purim characters we had become. We had barely finished getting dressed outside of the bathhouse, when the kapos recommenced their vicious behavior, shouting curses at us, and peppering their words liberally with hefty blows from the whips and sticks that they held. After being beaten once again into total subservience, we were marched to yet another block, where we were supposed to sleep. Once again, we were squashed into one side of the block. The building was divided along its center by a low red brick wall, a couple of feet in height. On one side of the wall, approximately 500 of us were packed in like sardines, while about half a dozen or so kapos ran around the other side of the room, empty, save for them. As we scrutinized our surroundings, trying to figure out what would happen next, a long whistle blast pierced the din. One of the kapos approached the low wall, climbed on top of it and called out, "Silence!" As if on cue, the other kapos followed suit, shouting at us to be quiet, and threatening us with blows to the stomach for any word spoken out of turn. There was instant silence in the room, as we all held our breath, waiting to hear what the kapo had to say. To our amazement, he began to speak in Yiddish. "Friends. Yidden. We are also prisoners, like you. We went through everything you have gone through today. We beg you for your cooperation. In a moment the SS will be walking in here and each of you will be frisked, and thoroughly inspected. If anyone is discovered having any gold, silver, currency or valuables, he will either be shot on the spot, or hanged on this pole." He paused, to show us a pole standing in the middle of the barracks. I had noticed it earlier, but never guessed its purpose. "Dear Jews, be aware that yesterday there also arrived a large transport from Lodz, and the SS ended up hanging 15 Jews right here in this room. If anyone has any contraband with him, and will admit it right now, of his own free will, we will convince the SS not to punish him." The silence on our side of the barracks was deafening, no one daring to utter a single word. Neither did anyone speak up in order to admit to having smuggled anything in. A few quiet moments passed dramatically, when all of a sudden the kapo turned to us in a rage. "Animals! Swine! Do you think we don't know that you have smuggled gold pieces and money into this building? When the SS come in, there will be innocent people shot. Why should any of you suffer because of some other swine? If anyone here knows of anyone who has smuggled valuables in with him, please come forward and tell us. You will be rewarded with food and drink." Again, silence. Our nerves were frayed to near breaking point. Our bodies were about to collapse, after we had been standing on our feet for two days and a night. In the railcars we had had barely enough room to crouch in, let alone sit. Only now, after having undergone shock after shock, terror after terror, I could ponder the fact that I had not eaten or drunk for two days. And yet here we all were, still standing -- in sheer fright of the kapos who stood over us and of the SS guards whose appearance was now apparently imminent. Then the kapos proceeded to do what they had threatened us would be done by the SS guards. They made their way to our side of the barracks and began to frisk and inspect us, making sure to remove our shoes, which were the only things we had been allowed to keep. There ensued shouts and snarled orders by the kapos interspersed with cries of pain, but no pandemonium broke loose, and we maintained our equilibrium as well as possible. Suddenly, the lights were extinguished, and an insidious darkness enveloped us. We could still hear moans from people being beaten amid the continuous screaming of the kapos. Then, we heard the head kapo's voice call out above the din, "We have already caught several people who had valuables with them and did not admit to it." Was this a warning, or a mere observation? We could not determine the answer. We could only listen, as we heard what sounded like a few people being forcibly taken to the other side of the barracks. Then, loud, heavy footsteps pounded in the darkness as new shouting, now in German, could be heard. "Five people will be hanged at once, and everyone in this block will be severely punished!" More heavy footsteps and loud breathing were all we could hear in the devastating silence. Then, all at once, a heart-rending cry shattered the stillness. "Shema Yisrael!" There are no words that exist to describe the dread and shock we all felt at that moment. Immobile, we continued to stand in the dark, pressed one against the other. Then, as time passed, with no further disturbance, our numbness gave way to fatigue. We all began to kneel down, keeping our legs spread apart for fear of losing some of the meager space apportioned to each of us. Somehow we all made our way down to the floor, crouching rather than sitting, a fitful slumber overtaking our anxieties. We remained in that position, crammed into each other, half awake, poised to hear the slightest sound that could possibly be a harbinger of newer atrocities to befall us. We were awakened at about 4 o'clock in the morning. In the dim, predawn light we could see no sign of anyone having been hanged. Suddenly we understood that the entire scene played out the night before had been nothing more than a charade. Dreadful theatrics had been enacted by the kapos, Jews themselves who had sunk so low as to prey on our paranoia in order to extract a few precious valuables from a distraught mass of victims, who had already endured so much suffering and anguish. To add to their despicable, mean-spirited behavior, they had abused the holy words of "Shema." We could ascertain from this that a person without the fear of God in his heart will not respect his fellow human beings, but will step on people's heads in order to become rich or just for the pleasure. That night's ordeal indelibly scarred our hearts. The fear which was instilled in us that night, the absolute terror, so degraded and demoralized us, that no one who was there could ever be totally cured of the injury sustained from the experience. Nevertheless, life in Auschwitz went on. We did not have the luxury of pensive idling and pondering over events as they occurred... [I tried to compose myself, and commented, "Do you remember the Talmud, where Hezekiah said to Isaiah the Prophet, 'I have a tradition from my ancestors that even if a sharpened sword is placed on your neck, you should not despair of God's mercy'? The Almighty can still help us."] Mordechai Ben-Menachem is at Ben-Gurion University. He can be reached by email at quality@computer.org |
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BUSH: FRIEND OR FOE OF ISRAEL? ISRAELI SECURITY THREAT & ASSESSMENT
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, May 3, 2005. |
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BUSH: FRIEND OR FOE OF ISRAEL? Liberal Democrats abhor Pres. Bush more than ever. They resent his policies on the environment, Social Security, the economy, and born-again Christianity. They do not give him credit for supporting Israel, because they do not trust his backing of Sharon or Sharon. In this venue, we'll consider how US Jews think his religious ideology affects them and Israel. They are afraid that his Christian supporters are potentially antisemitic. According to Hillel Halkin, who made those observations, the Christian right in America is favorable to the Jewish people. If they realized that, "they would understand that George W. Bush has been so pro-Israel not in spite of who he is but because of it. Then they might give him credit for being arguably the best president that the Jew of America have ever had." How is he pro-Israel? Again according to Mr. Halkin: Bush (1) Wants the P.A. to eradicate terrorism before holding meaningful negotiations; (2) Demands that the P.A. must democratize, and shunned Arafat over it; (3) Stated "... clearly that all areas of the W. Bank in which Jewish settlers are heavily concentrated should be incorporated into Israel; (4) Ended Iraq's strategic threat to Israel, though not primarily to benefit Israel (NY Sun, 4/19, p.9). All those points are mistaken. There are two Christian Rights. One is pro-Israel, the other is anti-Israel. Bush holds to the anti-Israel "replacement" ideology. I think his primary ideology is oil. Bush only says he wants the P.A. to eradicate terrorism. If the P.A. ended terrorism (and he's not asking for an end to its jihad), that would not justify an anti-Zionist cession of the Judea-Samaria-Gaza Jewish homeland. While terrorism continues, however, Bush has the US train the terrorists, increases the US subsidy to the P.A., and demands that Israel pull back from P.A. areas even though that permits freer terrorist movement and rearmament. Bush may want the P.A. to democratize, but he accepted a phony election and the retention of Arafat's cronies and all that was wrong with Arafat. Bush rejected Arafat because Arafat would not accept even an extravagant offer of territory from Israel. There wasn't enough glory in it; Arafat preferred winning mostly by armed struggle. How valuable for Israel would democratization of the P.A. be, not that a Muslim government can be democratic, since Islam does not believe in equal civil rights for minorities? If the P.A. were democratic, that might mean that the people are behind jihad. For the Jewish people, democracy is over-rated. Compare the Holocaust records of two democracies, Britain and France, and two fascist states, Spain and Italy. Britain was a major accomplice of the Nazis. If Britain had let the Jews into Palestine, as its Mandate directed, there would have been no Holocaust! France, both the occupied part and the autonomous Vichy part turned its Jews over to the Nazis, even before being asked. Both Britain, in Cyprus and Africa, and France set up concentration camps for Jews. Spain did not. Italy had a more difficult time resisting the Nazis, whose troops occupied it, but it did hold on to Italian-born Jews. Spain issued visas to Jews of ancient Spanish origin. Italy protected the Jews in the areas of Europe it occupied. When it came to the Jews, those fascists were more decent than those democrats! Bush's letter did NOT state clearly that Jewish-populated areas of Judea-Samaria should be incorporated into Israel. It was ambiguous. PM Sharon attempted to interpret the letter positively, but the State Dept. immediately reassured the Arabs that is not so. Bush and the State Dept. have since then demanded that Israel not build within those population centers and not include some of those population centers within the security barrier. Obviously, the US intends for those areas to go to the Arabs. Likewise, and like Pres. Clinton, Bush violates the law by not moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem. Why? It means that the US does not recognize the capital just of the Jewish state. That's discrimination. And after the letter was proved a ruse, Halkin should stop touting it. Bush's war on Iraq was a reaction to 9/11. Any benefit to Israel is coincidental. It is canceled out by Bush's continuing to build up the armies of Egypt and the P.A., aimed at Israel. A great friend of Israel would not arm Israel's invaders. ISRAELI SECURITY ASSESSMENT Israeli intelligence finds that the Arabs are smuggling in more weapons, especially rockets. It anticipates that the Arabs will open their offensive against the cities of Judea-Samaria and Israel, as soon as Israel will have withdrawn from Gaza and northern Samaria (IMRA, 4/1). The US insists that Israel withhold fire; Israeli deaths will result. This is an old story. Too bad Israel doesn't have a decent government that recognizes the injustice and temerity of the US. ISRAELI ARAB SECURITY THREAT "In 2005, 25 cells were uncovered in which 50 Israeli Arabs were involved. Since the beginning of the Israeli-Palestinian violent confrontation (September 2000), 112 cells that perpetrated or planned to perpetrate terrorist attacks have been uncovered; 236 Israeli Arabs were involved in the activity of these cells. 136 Israelis were killed and 790 were wounded as a result of terrorist attacks perpetrated by these cells. (Source: ISA data)." Before 2005, Israeli Arabs assisted outside terrorists, rather than committing the violence, themselves. Now, more of them commit it. Some of the cells are independent, but most are directed by outside organizations. A higher proportion of Israeli Arab terrorists are under 18, than formerly (IMRA, 4/7). Those are the known cells and whose members are ready to act. There must be more in preparation. Then there must be more under recruitment. The importation of radical preachers from Gaza probably is a factor. TERRORISTS USE TOOLS OF ISRAELI DEMOCRACY AGAINST IT The International Solidarity Movement (ISM), an organization of radical protestors directed by P.A. terrorist organizations in where, when, and how to interfere with Israeli counter-terrorism, is trying to make use of Israeli courts. When ISM members get injured from their interference, they now try to sue for damages. (Of all the nerve!) They also lodge SLAPP suits for libel. (SLAPP suits are unwarranted lawsuits brought by the wrongful party against the wronged or truthful one, to try to force the usually under-funded truth teller to apologize or pay heavy legal expenses. Gradually these cases are getting dismissed. One difficulty in an ISM case against a journalist was that the plaintiff's lawyer cited non-existent law and treaties, to mislead the judge. In some parts of the US, SLAPP suits are illegal. Prof. Steven Plaut was sued by a leftist Israeli professor who complained about being called pro-terrorist, but who continues to writing in obviously a pro-terrorist stance (Prof. Steven Plaut, 4/6). Israel and the US need reforms so poorer elements don't have to submit to threats of lawsuits from richer ones. WHERE IS THE LEFTIST APOLOGY? Peres, Beilin, and other appeasement-minded Israelis foisted Oslo upon Israel under the proposition that if Israel put the Arab cities of the P.A. under Arab control, the Arabs would be satisfied with Israel and busied taking care of their people. The result was that the Arabs were enabled to murder 1,700 Jews (and neglected their people). In effect, these Jews were talking only to themselves about peace. They are as suicidal as the Arabs. Did the leftists apologize for their deadly blunder? Were they punished for it? No. Sharon urges more appeasement. He would compound the blunder (Winston Mid East Analysis, 4/8). IN THE RED ROCKETS' GLARE Arab terrorists have been bombarding Israeli communities with rockets. On April 9, about 80 rockets fell on those communities. Abbas may call that a ceasefire, and Sharon may call it "quiet," but for the Jews who are killed or whose houses get struck, they know terrorism. The Israeli army is ready to defend its people, but the politicians don't let it (IMRA, 4/10). They made it difficult by giving the Arabs autonomy, within which they prepare war. Statehood would enable them to prepare without IDF interference. SHARON'S DECEIT PM Sharon has been giving his people assurances and retracting them. He assured them of his commitment to the large settlement blocs, by proposing to build more than 3,000 houses in Maale Adumim, just beyond Jerusalem. Then he reassured the White House that there are no construction plans for those houses. (This is called the "forked tongue" tactic." Sec. Rice put the lie to the claim by Sharon (and by Hillel Halkin, contributing editor of the "NY Sun") that Pres. Bush had promised that Israel may preserve the large settlement blocs, by asserting that the fate of all the settlements depends on final status negotiations (Arutz-7, 4/10). BRINGING THE ENEMY TO ONE'S GATE PM Sharon "has approved a plan for the Egyptian deployment of helicopters, light armored vehicles, anti-tank weapons and 750 commandos along the border with the Gaza Strip and Israel." Supposedly they would guard against smuggling (IMRA, 4/13). Nonsense! Smugglers are guys on foot or in trucks whom police could spot and stop. Sharon's plan is dangerous. BIN LADEN IS WINNING Bin Laden figured out that the jihadists defeated the USSR in Afghanistan really because the Soviet economy could not stand the sacrifices of war. Therefore, he is attempting to weaken the US economy, so it could not resist jihad as staunchly. First, al Qaeda destroyed the World Trade Center. That cost the US about a trillion dollars. Now al Qaeda is concentrating on oil installations and US facilities. The price of oil has doubled, so far. The US spends $10 billion more now, on oil. Those billions go largely to jihadist states. Thus the US finances its enemies (Arutz-7, 4/11). But Pres. Bush's oil company friends make more money. The US needs a counte-strategy. THE NEW P.A. TEXTBOOKS What's new in P.A. textbooks? "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," an antisemitic forgery alleging a Jewish plot to take over the world and to do so by foul means, are presented as the policy of the First Zionist Congress. That is understandable - the P.A. does not want to be out of synch with Egypt and Syria, where the book is popular (IMRA, 4/12). P.A. FINANCES The Palestinian Investment Fund has a stake in the Orascom Corp. that multiplied about 35 times. The original outlay now is worth billions of dollars (IMRA, 4/12). Why should the US give the P.A. money when it already has billions? 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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ISRAEL AS AMERICA'S ROTTWEILER?
Posted by Marcel Cousineau, May 3, 2005. |
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That's what some are saying of Israel. I have a more realistic view of Israel in 2005: Israel As America`s Toothless Lap Dog. The truth is Israel has become a minuature poodle no longer able to defend itself without permission from the one who holds the leash. The poodle's master holds the leash very tight and Israel must surrender and retreat and release terrorists to kill again for this insane and demented master on the Potomac River. As the little dog is told to submit to the introduction of thousands of Crocodiles to surround it's tiny cage, the pitiful dog barks obediently and submits to its upcoming sacrifice to appease the hungry Crocodiles, all of which are promised a piece of the minature poodle. The pitiful minature poodle has had his teeth removed and can only eat soft mush as his cage is reduced in size to undefensable borders as the hungry crocs prepare for their feast. If only Israel was a Rottweiler with teeth, there would be hope for her survival. Marcel Cousineau can be reached at up2zionsg8@yahoo.com. |
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TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY COMMUNIST DENOUNCES ARIEL COLLEGE
Posted by Steven Plaut, May 3, 2005. |
1. Shlomo Sand is a communist "New Historian" who teaches at Tel Aviv
University which was built on Arab lands confiscated from Arabs. Here
he calls for the destruction of Ariel College, which the Israeli
government just decided to expand into a university, because he thinks
it is an "illegal outpost in Palestinian territory"
(www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/571476.html). He wrote:
"Ariel's university must be considered an illegal outpost, because it is located in occupied territory that has not been annexed to Israel. The people who live in the area, who are not Jewish, have no civil rights and no elementary political rights, and they have not been asked whether they want a Jewish college in their environs. The presence on the Tel Aviv University campus of people like Sand, Tanya Reinhart, Ran HaCohen, and Yoav Peled are sufficient reasons why everyone should stop making any donations and contributions to TAU and instead send them to Ariel College! 2. Counterpunch Moonbat Cheers Fragger of US Troops The Counterpunch gang has a new role model and hero: Hasan Akbar, who was sentenced to death last week for fragging his fellow soldiers in Kuwait. Akbar is a devout African-American convert to Islam, and he identifies with the Iraqi enemy against his fellow soldiers. The Los Angeles Times quotes him stating, after he was apprehended, "You guys are coming into our countries, and you're going to rape our women and kill our children." Akbar, you may recall, was a 32 year old combat engineer with the 326th Engineer Battalion of the 101st Airborne Division when he was charged March 25 with two counts of premeditated murder, 17 counts of attempted murder, one count of aggravated arson of an inhabited dwelling and one count of misbehavior as a sentinel. The attack occurred at Camp Pennsylvania -- the Kuwaiti headquarters of the division's 1st Brigade -- on March 23, four days after the start of the war in Iraq. The ultra-moonbats have been cheering on Akbar, chanting how they support US troops when they murder their officers. Akbar is the new guru for Stan Goff, whose personal web page celebrates Mumia and links to the communist party, assorted other communist groups, as well as to Uruknet and other Islamofascist groups. After 9-11, Stan Goff equated the terrorist attacks with the German Nazis' torching of the Reichstag in 1933. "The de facto executive branch and the compliant press are putting the historical spotlight right now on December 7, 1941, and Pearl Harbor," said Goff, a disgruntled former U.S. Army Ranger. "I think we need to aim that spotlight at February 27 in 1933 and the Reichstag fire." Goff promotes conspiracy nonsense about 9-11 on Narco News and elsewhere. Here is Goff's Counterpunch take: "How many times had Hasan Akbar heard his religion thus maligned and misrepresented by fellow soldiers, by officers and NCO's, by the press, on the internet, watching call-in programs on C-Span? Akbar's lawyers attempted to make the case that Akbar feared his fellow soldiers. I don't know if he did or not, but it's not a stretch..... It's hard for me to forget that this is the government that has illegally imprisoned thousands of people, including holding one U.S. citizen (Jose Padilla) without charges or access to a lawyer, and that persecuted Wen Ho Lee with the enthusiastic cooperation of the 'objective' press. This is the government that still holds Leonard Peltier and Mumia Abu Jamal (though Mumia is held on Pennsylvania charges). And this is the military that denied exit to military-aged males in Fallujah before they turned it into a Warsaw free-fire zone. So I hope I'll be forgiven if I say, even without claiming the innocence or guilt of Hasan Akbar -- which I simply do not know about... forgive me if I say there is something here that doesn't pass a smell test." Goff basically thinks all trials are silly and that murderers cannot get justice in them. "Trials are codified rituals, no less primitive and dogmatic than pretending we are drinking blood and eating flesh during communion." Goff goes on to claim that black murderers do not get justice under the American legal system and that Daniel Pipes is a "designated troll", you know - unlike the moonbats, communist stooges, anti-Semites, and neofascists who are regular columnists for Counterpunch. Talk about a smell test! Meanwhile, Akbar's lawyer, Wazir Ali Muhammad Al-Haqq, had been saying the trial will be about more than just Akbar's guilt or innocence. it also will be a political trial of the US Army itself!! Goff agrees. While not exactly coming out and cleanly defending Akbar's crimes of murder, nevertheless Goffball thinks Akbar is innocent until convicted in some court other than a military court martial, and thinks that Akbar's murders pale in comparison with the crimes of the American government and racist society. 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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WHY NOW?
Posted by Batya Medad, May 2, 2005. |
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My father, who'll G-d willing be 85 this summer, keeps telling me that he thinks that I write well, but he wishes that I wouldn't write such depressing things. I'm sorry, but even when I plan something "light" it evolves into thoughts I'd rather not have. I have no real control over my "musings." No matter how much planning I put into them, something takes over. Even if I know exactly what I am going to write, there's no guarantee that the final product will resemble the essay that I planned. This time I certainly can't promise something cheerful. My father, the C.P.A., always warned me to be suspicious, and I learned the lesson well, maybe even too well. My problem is that I see dangers where others don't, and I have difficulties trusting politicians. You know what the say about paranoids having enemies? Unfortunately sometimes I'm right. Close to thirty years ago demonstrating for the release of Natan (Anatoly) Sharansky from Soviet prison, I never would have guessed that I'd be writing an article like this. Then, it was known that he was brilliant and charismatic, but who would have guessed that he would become an Israeli politician and government minister? Who would have predicted that he would become so internationally respected? And who would have thought that I'd be so suspicious of him? Today's headlines proclaim: "Sharansky: Would Be Immoral to Remain in Gov't" May 02,'05, http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=81207 "Sharansky resigns over disengagement," May 2, 2005, www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ ShowFull&cid=1114913918617 I have a problem with his timing; why now? Disengagement was proclaimed months ago. Other ministers who disagreed with it were fired. Why davka now has Natan Sharansky decided to resign? Also, when you read the "fine print" his reasons, rationale, further down in the articles, things look different and less noble. Listen carefully to him, and learn that: "Although he has in the past supported withdrawal from parts of the Land of Israel, Sharansky says the current plan goes too far." (Arutz 7) And The Jerusalem Post writes: "In a long letter of resignation, Sharansky cited the need for democratization of Palestinian government in Gaza as a pre-requisite for an Israeli pullout." This is very different from the anti-Disengagement lobby. I don't see him as opposing Disengagement in principle. He is in favor of withdrawal but just wants to change the details of the agreement. Or he just wants to wait until the Arabs act more like "westerners." There are two simple possibilities for his resignation at this time. One is that he wants to improve his standing as a national leader, figuring that he has more charisma, international standing and better "name recognition" than the three most prominent leaders; Dr. Arye Eldad, Ruby Rivlin and Uzi Landau. He figures that there's a vacuum in Israeli society, and he wants to fill it. Another reason is more sinister, or mercenary. According to The Jerusalem Post, by resigning he is no longer employed and therefore no longer restricted. "... unemployment would allow Sharansky to accept honoraria for speeches abroad promoting his book, The Case For Democracy, which has been endorsed by US President George W. Bush." One thing for sure, all the headlines proclaiming that Sharansky resigned because he opposes Disengagement are misleading. And they are meant to make us think that he is anti-Disengagement and anti withdrawal. His aim is to weaken the support for the real leaders, Eldad, Rivlin, Landau and all the others who have been consistently opposing withdrawal and destruction. It's all a trick. Sharansky may have survived Soviet imprisonment, and you can respect him for that. But he is not an anti-Disengagement leader. We don't need Sharansky pretending to be one of us, and we don't need the media cooperating with him. Davka, my neighbors who emigrated from the former USSR are most spooked by the familiar intrigues emanating from Israeli government officials; it's dejas vous for them. Many of them, like Sharansky, are experts in the game of chess. They know that one must watch from all directions and predict how each move can influence the future. One should never be too naïve or trusting when playing with a pro like Sharansky. This is Musing #116. Batya Medad lives in Shiloh. She can be reached by email at Shilohmuse@yahoo.com or visit her website http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/ or go to http://www.shilo.org.il |
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URGENT ACTION ALERT: SENATOR BILL FRIST WANT MORE PULLOUTS AFTER GAZA
Posted by Marlene Young, May 2, 2005. |
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Urgent action is needed to respond to Senator Bill Frist's unforeseen statements today, in which he demanded that the "pullout" of Jews from Gaza and Shomron should be only a first step to further pullouts and the implementation of the Roadmap, and to halting construction of all Jewish neighborhoods in the West Bank, and to creating a Palestinian State. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) is traveling in the Middle East this week. The trip will include stops in Israel, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt. According to the Associated Press, Frist announced that the "Pullout must allow for Palestinian statehood": Visiting United States Senate Majority leader Bill Frist said Monday that "Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank in the summer must allow for creation of a Palestinian state." Frist, a Republican from Tennessee, is on a fact-finding mission. Referring to Israel's planned withdrawal, he said the U.S. must help ensure it "does not prejudice the outcome of a two-state solution" to the conflict. Before meeting Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Frist backed the stand of U.S. President George W. Bush, opposing construction in settlements in the West Bank. PLEASE CALL AND WRITE AND FAX SENATOR BILL FRIST'S OFFICE (below). The PA has not disarmed nor dismantled the Palestinian Terror Groups Hamas, Fatah, Islamic Jihad and the US taxpayer should not be paying for a Palestinian Terrorist State that has violated all agreements, even as Islamic Jihad smuggles missiles into the West Bank and sends carbombers to Iraq to kill our troops!: Senator Bill Frist Washington, D.C.:
Nashville:
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OLEG CARTOON: GOOD BOY
Posted by Women in Green, May 2, 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 [Editor's note: The cartoon talks about Pres. Bush and Saudi prince walking hand-in-hand. To see these pictures, click here.] |
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PRAISE TO NATAN SHARANSKY ON RESIGNING AS MINISTER IN SHARON'S GOVERNMENT
Posted by AFSI, May 2, 2005. |
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Herbert Zweibon, Chairman of Americans For a Safe Israel/AFSI, speaks for his entire organization when he says, "We applaud Natan Sharansky on the moral clarity which he exercised in resigning as Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Jerusalem in the Sharon government. His opposition to the 'disengagement' program of the Prime Minister was made very clear from the beginning, and his resignation underscores that position. As he stressed in his letter of resignation, 'Any concessions in the peace process must be linked to democratic reforms within Palestinian society. Not only does the disengagement plan ignore such reforms, it will in fact weaken the prospects for building a free Palestinian society and at the same time strengthen the forces of terror.'" Zweibon continues, "AFSI has opposed the 'disengagement' plan from the outset, recognizing many of the issues Sharansky cites in his letter to Prime Minister Sharon concerning the non-democratic nature of the 'Palestinians.' Sharansky also expresses a concern that we have had about tearing apart the fabric of Israeli society, seeing this as a 'terrible rift in the nation' which the government is making 'no serious effort to prevent.'" In conclusion, AFSI's Chairman states, "We applaud Natan Sharansky's courage in making this personal sacrifice for the well-being of the State. He strengthens the efforts of all those who oppose the Sharon plan compelling Jews to remove Jews from their homeland." Text - Minister Sharansky's Letter of Resignation Translation to English provided by Minister Sharansky's office May 2, 2005 Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
Dear Mr. Prime Minister, I am writing to inform you of my decision to resign as Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Jerusalem. As you know, I have oppose the disengagement plan from the beginning on the grounds that I believe any concessions in the peace process must be linked to democratic reforms within Palestinian society. Not only does the disengagement plan ignore such reforms, it will in fact weaken the prospects for building a free Palestinian society and at the same time strengthen the forces of terror. Will our departure from Gaza encourage building a society where freedom of speech is protected, where independent courts protect individual rights and were free market enable Palestinians to build an independent economic life beyond government control? Will our departure from Gaza end incitement in the Palestinian media or hate-filled indoctrination in Palestinian schools? Will our departure from Gaza result in the dismantling of terror groups or the dismantling of the refugee camps in which four generations of Palestinians have lived in miserable conditions? Clearly, the answer to all these questions is no. The guiding principle behind the disengagement plan is based on the illusion that by leaving Gaza we will leave the problems of Gaza behind us. As the familiar mantra goes "we will be here, and they will be there". Once again, we are repeating the mistakes of the past by not understanding that the key to building a stable and lasting peace with our Palestinian neighbors lies in encouraging and supporting their efforts to build a democratic society. Obviously, these changes surely will take time, but Israel is not even linking its departure from Gaza upon the initiation of the first steps in this direction. In my view, the disengagement plan is a tragic mistake that will exacerbate the conflict with the Palestinians, increase terrorism, and dim the prospects of forging a genuine peace. Yet what turns this tragic mistake into a missed opportunity of historic proportions is the fact that as a result of changes in the Palestinian leadership and the firm conviction of the leader of the free world that democracy is essential to stability and peace - a conviction that is guiding America's actions in other places around the world - an unprecedented window of opportunity has opened. Recent events across the globe, whether in former Soviet republics like Ukraine or Kyrgyzstan, or in Arab states like Lebanon and Egypt, prove again and again the ability of democratic forces to induce dramatic change. How absurd that Israel, the sole democracy in the Middle East, still refuses to believe in the power of freedom to transform the world. Alongside my concerns, about the danger entailed in a unilateral disengagement from Gaza, I am even more concerned about how the government's approach to disengagement is dividing Israeli society. We are heading towards a terrible rift in the nation and to my great chagrin; I feel that the government is making no serious effort to prevent it. As Minister I share collective responsibility for every government decision. Now when the disengagement plan is in the beginning of its implementation stages and all government institutions are exclusively focused on this process, I no longer feel that I can faithfully serve in a government whose central policy - indeed, sole raison d'etre - has become one to which I am so adamantly opposed. I would like to thank you for our productive cooperation over the last four years. In particular, you sensitivity toward issues of concern to the Jewish People and the strong backing you gave to my efforts to combat anti-Semitism and to strengthen Israel's connection with the Diaspora made possible for the State of Israel to forge the many successes which we achieved together in these areas. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you for the central role you played in integrating Israel B'aliya into the Likud, a historic step of great national importance. As in the past, I will continue my lifelong efforts to contribute to the unity and strength of the Jewish People both in Israel and in the Diaspora. I will also continue to advocate and promote the idea that freedom and democracy are essential to peace and security. Sincerely
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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ENGAGEMENT AFTER "DISENGAGEMENT"; U.S. DISARMING ISRAEL; TERRORISTS ARM IN SIGHT OF P.A. FORCES
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, May 2, 2005. |
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THE "DISENGAGEMENT" HOUSE OF CARDS PM Sharon had justified his plan to abandon some parts of Yesha as enabling Israel to keep other parts. However, when he secured (his docile) Cabinet approval of the plan, he excluded some of those key settlement blocs from the expensive security fence, because "the time wasn't ripe." The austerity budget nearly was rejected by the Knesset, whose members wanted more funding for social purposes. Also omitted from that budget was the great expense of the security fence. Finance Min. Netanyahu omitted it on the assumption that the US would pay for it, as a key security measure that would facilitate abandonment of parts of Yesha. Now Israel is having to pay for the fence with money it does not have, since PM Sharon refuses to ask the US for it, because "the time wasn't ripe." Will this come at the expense of skeletal social programs? If the time isn't ripe now, while Israel could decide not to go through with abandonment, what would make it ripe later, when Israel already has played its hand? Israel wants the US to pay for moving its bases out of Gaza, for developing areas of Israel into which the displaced Jews (you know, D.P.s) would go, and for improving the P.A. Arabs' daily life, especially as by modern checkpoints (IMRA, 4/3) that would reduce the time for inspection. ENGAGEMENT AFTER "DISENGAGEMENT" Israel is planning to connect its national railroad to Jenin and Gaza, Arab factories with Israeli ports. The idea is to promote P.A. economic development. The government thinks that economic development would promote peace. Some Israelis remark that after the disengagement (abandonment), which Israelis think at least would end their connection with those Arabs, here comes re-engagement (Arutz-7, 4/3) - with the challenged security checks. To the fanatical Arabs, jihad takes precedence over prosperity. For example, Arafat refused free sewage treatment that meant cooperation with Israel. Economic development is likelier to spur war. The more money the P.A. has, the more it can wage war. It ill befits Israel to assist its enemy to entrench itself. I think the P.A. would complete its own ports, as it demands to do. ISRAELI POST-ABANDONMENT PREPARATIONS The IDF plans to reinforce the roofs of buildings in Israeli towns near Gaza, in anticipation of rocket bombardment after the Israeli troops leave (Arutz-7, 3/28). Sharon calls this increased undesirable contact with the P.A. "disengagement." Some disengagement! ARAB POST-ABANDONMENT PREPARATIONS The Arabs have smuggled in thousands of weapons during "ceasefire." When the abandonment is completed, the IDF warns, the Arabs will attack. ""Once the RPG rockets are incorporated into the "Palestinian" arsenal in Judea and Samaria, the IDF will no longer enjoy freedom of movement on the roadways. And the IDF can forget about riding jeeps into Arab villages in pursuit of terrorists." Without Israeli patrols in Gaza, the arms smuggling would intensify. When military disaster follows abandonment fiasco, the Israelis would hold Sharon and his coterie responsible. It would be better to bring the government or at least the Plan down beforehand, as by referendum. There is a private referendum seeking to show the plan's lack of support, but the Israeli media refuses to publicize it (Voice of Judea, 4/3). Democracy? U.S. STRIVES TO DISARM ISRAEL For the second time within a couple of weeks, the US has asked Israel to give up its nuclear capability and trust in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards against illicit nuclear development by its enemies. It cites the example of Ukraine and S. Africa that did so. The US also asked India and Pakistan, which, unlike Israel, only recently developed nuclear capability, to do likewise. None are members of the IAEA. Meanwhile, the US sells Pakistan F-16s. Ironically, Pres. Bush underscored the inability of the IAEA to fulfill that mission of safeguarding against illicit nuclear development, by urging stronger safeguards for members such as N. Korea and Iran. Presidents Bush and Clinton repeated assured Israel that its strategic (nuclear) defenses would not be impaired by US policy. (The US often breaks its word to Israel.) The language of the request is to "foreswear" that capability, not offer up weapons (IMRA, 4/3). This move was predicted by the Right. The State Dept. has steadily been moving to get Israel destroyed. Not only has it stopped all of Israel's military advances, even though its wars were defensive. It long has been working to deprive Israel of secure borders, which Sharon is ready to fulfill, and of strategic depth needed to maneuver armies, spot incoming attacks, and disperse populations. The US also is arming Israel's enemies Egypt and the P.A. However, Israel still has a nuclear option. Therefore, the Right predicted that the US would start to undermine it, as Egypt has been attempting. (Egypt, itself, secretly is developing nuclear capability.) Take no comfort in any US assurances to Israel, they are offered as inducements not to be fulfilled when needed. (Sometimes the language is deceitfully ambiguous. At other times, fulfillment is refused. Once the document wasn't "found.") That is the history of US-Israel relations. Sure, the US doesn't ask Israel to yield up its weapons at one fell swoop, just as it didn't demand that Israel submit to final status negotiations immediately. Instead, the process of disintegration, called "peace process," moves in stages, like the Arabs phased plan for the conquest of Israel. Presented only with one stage at-a-time, the credulous Israelis do not foresee how drastic the whole process is. The strategy is to get Israel to commit itself irretrievably. Then the US would apply the screws. First vow to cede nuclear capability. Then get inspectors into Israel. Can Israel rely upon the IAEA to keep rogue states from developing nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass-destruction? The lessons of Iran, N. Korea, Iraq, and Libya prove it cannot. The actions of the EU and Security Council demonstrate that it would not, especially not for Israel, when most of the EU and Security Council members are appeasing the Arabs. The Arab states have proved themselves as much scofflaws as N. Korea and Iran. They and Iran have demonstrated that one of their chief goals is to eradicate the Jewish state. The US is unfair to set itself up as entitled to keep nuclear weapons, along with certain other countries, and not Israel, whose existence as been under constant threat, not the least of which was when it first declared independence and the US slapped an arms embargo on it and the State Dept. wanted to rescind UN recognition of it. WHERE IS "DISENGAGEMENT" GOING TO? PM Sharon has not said (IMRA, 4/3). I am afraid it is open-ended. TERRORISTS ARMING IN SIGHT OF P.A. FORCES Terrorist militias are firing missiles off the coast of Gaza, and having boats check where they fall, to measure the distance. They recently have increased the range from 7 Kms to 9 Kms. "As for P.A. efforts to foil terror, he said the PA knows the identity of the activists and sometimes detains some of them, but later sends them home with their weapons." (IMRA, 4/3.) The terrorists could not conduct such testing without the tacit approval of the P.A.. Perhaps Abbas hasn't the forces' loyalty to disarm the militias, but surely he could stop their testing of rockets, if he were of a mind to. At least he and the US could stop opposing Israeli raids for the purpose. If he can't, what good is to be expected from Abbas and the US? MEDIA COMPLICITY IN COMING SLAUGHTER OF JEWS Just as the media downplayed the Holocaust, it is downplaying the coming slaughter of Jews that Sharon's abandonment plan is inviting. The media displays no interest in the great corruption of the Sharon family, and the repression with which he advances that plan, lest the leftist Attorney-General prosecute him. Neither has it told much of the story of Saudi financing of terrorism, of Egypt smuggling weapons to the P.A., and of the P.A. arming for another war while the media talks of its reform, democracy and peacemaking. The minions of the media are not innocent bystanders. Their misleading reporting deceives us (Winston Mid East Analysis, 4/3). ISRAEL-BASHING IN BRITAIN In Britain, the Association of University Teachers is considering a boycott of Haifa U., Bar Ilan U., and Hebrew U. in Jerusalem over "complicity with the government's policies" towards the P.A.. Actually, those universities are so far leftist, that in general their professors are in complicity with the P.A. policies towards the government. The more extremist professors, however, would "be exempt from the British boycott, because the motion contains a clause to exclude 'conscientious Israeli academics and intellectuals opposed to their state's colonial and racist policies'. Naturally, the British in question will not be boycotting any colleges in Syria, Iran, Egypt, Dubai or Saudi Arabia." The Association's complaint against the U. of Haifa is its allegedly "restricting the academic freedom of researchers whose theses were critical of Israel." It is referring to the case of a Communist professor fabricating a 1948 Hagana massacre of Arabs with a master's thesis student. There were Arab journalists in the area and no Arab complaints. The pair offered no evidence. Hagana veterans sued for libel. The student signed a confession in court, lawyer present, that he had made the story up. The professor kept his job, but the thesis was rejected. The rejection of the thesis is the supposed restriction of academic freedom. A risible complaint (Prof. Steven Plaut, 4/5, e-mail). The Association of Israel-bashers calls rejection of false scholarship a restriction of academic freedom. The Association is making a ridiculous excuse for boycotting Israel. HIZBULLAH INTRUDES Hizbullah cells were discovered and eradicated from Nablus and Jenin. Hizbullah recruits them during their family visits to Lebanon (Arutz-7, 5/6). SHARON ON HEBRON PM Sharon declared Hebron a strategic Jewish asset. The Jews of Hebron were not impressed. They noted that his earlier statement that "The destiny of Netzarim (in Gaza) is the destiny of Tel Aviv." He reversed himself on that, and plans to expel the Jews of Netzarim. In Hebron, itself, Jews submitted applications for building new houses, but Sharon's government sits on them. That implies a different attitude towards Hebron than one of building a strategic asset. So does the use of hundreds of police to bring back into Hebron, and adjoining a Jewish community there, an Arab family expelled some years earlier for terrorist activity. The family had been living in a house usurped from Jews expelled by an Arab riot and British decree (Arutz-7, 4/6). Sharon's principle: the Arabs have a right to usurp Jewish property, but the Jews do not have a right to reclaim it and to be protected from Arab terrorists. So much for Hebron being a "strategic Jewish asset." Sharon is the Arabs' strategic asset by way of being a State Dept. toady. ISRAEL IS ANTISEMITIC & ANTIDEMOCRATIC Arabs are pouring onto the Temple Mt. to "guard" it from Jews. The Land of Israel Task Force had organized thousands of Jews to make quiet visits to demonstrate its importance as Judaism's holiest site. Their leaders offered to help police maintain order, as by sending up small groups at-a time. The government of Israel, however, is letting Muslims in and keeping Jews out. The police refused to meet with the organizers to work out any problems. They violated the statutory 5-days notice of rejection. There were no reasons falling within the guidelines of the Attorney-General and the Supreme Court for denying the visits. The government admits that the Jewish organizers have good intentions, but that Arab extremists (i.e., organized Muslim society) distorted that mission into one of attacking the mosque on the Mount. The implied fear is that the riled-up Arabs, as they usually do, would attack the Jews. (The police should bar from the Mount, if anyone, the Arabs, for they are the rumor-mongers, defamers, and assailants.) The government's stated fear is that opponents of the Territory-abandonment plan would piggyback onto the demonstration for Judaism their own opposition to abandonment. (So what if they did?) Muslim Arabs do not believe in freedom for rival religions. They consider Jewish prayer on the mount a "provocation." They try to repress it by force. This the police are afraid of. The Land of Israel Task Force called the government's policy discriminatory against the Jews (Arutz-7, 4/7). The police are siding with the intolerant, Arab, probable rioters, instead of defending Jewish rights and enforcing the law. The police always have. That is to the shame of what is supposed to be a Jewish state. It proves the folly of making concessions to the Arabs, such as having let them be the managers of the Mount. Israel is an antisemitic and undemocratic state. WHERE U.S. FUNDING FOR THE P.A. WILL GO It will follow the prior billions stolen and spent partly on terrorism or luxury and partly still secreted away. The next P.A. election is likely to be won by Hamas. Hamas would use the new hundreds of millions, being sent by Pres. Bush, for heavy weapons for renewed warfare. Since this war has been forecast by Israeli intelligence, PM Sharon's abandonment plan is like a suicide pact, by removing the troops that might block such weaponry (Winston Mid East Analysis, 4/7). US aid would be used for resuming the war even if it were the PLO that wins the next election. 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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HE HAITA L'ROSH PINA
Posted by David Wilder, May 2, 2005. |
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Shalom. Passover is now behind us. The holiday was both relaxing and invigorating - a chance to spend more time with the family and more time with Am Yisrael. Here in Hebron, well over 30,000 visitors flocked to the streets, partaking in tours of Ma'arat HaMachpela and all the Jewish neighborhoods in the city. The pinnacle of Hebron's holiday came on Tuesday, when thousands celebrated the dedication of Beit Menachem, a new apartment building in the Admot Yishai-Tel Rumeida neighborhood. This structure, named for the Lubovitcher Rebbi, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Shneerson zt"l, houses seven families and the Ohr Shlomo Torah Center. Participating in the ceremonies were Rabbis: Mordechai Eliyahu, the former Chief Rabbi and Rishon l'Tzion, Dov Lior, Chief Rabbi of Hebron-Kiryat Arba, and Leibel Gruner, former secretary to the Rebbi. Speaker of the Knesset Rubi Rivlin, a staunch friend of Hebron and an unwavering supporter of all Eretz Yisrael also participated, and spoke not only about the significance of Hebron, but also of the vital importance of Gush Katif and the northern Shomron. Rivlin steadfastly opposes Sharon's plans to abandon these regions to our enemies. See: [http://www.hebron.com/holidays/pesach/beitmenachemdedication.htm] The dedication ceremonies included an official introduction to the Tel Hebron Excavations, located directly under Beit Menachem. Fascinating artifacts, dating back over four thousand five hundred years - i.e., to the days of Noah, - were discovered during this archeological dig, some five years ago. Amongst the finds: a four thousand five hundred year old wall, a four thousand year old road and house, and wine cisterns only 1,500 years old. Archeologists also uncovered seals imprinted on pottery from the era of King Hezekiah, some 2,700 years ago, which had written on them, in ancient Hebrew, the word 'Hebron.' After these seals were discovered the archeologists told us, 'if anyone had any doubts as to whether this is the authentic site of ancient, Biblical Hebron, those doubts have all been erased. We have positive proof that Jews lived here from the days of Abraham.' Of course, celebrations could not have been complete without the semi-annual Hebron music festival, outside Ma'arat HaMachpela, where Israeli artists performed all afternoon for crowds of music-lovers. However, this Passover, the limelight of activities was not only in Hebron. All eyes were on Gush Katif and the northern Shomron, the focal points of this spring's holiday. The tens and hundreds of thousands of Jews who flooded these regions with a massive outpouring of love and support, proved again that Am Yisrael is bound to its land with all its heart and soul. There were those who used these activities to eulogize the twenty six communities and their almost 10,000 residents, calling the events a kind of 'last hurrah' or farewell. But in reality, these outings were nothing of the sort. They were only a predecessor for what will occur should the Sharon expulsion plan actually begin. These hundreds of thousands, and many more, whose beliefs are identical, will take to the streets on the day these areas are declared 'off-limits,' and if, G-d forbid, following Tisha b'Av, the police and army should move in. The vibrant electricity that was in the air, the determination never to give up, never relinquishing our land, never to lose faith, to continue to grow and build, was tangible. I had never before visited the Homesh community, located in the Northern Shomron. In truth, standing at the neighborhood's highest point, I could not believe my eyes. Looking west, the Mediterranean Sea clearly visible, only 30 to 40 kilometers away. From the top of Homesh you can see, on a clear day, from Netanya, via Hadera, to Tel Aviv and further south, to Ashdod. It is truly unbelievable. No, not the view - that too is breathtaking. Rather, what is unbelievable is that an Israeli prime minister initiated a plan to give this land, free of charge, to our sworn enemies. This peak is one of the most strategically important areas in Israel. It overlooks the entire coast. My host, Benny, who has lived there for many years, told us unequivocally, "Arik Sharon knows this land like the back of his hand - he knows exactly what he's giving them." Unbelievable. Only last week Ma'ariv internet [nrg.com] headlined the fact that anti-aircraft and anti-tank weaponry has reached Judea and Samaria. Missiles knocking down aircraft landing or taking off from Ben Gurion airport is not a laughing matter. Yet in this morning's press, it was reported that Sharon is considering transforming the four north Shomron communities into 'camps' for the so-called 'palestinian police.' I guess that will be good training for them - looking out from the Shomron hills, down at the coast, planning their next terror attack, from air, land or sea. I did hear one very interesting story which I feel almost obligated to repeat. A company (I don't remember which), after receiving the contract to evacuate all the material property belonging to families, offices, organizations, etc. as part of the expulsion program, concluded that they would need two thousand gigantic containers, utilized around the clock, in order to fulfill their 'mission.' The only company in Israel that could provide such containers is the Israeli shipping corporation, Tzim. When they met with Tzim executives, asking how many containers the company could provide, they were told, 'three or four hundred at most.' Shocked, they insisted that Tzim obtain all the containers they needed, but were refused. 'It can't be done - it costs too much money - we can't do it.' So, if containers are out, what next? They then approached the
largest trucking company in Israel and began negotiating with them for
a huge fleet of trucks. When the trucking executives asked why they
needed the vehicles, they were told, 'for the disengagement.' At that
point the trucking company executives pointed to the door and said,
"please, will the last one out please shut the door."
This morning Minister of Diaspora Affairs Natan Sharansky submitted his resignation from the government due to his opposition to the abandonment of Gush Katif and the Northern Shomron. Though he has not ruled out leaving Gush Katif as part of a 'final status' agreement, Sharansky said, (as quoted from the Jerusalem Post), "Will we, by leaving Gaza encourage freedom of expression and a judicial system that protects human rights? Will the incitement in the Palestinian education system cease? Will the terror groups be dismantled? The answer to all of the above is of course, no." In an interview with Army Radio Monday morning, Sharansky said,"I have always believed that the disengagement plan is a heavy price to pay and encourages terrorism." He added, "A cabinet seat is not a job but a mission. When the only justification for the government's existence is the implementation of the pullout, I do not feel it is my mission." Sharansky is to be lauded for his courage and honesty. Israel needs more politicians of such integrity. I might add several quotes from Friday's Ha'Aretz newspaper: "According to a senior-ranking IDF officer: We must accept, as a fact of life, that immediately after the disengagement the 'West Bank' will erupt in flames. We cannot allow the other side to have Kasam missiles and anti-tank weapons." "Why don't officers speak openly about the dangers of eruption after the disengagement? When senior-ranking officers are asked about this, they usually tend to be evasive." I began this commentary with the dedication of Beit Menachem in Admot Yishai. One of themes repeated by several of the speakers was from Psalms 118:22, "Even ma'asu habonim - he haita l'rosh pina," which means, "The stone which the builders rejected became the corner-stone." This verse can be interpreted representing many different events, but I think today, its significance is clear. This land, which some people have despised and rejected - this land is to become the most significant of all. Gush Katif, Samaria, Judea - the land unwanted by the builders - Homesh, Sa-Nour, Neve Dekalim, Kfar Darom - this land will be known as the cornerstone of Eretz Yisrael. 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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FOUR CHEERS FOR INTERNET HAGANA!
Posted by Steven Plaut, May 2, 2005. |
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There is a wonderful new group of Jewish cyber-warriors who are fighting the fascist Left and the Islamofascists on line, and are calling themselves Internet Hagana. They mainatin a web site at http://haganah.us/haganah/ They were recently features in a major news story at the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/24/AR2005042401473.html ) Internet Haganah is a small band of researchers, analysts, hackers, translators and consultants located in North America, Europe and the Middle East. They associate and collaborate with each other as necessitated by common desire to do more than just watch Islamic extremists as they use the internet. They share an understanding that a jihad, or holy war, has been declared against the West, and these jihadists need to be met on whatever field of battle they may appear. Internet Haganah is also the 30,000 people who read this website each month and especially those readers who act on the information they provide here. It is run by Aaron A. Aaron Weisburd, a 40+ year old web developer from New York City, who long ago settled in the Shawnee Hills of southernmost Illinois. Aaron has a B.S. in Information Management Systems and is self-employed, offering consulting services related to his expertise in the fields of internet use by Islamic extremists, online/open-source investigation techniques and the use of information as a weapon against the global jihad. He is the founder and Director of Internet Haganah, and also of the Society for Internet Research, the latter being dedicated to producing a lower-volume and higher-quality product than is possible via Internet Haganah. Internet Hagana is REALLY REALLY getting under the skin of the leftist anti-Semitic moonbats. Take a look at this web site and its call to STOP them! http://utah.indymedia.org/news/2005/04/10492.php Islamic fascist web sites are shaking in their sandals! See http://haganah.us/harchives/004002.html That is precisely why Internet Hagana should be supported! 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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THE NEONAZI TIES OF THOSE LUNABRITS BOYCOTTING ISRAELI UNIVERSITIES
Posted by Steven Plaut, May 2, 2005. |
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1. "The Neonazi Ties of the Leftist Lunabrits"
(http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/
JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1114913918708).
They say one is known by the company one keeps and it is always fascinating to see the cyber-company of some of the leading leftist moonbats. First, there is the Noam, the Khmer Rouge's favorite MIT professor, who has never met a Holocaust Denier he does not like, and spends considerable time promoting such people. Then we have Professor Juan Cole, who publishes dozens of his screeds on the pro-terror "antiwar.com" web site run by neonazi Justin Raimondo, the fellow who proved the Jews and not Bin Laden were responsible for knocking down the World Trade Center on 9-11 on the basis of the fact that an Israeli moving man was found to have some cash hidden in a dirty sock. Cole's personal page also links to that of New Mexican neonazi Kurt Nimmo, a longtime unemployed photographer-wannabe tied to the Holocaust Denial Barnes Review who blames dem Joos for all of his failures. Alexander Cockburn's Counterpunch magazine has never had any problem with publishing Nimmo and other neonazis and neofascists. I have long believed that the model of politics that sees political opinion laid out along a linear ruler, with the far Left on one side and the neonazi far Right way over on the other, is simply incorrect. The more correct representation of the political arena is as a circle, with the Far Left and the Neonazi Right smack alongside one another and closely collaborating. Just take a look at the mix of far-left and far-right conspiracy moonbats sharing space on the web site of neonazi Jeff Rense. Then take Sue Blackwell, the University of Birmingham lecturer who is the driving force behind the motion by the British "Association of University Teachers" calling for boycotts of Israeli universities. Her web site features a photo of Blackwell wearing a PLO flag and with the slogan "To the Academic Intifada." Julie Burchill, a columnist for the Times of London, has just dismissed the AUT boycotters as genteel anti-Semites. "They're too respectable to daub swastikas on a synagogue - but it sure feels good to band together and bully them Israeli academics!" Now it seems that Sistuh Sue Blackwell has her own personal web page, full of anti-Israel propaganda. The Jerusalem Post has revealed that Blackwell's personal page links directly to the page of a notorious neonazi and Holocaust Denier. Wendy Campbell, who owns the MarWen Media web site, is a regular on those Indymedia ultra-moonbat web sites, and has long promoted Holocaust denial and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories of supposed "unrivaled Jewish power". Campbell, who has ties to deported Canadian nazi Ernst Zundel, lives in La Quinta, California, and also maintains a web site entitled "Exposing Israeli Apartheid." It is also linked by Blackwell. Blackwell's web site is reported to be under a House of Commons Committee investigation for a previous link to a web site blaming Jews for the 9/11 attacks. Blackwell also links to quite a lot of other pro-terror and anti-Jewish web sites, including that of Alexander Cockburn, that of Holocaust Denier Norman Finkelstein, and that of British anti-Semite Gilad Atzmon who recently issued a call to progressives to burn down synagogues. Blackwell should change her web page's slogan to read "Tqo the Academic Dachau!" 2. This is called "Anti-Semitism with a `caring' face" and was written by Julie Burchill, a columnist for The Times of London. (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/570993.html). Prejudice is one of those things - like white shoes or Germans - for which there are very few excuses made. If someone is stingy (stinginess being the halitosis of the soul, as I always say), there's always some do-gooding bystander who'll stand up for them and say "Oh, but they're just scared of being poor/they used to be poor!" If someone's a child abuser, even, some jerk will pop up and pipe "Ooo, it's not their fault - it probably happened to them, too, when they were children! The abused abuse!" Which is patently untrue to anyone with even the flimsiest grasp on mathematics in general and fractions in particular; around three-quarters of child abuse victims are girls, but three-quarters of child abusers aren't women, are they? Duh! But you won't find many people trying to explain why a person is prejudiced. "Oh, they're just ignorant!" is the best you'll get. And it may well be true. Which is why the sight of "clever" people showing prejudice seems singularly grotesque. What's their excuse? I'm asking this right now because a couple of weeks ago, on April 22, Britain's Association of University Teachers - an organization representing over 48,000 professional swots - voted to ban all contact with two Israeli universities, and asked its executive committee to consider a boycott against a third, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Israel was accused of being "a colonial apartheid state" worse than South Africa, a "regime" worthy of "removal," and its universities of repressing academic freedom. Needless to say, this show of spite received rapturous applause; well, Britain is currently playing host to the biggest ever annual number of violent anti-Semitic attacks, both on people and on property, since the 1930s. Who can blame the teachers, so conscious of their uncoolness, for wanting to get "down wiv the kidz"? They're too respectable to daub swastikas on a synagogue - but it sure feels good to band together and bully them Israeli academics! Just imagine; for once, the swots aren't having their books ripped up in front of them by a gang of thugs - they're the ones doing the ripping. But if we learned nothing else from the Shoah, you'd think we'd have learned that the seductive power of herd-mentality cruelty can suck in the most unlikely people; it sucked in the Germans, for instance, almost all of them, a nation thought by many to be the most cultured and civilized in Northern Europe. And now, 60 years after the rough-necked Brits showed the cultured Krauts the true meaning of civilization, we are going through our own dark night of the anti-Semitic soul. In one way this turn of events is as unexpected as it is cruel - after all, in this country it tends to be academics who react to anything from mild censorship to book-burning with "That's how Hitler started!" That they are now doing something Hitler would thoroughly approve of, and did - barring contact with Jews - seems to have escaped them. But in another way, it makes logical, horrible sense. It's not so long since English academia saw nothing wrong with having Jewish quotients as a matter of course, lest the "best" universities be overrun by those unnaturally smart Hebes. Far from flying in the face of English academic freedom, maybe the latest haters are simply reverting to type. I've always loved being English - but more and more these days, living through this latest, almost post-modern plague of anti-Semitism with a "caring" face, I wish it was a club that I could resign from, as opposed to a flag I carry in my blood. Trust me, with all your trials and tribulations, you lot don't know how lucky you are. Because you will never, ever be ashamed of and embarrassed by your country the way I am increasingly ashamed of and embarrassed by mine. You're too damn good-looking for your own good, you're humorless and you don't know the meaning of "please" and "thank you" - but you're not bullies, and you never will be. It makes me sad to think that just a few years ago, I thought that last thing about my people, too. I don't anymore. 3. Ehud Olmert, who has favored doing business with terrorists for several years, had a June 3, 2002 Op-Ed in the Wall St Journal against Dahlan, the Palestinian moderate du jour of the New Likud, entitled: "The Demands Of Justice" (www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110001793). Mr. Olmert is the mayor of Jerusalem. Israel Can't Do Business With Terrorists Violence against civilians must be forcibly stopped, not forgiven. State Department envoy William Burns's return to the Middle East promoting the American-backed regional peace summit tragically coincides with the resumption of the daily Palestinian suicide bombings. As Israeli civilians are being murdered in cities all across the Jewish State, the Palestinian leadership is once again damning these new peace initiatives to failure. Terrorism is still part of their tactical plan. Despite all the tough talk, well-wishing and demand for reform, Arafat's entrenched Palestinian Authority regime is constitutionally unable and morally unwilling to abandon its violent struggle against Israel. The majority of the Israeli public had naively accepted the basic premises of the Oslo Accords when they were signed in the fall of 1993 because we received a guarantee that the Palestinian police and security forces would put an end to terrorism and bring about a true peace. Yitzhak Rabin, then prime minister, assured us that Arafat would personally order the arrest of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders and eradicate their terrorist infrastructure. Instead of Israeli troops carrying out dangerous patrols in Ramallah, Jenin and Gaza, we were promised, the Palestinian forces would do it for us. In those innocent Oslo days, many truly believed that terrorism could be fought by proxy and we need merely give Arafat the weapons to do it. Over the next few years, that optimism began to dissipate. If anyone in Israel still had faith in Arafat and his Palestinian security services by October 2000, the Arab violence that commenced that month put it to rest forever. The forces under Arafat's command became both the catalyst and vanguard of the terrorist attacks. Arafat's Fatah Tanzim and Force 17 units were transformed into full-fledged terrorist groups, with their members competing with Hamas to see how many Jews they could kill. As the violence accelerated, and as more and more Israeli families were being destroyed, the new line touted by both our allies and enemies was that Arafat could not actually assert any influence over the terrorist organizations. The 40,000 armed guerillas that were brought in from PLO bases in Tunis, Syria and south Lebanon were now operating without any restraints against Israel from the Palestinian territories. The new American plan being presented calls for a reorganization of the Palestinian security forces with the intention of placing them under a unified command. The hope is that they will miraculously be transformed into a law-abiding legion that will root out terrorists. Once again we Israelis are being assured with a straight face that Arafat and his gunmen will fight Hamas and Islamic Jihad for us. Israeli troops are currently being restrained from entering Gaza, while Arafat's forces are supposedly being given yet another makeover. Hundreds of members of the Palestinian police forces have engaged in terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians, including American citizens, during the last 21 months. Israeli security services and our military are actively hunting these criminals and our Justice Ministry is busy filing their indictments. Thousands of individuals with PA-authorized guns are active members of the Fatah Tanzim terrorist group. And barely a day goes by without another suicide bomber from the Tanzim destroying himself and innocent bystanders in a public center. The terrorist leaders and their activists cannot suddenly be forgiven or pardoned just because a new political initiative is underway. Israel, like every other Western state, has an obligation to continue to arrest and prosecute those who sought to advance their unacceptable political goal by targeting civilians. Justice dictates that there be no clemency for these rogue police officials. Many are placing their new hopes on Gaza preventive security service boss Mohammed Dahlan. Mr. Dahlan, a rising star on the Palestinian stage, is being presented as the man who can unify all of Arafat's security forces and bring order to the PA. Word has it that he just returned from a trip to Washington where he got high marks from the National Security Council. (Mr. Dahlan denies ever going.) Either way, Mr. Dahlan is the man who has presided over an ever-fortified terrorist network. Gaza, the home to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, became a base for some of the most heinous terrorist attacks unleashed against Israel. On his watch, Mr. Dahlan permitted Gaza to become a safe haven for the hundreds of fugitive terrorists fleeing Israeli forces. Among those being sheltered is his childhood friend Mohammed Dief, a leading Hamas mastermind with the blood of scores of Israelis on his hands. In the meantime, Mr. Dahlan's district became the primary launching grounds for the hundreds of Kessem missiles fired at Israel. Mr. Dahlan's involvement in terrorism has not been confined to mere nonfeasance but, rather, gross malfeasance as well. Mr. Dahlan, along with his assistant Rashid Abu-Shabak, are the primary suspects in the terror attack on an Israeli school bus in Kfar Darom in November 2000. The bombing of the bus left half a dozen children maimed, and seriously injured an American citizen, Rachel Asaroff. In response to this brutal terror attack on Jewish school children, then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak dispatched Israeli planes to strafe Mr. Dahlan's Gaza headquarters. In Israel, we are frequently lectured that we must do business with the unsavory assortment of dictators, strongmen and criminals that surround us. This, we are told, is the nature of the neighborhood we live in. As mayor of Jerusalem, I have in my public duties the unfortunate experience of sitting down with many individuals I do not necessarily like. But the current thinking that Mr. Dahlan can bring reform and law enforcement to the Palestinians is totally misguided. No democratic state should ever allow itself to do business with those individuals who deliberately target a school bus. While the State Department and envoy Burns are to be admired for their determination to forge a peace agreement on Israel's behalf, their zealousness is beginning to chafe. Seeking a "regional conference at all costs," and hanging hopes on a reorganized Palestinian security force under the sole leadership of one who has himself been involved in serious terrorist attacks sends an unacceptable message. Criminals such as Mr. Dahlan and Arafat can never be reformed; they must be eradicated by force. 4. "The Haifa and Bar Ilan Boycott: British academics play politics with Israel," by Fania Oz-Salzberger in the Wall St Journal. Dr. Oz-Salzberger is senior lecturer in the School of History and the Faculty of Law at the University of Haifa. On the eve of Passover, the British Association of University Teachers (AUT) took a decision to boycott two of Israel's eight universities - Haifa and Bar Ilan, for their alleged collusion with the Israeli government in its mistreatment of the Palestinians. Haifa was also accused of curbing academic freedom. This decision is breathtaking, and will surely feature in the annals of the European radical left and its perverse contribution to peace in the Middle East. The AUT's secretary-general stated that the ban "should take the form described in the Palestinian call for academic boycott of Israeli institutions." The guidelines, available on the web site of the Palestinian Bir Zeit University, demand that... in the spirit of international solidarity ... scholars worldwide abandon any form of academic and cultural cooperation, collaboration or joint projects with Israeli institutions, suspend all forms of subsidy to them, and withdraw investments already made. Although the guidelines mercifully "exclude from the above actions.any conscientious Israeli academics and intellectuals opposed to their state's colonial and racist policies," at least one renowned Israeli civil rights activist was already sacked from the editorial board of an international journal of linguistics during a previous round of boycotts. Her only crime was to have been a faculty member at Bar Ilan University, which, by virtue of its academic involvement with a Jewish college located in the West Bank, is deemed worthy of wholesale international ban. The University of Haifa - my university - is a different story. This model Jewish-Arab institution, a most unlikely candidate for boycott, was declared to be untouchable by the AUT "until it commits itself to upholding academic freedom, and in particular ceases its victimization of academic staff and students who seek to research and discuss the history of the founding of the state of Israel." The story embedded here is well worth telling, but not in the way the AUT tells it. "On May 15, 2002., the AUT boycott document declares, 'Dr. Ilan Pappe, senior lecturer in Political Science at Haifa University, was sent a letter notifying him that he faced trial and possible dismissal from his position. [T]hese accusations related to Dr. Pappe's efforts to defend a 55-year-old graduate student, Teddy Katz, whose Master's thesis was under attack by an Israeli veteran's organization because it documented a massacre of 200 unarmed civilians by the Haganah (the pre-state army of Israel) at a village called Tantura, near Haifa." This, to put it plainly, is false. Mr. Katz's thesis was based almost solely on transcriptions of oral interviews he conducted with elderly Palestinian former residents of Tantura, who allegedly witnessed a massacre of their kin by Jewish soldiers. When veterans of the Israeli army (not Haganah) force that attacked Tantura sued Mr. Katz for libel, a district court ruled that the empirical evidence was grossly manipulated in the course of transliterating the tapes. Mr. Katz had put words in the mouths of his interviewees that were never uttered. He agreed to apologize to the veterans, telling the media that radical activists - including Dr. Pappe.had led him astray. On the basis of this ruling, the University of Haifa decided to reverse the impressive '97' grade already awarded to the thesis, and, in a mood of appeasement, asked Mr. Katz to rectify and resubmit his work. It was then sent out to five external examiners, a majority of whom failed it. It is fair to note that all examiners wished to remain anonymous. Dr. Pappe, Mr. Katz's unofficial mentor, is an anti-Zionist scholar of great political energies who has been calling for a boycott of Haifa, his own university, for several years. He was, indeed, challenged by a colleague to an internal university disciplinary hearing, not for his connection to the Katz affair but for his enduring efforts to sabotage the insitution for which he worked. Pappe's academic freedom was never on the agenda, and the academic authorities did not dismiss him. Last Wednesday, the university's rector finally urged Pappe to quit his job voluntarily. Assuming that several British and Palestinian institutions would happily offer him an academic post, his insistence on remaining a fully paid member of racist and colonialist Haifa University is something of a mystery. Many of Dr. Pappe's colleagues, including this writer, are baffled and angered by his stance. But that is as far as it goes: Israeli public and campus discourse is rife with opinion clashes and skilled with dissent. Personally, I'd invite him to coffee, a guest appearance at my seminar, and a tough conversation any time. All this seems to have escaped the factfinding capabilities of our British colleagues. The AUT disregarded not only the methodological nature of the decision to fail Mr. Katz's thesis, but also the meticulous judicial investigation. (In fact, the AUT ought to have called for an international on contacts with the Israeli judiciary, for having ruled that Mr. Katz had libeled Israeli veterans.) What is worse, the AUT never sent anyone to check out the facts at Haifa, and, I am told, never asked the university for its response. Minimal standards of due process were not met. No one in the AUT has acknowledged the plain fact that Haifa University's classrooms, dozens of its approved and published theses, and long shelves in its library, display a broad array of historical and sociological research of modern Israel, work that is often as critical, yet far better substantiated, than Mr. Katz's. As a scholar of British history, teaching at Haifa with a doctorate from Oxford, I am, presumably, a target for this boycott. My colleagues and I will henceforth depend on the goodwill of non-AUT British academics - or on Britons of a non-boycotting temperament - in order to get invited to conferences, sit on advisory boards, and have our work published, reviewed and funded. In practice, I do not expect victimization. By and large, our colleagues in the United Kingdom will probably keep us within the free market of ideas. After all, as I tell my students (Jews and Arabs, incidentally), British thinkers pioneered the idea of free speech.indeed, at about the time when British ships roamed the high seas looking for places to colonize. So this story is not about endangered careers, not even about the free flow of learning. It is about moral outrage. Perhaps, also, it is about anti-Semitism. The AUT got it wrong in just about every possible way. First, by opting for an academic boycott. They say it worked in South Africa, which is, in the very least, doubtful. But South African universities practiced apartheid. At Haifa, a fifth of the student body consists of Arab-Israeli citizens. A growing number of faculty, including former and present heads of departments and the new dean of research, are Arabs. Are they facing boycott, too, or does the AUT wish to see certified proof of non-Jewish denomination with every article submitted for publication in a British academic journal? On a purely pragmatic level, this boycott will not work with Israelis. Despite its socialist pedigree, it smacks of the finger-rapping British governess. It oozes moral superiority. England expects every Israeli academic to do his duty? Thank you, but we're not impressed. We are too deeply entangled with British history ourselves. Secondly, there is the issue of singling out Israel. Oh yes, Israel is occupying the West Bank and - until August - also the Gaza Strip. The occupation has lasted 38 years, and it has caused Palestinians much suffering. Their human and civil rights are being breached. About 60% of Israelis who answered the most recent polls are willing to end occupation in return for a secure peace. True, a large minority of Israelis still wishes to keep some of the West Bank under Israeli rule, and the University of Bar Ilan sends lecturers to settlements there. That is apparently a sin. It is obviously a far greater sin than wholesale brutality, or else the AUT would have boycotted Chinese universities before and after Tiananmen Square, or Russian universities as the occupation of Chechnya grew bloody. Israel is singled out because it's easy game.and because the AUT is not really in the business of promoting peace or reconciliation. It is in the business of delegitimizing Israel. Thirdly, there is the timing. The boycott vote was held on the eve of Passover. This, in British terms, is a crime far worse than discrimination or hypocrisy: it is bad taste. Still, let's try not be so cynical as to assume that this was a premeditated way to prevent many Jewish members from attending the meeting. Fourthly, timing again. Israelis are now bracing themselves to disengage from Gaza. The majority of moderate supporters of disengagement is well represented in academia, among students and teachers alike. To help us muster political and moral strength for the most crucial inner conflict in the history of Israeli society, our colleagues in the U.K. are giving us a little kick in the ankle. How apt. I therefore have two humble requests from the British Association of University Teachers. First, do check your facts again - assuming that all this sound and fury is about facts at all. Second, just in case my resum happens to please your political palate, don't extend any kindness to me by saying that peaceniks like myself are off the hook. I am proud of being boycotted along with the University of Haifa as long as your deplorable decision stands. Don't chaperone me back into international scholarship under the patronage of the politically correct. This, I gather, is not what John Stuart Mill had in mind. 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 |
PEACEFUL RESISTANCE TO DISENGAGEMENT - IT'S BEEN WORKING
Posted by Janet Lehr, May 1, 2005. |
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April 27, 2005 - 80,000 Israelis congregate in Gush Katif to show solidarity. This congregation of people is equivalent to a million persons congregating in the United States. It is a significant demonstration of support for the people of Gush Katif and those in the Northern Shomron villages slated to be "disengaged". The Dispute about Blocking Roads: Whether or not you support non-violent civil disobedience, it is now clear that it works. Even the opponents of the roadblocks will find difficulty in denying the facts published this week. The Israeli Police announced this week that it intends to reduce the number of policemen that will participate in the eviction by 70%. The Police initially intended to allocate 30% of its forces for execution of the crime, but now because of the roadblocks (and the expectation that these activities will increase) it won't be able to allocate more than 10% for this. The controversy regarding the blocking of roads will continue, but it has now become clear that the young heroes, who are prepared to suffer blows, arrests, and humiliations, are the sole ones who have proved the effectiveness of their activities. With all due respect for the Human Chain, the legal mass demonstrations, the mishlohei manot, and the marches, these fine and important activities, and the millions of shekels expended on them, did not bend the government's hand by a millimeter. In contrast, the great devotion of a small group of young people has already prevented thousands of policemen from participating in the crime in Gush Katif. Now let's talk about refusal: Regarding the Army: The ranks of combat troops and officers are currently mainly filled by belief-based and nationalist soldiers who have not lost their human characteristics. The army is devoting tremendous efforts to brain-washing the soldiers regarding the need to obey the order and participate in the crime. (To our shame, the brainwashing material issued by the Educational Branch of the army contains remarks in favor of obedience made by certain rabbis.) However, an amazing number of soldiers (about 15,000) have already signed a declaration that they won't participate in this crime. We have to expand the circles of refusal to a state in which it will be clear that the IDF lacks the forces to perpetrate crime. We must continue to explain to the soldiers their human and Jewish obligation not to take part in this crime. We have to explain to the soldiers the obligation to refuse to obey orders. Manhigut Yehudit has published a lot of explanatory material. The booklet Clarification of the Obligation to Refuse to Obey Orders is intended for every Jew, and explains the simple, moral basis of refusal. The booklet The Magic Button is intended for soldiers who observe Torah and Mitzvot who also wish to clarify the Halachic aspects of the issue. (Right now the booklets are only available in Hebrew.) We must explain to the soldiers that they are first of all humans and Jews. Explain to them that if they carry out the order they will stain the State, the IDF, and their souls with a stain that cannot be removed and will never be forgotten. Explain to them that responsibility for the State and for the IDF (and also for democracy) currently means refusal. Our point is that the only way we can defeat this plan is to increase the number of people who will commit civil disobedience and decrease the number of soldiers & police who are to take part in the Expulsion. This is the equation that will decide the final outcome. IT IS ALREADY WORKING. We must continue shaping this equation in our favor! THIS IS WHAT WE IN AMERICA MUST WORK ON. I beg you to think about this and to forget about staying on good terms with this person in the Likud or that person in the Government. NOW IS THE TIME TO ACT, AND WE CANNOT MISS THIS CHANCE. Contact Janet Lehr by email at janetlehr@mindspring.com |
| GUSH KATIF |
MORE THAN 120,000 VISITORS CAME TO GUSH KATIF DURING HOL HAMOED
Posted by Marlene Young, May 1, 2005. |
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This was sent by Dror Vanunu (gkatif@netvision.net.il) of Neve
Dekalim, D.N Hof-Aza, 79779. Tel: 972-8-6840846; Fax: 972-8-6840863.
Contributions can be sent in the USA to Friends of Gush Katif, PO Box
1184, Teaneck, NJ 07666, www.katifund.org
And indeed Am Israel answered the call: over 120,000 visited Gush Katif during the Hol Hamoed week. Already on Monday and Tuesday the flow of visitors didn't stop, whether in buses or private cars, they all flocked to the many villages of the Hof Aza Region, a reminder of better days when tourism in Gush Katif was still fashionable. They brought barbecues, tents and whatever is needed to make this holiday visit to Gush Katif a successful one. People arrived from the four corners of the country and the world when this time we noticed the presence of many orthodox families as well as secular ones that came to get acquainted with Gush Katif. On Wednesday - the March day the spirit was high: spontaneous dancing and singing taking place on the trail of the march, whole families strolling along the sea, youngsters from all over the country jammed together in the natural amphitheater facing the Katif lake. Not even the explosion of three mortar shells, deliberately launched in the direction of the rally, impaired the festive atmosphere of the day. Thank G-d no damage or injury was caused and the crowd continued on its path as if nothing happened. The march and the various attractions of the day ended by a mass demonstration including performances by artists such as Ariel Zilber, brand new resident of Elei Sinai, and speeches by prominent political and public activists against the dismantlement/expulsion plan of PM Sharon. Bentzi Liberman, Effi Eitam and MK Ariye Eldad called for the people to be ready, to continue the struggle, and the protest. It was a massive show from the lovers of Eretz Israel that will be with us whenever they are needed. All parted with these days' ritual blessing:
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All communities got ready to welcome the thousands of visitors:
guided tours and explanations about the history of the region, visits
of the hothouses, to packing factories, the indoor-plant nursery of
Atzmona, the local zoo, the farms, the beautiful beaches, artists'
performances and much much more.
| GUSH KATIF |
CITIES OF ISRAEL PHONE CAMPAIGN
Posted by Arutz-7 Editor, May 1, 2005. |
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While Jews in Israel are engaged in discussions and plans as to whether and how to engage in civil disobedience, Cities of Israel spokesperson Susie Dym says that Jews from abroad can also make a difference. "They can make a list of their relatives and friends who are Israeli soldiers or policemen, and contact each of them personally by phone or letter. Each soldier-friend or relative, and everyone with sons or daughters in the army and police, should be begged on a personal level to be courageous, and not to participate in the hateful deeds that are in the offing." Dym explains that the idea is to "strengthen the natural conscience which each soldier possesses, and also to help each soldier to realize that he is not an anonymous cog in a machine -- he is a person with friends and relatives who are watching his actions and want very much for him not to get sucked into the Gush Katif tragedy." |
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A SYMBOL OF THE SEASON
Posted by Paula R. Stern, May 1, 2005. |
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Even before the Passover holiday ends, people in Israel rush to bring out the flags, the symbol of the days ahead. The flags bring color and comfort in these unsettled times, a reminder that there are powers greater than those we elect, to guard our people. It is an emotional rollercoaster that begins in despair and sorrow and usually ends in the joy of the rebirth of our nation. The land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and national identity was formed. Here they achieved independence and created a culture of national and universal significance. Here they wrote and gave the Bible to the world. (Israel Declaration of Independence, May 1948) This week, we will commemorate Yom HaShoah, during which we remember the victims of the Holocaust. It is a tragedy that binds us to who we are, who we were, and reminds us of what our enemies can do to us, if we let them. On the morning of Yom HaShoah in Israel, all over the land, a siren is sounded. For two minutes it will wail and all of Israel will stop. Cars, buses, people in the middle of their day, shopping, walking, eating, everything stops. A world suddenly frozen in grief, while a nation stops to remember and to mourn. Then, when the siren stops, we get back into our cars, go back to our coffee, our shopping, our newspapers. We do not forget, but we live on. Stronger for having remembered, better for having survived. The Nazi holocaust, which engulfed millions of Jews in Europe, proved anew the urgency of the re-establishment of the Jewish state, which would solve the problem of Jewish homelessness by opening the gates to all Jews and lifting the Jewish people to equality in the family of nations. The survivors of the European catastrophe, as well as Jews from other lands, proclaiming their right to a life of dignity, freedom and labor, and undeterred by hazards, hardships and obstacles, have tried unceasingly to enter Palestine. (Israel Declaration of Independence, May 1948) Yom HaShoah is followed by Yom HaZikaron, Israel's Memorial Day. We remember those who fought so that this nation could live. If not for the sacrifices of the brave soldiers of Israel, our nation would not have survived the endless wars and terrorist attacks that have plagued us for all of our existence. "Beloved and pleasant in their life, And in their death they were not parted; They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions." (Book of Samuel II) Yom HaShoah is a day of mourning as a people, for a crime committed against an entire religion. Yom HaZikaron is something even more personal. We mourn as a nation, pull into ourselves for a day in which we remember the strongest, the bravest, the finest who fell. It is a day that breaks your heart over and over again. They died too young, too soon. Each year, as the names scroll over a 24 hour period, they move just that much faster because this year there are more names to display, more soldiers to mourn, more sons and daughters, fathers and husbands to remember. And before the mourning ends, before the grief lessens, dusk falls over the land and almost without warning, we are reminded that they died to ensure our freedom. The sun sets, and the eve of our independence day, Yom Ha'atzmaut, begins. In the midst of wanton aggression, we yet call upon the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to return to the ways of peace and play their part in the development of the State, with full and equal citizenship and due representation in its bodies and institutions - provisional or permanent. We offer peace and unity to all the neighboring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all. (Israel Declaration of Independence, May 1948) It is for this day that we have been hanging flags around the country. From the rooftops and in the streets, from the windows and attached to so many cars. Every year, the land is covered with blue and white. But this year, the symbol has changed for many because the country has changed. We are divided, as we have not been for many years. What four years of Palestinian terrorism succeeded in achieving, months of Sharon's expulsion plan has destroyed. United we began this year, and divided we will finish it. The symbols have changed, as have the colors. My car flies two flags, as it has for almost all of the years I have lived here. It is the flag of Israel, proudly displaying the Star of David at its center on both sides of the car. One flag never seemed enough to contain my joy of living here and four seemed slightly ostentatious, so I settled for two. But this year, an orange strip will fly on each flag, attached to the base, as the settlers of Gaza, Judah and Shomron are attached to Israel. A symbol that should unite us in pride, will instead symbolize the great divide. I am a settler, as are my children. Had I chosen some place other than Maaleh Adumim to live, I would still be a settler. It is what I have dreamed of doing since the age of 13, settling in the land of Israel. It is what those who died in the Holocaust wished to do, and those who died in Israel's wars fought to defend. The right to settle the land of Israel is an inalienable right of the Jewish people and when we deny that right, we deny our future. Our call goes out to the Jewish people all over the world to rally to our side in the task of immigration and development and to stand by us in the great struggle for the fulfillment of the dream of generations - the redemption of Israel. (Israel Declaration of Independence, May 1948) This year, the struggle for the fulfillment of the dream of generations, the redemption of Israel, seems very far away. We are not on the brink of peace and security. There will be no peace agreement when Sharon breaks his own declarations not to withdraw under fire, when he betrays those who voted for him and divides the nation in a way no one has ever succeeded in doing before. Worst of all, the ones who order Jews to be torn from their homes, destroy synagogues, and desecrate the resting places in Jewish cemeteries will be those who live in this country by virtue of the sacrifices of those we mourn on Yom HaShoah and Yom HaZikaron. Each year, our sadness has given way to joy and celebrations. This year, I wonder how we can celebrate when the expulsion of Jews from their homes comes closer and closer, and Sharon continues to ignore the right of the people to decide. Paula R. Stern is a freelance journalist and technical writer living in Israel. Her personal website is www.paulasays.com. |
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PA TV: CHRISTIANS AND JEWS HAVE FORSAKEN THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS AND MOSES
Posted by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook, May 1, 2005. |
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PA TV last week rebroadcast a religious program maligning Christians and Jews. Christians are accused of forsaking Jesus's teaching of love, while the Jews are said to have "worshipped gold... falsified the Torah [of Moses]... made business of the Torah and became rich." In contrast to those who did not follow God's Prophets, the lesson teaches of Muhammad's birth: "... an orphan child is born who will, in the future, become responsible for quenching the world's desire for justice, love, freedom and truth." PMW sees particular significance in the rebroadcast of hate programming on Palestinian Authority-controlled TV, as it indicates that these are messages the PA has actively chosen to repeat at this time. The following are excerpts from this PA TV religious program: The program, The Prophets of Allah, begins with the names of 19 Prophets on the screen, including Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Moses, Jesus [Isa] and Muhammad. Host: "700 years have passed since the birth of Jesus the Christian, during which the Christians have distanced themselves from the teachings of love. The Jews have forsaken the commandments of Moses and returned to worshiping gold. [Visual; Jews in movie, depicting period of Prophets, are seen falling upon gold coins falling to the ground.] In one of the crude tents an orphan child is born who will, in the future, become responsible for quenching the world's desire for justice, love, freedom and truth. At a distance of a few steps from his birthplace, statues of idols filled the ancient square and around the Qa`aba [holy black stone in Mecca] built by Abraham and Ishmael to be turned into a house of worship sanctified to Allah, where He alone is worshipped... While far from Mecca, Yath'reb [previous name of Madina] became full of Jews who escaped from the Byzantines, and they landed like wolves on the most fertile land and the most important commodities, and established their villages by taking advantage of the loose Arab presence and their internal disputes. The Jewish scholars would make business of the Torah: They hid [select] pages of it, attached pages, falsified pages, and went on to become rich. And while the Jews were worshipping the gold, faithfully engaging in trade, specializing in scheming, the Arabs worshipped the stones [idols], dedicated themselves to warfare and specialized in composing poetry." [PA TV, April 21, 2005 and Feb 10, 2005] Itamar Marcus is director of PMW - Palestinian Media Watch - (http://www.pmw.org.il). PMW is based in Jerusalem. Barbara Crook, a writer and university lecturer based in Ottawa, Canada, is PMW's North American representative. |
| GUSH KATIF |
GUSH KATIF
Posted by Anita Tucker, May 1, 2005. |
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Come see more at http://www.gushkatif.com
THIS IS A DEFINING MOMENT IN THE HISTORY OF OUR PEOPLE
1. Give generously to Friends of Gush Katif (501c3) All funds raised go to programs that help the residents of Gush Katif, including: "Panim El Panim" (face to face): a program where the residents of Gush Katif and other settlements in Yehuda and Shomron go door to door from Haifa to Eilat, distributing vegetables grown in Gush Katif as well as a CD and a brochure that explains the importance of the settlements. By doing so, they educate the misinformed citizens of Israel about the strategic necessity of their communities, and they help dispel the negative image of settlers that the mainstream media has foisted on the general public. "Making homes livable": Despite the impending expulsion, there are several families committed to moving to Gush Katif. All that is required is money to make old, abandoned homes habitable. These new residents have the power to show the world the steadfast faith that we, as a global community, have in the settlements. 2. Come to Gush Katif. The Jews in Gush Katif want to see you, and the world needs to know that you are care enough to come. On your next trip to Israel, make a stop in Gush Katif. New York Assemblyman Dov Hikind has scheduled his second mission to Gush Katif on June 5 th. Can you imagine the power of 1000 American Jews showing up together? If you can't physically come, then sponsor someone else to come. 3. Wake up the leadership in your community and get committed. The price for not acting NOW is too high. If we leave Gush Katif, it is that much easier to give away Hebron and Jerusalem, G-d forbid. This decree can only be averted if we start working now. Organize parlor meetings in your community to talk about the importance of Gush Katif. Contact your local congressman and senators and tell them to oppose the impending expulsion. Do everything you can to stop 9,000 Jews from losing their homes, and the rest of Klal Israel from losing its values. For more information, and for help in setting up Gush Katif support groups in your communities,
SAVE GUSH KATIF
9190 West Olympic Blvd.
Anita Tucker is a farmer and lives in Gush Katif. |
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SOLDIERS CLASH WITH RESIDENTS
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, May 1, 2005. |
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This is a news item from today's Arutz-7 (www.IsraelNationalNews.com).
The feud between the IDF and pro-Land of Israel forces took another turn for the worse on Friday when, residents say, soldiers broke into private homes, hit citizens and arrested them for no reason. Residents of the Shomron (Samaria) community of Har Brachah also accuse the IDF spokesman of lying that a paratrooper had been injured in a clash with residents. On Friday, the IDF Spokesman's Office issued a photograph of young mothers and children blocking a road, with the following caption: "On Friday, April 29, an IDF officer was lightly wounded during a joint pursuit with Israel Police of settlers who threw rocks at Palestinian trucks near the community of Har Brachah in the Shomron. During the chase, settlers began clashing with the security forces and disrupted them in their work. In the photo: women settlers block the ascent road to Har Brachah." "We accuse the army of cooking up this libel," stated a letter from Har Brachah residents afterwards, "in order to divert public opinion from the grave violent and illegal behavior of the police and army, which led to the wounding of two citizens." The residents also noted that three of the five residents who were arrested during the fracas were released last night without being charged, while a fourth one refuses to be released until the fifth one - whose custody was extended this morning by 24 hours - is freed. The incident occurred on Friday when soldiers claimed that two youths threw stones at Arab cars. The soldiers ran after the youths, and summoned police reinforcements for the purpose. The soldiers then said they saw the youths succeed in leaving the town by car. In response, the residents wrote, "the army then embarked on a vengeance campaign against [us]. Incited by officer Guy Hazut [the one who claimed to be hurt - ed.], soldiers broke into houses, hit citizens who had nothing to do with the incident and did not even know about it, and arrested them amidst great violence. Two citizens were hurt in the course of these arrests, and required medical treatment." An investigation following the event showed that the IDF officer in question lied about his physical condition, and that when he arrived at the hospital, he was immediately released. Residents of Har Brachah say they have photos and eyewitness testimony showing that long after the time Guy Hazut claims he was "wounded," he continued wildly hitting and kicking the residents. The residents wrote, "The army and police have apparently received orders and adopted a policy that everyone who wears a kippah [Jewish skullcap] is a delinquent and a legitimate target for illegal, shameless and violent harassment. For years, we in the Shomron have been suffering from incessant stonings by Arabs. The army and police say they cannot deal with this phenomenon, despite the heavy damage and great danger. But suddenly we see that when they want to, they can act firmly and quickly against this phenomenon - especially against innocent citizens who had nothing to do with it." Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. |
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THE UNIVERSITY OF HAIFA RESPONSE TO THE AUT DECISION
Posted by Israel Academia Monitor, May 1, 2005. |
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Hebrew - http://www.haifa.ac.il/etc/res_heb.html
English - http://www.haifa.ac.il/etc/res_eng.html In actual fact, during the past few years, Dr. Pappe has transgressed all common ethical standards of academic life. Yet, despite his conduct, the University of Haifa has demonstrated extraordinary tolerance. One of his colleagues did indeed lodge a complaint with the internal faculty disciplinary committee. The complaint focused on Dr. Pappe's unethical behavior towards his peers and his efforts to disbar them from international forums for daring to contradict his views. Contrary to Dr. Pappe's claim, the university made no attempt to expel him. As to the now too famous thesis that provoked this altercation, an independent committee was asked to examine the validity of the quotes that were used as the "scientific basis" for the highly controversial charges proffered in this thesis, authored by Mr. Teddy Katz. After a thorough examination, the committee members concluded that, in fact, the quotes in the written text did not match the taped comments of the interviews and that the text was grossly distorted. Therefore, they disqualified this MA thesis. This decision, it is important to note, matched a court decision given on the same matter. As Dr. Pappe did not like the committee decision, despite the undeniable discrepancies between the text and the taped interviews, he reacted by calling the academic community to boycott the members of this committee and the University of Haifa. Despite these violations of academic collegiality and ethics, Dr. Pappe was never summoned by the disciplinary committee as the committee's chairperson decided not to pursue the complaint that had been filed against him.... The University of Haifa calls upon the AUT to rescind its resolution, one that represents a complete distortion of facts far more embarrassing to the AUT than to the University. We call upon the academic community throughout the free world to reject this politically motivated abuse of academic discourse. For the full article and others see: http://www.israel-academia-monitor.com/ Contact Israel Academia Monitor at e-mail@israel-acaademia-monitor.com |
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