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THE FESTIVAL OF TABERNACLES
Posted by Stan L. Bowman, Jr., September 29, 2004. |
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Happy Sukkot everyone and pray for the peace of Jerusalem and pray for the rebuilding of the 3RD TEMPLE in Jerusalem. David Ben-Ariel wrote this letter to President Bush. The Jewish/Biblical Holiday of Sukkot Sukkoth begins on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Tishri, which is 5 days after Yom Kippur. The festival of Sukkot, also known as Chag'ha Succot, the "Feast of Booths" (or Tabernacles), is named for the huts (sukkah) that Moses and the Israelites lived in as they wandered the desert for 40 years before they reached the Promised Land. These huts were made of branches and were easy to assemble, take apart, and carry as the Israelites wandered through the desert. Depending where you live determines the length and celebration of Sukkot. Most the of world observes the festival for 9 days. The first two and the last two days being the most important. In Israel the festival is only celebrated for 8 days and the first and last days being the most important. Sukkot completes the biblical trilogy began with Passover and Shavuot. This cycle begins with the fleeing of the people of Israel from Egypt (Passover), continues with Moses receiving of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai (Shavuot), and concludes as the Israelites wander the desert living in huts and awaiting their entrance into the Promised Land (Sukkot). Sukkot is the third and final celebration in this Exodus from Egypt. The focal point of the festival is the sukkah. Sukkot is the plural form of sukkah, which means "covering" or "shelter". Those who observe Sukkot build and live in a sukkah for seven days. These huts are constructed as temporary shelters and the roof is covered with foliage which is spaced to let the light in. Inside the hut are hung fruits and vegetables, including apples, grapes, corn, and pomegranates. The families eat their meals in the huts under the evening sky. Though most people limit their activities in the sukkah to eating; some, depending on climate and location, sleep in the sukkah as well. Another important part of the Sukkot observation is hospitality. It is important to share your meals with others. In fact this sharing is so important that the holiday is also know as Chag Ha'asif, Festival of the Ingathering. The ninth day of Sukkot is know as Simchat Torah. Throughout the year, a portion of the Torah is read every week. On Simchat Torah the final passages from Deuteronomy are read. The reading of the Torah is concluded and is started again Contact Stan Bowman at stan120032000@yahoo.ca David Ben-Ariel is author of "Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall". He can be reached at http://www.pushhamburger.com/david.htm |
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LAND FOR PEACE OR LAND FOR A PLO CASINO?
Posted by Unity Coalition for Israel, September 29, 2004. |
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David Bedein's article below describes the sordid plan to build a casino on the land of Gush Katif after the Israeli residents are forced from their homes. The proposed disengagement plan is apparently based on a joint financial venture between Yassir Arafat and Dov Weissglass, advisor to the Prime Minister. CLICK HERE to send the sample letter shown below. You can send this letter as is or change it any way you wish. A copy of your letter will automatically be sent to Prime Minister Sharon, President Bush, Uzi Landau, MK Yuri Shtern, MK Dr Arieh Eldad, Minister of Finance Benjamin Netanyahu, and mayors of 20 Israeli communities in Gaza/Judea/Samaria.
"Rubbing Elbows with Arafat" by David Bedein The man who has been the most visible diplomat representing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in negotiations with the Palestinians and with the U.S. government has been a lawyer by the name of Dov Weissglass - the man who created and engineered Sharon's withdrawal plan, and the man whom Sharon has delegated to negotiate for Israel with U.S. National Security Advisor Condeleeza Rice and with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell. Weissglass's power in the government of Israel with Ariel Sharon at the helm has eclipsed the influence of the highest officials of the Israel Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense. Yet Weissglass has another identity. Back in December 2002, Israel Resource News Agency uncovered the fact that Weissglass, then the office manager of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, was still in private business, listed in the Israel Corporate Registrar as the owner and operator of his law firm, Weissglass-Almagor and a business trust by a similar name. That finding was publicized in the weekly Israeli newspaper, Makor Rishon. Why is that so important? Well, it would be one thing if Weissglass's firm represented Zogloveck, Israel's kosher sausage firm. However, Weissglass's law firm and business trusts represent the financial interests of the Palestinian Authority, including Muhammad Rashid, the treasurer appointed by Yassir Arafat to manage Arafat's illusive accounts which amount to several billion dollars. Two Israeli journalists, Amos Harel and Avi Issacharov, have just published a book titled "The Seventh War", in which they report that Weissglass actually celebrated the electoral victory of Ariel Sharon in the company of Muhammad Rashid on election night in February, 2001. In June, 2003 Israel Resource News Agency uncovered the fact that Weissglass's law firm and business also represent the Palestinian casino firms, which are in part owned by PLO security chief Jibrl Rahoub, and by Yassir Arafat himself. Why is that important, in light of the demise of the former Palestinian casino in Jericho, that was closed down when the Palestinian Intifada began in October, 2000? According to the Palestinian tourist publication This Week In Palestine, plans are under way to build a new Palestinian casino and resort for tourists in "Southern Gaza", in place of the Jewish communities of Gush Katif that now reside there. And who stands to profit? None other than Dov Weissglass, the architect of the Sharon plan to withdraw those very Jewish communities from Gush Katif. The logical question to ask would be: Where is the law enforcement system in Israel that would act against any such conflict of interest and possible breach of security? In January 2003, after it was revealed that the Prime Minister's office manager, Weissglass, still maintained his law firm and business outside his government job, the Israel Civil Service Commission looked into it and affirmed that Weissglass was indeed still registered in the Israel Corporate Register as part of that law firm. But they dismissed its importance, after Weissglass wrote to the commission that he had divested himself from his law firm and that he had sold all financial interests in his business. To support that claim, The Israel Corporate Authority in April 2003 reported that Weissglass finally removed his name from his law firm in the Israel Corporate Authority records and provided us with a document from the Israel Corporate Authority to prove it. However, in April 2004, our agency uncovered what the Israel Civil Service Commission did not know, which was that Weissglass's name was still registered as the lawyer of record for two other firms which bore virtually the same company name, while also located at the same corporate address. In May, 2004, the Israel Civil Service Commission declared that this represented a conflict of interest for Weissglass. So in July, 2004 Weissglass quietly resigned his position as the Prime Minister's office manager, but received permission from the Israel Civil Service Commission to assume a new position as the all-powerful official "advisor" to PM Ariel Sharon. In other words, although the highest echelons of the Israeli government are cognizant of the fact that Weissglass represents the business interests of Yassir Arafat, Weissglass was still allowed to continue to conduct negotiations on behalf of the state of Israel with all official levels of the Palestinian Authority and the United States government, even though Weissglass continues to represents the business interests of the Palestinian Authority. You might call this a legalized conflict of interest, Middle East style. Meanwhile, two more young Israelis were blown up by a suicide bomber this week... David Bedein is Bureau Chief, Israel Resource News Agency. (http://Israelbehindthenews.com). His article appeared today in Front Page Magazine (www.frontpagemagazine.com). 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." |
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CAMERA & REP. BRAD SHERMAN (D-CA) TESTIFY ON NPR'S BIASED REPORTS
Posted by CAMERA, September 29, 2004. |
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Corp. for Public Broadcasting Fails in Oversight of National Public Radio; CAMERA Proposes Reform in Agency's Monitoring of Tax Recipients Washington, D.C. (September 28) -- National Public Radio (NPR) coverage of Arab-Israeli news continues to violate federal law requiring "strict adherence to objectivity and balance in all programs or series of programs of a controversial nature," CAMERA Washington Director Eric Rozenman has told board members of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). NPR receives federal funds through CPB. The corporation is required to monitor recipients' compliance with objectivity and balance mandates, Rozenman reminded board members at their quarterly meeting last week. "CAMERA has documented in studies over extended periods and in analyses of incidental coverage that NPR ... continues to display an established pattern of anti-Israeli, pro-Arab bias," he stressed. U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) also criticized NPR's Middle East reporting. Sherman noted that he, Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) and nine other members of the U.S. House of Representatives wrote to NPR President Kevin Klose last year after a series of unsuccessful meetings. They reiterated that "for many years, National Public Radio programs have presented a view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that is too often biased against Israel." According to the Sherman-Engel letter, "despite concerns raised over the years by listeners, members of NPR affiliate stations, and members of Congress, NPR coverage of the Middle East -- to our ears and to the ears of many of our constituents -- still exhibits a slanted perspective on the conflict." Rozenman informed CPB board members that their annual "Open to the Public" report to Congress reviewing oversight of recipients "is inadequate. It avoids the substance of CAMERA's criticism and numerous other complaints." CAMERA recommended that the board create a unit within CPB to respond promptly to substantive complaints, according to accepted journalistic criteria like those in the Code of Ethics of the Society for Professional Journalists. He said these responses, "rather than vague generalities," should be reported to Congress. Prior to the public forum, CAMERA provided all eight CPB board members with extensive documentation of its criticisms of NPR's Arab-Israeli coverage. Sherman noted that it was unusual for a member of Congress to address the CPB board, but Chairman Kenneth Tomlinson thanked him for his "extraordinary presentation," adding, "I associate myself with it." The Boston-based Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America is a national, non-profit organization with more than 50,000 members. It monitors major news media coverage of the Middle East for accuracy, objectivity, context, and comprehensiveness. |
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ARAFAT MURDERED U.S. DIPLOMATS
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, September 29, 2004. |
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FOR MANY YEARS I HAVE CONTENDED THAT THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT WAS NOT ONLY A PRO-ARAB INSTITUTION BUT ALSO A COLLABORATOR WITH YASSIR ARAFAT - with the tacit acceptance of American Intelligence Agencies. These American institutions have not only collaborated with Arab Muslim Terrorist organizations but have used American tax-payers? dollars to fund their activities. The cover-up by the pro-Arab U.S. State Department of Arafat's orders, February 28, 1973, recorded on tape, to execute the U.S. Ambassador, Cleo Noel, his aide and the French Charg d'Affaires in Khartoum is merely one of their heretofore hidden activities. Every year the State Department writes a fictitious report to Congress about the PLO's compliance with Oslo so they can continue to receive several hundreds million of American tax-payers? dollars. These activities and much more were ignored by the 9/11 Commission - quite delibertely. The following article by Kenneth Timmerman tells us the story of this ultimate betrayal and what might be treason of State Department personnel who should be tried for these crimes and, if convicted, be serving a long prison sentence in a Federal Penitentiary. Perhaps, IF the State Department had been caught and their institutional biases corrected at that time in the 1980s, the Terrorist organizations of the world would not have found America a free field in which to thrive and, just maybe, they would not have been able to organize 9/11 and all the other anti-American Terrorist attacks of the 1990s, 2000s, including 9/11, Madrid, Bali, Beslan...... . . . highly classified intercepts of Arafat's verbal orders to the killers and has been suppressed for years by the State Department and by political appointees at the National Security Agency (NSA). . . . Arafat praised his gunmen for pumping 40 bullets into U.S. diplomats Noel and Moore and a Belgian colleague. . . the Department of Justice must issue a warrant for Arafat's arrest on charges of murder. "Arafat Murdered U.S. Diplomats" by Kenneth R. Timmerman (http://www.insightmag.com/main.cfm?include=detail&storyid=161111) Late in May, 53-year-old Sarah Blaustein, a Long Island, N.Y., native who moved to Israel last year with her husband, was killed by Palestinian terrorists while driving to attend a funeral in Jerusalem. She was the 18th American victim of Palestinian terrorists in Israel since Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat stood on the White House lawn with former president Bill Clinton and Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin in September 1993 and signed the Oslo peace accords. A Palestinian spokesman, Saeb Erekat, implicitly accepted responsibility for the drive-by shooting, telling CNN that cease-fires only can be forged between armies. "We are not an army," he said pointedly. Also wounded in the attack were Blaustein's husband, Norman, 52, and her son Samuel Berg, 28, who was visiting Israel from New York. Every year since Arafat set up shop in Gaza in 1994, there have been moves in the U.S. Congress to cut off aid to his Palestinian Authority (PA), which runs several hundred millions of dollars each year. But an end to his U.S. subsidy soon could become the least of Arafat's worries. New evidence establishing that Arafat personally ordered the assassination of two U.S. diplomats in Khartoum, Sudan, in 1973 could lead Attorney General John Ashcroft to issue an arrest warrant for Arafat, effectively barring the Palestinian leader from any future role in Middle East peace negotiations. The evidence includes highly classified intercepts of Arafat's verbal orders to the killers and has been suppressed for years by the State Department and by political appointees at the National Security Agency (NSA). It finally is coming to light, thanks to the efforts of a former NSA employee, James J. Welsh, who has been shaking heaven and earth the last six months, trying to get official Washington to pay attention to Arafat's trail of infamy. During his six years as a U.S. senator, Ashcroft was one of Arafat's fiercest critics. In June 1999, he successfully introduced legislation requiring the State Department to compile a report every six months on U.S. citizens killed by Palestinian terrorists. The latest report, released in April, carefully skirts involvement by members of Arafat's security forces in anti-U.S. terrorist attacks. But the trap was laid. "The United States government attaches a high priority to ensuring that the perpetrators of these terrorist acts are brought to justice," the report states. What if the perpetrator is named Yasser Arafat and the evidence of his crimes includes recordings and transcripts of him giving direct orders to the killers who murdered U.S. diplomats in cold blood? As a pro-Israeli lobbyist tells Insight, "There is no statute of limitations for murder." Therefore, should the new evidence come to light, by law the Department of Justice must issue a warrant for Arafat's arrest on charges of murder. In 1973 Welsh was a 27-year-old NSA employee at Fort Meade, Md., whose job was to analyze military communications of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) for potential threats to the United States and to U.S. allies. On Feb. 28 of that year he received a call from a colleague in Cyprus, Mike Hargreaves, alerting him to a highly unusual radio message intercepted between Beirut and Khartoum. The NSA code-named these intercepts FEDAYEEN. "Arafat and his top deputy, Salah Khalaf, were giving orders over their shortwave network to a team of PLO operatives who had just arrived in Khartoum," Welsh recalls. "From the transcript, it was clear that everyone was armed and ready to go. We didn't know what the target was, but it was clear that a major operation was in the works. This was not just a bunch of hand-grenade throwers. These were the big guys." At first, Welsh thought Arafat and his Fatah organization were planning an attack on Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, who was scheduled to arrive in Khartoum later that day for talks with Sudanese President Muhammad Gaafar al-Nimeiry. Welsh pressed his superiors to send an unusual FLASH message - the highest priority - to the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum, warning of imminent danger. Welsh went home that Wednesday night thinking he had helped avert a disaster. Just six months earlier, he knew, a similar tip-off had been ignored just hours before Palestinian terrorists burst onto the world scene in Munich, where they seized a dormitory at the Olympic Village and murdered 11 Israeli athletes in cold blood. "We felt tremendous satisfaction over the job that we had done," Welsh recalls. "We went to bed thinking: `At least our embassy personnel will be safe.'" Early the next morning, Welsh received a call at home telling him to turn on the television. A Fatah commando had just stormed the Saudi Embassy in Khartoum during a diplomatic reception and taken U.S. Ambassador Cleo Noel and Charg d'Affaires George Curtis Moore hostage, along with other diplomats. Welsh rushed back to Fort Meade, where his NSA office was in an uproar. "We were shocked," Welsh recalls. "How could the ambassador have gone to the Saudi Embassy reception if he had gotten our warning?" As Welsh learned later, the warning had been downgraded by Juanita Moody, a NSA liaison officer, after a State Department desk officer complained that it had come from "a couple of enlisted guys." (Both Welsh and Hargreaves, who worked the radios in Cyprus, had been detailed to NSA from the U.S. Navy). The downgraded cable didn't arrive for another 48 hours. During those next two days, FEDAYEEN intercepts from PLO shortwave radios began pouring in from the Cyprus listening post, this time with clear orders from Arafat and his deputy, Salah Khalaf (Abu Iyad), who were directing the hostage-taking from their headquarters in Beirut. Arafat used a Racal Single-Side Band radio tuned to 7150 kHz to communicate directly with his top deputy Khalil Wazir (Abu Jihad), who had been dispatched to Khartoum from Beirut to carry out the kidnapping. Wazir, in turn, relayed the orders by telephone to the terrorist commandos holed up inside the Saudi Embassy. Details of the operation and the communications scheme penetrated by NSA were reported in a previously secret postmortem account that was commissioned by the Rand Corp. in 1975. The PLO operation was code-named "Cold River," after a Palestinian refugee and training camp, Nahr al-Barad, that Israeli fighter jets had attacked 11 days earlier. At one point, the Palestinian commando was ordered to demand release of Sirhan Sirhan, the Palestinian who assassinated Sen. Robert Kennedy. When then-president Richard Nixon refused to negotiate, Arafat's deputy in Beirut, Abu Iyad, gave the order to execute the hostages: "Remember Nahr al-Barad. The people's blood in Nahr al-Barad is screaming for revenge. These are our final orders. We and the world are watching you." The transcript of Abu Iyad's call to the PLO office in Khartoum shows that it took place at around 8 p.m. local time on March 2, 1973. But when the international news media still hadn't reported the execution of the American diplomats one hour later, Arafat himself came on the radio and reiterated the command to execute the American diplomats. In one of the last FEDAYEEN intercepts that day, Arafat praised his gunmen for pumping 40 bullets into U.S. diplomats Noel and Moore and a Belgian colleague. "Your mission is ended," he told his men. "Release Saudi and Jordanian diplomats. Submit in courage to Sudanese authorities to explain your just cause to [the] great Sudanese Arab masses and international opinion. We are with you on the same road." The Rand report, which relied on the still-classified intercepts, states categorically: "The order to kill three of the hostages came from Beirut. The barrage of messages which they received from Beirut strongly suggests that the operation was being tightly controlled from Beirut, presumably by Khalaf and Arafat." Welsh believes that recordings of those intercepts still exist - either the U.S. originals or contemporaneous copies made by Israeli- or British-intelligence listening posts in the region. Wall Street Journal editorial writer Robert Pollock says that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon confirmed to him recently that Israel gave the U.S. government copies of its own intercept of Arafat's order to murder the Americans. "Several authorities on signals intelligence have given the opinion that this message, coming at the height of a hostage crisis that had been under way for 25 hours, and broadcast over open radio waves in a voice transmission, could not realistically have escaped interception and recording by the intelligence-ga thering facilities of the United States and other countries," the Rand report states. "One authority said, `It would be impossible not to have intercepted it.' Another offered the observation that, `If the U.S. didn't catch it, hundreds of people should have been fired.'" But through the years the State Department and the NSA have sought to downplay the incident, especially in the wake of the October 1973 Arab-Israeli war, when Arafat and the PLO publicly embraced an end to international terrorism. In 1986, 47 U.S. senators signed a letter to then-attorney general Edwin Meese demanding that the Justice Department indict Arafat for murder. One of the signatories was Tennessee Democrat Al Gore Jr. As vice president - and during last year's presidential campaign - Gore championed Arafat as America's "partner" for Middle East peace. But in the 1986 letter, Gore excoriated the Reagan administration for making excuses for Arafat. "These allegations, if substantiated, leave little doubt that a warrant for Arafat's arrest should be issued, and a criminal indictment filed against him," the Senate letter concluded. "To allow other factors to enter into this decision is to make a mockery of our laws and our stated commitment to eradicate terrorism." The Monday after Noel and Moore were murdered on Arafat's orders, the NSA director, Lt. Gen. Samuel C. Philips, drove over to the State Department carrying a special folder with Welsh's warning. "When he returned, we were told, `It's over,'" Welsh recalls. "I was 27 years old and got angry. I threatened to go to Congress to tell them that our warning had been discarded and was now being covered up. I was told in no uncertain terms by my superior that if I didn't shut up I'd have my clearances pulled and be sent out on a fleet oiler within 48 hours." A year later, after eight years in the Navy, Welsh left the NSA and resigned. Twenty-eight years later, Welsh finally is going to Congress asking for an investigation. Former intelligence analysts consulted by Insight believe Welsh is right, and that transcripts of Arafat's orders to kill the U.S. diplomats were sent to CIA stations in Beirut, Cyprus, Paris and Khartoum and still exist. If so, they could be entered into evidence before a court of law as Exhibit A in U.S. v. Arafat.
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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HAMAS VS US; PEACE STUDIES PROMOTED AGGRESSION; HOW PA TREATS ARABS
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, September 29, 2004. |
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HAMAS VS. U.S. Hamas praises the organizer of the Chechen massacre of Russian children. Its functionary, Ismail Elbarasse is an unindicted co-conspirator in financing Hamas terrorism against Israel. His wife was arrested videotaping Chesapeake Bay Bridge, as he drove over in, including close-ups of cables and other features "integral to the structural integrity of the bridge." Al Qaeda enlists Hamas members for such surveillance. Other high-level Hamas operatives were detained in the US for racketeering, money laundering, and rendering Hamas material support. Former Hamas head Rantisi wrote that attacking American was a religious and national duty. At his funeral service, another Hamas leader said that Hamas' battle is with the US as well as with Israel. Israeli authorities charged an Arab with training with Hamas for terrorism against Canada and New York City. The US media largely ignored his arrest. It treats Hamas as if not menacing the US (Erick Stakelbeck, NY Sun, 9/24, Op. Ed.). We Americans must be hit on the head many times to realize a threat. ANOTHER EXPLANATION FOR ISRAELI LEFTIST ANTAGONISM The Israeli Left or Far Left vehemently opposes Jewish residency in Yesha. The Left has railed against it for so long, accusing it (mistakenly) of being an occupation that steals Arab land and is racist, as to have come to believe that perhaps the entire Zionist enterprise is likewise guilty. The Left feels guilty about the land it owns in Israel. It takes out its feelings of guilt on the settlers. If the settlers were replaced by a parallel Arab state, the guilt feelings would be relieved. The Left wouldn't feel bound to apologize for a Jewish presence in Yesha or in Israel. (There is a parallel Arab state in Palestine - Jordan. Don't they know that?) Actually, no land in Yesha was taken from Arabs to build houses for Jews. Actually, the Arabs rule themselves domestically, so that even if the Geneva Convention applied in Yesha, which it does not, the Israeli presence would not be an "occupation." (Israel has a better claim to the Territories than do the Arabs.) Should the question of occupation "be decided by the EU, the UN, or Swiss bureaucrats at the Intl. Committee of the Red Cross, who call Jewish presence in Yesha 'illegal?'" Offered a guided tour to see for themselves, leftists refuse to go to Yesha, on "principle." Their principles do not keep them from visiting repressive states, nor impel them to denounce the repressive P.A.. They exhibit no humanitarian considerations for the Jews of Yesha. They think they are principled in demanding withdrawal, but withdrawal would increase terrorism against Israel. Thus the Left sides with murderers. The Left does not seem to realize (or does it) that if the Jews have no rights in Yesha, then they have no rights in Israel. The circumstances of settlement are the same in both. The Left suggests that although Israel is winning against the terrorists, it cannot win and ought not to win. That is not ethical but depraved (Prof. Steven Plaut, 9/12, e-mail). Ironically, originally the Left had encouraged settlement in parts of Yesha. ODDLY UNREALISTIC CONDEMNATION OF TERRORISM A Jordanian prince condemned suicide bombing as contrary to Islam for targeting innocent people who are not attacking Muslims. So far, so good. Then he sought to prove his point by alleging falsely that all Islamic schools condemn terrorism. Fact is, most honor it (IMRA, 12/13). He mixed a realistic condemnation with an unrealistic claim that his view is widely implemented. ARABS LEARN THE LESSON FRANCE DIDN'T? The Arab press is critical of Iraqi terrorist abduction of French journalists, who were not opposing the insurgency, and to France's reaction. France pleads for the captives' lives by stressing neutrality. The press finds France mistaken in supposing that its neutrality in the war on terrorism would shield it from terrorism. Terrorists just want to kill and intimidate, regardless of whether a country sends troops to Iraq. France shames itself, and the terrorists shame Islam. Some journalists deplore the double standard by centers of terrorism that plead with the abductors to free the French, but not plead to spare Nepalese. Some Arab journalists are concluding that the war on terrorism must be international (not just up to the US). The head of Iraq considers the government of France partly to blame, because France opposed measures against terrorism. Will Pres. Chirac admit that he was wrong? (IMRA, 12/13 from MEMRI.) WHY PM SHARON OPPOSES A NATIONAL REFERENDUM As some Israelis urge a national referendum on whether to proceed with PM Sharon's abandonment plan, Sharon's aides admitted fearing they would lose one. They believe that the settlers are best able to mobilize voters (IMRA, 12/13). Polls supposedly find a majority of Israelis supporting abandonment. However, when questioned in detail, the majority does not believe that abandonment would bring peace or reduce terrorism. PEACE STUDIES COURSES IN THE U.S. Many peace studies at US colleges present anti-American and anti-capitalist themes. Some courses feature Marxist professors and fringe literature. Their notion of supporting peace may be to organize anti-war rallies against US intervention in Iraq (Prof. Steven Plaut, 12/13, e-mail). The examples given prove the contention for one professor's course. These rallies facilitate aggression by opposing defense against it. P.A. GIVES OUT FREE BULLETS Another P.A. journalist received a warning bullet in the mail, for independent-minded reporting, i.e., for being critical of the P.A. regime. The journalist took his family out of the P.A., to prevent getting another bullet in the head. Thus the P.A. media is kept subservient to Arafat. Western demands for P.A. reform are limited to corruption and Arafat's sole control over the military. They do not include freedom of the press (IMRA, 9/14). If the West admitted that the P.A. controls journalists there, and since the West draws on local "stringers," it would be realized that Western reporting about the P.A. also is controlled and therefore biased in favor of the P.A.. If Western journalism pressed for freedom of the press in the P.A., the P.A. would bar it altogether. The media mostly prefers access to accuracy. FORD FOUNDATION FUNDS ANOTHER BIGOTED NGO MADRE is an NGO that describes itself as "an international women's human rights organization but attempts to justify terrorism as "resistance to military occupation." Terrorism is illegitimate regardless of excuses for it. MADRE falsely accuses Israel of: responsibility for Arab terrorism, Arab wars of aggression, and wanton aerial bombing of houses and mosques. It ignores terrorist attacks and P.A. violations of Israeli human rights, but bewails Israeli assassination of terrorist leaders (IMRA, 9/14). Its reports are replete with vicious lies and misrepresentation. I'm sorry that as a news summary, I don't have space to show you all the details all the time. Hairraising! HOW THE P.A. TREATS ARABS The A.P. published photographs of Arafat's Fatah taking an Arab down the street of some P.A. village and executing him. He was accused of molesting his daughters and collaborating with Israel. (Quite a combination!) It is not known which charge, if any, is accurate, for there was no trial. The crowd chanted "death." The gunmen obliged, and showed off to the foreign press. P.A. police entrapped an Arab homosexual in Gaza. They demanded he become a collaborator against Israel. He refused. They arrested him and hung him by the arms. A high-ranking officer got him released, but demanded sex as the price. He fled, but was rearrested. This time he forced to stand in sewage water up to his neck, etc.. He was taunted for being a homosexual. Israel did not mistreat those Arabs, Arabs did. They suffered capital punishment and brutal homophobia. Capital punishment, discrimination against homosexuals, and the Arab side of the Arab-Israel conflict all are causes celebres of the Left. The left ignores P.A. capital punishment and discrimination against homosexuals, which Israel does not have, lest it have to admit that Israel is the worthier side. The Left objects to "Israeli policies," although they are far more benign than that of many countries to which the Left does not object. Those objections must be pretexts, not ethics. As an excuse, the Left contends that it holds Israel to higher standards, and that Israel has more power to make concessions than have Arafat's Arabs but won't. Actually, Israel does not act worse than other democracies. (It acts more benignly.) If Israel were so brutal, it would have killed 250,000 in the four-year war, instead of 2,500. Leftist complaints about Israel are about a tempest in a teapot. But the Arabs tried to kill as many Jews as they could. How can the Left sympathize with them? Perhaps the Left secretly likes violence (or hates Jews). The Left is confused into supposing that if Israel is the more powerful side, therefore Israel must be in the wrong. That is no logical correlating but irrational sympathizing. Might does not make wrong. Why should the right side make concessions to the wrong one, an evil side, one that utilizes concessions to kill more victims? It is patronizing and discriminatory to hold the Arabs to a lesser standard. But if the Left does, why does it mute the implication that the Arabs are less ethical? (Prof. Steven Plaut, 9/13 from Bret Stephens in Jer. Post, 9/9) If less ethical, less deserving! Crime is crime. Nor is it accurate to consider Israel the more powerful party. The opposing side consists of most Arab states, not just the P.A., and is backed up by most of the rest of the world. In some of the wars, the Arabs started with an advantage and by winning. Some of the Israeli victories over Arab aggression seem miraculous. All were halted by the US and others. The world keeps rearming the Arabs. The Arabs now have a great advantage in military might, are developing weapons of mass-destruction, and are discouraging and dividing Israelis. Diplomacy is moving to deprive Israel of secure borders formed by the better watered core of its own homeland. The Arabs are enthused by religious fanaticism. Pity the Arabs? ESTIMATES OF RALLY ATTENDANCE Estimates of the number attending an anti-abandonment plan rally in Jerusalem differ by tens of thousands. "Haaretz" estimated 40,000, "Yediot" estimated 70,000, and channel 2 estimated 100,000 (IMRA, 9/13). Estimates by advocacy journalists may be tendentious. For leftist rallies, they may exceed a public square's capacity. P.A. POLICE NOW UNDERGOING TRAINING (In what?) Dozens of P.A. police are training in Egypt. Six hundred Egyptians will train more in Gaza. The stated purpose is to prepare these police to control Gaza if Israel withdraws (IMRA, 9/14). Israel now has invited the Egyptian coast guard to negotiate. Egyptian naval patrols would hamper Israeli controls for fear of clashing and leading to war with Egypt. The IDF warns that Egypt facilitates the P.A. insurgency, but the government ignores reality in favor of wishful diplomatic considerations (Arutz-7, 9/14). The head of the Egyptian effort is an intelligence officer. Be leery of stated purposes. The West lies about them half the time, and the Arabs, most of the time. You may surmise that Egypt is setting up an intelligence operation in Gaza to soften up Israel for the next Egyptian invasion, and is arranging for more effective arms smuggling. The sad part is that Israel is allowing this to happen. MORE ATTACKS & MORE CELLS CAPTURED Terrorists constantly try to attack Israelis. Several lately were stopped at checkpoints, where they blew themselves up, to at least wound some Israelis. The checkpoints spared hundreds. Israel broke up more terrorist cells. One included Israeli Bedouin recruited by a member of Hamas. Another also included an Israeli Arab, had an arsenal, and had committed terrorism. Both were planning attacks and kidnappings. A personal bodyguard of the P.A. Prime Minister was caught trying to smuggle arms into Israel (Arutz-7, 9/14). Remember that the Israel government gave V.I.P. passes to P.A. officials, whom the IDF knew were smuggling? The lesson is clear. Checkpoints are valuable, but they would be invaluable if they barred all Arabs from passing into Israel -- the news brief indicates that some don't bring weapons and are let through, but recruit terrorists within Israel. The Arabs of Israel constitute a pool of potential terrorists that no fence in Yesha keeps out of Israel. Israel should start by expelling the tens or hundreds of thousands of Arabs illegally in Israel. The world would claim that that is not "humanitarian" to bar guilty illegals, but it would be humanitarian for the innocent Israelis. P.M. SHARON'S DICTATORSHIP Among the 100,000 people demonstrating against PM Sharon's scheme to drag Jews out of Gaza, some carried signs, "Sharon is a dictator," objecting to his deceitful, illicit, and threatening maneuvers against opposition to it. Sharon's reaction justified their criticism. He ordered the Attorney General to investigate whether they may be prosecuted criminally for "incitement." (That would be unthinkable in the US. "Incitement" for what, for democratic rule?) Were the signs valid, beforehand? Yes. Sharon was elected for opposing abandonment. He thus disenfranchised and cheated the majority that elected him. He vowed to abide by a referendum in his Party, since his position as PM depends on his Party. After having lost the vote by a landslide, he ignored it, again disregarding the wishes of the people. Now there are calls for a national referendum on the major step of unilateral abandonment of territory that not only rightfully is Israel's and is needed for national security and identity, but whose control has enabled Israel to tamp down terrorism. He is refusing to allow a national referendum. Sharon's aides plant rumors about civil war, to discredit the opposition. (He shut down the major opposition radio station.) Now he is moving against a small-circulation ultra-Orthodox paper, upon a complaint by an Arab MK champion of terrorism, on the pretext that its light-hearted, light-headed criticism of the haj for trampling hundreds to death is "racism." The major leftist media, however, maligns Judaism without repercussion. Israel's crazy judiciary permits praising past terrorism but not current or future terrorism! (Prof. Steven Plaut, 9/14, e-mail.) MEDIA MISLED US ABOUT "MODERATE" For months, the media and the ruling class touted the second Prime Minister of the P.A. as a moderate. Then Hamas blew up two Israeli buses, and Israel retaliated by killing about 14 Hamas terrorists at a training camp. PM Qurea responded with a declaration that the Israeli retaliation would justify any further Hamas attacks (terrorism) against Israel. None of the foreign media and ruling class denounced him for it nor did any apologize for having misled people about his being a moderate (Prof. Steven Plaut, 9/10, e-mail). HAMAS ENCOURAGED BY ISRAELI LEFT Israeli journalists interviewed Hamas leaders. Hamas divulged, "It was the Israeli Left and your peace camp that ultimately encouraged us to continue with our suicide attacks." Hamas tried to divide Israeli society; the Left's reaction was divisive. Amid publicity that camouflages the paucity of their numbers, leftist refusals to fight in Yesha encouraged the use of suicide bombing. PM Sharon's proposed, unconditional abandonment of Gaza seems to Hamas as proof (IMRA, 9/10). In view of that Hamas assessment, the P.A. contention that Sharon's plan is a plot really to secure more territory seems more like propaganda than belief. 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 EROSION OF ISRAEL
Posted by Aubrey Wulfsohn, September 28, 2004. |
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In Israel itself there is no longer any free-speech; right-wing Jews are in fear of saying the wrong thing in case they be cruelly. incarcerated. The Courts are corrupt in that the judges are biased by their personal animosity to orthodox Judaism and their left-wing political views. Immigration of Jews is curbed if there is any indication of their wanting to settle outside of the green line whereas immigration of non-Jews is encouraged as long as they are white. The Prime Minister is almost completely predictable. The government is a dictatorship. I am reminded of an old saying: "----", said the king and all the courtiers squatted and strained because in those days the word of the king was law. The Prime Minister uses foul means to get what he wants. He pays no attention to ministers who disagree with him and if this cannot be effective he 'persuades' them to change their minds, or makes vague nice-sounding statements. Unfortunately Jews in general listen though hear something else - usually what they want to hear. He pays no attention to most of his coalition parties or to the majority of Likud. Nothing major gets through without his approval, though he often apportions the blame to others. He double-speaks by having his office 'let out' false information about his verbalised intentions. He is bluffing when he threatens a new election - it would be too uncertain for him and more likely that he loses out. He manipulates the greed of the religious parties. The majority of the NRP MK's would sell their souls to be part of the government; this has been so since the inception of the state. They are presently putting conditions for their remaining in government which are virtually meaningless; the Prime Minister can easily make their conditions irrelevant by introducing such gradual a gradula erosion by small trivial-looking changes which would make make their resignation seem a lot of fuss over nothing. Orlev is trying the referendum idea simply because it allows him to stay in the government longer. The referendum will be formulated in a vague way and if the referendum decides to pull out of Gaza the NRP will not have a foot on which to stand. Shas would sell their souls for money towards their educational institutions. He bought off Netanyahu by allowing him to institute a capatalist state; though I am uncertain about Netanyahu's soul. The UTJ, Shinui and part of Labour are forgetting their principles in order to be in the cabinet. UTJ is giving in on unilateral disengagement (irrevocably leading to disengagement in Yesha and part of Jerusalem) and Shinui and Labour are giving up their principles as they consider giving away most of Israel is more important than their principles. Their hatred of the Jewish religion remains. Without religion they might as well have taken up Herzl's idea of a Jewish state in Uganda. The Primne Minister's plan, as developed a few years ago, is to get rid of: 1. Virtually all holy sites. This includes, at the least, responsibility for the Temple Mount. This is clearly evident from his actions. His vows about Jerusalem and the holy sites are to be taken with a pinch of salt. He almost certainly realizes that 1. Whatever he gives away, Israel will not be able to get it back, and once there is a Palestinian state Israel will not be allowed to make any incursions. 2. There is no way that both Israel and his planned Palestinian state can both be territorally contiguous unless he gives away considerable portions he has not even hinted at. 3. The U.S.plan for Israel is, and has been for over 50 years, a small fortified ghetto completely dependent on the U.S. It is difficult to pinpoint his reasons but the best liars are those who have convinced themselves that their lies are the truth. There is a choice of possible reasons for his actions: he wants to be loved by the nations (virtually impossible) and/or he wants lots of money, property and a Greek Island, and/or he wants the Nobel peace prize, and/or he is 'aber botel', i.e. mentally decrepid from old age. His clever manipulations might be due to his advisors. The Prime Minister must appear as a 'strong man' because a large proportion of Israelis are no different from the Arabs in particular in their appreciation of a strong leader. To give this impression he orders the bombing of (empty) buildings and the assasination of Palestinians. He builds a partition fence simply because he has to appear to be doing something concrete. The same applies to his proposed Gaza canal. In the past he had many achievements but hardly any of these have remained or will remain. The Sinai has been given away, Gaza is back to chaos, the Lebanese border is back to dangerous and almost all of the 'settlements' are on their way out. What else has he done besides (unnecessarily, after the fact) losing battle-fodder? Until maybe recently all Israeli decisions on withdrawals were made in secret. I refer to at least one occasion, while Menachem Begin was prime minister, when I personally saw bulldozers arranging the temporary border between Egypt and Israel long before anything was made public. Remember the secret Oslo accords. Many years ago the Prime Minister used to terrorise Arabs, though now his attempts are a lot of hot air. He could still be thought of as a terrorist in that he is trying to terrorise the Jewish inhabitants of Gaza and Yesha into leaving. He isa cutting off virtually all their access to arms to protect themselves and putting their lives at risk in having to leave their enclaves un-armed. He will, besides blockading access to protestors and residents, cut off the settlements' water, electricity and food supplies. He is terrorising people who speak out against him by his use of administrative detention. Every American president is in turn praised by Jews as being the most pro-Israel president ever. The present president is better than his predecessors in that he does not make promises he will not keep - he instead makes no promises, just almost meaningless statements. When American and European politicians publicly pledge their (eternal) support for Israel they mean a small defenceless ghetto. Once there is a Palestinian state it is entitled to let in whosoever and whatever they want, to set up as large an army-cum-police-force as they wish, to prevent Israeli planes from flying over their territory and to deny Israel access to water. (The Prime Minister does not worry about this as he would rather buy water or use high energy methods to produce it - if it was his money he would be different). There is no way Israel can enforce any treaties made beforehand as punitive action will incur the wrath of the nations. These would love to bomb Israel to smithereens. The Arabs are not interested only in oil - but also water. For example the Arabs in the Sudan are terrorising the non-Arab Sudanese out of their land an villages. Besides their inherent cruelty it is also because of a vast water-aquifer under the region. There is no unity amongst the African tribes and they are not interested in interfering unless the presecution is done by whites. Also they need the support of the Arab states. The West is unconcerned as their oil-supply is unaffected. The same will happen if Israel is over-run by Arabs. The U.S. will once again just express their concern and send boats to rescue useful scientists and whatevr American citizens are still alive. A large proportion of religious Jews who wait for the messiah are not concerned by the destruction of holy sites because they do not consider them relevant - just history. When the messiah arrives he will fix everything. The amount of open spaces in Israel is diminishing rapidly, the Jewish-populated areas usually over-crowded, the shikunim inducing claustrophobia. Where will all the sought-after immigrants go - are they to fill up the spaces provided by the Israeli youth who do not want these spatial restrictions on their life-style? I can think of two solutions (besides the messiah solution): 1. The Jews get out of Palestine No matter what Israel concedes it will be forced by the U.S. to make more concessions. Thus, Israel has to stop making any more concessions as there have already been too many. |
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AMERICAN COMPANIES SUPPORT TERRORISM
Posted by Avi Jorisch, September 29, 2004. |
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Key Facts 1. American Internet and Media Companies are actively supporting the two biggest threats to the U.S: Al-Qaeda and Hizbollah. 2. Following the attacks of September 11, 2001 both the executive branch and Congress created some impressive weapons to curb terrorist financing. Executive Order 13224 empowers the U.S. government to impose financial sanctions against those "that support or otherwise associate" with "specially designated global terrorist" (SDGT). Specifically, the SDGT order, in addition to Congress's USA PATRIOT Act (sections 311 and 319), empowers the Treasury Department to take action against the financial structure of terrorist organizations, blocking their fiscal transactions and targeting the banks that support them. 3. Executive Order 12947 and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701-1707) prohibit the provision of "financial, material, or technological support" to any SDGT, while U.S. Code makes it illegal to "knowingly provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization" (Title 18, U.S.C. Section 2339B). Analysis 4. AP's Washington bureau provides services to the Washington Bureau Chief of al-Manar Hizbollah tv, Mohamed Dalbah. AP also provides the satellite link-up necessary to contribute to live broadcasts from al-Manar's Beirut studios. 5. Telestar 5, a California-based company, broadcasts al-Manar's signal to subscribers in North America 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 6. Internet Companies are providing web services and hosting to a number of Al-Qaeda and Hizbollah internet sites. 7. Hizbollah's American supporters include: a. Alabanza Inc., based in Baltimore, Maryland hosts the following sites: 8. Al-Qaeda's American supporters include: a. Everyone's Internet Inc., a Houston-based company hosts Policy Recommendations 9. The U.S. government should establish an office whose sole responsibility it is to monitor terrorist media outlets and see to it that American companies stop doing business with terrorists or punished to the full extent of the law. 10. By monitoring terrorist mass media outlets, and taking swift action against American complicity, we sent the right message that terror is not welcome on our shores 11. Undoubtedly, much of the web-hosting business will go to companies in Europe and elsewhere around the globe. Many of these countries are allies in the war on terror the U.S. could use diplomatic channels to pressure them to close their businesses to terrorist organizations as well. 12. There will undoubtedly be those who will argue that providing these terrorist organizations with Internet services supports freedom of the press. Nothing could be further from the truth. By providing these services, Internet companies are directly promoting terrorist propaganda in return for cash payments . 13. U.S. media companies regularly refuse to run advertisements they deem unacceptable. They should show the same restraint when doing business in the often shadowy Internet byways and when terrorist funds are involved. It's not just their responsibility, it's the law. Avi Jorisch is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and author of "Beacon of Hatred: Inside al-Manar Hizballah Television," which will be published by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy in October, 2004. |
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TRUE SPEECH VERSUS FREE SPEECH
Posted by Phyllis Chesler, September 28, 2004. |
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This is a letter I wrote to Richard Brodhead,
President of Duke University.
Dear President Brodhead: Greetings! I am writing to you as a member of Duke's extended family of scholars. As you may know, my archives reside at Duke University as part of a distinguished collection of feminist intellectuals and activists. Indeed, my archives were Duke's first major acquisition in this area. You have in your possession a treasure trove of my research, published and unpublished manuscripts, interviews, course curricula, and world wide civil rights activism from the early 1960s on. Duke acquired my papers in 1992 and I have continued to hand over materials ever since. Other important acquisitions that followed mine include those of Kate Millett, Alix Kates Shulman, Merle Hoffman, Robin Morgan, and others. I am also one of 107 signatories to a letter recently sponsored by the Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies addressed to Secretary of State Colin Powell on behalf of the Global Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, (HR 4230), which would have the United States monitor and combat anti-Semitism world-wide. Other signatories include current and former Senators, Congressmen, Ambassadors, theologians, and educators including the Reverend Dr. Joseph Hough, Jr., President of the Union Theological Seminary, Dr. Harold W. Attridge, Dean of the Yale University Divinity School, Dr. Maxine Clarke Beach, Dean of the Drew University Theological School, Sister Rose Thering, author James Carroll, and R. James Woolsey, Jack Kemp, Jeanne Kirkpatrick, Cynthia Ozick, Richard Perle, and Gary Wills. I understand that Duke University will be hosting a Palestinian Solidarity Movement (PSM) conference. I also understand that you and certain faculty members believe that doing so constitutes your commitment to free speech and academic freedom. Ironically, Duke will be supporting a group (which is also known as the International Solidarity Movement), which does not believe in free speech or democracy and which endorses violence, mass murder, Jew-hatred, and homicidal-suicide terrorism. But, you might say, America prides itself on extending its civil rights, including that of free speech to racist groups and to their hate speech. Let me respectfully suggest that, post 9/11, America may no longer do so without risking grievous consequences both in terms of lives lost and truth abandoned. President Brodhead: Would you proudly host a Nazi Party or Ku Klux Klan conference in the name of academic freedom? Given your commitment to the First Amendment, would you still allow the meeting to take place behind closed doors with no press allowed? I understand that this is what the Palestine Solidarity Movement conference planners have demanded. As you know, a free and vigorous press is one of our protections against tyranny. What issue cannot bear the cleansing light of scrutiny? But why is Duke giving any intellectual credibility to what is bound to be a hate-fest? Under President Rudenstein, Harvard, which like Duke is also a private institution, resolved that it would not allow any hate-speech conferences. The Harvard Divinity School also returned United Arab Emirate monies from the Sheikh Zayed Foundation no doubt earmarked for such purposes. Perhaps Duke can consider doing this as well. The PSM/ISM are precisely the kinds of groups that European governments, beginning with Germany, have begun to monitor in terms of their terrorism potential. Why is Duke granting them an aura of intellectual respectability? In my view, the masked and hooded members of al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Al Fatah, and the al-Aqsa's Martyrs Brigade--which the PSM and their allies support--are far more dangerous than the Nazis or the Klan ever were. Their terrorism against civilians, especially in Israel, but also world-wide, is both state-sanctioned and trans-national. Their propaganda against Jews and Israelis is based on doctored footage, photo-opportunity journalism, and sophisticated post-Orwellian lies. The Palestine Solidarity Movement and their allies chant "Death to the Jews," and "Death to America," at what they describe as peace rallies; they characterize the mass murder of civilians as "resistance to oppression;" they preach the destruction of Israel and the murder of all infidels in Arabic--but then, in English, French, and German, claim that they have been misunderstood, that they really meant the opposite of what they said. President Brodhead: Until now, I have been proud to be associated with Duke. However, as a Duke family member, I am distressed by Duke's decision to host the PSM conference - but I am even more distressed by Duke's failure, so far, to fund and host very different kinds of programs in this area. Some academics and educators might say that PSM's/ISM's hate speech and lies are only words and cannot hurt anyone. They might also say that honoring diverse and controversial words are precisely what American universities should do. At some other time in history, and perhaps in terms of other subjects, I might agree with you. However, the level of hate-propaganda against Israel and Jews is surreal, global, sophisticated, and deadly. During this latest Palestinian-led and Arab and Iranian-backed Intifada, (2000-2004), such propaganda has both led to and yet rendered invisible the highest civilian body count in Israel's history. In American demographic terms, by now America would have suffered approximately 45,000 civilian deaths at the hands of terrorists and approximately 280,000 civilians wounded, often seriously, and for life. More than half would have been women and children. Only Israel's unilateral creation of a security barrier has begun to staunch the flood of Israeli blood. The Islamists, whom the PSM support, torture and impoverish their own people, sacrifice their own children, practice slavery, and commit genocide. They terrorize their own citizens, especially intellectuals, women, and homosexuals. Nevertheless, many "politically correct" academics have romanticized these barbarians--even the billionaire bin Laden and the multi-millionaire Arafat--as humiliated and impoverished freedom fighters.
I have written about this betrayal of the truth and of the Jews in my twelfth and latest book: "The New Anti-Semitism. The Current Crisis and What We Must Do About It." Most "politically correct" academics, including feminists, have joined left-alliances which single out only Israel for imaginary crimes and misdemeanors. They say that Israel is an Apartheid and Nazi state; it is not. But, as one of Duke's pioneer feminists, let me indeed briefly focus on Apartheid as a feminist issue. Islam today is the largest practitioner of both gender and religious Apartheid in the world. Women who live under Islam are, variously, murdered outright in honor killings and oppressed by forced veiling, segregation, sequestration, stoning to death for alleged adultery, female genital mutilation, polygamy, forced marriage to men old enough to be their grandfather, and by domestic and sexual slavery. Women have few, if any, civil, legal, or human rights under Islam today. In addition, under Islam, all non-Muslims: Christians, Jews, Assyrians, Hindus, Zoroastrians, animists--have historically been viewed and treated as subhuman and accorded "dhimmi" status. Today, except for the small country of Israel, all 22 nation states in the Arab Muslim Middle East are Judenrein (free of Jews); Christians there remain at serious risk. You will probably not hear anyone at the PSM conference address Apartheid in this way and to fail to do so is to fail the requirements of objectivity and scholarship. "Free" speech is not always "true" speech. Universities have an obligation to teach the truth as much as they may also wish to model tolerance for all speech, including that which bears no relationship to the truth. Thus, in the interests of free, true speech, may I suggest that Duke: [*] Allow the media in to cover the PSM conference. [*] Allow the conference to be taped so that you and others will see what is being said. [*] Sponsor a pro-democracy and pro-Israel conference, one which reflects a wide spectrum of opinion, not only that of the left-wing Israeli Oslo and Geneva accordianists. This should be an inter-faith and inter-disciplinary effort. The Jewish community should not be expected to monitor Jew-hatred and educate against it by themselves. In addition, such a conference should feature Arab Christians, as well as Lebanese Maronite Christians who are the descendants of Phoenicians and pre-date the Arab conquest of Arabia. [*] Sponsor an international conference on Gender and Religious Apartheid. [*] Sponsor a conference on the feminist challenge to and transformation of patriarchal religions. As yet, perhaps due to funding limitations, none of my extensive work as a feminist activist within Judaism and within Israel, especially as a co-leader of the Women of the Wall struggle in Jerusalem, has been made available to scholars or Duke students nor has any of my work as an anti-racist activist--not only on behalf of minorities of color but also on behalf of Jews--been made available. We live in dangerous times. Keeping a low and "neutral" profile, trying to please and appease all sides--especially the most violent side-- is unwise. One must take a stand against radical evil and injustice. I hope and pray that you will do exactly that. All the best,
Phyllis Chesler, Ph.D., is the author of twelve books including her latest, "The New Anti-Semitism. The Current Crisis And What We Must Do About It." She is working on a new book about the importance of independent thinking for Palgrave-Macmillan (St. Martin's). She may be reached through her website www.Phyllis-Chesler.com. |
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NEWEST ASSAULT ON FREE SPEECH IN ISRAEL
Posted by Steven Plaut, September 28, 2004. |
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1. New assault on Israeli democracy and freedom of speech by the
leftist Attorney General appointed by Ariel Sharon:
(http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/482560.html) "Mazuz eases rules
for police probing incitement," by Yuval Yoaz.
Attorney General Menachem Mazuz yesterday gave the police more power to to open incitement investigations and ruled that in certain cases they will no longer need prosecution approval. Under the new rules, any commander of a police national investigation squad or head of a regional investigations department will be able to order certain types of incitement investigations. Mazuz said he issued the directive because of "the sensitive period we are in, whose sensitivity, according to all the signs, will only intensify." Police will be able to open incitement probes on their own authority if someone publicly and explicitly calls for the use of violence against an elected official or any other specific individual, or if someone publicly and explicitly incites to general racism - for instance, by yelling "death to the Arabs!" at a soccer match or demonstration. If the alleged incitement took place before a crowd, police will have full powers to investigate, up to and including arresting the suspect. If the incitement was via the media or over the Internet, police will be able to start the investigation and collect evidence, but will need prosecution approval to question the suspect. If the call to violence was only implicit, however, or if the suspected incitement consisted only of praising or expressing sympathy for the use of violence, police will still need the prosecution's approval even to start the probe. In those cases, the prosecution will have to decide whether the evidence justifies launching an investigation. Mazuz issued his directive in response to requests from the police in recent weeks for clearer guidance on when they have the power to open incitement probes on their own initiative. Incitement probes are considered a particularly sensitive area, both because they restrict free speech and because they entail "predicting the future" - a person can be convicted of incitement only if there is a "real possibility" the words will lead to actual violence. **** It goes without saying that the new rules of unfree speech will NOT be used to prosecute pro-genocide Arab fascists nor pro-terror Israeli Jewish leftists supporting the annihilation of Israel and endorsing anti-Semitic people and groups. See also http://web.israelinsider.com/Views/4175.htmt
TORONTO - Yusuf Islam, the British singer formerly known as Cat Stevens, was the guest of honour at a Toronto fundraising dinner hosted by an organization that has since been identified by the Canadian government as a "front" for the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. In a videotape of the 1998 event obtained by the National Post, Mr. Islam describes Israel as a "so-called new society" created by a "so-called religion" and urges the audience to donate to the Jerusalem Fund for Human Services to "lessen the suffering of our brothers and sisters in Palestine and the Holy Land." The Jerusalem Fund is one of four "fronts" named in a secret Privy Council Office memo that was sent to Jean Chretien, then prime minister, on May 23, 2000, discussing what it called groups that "have unsavoury links with terrorism. "In a limited number of cases, fundraising in support of violent foreign struggles takes place in Canada through the cover of ethnic, religious or community-based associations and groups, lobbying and even criminal activity," the report says. "Front groups operating in Canada include the Jerusalem Fund for Human Services (Hamas Front), the World Tamil Movement (Tamil Tigers Front), the Canadian Kurdish Information Network (Kurdistan Workers Party Front) and the Babbar Khalsa (a Sikh extremist front)." Hamas, also known as the Islamic Resistance Movement, is responsible for most of the suicide bombings against Israelis. Canada has outlawed Hamas under federal anti-terrorism legislation, making it illegal to support the group. Best known for his hit songs in the 1960s and '70s, when he was known as Cat Stevens, Mr. Islam, 56, a Muslim convert, made headlines last week when his flight from London to Washington was diverted to Maine because his name appeared on a U.S. watch list. He was expelled from the United States for national security reasons. "Yusuf Islam was placed on the watch list because of activities that could be potentially related to terrorism," a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security told reporters. The expulsion was criticized by Muslim groups, and Mr. Islam denies any ties to terrorism. "I never knowingly gave any terrorist group money," he said after being deported from Israel in 2000. "I've given to poor people and hospitals. I've helped to buy ambulances in the Holy Land. Obviously quite clear and supportable aims." But on June 20, 1998, Mr. Islam gave the keynote address at a Jerusalem Fund fundraising dinner held in Toronto. The event was videotaped, and a copy was obtained by the SITE Institute, a U.S. terrorism research organization. The video opens with a scene of Niagara Falls, overlayed with the Jerusalem Fund logo, which features the al-Aqsa Mosque and the maple leaf. It begins with an unidentified man explaining the activities of the Jerusalem Fund, which he describes as "helping the Muslims in Palestine" by financing hospitals, health clinics, families in need and orphans. "Palestine is close to the heart of each and every Muslim. What the Muslims of Palestine have been doing for many years now has been that bright light shining, that hope ... that they are still believers that can raise the banner of jihad in the most difficult of circumstances." Mr. Islam then begins a 45-minute speech in English in which he says it is "intolerable" for Muslims to "stand and watch" the situation in the Middle East. He describes Jerusalem as the centre of a land that is holy because of its connection to Allah. "So this city which is blessed because of its religious nature. Therefore, what we see today is the result of the departure of religion from this area, of the uprooting of religion. So many of the people of the faith have been exiled from this region, moved on, to make way for what? Strangely and ironically, they moved on in the name of so-called religion, on behalf of ... the Jews. "Of course, that would explain what is happening. Because the moment that religion and religious virtues disappear, there for sure follows trouble, tyranny, oppression," he says. "So what do we see then today? The concoction of a so-called new society based on an old society." He says there could be "no redeemer except Allah. No political concept or construct or treaty or agent except the laws of Allah, which he instructed for this world. Jerusalem is that, the symbol of that. Out of the hands of the righteous then it falls into disrepute and blood. "Jerusalem, al-Quds, it is a mirror reflecting the reality ... If it is dark, if it is bloody, then so too is the world. Today it reflects injustice of the secular man over the religious man. And how can the secular man be given the control and the sanctuary of the divine place of worship when he doesn't even respect what is holy? How? And how can those of faith allow that to happen? Therefore, peace will not return until we return to the Holy Land." 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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ANOTHER PROOF OF OUR RAISON D'ETRE THAT THIS IS OUR HOMELAND
Posted by Mordechai Ben-Menachem, September 28, 2004. |
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This article is called
"Solving a Riddle Written in Silver" and was written by
John Noble Wilford.
The words are among the most familiar and ecumenical in the liturgies of Judaism and Christianity. At the close of a worship service, the rabbi, priest or pastor delivers, with only slight variations, the comforting and fortifying benediction: "May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord cause his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and grant you peace." An archaeological discovery in 1979 revealed that the Priestly Benediction, as the verse from Numbers 6:24-26 is called, appeared to be the earliest biblical passage ever found in ancient artifacts. Two tiny strips of silver, each wound tightly like a miniature scroll and bearing the inscribed words, were uncovered in a tomb outside Jerusalem and initially dated from the late seventh or early sixth century B.C. - some 400 years before the famous Dead Sea Scrolls. But doubts persisted. The silver was cracked and corroded, and many words and not a few whole lines in the faintly scratched inscriptions were unreadable. Some critics contended that the artifacts were from the third or second century B.C., and thus of less importance in establishing the antiquity of religious concepts and language that became part of the Hebrew Bible. So researchers at the University of Southern California have now re-examined the inscriptions using new photographic and computer imaging techniques. The words still do not exactly leap off the silver. But the researchers said they could finally be "read fully and analyzed with far greater precision," and that they were indeed the earliest. In a scholarly report published this month, the research team concluded that the improved reading of the inscriptions confirmed their greater antiquity. The script, the team wrote, is indeed from the period just before the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. by Nebuchadnezzar and the subsequent exile of Israelites in Babylonia. The researchers further reaffirmed that the scrolls "preserve the earliest known citations of texts also found in the Hebrew Bible and that they provide us with the earliest examples of confessional statements concerning Yahweh." Some of the previously unreadable lines seemed to remove any doubt about the purpose of the silver scrolls: they were amulets. Unrolled, one amulet is nearly four inches long and an inch wide and the other an inch and a half long and about half an inch wide. The inscribed words, the researchers said, were "intended to provide a blessing that will be used to protect the wearer from some manner of evil forces." The report in The Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research was written by Dr. Gabriel Barkay, the archaeologist at Bar-Ilan University in Israel who discovered the artifacts, and collaborators associated with Southern California's West Semitic Research Project. The project leader is Dr. Bruce Zuckerman, a professor of Semitic languages at U.S.C., who worked with Dr. Marilyn J. Lundberg, a Hebrew Bible specialist with the project, and Dr. Andrew G. Vaughn, a biblical historian at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn. A companion article for next month's issue of the magazine Near Eastern Archaeology describes the new technology used in the research. The article is by the same authors, as well as Kenneth Zuckerman, Dr. Zuckerman's brother and a specialist in photographing ancient documents. Other scholars not affiliated with the research but familiar with it agreed with the group's conclusions. They said it was a relief to have the antiquity and authenticity of the artifacts confirmed, considering that other inscriptions from biblical times have suffered from their uncertain provenance. Scholars also noted that early Hebrew inscriptions were a rarity, and called the work on the amulets a significant contribution to an understanding of the history of religion in ancient Israel, particularly the time of the Judean Monarchy 2,600 years ago. "These photographs are far superior to what you can see looking at the inscriptions with the naked eye," said Dr. Wayne Pitard, professor of the Hebrew Bible and ancient Near Eastern religions at the University of Illinois. Dr. Pitard said the evidence for the antiquity of the benediction was now compelling, although this did not necessarily mean that the Book of Numbers already existed at that time. Possibly it did, he added, but if not, at least some elements of the book were current before the Babylonian exile. A part of the sacred Torah of Judaism (the first five books of the Bible), Numbers includes a narrative of the Israelite wanderings from Mount Sinai to the east side of the Jordan River. Some scholars think the Torah was compiled in the time of the exile. A number of other scholars, the so-called minimalists, who are influential mainly in Europe, argue that the Bible was a relatively recent invention by those who took control of Judea in the late fourth century B.C. In this view, the early books of the Bible were largely fictional to give the new rulers a place in the country's history and thus a claim to the land. "The new research on the inscriptions suggests that that's not true," Dr. Pitard said. In fact, the research team noted in its journal report that the improved images showed the seventh-century lines of the benediction to be "actually closer to the biblical parallels than previously recognized." Dr. P. Kyle McCarter of Johns Hopkins University, a specialist in ancient Semitic scripts, said the research should "settle any controversy over these inscriptions." A close study, Dr. McCarter said, showed that the handwriting is an early style of Hebrew script and the letters are from an old Hebrew alphabet, which had all but ceased to be used after the destruction of Jerusalem. Later Hebrew writing usually adopted the Aramaic alphabet. There was an exception in the time of Roman rule, around the first centuries B.C. and A.D. The archaic Hebrew script and letters were revived and used widely in documents. But Dr. McCarter noted telling attributes of the strokes of the letters and the spelling on the amulets that, he said, ruled out the more recent date for the inscriptions. Words in the revived Hebrew writing would have included letters indicating vowel sounds. The benediction, the scholar said, was written in words spelled entirely with consonants, the authentic archaic way. The two silver scrolls were found in 1979 deep inside a burial cave in a hillside known as Ketef Hinnom, west of the Old City of Jerusalem. Dr. Barkay, documenting the context of the discovery, noted that the artifacts were at the back of the tomb embedded in pottery and other material from the seventh or sixth centuries B.C. Such caves were reused for burials over many centuries. Near this tomb's entrance were artifacts from the fourth century, but nothing so recent remains in the undisturbed recesses. It took Dr. Barkay another seven years before he felt sure enough of what he had to announce details of the discovery. Even then, for all their microscopic examination of the inscriptions at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, scholars remained frustrated by the many unreadable words and lines. About a decade ago, Dr. Barkay enlisted the help of Dr. Zuckerman, whose team had earned a reputation for achieving the near-impossible in photographing illegible ancient documents. Working with scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Dr. Zuckerman's group used advanced infrared imagining systems enhanced by electronic cameras and computer image-processing technology to draw out previously invisible writing on a fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The researchers also pioneered electronic techniques for reproducing missing pieces of letters on documents. By examining similar letters elsewhere in the text, they were able to recognize half of a letter and reconstruct the rest of it in a scribe's own peculiar style. "We learned a lot from work on the Dead Sea Scrolls," Dr. Zuckerman said. "But at first a processing job like this would send your computers into cardiac arrest. We had to wait for computer technology to catch up with our needs." As the researchers said in their magazine article, the only reasonably clear aspect of the inscriptions was the Priestly Benediction. Other lines preceding or following the prayer "could barely be seen." To get higher-definition photographs of the inscriptions, Ken Zuckerman applied an old photographer's technique called "light painting," brought up to date by the use of fiber-optic technology. He used a hand-held light in an otherwise dark room to illuminate a spot on the artifact during a time exposure. In addition, he photographed the artifact at different angles, which made the scratched letters shine in stark relief. The next step was to convert the pictures to digital form, making possible computer processing that brought out "the subtleties of the surface almost at the micron level." This analysis was particularly successful in joining a partial letter stroke on one side of a crack with the rest of the stroke on the other side. It also enabled the researchers to restore fragments of letters to full legibility by matching them with clear letters from elsewhere in the text. In this way, the researchers filled in more of the letters and words of the benediction itself and for the first time deciphered meaningful words and phrases in the lines preceding the benediction. Scholars were particularly intrigued by a statement on the smaller artifact. It reads: "May h[e]/sh[e] be blessed by YHWH, the warrior/helper, and the rebuker of Evil." Referring to God, Yahweh, as the "rebuker of Evil" is similar to language used in the Bible and in various Dead Sea Scrolls, scholars said. The phraseology is also found in later incantations and amulets associated with Israel, evidence that these artifacts were also amulets, researchers concluded. "In the ancient world, amulets were taken quite seriously," Dr. Zuckerman said. "There's evil out there, demons, and you need protection. Having this around your neck, you are involving God's presence and protection against harm." Dr. Esther Eshel, a professor of the Bible at Bar-Ilan and an authority on Hebrew inscriptions, said this was the earliest example of amulets from Israel. But she noted that the language of the benediction was similar to a blessing ("May he bless you and keep you") found on a jar from the eighth century B.C. If the new findings are correct, the people who wore these amulets may have died before they had to face the limitations of their efficacy. They might then have asked in uncomprehending despair, "Where was Yahweh when the Babylonians swooped down on Jerusalem?" Other scholars, including those previously skeptical, will soon be analyzing the improved images. In a departure from usual practices, the researchers not only published their findings in a standard print version in a journal but also as an accompanying "digital article," a CD version of the article and the images to allow scholars to examine and manipulate the data themselves. The research group said, "As far as we are aware, this is the first article to be done in this fashion, but it certainly will not be the last." Mordechai Ben-Menachem is at Ben Gurion University. He can be reached by email at quality@acm.org |
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PALESTINIAN HATE VIDEOS REFLECT IDEOLOGY ISRAEL BEHIND ALL WORLD TERROR AND WARS
Posted by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook, September 28, 2004. |
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PMW received numerous inquiries requesting further elaboration about the visual message that "Israel is to blame for all world terror and suffering" of the last century, expressed in the new PA hate video that was publicized last week in a PMW Bulletin. Palestinian Authority hate videos for children do not spring up in a vacuum but mirror PA society's deep hatred of, and libels against, Jews. As farfetched as it seems to the normal mind to presume Jews have been responsible for all evil and are represent an ongoing danger to the world, two additional items appeared this week in official PA media, which demonstrate that this video for children reflects the reality of their adult mentors. In one a political leader presents the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the infamous forgery that presents a Jewish plan to rule the world, as an authentic Jewish - Zionist plan. In the other a religious leader talks about the dangers Jews are to all humanity - since the time of Muhammad. Note the items below come from different parts of society, reflecting both official PA religious and political establishment ideology. Friday sermon on PA TV by Mudayris, Sept. 24, 2004 "Why did Allah move the direction one faces in prayer from the Al-Aqsa Mosque (Jerusalem) to the Al-Haram Mosque (in Mecca)" The reason is those [Jews] who are the cause of all catastrophes on earth, The reason for it is those [Jews] who spit their poisons in the international and regional level, and [even] more so in the domestic level, those [Jews] who are the reason for every disaster of the world disasters, they are the reason for moving the direction of prayer from the Al-Aqsa to the Ka'aba. These are the Jews, Allah's curse upon them ..." Protocols of the Elders of Zion - an authentic work in PA society. "Recently, issue 64 of the 'Al-Shahada' magazine was published ... In the editorial, the chief editor and general political commissioner of the military forces of the border regions, Ahmad Hilles, dealt with "the war of morale and will" ... The issue included ... research on the topic of the Zionist danger as appears in the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion' ..." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, official PA daily, Sept. 20, 2004, supplement of the Political and National Education] Itamar Marcus is director of PMW -Palestinian Media Watch - (http://www.pmw.org.il). Barbara Crook, a writer and university lecturer based in Ottawa, Canada, is PMW's North American representative. |
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ARAB IMMIGRATION TO ISRAEL
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, September 28, 2004. |
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P.A. PRIME MINISTER APPROVES OF TERRORISM PM Qurei said that Hamas would be justified in retaliating for the IDF bombing of a Hamas terrorist training camp in Gaza (Arutz-7, 9/8). The appointment of a PM was called a "reform." NO HOPE FOR P.A. REFORM "It is becoming increasingly plain that the notion of Palestinian (Arab) 'reform' is a farce. Even more farcical is the notion that genuine reforms ever could spring from Arafat's ranks. This is not merely because they remain answerable to Arafat. Rather, it is because they remain his ideological fellow-travelers, and whatever differences they may have politically or tactically disappear as far as Israel is concerned." (Foreign Ministry, 9/8 from Jer. Post.) This is a point I have been making for years, but Pres. Bush still does not comprehend. The point indicates that the drive to "give peace a chance" was misguided. Give victory a chance! ARAB IMMIGRATION TO ISRAEL In the past four years, an estimated 45,000 Arabs have moved to Israel, mostly illegally. They come primarily from the Territories and from Jordan. Whole families plunk themselves down in Jerusalem and in Arab towns. The Arab localities harbor them knowingly, enroll them in the free public schools, and give them credentials for welfare benefits as if they were citizens. The study asked various Israeli officials what they know of this, whether they study it, and what remedies they suggest. They didn't know, don't study it, and offer no remedy. They considered the subject a delicate one, whose answer might draw international criticism (Arutz-7, 9/8). What doesn't Israel draw international criticism for? There needn't be an justice to the criticism, the point of criticizing Israel is to criticize Israel. The Israeli officials don't know the first thing about defending their country from the internal thereat. They have not learned that salvation trumps political correctness. Their first reaction to criticism is to plead for understanding. Mine would be to castigate the critics for hypocrisy or bias. EU REACTIONS TO "DISENGAGEMENT PLAN" Misinformed EU officials imagined that Sharon's plan for abandoning areas is part of the Road Map. The EU officials said that no Israeli official had apprised them of these matters Finally an Israeli official disillusioned them. The Road Map has conditions for both sides, but Sharon's plan is unilateral. The Map calls for transfer, but Sharon's calls for abandonment. Sharon says he cannot fulfill the Map because there is no responsible authority in the P.A. and the P.A. has met none of the conditions required (Arutz-7, 9/8). Can't they compare Map and Sharon's plan, and see the difference? Lazy, aren't they! They take strong diplomatic positions on matters of life and death for millions in other countries, without adequately informing themselves beforehand. But both plans concede to terrorism. FUNCTION OF ROADBLOCKS Roadblocks are the last line of defense between the hostile P.A. and downtown Jerusalem! Having parked near one in an area populated by Arab aliens, Women in Green brought snacks to the soldiers. Ten minutes later they returned to find all their tires slashed. Obviously, Arab residents do not approve of succoring the soldiers guarding their country. They approve of the medical and welfare benefits conferred upon them by Israel (Op. Cit.). JORDAN POPULATION TREND Jordan's population increase is 2.8%. Religious tradition restrains a population planning program that seeks to reduce the rate to 1.5%. That's population increase, not birth rate. The population problem in Jordan is out of control (IMRA, 9/8). The Arab population explosion is fueling a mass-migration to the West, which then finds itself infected with local jihadists. SHARON'S GREAT SELF-CONTRADICTION PM Sharon is preparing ethnic cleansing of the Jews from Gaza. At the same time, he is ordering the Army to seize a part of Gaza from which the most rockets are being launched against Israel. His self-contradiction is in promulgating unilaterally a plan to remove Jews from Gaza to reduce alleged contact and friction, and sending the Army in because the friction lies in the Arab war, which they now wage from Gaza by rockets and therefore without contact on the ground. If the Jewish residents are moved out, but the Army moves in, then there will have been no point to the abandonment of the communities built at great expense. If the Army then pulls out, too, Gaza would become a "giant rocket launching pad." (Prof. Steven Plaut, 9/8, e-mail.) THE LEFT SLANDERS THE RELIGIOUS The Israeli Left exploited the assassination of Rabin to malign Yesha rabbis. The slander alleged that Rabbis urged the murder. No evidence ever was adduced that rabbis gave such advice or that it influenced the supposed murderer (actually, the murder was one of the Rabin campaign's dirty tricks, which included incitement against Rabin that the campaign then hypocritically denounced. One rabbi made some theoretical statement that secularists distorted into a sinister meaning that any religious person would know it didn't have). Now some rabbis urge the government to smash the terrorist military apparatus, suggesting that it avoid unnecessary collateral casualties but not refrain from needed action just because there might be some civilian casualties. Those would be normal measures and within the recognized bounds of international law. These measures would be humane towards Israel's own people. The Far Left Meretz Party is petitioning to indict the rabbis, as if their request for normal military protection were incitement to murder and racism. Meretz does not cavil at constant Arab racism and demands for murder, but seeks prosecution of religious and nationalist Jews for expressing their wish for protection from that racism and murder. The Far Left does not believe in free speech for opponents. (It doesn't have much of a democratic tradition in Israel.) Israel's anti-racism law has never been used against the Arabs, who preach the murder of Jews as "enemies of mankind." (Op. Cit..) "Haaretz" accuses the rabbis of fanaticism for not allowing for negotiated resolution (9/9, Foreign Ministry). All Arab negotiations have been deceptive. SYRIA TRIES OLD TRICK The Syrian Army has begun dismantling bases near Beirut, and redeploying the troops elsewhere in Lebanon, especially in the Bekaa Valley (near Syria and where narcotics are cultivated). Syria hopes that this move would be perceived by the UNO, or used as an excuse, for dropping the Security Council demand that Syria withdraw from Lebanon altogether. It is not likely to have that effect (Joseph Panossian, NY Sun, 9/22, p.7). Syria did this once before. The Arabs are masters at foiling resolution against them by various forms of procrastination, such as negotiating interminably, making false promises, reshuffling Cabinet posts, and making excuses, denying responsibility, and falsely accusing opponents. BUSH AT THE UNO Pres. Bush touted democracy as truly stabilizing, compared with dictatorial repression that the US formerly supported. He declared that a free Iraq would chill terrorist ambition, but denied any clash of civilization. Peace would not be achieved by P.A. rulers who "intimidate opposition, tolerate corruption, and maintain ties to terrorist groups." Let world leaders "withdraw all favor and support" from such P.A. rulers. In furtherance of the Map, Israel should "impose a settlement freeze, dismantle unauthorized outposts, end the daily humiliation of the Palestinian people (sic) and avoid any actions that prejudice final negotiations." Arab states "should end incitement in their own media, cut off public and private funding for terrorism, and establish normal relations with Israel." (Likelihood?) The speech was coldly received at the UNO, most of whose members are just such dictators (Benny Avni, NY Sun, 9/22, p.4) -- participants in the clash of civilizations and their appeasers. Of course there is a clash, of religions. Pres. Bush ought to know that jihad is occurring all over the world, often militarily but mostly building up to it. That is why Arab governments broadcast mosque sermons calling for the deaths of Americans and Jews. By denying this, he weakens our side and exposes that weakness to the other side, which gains in morale at the spectacle of Western failure to identify the enemy. The European democracies, beset with what in individuals is called low self-esteem, are ashamed to defend Western civilization. Bush failed to identify the enemy in the P.A. as the whole culture and people there. Almost all of them support terrorism. Their leaders do not just maintain ties to terrorist groups; they run the P.A., itself, as a terrorist group. They don't just tolerate corruption; they share in it. Terrorism and corruption are the raison d'etre of the P.A., don't you know. While calling on other world leaders to "withdraw all favor and support from such P.A. rulers, the US supplies it, including restraining Israel from liquidating Mr. Arafat, and training P.A. murderers. It was big of our President to admit past US faults in policy, but hypocritical in that he still supports the Saudi dictatorship, condones the Syrian one, and is trying to create a Palestinian Arab one. He will not get deserved credit for the admission, nor deserved rebuke for the hypocritical attempt to set up an Arab dictatorship. Lip service about making the P.A. democratic does not keep the US from wanting to proceed with the Road Map that would make sovereign that enemy of its US midwife. It would be a sovereign terrorist state. What an ignoble US goal! The criticism of Israel was meant to be seen as a balance for criticism of the Arabs. So was the equating by Sec. Gen. Annan of terrorism with Israel's "excessive use of force." Israel's problem is insufficient use of force to destroy aggressor Arab armies and regimes. The denunciation of Israel for "excessive use of force" is part of the anti-Zionist bias that objects to any Jewish self-defense as offensive to Jew-haters. It also is due to a false notion of balance. Criticism of one side, they think, must be "balanced" by criticism of the other side, deserved or not. I think that further hypocrisy lay in Bush's cautioning Israel not to prejudice negotiations. He implied that Israel should not build further in Yesha, but the Arabs may. If he is willing for the Arabs to prejudice negotiations by establishing facts on the ground, then he is prejudiced in behalf of the Arabs. That is proved by his Map requiring only Israel not to build. The accusation that Israel daily humiliates the Palestinian Arabs, is slander. It is taken from propaganda devised by the Arabs and passed on to their leftist and appeasement-minded supporters. They have the temerity to call inspection of Arabs coming in to Israel "humiliation." Many passengers landing in the US are inspected. If Israeli inspection is humiliation, isn't US inspection? If US inspection is not humiliation, why is Israel's? More hypocrisy. If only Sen. Kerry seized upon that as a campaign issue. But he can't. He is no better. 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 UNJUSTICE SYSTEM
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, September 28, 2004. |
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While strictly speaking, it is too early to have an opinion on this
event. I assume, however, on the basis of past incidents that this is
more official harassment of "settlers" by Israel's unJustice system.
This is a news item from Arutz Sheva and is archived at http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=69584 Police Requesting Extended Remand of Shomron Resident (IsraelNN.com) Police today will request the extended remand of a Shomron resident who was arrested yesterday after firing at an Arab van driver whom he believed was intending to run him down. The suspect was standing on the side of the road near Itamar waiting for a ride when he noticed the van heading directly at him at a high speed. He told police that he attempted to signal the driver in an effort to ascertain his intentions but the driver continued heading towards him, prompting him to pull his licensed weapon and fire. The driver was killed. 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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DEFENSE ESTABLISHMENT MULLS CONFISCATING SETTLERS' WEAPONS
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, September 27, 2004. |
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MA'ARIV September 27, 2004: "Report: Senior ISA official, who brought up the idea, says arms should be collected to prevent possibility that the weapons would constitute a threat to evacuating forces." By Amir Buhbut "A Senior ISA official has suggested to begin the process of rounding up weapons from settlers in Gush Katif ahead of the expected Gaza pullout, Channel 10 revealed last (Sunday 9/26) night. "During a meeting of top defense brass including Mofaz, the senior official explained that arms must be collected ahead of the implementation of the disengagement plan in order to prevent a possibility that the weapons would constitute a threat to evacuating forces. "According to the official, the weapons that are used to protect the settlements from terrorist infiltrations are to be taken as well, but only in a gradual manner so as not to harm the level of security in the communities. "Another senior official told NRG Maariv that the option was being considered. 'It is important to stress that no decisions have yet to be reached. This idea will be considered with other proposals,' he said." (2004-09-27 00:29:5.0) WINSTON COMMENTS: Not surprising, since the first attempt to confiscate the weapons of Israeli citizens in Judea and Samaria was the Rabin-Peres ploy - according to a reliable source who ought to remain anonymous. They started by going to the settlements and demanding to inspect the armory of the settlements - seeming to check their operational ability. 'Somehow' the arms they took to inspect were either not returned or they were kept so long that they made the settlers vulnerable to Arab Muslim attack. Even officers of the region had to turn over their personal side arms which were usually never returned. Leftists have always hated those they pejoratively call 'settlers' (forgetting that they began themselves as settlers in kibbutzim to 'settle' the nascent State to be born in the Land of Israel.) They recognized that, by comparison, they were a low political movement who seemed to never want the territories valued by post-1967 Zionists who found Israel's ancient history in her heartland. Add to the tendency to confiscate, the fact that ammunition was kept in short supply, insuring that settlements would not have enough sustaining power to hold off human wave attacks promised by the Arab Muslim Terrorists. This was part of the earlier plan of the Oslo Accords now picked up by PM Sharon as he tries to weaken the Pioneering Settlers prior to their being uprooted, evicted and evacuated. 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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MEDIA SPIN ON "ISRAELI SHOOTS AND KILLS PALESTINIAN NEAR ITAMAR"
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, September 27, 2004. |
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PLEASE NOTE: THERE ARE 3 ARTICLES AS PRINTED MONDAY & TUESDAY - PLUS MY COMMENTS & QUESTIONS. STORY AS IT APPEARED ON MONDAY in the JERUSALEM POST: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid =1096259489005 "Israeli shoots and kills Palestinian near Itamar" by Matthew Gutman, THE JERUSALEM POST Sep. 27, 2004 "Judea and Samaria Police reported that an Israeli man shot and killed a Palestinian civilian in the area of Eilon Moreh east of Nablus Monday afternoon. The Israeli, a resident of Itamar's Gidonim outpost in the West Bank, said he opened fire after a Palestinian minivan tried to run him off the road. "However, Palestinian witnesses said the Israeli fired without provocation. According to eyewitness reports, the Palestinian minivan had turned down a dirt path between the settlements of Itamar and Eilon Moreh, reportedly to avoid a checkpoint, which led the van to a settlement bypass road. The settler, whose car was stopped on the side of the road, exited his car, cocking an M16 rifle as he walked across the road, eyewitnesses reported. When the minivan eased onto the small road the suspect shot a single bullet at the Palestinian driver, identified as Sayel Jubara, killing him almost instantly as the bullet penetated his arm and pierced through his chest. According to Israeli law, only soldiers are allowed to carry assault rifles outside of the immediate lands of Gaza and West Bank settlements. "The van was carrying five additional passingers at the time of the fatal shooting, and the eyewitnesses gave testimonies to the police. Ahmed Mohammed Shtiyeh, who saw the entire incident from inside the van, accused the settler of cold-blooded murder. "I saw him drive up, park the car and get out," Shtiyeh said. "When we went over the hump, he shot Sayel from a very close up." The suspect's story, however, contradicts eyewitness reports. He told police that he shot at the Palestinian van in self-defense, after the van had tried to run him over. In view of information collected at the site, IDF sources said that it does not appear that the Palestinian van tried to run the man over as he claims. The suspect was arrested by Judea and Samaria Police. Police are continuing investigation into the incident and have already filed a re-enactment of crime on Monday afternoon." Winston comments: It has been reported by an enthusiastic NPR reporter, Linda Gradstein that "a settler has shot a Palestinian taxi driver who he said attempted to force him off the road. The settler reported it to the Police Station." Keep in mind that, being forced off the road in the winding, hilly roads of Judea and Samaria can mean landing upside down and dead These are not broad American highways with neatly leveled shoulders. No doubt, this incident is one that will be used by PM Sharon and the Leftists in the Media and Knesset to prove that Israelis who live in the territories are unreliable and therefore dangerous. Allow me to share with you two incidents that happened to me personally. In one incident I was driving with my wife to Shilo. It was then a two lane straight road and wide enough for large trucks. We were in a Volvo station wagon. An on-coming Dump Truck with license plates indicating it was Palestinian was approaching in his lane. He then swerved into half of my lane which forced me to swerve onto the rough grade shoulder with a deep ditch beyond. He missed me but not because he didn't try. I happen to be an excellent defensive driver. Had he succeeded, I have little doubt that my wife and I would either be dead or critically injured. In another incident, we had just left the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv main Route One road and headed south from the Latrun turn-off. I don't recall the name of the road. As we were driving in our Volvo station wagon, we picked up a tail. It was a French Peugeot with Palestinian license plates and had four Arabs as passengers and driver. The reason I mention the Volvo station wagon is because it was well-known that Members of Knesset were provided with such vehicles and, therefore, we probably looked like we were of some political importance as a target of opportunity. At this point I must qualify myself as a professional driver so my observations are not dismissed too lightly. I have driven most everything that moves. As a young man I drove a taxi; I drove tow trucks; trucks in the mountains of Colorado; I have a farm pickup and have had numerous cars. I am a qualified professional driver both for most vehicles and for observing traffic and drivers' behavior. Therefore, when I caught this Peugeot tailing us, I picked up speed on a very winding road. The Peugeot tailed me. I had my wife and youngest son in the car with me. My senses told me that this was not merely an innocent driver challenging me for a fast ride. So I stepped on the gas and pulled around large trucks on blind curves. Dangerous, but accomplishable. After a 15 minute chase, I lost him. When I arrived at my destination at Lakhish, I met my friend who was a Reserve Special Forces Commando. I explained what went on and he declared that we were lucky and that I could drive better than most typical drivers. He then commented that several soldiers had been kidnapped and murdered on that road by Arab Muslims. The point being that Palestinians have used their vehicles as attack weapons and most drivers in Judea, Samaria, Gaza and the Golan Heights are aware of it. Linda Gradstein, always a pro-Arab Jewess spokeswomen for NPR may be delighted to report that "a settler shot a Palestinian driver" but the fact is that numerous Palestinian drivers have, with deliberation, crashed into Israeli vehicles and tried to hit pedestrians. Very few are declared Terrorist attacks, but rather "traffic accidents"....Except for a few notable exceptions. Do you recall when the Israeli bus was forced off the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv road near Tel Stone and it crashed over a steep cliff? Many died and were injured. And when an Arab bus driver (as he said: "merely on an impulse") rammed his bus into a crowd of Israelis awaiting a ride, also with many casualties? I am sure there are others. I wonder if the Traffic Police would take accidents caused by Arab Muslim Palestinian more seriously if they finally understood that their intent was just the same as the plane hijackers who flew their planes into the Twin Towers? *** We almost sent this Monday September 27 as is above but, had second thoughts about many issues in the reported story: 1. It was slanted. Credibility went to the Arab 'eyewitnesses'. The word 'eyewitnesses' was used 5 times. 2. No names of suspect, his occupation, his story. 3. Why did the minivan with 6 Arabs evade an army checkpoint? 4. Yehoshua Elitzur, a 32 year old (mature) shepherd (on foot). At age 32 he was probably a soldier, a reserve soldier or on guard. His weapon was licensed. He reported directly to either the Police or the Army depending on which story you read. 5. The Arab Muslims from Beit Faruk in the area of Nablus (Schehem) have murdered 13 Jews from Itamar in 4 separate incidents. 6. Why did the Israeli police or IDF accept the "eyewitnesses of 5 Arabs" over 1 Jew? 7. Why is the M16 even mentioned? An M16 is standard issue for every soldier and settler. Elitzur was licensed to carry this gun. 8. What would you do in an empty field, if a minivan with 6 Arabs who Elitzur had seen evade an Army checkpoint is facing you on a dirt road and accelerates toward you at high speed - especially given the above history of 13 Jews murdered by Arabs? HERE IS THE STORY AS IT APPEARED ON TUESDAY: jsid@dorsai.org Tuesday, September 28, 2004 - 13 Tishrei 5765 4- ITAMAR RESIDENT CHARGED WITH KILLING ARAB "Yehoshua Elitzur, a 32-year-old shepherd from the Itamar, Shomron region was arrested yesterday after reporting to the IDF that he had just shot a suspicious Arab who had sneaked through an army checkpoint near Beit Faruk. "According to Eliitzur, "When I saw the suspicious car sneak by the checkpoint, I chased after the car, aimed my weapon at the vehicle and ordered the driver out of the car. The Arab driver then tried to run me down, at which time I opened fire on him." "Police plan to indict Elitzur quickly on manslaughter or murder charges. Voice of Judea Commentary: "Arabs in this region have a wonderful track record when it comes to murdering Jews. Over the past 2 years, no less than 13 Jews from Itamar have been murdered by Arabs from Beit Farouk, in 4 separate incidents. Naturally the Israeli police accept the version of the Arabs and not of the Jewish victim who, on his own, came to report the incident to the army. Enough with the Sharon appeasement policy that has trickled down to the soldiers in the field." Arutz Sheva IsraelNationalNews.com 10:30 Sep-28-04/ 13 Tishrei 5765 "Police Requesting Extended Remand of Shomron Resident (IsraelNN.com) Police today will request the extended remand of a Shomron resident who was arrested yesterday after firing at an Arab van driver whom he believed was intending to run him down. "The suspect was standing on the side of the road near Itamar waiting for a ride when he noticed the van heading directly at him at a high speed. He told police that he attempted to signal the driver in an effort to ascertain his intentions but the driver continued heading towards him, prompting him to pull his licensed weapon and fire. The driver was killed." *** WINSTON'S CONCLUSIONS: So, all we have to wait for is the Leftist Media and a Leftist Court to accept the eyewitness accounts of Arab Muslim Palestinians, who lie with impunity against all Israelis. No doubt, there have been hundreds of such incidents of Palestinian drivers crashing into Israeli vehicles or pedestrians but, the government routinely plays down the statistics lest Israelis are provoked to retaliate. 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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CHARITY SHOULD BEGIN AT HOME
Posted by Tamar Rush, September 27, 2004. |
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Background: Tzfat, one of Israel's four holy cities, is in economic crisis with a large percentage of families living at or below the poverty line. And the number is increasing. "Lev U'Neshama" (Heart and Soul), is attempting to collect funds to assist Tzfat's poor. This money is used to help relieve the mounting pressure of grocery store debts and to provide food vouchers. It is bothersome, considering the number of people in Israel who are in need - especially now, when the tourist industry has been disrupted - to find organizations that call themselves Jewish but who only help other people, but not Jews. Rabbi Rothenberg of Lev U'Neshama asked one of these organizations, American Jewish World Service (AJWS), for grant aid and received a reply from Jennifer Gaviston, AJWS Administrator and Grants Manager. She wrote: "... The inspiration for AJWS' work is drawn from the demand for social justice articulated by the Jewish tradition. ... Unfortunately, we do not currently work in Israel. It is our policy to make non-emergency grants to organizations only in countries in which we have some working familiarity, and we currently do not have enough professional contacts there to adequately support a partnership between our organization and your own." This was the Lev U'Neshama's response to her letter: "Thank you for your recent e-mail to Rabbi Rottenberg regarding the work of Lev U'Neshama. While we are well aware of AJWS and your mandate, we are most curious to know why, when you use the term Jewish in your name, why don't you work in Israel? Truly this seems very strange to us all. Donations of $25 or more can be sent to the PEF Israel Endowment Fund, 317 Madison Ave., #607 New York, NY 10017, with a note that the funds are to be sent to Tzfat, Israel in care of "Lev V Neshama" to help feed the poor. The PEF office sends a US Tax Deduction Receipt to donors who send $25 or more. The PEF office phone is 212-599-1260 for those who wish to verify credibility of "Lev u' Neshama." |
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HAR HABAYIT B'YADENU
Posted by David Wilder, September 27, 2004. |
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Shalom.
For the past few days we've been hearing commentators discuss the probable catastrophe that will occur should Muslim Ramadan prayers take place on a particular section of Temple Mount, called Solomon's stables. Perhaps an introduction is in order. In just over three weeks, on the 15th of October, (which is the last day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei), the Arabs celebrate the beginning of the month of Ramadan. According to Muslim faith, it was during the month of Ramadan that the Koran 'was sent down from Heaven.' Moslems ostensibly fast from sunup to sunset daily, for the entire month. According to one source, "Ramadan is a time when Muslims concentrate on their faith and spend less time on the concerns of their everyday lives. It is a time of worship and contemplation." [http://www.holidays.net/ramadan/story.htm] (I might add, it is also a time that Arabs use to try and kill Jews.) Where, at all, is the Muslim connection to Jerusalem and Temple Mount? According to Lebanese Arab journalist Joseph Farah, it is not true that the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem represent Islam's third most holy sites. In fact, the Koran says nothing about Jerusalem. It mentions Mecca hundreds of times. It mentions Medina countless times. It never mentions Jerusalem! With good reason. There is no historical evidence to suggest Mohammed ever visited Jerusalem. So how did Jerusalem become the third holiest site of Islam? Muslims today cite a vague passage in the Koran, the seventeenth Sura, entitled "The Night Journey." It relates that in a dream or a vision Mohammed was carried by night "from the sacred temple to the temple that is most remote, whose precinct we have blessed, that we might show him our signs." In the seventh century, some Muslims identified the two temples mentioned in this verse as being in Mecca and Jerusalem. And that's as close as Islam's connection with Jerusalem gets -- myth, fantasy, wishful thinking. And he concludes, "Meanwhile, Jews can trace their roots in
Jerusalem back to the days of Abraham." -
In an essay by Lambert Dolpin, "In A.D. 691 Caliph Abd el-Malik commissioned the best architects to build the Dome of the Rock. His plan was based upon a Fourth Century Christian shrine on the Mount of Olives marking the site of Jesus' Ascension. The Caliph's new shrine was deliberately built as a political, economic, and religious counter attraction to Mecca. Medina and Mecca, the two cities holy to Islam, were under the control of a rival Caliph. Abd El-Malik sought to build up the importance of Jerusalem as an Islamic center for pilgrimage and worship. The holy spot of Judaism was now to be identified with the spot where Mohammed's horse ascended to heaven." Another indication that Jerusalem was not considered of great importance to the Muslim armies is the fact that it was one of last cities taken by the Syrian Muslims after the death of Mohammed. It was conquered by a mediocre commander, and not by Omar himself. The Arabs first called the city Ilya (Aelia Capitolina) rather than Beit el-Maqdas (the holy house). An early Muslim proverb says, "One prayer in Mecca is valued as ten thousand prayers; a prayer in Medina is valued at one thousand prayers; and a prayer in Jerusalem at five hundred prayers." Although Abd El-Malik had commissioned the structure, it became known as The Mosque of Omar. The structure, however, was not (and is not today) a mosque, but rather a shrine. [http://www.templemount.org/allah.html] In any case, literally tens, and even hundreds of thousands of Arabs worship at Har HaBayit, Temple Mount in Jerusalem during Ramadan, especially on Friday afternoons. Recently, studies conducted by engineers, including a team from Egypt, concluded that the supports in the area called Solomon's Stables, (named as such during the Crusader period,) are very weak and will likely collapse in the event that tens of thousands of people fill the site. According to Israeli sources, the area can suitably hold up to 30,000 people, yet during Ramadan prayers, that number is multiplied several times over. There are several reasons for this weakened condition. According to the Israel Antiquities Authority, over the past few years, the Waqf, or Muslim religion trust, has conducted unauthorized and unsupervised construction in that vicinity, in an attempt to expand Arab control of Temple Mount. This has caused tremendous deterioration of the structural supports. An Ha'Aretz newspaper article concerning illegal work at the area states: "At the end of November 1999, the Waqf tricked the government of Israel, and under the pretext of opening an emergency exit to the Solomon's Stables mosque - which had been built illegally and inaugurated in December of 1996 - the Waqf took advantage of the negligence of the government of Israel and its indifference to the fate of the archaeological remains on the Temple Mount, dug a huge 2,000-square meter pit beneath the Temple Mount some 13 meters deep, and opened a main door to the Solomon's Stable mosque 10 meters wide and 13 meters high. In addition, the recent earthquake which shook Israel also weakened these supports. The result of these studies points to, not a possible collapse, rather an almost certain disintegration of the floor, causing tens, if not hundreds of thousands of casualties. So what is Israel doing in order to prevent this calamity, which almost inevitably would be blamed on the Jews? The State of Israel sent high-level representatives of the police force to speak with members of the Jordanian government, trying to convince them of the seriousness of the impending disaster. They are also pleading with Waqf leadership to restrict the number of visitors allowed on Temple Mount during Ramadan. Of course, Arab reaction to Israel's begging has been that of derision and scorn. Israel's pleas are nothing more than a hoax in an attempt to keep Arabs from worshiping at their 'holy site.' Any effort by Israel to prevent Muslims from praying on Temple Mount will result in nothing less than jihad! What should Israel do? First of all, we should never plead or beg about what is rightfully ours. Temple Mount is the most sacred place in the world. The First and Second Temples were constructed on Temple Mount hundreds and thousands of years before Muhammad was born. This site has been politicized by our enemies in an attempt to delegitimize Israel's most basic claims to our land, Eretz Yisrael. The Arab world in general, and most specifically the Waqf, is a declared enemy of the State of Israel and rejects our very existence in our land. Why should Israel negotiate with them? Why must Israel send 'police representatives' to speak to the Jordanians? Temple Mount falls within the sovereign jurisdiction of the State of Israel. It is the undeniable heart and soul of Jewish spirituality. Why must we get down on our knees before any foreign nation, concerning anywhere in our land, and particularly, Temple Mount? What Israel must do is clear. Har HaBayit Temple Mount - must be immediately closed to all visitors. Jewish law forbids anyone from treading on this sacred ground. And if that is difficult for some to swallow, the possibility of tens of thousands of people buried beneath the rubble of a collapsed floor should be enough to convince anyone needing convincing. We need not ask anyone, we need not appeal to anyone. By means of contrast, the Statue of Liberty in New York City was closed for a number of years, due to structural faults and security problems. Did the United States ask the French, who gave Lady Liberty to the Americans in the 1800s, if they minded? Did the U.S. ask anyone in the free world their opinion - after all, the Statue of Liberty represents freedom, democracy and international friendship. Closing such a monument is an insult to the entire Western World! Drivel and gibberish! No greater nonsense could possibly be spouted! So why must Israel bend over backwards to spew out such idiocy. In June 1967, General Mota Gur exclaimed, "Har HaBayit b'yadenu" - "Temple Mount is in our Hands." Almost 40 years later, the time has come to apply these words in actions, showing the nations of the world, and proving to ourselves: Har HaBayit b'yadenu! 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, Israel or by email to hebron@hebron.org.il, or by phone to 972-2-9965333. Or write to The Hebron Fund, 1760 Ocean Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11230, hebronfund@aol.com |
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THE BODY SHOP'S ROLE IN EXPLOITING HUMAN RIGHTS
Posted by NGO Monitor Organization, September 27, 2004. |
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Body Shop, an international chain of cosmetics stores, awarded one of four "Body Shop Human Rights Awards" (and $75,000) to the pro-Palestinian NGO known as ADRID: "the Association for the Defence of the Rights of the Internally Displaced". This award triggered protests and critical analysis from those concerned at this abuse of the term 'human rights', as detailed in an August 5, 2004 article in The American Thinker. This led to the removal of the details of the award from the Body Shop's website. As a result of these events, the NGO Monitor has prepared the following analysis of ADRID. Based in Nazareth, ADRID is a member of the highly politicized NGO umbrella group known as Ittijah (Union of Arab Community Based Organizations). According to Ittijah, ADRID's goal is "The return of displaced Palestinians within the Green Line to their villages and homes which they were expelled from, in accordance with UN resolution 194." (This resolution, adopted in December 1948, is a complex package, including Arab recognition of Israel and formal peace agreements, and was never implemented.) (See Ruth Lapidoth, "Legal Aspects of the Palestinian Refugee Question"). ADRID does not have its own website, and does not disclose sources of funding. However, the organization is profiled on the website of the Global IDP Project of the Norwegian Refugee Council, which in turn is funded jointly by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the British Department for International Development, the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, the Australian Government Overseas Aid (AUSAID), etc. Although they are Israeli citizens, ADRID officials who promote their political campaigns do not disguise their anti-Israel agenda of demonization. Following the standard Palestinian narrative, they erase the context and history of the 1947-8 war and violent Arab rejection of UN Resolution 181. ADRID simply claims that "The experience of Palestinians before, during and after the 1948 al-Nakba is the result of the Zionist policies of occupation, violence and military eviction." Further, ADRID claims that "Consecutive Israeli governments have robbed refugee properties and homes, destroyed our villages and confiscated our lands by means of discriminatory, ethnic legislation and by denying our right of return to our homeland?" ADRID's manifesto of November 19, 1999 contains language that is considered to be anti-Semitic, casting blame for the Palestinian refugee situation on "Zionist conspiracies" and claiming that the establishment of the State of Israel was "gained with the support of international Zionist and imperialist forces". Despite claiming to specifically represent the interests of Palestinian Arabs of Israeli citizenship, ADRID also repeats the standard maximalist demands of the wider Palestinian leadership, claiming that "The refugee issue is the heart of the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict" and "The Palestinian refugees' right to return to their homeland and homes is a sacred right?" In response to protests from customers concerned at the award of a human rights prize to ADRID, The Body Shop declared (despite evidence to the contrary) that it "does not have a position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." The removal of relevant pages from the company's website suggests a possible recognition that this NGO has indeed used the veneer of human rights as a cover for promoting its extremist political agenda. (A press release about the award is still available at the site of Badil - a pro-Palestinian website.) Whether other supporters of ADRID will reach the same conclusion remains to be seen. The NGO Monitor organization (www.ngo-monitor.org) promotes critical debate and accountability of human rights NGOs in the Arab Israeli Conflict. The Monitor is produced by The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs/Institute of Contemporary Affairs. |
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ROLE OF DIPLOMATS; ARAB EXCUSES; ISRAELI LUNATIC ARAB FRINGE
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, September 27, 2004. |
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ARAB JOB APPLICATION IN P.A. Countries are not donating enough to the terrorist P.A. regime to compensate for the P.A. ruining its economy and making war in the style to which it has become accustomed. Rather than sacrifice any graft, the P.A. recruits fewer terrorist militiamen into its armed forces. How are unemployed terrorist gunmen supposed to feed their Arab families while they slaughter Jewish families? Their solution is to kidnap P.A. employers, i.e., P.A. terrorist officials, by way of persuading them to hire. THE WORLD WAR'S "TWO-HEADED MONSTER" Two rules of strategy are: (1) Understand the enemy; and (2) Avoid having too many enemies. To avoid having to fight all of Islam, Daniel Pipes makes a distinction between radical and moderate Islam. That distinction may not properly estimate the enemy. In defining WWIV, Norman Podhoretz' term for the enemy, "a two-headed monster," epitomizes a point I have been making for years. There is an affinity between the Islamists, whose ideology may be extreme but is not contrary to Islam, and the other Muslims. Mr. Podhoretz calls the other Muslims "secular." Most really are not secular. Although they do not run theocracies, they do establish Islam. Their culture is the same as the radicals'. They all are more or less anti-Western. The supposed secularists prefer the radicals to the infidels. That is why Podhoretz pointed out the alliance of sorts between Saddam and Al Qaida. Saddam originally paid little devotion to Islam. In his last few years, however, he allowed Islamists more influence in Iraq, as he rallied the Arab world against the West and the UN sanctions. The salient feature of his shift to overt Islamic identification was the ease with which he accomplished it. The gap he originally closed had not been wide. ARAB EXCUSES The world did not know what to expect from Nazism and was unprepared to resist it. Its early successes first were from Hitler's bluffing and then against weaker military forces. The Wehrmacht seemed like supermen. Then the Germans came up against tough Russian, US, and British forces. Defeated, the Germans produced excuses: somebody else did the bad things and they didn't know what was happening; they did the bad things but just were following orders. The Arabs also are full of excuses for evil deeds: what was done is not terrorism; what was done is terrorism but they didn't commit it; they committed terrorism but acted contrary to Islam. How many bad Muslims there must be. What will those who call them contrarians do about that? Like the Nazis, the Arabs blame everything bad on the Jews, whose reputation they defame. While claiming that the Jews control the world, they wipe out large numbers of those supposedly all-powerful Jews. Both the Nazis and the Arabs themselves have tried to do just what they accused the Jews of doing, controlling the world. Ironically, the Arabs accuse the Jews committing terrorism and trying to poison people, the Zionists, who boosted Arab life expectancy! Oh my fellow Jews of good will to all mankind, good deeds for the Arab boomerang. THE ROLE OF THE DIPLOMAT After having listed S. Arabia as oppressing religious freedom, Sec. of State Powell was interviewed by a Saudi journalist. His reply was contemptibly obsequious. I once wanted to join the Foreign Service; now I wonder how anybody could. How do our diplomats avoid laughing when they so excessively flatter enemies without arousing deserved suspicion? ISRAELI LUNATIC LEFTIST FRINGE REALLY DANGEROUS The Israeli government and people no longer pay attention to the Far Left, recognizing it as psychologically damaged. They should. Far Left academics may be few in number and declining in domestic importance, but they wield great influence abroad. These academics constantly devise new charges against Israel and publish them abroad. Foreign newspapers, such as the Guardian, and antisemitic groups repeat these charges and gain a certain acceptance of them. This demeans Israel's reputation and keeps Europe, for example, from realizing the Islamist menace to it. Due to the recipients' own bias, the charges are not examined and rejected on merit. The Far Left's record of failure in predictions goes unnoticed. One widely circulated prediction was that masses of reservists would refuse call-ups. Instead, they answered calls in unusually high percentages. Another libel, eventually refuted but only after having damaged Israel's standing, was that Israel committed a terrible massacre in Jenin. The fringe gives the false impression, by means of its vigorous campaigning and access to the media, that Israeli society is deeply and evenly divided. Arafat concludes that Israel will not defend itself. He is encouraged to make war. (He partly is right, for even Sharon hardly defended Israel, taking years to ramp up the raids on the P.A. and even then not doing so thoroughly and now seeking to run away from the war.) The latest canard is the Far Left warning, based on distorting statements by the Chief of Staff, that Israel is planning war crimes against the P.A.. The Far Left should be denouncing actual war crimes committed by the P.A. Its failure to do so proves itself hypocritically unconcerned about war crimes and emotionally sick in its unconcern for its own people's unwarranted casualties. These fringe academics have the right of free speech and the right to sign petitions in behalf of terrorists, but their universities ought not to raise money from US Jewry on the grounds that they are helping Israel (Prof. Steven Plaut, 9/7, e-mail). CAN THE U.S. AFFORD TO FIGHT BACK? The US acts as if daunted by the prospect of having to invest heavily in a military, already criticized for consuming too high a proportion of tax revenue, to expand the war on Islamism. Actually, the military consumes a lower proportion of tax revenue now than in recent years. It spends only 3.6% of the gross domestic product! The US could afford to defend itself. (Can it afford not to?) (Rebuilding the military, a periodic mission, would mean raising taxes.) Mark Helprin suggests mounting a vigorous defense. He would direct it initially against Iran, racing to develop nuclear weapons and being a mainstay of international terrorism. He would start with an ultimatum to stand down its nuclear development. If not complied with, the US would rid the Gulf of Iranian naval and coastal defense forces, and Iranian soil of anti-aircraft capability. We would prepare long-range bombers for worse. If there's still no compliance, the US would destroy every nuclear, ballistic missile, military research, and military technical facility in the country, vowing to return if any are rebuilt (Wm. F. Buckley Jr., NY Sun, 9/16, p.9). I do not know whether that percentage is accurate. Mr. Helprin did not assign a role to, or coordination with, the people of Iran, who want to free themselves of their theocracy. Would they continue developing nuclear weapons? I think so. Does it matter? Not so long as they guard them and keep the mullahs at bay. But if they fail? SOURCE OF TERRORISM AND HOW TO COUNTER IT Most terrorism is done in the name of Islam. Muslim radicals motivate religiously and seek religious sanction for each attack. Their indoctrination enables sleeper cells here to resist the lure of Western civilization (and to hold it in contempt). This truth is called bigoted. Since the roots of radical behavior are not political, political gestures would not appeal to the radicals to desist. (How come those who think terrorism is rooted in poverty fail to notice how little there is of it in most poor, non-Muslim cultures and how much general violence Arab culture condones?) The Islamist philosophy deems the ways of the Prophet perfect and a guide. The outside world's religious innovation, relativism, and pluralism do not influence Islam. (The latter two blight Western civilization and defense of it.) Another hoary Muslim precept is that countries formerly under Muslim rule must revert to it. The Islamists seek to recapture these areas. They preach it is each Muslims' duty. They credit their success in Afghanistan against the USSR not at all to US arms but entirely to Islam.) The more they fight against the odds, the more virtuous. The more a commanders leads battles, the more prestigious. The more successful, as on 9/11, the more followers volunteer. Hence the US must not lose in Iraq. Although those beliefs are radical, they fit within the traditions of Islam. Moderates do not dispute their authenticity, but prefer to de-emphasize such behavior. Resolution of this difference in emphasis requires Islamic legal analysis, just as there is in fatwas authorizing attacks. Traditionally, Muslims support jihad financially. No Muslim cleric has considered banning donations for jihad. (Nor have Muslims complained about being defrauded for charitable donations that went for jihad. Often they knew where the money was going, and approved. They are not innocent civilians.) Moderates don't like to confront radicals, lest they disunite Muslims. Radicals exploit this reluctance when they warn of civil war, if criticized. Muslims in the West can get aroused by radical exhortation. How should the West cope with radical Islam? The West has a serous disadvantage. Western government rarely intervenes against organized religions. It is constrained by concepts of civil rights and concern about being called anti-Muslim. (It mistakenly assumes that Islam is solely a religion rather than a war society with a religious basis.) The West is reluctant to punish inflammatory mosque imams, though Muslim states do so, or clerics who issue fatwas authorizing terrorism. Whereas W. Europe defines ideological crimes such as Nazism and racism, the US does not. Arab states clamp down on clerical excesses, but would not join the war on radical Islam. Islamists want to destroy Western civilization. The answer is not just military defense or offense or democratization. The answer must be in religious ideology, too: (1) The West must press the Islamic Establishment to join with us; (2) It must make binding legal rulings against the radicals; (3) Reform Islamic dogmas; (4) Disavow a state of jjhad with the rest of the world; (5) Rule that jihad is not a personal duty; (6) Prohibit menacing non-Muslims in Muslim countries; (7) Declare suicide bombings as suicide and therefore damnable; (7) Rule financial and moral support for terrorism illegal; and (8) Declare heretical the claims that jihad is a duty. The West should review freedom of religion and speech and redefine religious "incitement" and clerical criminal responsibility for what they influence (Jewish Political Chronicle, 7/204, p.7 from Shmuel Bar, Policy Review). So far, the author's views are not accepted. Although Saddam was not religious and he invaded Kuwait, the Kuwaitis hate the US for making war on Muslim Iraq, even though it was to save Kuwait. That is like the Islamist view. MULTILATERALISM FAILED Although most commentators disagree about how to solve the problems of the Mideast, they agree that the "international community" should solve them and by consensus. What fantasizing! (Whom do they think created these problems?) Nobody should doubt, especially after the recent Chechen massacre of Russian children, that the Islamists have a death cult putting their threat beyond negotiation. But doubters there are; would- be negotiators await the call. Isn't that fantasizing, too? Many Westerners, being tolerant, favor multilateralism. They would prefer to organize broad coalitions to form military missions. The world works differently. Most countries won't join; others wait for a leader, committed to a military mission that they then can follow without risking being isolated and a sure enemy target. (Unfortunately, now terrorism coerces them out of coalitions.) The failure of the "international" community to built broad coalitions to fight against international terrorism failed as early as 1974, when Arafat was invited to give a speech at the UN instead of taken to the gallows, and he wore his holster. Indeed, the consensus is building that international terrorism is legitimate (especially against Israel). Multilateralism and the "international community" are failures. Let us move from fantasy to realism by acknowledging that (Lee Smith, NY Sun, 9/16, p.9). Were it up to a consensus, we'd not have the 10 Commandments. Multilateralism was called "collective security," before WWII. France had organized an alliance to contain Germany. When Nazi Germany started to demand submission of, and attacked, individual members of the coalition, Britain and France let Germany seize several minor members before realizing that they would be next. That was an earlier failure of coalition politics. WHAT TO DO ABOUT IRAN'S NUCLEAR DEVELOPMENT The European countries made an agreement with Iran, whereby Iran thought it was signing up for more inspection, and the Europeans thought it was promising not to turn to military nuclear development. In any case, the European countries were foolish to imagine that Iran, which ignores its own Constitution, would honor, and were honoring, an agreement with infidels. Instead, Iran advanced its nuclear development by nine months. You might suppose that as a major exporter of oil, Iran would not need to develop even peaceful nuclear development, given the problems that poses. Not true. In 1970, they projected that it would need all of its oil production domestically by 2010. Since then, Iran has declined economically, but it still would want to spare its oil for export income. With its civilian nuclear base, Iran easily can develop military usage. If Iran were a peaceful country, this would not matter (Jewish Political Chronicle, 7/2004, p.18 from Ardreshir Zahedi, Scotsman, 7/1). Too many matches for fire-prevention. S. ARABIA'S BIG MISTAKE Decades ago, Egypt and Syria expelled Islamists. S. Arabia welcomed them. As the Islamist strength in the country grew, the royal family turned education, courts, and cultural affairs over to it. It was then, in the 1980s, that women were prohibited from television, music was banned from the media, stores closed during prayer times, the religious police were given more power, and religion was emphasized in school (Jewish Political Chronicle, 7/2004, p.19 from Fareed Zakaria, Newsweek, 6/28). The country went from bad to worse. 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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WHAT IS REALLY SHOCKING, AND WHO IS REALLY INCITING
Posted by Women in Green, September 26, 2004. |
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Below is an English translation of the article that Nadia Matar prepared in connection with the announced intention of the Minister of Internal Security, Gideon Ezra, who publicly announced that Nadia would be interrogated by the police before Yom Kippur. That did not happen. The essay contains a list of quotes, and is therefore longer than usual. However it is a must for members of the National Camp to use in case he or she is accused of "incitement." I sent a letter to the head of the Deportation Administration, Mr. Yonatan Bassi, in which I wrote that the fact that he plans to send a personal letter to each of the inhabitants of Gush Katif designated for transfer, and that his letter contains a "personal appeal and initial explanation of the evacuation process," fills me with chilling associations from the Holocaust. I attached to my letter one that had been written by the Berlin Judenrat in 1942 to the Jewish community, with details and explanations of the approaching deportation. I wrote to Bassi that, in my opinion, the document from 1942 was chillingly similar to the letter that he was about to send. I further stated that I believe that "Yonatan Bassi is a much worse version of the Judenrat in the Holocaust, for then in the Holocaust, this was forced upon those Jewish leaders by the Nazis, and it is very difficult for us to judge them today. But today no one stands with a pistol to Bassi's head and forces him to cooperate with the deportation of the Jews of Gush Katif and northern Samaria." I added that "whoever aids in the deportation of the Jews of Gush
Katif and northern Samaria in actuality aids an anti-Semitic act, and
will be so remembered to everlasting abhorrence." I concluded the
letter with an emotional appeal to Bassi that "he still can resign
from his contemptible position and enter Yom Kippur, the Day of
Judgment, clean and at peace with his conscience, without being part
of the modern Judenrat - the Deportation Administration" (the entire
letter in Hebrew and the letter from 1942, also in Hebrew, can be seen
at the Hebrew language Women in Green web site:
The letter received wide exposure, and I must admit - I am shocked.
I am shocked by the responses of the establishment and the state
media. All cry out to high heaven, because of the use of the strong
epithet I applied to Bassi - while, on the other hand, no one is
disturbed by the criminal act that Ariel Sharon seeks to commit, with
Bassi's help, against which I cry out in my letter: the brutal
deportation of Jews from their inheritance and their homes - most of
whom are already the third generation on the land - men, women, and
children, against their will, solely because they are Jews. This will
be accompanied by the razing of their homes, the elimination of their
lives' undertaking, the destruction of scores of synagogues, ritual
baths, kindergartens, libraries, and schools; the disinterment of
dozens of bodies from the cemeteries - many of them, the victims of
Arab terror. And the trauma of ethnic cleansing will be followed by
the ultimate crime: the handing over of all the Judenrein territory to
the Arab enemy, territory that is the inheritance of our forefathers,
that they were given by G-d, and that no Jew is permitted to give
away. This is a national crime that will (correctly) be interpreted by
the Arab enemy as a victory for terror, and will incite it to continue
to murder Jews in Israel and throughout the world, knowing that these
murders will result in additional "disengagement" plans - and this
time from Netanyah, Haderah, Askhelon, Beersheva, Tel Aviv, and
Jerusalem.
Instead of this terrifying scenario shaking every Jew to the very
depths of his soul, instead of this scenario causing every public
figure in Israel - the politicians, the Rabbis, civil rights
activists, journalists, and others - from stopping their everyday
routine to cry for help "Gevalt!", instead of this scenario resulting
in a general strike by the entire country until the despicable plan is
shelved, instead of all that, this is accepted naturally, with
frightening tranquility. Yes, they "express sorrow and identification
with those earmarked for uprooting and transfer, "but there is no
shock, no outcry of "Gevalt," no proclamation that this is
inconceivable, as if this were a heavenly decree! And about what is
everyone alarmed? About the victim daring to call the hangman names!!
Just imagine the response in Israel and the world if the French
government were to declare that "because of the great antagonism
between Muslims and Jews in Paris, all the Jews must leave Paris by
the end of 2005." All the houses of the Jews, the synagogues, the
schools, and all other Jewish properties in Paris would be put at the
disposal of the Muslim community. Jews who would oppose the evacuation
would be forcibly placed in internment camps by the French security
forces. Just imagine the response in Israel and the world if the
Israeli Prime Minister were to declare that "by the end of 2005 there
will no longer be any Arabs in Israel." Every Arab who would dare to
resist the evacuation would be removed forcibly by the security forces
and would be arrested. In each of the cases depicted above, a
worldwide outcry would result. Everyone would compare the decree to
the Holocaust period. Derogatory epithets would be hurled at those
implementing the deportation, and the entire country would be
disrupted by violent demonstrations, that would be organized
spontaneously as soon as the plan became known.
And I ask: how is it that when Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
proclaims to the entire world that "by the end of 2005 there will no
longer be any Jews in Gaza," and even adds that the operation to
deport Jews, simply because they are Jews, is not limited to Gaza, but
also that additional extensive portions of our land, our homeland,
will be handed over to the Arab enemy and become Judenrein - this is
accepted without an upheaval similar to the outcry that would arise in
response to either of these two scenarios?
One woman answered this question and told me: "Because Ariel Sharon
is a Jew and this is a government of Jews, and so they are permitted."
To which I respond: To the contrary! This is even more horrendous,
just because this is a Jewish government! Master of the Universe,
after two thousand years of Exile during which the worst of
anti-Semites persecuted the Jews, expelled us, murdered us, burnt us,
we have finally returned to the portion of our forefathers, to the
Promised Land, and we established the State of Israel "to be a free
people in our land" - and, oh, the horror of it! here, too, we are
deported because we are Jews. This time it is not the Romans who are
committing the crime, but our Jewish brothers! This is a crime for
which there can be no atonement.
The late Shmuel Shnitzer already wrote about this in 1990, in an
article in Maariv (February 23, 1990) entitled "The Racists": If we
are the people of the Bible, if "the Land of Israel was the birthplace
of the Jewish people" (in the words of the Israeli Proclamation of
Independence), if this land is the land of the dreams, longings, and
prayers of the people of Israel throughout all the generations of its
exile and dispersion, how is it possible to determine, specifically
now, that some areas are outside the bounds of the Children of Israel?
In the places where the residence of Jews must be stopped, in the past
the kings of Israel were enthroned, the prophets of Israel delivered
their message of morality and justice, the freedom fighters of Israel
shed their blood in the defense of their homeland. And there, of all
the lands in the world, will be established the only area in the
modern world in which the residence of Jews will be prohibited? I do
not think that discrimination against Jews and the determination of
areas within the Land of Israel as Judenrein, in which Jews may not
live, becomes more respectable due to the fact that some Jews consent
to this. For me, the true nature of all the restrictions of the
"except for Jews" type is not in question. Whoever champions them,
whoever preaches on their behalf, whoever bases his political theory
on them, has to be capable of explaining why this anti-Jewish
discrimination is any better or more valid than the old type that the
world vomited up in revulsion 45 years ago.
Accordingly, in order to upset the entire system, I wrote what I did to Bassi. Since I have learned from the Internet that I might shortly have to undergo questioning by the police for my statements, I therefore wish to defend my letter, and show that there is nothing wrong, or inciting, in the epithets and the comparison that I used. I will show that it is not I who should be put on trial, but other prominent public figures.
My use of the word "Judenrat" and my stating to Bassi that "you are
worse than the Judenrat of that time" resulted in two types of harsh
criticism directed against me by the media and by the establishment.
The first charge raised against me is that the use of Holocaust
terminology is unfit and forbidden. The second, that my letter
constitutes incitement to harm Bassi.
I wish to relate to both charges, to categorically deny them, and
to indicate the hypocrisy of my critics:
1) The use of Holocaust terminology: The Jewish public in Israel
and the world, from the left and the right, is divided on the question
of the permissibility of the use of Holocaust terminology. Is it
legitimate to compare then and now? Doesn't the use of terms from, and
comparisons with, the Holocaust diminish the horrors of the
destruction of European Jewry? Some say that the entire subject of the
Holocaust is untouchable. It is sacred, and we are not allowed to use
any word that recalls the Holocaust, because there is no situation
today that can be comparable to what was then. I respect those who
hold such an opinion, and I know that I cannot convince them to think
otherwise. Since, however, they do not have a monopoly on the
Holocaust, I am entitled to disagree with them and maintain that it is
very important to make comparisons, to draw conclusions, and to act so
that there will not be another Holocaust.
I was born and raised in Belgium. A considerable portion of my
family was destroyed in the Holocaust. Throughout my childhood I heard
from my grandparents about the stories and about the horrors. Already
at a young age I made a promise to myself to do everything so that it
would not happen again, that I would act so that the murder of my
family would not have been for nothing, that I would do everything not
to forget, and not to forgive.
In my humble opinion, the Holocaust is an event that could recur,
in some form or other, if we do not open our eyes and understand that
the Nazi monster is still breathing, and attempting to continue what
Hitler, may his memory be blotted out, did not have time to finish. I
am speaking of the Arabs around us, who have been trying, even from
before the establishment of the State of Israel, to eliminate any
Jewish existence in Eretz Israel, regardless of our borders. The Arabs
have been murdering us on a daily basis from the days of the pogroms
in 1929 (when it could not be claimed that we were "occupiers"). They
slaughter Jews at every opportunity, whether in war or in terror
attack, cold-bloodedly firing at the heads of Jewish infants. Muslim
suicide bombers explode buses, pizza parlors, and discotheques full of
Jews. It is they who are the modern version of the Nazis. Every
thinking person knows, or should know, that Hitler's legacy plays a
starring role in the Muslim world. Hitler's book Mein Kampf is a
bestseller in all the Arab countries. Everyone knows, or should know,
that the hero of the Arabs, Haj Amin el-Husseini, was Hitler's close
friend, and together they planned the Holocaust of the Jews of Eretz
Israel. Every intelligent person knows, or should know, that all the
wars and terror attacks by the Arabs against us have the same goal:
the total destruction of the State of Israel, and the elimination of
all its Jewish inhabitants. Every intelligent person knows, or should
know, that every sign of weakness, submission, or retreat by Israel
will encourage the Nazi-Arab enemy and incite him to engage in more
and more terror.
Consequently, every political plan that will merely play into the
hands of the Nazi-Arab enemy and bring him closer to his final goal,
that is, the removal of the Jews from Israel and the elimination of
the Jewish state, is a dangerous plan against which we must sound the
alarm. While, during the Holocaust, the Jews of the Judenrat played
into the hands of the Nazi foe when they (unwillingly) collaborated
and aided in the deportation of the Jews (without knowing the
destination of the transports); today, Sharon's deportation plan also
plays into the hands of the Nazi-Arab enemy, incites him to murder
more and more Jews, and is liable - if, Heaven forbid, it were to be
realized - to result in tens of thousands of murdered Jews, by
Katushas and rockets fired from Gaza and northern Samaria to the
densely populated centers in Gush Dan. In addition, Sharon's plan
would give fuel to the antisemites in the world. They would rightfully
say: "If a Jewish government can uproot Jews and deport them from
their historic homeland; we in Europe can do the same and deport our
Jews far away from here". Thus, in my eyes, the comparison between
Yonatan Bassi (and Ariel Sharon) and the Judenrat is definitely
appropriate. With the proviso that Bassi and Sharon constitute a much
more horrible version, since, unlike the Judenrat of then, today,
there is no one holding a gun to Sharon and Bassi's forehead and
demanding that they commit the deportation crime.
People like Minister Sharansky, who claimed that I compared the
government of Israel with the Nazi regime, are wrong and deceptive. I
would never compare Jew and Nazi! As I said, the Arabs who murder us
today should remind us of the Nazis then. And Jews who play into the
hands of the Nazi-Arab enemy with political plans that are the
realization of the Hamas platform (the expulsion of Jews from Eretz
Israel) should remind us of the Judenrat, in a more terrible version.
All those who have joined the outcry should recall the words of
Ariel Sharon from nine years ago, when he was interviewed by the Kfar
Habad magazine. On the agenda at the time was the declaration by the
then Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, that within the framework of Oslo
it might be necessary to evacuate several settlements. When Ariel
Sharon was asked about this, he issued a clear statement: "I am happy
to say that nothing will be of avail to the government and its aims:
the settlers do not intend to move from these places." When he was
asked: "If so, then what response from them do you expect when an
attempt will be made to evacuate the settlements?", Sharon continued:
"This is inconceivable. [...] This would be an extremely grave matter.
In my opinion, people will not leave, and I think that the government
has to think well where this decision will lead. This will result in
the most severe consequences [...] to civil war."
Mr. Sharon also had a clear definition of the government and its
head, who were capable of even conceiving of the possibility of a
withdrawal and the evacuation of settlements. Sharon also said in the
same interview:
If, nine years ago, none other than the Prime Minister himself
compared the Rabin-Peres government to a Judenrat, because of their
willingness to expel Jews from the Land of Israel, why, all of a
sudden, is it forbidden to compare the government of Sharon and his
aides, such as Yonatan Bassi, with a Judenrat?
Here is the place to cry out against the hypocrisy of those
attacking me. In my letter I did not compare Bassi or Sharon to the
Nazis, but to the Jewish Judenrat. Notwithstanding this, everyone in
the media fell on me, crying out to the heavens. In contrast, the list
of public figures from the Israeli left who compared Jews to Nazis is
extremely long - and they were not attacked, neither by Yad Vashem nor
by government ministers. They, of course, will not be placed on trial.
The following reminder is a short selection from this lengthy list:
- Prof. Yeshayahu Leibowitz: "IDF soldiers are Judeo-Nazis."
- Prof. Moshe Zimmerman, from the Hebrew University: "The children
of Hebron are Hitlerjugend."
- Uzi Benzamin, Haaretz, 2002: "The behavior of those who are called the 'youth of the hills' among the settlers is reminiscent of that of the skinheads in Europe and the US."
- Prof. Michael Harsegor, Haaretz, September 1996: "The leaders of the ultra-Orthodox are the enemies of democracy, no less than the blackshirts or the heads of the National Socialist Workers' Party [the full name of the Nazi party]."
- Shulamit Aloni, Maariv, December 2002: "Eli Yishai (as Interior Minister) acts in accordance with the Nuremberg Laws [...] the [PR] film [by the Shas party] reminds me of a Nazi propaganda film."
- Haaretz, May 1996: "The editors of Der Stuermer [the newspaper of the Nazi party] would enjoy reading these headlines [from the Likud election propaganda]."
- the newspaper of the Tel Aviv University student organization, May 2002: "Citizen, religion is your enemy, it is incumbent upon every Israeli citizen to fight it. [...] When a person chooses to believe these lies, he throws man's essence into the garbage can. [...] Others will come and say that this makes [a person feel] good. [...] Many of those who joined the Nazi Party also experienced spiritual elevation and joy."
- Yedioth Ahronoth, Shlomo Gazit: "The religious soldiers remind me of the Nazis."
- Kidmah ("Progress"!), January 2003: "A general statement may be made of the ideological settlers, that they are much worse than any neo-Nazi in Austria."
- For many years the sculptor Yigal Tomarkin has made statements
and engaged in acts that anti-Semites would not be ashamed to utter or
do. For example, in 1980 he brought a pig enwrapped in tefilin to
Malkhei Yisrael Square, in protest against the settlements. Some of
his utterances that are reminiscent of leading anti-Semites: "When I
see the ultra-Orthodox, I understand the Nazis," or "I identify the
religious by their smell." In 1988 he won the Sussman prize by Yad
Vashem(!) for his works relating to the Holocaust, but the awarding of
the prize was canceled due to protests against him. Despite all his
anti-Semitic statements, Tomarkin recently received the Israel Prize
for sculpture from Education Minister Limor Livnat.
2) Incitement to Violence?: Now that we have shown that
there definitely is cause for a historical comparison between the
Bassi letter to the residents of Gush Katif and the letter from the
Judenrat to the Jews of Berlin, and we have demonstrated that many
others in the public sphere in Israel use terminology from the period
of the Holocaust, we must attack the second argument against my
letter: as if my statements constitute incitement to violence.
The following is the relevant section of the Penal Code, 1977 (as
amended in Amendment no. 66, on May 22, 2002): 144d2. Incitement to
Violence or Terror [amendment: 2002(3)] (a) One who publicly calls to
commit an act of violence or terror, or issues a statement of praise,
sympathy, or encouragement for an act of violence or terror, support
of it or identification with it (in this section: inciting
publication), and in accordance with the content of the inciting
publication and the circumstances in which it was publicized, there is
a real possibility that it will lead to the performance of an act of
violence or terror, is punishable by five years imprisonment. (b)In
this section, "an act of violence or terror" is an offense that harms
a person's body or places a person in danger of death or in danger of
serious injury.
In other words, a call that is liable to constitute the offense of
incitement must include an explicit call for inflicting serious bodily
injury to someone. What connection does this have to my letter to
Bassi, in which all I did was draw a historical parallel between two
documents, and appeal to Bassi to resign from his contemptible
position?
But now that the subject of incitement has entered the public
discourse - I wish to direct the attention of Police Minister Gideon
Ezra and the Attorney-General to clear calls of incitement to murder
and violence, that for some reason have not been subject to any legal
treatment. The inciters have not yet been questioned or placed on
trial. Could this ensue from the fact that the inciters are situated
on the left side of the Israeli political map? The following is a
collection from among a lengthy list of such incitement (some of the
quotations were found in the archives of the Hatzofeh newspaper):
- Yonatan Gefen, Maariv, May 1998: "Secular Israel is the occupied territories of the religious parties. If the secular desire to live here, they have no choice but to start an intifada. Yes, I am prepared to throw the first stone." Here, as well, the police decided that there was no need to investigate these statements.
- Sheike Levi, Yedioth Tikshoret, November 2003: "The settlers are lunatics, I get angry even if I only hear about them. [...] I cannot tolerate small children with peyot [sidelocks], that they have a mori [a traditional Yemenite teacher], who teaches them to be Yemenites and not Israelis. I wanted to grab their mori and break his bones."
- Ha-Kibbutz newsletter, August 1995: "They [the settlers] are not my brothers. [...] A civil war will be a war [...] I will run to it [...] and I will crush their flesh with mighty blows, to rout them. [...] I will go forth to the foe in order to fight, for once, a justified war. [...] Much blood will be shed."
- Michael Roeh, Meretz faction, June 1998: "We have established anti-ultra-Orthodox reconnaissance units that will knock off the heads of the ultra-Orthodox."
- Yonatan Gefen, Maariv, 1996: dreams of the assassination of
Netanyahu: "I was angry, and I wrote that I had a wet dream that I
shot Bibbi Netanyahu twice. They didn't print this. And why is it
permitted to print [...], while they continually reject my wet dream
about rubbing out Bibbi Netanyahu?"
- Hadashot newspaper, October 1992: "The ultra-Orthodox should be hung from electric poles."
- Haolam Hazeh, Uri Avneri, November 1988: "The time has come to bury them [the settlers]."
- Davar, Zeev Sternhal, April 1988: "Fascism cannot be stopped with rational arguments. This can be stopped only by force, and when there is willingness to risk a civil war. When necessary, we shall have to forcibly deal with the settlers in Ofrah or in Eilon Moreh. Only a person who is willing to advance against Ofrah with tanks will be capable of curbing the fascist drift that threatens to inundate Israeli democracy."
- Yoel Marcus, Haaretz, July 9, 2004, an article entitled "Don't
Try and Frighten Us with Bloodshed": "They should not try to frighten
a nation - tens of thousands of whose sons were killed in wars to
ensure its very existence - with [the prospect of] the shedding of
blood in the cause of peace."
- MK Abu Vilan, from the Yahad party, in an interview with Ari
Shavit, Haaretz, September 5, 2004: "If, Heaven forbid, they will
force us, we will be compelled to open fire [against the settlers].
[...] It will be necessary to pull the trigger, slowly, responsibly,
coolheadedly, and intelligently."
- Ami Ayalon, the former head of the General Security Service, in an
interview in Yedioth Ahronoth, November 14, 2003: suggests killing, in
cold blood, the "problematic" settlers who would refuse to willingly
be evacuated of their own free will: "I will say this in clear words:
There is more than one Altalena in the life of every state or nation.
[...] The political leadership in the State of Israel has already
taken difficult decisions when the alternative was clear, and in the
future the political leadership will have to take difficult decisions
when the alternative is clear." Anyone who is familiar with the
Altalena episode (in which sixteen Jews, Ben-Gurion's political
rivals, who were swimming, unarmed, in the sea towards the coast, were
coldbloodedly murdered by the Palmah under the command of Yitzhak
Rabin) knows that the call to conduct an "Altalena" against a
political rival is incitement to murder that rival. The Women in Green
lodged a complaint with the Attorney-General for Ayalon's inciting
statements. Talia Sasson wrote in her reply: "After an examination of
this matter, it was decided that what Mr. Ami Ayalon said in the
context of the interview that is the subject of the complaint does not
constitute a criminal transgression. It is our understanding that Mr.
Ami Ayalon did not call for the implementation of a violent act
against settlers, but rather estimated that when it will be necessary
to evacuate settlements, there will be a certain percentage of
inhabitants who will not consent to be evacuated from the settlements
of their own free will. In such a situation, he maintains, the state
will have no alternative other than to confront anyone who will not
obey the legal order of the elected government. As was noted, I did
not find any transgression in these statements." In other words, Talia
Sasson, on behalf of the State Attorney's Office, justifies the cold
blooded murder of settlers, just because they would refuse to be
evacuated of their own free will.
In light of all the above, the conclusion to be drawn is
unequivocal: the offensive launched against my letter has a single
purpose - this is a Bolshevik attempt to stifle the National Camp, and
prevent it from expressing its strong opposition to Ariel Sharon's
deportation plan, a plan that Sharon is dictatorially imposing on the
public, against the wishes of the majority of the people. In the last
elections, a majority of the people voted for Sharon, because he
convinced us that Amram Mitzna's unilateral withdrawal plan from Gaza
would be disastrous for the country. To our amazement, after his
victory, Sharon decided to push through Amram Mitzna's plan! In this
manner Sharon stole our votes and deceived the people!
The broad support from the people that I received in light of the
blatant attempt to block my freedom of expression - the many telephone
calls, the e-mails, and the faxes of support and encouragement - prove
to me, once again, that the majority of the public has a healthy
spirit, loves the Jewish People, and loves its Homeland and its
Heritage. Our problem is with our weak and galut (diaspora-like)
political leadership, which demeans itself before the enemy in an
attempt to curry favor. This is a political leadership lacking a
Jewish backbone, without roots, without values, without loyalty to the
people of Israel, the Torah of Israel, and the Land of Israel.
This corrupt leadership will never succeed in silencing us. We
shall continue to proclaim before the whole world: Eretz Israel
belongs to the People of Israel, in accordance with the Torah of
Israel, and no Jew has the right to hand it over to the enemy. With
God's help, the people of Israel shall be victorious. I will conclude
with Ariel Sharon's words from nine years ago, in the interview in
Kfar Habad:
"On the occasion of the New Year, I want to address the people (not
the government, because there's no one to talk to there): In this
difficult hour, you must reveal courage and spiritual powers, and
understand that if you desire independent existence, you must be
prepared to struggle for Eretz Israel. Eretz Israel is the 'desirable
land,' but it is also a harsh land in which we must contend, both with
ourselves and with our brothers. I naturally would want to wish you
all that true peace, tranquility, and security would reign here - but
what the Jews really need as the new year approaches is to return to
themselves, to walk with Jewish pride, and to act as a real people;
and above all, to be ready for the struggle as the time of testing
approaches. I want to wish the entire Jewish people, in Israel and in
the Diaspora, that this shall truly be a good year, and that we will
finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, with the removal of
the current government and the establishment of a Jewish government
that shall act as such in all realms."
To these words by Ariel Sharon from nine years ago, we can only
add: Amen, May it be G-d's Will!.
Nadia Matar
Ruth and Nadia Matar established Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green), an activist group of women based in Jerusalem. Their website address is http://www.womeningreen.org |
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SHARON HAS VIOLATED HIS CITIZENS' RIGHTS
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, September 26, 2004. |
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THIS JUST IN!: "Disengagement Plan Law: Israelis Who Remain Can Be Imprisoned 5 Years, Possessions Seized" by Dr. Aaron Lerner. A review of the proposed Disengagement Plan Law presented today in Hebrew on the Ministry of Justice website (http://www.justice.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/7D7CD9F9-A421-4E68-BD89-4EE560E B5207/9689/Hitnatkut1.pdf?thumbnail=true&label=Hitnatkut.pdf) finds that Article 27 (A)(2) provides for the imprisonment for five years of residents of communities who decline to leave their homes before the evacuation date. Those residents who have no knives (possibly even no kitchen knives) or guns in their possession who decline to leave their homes before the evacuation date could be imprisoned for 3 years. Prime Minister Sharon seems to have adopted a version of Hitler's Nuremberg Laws which made Jews non-citizens of the German Reich. He is forcing Jews to divest themselves of their homes and property. In furtherance of Sharon's government shift to dictatorial procedures, Attorney General Mazuz has issued guidelines on what he and Justice Minister Tomy Lapid consider incitement - which apparently is anthing opposing Sharon's unilateral 'Disengagement Retreat' Plans. (more on this in a later article) WHAT DID WE KNOW ABOUT THIS? WHEN DID WE KNOW IT? WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT? What is the responsibility of a citizen to his or her government when elected leaders start to rule by fiat? Generally that's called a dictatorship. Regrettably, I see that happening in Israel today as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon rules on uprooting 8,300 Jewish men, women and children without a consensus in the Knesset, his own political party and its platform or a referendum by the people. Israel's government has drifted far from anything that could conceivably be called a 'democracy'. These ruling cliques hold the citizenry in contempt and clearly state that they, the so-called elected leaders "know best". Sharon answers to nothing, no one and pledges to move forward his re-partition plans for the Nation as if he owned title to all the Land of Israel. Moreover, he has become enslaved to the interests of Israel's great friend, the United States. But, that is not entirely true, given that it is the American people and the American Congress who view Israel as a friend and strategic ally. They see clearly that, if Israel divests herself of any land she will become more vulnerable and weakened as an ally. Some others in America has special interests to look after. Here we find the pro-Arab State Department, the oil multi-national companies who try to manipulate the American citizenry on the theory that they "know best". These special Arabist vested interests wish to dictate to Israel whatever orders will appease the Arab Muslim oil nations and their Terrorist organizations' representatives or proxies. To accomplish the full cycle of appeasement, it is imperative that these pro-Arab promoters control one of the main entities of Muslim rage, namely the Jewish State of Israel. Why the rage? Because the Jews beat the Arab Muslims in six wars and made the Land of Israel bloom where it was only barren while the Jews were exiled from it. Israel can only be 'controlled' if they (American pro-Arab vested interests) have a lock on the office of Israel's Prime Minister and her Leftist Supreme Court. The recruitment of these power centers in Israel has been ongoing for a long time with a carrot and stick technique. The 'stick' is the threat to cut off the 'carrot' which includes the aid, technology, arms and such political assistance the U.S. can offer in such hostile organizations as the U.N. There may be other threats the U.S. holds over the State of Israel so dire that even the most stalwart of defenders for Israel's security and sovereignty are defeated and blackmailed into cowed submission to the will of the pro-Arab State Department who runs American foreign policy no matter who is President. No doubt, Sharon is on a short leash and has gotten used to taking orders to "heel" like any well-trained dog. So, Sharon's dictatorial ways are a combination of his arrogance, his inflated ego and orders from the U.S. Administration - run by the pro-Arab State Department whose interests he serves as he thinks he must. Furthermore, Sharon expects Israel's citizenry to obey his diktats without question. If they resist - even to defend their own homes as all democratic citizens must - he immediately tries to put the powers that are at his disposal into motion to quash any resistance. The draconian Articles above from the Disengagement Plan prove this very point. IF Sharon was right, correct and had the right to take these Jewish men, women and children from homes, farms, schools, synagogues, factories, businesses, infrastructure, water and, yes, even from their cemeteries, he wouldn't need to threaten 5 years of prison. If he were correct, there wouldn't be any resistance, human chain, demonstrations, rallies.....signs calling him a dictator. None of those are incitement. What he is planning to do to his own people - THAT IS INCITEMENT! Arik Sharon was a great part of the defense of the Jewish people and their new State and earned our sincere and devoted admiration. But, that was yesterday. Sharon is now perceived as acting like the dedicated enemies of the Jews. After 56 years of War and incessant Terror attacks where we lost tens of thousands, Sharon breaks and runs! Is it any wonder that many Israelis, Jews and pro-Israel Christians around the world have come to literally hate this man? If you re-read the devastating punishments he threatens his own people with, you would know why he has earned this hatred. Perhaps Sharon is not entirely to blame, given that Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres crossed that line when they created the Oslo Accords without consensus. In either case, the public was manipulated and tricked into thinking that their elected officials had extraordinary powers. That even the Knesset (Parliament) was merely a collection of weak politicians who did very little to protect the Jewish nation but, did have broad gifts of expense accounts, long vacations, free cars, etc. Except for a handful of dedicated M.K.s (Members of Knesset), most were merely political hacks, simply along for the perks of a free ride. So don't count on the Knesset as gatekeepers to prevent the excesses of a Prime Minister who rules by fiat. And note who he has as his largest coalition partners in government: the Shinui Party with Tomy Lapid as Minister of Justice. "Shinui" means "change". They want to 'change' Israel from being Jewish State to being a state of all its citizens. They want to de-Judaize the world's only Jewish State that was given to the Jewish people by G-d forever. And it is Tomy Lapid's Justice Ministry who issues these appalling threats of retribution if those Jews who are forcibly uprooted resist as any normal person would. Lapid and Shinui are also trying to strip Israel of Jewish law and have cut humanitarian budgets to Jewish families, schools and institutions. Another decaying system is the Israeli Supreme Court which is known for its political activism under another type of dictator, Aharon Barak. They have shown themselves to be politically Left in the extreme. They actually pick their own replacements in office and answer to no one. They are a dictatorial cabal who have shown great hostility to those pejoratively called 'settlers' while reflecting the radical Left in their pro-Arab rulings. Best recent example: The Security Fence has to be moved to accommodate the agriculture of the Arab Muslims, even if, (as they acknowledge) it further endangers Jewish lives by bringing potential Terrorists closer to Jewish population centers. An Arab's trees and crops have more 'rights' than do Jewish citizens have 'rights' to life. Hopefully, no Jew will lift his hand against Sharon but that does not stop G-d from taking a hand. I wonder if the Spirits of the Dead Jews past are watching Sharon tear down the nation, brick by brick, for which they sacrificed their lives and the lives of the unborn future children. As is foretold in Tanach and the Daily Prayers, G-d will raise the dead. Perhaps the true heroes of Israel's dead will rise up in a mighty army to face Sharon and drive him and those he recruited to dispose of the Land. No doubt, King David would take up his sword. Perhaps the thousands who died fighting the Egyptians in the Sinai or those who scaled the Golan Height to defeat Syria would rise up out of their graves to defeat any who would demolish the Jewish State they fought and died for. Remember the acclaimed Muslim poet Darweisha who tells the Jews to dig up their dead bones take them with you out of our (Muslim - sic) land. Sharon has grown accustomed to his adopted role of dictator and becomes enraged when thwarted. When told by senior Military and Intelligence officers that a "Judenrein" (Jew-free) Gaza will become a staging area for long range, accurate missiles, shipped from Iran, he literally tells them to "Shut Up!" And he declares: nothing will stop his plans for transfer of Jews from their land. Sharon is like a huge ship, heading toward an iceberg with so much built-up momentum, he cannot stop. Which is why Sharon's Ship of State must come to an end. The people must demand a vote, a peoples' referendum, new elections to stop the destruction, deaths, dire injuries and terror that he has wrought. Sharon is no longer fighting for the Jews against the enemy. He is now fighting his own people to aid and comfort our declared enemies, the Arab Muslims and all who would defend their rights to attack and destroy the Jewish State. Sharon has become a clear and present danger to the Jews and the Jewish State and the people have an obligation to change this government. There has been much talk of Civil War. Perhaps Sharon is causing this by accusing his own people of threatening him - when it is he who is threatening them. ### 1. "Disengagement Plan Law: Israelis who remain can be imprisoned 5 years, possessions seized", 26 September 2004, by Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director of IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis) (Mail POB 982 Kfar Sava) Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-3-7255730 INTERNET ADDRESS: Website: http://www.imra.org.il 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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AUSTRIAN NAZI ACT PERFORMING IN TEL AVIV
Posted by Jens Misera, September 26, 2004. |
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Shalom, please sign the following letter and send it to the email addresses listed below. please spread this mail as well. The flyer that has been distributed in Tel Aviv can be viewed at: http://ulitsky.freeservers.com/pics/kosmonaut0910.jpg Regards,
To the organizers of the "Bunker Nights Festival Part 1" njstudio@njstudio.co.il On October 9th 2004 the "Bunker Nights Festival Part 1" is supposed to take place at the night club "Kosmonaut" in Tel Aviv. One of the acts that has been announced to perform at this event is the Austrian neo-Nazi band "Der Blutharsch". "Der Blutharsch" (a synonym for "dried blood") is an Austrian white power music act headed by Albin Julius which was founded in 1997 with the assistance of the leader of another (better known) neo-Nazi band called "Death in June", Douglass Pierce. "Der Blutharsch" takes great pride in their use of fascist symbols, and is well known for its use of Nazi imagery. "Der Blutharsch" attracts neo-Nazi's and right wing extremists across Europe. In March 2003, a concert in Clausnitz, Germany was even cancelled by the German government. A statement released by the security police concluded that "Der Blutharsch" has "right wing extremist tendencies." (The statement has significant weight in Germany, given the legal impermissibility of such extremism.) On September 28th 2004 a concert with "Der Blutharsch" is scheduled in Leiden, Netherlands. Anti-Facist groups in that area have called upon the organizers to call off that event as well because of "Der Blutharsch"s" National-Socialist orientation. Those tendencies are evident in the packaging and music of the band. The logo of "Der Blutharsch" is a Sig-rune, like the Waffen-SS used. Their website also relies on the Nazi Iron Cross and the logo of the Hitler Youth. The covers of their albums are also adorned with Nazi art. The cover of the CD "Der Sieg des Lichtes ist des Lebens Heil!" (The triumph of light is the life's Heil) is part of a picture about the Varus battle, painted by the Nazi Werner Peiner. The cover of their CD "The pleasures received in Pain" is a reprint of a painting by Nazi artist Ferdinand Staeger. The album contains songs sampling lyrics from the Hitler Youth marching anthem "Forward!" and other speeches and marches. The EP "Adesso viene IL bell" even contains eight songs from Italian fascism. On a live-videon - published in 1999, named "Gold gab ich fur Eisen" (I gave gold for iron) - of the second tour, a "Finnish version of Lili Marleen, a popular song in Germany during World War II, was played (called "Lisa Pien"). The song was dedicated to the "Europaische Freiwillige der Waffen SS" (European volunteers of the Waffen SS) and "Marsch des Sturmatillerie" (march of the storm artillery). On their second tour they were performing together with "Death in June". At the end of the video, the second singer Wilhelm Herich shouted "Free Pinochet". The only Israeli act that has been announced to perform at the festival is called "Gesichter des Todes" (Faces of death), which is apparently named after the snuff movies of the same name. Besides that "Gesichter des Todes" quotes the neo-Nazi band "Death in June" (that was mentioned above) on their website as well, and reveals thereby its sympathy for that train of thoughts. The name "Death in June" refers to June 30, 1934, the "Night of Long Knives," when Hitler had Ernst Roehm and other leaders of the SA (nazi stormtroopers) murdered. Roehm and his faction were highly critical of Hitler's policies (even though they were still Nazis) and are associated with a branch of fascist ideology called "National Bolshevism" spearheaded by Gregor Strasser. The National Bolsheviks argued for a "more socialist version" of NS and criticized Hitler's reliance on industrial capitalists. "Death in June" repeatedly used fascist and nazi symbols on their albums and on stage, including the Death's Head (worn as a pin by nazi SS soldiers), the Life Rune (a pagan symbol commonly used by fascists) and the Black Sun (another rune used by the SS). Likewise, members of Death in June have often worn nazi Waffen-SS uniforms on stage. I hereby call upon the organizers to refrain from supporting this event and to prevent it from happening in Israel. Signature |
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I WANT TO BE BURIED IN GUSH KATIF
Posted by Dror Vanunu, September 26, 2004. |
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At dawn Thursday the Israeli Army military post near Morag was attacked by terrorists. Three soldiers belonging to the Givati unit were killed in the attack. When morning came, with it came the dreadful news. Yisrael Lutati, a resident of Neve Dekalim, was one of those killed in this attack. Everyone knew the twenty-year- old young man, son of one of the long-time resident families in Gush Katif, who was always one of the first to volunteer and to offer his help wherever needed. At the age of fifteen, Yisrael began volunteering with the Gush Katif medical and rescue teams, showing self- sacrifice and professionalism faced with terror events that happened in the area. A week ago Yisrael was injured when the army vehicle in which he was riding rolled over. In pite of his injury he immediately returned to his unit, saying "I am not willing to leave my friends to do the work. I am defending Gush Katif and the whole country." A few hours before dawn, as if he could foresee his impending death, he called all his close friends, from the post where he was serving and asked forgiveness from them as is traditionally done before the Yom Kippur fast. Eliahu Lutati, Yisrael's father did not hesitate for even a moment when called upon to determine where his son was to be buried, saying that Yisrael always said that if anything were to happen to him he wanted to be buried in Gush Katif. "I am sure that Sharon's expulsion plan, under which the 8,300 Jewish residents of Gush Katif are to be expelled from their homes, along with the local cemetery, will not succeed. The residents, the living and the dead will continue to live here forever." he said. Three thousand people took part in the military funeral as Yisrael was laid to rest in the local cemetery in Gush Katif. The dozens of journalists from Israel and from around the world who were present at the funeral were impressed by the fortitude and willpower of the Lutati family and of the residents of Gush Katif. A day after Tiferet Tratner from Neve Dekalim died from a mortar Shell explosion. Dror Vanunu is a resident of Gush Katif |
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MY HIDDEN MESSAGE: A 25-WORD DESCRIPTION OF SHARON AND HIS PLAN
Posted by Ken Heller, September 26, 2004. |
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Sharon's "Resettlement" Plan? In 25 words here is what I think of it ... Shameful Shana tova! 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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CONDOLENCE LETTERS TO LEFTISTS
Posted by Sally Melnick, September 26, 2004. |
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Israeli security sources have noted that Hamas in Damascus is increasingly involved in guiding, funding, and directing Palestinian Arab terrorist groups in the West Bank and Gaza. This is a news item from today's Arutz-7: A leading Hamas terrorist was killed in Damascus, Syria this afternoon. He was Iz-A-Din Al-Halib, a senior operations commander in the murderous organization, and was killed when his car blew up. No one else was hurt in the explosion. He was among the 400 terrorists expelled to Lebanon by the then-Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin in the 1980's, and was at one time the handler of the infamous Yichye Ayash, known as The Engineer. Official Israeli sources said they learned of Al-Halib's death via media reports, though it will be recalled that after the Be'er Sheva double-bus massacre of four weeks ago, Israel promised to strike out at terrorist leaders wherever they are, including in Syria. You might want to send letters of condolence to Israeli leftists for their sorrow over the exploded terrorists. Here are emails: Baruch Kimmerling at mskimmer@pluto.mscc.huji.ac.il
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A QUESTION FOR LEGAL EAGLES
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, September 26, 2004. |
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This is for all the legal eagles out there. Is it not fraud to represent yourself as a government agent or agency if you are not? Is it not criminal as well? If not, can I set up my own "Supplementary Tax Authority" and send people letters advising them of their rights and the necessity of immediately paying me the supplemental tax I have levied on them? In a sense, this could be the ultimate expression of democracy. Whosoever wishes, can set up his own "Government" agency. Just think of the possibilities. This was a news item in Arutz-Sheva (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news). Evacuation Administration Sends Letters to Residents The war of nerves continues. Though the government has not yet mandated an Israeli withdrawal from Gush Katif and northern Shomron, and though the Knesset has not yet voted on it, the Evacuation Administration has begun to send letters to the residents advising them of their "rights." Gush Katif residents say they will send back the letters unopened, together with children's drawings and poems on the topic of "Gush Katif is My Home." Excerpts from the letter being sent by Evacuation Administration head Yonatan Bassi to the residents slated for expulsion: "We are well aware of the many personal, societal and economic ramifications of this program. We will do all we can to help you in the most sensitive, fair and professional manner that we can. Similarly, our meetings will be held in the most discreet manner - if you wish... The Government of Israel sees great importance in a dialogue with the population designated for evacuation on the various issues connected with the implementation of the plan, including financial compensation, guidance and support that will be needed - both for the community and the individual, and choosing a new location for settlement... You may contact us at this address: ..." 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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SHARON'S DEEPENING CRISIS OF LEGITIMACY
Posted by Ken Heller, September 26, 2004. |
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This was written by Bradley Burston, Haaretz Correspondent. It
appeared 23 September 2004
and is archived at www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=
480560&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
It is the High Holidays, the time of year when Jews are commanded to have second thoughts. Accordingly, in Israel, it is at this time of year that, in taking an honest look at themselves, their actions and interactions, their findings may be the most refreshing. And disturbing. Perhaps inevitably, much of the rethinking has shown itself on the Israeli left, which has at times raised the concept of second thoughts to the level of an art form, an alternative ideology, even a state religion. This month, as the right massed in tens of thousands to assail Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for the conduct of his disengagement campaign, denouncing his drive to evacuate settlements as lacking all legitimacy, one of the most respected advocates of the withdrawal initiative lent her voice in unlikely backing for the prime minister's critics. "The central question is that of legitimacy," said Ruth Gavison, one of Israel's foremost professors of law and a founder and former president of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel. "The Sharon government today has no clear legitimacy for the move that it is making," she said of the disengagement campaign, noting that the plan has yet to be approved either by the cabinet or the Knesset. "It is not at all certain that we should cooperate with this move, which threatens to take people out of their homes under the authority of such a shaky [legal] basis, without even so much as a cabinet decision." In fact, a number of attempts by Sharon to win formal backing for the plan have either been blunted or brusquely rebuffed. In May, the prime minister's bid to garner momentum for disengagement through a referendum of members of his Likud party ended in a humiliating defeat. A month later, Sharon's cabinet balked at ratifying the initiative. So divided was the cabinet that the prime minister ultimately sacked two far-right National Union ministers to ensure a majority. But even then, three of his five senior Likud ministers withheld their votes until the prime minister agreed to limit the decision to an anemic resolution on preparations for a possible future disengagement, which would then be subject to a potentially crippling series of phases and cabinet reconsiderations. In no small part, the secret weapon of the right in battling the disengagement has been the pointed, even ideological absence of second thoughts which has long been a hallmark of the Israeli right in general and of the religious right in particular. "This prime minister is weak - the Emperor has no clothes," Yesha settlers' council official Moshe Yogev declared this week in a meeting with pro-disengagement cabinet minister Gideon Ezra. "There's no security, there's no peace. Only withdrawal after withdrawal, and surrendering to terrorism. If Sharon can take a bulldozer and raze the study house set up by my parents in [the Gaza settlement of] Atzmona, I'm allowed to take a bulldozer and drive out to Sycamore Ranch [Sharon's home]." Second thoughts as second nature For many on the left, meanwhile, the Intifada, in particular Palestinian grass-roots support for deadly terror attacks in the hearts of Israeli cities, has shattered long-held tenets of belief. Bereft of a peace process, devoid of leadership, for many doves, second thoughts have become second nature. The legal ambiguity of the disengagement procedure - coupled with long-held suspicions regarding Ariel Sharon's true motives - has done little to generate leftist enthusiasm for the proposed withdrawal. "Had there been a stable government, and had it approved the move by a large majority, in my view there would have been no problem of legitimacy," Gavison told Israel Radio. "Not only was this very, very important condition not fulfilled, but even more significantly, the cabinet apparently failed to approve the disengagement because if it had taken a decision, the government would have fallen apart." Noting that the central party of the government, Sharon's Likud, was so divided over the disengagement that it showed signs of actively opposing it, Gavison said: "From the standpoint of a representative democracy, this is a very defective situation. There is no doubt, therefore, that Israel is currently suffering from what may be called a severe deficit of legitimacy." The legitimacy gap has prompted sharp recent debate over holding an unprecedented referendum over the disengagement. The prime minister has turned aside the calls, with his aides calling them a ploy by the right to stall for time in an effort to bring the disengagement to a halt. In the meantime, Sharon's campaign has begun once again to pick up steam. Last week, in the first concrete step toward disengagement, his security cabinet voted 9-1 to give a green light to down payments on compensation for settlers willing to voluntarily leave their homes in the 21 Gaza Strip settlements and four northern West Bank enclaves slated for removal under the plan. "It is indeed peculiar that a government can begin a move toward uprooting from their houses citizens that the government originally sent there - without a decision by the cabinet," Gavison said. Some of the steps the government is currently taking may be irreversible, she continued. Despite efforts by Sharon's predecessors Ehud Barak and Benjamin Netanyahu to nudge Israeli governance in the direction of a more American-style presidential rule, the Knesset has never relinquished the governmental center of gravity. The prime minister and his cabinet serve at the pleasure of parliament, which can topple a government in a single vote. Sharon, for his part, sees no legitimacy gap. He indicated in a radio interview Wednesday that the cabinet's muted decision to green-light preparations for the disengagement amounted to approval of the plan. "I am acting in a democratic manner," Sharon said. "The cabinet has accepted the decision. I will bring this decision to the Knesset. A decision of the cabinet and the Knesset is certainly appropriate legitimacy." Gavison saw it differently. "With all due respect to the prime minister, we have no presidential system. Sharon has been functioning like de Gaulle. Sharon needs to understand that his has no power other than that of his government. And his government, for the time being, is stuttering over the disengagement." Gavison compared the state of affairs to the waning months of the Barak government. "There was a great debate at the time in Israeli society, as Ehud Barak, with elections already imminent and it appeared headed for defeat, continued to conduct far-reaching negotiations on peace accords. I felt then that this was improper." The deepening legitimacy crisis has prompted senior IDF officers to advise Sharon that a "clear democratic process," which may mean new elections, a referendum, or Knesset ratification, could markedly smooth an avacuation process, particularly among settlers and Orthodox soldiers. Sharon has ruled out a general referendum or early elections as measures that would be unduly costly in time and money, and would in the end only serve to delay the disengagement. "We must make a maximum effort to refrain from elections, or to postpone them for as long as possible, until the central missions and goals facing us are carried out," the prime minister argued. But Gavison concluded that precisely in order to carry out the disengagement, Israel must be able to state that the people had had their say, and that a clear decision had been made. "Then it will truly be possible to do things that are among the hardest of all, in the name of the rules of the game of democracy. "As long as this situation is not in effect, I fear that we cannot do this. We cannot demand of people that their life's work be destroyed without a clear decision of the elected government." 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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TEMPLE MOUNT ARCHAEOLOGICAL DESTRUCTION
Posted by Zachi Zweig, September 26, 2004. |
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Dear Friends, We finally got the appropriate licenses for executing the project for sifting the Temple Mount dumps. More information can be found at http://www.har-habayt.org. Please forward this to people who are concerned with such issues. Thanks in advance. In November 1999 illegal construction and excavation work took place on the Temple Mount that caused irreparable archaeological destruction. This is part of a larger trend of illegal work of the Wakf (the Moslem religious body in charge of Moslem holy sites) to change history and especially eradicate the remains of Jewish history on the Mount. The dirt dumps from these illegal works, saturated with archaeological material, were removed with bulldozers and trucks and discarded in the Kidron Valley. Though these archaeological remains are no longer in their original context they include great and important archaeological potential. Systematic scientific archaeological excavation has never been permitted on the Temple Mount, and these dumps contain the only archaeological information available from the Temple Mount. For example, the sampling and analysis of the ceramic material from the dumps can contribute to the ongoing archaeological discussion concerning the nature and character of the Kingdom of David and Salomon. Furthermore, there is a high probability of discovering valuable artifacts such as: seals, ostraca (pots shards with writing on them), coins and other important architectural remains. These are just some examples of the types of artifacts that will greatly enhance our knowledge of the Temple Mount from all periods. Examinations done on a small sample of these dumps yielded artifacts from various periods, starting from the First Temple period through all periods until today. From an analysis of the artifacts we may presume that the origin of the dumps is from ancient fills mixed with a destruction layer from the Second Temple Period. At the construction site of Solomon?s Stables there were seen arches and water channels dismantled during the work. Among the artifacts discovered in the dumps are: a fragment of a monumental door jamb of a gate from the Second Temple Period, a fragment of a cornice of a monumental structure carved with a unique pattern, stair stones from the Second Temple Period, marble fragments from the Byzantine Period, arch stones, water channel stones, and more architectural fragments. In addition, we also found fragments of glass vessels (some are from the Second Temple Period), a fragment of an ornamental stone table from the Second Temple period, fragments of glazed bricks, decorated clay tiles from the Ottoman Period, a few Roman coins, a fragment of a pillar figurine from the First Temple period and more. For these reasons archaeologist, Dr. Gabriel Barkay under the auspices of Bar-Ilan University have decided to take the task to sieve these dumps, in order to save every archaeological information that can still be rescued from this archaeological destruction. The project will start in mid October 2004 using a small and insufficient amount of funds we have managed to gather until now ($10,000). This will allow us to remove and sift only a small portion of the dumps, while sieving the entire dumped material will require an extra $55,000. In order to ensure that we will be able to start and finish the work properly we have decided to try and raise funds before starting the project. Unfortunately, we got the archaeological license just a few days ago. Immediate additional funding is urgent and crucial to the project so that we will be able to begin the project before the rainy season, otherwise precious time will be wasted and invaluable archaeological material may be lost forever. The Project Plan In the Kidron Valley there are large amounts of dumps (discarded by approximately 390 trucks). We plan to transfer these dumps to an alternative location, in which the dumps will be safe and protected from external disturbances. Proper sieving needs to be done by mechanical means used in quarries. The soil will be sifted into piles with different resolutions. High Resolution sifting needs to be done manually. This requires a great amount of manpower. These earth piles will need to be scrutinized by the excavators and additional staff. The archaeological materials extracted will need to be treated appropriately and documented for publication. Certain finds will need to be sent to laboratories for further research in Israel and abroad. Funds will be required for the research and publication of the material. Your assistance is crucial in saving the archaeological heritage remains from the Temple Mount. Without your assistance, these artifacts will be forever lost. Sincerely,
Israel Exploration Society
To Contact us for further information:
The PEF cannot accept contributions under $25 Donations are tax
deductible only if made payable to P.E.F. Israel Endowment Funds, Inc.
An official receipt for tax deductible contributions will be sent to
the contributor by the P.E.F.
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DE'JA JEW
Posted by Steven Plaut, September 26, 2004. |
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This is a review by Giordana Grego of "The Liberal Anti-Semites: The New Face of an Ancient Hatred," by Fiamma Nirenstein ("Gli Antisemiti progressisti: La Nuova Forma di un Odio Antico"), Rizzoli, 390pp., 18.50 Euro. Giordana Grego, a native of Rome, recently earned her MA in International Relations at the London School of Economics, and is currently a researcher at Azure. In the aftermath of the 1975 UN motion that condemned Zionism as a form of racism, Italian artist Herbert Pagani wrote: "Now that the Jews have a homeland, anti-Semitism rises again from its ashes, or better, our ashes, and it is called anti-Zionism. Before it was applied to individuals, today it is applied to a nation. Israel is a ghetto, Jerusalem is Warsaw. We are no longer besieged by the Germans but by the Arabs, whose crescent has often been disguised as a sickle to better fool the Left around the world. I, a left-wing Jew, do not care about a Left whose wish is to liberate all mankind at the expense of one minority, because I belong to that minority." Today, in the aftermath of the 2001 UN human -rights summit in Durban, we are back to the future. The chorus of harsh international criticism and condemnation of Israel merely resurrects this same dark phoenix. Interestingly, the main promoters of the increasing hostility toward the Jewish state belong to the liberal camp - an old ally and protector of the Jewish people. In her latest book "The Liberal Anti-Semites," Italian journalist Fiamma Nirenstein follows the development of the relationship between the Italian Left and the Jewish people, from the aftermath of the Second World War until today. Nirenstein provides a compelling analysis of the dynamics of this relationship, and of how the Left took an increasingly anti-Israel stand since the Six Day War, eventually becoming one of its most vociferous opponents. The consequences of this liberal anti-Semitism are very serious: a legitimization of terrorism and a failure to understand its origins. As a result, Nirenstein contends, we fail to see its only possible solution: democracy in the Arab world. Nirenstein invites the Left to reconsider its position vis-a'-vis Israel and terrorism, warning that Europe, willing or not, will soon have to fight the same war that Israel is fighting today. APART FROM being a leading Italian journalist and author, Nirenstein is professor of Middle Eastern History at the University LUISS in Rome. One of her previous books, "The Betrayal: How the West Betrayed the Jews" (2000), was a best seller in Italy that sparked an intense debate and attracted international attention. At the time of its publication, anti-Semitism was clearly on the rise. But today it has reached such a feverish pitch that it compelled her to delve more deeply in this latest book. In it, she argues that in the aftermath of World War II, the Jews and the Left needed each other. While the Jews were the "living accusation" and memory against the brutality of fascist regimes, the Left acted as a protector of their rights as a minority. Israel fit well in this pattern: a small, weak country evincing sympathy and support among the Left as a socialist nation, with a strong labor union and workers' rights. This dynamic, however, came to an abrupt end with Israel's victory in the Six Day War. The "new Jew" who defends himself and even dares to win "loses all his charm in the eyes of the intellectuals of the Left," beholden as they are to a peculiar ide'e fixe. To clarify the rigidity of this idea of the Jew, Nirenstein refers to a letter published recently by a large group of professors from the prestigious University of Bologna addressed to their "Jewish friends." The letter contains the bizarre definition of the Jewish people as "a people who suffer, who must suffer because it is in their nature. Because of its fate, the Jewish people must bear the most terrible persecutions without raising a finger, and only then the Jews will gain compassion and solidarity." This vision reeks of ancient theological anti-Semitism, in which Jews are destined to suffer for rejecting the Christian faith. Obviously, a Jewish state that defends itself clashes with such a belief, but the professors from Bologna offer a solution by inviting the Jews to join them in condemning Israel, thereby reclaiming their role as the "old Jew" who dies in silence, or "the good Jew" who denounces the horror of the particularism and nationalism of the Jewish people in the name of universalism and a Christian-like love. SINCE ITS repudiation of Israel in 1967, the Left has become the Jewish state's most ferocious critic. This enmity reached its peak at the 2001 UN Summit in Durban, where Israel was officially identified as a pariah state. In the words of Alan Dershowitz, "Israel has become the Jew amongst the nations." By abandoning the Jews and Israel, the liberal camp found a new identity, "defining its foreign policy in terms of an extremely aggressive anti-American and anti-Israel stand." The deliberate use of the media by the Left to spread lies and myths about the conflict has been incredibly successful. Today Palestinian terrorism has gained a horrifying level of legitimization in the eyes of many Europeans as a struggle against occupation. Left-wing political forces espousing these views have earned vast popularity among various peace activists, anti-globalization movements and powerful international institutions, all united by Israel as the common enemy. The results are unambiguous. By hiding behind a one-sided and malicious criticism of Israel, anti-Semitism is being legitimized, and so is the use of terror by the Palestinians. A lucid example is the International Court of Justice ruling over the security fence built by Israel to defend itself from terrorist attacks. "It is a license to kill Jews," Nirenstein pointed out in a recent interview. The rationale of the Left goes even further. Europe is afraid of terrorism, and naively believes that "by sacrificing Israel, it will placate the appetite of Islamic terrorism." It fails to understand that Islamic terrorism goes well beyond the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or the American presence in Iraq. Islamic terrorism is not the result of the Israeli occupation, but of years of poverty, repression, and propaganda by radical imams and leaders exalting suicide terrorists. Europe should be aware that these campaigns of hatred for the Jews and the Western world have a clear agenda for Europe too. "We shall not win the war against terror unless we win the war against anti-Semitism. We shall not win unless we fight for democracy, first and foremost for democracy in the Islamic world." This is Nirenstein's message. Israel and the US understand this point. Putting an end to repressive regimes, dictatorships and violent propaganda while providing freedom and rights is the only way forward. Democracy is the strongest weapon the West has against terrorism. The Liberal Anti-Semites is also a call to Jews in the Diaspora to denounce anti-Semitism and shout "J'accuse!" when Israel is unjustly criticized. European Jewry should not hesitate to break its old alliance with the Left and "base new alliances on the present rather than on old memories. The memory of the Holocaust cannot protect against the horror of anti-Semitism if accompanied by a total ignorance of the history of Zionism and Israel." The Left has been crying along with the Jewish communities on Holocaust Remembrance Day while identifying Israel as a Nazi country. It is as if they were saying to the Jews, "Let's celebrate together the Day of Remembrance and curse Israel together!" To clarify this point, Nirenstein reports a chilling sentence heard several times in Italy: "The image of the death of Muhammad al-Dura in his father's arms has finally allowed Europe to forget the famous picture of the Jewish boy with his arms raised in the Warsaw Ghetto." This is unacceptable, and Nirenstein devotes one full chapter to the "new season for the relationship between Jews and the Right." The right wing today, at least in Italy, has understood that "if it wants to reach the Jews, it must reach Israel as the Jewish nation." Italian Deputy Prime Minister Gianfranco Fini's visit to Israel clearly demonstrated that the Right regrets its Fascist past and is now ready to be the champion of democracy and fight international terrorism. The Right today has a clear identity; the Left does not. Its position vis-a'-vis democracy is unclear, and the Jews need to recognize this and act accordingly. Nirenstein concludes by explaining that "the only way to defeat anti-Semitism in Europe is via understanding the contradiction of an open and global society and to accept the idea that the campaign of defamation against Israel has incited violence and terrorism." She mentions a few positive steps that have been taken so far, such as the former European Commission President Romano Prodi's acknowledgment that "the idea that criticisms of Israel are connected to anti-Semitism is not totally wrong." The alternative to this is to witness what we are witnessing today: "A voluntary recoiling from our identity because the war ahead of us is too hard to fight. However, as hard as it may be, Europe, like Israel, will have no choice but to fight." Less than two weeks after its publication in Italy, The Liberal Anti-Semites is already a best seller there, and has sparked a lively debate in Italian society. Fiamma Nirenstein has once again given us a compelling analysis, a passionate yet lucid defense of Israeli democracy that makes her latest book engaging and fascinating. Thirty years after their pronouncement, Herbert Pagani's thoughts still sadly ring true: "Today, Descartes' famous sentence 'I think therefore I exist' holds no meaning for me. We, the Jews, have been thinking for 5,000 years and are still denied the right to exist. Today, although it horrifies me, I have no choice but to say 'I defend myself, therefore I exist.'" 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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"IF SAVING LIVES MEANS I'M A TRAITOR, SO BE IT"
Posted by Steven Plaut, September 26, 2004. |
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This was written by Khaled Abu Toameh and appeared in the Jerusalem
Post, September 24, 2004.
Yunis Owaidah is probably the only Palestinian who's not afraid to admit that he is a "collaborator" with Israel. On the contrary, the 63-year-old father of 12 even boasts of the fact that he has been collaborating with Israel since 1967. "I've saved the lives of many innocent people," Owaidah said in an interview at his home in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Ras el-Amud. "If saving the lives of innocent civilians means that I'm a traitor, so be it." Thousands of Palestinians who have made similar confessions over the past three decades have been either killed or ostracized by their families and communities. The last killings occurred in Tulkarm on Monday, when two suspected collaborators in their mid-20s were executed by Fatah gunmen. The executioners claimed that the two had confessed during interrogation to assisting Israel in hunting down and killing wanted activists. A week earlier, Fatah gunmen in Ramallah kidnapped a young man, also suspected of collaborating with Israel, as he was being escorted to court by Palestinian Authority security agents. The man's bullet-riddled body was later discovered near Al-Amari refugee camp south of Ramallah. Oweidah, who has two wives and 46 grandchildren, has also been the target of several attempts on his life. Since the establishment of the PA in 1994, he has refrained from entering the West Bank. "I only move around in safe areas and never leave the borders of Jerusalem," he said. "I'm wanted by the Palestinian Authority and I know that they won't waste an opportunity to kill me." Owaidah's connections with Israel were first disclosed in the early 70s, when he helped thwart rocket attacks on the King David Hotel and the Western Wall. He is not prepared to talk about the role he played then, but says that his actions saved the lives of both Israelis and Palestinians. "The Palestinians were then planning to fire rockets at the King David to kill [former US secretary of state Henry] Kissinger, who was staying there," he said. "The other rockets were supposed to hit the Western Wall. The rockets could have easily landed on the Aksa Mosque, killing many Arabs." Back then, Owaidah was living in the Arab neighborhood of Abu Tor. A few years after the rocket attacks were foiled, he discovered a bomb attached to the door of his house. Police sappers detonated the bomb safely. He then decided to move to Ras el-Amud, where he purchased a small piece of land and built a new home. Most of his neighbors have since been boycotting him and his family. "Their children still refuse to play with my children," he said. "Despite that, I have decided to stay here. I don't have any plans to leave." Owaidah, who works for a maintenance company at the Western Wall, said there was only one time when he seriously considered leaving Ras el-Amud. "In the year 2000, when [then-prime minister Ehud] Barak was talking about re-dividing Jerusalem and bringing the Palestinian Authority into the city, I started searching for a new house," he recalled. "I knew very well that I would not be able to live under Yasser Arafat or any other Arab regime." Since the beginning of the intifada, masked gunmen have repeatedly threatened to kill Owaidah. In one incident, several shots were fired at his home from a distance, but no one was hurt. His eldest son, Sadek, was kidnapped twice to Jericho and Ramallah, but was released following heavy pressure from Israel. "He was brutally tortured by the Palestinian security services," the father pointed out. "But they were not after him. They are trying to get to me, and this is what they told my son. They even asked him to draw a sketch of the interior of the house and where I sleep." In his bedroom, Owaidah keeps a pistol and hundreds of bullets. "You see this pistol?" he says as he brandishes the handgun. "I will not hesitate to use it if they come to get me. I will never surrender. I will kill 10 of them before they get their hands on me." Asked if he was afraid nevertheless, in the wake of the continued killing of suspected collaborators, Owaidah retorted: "First of all, most of these people who are being killed are innocent and were never working for the Shin Bet. Secondly, I'm not afraid because I know that Israel is protecting me. If I call the police, they will be here in less than three minutes." Owaidah explained that he decided to work with Israel "because of the injustice we saw when we were under Jordanian rule before the 1967 war." "When the Jews came to Jerusalem, I saw how they were treating the people
in a humane way," he said. "By comparison, we had been oppressed by the
Jordanians when they were here. Look how the Jews have built a modern and
democratic state, and look where the Arabs still are."
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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ARABS AMBIVALENT OVER HOSTAGE CRISIS
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, September 26, 2004. |
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This article was written by Sebastian Usher, BBC World Media correspondent. It is archived at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3684324.stm Are you really surprised by this? And if not, why? The Arab media has presented the latest hostage crisis in Iraq as just another element in the bloody and chaotic pattern of violence in the country. The latest developments have been reported and often broken on Arab television channels, but they have soon been superseded by bloodshed elsewhere in Iraq or in the Palestinian territories and Israel. There has been little sign of the outrage that greeted the kidnapping of two French hostages last month and none of the soul-searching prompted by the Beslan siege. The issue of foreign hostages in Iraq was examined this week on the most heated discussion programme on the Middle East's most-watched television station, al-Jazeera. Television debate In the programme The Opposite Direction a fiercely anti-American political analyst, Talat Rumayh, faced off against an Iraqi politician, Karim Badr. In the Arab media the plight of Iraqis and Palestinians overshadows that of the hostages Mr Rumayh claimed that the kidnappers were Iraqi resistance fighters and compared the number of their victims to the thousands of Iraqis, who had been killed: "Two thousand people have been killed since the beginning of the attack on Falluja, which was dismissed in one report, one line or just a couple of words... while we keep hearing about the hostages. It's the hostages and the terrorists, always the terrorists," he said. Karim Badr responded by saying all Iraq was disgraced by the beheadings. "We have to prove our humanity. I am addressing my brethren in Iraq: These are masked creatures that resemble humans, who I am certain are uglier than their deeds," he said. "Is the killing of people and exploding cars in the streets an act of resistance? Is the kidnapping and murder of people in this manner an act of resistance? I am certain they do not represent the Iraqi conscience in any way at all." Viewers 'unmoved' Viewers were unmoved. In a phone poll 93% supported the kidnappings. A little later - after the beheading of the second American hostage - an Iraqi religious leader told al-Jazeera that the foreign hostages were capturing the world's attention at the expense of the Iraqi people's suffering. In the Arab media, naturally enough, this order is reversed - with the plight of Iraqis and Palestinians overshadowing that of the hostages. But this is not to say that the Arab satellite channels have ignored the human impact of the story - the hostages' relatives appeared live on al-Jazeera, hoping to convey their pleas for mercy directly to the kidnappers. The Arab press has also, in the past, condemned Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as a thug who perverts Islam. But there has not been the same outcry as when two French journalists were taken hostage and their kidnappers demanded that France rescind its ban on Islamic headscarves in schools. Then, many Arab commentators warned that the kidnappers' actions could irrevocably tarnish the image of Islam and the Arab world. This time, the kidnappers' demands are limited to Iraq, whose political and security problems remain the focus of Arab attention rather than the fate of Western hostages. |
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BEYOND THE PALE
Posted by Ted Belman, September 26, 2004. |
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The world has decided that the territories are beyond the Pale for the Jews. In a crash course on Jewish literacy, dealing with the Pale of Settlement published by www.Aish.com, we learn: "From 1791 until 1915, the Jews living in Eastern Europe were confined by the Czars of Russia -- starting with Catherine the Great -- to an area known as the "Pale of Settlement" (meaning "borders of settlement"). Any settlement beyond this area was "beyond the Pale". Later this expression was generalized to identify ideas or activities that are out of bounds, as being "beyond the pale." Once again the powers that be, are trying to restrict Jewish settlement to Israel and declaring Jewish settlement in Yesha as beyond the pale. Jews everywhere should utterly reject this restriction on their rights and liberty. Similarly they should also reject a settlement freeze as required by the Roadmap and recently demanded by Bush. The Balfour Declaration of 1917 was contained in a letter from Lord Balfour to Lord Rothschild "His Majesty's government looks with favor upon the establishment in Palestine of a national homeland for the Jewish people" Pursuant to this declaration that was issued after Britain took possession of the lands due to the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the League of Nations created the British Mandate for Palestine. Under the terms of the Mandate, Britain's principal obligation was to facilitate the implementation of the Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917, which pledged "the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people." No territorial restrictions whatsoever - neither east nor west of the Jordan River were placed on the Jewish National Home. In fact, the Mandate stipulated that Britain was to "facilitate Jewish immigration under suitable conditions and shall encourage close settlement by Jews on the land." A similar right was not given to the Arabs. This was and is the law of the land. It has never been rescinded. When the United Nations succeeded the League of Nations, it assumed all things done in its name including the Mandate. In 1947 the General Assembly passed Resolution 181 in which it "Recommends to the United Kingdom, as the mandatory Power for Palestine, and to all other Members of the United Nations the adoption and implementation, with regard to the future government of Palestine, of the Plan of Partition with Economic Union set out below;" Pursuant to this plan "A declaration shall be made to the United Nations by the provisional government of each proposed State before independence. It shall contain inter alia the following clauses: These stipulations included "No discrimination of any kind shall be made between the inhabitants on the ground of race, religion, language or sex. Israel provided such a declaration and came into being and the Arabs refused to do so and rejected the whole Plan. The world conveniently forgets about this basic requirement. After the Six Days War, the Security Council passed Resolution 242, which legitimated Israel's occupation of the territories until such time as she could withdraw to secure and recognized borders. No such borders have been recognized and therefore there is no requirement to withdraw. This resolution included in its preamble the following: "Emphasizing the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war" It wasn't until the Oslo Accords in 1993 that the Arabs accepted this resolution as binding. They are now using this preamble to deny Israel the right to retain any part of the territories. This argument should be rejected put of hand. It should be noted that International Law permitted an exception to this rule in the case of a defensive war. This exception continues to this day. Also the people involved with the drafting of this resolution all acknowledged that not all territories had to be given up for peace. In the Oslo Accords there was no limitation put on the settlement of the territories by Jews. It was not yet beyond the pale. The Mitchell Report opened the door for this to be so when it called, for the first time, for a freeze of Jewish settlement. Who says that terror doesn't pay. When Arafat aborted the peace process, such as it was, and started the war of terror, the world community in one chorus said that the Arabs needed hope i.e. a promise of a state, for there to be progress on the peace process. This was the precursor to President Bush promising, for the first time, such a state in his June '02 speech. The desire of the US to have Arab support for her invasion of Iraq in March '03, led to the infamous Roadmap. . The Roadmap for the first time, regarding settlements, demanded that "Israel immediately dismantle settlement outposts erected since March 2001." The pressure on Israel to accept the Roadmap was enormous. Even so, her acceptance was stipulated to be subject to 14 reservations none of which, unfortunately, rejected these settlement provisions. The US rather than look upon this as a conditional acceptance took the position that the acceptance was complete but subject to 14 concerns which it undertook to take into consideration and Israel went along. Nevertheless, the Roadmap provides "The following is a performance-based and goal-driven roadmap, with clear phases, timelines, target dates, and benchmarks aiming at progress through reciprocal steps by the two parties ..." The first phase included Israel's obligations re settlements and the Palestinian obligations of "Ending terror and violence, normalizing Palestinian life, and building Palestinian institutions"present to May 2003." If ever there was a roadmap for peace that arrived stillborn, this was it. Absolutely nothing was done by the Palestinians or Arabs regarding their obligations, so in law nothing can be asked of Israel regarding the settlements. The steps are stipulated to be reciprocal. This of coarse did not deter Bush and the whole Quartet from continuing to demand that Israel dismantle post March 2001 settlements and freeze the rest. Dr Rice you will recall demanded action in the name of Israel's "commitment." Although the Roadmap is moribund and cannot be brought back to life until the leopard changes his spots, Bush demanded that Sharon's disengagement plan not replace the Roadmap and the entire Quartet emphasized this. It seems everyone wants to maintain the fiction that the Roadmap can be implemented. Back to the Pale of Settlement Israel should maintain its right to settle in the territories until the Palestinians fulfill their obligations regarding security. Israel should continue to put facts on the ground (settlements) as a means to put pressure on the Palestinians to begin the peace process in earnest. The Palestinians should not have the luxury to be unaccountable. If they delay or are intransigent or commit acts of terror or incite to hatred they must accept that such actions have consequences namely that settlements will expand. Israel should insist in the requirements of Resolution 181, which effectively provides that building Jewish homes in the territories are not beyond the pale. Israel should realize that to acquiesce in the settlement freeze is to accept that she does not have the right to settle there. This she must not do. The Middle East is a state of flux now. Once the US presidential elections are over Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia will be dealt with. There is no telling what the final outcome of all this will be. There is no telling what will become of Iraq. Under such turbulence, Israel should be battening down the hatches to wait out the storm rather than adding to the turbulence by disengaging. Ted Belman is cofounder and cohost of IsraPundit, a pro-Israel strong activist website (http://israpundit.com). |
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EVACUATING SHARON
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, September 26, 2004. |
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It is clearly time to evacuate and transfer Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to his farm. Whether it is merely dementia or the fact that he has grown old, cranky, tired and ineffective, Sharon must be removed from office. Sharon can no longer refuse any demand by the American Administration - no matter how dangerous or absurd. We have just heard President Bush tell the world at the U.N. on September 22 that Israel must cease "humiliating" the Palestinians. Take that to mean: no road patrols, no checkpoints, no profiling of Palestinians carrying suicide bomb belts or bags. I wonder: Will Bush will call off checking passengers boarding flights in America lest they scream humiliation? Will Bush open American borders even wider, with no profiling of Arabs or Muslims who no one trusts other than politicians looking for votes in November? It appears to many that the pro-Arab State Department's continual war against Israel is bring unusual calamitous weather to American shores. G-d appears to be pitching one hurricane after another against the U.S. But, Bush and the State Department haven't gotten the message. What else will catch his attention? An earthquake or the growing plague of Islamists accompanied by another great calamity? Another 9/11? As the Arab Muslims are killing American troops in Iraq, Bush threatens Israel to withdraw, cease killing Jihadists or "Do as I say, not as I do". I fear that despite claims that George Bush adheres the Five Books of Moses, he is bringing upon America a calamitous punishment with G-d hurling nature at all of us for what Bush has been doing to the Jews in order to appease his father's Arab Muslim oil business associates. As for Sharon. He can no longer say "NO!". As a dithering old man, he must be transferred to his farm and Israel must elect a vigorous nationalist Prime Minister who will defend all of the Jews in Israel. We have the right of self-determination to the one sovereign, independent, strong Jewish State with Jerusalem as her Eternal Capital. As for President Bush and Candidate-for-President Senator Kerry: Please quit trying to appease Muslims and Arab oil nations by throwing Israel to the rampaging Islamists. 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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CHRISTIAN DIVESTMENT
Posted by David Frankfurter, September 26, 2004. |
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I have just read an article (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/480684.html) which is most disturbing. "Leading members of the Anglican church will recommend that their decision-making body adopt an anti-Israel divestment policy similar to the one the Presbyterian church passed earlier this summer." It is hard for me to tell from this distance (physically and religiously) if Israel is being caught in between some form of intra-Christian theological debate, or there are simply influential members of the Church who have been hoodwinked by the Palestinian narrative and misunderstand Muslim replacement theology. One of my Christian readers has sent me material that clearly shows Muslim replacement theology starts with Mohammed replacing Moses, but extends to Jesus. Not only do Palestinian Muslims convince themselves that Abraham, Moses and King Solomon were followers of the not-yet-born Mohammed, but also Jesus was a faithful follower of Islam. Once they have dealt with the Jews, the Christians will follow. It is no accident that Bethlehem and Nazareth - once Christian Arab cities - are now predominantly Muslim. "After Saturday comes Sunday." What is certain is that peace will not come as long as the Palestinian leadership remains the true enemy of the Palestinian Arab people. If they were to follow a program of peace, and stop stealing from their own people then there would be no need for "occupation", economic levels would significantly improve, and peace could be brought to the region. (See the analysis of some of the problems at www.euFunding.org.) They need to be exposed. I urge my Christian readers who are concerned for the future of Israel to communicate their concerns at all levels of the Anglican Church. This is a critical time for Israel. We need our Christian friends to speak out loudly and clearly. To subscribe to Frankfurter's 'letter from Israel', email him at david.frankfurter@iname.com. Or go to http://www.livejournal.com/users/dfrankfurter/ |
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ISRAEL NEEDS A NATIONAL REFERENDUM ON THE DISENGAGEMENT PLAN
Posted by Unity Coalition for Israel, September 26, 2004. |
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CLICK HERE to support the 69% of Israelis who want a National Refendum regarding the disengagement plan. A sample letter is included, which you can change in any way you wish. A ZOA Press Release is included. A copy of your letter will automatically be sent ot Prime Minister Sharon, President Bush, Uzi Ladau, MK Yuri Shtern, MK Dr Arieh Eldad, Minister of Finance Benjamin Netanyahu, and mayors of 20 Israeli communities in Gaza/Judea/Samaria. Dear Prime Minister Sharon, As an ardent advocate for Israel, I appeal to you to heed the wishes of 69% of your countrymen who want the privilege accorded by all true democracies: to vote in a national referendum regarding your disengagement plan. Israel, as a democracy, must respect the "will of its people." By not allowing the people to vote in a national referendum, Israel is acting as a dictatorship. Not only is your government demanding the unilateral transfer of land but it is allowing one person to rule the state of Israel. A new Ma'ariv poll from September 13th, 2004, confirms that 69% of Israelis believe that before any disengagement plan can take place, they should have the privilege of voting on such a major policy change. Dramatic upheaval in the lives of thousands of Israeli citizens must not be carried out in an arbitrary fashion. To demand that citizens abandon the fruit of years of sacrifice because their Prime Minister dictates a new policy means that Israel is adapting the worst elements of a totalitarian state. In the future, Americans would be hard-pressed to justify our support for Israel while it engages in such undemocratic policies. True advocates for Israel in the US cannot stand idly by and agree with such a travesty. Those of us who love Israel and support it as the only democracy in the Middle East are saddened by these undemocratic tactics and maneuverings. In the eyes of the world, actions that reverse the essential basis of your democratic government and adversely affect the lives of so many of your citizens must not take place. This next is from the Zionist Organization of America, September 21, 2004. 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. SUPPORT GROWING AMONG ISRAELI PUBLIC FOR NATIONAL REFERENDUM BEFORE GAZA RETREAT - 69% NOW BACK REFERENDUM PROPOSAL NEW YORK- A new poll has found that more than two-thirds of Israelis now support the holding of a national referendum on the proposal to unilaterally withdraw from Gaza. The poll, conducted by the Teleseker firm for the Israeli daily Ma'ariv on September 13, 2004, found that 69% of Israelis want a national referendum on the Gaza retreat plan, as compared to only 26% who think the retreat decision should be made by the Knesset only. The 69% level of support is an increase from the 60% that an earlier poll found. A poll on September 8, 2004 by the Maagar Mochot firm, for Israel Radio, found 60% of Israelis favor holding such a referendum, and only 17% are opposed. Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for a referendum, and Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin (Jerusalem Post, Sept. 14, 2004) has stated: "If a referendum could prevent national trauma, I would have to support it." A poll on September 8, 2004 by the Israeli polling agency Maagar Mochot, for Israel Radio, found 60% of Israelis favor holding such a referendum, and only 17% are opposed. Morton A. Klein, National President of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), said: "Withdrawing from Gaza means grave risks for Israel's security, as well as ending Israel's presence in territories that have been an integral part of the Jewish homeland since biblical times. It means rewarding and encouraging terrorists. It means engaging in ethnic cleansing - something that has always been strongly condemned throughout the Jewish world. Anything less than a broad consensus, as determined in a national referendum, would leave Israeli society severely polarized. That is too high a price for Israelis - indeed, for world Jewry - to pay." The ZOA notes that a June 2004 survey by the Israeli polling agency Geocartography found 64% of Israelis do not believe leaving Gaza will decrease the threat of missiles fired by terrorists at pre-1967 Israel, and 71% do not believe retreating from Gaza will slow down the flow of weapons from Egypt to the terrorists in Gaza. ZOA president Klein also pointed to the fact that the Gaza withdrawal plan dramatically contradicts the platform on which Ariel Sharon was overwhelmingly elected prime minister: "During the last election campaign in Israel, Labor Party candidate Amram Mitzna urged unilateral withdrawal from Gaza and Sharon opposed it. He was elected on the basis of his opposition to unilateral withdrawal; Israel's voters should have the right to say if they, like Sharon, have changed their minds." 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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LET ALL NATIONS AND PEOPLES PREPARE FOR JERUSALEM'S HOUSE OF PRAYER!
Posted by David Ben-Ariel, September 26, 2004. |
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The Jews have prayed for 2,000 years to see again the Temple upon the Temple Mount. It's past time for prayers alone: ACTION is necessary to put faith into practice! Let the Muslims submit to the Word and Will of God concerning the Temple Mount. It's sole purpose is to House the Temple of the God of Jacob-Israel, that all nations may come to know, love and obey the God of Abraham. May they agree the Rock of Abraham has been preserved by the "Dome of the Rock," and that it was created for the Jews to continue their worship upon the site of Israel's Temple. It has served its purpose and now it's past time to restore spiritual sovereignty to the Jews upon the Temple Mount that they may build the House of Prayer for all peoples to come and worship. May the Jewish leaders repent of their woeful neglect of the Temple Mount and end Jerusalem's abomination of desolation - a Temple Mount without a Temple! May the pope encourage Judah to obey God and build His Royal House, His Heavenly Embassy, in the noble spirit of King Cyrus, and restore the Temple treasures to Jerusalem. May the Vatican release the silver, release the gold, that Rome stole from Jerusalem! May they immediately return the Menorah to stand again where it belongs: upon the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, within the Temple! The Vatican chambers will have served their purpose of protecting and preserving such consecrated items for this time. Let construction begin and may all nations and men seek and find the Great Creator God of the Bible, the God of Israel, and learn of His Word and ways and be blessed! For Zion's Sake,
David Ben-Ariel is author of "Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall". His website address is http://www.pushhamburger.com/david.htm |
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ADD ONE TO THE WRECKERS
Posted by Bryna Berch, September 26, 2004. |
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Someday when the strong resistence of the Gush Katif community to the expulsion of Jews from their homeland is glorified, this is certain to be one of the context documents. It was written by Moshe Saperstein, who lives in Neve Dekalim, Gush Katif, Gaza, Israel. Saperstein is one of the Jerusalem diarists, who write of their experience living in Israel today. As Judy Lash Balint, author of "Jerusalem Diaries: In Tense Times" writes Moshe Saperstein lost an arm while fighting in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. A resident of Neve Dekalim in the Gush Katif area of the Gaza Strip, Moshe was wounded in a February 2002 incident when he drove his car into a terrorist who had just shot and killed a young mother traveling in the car in front of him. The phone rang just as Shabbat ended. It was Oshri telling us that Tamar had gone into labor. Her due date was today, and as with the previous births she had delivered on schedule, we assumed this one would be the same. We were caught unprepared. But while I moved around like a spastic, Rachel calmly and methodically packed. Two and one half hours later, as we were about to leave the house, Oshri called again. It's a girl! The Wreckers, Ohr and Haddad, now have a baby sister. It was close to midnight when we arrived at Hadassah-Mount Scopus Hospital in Jerusalem, and I was grateful for the `disabled parking' sticker on my car which enabled us to get relatively close to the entrance. Each of Tamar's two previous births had taken many hours and a variety of painkillers. I guess practice makes perfect because this one was not only quick, it was medication-free as well. Tamar lay in bed, smiling and serene and transcendently beautiful. Baby - they won't divulge the name until Shabbat in the synagogue - lay with other newborn. Though Baby's mother is blond and fair-skinned, Baby is black-haired and dark-skinned like her siblings, all clones of Oshri. Thank the Lord he's good-looking. I couldn't help noting that Tamar's ward is all Jewish. Many Jewish women avoid Hadassah-Mount Scopus because the maternity wards are generally crowded with our Ishmaelite peace partners. In truth, Tamar was to have given birth at Shaare Tzedek but Hadassah was closer and she was already in labor. Oshri explained to me that Hadassah, perturbed at the absence of Jewish business, simply assigns religious and secular-nationalist Jews to one maternity ward and Ishmaelites and their leftist Jewish collaborators to another. The Hadassah organization would doubtless vociferously deny that this is policy. Indeed, many Hadassah ladies fearful of being politically incorrect don't even separate whites and coloreds in the laundry. It was after 1a.m when we got to Maale Michmash, north of Jerusalem. Even in darkness the location is breathtaking. To the south the lights of Jerusalem are ablaze. To the southwest, those of Maale Adumim where Ari and Efrat live. Further west, the Dead Sea area. And behind a hill to the east, a glow from the lights of Jericho. At 4a.m I was awake. Perhaps I was nervous, or the bed was uncomfortable, or I needed a cigar. Certainly the bed was closer to the ground than I am used to, and getting in and out of it is a major engineering problem. These days it's difficult to stand up from a sitting position, or sit up from a lying position, without losing my balance. So imagine maneuvering myself upright practically from the ground in a confined space. Anyway, I staggered outside to a glorious star-swirling sky, the points of light moving like a slow motion pinwheel, and a chill wind. Maale Michmash is just north of Jerusalem and the cool nights we had grown accustomed to during our thirty years in Jerusalem, then unaccustomed to after seven years in Neve Dekalim, came as a delightful shock. Which I proceeded to celebrate by destroying the ozone layer with volleys of cigar smoke. Whether my mind is blank, or bursting with thought, or as is customary in my case, bursting with blank thought, awaiting the dawn is an exhilarating emotional experience. A religious experience. It is only a small exaggeration to say that, were I condemned to be shot at sunrise, I would still be thrilled at the coming of the light. Would that the day were as good. Rachel prepared breakfast and the kids' lunchbags while Oshri dressed Ohr for kindergarten and Hadar for pre-kindergarten. The kids kvetched without cease. Comfortable with us as they are in our home, in their home, particularly as their mother is absent, we are interlopers. And they behaved accordingly. Functionless, I tried staying out of everyone's way. It wasn't easy. With the kids finally in school Oshri, on leave from the army, left to attend to something or other. Rachel and I went to see Tamar and Baby, getting back in time for Rachel to prepare lunch before we collected the kids. We were happy to see how the community works hard to inspire pride in the arrival of a new sibling, rather than letting children feel resentful at the intruder. In both pre-kindergarten and kindergarten parties were held in honor of the kids, with presents and congratulations to make them feel they were gaining something because of Baby. After lunch, while I told them stories and sang songs that I had first made up for Tamar and Dafna many years before, Rachel began the Herculean task of cleaning the house. With Oshri in the army and Tamar barely able to move, the work has piled up. Also, Tamar has inherited my easygoing attitude toward cleanliness and order rather than Rachel's never-satisfied perfectionism. And when Oshri returned and took the girls to visit their mother, Rachel continued to clean and I continued to pretend to be wallpaper. Monday I again greeted the sunrise, determined not to take another day as wallpaper. So I began to do what I do best. Laundry. Oodles of laundry. Enough to clothe a medium-sized village. Unfortunately I was unfamiliar with the machine, a German-made monstrosity with written instructions in Hoch-Deutsch and pictographs not seen since the heyday of hieroglyphics. After much trial and error, especially error, I persevered. And avoiding Rachel - sweeping, scouring, scrubbing, muttering - as best I could, I managed to do it all. Even occupying myself between loads by turning the clothes over on the line, thus speeding the drying and frying process. [Should I rent myself out for barbecues?] We had a wedding that evening on a kibbutz the other side of Jerusalem, so while Oshri tended the tykes we drove off. Escaped might be a better word. Anti-social creature that I am, I would happily have skipped the event. But for Rachel it was a matter of survival. It was an interesting wedding in that we didn't know whether to sit at a table marked `friends of the bride's family' or at one marked `friends of the groom's family'. The bride is from Neve Dekalim and the groom from a family of old friends from Jerusalem. It was easy to tell the groups apart. At least the males. All the females were dressed beautifully. But while the Jerusalemite males wore suits and ties, the Gush Katif guys were resplendent in open-necked white shirts and firearms. Rachel sat with a gaggle of old girlfriends while I smoked myself silly outside on the lawn in splendid isolation. Except for those awkward moments when former acquaintances approached and said "Hey, we thought you were dead!" To which I smiled and replied "Sorry to disappoint you." By 11pm we were back in Michmash. I pulled in the last of the clothes on the line, packed a bag, kissed Rachel goodbye and returned to the car for the trip to Neve Dekalim. I had promised to speak to a group of Christian pilgrims on Tuesday, and though I was exhausted and it was suggested I sleep in Michmash and leave early in the morning, I was afraid that I wouldn't sleep and would arrive too exhausted to be effective. But I would rather drive at night when the roads are relatively empty, then sleep later in the morning. A mistake. Read on. The trip was uneventful, and I could smoke to my heart's content and blast the music til the wax ran out of my ears. Near Modi'in there was a roadblock, and I noticed the soldiers manning it were from the ultra-orthodox Nahal Hareidi regiment. As they waved me past I saw a group sitting around a campfire just off the road. They were listening to a lecture on the laws of Rosh Hashanah. It was hard to drive as my eyes filled with tears at the beauty of it, at the holiness of this extraordinary country. It was almost 2am when I pulled into the driveway and as I stepped out of the car I was shaken by a tremendous explosion nearby, followed moments later by a second explosion farther off. "Gee, fellows" I said to the peace partner neighbors, "you didn't have to go to all this trouble to welcome me home." The next day I learned that the first explosion, a Kassem rocket, had sheared off the upper half of a large palm tree next to our synagogue. Exhausted as I was, I was too rattled to sleep. Especially as explosions and machinegun fire continued through the night and in to the morning. So I did more laundry, Rachel's and mine, which I had brought home. A thick fog shrouded everything in the morning, but an ever thicker fog shrouded my mind. And long after the ground fog burned off my brain fog remained. Remained? It congealed. The pilgrims were supposed to come before noon and I counted on being able to sleep after they left. But they were delayed, and delayed again, not arriving before 3pm. I don't know how I got through it. There were about thirty of them, Americans, Australians, South Africans, Barbadians, and two or three Klingons. Or Romulans. They seemed appreciative. Either they were being kind or they have low standards. After they left I simply collapsed. And have more or less slept or sleepwalked til starting this letter. Now I just need to get back to Rachel. Doubtless there is more laundry waiting for me. I also want to see Tamar and Baby. Oshri brought them home yesterday afternoon. I hope Ohr and Hadar have calmed down with Tamar's reappearance. 9.9 I want to send this off before returning to Michmash, and as we'll be back here the day before Rosh Hashanah, to wish you all a Happy and Peaceful New Year. Permit me to close with something quite wonderful that I heard Oshri say. A friend of his, showing standard Israeli tact, said "Aren't you annoyed that it's another girl?" To which Oshri smiled: "Every time the Bible talks about our messing up, and the Almighty wanting to destroy us, it then says He changed His mind because of the virtue and holiness of the women of Israel." |
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U'NETANEH TOKEF - SEPTEMBER 2004
Posted by Menachem Kovacs, September 24, 2004. |
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U'netaneh Tokef (pivotal prayer of the High Holidays asking forgiveness for our many sins against G-d. This litany of sins is solemnly repeated by the full congregation many times during the prayer service, and each time, forgiveness is asked. It is itself an awesome sight to see and feel the entire congregation standing, the whole community together praying for forgiveness) This poem was written by Moshe Tutnauer.
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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HAPPY ROSH HASHANAH: WHAT I LEARNED FROM JEWS
Posted by Nonie Darwish, September 24, 2004. |
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These weeks we welcome Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). I know very little about the Jewish Religion, but I understand the significance of this holiday. Even though I am not Jewish I thought that everyone can benefit from this holiday. I learned from my Jewish friends that it is actually a period of ten days, from the Eve of Rosh Hashanah (Wednesday, September 15) through the day of Yom Kippur (Shabbat, September 25). This period is called "The Ten Days of Repentance" in Jewish tradition. The concept of examining myself from within and seeing how I, as well as my community, are responsible for our actions and self improvement sounds both very attractive and alien to me and my cultural background. I was born and raised in Cairo, Egypt, and the Gaza strip as a Muslim in the fifties when Classical, more moderate, Islam was prevalent. However, the concept of examining oneself deeply without fear of repercussions was lacking in our religious education as a whole. I am not sure if Islam influenced Arab culture or Arab culture influenced Islam but one of the basic driving forces in Arab society is shame and pride. I decided to try this wonderful Jewish tradition and apply it to myself and my culture of origin. I moved to the United States in 1978 and came with the usual preconceived biases, indoctrination and baggage from a Middle East upbringing: Fear of Jews, government, people in power, and fear of speaking my mind. Having lived through the '56, '67 and '73 wars with Israel took away my feelings of trust and security. However, living in America made it easy for me to change and look objectively within myself, my history and my culture of origin. Now I run a new website called ArabsforIsrael.com. To courageously stand and admit to oneself and to the world one's sins, bad choices and engage them head on, to correct and repent, is hard for most people in any culture, but it is inconceivable and unheard of in Muslim culture. Speaking, even to oneself, of one's shortcomings and examining one's responsibilities first before blaming others would bring shame, disgrace and dishonor not only to the individual but to his or her entire family. Those who admit fault or guilt, even if it is unintended, are regarded as fools. If the mistake is a cultural taboo one's reputation might be scarred for life and the person might end up brutally punished. We were discouraged from sinning out of fear of an angry God, the flames of Hell and Society's cruel punishment awaiting sinners right here on earth. There was no reward for loving humanity as whole, self improvement and bringing out the best of the human spirit. Pleasing brutal dictators to get favoritism and wealth at the expense of the majority population was the common thing to do. Arabs were always proud to talk about the old glory and their old contributions to the world and suppressed discussion and examination of any internal ills or evil. Because of this fear of shame and facing the truth about the negatives in Arab and Muslim culture, they allowed evil to dominate all aspects of Arab and Muslim society. No one can deny the current sad state of the Middle East's dysfunctional society. Terrorism in every Muslim country and poisoning the world, war, genocide against non-Muslims such as in the Sudan, burning of churches, then taking refuge in Muslim holy shrines, beheading of Jews, destruction of Buddha temples, brutal dictatorships and weak economies. Despite wealth from oil, the Muslim world is among the poorest in the world. Pollution and garbage are all around the great Nile Valley, unemployment is rampant and nothing can get done without bribery. Arab media forgives and ignores all these problems and is preoccupied with destroying Israel. This is the sad situation in the Middle East where countries like Egypt cannot survive without generous U.S. aid. Blaming everyone and anyone but themselves was the only wise thing to do in a culture that gave no appreciation for accepting responsibility. Today this problem has metastasized and dominates a billion and a half Muslims around the world. The only option for survival in such a culture is to always deny wrongdoing and tell yourself "you did not do it" until you believe it. Thus Israel becomes the useful enemy that Arabs blame for everything. Even the last terrorist attack on Russian children was blamed by some on yet another Jewish conspiracy. After defending and supporting Israel in my articles I was also accused of being part of an Israeli conspiracy. At a time when most religions struggle to explain evil in the world, Radical Islam found the answer. Without hesitation, they say it is the Jews. Just listen to most Friday sermons in mosques all around the Muslim world. For that I personally want to apologize to Jews around the world during their holy time of holidays. Jews do not wish each other a "Happy New Year" on Rosh HaShana, the way we are all used to do on every January 1. The proper greeting is "Shanah Tovah", which means a "good year" or "a year of goodness". The greeting stresses goodness and living a good life, a life committed to improving the world and relationships. I am in awe when I hear my Jewish friends speak and explain the teachings of their faith. I want to take this opportunity to thank them and their culture for so many contributions to humanity. I am grateful to them for teaching me this great tradition that so many non-Jews need to reflect upon. We all need to examine ourselves from inside, bring out the good and see what we have accomplished as members of the human race. We all learn from each other and that is good. May the New Year bring to our reality some of our expectations and may it bring us more together. Shabbat Shalom and Shana Tova (Happy Jewish New Year of 5765) from California, Nonie Darwish can be reached by email at noniedarwish@hotmail.com. Or go to these websites: www.arabsforisrael.com and www.noniedarwish.com This article was distributed by the Root and Branch Association of Jerusalem (www.rb.org). |
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AL CHAIT SHECHATANU - WE HAVE SINNED AGAINST YOU
Posted by Gerald A. Honigman, September 24, 2004. |
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Jews begin the Ten Days of Awe, which fall between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur each new year, with a confession of sins committed in the eyes of G_d. Additionally, it is required that transgressions committed against fellow human beings be addressed as well. Without a true turning of the heart in attempts to rectify both, however, the confessions and fasts associated with the High Holy Days remain meaningless words. In terms of Arab-Israeli politics, Jews have been accused of countless sins by much of the world today. But, as is noted in terms of yet another Jewish holiday, Passover, while it is regrettable that any hardship had to be suffered even by enemies who would destroy us, as we symbolically remove drops of wine from our cups at the Seder dinner to diminish our joy of deliverance, we offer no apologies for wanting to put an end to our two thousand year-old nightmare of massacres, forced conversions, expulsions, ghettoization, pogroms, dehumanization, inquistions, dhimmitude, demonization, Holocaust, and being labeled either killers of G_d by the Christian West or "Jew Dog" killers of Prophets in the Muslim East by doing what was necessary for our own survival...working, with G_d's timely help, for the rebirth of Israel. The Prophet Ezekiel's vision of the Valley of the Dry Bones arrived just in the nick of time... At a time when Arabs and their fellow jihadists and hypocrite supporters elsewhere offer no confessions and ask no forgiveness from neither G_d nor man for blowing up buses, restaurants, and schools, deliberately targeting innocents, subjugating, enslaving, and massacring millions of non-Arab peoples (Kurds, Black Africans, Jews, Copts, Berbers, and others as well) just in the last half century alone, in the Middle East and North Africa on behalf of the Arab nation and what they claim as "purely Arab patrimony," Jews can honestly say that they have truly tried--repeatedly--to reach an honorable and just solution to their problems with Arabs. To any objective observer, this is not debatable. While wanting to put an end to their own perpetual nakba (as Arabs like to refer to the rebirth of Israel--"the catastrophe"), Jews nevertheless agreed to one compromise after another over the past century so that Arabs could gain their 22nd or 23rd state. Those of us who are knowledgeable are tired of reminding the world (and each other) that this included Arabs being granted the lion's share of the original 1920 Palestinian Mandate itself with creation of purely Arab Transjordan--today's Jordan--from 80% of "Palestine" (the name the Roman Emperor Hadrian renamed Judaea after the Jews' second major revolt for freedom in 133 to 135 C.E.) in 1922. Just a few years ago, Arabs rejected an offer which would have eliminated most of the Israeli settlements on disputed--not "purely Arab"--lands and would have turned over some 97% of those lands to Arab control. That Arabs want their new, additional state to exist in place of Israel, not along side of it, has always been the problem. So "occupation" and "settlements" are not the core issues of the debate. Since Arabs see all of Israel proper in those latter terms, however, we have an even more serious dilemma in these regards. This problem has always involved Arabs not granting anyone else but themselves political rights in the region...with the possible exception of some of those whom they successfully Islamized centuries earlier. While this holds true for Turks, Afghanis, Pakistanis, and Iranians, for example, this is largely not the case with Kurds, Black African (Muslim and non-Muslim) Sudanese, and Berbers. For the latter, the issue becomes more of a clash of nationalisms than of religion with the Arabs' still ongoing forced Arabization process still under way centuries after they burst out of the Arabian Peninsula in their imperial Caliphal conquests of the region. And while they demand that others confess and address their "imperial" sins, Arabs see their own conquest, forced imperial Arabization, colonization, and settlement of other peoples' lands (including in the Mandate of Palestine, where most Arabs were newcomers themselves in the last century) simply in terms of their own just due. So, as the New Year of 5765 begins, Jews have lots--both individually and collectively as a people and community--to work on to make better both before G_d and man. The latter will include continuing to try to find an honorable solution to problems involving Arabs. But, to do this, we must have true partners for peace, ones who recognize our rights as well as their own, and understand that others besides themselves are entitled to a bit of justice in the region. Unfortunately, this is not how Arabs have ever dealt with any of their own national competitors. As just two other timely examples, consider the current plight of Kurds in both Syria and Iraq or Black Africans in the Sudan. Furthermore, everything that Arabs say, write, teach, and preach to their own people works against this from ever happening. Under such circumstances, no amount of Israeli concessions will ever be "enough." Until such a day arrives, however, Israel must do what it must do to thrive, not just survive. The world's demand, for example, that a miniscule Israel fight with one hand constantly tied behind its back must be rejected by Israel's leaders...even when such demands come from its "friends." When Israel recently carefully targeted a Hamas training camp right after the latter blew up two more buses filled with children and other Jewish innocents, none other than the so-called Palestinian Arab moderate, Prime Minister/Arafatian chief marionette Ahmed Qurei', endorsed further barbarism against Jews as being "justified" because of the Israeli assault. Using his logic, murderers should never be pursued nor dealt with. So, even in "moderate" Arab eyes, Jews are supposed to just allow themselves to continuously be slaughtered with no response. What Israel actually needed to do here was to follow the above assault on the murderers of its innocents quickly, with even more devastating blows. The day of the Hamas funeral comes to mind, with hundreds more Hamas members and their supporters crying out during the procession for additional Jewish blood and firing weapons into the air. Many with Jewish blood already on their hands were likely in that procession. Will such Israeli counter measures make Arabs hate Jews any more? Well, nobody likes to have their own nose bloodied, but these folks are already dedicated to the Jews' destruction--both individually and collectively. The only thing that prevents more of their barbarism is Israel's non-stop counter measures. So Israel must fight--somewhat at least--to win and must ignore the hypocrites elsewhere (including the Foggy Folks) who will condemn it. The latter would have leveled Gaza years ago if subjected to the same treatment Jews have been told to constantly endure. If Fallujah is deemed a fair target for American Air Force fighter bombers day after day in Iraq because we believe our enemies are located there, then what are hundreds of Hamas folks, dedicated to Israel's destruction, crying out for "revenge" and announcing their planned intentions to butcher more Jews? Unlike a huge, three thousand mile-wide America, thousands of miles away from its Iraqi Arab enemies, tiny Israel faces these problems right in its own very backyard. While 9/11 also changes this reality a bit, it's still far better to be in America's position than in that of Israel's. Any innocent Arabs killed as a result of their support of those who are openly dedicated to the murder of Jews and their sole state are not "innocent." On the other hand, women, children and others aboard Israeli buses, in restaurants, and such are not dedicated to the murder of Arabs or denial of Arab rights. Yet they are the targets of choice of Arabs. The problem has always been that Arabs have seen their rights as being exclusive and negating those of others. There is no room for a true "compromise" with this mindset...only for a temporary hudna--ceasefire--until the time for total conquest better presents itself for the Arab cause. Under these unfortunate--but very real--circumstances, five million Jews cannot afford to simply fight a war of attrition with an Arab world that is numbered in the hundreds of millions, with one of the highest birthrates anywhere. Arafat talks of the Arab mother as being his best weapon. Sick... While I hate to stoop to such thinking, taking out fifteen murderers after a like number of Jewish innocents have been massacred and scores more maimed, is a losing tactic. Killing hundreds of them, however, on the other hand, sends quite a different message. A few well-placed, two-thousand pound bombs during the next Hamas or Islamic Jihad funeral procession is certainly at least as justified as anything America has been doing in its own fights in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. And when Hamas follows through with the next inevitable attack, the Israeli response must increase exponentially. This is not to say that all hope must be given up regarding a peaceful solution to the Arab-Israel conflict. But it is to say that deceiving ourselves along the suicidal lines of a Burg, Beilen, Peres or such "peace" (i.e. accepting millions of "returning" Arab refugees, an Israel in its United Nations' imposed, 9-mile wide armistice line existence, etc.) will only lead to the demise of the Jewish State. Remember the response, above, of the "moderate," Ahmed Qurei'. Of all of our real sins that we must seek forgiveness for during this Holy season, we must remind ourselves that the rebirth of the Jewish State and our struggle to survive are not to be counted amongst them. And the latter requires decisive action, not just words. A security fence, for example, which does not allow for the protection of Israel's main airport comes to mind as does the same which does not grant Israel at least a minimally adequate protective buffer zone between itself and millions of Arabs still sworn to its destruction...a buffer, by the way, envisioned by UN Security Council Resolution #242 itself. What other nation would be asked to forsake such things? For those who think otherwise, well...they can read my mind. They already know what I will tell them. Issues related to the survival of the Jewish people in their sole, reborn nation are not debatable as far as I am concerned, especially given the repeated attempts by the Jews to reach a fair solution to their problems with the Arabs, and also given that it was a murderous and dehumanizing, millennial anti-Semitism practiced by much of the rest of the world which, ironically, led to the very rebirth of the Jewish State in the first place. May we all be blessed with a new year in which all people will reach out to find better, more equitable ways to live with each other. < |
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YOM KIPPUR 2004
Posted by Tamar Rush, September 24, 2004. |
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I originally penned this article last year and it appeared on
IsraPundit. Things have changed so little that I have decided to
re-post it with slight updates.
It is archived at http://israpundit.com/archives/008714.html#more
A lot to atone for............ We in Israel, and Jews everywhere will observe "Yom Kippur" or the "Day of Atonement" on Saturday 25 September. It is a day for fasting, quiet contemplation, and asking our G_d to forgive us for the sins that we committed during the last year. In our prayers all sins are confessed in the plural (we have done this, we have done that), emphasising communal responsibility for our sins. Our confessions are usually silent, a private dialogue between Man and G_d, however, I am going to share with you a few things that I feel it necessary to atone for this year. I must atone for the sin of "Lashon Ha'ra" [The evil tongue] or slander, because I have allowed so much defamation and blood-libel against Israel and the Jewish people to go unchallenged. I was born and raised in Eretz Israel, and to quote the last known words of the murdered Daniel Perl; "I was born a Jew and I'll die a Jew". As a Jew, to sit quietly and appease those who would rewrite history and use medieval blood-libels to evict my people from our land is to participate in a great slander against the Jewish people. In our eagerness to be accepted by the "International Community" we have opened our arms to some of history's most blood-soaked terrorists. We have hoped against hope that these murderous miscreants would honour their agreements to reform and denounce the fanatical violence that has been their hallmark, or that those in the "International Community" who sponsored their entry into our land would accept their responsibility to rein them in. Both our "Peace partners" and the International sponsors of agreements such as the infamous "Oslo" accords have revealed themselves to be hell bent on the destruction of Eretz Israel, to be replaced by a fanatical terror-state. Every schlemiel in this country should atone for this sin. We have even adopted the language of those who would drive us from the land given to us by a holy covenant between G-d and the Jewish people ("And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great..") It's been over a generation since we have referred to this land by the historically correct term "Eretz Israel" [The Land of Israel]. Today we use the internationally acceptable "Medinat Israel", or the "State of Israel". "States" come and go, and we have taught today's generation that we are a "state" like all others, no covenant with the Creator and no special bond to the land. We have a lot to atone for. Wednesday's deadly attack in our capital, Jerusalem, presents several more reasons to atone for our sins. Jewish tradition holds the preservation of human life as one of its supreme moral values. It takes precedence over virtually all other moral values. Our Talmud [Tractate Sanhedrin.] tells us; "If someone comes to kill you, arise quickly and kill him.", yet we have allowed a ten year campaign of unprecedented savagery against our people to continue, while we appease and negotiate with the very terrorists that are murdering and maiming our children and loved ones. We sit in cafes, or watch sports on TV while a succession of morally indifferent politicians kow-tow to the "International Community" instead of defending this land and it's people. There are no serious protests, no one takes to the streets after the bloody attacks, or mass funerals. We should, but we don't. We have a lot to atone for. We will also hold memorial services to commemorate the 2,225 Israelis who fell during the Yom Kippur War (1973). Our attempts to appease the "International Community" and not anger the United States almost cost us our country and our lives as the Arab world, led by Egypt, attacked during the most solemn day of the Jewish calendar. Thirty-one years on, and we seem to have forgotten the lessons of that costly war. We continue to jeopardise the future of our children and the Jewish people by placating an enemy whose stated goal is to finish what the Third Reich began. As we ignore the lessons of the past we have ensured that the slaughter of innocents will continue at pace. We have a lot to atone for. When Yom Kippur has ended, the streets will fill with children playing, as families prepare their first meal after the fast. At the Muqata, Arafat and his colleagues will be giggling away as they plan their next "act of resistance" against innocent Israeli targets. It is incomprehensible that this situation can be allowed to exist. We have a lot to atone for. We certainly have the military and material wherewithal to put an end to this murderous insanity once and for all. We merely lack the moral fortitude to do so. The massacre of Israelis and the decimation of the Jewish people will only escalate until we find the courage to thumb our noses at the duplicitous "International Community" and permanently remove Arafat, and the entire Islamic-terror apparatus from our midst. If the current situation continues unabated, there will be many fewer Jews to observe Yom Kippur in the year 2005, and those who survive to do so will have a lot to atone for. Since I wrote the original article one year ago, nothing much has changed. Yes, we have suffered slightly fewer casualties from Arab attacks, but that is a tribute to our military, who have intercepted a greater percentage of would be attackers than in previous years. Yom Kippur 2004 finds my country still targeted for extinction by erstwhile "friends" and committed enemies alike. Our "Disengagement plan", otherwise known as the "Unconditional retreat in the face of bad P.R. Plan" has provided encouragement to the most radical of Jew-haters. This year has brought more of the Lashon Ha'ra from the usual sources and an increasing number of their emboldened sympathisers. My silence (for far too long) is something that I must once again atone for. To close on a positive note, I'd like to mention someone who is making a positive contribution to my country, Mr.Howard Bernstein. Mr.Bernstein was formally the chairman of the America-Israel Chambers of Commerce. Today he runs a website that promotes Israeli goods and services. Mr.Bernstein does not "have to" do anything for my country, he has a successful business (The Chapman Group) and he surely could use the time he spends assisting Israel in other, more enjoyable ways. I promise you that Howard Bernstein's efforts on our behalf are very much appreciated by the people of Eretz Israel. I'd also like to commend the crew at IsraPundit for their tireless efforts on our behalf. I know that Ted, Joseph, Bunuel, and everyone else could have a far easier life by ignoring our plight, and taking up golf, sky-diving, or whatever. Thank you guys, really!
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OPTIMISTIC ASSESSMENT OF IRAQ; TALK OF CIVIL WAR A PLOY?
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, September 24, 2004. |
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THE REAL U.S. MIDEAST POLICY Before Israel was established, the State Dept. hired Christian missionaries in the Mideast to represent it there. Eventually, some of them rose into policy-making. They were indoctrinated into blaming "the Jews" for the death of Jesus. The Vatican, too, opposed the establishment of Israel lest people question whether the resurrection of Jewish sovereignty impugns the notion of Christianity having superceded Judaism. In the early 20th century, the State Dept. allied itself with oil companies. Together, they set policy, guiding Presidents more than the reverse. The Dept. became a major adversary of Zionism. When the UN foiled the State Dept. by recommending Jewish statehood, the State Dept resorted to schemes public and secret, to undermine that sovereignty. It immediately imposed an arms embargo that for some months kept Israel from having much more than handguns, while Britain provided invading Arab armies with heavy weapons. Nevertheless Israel fought them off. Next the State Dept. supported various dictators against Israel. Secretaries of State made appeasement-minded visits to Syria. (It was in the name of getting peace negotiations started, but Syria wanted deadly concessions in advance, negotiations to be a formality, and peace to be promised but war to be made. Israel nearly succumbed to the promises and US blandishments.) Under State Dept. guidance, the US intelligence agencies ran a "black ops" program that secretly deprived Israel of intelligence about Arab military capability, including weapons of mass-destruction. This violated Memos Of Understanding by Presidents and Congress. (The US even fed Israel disinformation, so that it would suffer heavy casualties, in a war.) Hence Pollard supplied it independently. The US favored the Arabs in so many self-defeating and corrupt ways, including letting Saddam survive Gulf War I with regime and weapons programs intact, that Pres. Bush issued a pre-emptive blanket pardon for his top officials! Fearing exposure by Pollard, the conspirators made sure he was locked up for life for his minor violation of law. Meanwhile, Israel gave the US intelligence so valuable, that one US general said Israel was worth five CIAs to the US. Undermining Israel, the US gives the P.A. $210 million a year, even while it makes war on Israel. The current black ops program is to leak disinformation against neo-con supporters of Israel and AIPAC, to squelch the neo-con group officially investigating intelligence failures by the pro-Arab intelligence agencies and to disenchant the American people with Israel. The "Washington Post" accommodatingly converted the disinformation into 10 stories in 9 days. The State Dept. has something to hide. It knowingly let into the US people from states on our terrorist watch and that preach hatred of the US. The State Dept. hid that fact from the American people. State Dept. official retire onto Arab payrolls! The 9/11 Commission did not investigate these real failures of intelligence! Its main conclusion was that the US needed to reach out to the minds of Muslims, as if the US invoked terrorism. That suggestion seems to have been planted by the State Dept.. US agents who complained that their superiors or the State Dept. leashed their efforts to track down Islamist conspirators were hounded, sometimes out of their jobs. The intelligence agencies tried to squelch that. Although the war on Islamism requires international cooperation against nuclear proliferation, the US reportedly again is denying Israel relevant information (of use in attempting to knock out facilities that sooner or later would be directed against the US, after Israel). Israeli intelligence being near the Arabs and excellent, should be harnessed, not ostracized. A shadow government runs the US. Will we ever get that investigated and purged? (Winston Mid East Analysis, 9/7.) No, we are too busy boasting of our democracy, while the Establishment guides our thinking. Where are the radicals and the "protestors" when we really need them? TWO REACTIONS TO TERRORISM Terrorists in Iraq executed Nepalese workers and captured French ones. The people of Nepal reacted by mobbing Muslims and their businesses. The violence is improper, but Nepal should have made a legal defense of Nepalese security by homogeneity. France reacted by pleading with other terrorists to rescue the captives as a reward for decades of appeasement of the Arabs. France subordinated itself to the Islamists (Daniel Pipes, NY Sun, 9/14, p.9). P.A. CALLS FOR GENOCIDE On P.A. TV, two religious leaders have called it an Islamic duty to murder Jews until none are left (IMRA, 9/14 from Palestinian Media Watch). The Islamist drive to genocide gets full P.A. cooperation. The P.A., not just Hamas, is Islamist. WHAT DO JIHADISTS WANT IN IRAQ? They want to do more than force the US military out. They want to turn Iraq into the training arena for terrorism that Afghanistan was. Iraq is drawing Islamists from all over, as a "proving ground." They have better weapons, now. Saddam's funding cut off, the insurgents turned to foreign Muslims, who give the insurgency an Islamist cast. Saddam's former, secularist officers rationalize that innocent people whom they blow up go right to Paradise. (How readily Muslims turn Islamist!) Eschewing a central command, the insurgency cannot be eradicated by a blow to that command. Its tentacles can inject themselves into other cities. It is racing to establish warlords before the thin US forces and the nascent official Iraqi forces can stop them. If the US withdrew, what would the insurgents do? One said they would pursue, right into the US (Jewish Political Chronicle, 7/2004, p.14 from Michael ware, Time Mag., 6/27). The US is grinding them up, but they produce more from the madrassas. We must close madrassas. ISRAELI ANTI-TERRORISM The Israeli Air Force bombed a Hamas camp as it was training terrorists to infiltrate Israeli communities. The bombs killed 14 terrorists and no civilians (Arutz-7, 9/7). But the P.A. press release called them "civilians," and protestors called the raid Israeli "state terrorism." Training has been going on for years. Why weren't the camps attacked before, and in daytime? SOURCE OF HAMAS TERRORISM The Al-Jama Arab neighborhood of Hebron has "'large, spacious houses, smart cars and vineyards spread out over undulating hills - a pocket of relative prosperity -' has seen no fewer than 11 of its young men die while carrying out suicide bombings and other attacks on Israelis." "These numbers put the lie to Shimon Pres oft-repeated thesis that terrorism is the result of the Arabs' poor economic conditions and that peace will follow prosperity." "The Telegraph reports that dozens of young men leave for the US and France rather than remain in Hebron and risk being 'brainwashed' by Hamas." Thousands are leaving the Territories (Arutz-7, 9/7). Therein lies Israel's potential victory. It must spur the exodus by threat and bribe. STATE DEPT. VS. S. ARABIA Saudi law bans conversion, even to non-Salafi sects of Islam. Judges may discount non-Muslim testimony. Customs officials inspect for material from non-Salafi religions. The State Dept. now condemns S. Arabia as among the countries that persecute religious minorities and deny freedom of religion. This is the first time that the State Dept. has named and shamed S. Arabia as a religious persecutor. It has not yet designated it as a denier of human rights or terrorist state. The State Dept. thorn was not thrust deep. Sec. Powell indicated there would be no sanctions placed on that country; rather there would be "engagement." (Eli Lake, NY Sun, 9/16, p.7.) "Engagement" means we trade, they murder. OPTIMISTIC ASSESSMENT OF IRAQ The world's powers increasingly are hostile to radical Islam. Two thirds of al Qaeda's leadership has been neutralized. Afghanistan and Iraq no longer sponsor it. Europe and the US are rounding them up. Profit and spite are losing their power to motivate European opposition to the US. It discovered that it, too, is within al Qaeda' sights. After experience with Chechnya, Russia wants the US to succeed. China wants to liquidate its radical Islamists. Foreigners do not mourn the targeted terrorist commanders. S. Korea, Indonesia, and Japan are finding that the US protects their sea lanes to the Mideast. US military commitments to them against the barbarians are valuable. Hamas' Intifada has failed - Western democracies still can fight back. Moderate Arabs feel ashamed by association with Islamists. They find anti-Americanism doesn't spare them, as terrorists murder hundreds in Pakistan, S. Arabia, and Turkey. They know that the US has done much to save and subsidize Muslim countries. Will Pakistan, Jordan, and S. Arabia realize that subsidizing or harboring terrorists is counter-productive? If so, they will close the Islamist schools, charities, and borderland bases. Arab League dictatorships, however, are afraid that we would sponsor democracy. Foreigners do not mourn the targeted terrorist commanders. Some of those powers don't publicly cooperate with the US, but they wish it well. The world admires success. The world knows the choice is between civilization and barbarism. The US is NOT isolated. The US has made tactical blunders. It overlooked Arab culture - tribal, male-dominated, and eager for prestige and publicity. Whenever the US is in a real military battle with insurgents, it wins and the enemy has no popular support. The veteran coalition troops are liquidating the enemy. The media missed this story. The main US problem is in the US. The anti-war movement has grown large, ironically in behalf of the sexist, fundamentalist, homophobic, racist, ethno-centric, regimented, murderers of Kurds, Arabs, and Americans (Jewish Political Chronicle, 7/2004, p.16 from Victor Davis Hanson, Natl. Review Online, 6/25). Likewise, the main Israeli problem is with the Jewish people. It hinders itself with misplaced sympathy for its enemies, who are among they least worthy of sympathy. Mr. Hanson is too optimistic. If the world knows we are right but still is ashamed and afraid to cooperate with us openly, then the terrorists gain. Secular and religious Arab states still try to tamp down local terrorists while ramping up the ones that strike us. Europe still retains an alliance with the Arabs. The West still subsidizes the PLO. The Intifada wasn't Hamas' but that of the whole P.A., and is winning, because Sharon is retreating. ISRAELI CIVIL WAR? NO EVIDENCE! (published in NY Sun) Your 9/16 editorial raising the question of Israeli civil war is deep in sympathy but shallow in history. Otherwise you would know: (1) Sharon is derided as a hard-liner by Arabs and the Left because they will criticize Israel and demand more concessions, no matter how appeasement-minded he has become; (2) His undemocratically bulldozed scheme to give the active enemy, in stages, what would be Israel's secure borders, a third of its water supply, and the religious and historical core of the Jewish homeland is not "pragmatic;" (3) There are no security reasons for that concession to terrorism, and his excuses for it are unconvincing. He would greatly encourage the jihadists; (4) Sharon's alarm about a civil war is the Establishment way of discrediting the whole opposition. The same was done by Shimon Peres, who had agents provocateurs perpetrate violence, and then blamed the "incitement" on the Right and the religious; (5) Menachem Begin was distributing 9/10ths of the Altalena's military cargo to the Haganah, into which he was folding his men. The rest was for an attempt to liberate the Old City. Not wanting the right-wing Begin to get credit for saving Israel, Ben-Gurion had Rabin shell the Altalena and murder volunteer soldiers who had jumped off the burning ship. DANGER OF ISLAM VS. NAZISM & COMMUNISM At the start of WWII, our adversaries were better armed than we. This time, we have the advantage in armaments, but it matters less. Our enemies don't depend solely on armies, but more on pressuring individuals to ambush and to murder civilians. The minions of Hitler and Stalin never reached New York City and D.C., but the Islamists did, on 9/11. Next time they may come with weapons of mass-destruction. They may seem crazy to us, but so did Nazism. The Islamists better understand the West's weaknesses. They pose a greater menace (Jewish Political Chronicle, 7/2004, p.11 from Victor Davis Hanson, Natl. Rev. OnLine). One resents the horror and pity of the destruction that may claim our lives, because the Democrats are in an appeasement mode and Pres. Bush is not pursuing additional terrorist states. I would go further. I ask, if we are struck by such weapons, how much might would the US have left? What then of the argument that our combat must spare the lives of collateral civilians in the enemy countries, civilians who would dance in the streets when American cities become funeral pyres? THE DANGER FROM EUPHEMISMS The media both sympathized with the Arab side of the Arab-Israel conflict and was intimidated by it. As a result, it devised at least 20 euphemisms in lieu of calling Arabs "terrorist." Some of the examples are ludicrous. A Dutch newspaper went so far as to call a dead suicide-bomber a "victim." The practice has spread into other countries and non-Arab Muslims committing jihad. The consequence of this moral obfuscation is that the West does not take Islamist terrorism seriously enough (Prof. Steven Plaut, 9/7, e-mail from Daniel Pipes). ARAB TERRORIST FACILITIES IN ISRAELI PRISONS Arab prisoners enjoy television, canteen, Open University correspondence courses, and opportunities for younger ones to take Arab matriculation exams so they can apply for college. Are such prisons "inhumane," as the Arabs claim? Warrant hunger strikes? (IMRA, 9/7.) I think that the hunger strike was part of jihad, especially demands for reduction in security measures. I wonder what studies those prisoners engage in -- for careers outside of terrorism or for better expertise or leadership within it? If the latter, rescind the privilege. 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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CHRISTIAN ARABS IN GREAT DANGER TODAY
Posted by IsrAlert, September 24, 2004. |
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This is a Special Dispatch - Reform Project, September 24, 2004, No. 789
From MEMRI. It is archived at http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=SD78904
Iraqi Columnist: 'It is Difficult to Recall a Period in which Christian Arabs Were in Greater Danger than Today' In an article in the Iraqi daily Al-Zaman, a newspaper published simultaneously in London and Baghdad with an independent and liberal pedigree going back to the 1940s, columnist Majid Aziza highlights the plight of the Christian Arab community in the Muslim world. The following are excerpts from the column:(1) "Christians, natives of Arab countries, are escaping their countries of origin. This is a common statement nowadays everywhere and it is correct one hundred percent. Statistics show that a large number of them have emigrated to safer countries for them and for their children, like the United States, Canada, Australia, and Europe. The reason is the harassment to which they are subjected to by government agencies on the one hand and extremist groups on the other hand in countries they have inhabited for thousands of years... "The Christians have lived in the territory currently referred to as [the Arab countries] for centuries alongside other religious groups, and particularly with Muslims who shared with them the afflictions of life. But the Christians have lost their partners for many reasons, including religious extremism among some Muslims, the demographic increases out of religious reasons, and the acts of discrimination, coercion, and individual and collective expulsion of Christians, and the pressures placed upon them even when they were serving their countries. There are many examples of that in Palestine, Iraq, Sudan, Lebanon, Egypt, and other countries. "Approximately 4 million Lebanese Christians have emigrated from their country as a result of the pressures placed upon them by others. About half a million Iraqi Christians have left their country for the same reasons... The situation gets worse today because of the discrimination by salafi [Islamic fundamentalist] extremists. In Palestine, the Christians are becoming almost extinct as a result of the control of extremist Muslims on the Palestinian issue and the marginalization of the role of the Christians, apart from the negative impact of the Intifada, which is led by Islamist organizations, on the Christians of Palestine. With regard to Christians in Egypt, the Copts, what happened and is happening to them equally on the part of the state and the Islamists will suffice to fill pages of books and newspapers to explain the coercion, discrimination and persecution. What is happening in Algeria, Mauritania, Somalia, and others is too long to explain. "This situation is also reflected in non-Arab [Muslim] countries. In Islamic countries like Pakistan, Indonesia and Nigeria, Christians suffer from persecution. In Pakistan, Islamist [spiritual leaders] have issued a fatwa [religious opinion] permitting the killing of two Christians for every Muslim killed by the American attacks in Afghanistan, as though the Americans represent Christianity in the world. In other countries they [Christians] live in fear, under the shadow of threat, and face a growing cycle of assaults whenever the United States and its allies carry out a military operation against any country. "Christians are afraid of what might happen to them in these countries. The situation is quite critical and requires urgent attention. It is difficult for us to imagine any other time in which the Christians have felt a greater danger than the danger they feel today in these countries..." Endnote:
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JOURNALISTIC INVERSION OF SAVAGERY INTO OUTLANDISH C.Y.A-ISM
Posted by Marion D.S. Dreyfus, September 24, 2004. |
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Mr. Jukes, Several years ago, I had the questionable privilege to be in an audience of journalists and editors in the McGraw-Hill auditorium in New York City when you opined your Reuters by-now-infamous redefinition of murderers into the merely 'active' or 'militant.' I asked a question of you then, and you oleaginously explained that one man's etc. blah blah. I was sickened then at your pusillanimousness, and even more revolted in the subsequent years and months of blatant terror and brutality visited on innocents by your 'activists' and 'insurgents' and other euphemisms for the plebianly bestial. Recently, Reuters finally acknowledged it was less journalist standard than embarrassing covering your derriere insofar as your appalling substitute locutions go. You want to save your men in the field. You pervert your coverage to appease and peropitiate the monster Islamo-fascists. It was a pathetic if overdue acknowledgment. Reuters has been an innately smug and self-satisfied outfit, despite all objective assessments to the contrary. It is and has been, unfortunately, too busy to look in the mirror for truth or accurate journalistic standards. We in the journalistic community are embarrassed at your inability to recognize the victims of these, your friends of the bullet-, rat poison- and bolt-belt who do so much violence to the peace and welfare of the civilized. You have betrayed the profession. We must wash our hands obsessively to rid ourselves of your stink. For shame. Marion DS Dreyfus
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NOT A SPOOF - NEONAZI ROCK GROUP COMING TO TEL AVIV
Posted by Steven Plaut, September 24, 2004. |
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1. You will all be happy to know that the Austrian neonazi anti-Semitic white-supremacy rock and roll band named Der Blutharsch ("Dry Blood") http://www.derblutharsch.com/ has been invited to perform in Israel on October 9 (source: http://www.ulitsky.freeservers.com/coming.html). When it tried to perform in Chicago last year, local protests forced the cancellation of the "concert" on grounds that the band was a group of racist neonazis. For background on the group, see http://www.guardian.co.uk/farright/story/0%2C11981%2C841363%2C00.html and http://www.jimdero.com/News2003/BottleDec16.htm and http://www.infoshop.org/inews/print.php?story=03/12/17/8467619 and http://www.suntimes.com/output/derogatis/cst-ftr-dero17.html Now I personally happen to consider all such "heavy metal" rock and roll music to be a human rights atrocity, whether or not it happens to be accompanied by anti-Semitic nazi symbols. But hosting them in Tel Aviv has got to take the cake. Whosever idea that was should be running Meretz. Meanwhile, I am waiting to see if Ben Gurion University makes any job offers to the band members after the concert.... 2. Dror Feiler, the pro-terror ex-Israeli "artist", defends his sculpture celebrating the mass murder of Israeli children and civilians on a University of Haifa chat list: http://list.haifa.ac.il/pipermail/alef/2004-September/007882.html |
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ROLE MODEL
Posted by David Frankfurter, September 24, 2004. |
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Dear Friends, Terrorist Zainab Ali Issa Abu Salem intended to kill innocent civilians at a Jerusalem bus stop and soldiers' hitch-hiking post. The wounded include The alertness of two young Israeli soldiers straight out of basic training reduced the damage to 'mere' injuries - and cost them their lives as she blew herself to smithereens, taking them with her. Reuven Koret raises some important questions (http://web.israelinsider.com/Views/4157.htm) to those (including President Bush) who see the suspicious questioning of Palestinians wishing to traverse Israel as "daily humiliation". As long as Palestinian terrorists breach the Geneva Conventions, hiding their evil behind civilian dress, in civilian populations and seemingly innocent and even humanitarian activities, the Israeli security forces will be forced to build fences, man roadblocks, delay ambulances and take all action necessary to protect its civilian population. To demand less is to actively support murder. Stop terror and the Palestinian Arabs have the opportunity to set their own rules. Of significant interest to me, though, is the background of the terrorist herself. Chosen by the Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades for her youthful innocence, the young girl was dressed in traditional Muslim garb, in order to play on the sensitivities of any soldiers she may encounter. They know that Israelis are reticent to stop and search women - especially religious women who are shrouded in apparent modesty. While no motivation for her deed has yet been reported, her short biography, reported in Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot, raises eyebrows. Zainab was pretty, 18 years old, intelligent and just out of high school. One of 10 children, her home was the Askar "refugee camp" near Nablus, where she lived with her wealthy family - who own a local Palestinian television station. She had spent the last three months - her break between high school and higher studies - fulfilling the dream of many teenagers. She had become a television star. A presenter on a children's show broadcast by her parents' TV station. How she was recruited, what pressures were brought to bear, what indoctrination she received in school - at this stage are all matters of speculation. Could it be that she simply internalised the messages in video clips encouraging children to terror on Palestinian TV? Sadly, whatever led her to the deed, Palestinian children have been given yet another role model to be hero worshipped and emulated. Something that will no doubt be reinforced in every re-run of their favourite TV show. Best Regards,
To subscribe to Frankfurter's 'letter from Israel', email him at david.frankfurter@iname.com. Or go to http://www.livejournal.com/users/dfrankfurter/ |
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REUTERS: NEWS AGENCY OR PR FIRM FOR TERRORISTS?
Posted by CAMERA, September 24, 2004. |
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Ever since Reuter's notorious editorial decision not to call terrorists "terrorists" was affirmed following the 9/11 attacks ("We all know that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter, and Reuters upholds the principle that we do not use the word 'terrorist.' " Stephen Jukes, Reuters Global Head of News), the news agency has zealously adhered to its policy of softening the face of terrorism.
Not all of its customers are happy about this. Reuters recently became embroiled in a dispute with CAN West Global Communications, publisher of 13 newspapers across Canada, over the newspaper's substituting the word "terrorist" for "militant" in Reuters dispatches. Reuters' managing editor David Schlesinger insisted that Can West either conform to Reuters' guidelines banning the descriptor "terrorist" or remove the news wire's byline. Reuters, Schlesinger made clear, cannot be perceived as offending terrorists lest its journalists be endangered in volatile areas. Reuters has now gone even further in its indulgent policy toward terrorists. Reporting on the September 22, 2004 suicide bombing in Jerusalem's French Hill neighborhood, the news agency not only avoided any pejorative reference to the suicide bomber who detonated herself to kill two Israelis and wound 17 more, it lavished sympathetic detail on her and her family. Description of the terrorist attack itself was dry and unsympathetic, with no details about the victims. The only information Reuters provides about the Israelis murdered is that they were "border policemen." The heroic action of two young border policemen in spotting the suspicious bomber and sacrificing their lives to prevent her entry past a checkpoint where she hoped to kill many more is unmentioned. Nor does Reuters note, for example, that Menashe Komemi, one victim, was the oldest of eight children, working as a waiter in a banquet hall while he served in the army to help support his family. Menashe's father was unemployed having undergone a kidney transplant three years earlier. The other Israeli victim, Mamoya Tahio, immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia in 1991 with his parents and six siblings. He enlisted in the Border Police after studying at Yeshivat Hadarom in Rehovot. According to the Israeli Foreign Ministry Web site, "He wanted to end his service as a border policeman in peace," said his sister Matako, 21. Tahio's father, Yosef, said that he had initially been opposed to his son's serving in a dangerous area, but that Mamoya had insisted on it, saying, "Don't worry, I'm doing this for my country. Everything will be all right." But for Reuters the victims are simply military targets and the neighborhood where the attack took place is described as an "illegal settlement." The suicide bomber is said to have approached "a security position near a hitch-hiking post used mostly by soldiers," while the area of attack, French Hill, is described as having been "captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move not recognized internationally." Another account contends that "Israel sees French Hill as a neighborhood of Jerusalem but it is widely viewed internationally as an illegal settlement built on occupied land." The terrorist, by contrast merits descriptions of her beauty ("one witness described her as a 'pretty Arab woman'), her clothing ("dressed in black and wearing a traditional Muslim headscarf"), her age ("18-year-old"), her family size ("she was one of 10 children"), her school status ("she had just passed her high school exams"), as well as an entire article focusing on the loss felt by her family. Entitled "Bomber's Stunned Family Has Little Time to Grieve," Reuters reporter Atef Sa'ad emotively describes the stunned pain of a family that had "little time to absorb the shock" and their fear of "expecting Israeli bulldozers to soon come to demolish [their home]." We learn that the bomber was "a brown-eyed girl in a white headscarf and a slight smile," that she had "spoken of entering university,"and that "she was from a family not known for connections to militants." We learn that the bomber's little brother was "in disbelief that his sister had died," that her father was "recovering from surgery to open clogged arteries" and had "collapsed and was taken to hospital after learning of his daughter's death," that the mother too "passed out and was taken to hospital." But mostly we learn of the family's alleged innocence ("family members said they had known nothing of Abu Salem's plans for the attack") and the possibility of reprisal by Israel ("Israel typically demolishes the homes of militants suspected of involvement in suicide bombings, a practice Palestinians condemn as collective punishment but which Israeli officials say deters future attacks.") The article closes with a quote justifying the attack: "Oppression is eveywhere, said her uncle Mustafa Shinawi, 55. Every Palestinian finds his own suitable way to protest Israeli oppression." In its apparent attempt to mollify terrorists, Reuters grotesquely reverses the roles of victim and perpetrator. Israeli victims are presented as military targets and as mere statistics, with no humanizing details and no word about grieving families. The terrorist and her family are given extensive sympathetic coverage. Reuters has progressed from erasing the term "terrorist" from its vocabulary to, in effect, erasing the realities of terrorism itself in its reporting. Perpetrators have become victims and victims the guilty party. CAMERA monitors the news and TV media for how fair they are in reporting on Israel. The website address is www.camera.org. |
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RAPID RESPONSES OVER VERIFIABLE VERITIES
Posted by Lori Lowenthal Marcus, September 23, 2004. |
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Quick: you are a government official and you have to respond to a question on the spot but you don't know the actual answer. Is it better to (1) make up an answer that fits your world view, or (2) say "we'll unearth the truth and then let you know"? The world press in the Middle East has rewarded the morally wrong answer to that question time after time. And the reading and listening public reward the liars by valuing rapid responses over verifiable truths. Yasser Arafat has had a starring role as an on-the-spot-and-unabashed-liar for about a dozen years. Rather than diminishing his credibility, Arafat's value as an interviewee remains at peak level. Fast with the quotes, loose with the facts. Remember the homicide bombing at the Dolphinarium discotheque in Tel Aviv? Arafat publicly condemned the carnage and that condemnation was widely reported. Actually, Arafat privately rewarded the bomber's family financially and effusively. How come you don't already know that? Most government officials, even if they don't feel morally bound to tell the truth, are constrained by external consciences. Usually the voting public, or the ever-vigilantly dubious press, will out a liar, and will do it with brutal glee. But not always. Yasser Arafat repeatedly claims to condemn terrorism. But the recent discovery of an iron-clad smoking gun pointing out of his checkbook unequivocally exposes the claim as a flat-out lie. Arafat and his Arab Palestinian leadership frequently lie to the press. Those lies are repeated verbatim, with little or no investigation. Then the press moves on to the next story. Israeli officials, on the other hand, typically respond to queries about important operations or incidents with an equivocal, "the matter is under investigation." No disingenuous denials, no inflamed rhetoric, just a flat statement of intent to investigate. And amazingly enough, Israelis actually conduct these investigations into questioned incidents involving their own actions and those of their enemies. One such investigation involved an exhaustive search of reams of documents Israelis took from Arafat's Mukata headquarters. Those documents reveal conclusively that Yasser Arafat financially and enthusiastically rewards Arab terrorism. I found it ironic that when Israelis broke into Arafat's Mukata during Operation Defensive Shield, they stole computer discs. Who else but Jews would pounce upon computer discs as the Holy Grail of an incursion? But those discs did reveal the equivalent of the Holy Grail: cold, hard evidence proving, not suggesting, not hinting at, but proving Arafat paid off families of homicide bombers. Hassan Khutari detonated himself at the entrance to the Dolphinarium discotheque in Tel Aviv on June 1, 2001. That homicide bomb tore 21 people to pieces, most of them teenagers. Yasser Arafat's public condemnation of the bombing was widely reported. But documents found in Arafat's headquarters reveal he personally sent Khutari's family a $2000 check, complimenting Hassan's heroic deed. Arafat also wrote a letter to Khutari's father. In handwriting confirmed to be Arafat's, Hassan Khutari was praised for his "heroic martyrdom operation - who turned his body into bombs - the model of manhood and sacrifice for the sake of Allah and the homeland." In Arafat's world, sending your child to become an exploding weapon in order to murder as many Israeli kids as possible wins you the Arab equivalent of the Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes. The existence of this documentary proof was made public by Israel in the middle of September. But this slam-dunk myth-shattering evidence was not pounced upon by Middle East based reporters. In fact, it wasn't mentioned by even a single mainstream media source: not the New York Times, not the Washington Post, not the Philadelphia Inquirer, not ABC, not CNN, not NPR. Not one. Apparently the truth is insignificant unless uttered the moment a microphone or a reporter's notepad is thrust in your face. Vacuous apologies and utterly baseless allegations fit the ticket just fine, thank you very much. Liars are rewarded with enormous media coverage. News consumers worldwide ingest the media saturation of the Arab lies. This constant brain marination is an effective, proven, weapon for producing anti-Israel views. We now know that Arafat gave a cash prize to the family of a man who brutally murdered 21 Israelis at a discotheque in Tel Aviv. But that's not news, according to the news professionals. Journalists usually play the role of external consciences. Middle East journalists, apparently, do not. Maybe that's why a liar like Arafat is still in power. Arafat may be a brutal master terrorist, but he's never too busy to respond to questions. And isn't that what's important? Lori Lowenthal Marcus is a lawyer and President of the Zionist Organization of America, Greater Philadelphia District. |
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WHEN THE RIGHT IS WRONG: PART II
Posted by Ellen W. Horowitz, September 23, 2004. |
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Said Raba, "For those who go to the right, the Torah is an elixir of life; for those who turn left, it becomes a deadly poison." (Shabbat 88b) "Please separate from me! If you go left, I will go right, and if you go right, I will go left." (Lech Lecha) As much as Judaism places an emphasis on peace and unity, there is an equally strong thread running throughout the Torah which calls upon us to draw clear boundaries and to separate from evil. As the world descends into a globalized cloud of darkness, our souls are just screaming for some clarity.. The concept that "Yaacov remains alone" may be an anathema for the left, but many of us on the right absolutely crave the thought of separatism from a world gone mad. We understand that being a Jew is often about being part of a "remnant" or engaging in a struggle of the "few against the many". But, on the other hand, we know that our ultimate calling is to be a "light unto the nations.". Confusing, no? The national situation is especially hard on us right-wing zealots. We know that G-d despises disunity and that the Temple was destroyed because of baseless hatred, but we have good grounds to be angry. The national crisis demands our attention. So what's it gonna be - a Maccabee victory or Bar Kochba defeat? Pinchas throws a deadly spear in the ultimate zealous act and gets the peace prize, while two of the very peaceful Aaron's sons are consumed by fire for their over-zealousness. How do we committed Jews navigate through a plethora of seeming contradictions? I have a theory that the success or failure of zealous actions is determined by the wisdom of their timing. Which is why I am especially distraught to be receiving a continual influx of virulent email lambasting the self-hating, bolsheviki, shabbatean left, during the Days of Repentance. Now, I have to admit that a good portion of the stuff is more than true. But somehow, as we face the Day of Atonement, I was hoping that a bit of the anger would have dissipated- if only for a few weeks. Because, it's impossible to be simultaneously angry and humbled at the same time. And this time of year we need to be contrite. There's a new book out by Daniel Pearl's parents, called "I Am Jewish." You can read a few of the excerpts at http://info.jpost.com/C004/Supplements/DanielPearl/ Some of our favorite targets like Shimon Peres, Thomas Friedman and A.B. Yehoshua let us in on what Judaism means to them. Believe it or not, they have a sense of pride in their heritage and history. I'm in awe at the resiliency of the Jewish spirit that, in spite of everything, is still able to declare, "I am a Jew." That confused Jewish hearts can still retain a love of Israel and sense of morality and ethical responsibility towards the world is truly remarkable. However, what seems to be lacking in a number of the essays is any mention of the beauty of ritual service, or the essential Jewish ideas of redemption, repentance, Divine providence, Divine service, or The World to Come. There are few references to the passion or emotional and intellectual depth of our sages. It seems that contemporary Jewish movements have either buried, twisted or diluted the very underpinnings of Judaism. What remains for many liberal Jews is an arrogant religion bereft of a spiritual foundation and soul. There's a gap in our education and our sages teach that when educating children, one should "push away with the left hand and bring close with the right." The right hand is traditionally associated with mercy, and the left with strict justice. This time of year, mercy dominates. And so, like a confused child, I feel fairly safe approaching my Father in Heaven and asking the following questions: Is it fair to fault a nation that was scattered and then raised on the bolshevism of Eastern Europe or, alternatively, the extreme excesses and personal freedoms of the West - a people that have endured the traumas of the Holocaust and scores of other atrocities? A good portion of us weren't even nurtured on Jewish mothers' milk - we imbibed Similac as infants and in many cased graduated to bacon and eggs, cheeseburgers and pepperoni pizzas (shrimp cocktails, too). Is it any wonder why "Yeshurun grew fat and kicked"? How can we as a nation possibly hear the primordial cry of the shofar when a good number of the Diaspora synagogues and "temples" back-up their teruah with a sophisticated sound system, trumpets and organ-accompanied choir? Under the circumstances, is it really our fault that we have difficulty returning to You? Perhaps a major dose of Divine intervention is called for. Now here's a couple questions for my activist friends on the right (and please know that I grapple with this one all of the time). It's obvious to many of us that we are being accosted by both external and internal manifestations of our arch-enemy Amalek, and without G-d fearing leadership we will be unable to meet the challenges at hand. So how can it be that those of us who know and understand that we lack the spiritual strength and will to carry-out our national obligations with regards to our enemies are so willing to point fingers and toy with the idea of civil strife between brothers? Kind of the easy way out isn't it? It seems there was a drought in the world and the Sages located a tzadik by the name of Abba Hilkiah, who was known to have success at bringing on the rains. To make a long story short, Abba Hilkiah and his wife go up to the roof of their home to pray for rain. The rain clouds gather on the wife's side and the drought ends. When asked why the clouds appeared on his wife's side of the roof, Abba Hilkiah responds, "I had terrible neighbors, who committed all sorts of immoral acts, and I prayed that they die, so that I would be rid of them. My wife, however, prayed that they change their ways...." (Ta'anith 23ab) Given the present impossible circumstances, I don't know how many of us are capable of true teshuva, or attaining the level of Abba Hilkiah's wife. But maybe we can hold some of that hatred in check - at least until the rains come. Ellen Horowitz lives in the Golan Heights, Israel with her husband and six children. She is a painter and columnist for Israelnationalnews.com. She can be contacted through her website http://www.artfromzion.com |
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PRESIDENT BUSH AT THE UNITED NATIONS
Posted by AFSI, September 23, 2004. |
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In his speech to the United Nations on September 21, 2004, President Bush stumbled into "State Department speak" and evoked the "road map" for peace in the Middle East. He issued a perfunctory call for reform and democracy among Palestinian Arabs, and issued a list of demands on Israel: "Israel should impose a settlements freeze, dismantle unauthorized outposts, end the daily humiliation of the "Palestinian" people, and avoid any actions that prejudice final negotiations." Herbert Zweibon, Chairman of Americans for a Safe Israel, maintains, "This was unfortunate pandering to the Arab and Moslem enemies of America and Israel. How can an area roughly the size of Connecticut be the 'root cause' of Islamic terrorism? And why call Israel's necessary security measures 'humiliating'? Was it not better to 'humiliate' the Arab homicide bomber who was prevented by the Border Guards from boarding the bus on Wednesday afternoon in Jerusalem, rather than allow her to detonate her bombs on the bus? By detaining her, the deaths and maimings were kept to two deaths and 16 wounded. The numbers would have been horribly higher had she not been 'humiliated'." Zweibon continues, "An underlying question here is, why did President Bush deign to speak before the United Nations? Victor Davis Hanson, in his Wall Street Journal column on Thursday, Sept. 23, 2004, describes the UN as a forum whose 'membership is rife with tyrannies, theocracies and Stalinist regimes... For Mr. Bush to talk to such folk about the need to spread liberty means removing from power, or indeed jailing, many of the oppressors sitting in his audience.? Mr. Hanson goes on to describe U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan as 'a symbol of all that is wrong with the U.N.'" AFSI's Chairman concludes, " We decry the fact that President Bush chose to speak to this forum of despots, and to use that forum to attack Israel, the only democratic ally that America has in the Middle East. He should hearken to his own words on November 8, 2001, when he addressed firemen, policemen, and postal workers in Atlanta, Georgia: 'We are the target of enemies who boast they want to kill, kill all Americans, kill all Jews, and kill all Christians.' 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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MUSLIM TERRORISTS WERE THERE ALL THE TIME AND STILL ARE
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, September 23, 2004. |
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While one may have arguments of substance with President Bush, there is a singular point that is beyond speculation and that is what required Bush to declare War on Global Terrorism. I have written about this before and now wish to reiterate the point that President Bush engaged the enemy of all with only minutes to spare. A Special Report: "Struggle for the Soul of Islam - A Rare Look at a Secretive Brotherhood in America" appeared in the Sunday CHICAGO TRIBUNE September 19.(1) "A group aiming to create Islamic states worldwide has established roots here, under the guidance of Egyptian-born Ahmed Elkadi" (In a note from the Editors): "The Muslim Brotherhood was formed in Egypt in 1928, spawned generations of Islamic activities, both peaceful and violent, around the globe. It is the most influential Islamic fundamentalist organization in the world. "In the U.S. it has operated legally but covertly, mimicking clandestine fraternal organizations...with this pervasive goal, creation of Islamic states throughout the world, including the U.S." [Note the Brotherhood, Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezb'Allah, PLO, Fatah, Al Aksa Martyr's Brigades, Tanzim - among many others - can be considered one interlocking organization dedicated to Global Terror.] Terrorists of every type were in a state of incubation in our countries - some called "sleeper cells" - long before 9/11/01. While there were small Terrorist groups with grudges and demands of their local governments, the biggest movement has been among Moslems. Nations of the Free West deliberately ignored this growing threat in their own countries as they wished to remain on good terms with Arab nations who, by the happenstance of nature, had oil under their feet. The black gold cast a broader protective shadow over other Arab nations without oil. The Western nations didn't want to risk offending any Arab/Muslim nations, lest the oil be used against them as a weapon. So Arab Muslims were given a free pass. Investigative Agencies like the FBI/CIA learned that the State Department would slap them down if they probed or even profiled Arabs or Muslims, particularly the Saudis and Egyptians, etc. [Remember that of the 19 hijacking suicide bombers, 15 were Saudis and the other 4 were Egyptians.] During this time, Muslim Terror movements grew exponentially through their tightened connections. The following is a very brief history of Islamic Terror which is rampant today and growing Globally. The Muslim Terrorists were only attacked when they threatened regional governments - such as Egypt and Syria. Recall that Hafez al Assad leveled his own town of Hama, a stronghold of the Muslim Brotherhood, killing an estimated twenty thousand of his own civilians, men, women and children with artillery and cyanide gas In Egypt the Muslim Brotherhood, was created by Hassan al-Banna in 1928. Banna directed Al-Ikhwan Al-Moslemoon until he was murdered in 1948 in Cairo. In 1938 al-Banna presented his idea of Jihad (Holy War for strict Islam) in an article "The Industry of Death" wherein "Death" was an ideal to long for. [While the Brotherhood fought the Egyptians and the Syrians for power, their main target was the Jews.] The anti-Semitism of the Brotherhood was not only influenced by European Nazi-Fascist ideologies but by Islamic roots. For example, Islamists tried to legitimatize their aspiration to drive out or kill the Jews of Palestine by referring to the example of Mohammed who, as the legend goes, succeeded not only in expelling 2 Jewish tribes from Medina during the 7th century, but killed the entire male population of the third tribe and sold all the women and children into slavery. [In the 7th century Mohammed conquered in the name of his vision of Allah but, slaughtering his adversaries and slavery made him a Terrorist - with ideology. Did you think that those desert warriors were merely romantic Arabs who slaughtered other tribes, including the Jews because they were NOT Terrorists.] May 8, 1945 the ideological rapprochement between the Muslim Brothers and the Nazis reached a peak. The Nazis under Hitler granted Amin el Husseini, the infamous Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, a new political domain. Husseini was a zealous supporter and friend of Hitler, Adolph Eichmann and Heinrich Himmler. Husseini was also the leader of the Arab Palestine National Terrorist Movement who had spawned the 1929 and 1936-9 pogroms which killed more than 100 Jews in 1929 and more than 600 in the 1936-39 Arab Muslim riots. Husseini was exiled by the British from Mandatory Palestine as a war criminal. He was not only one of the closest allies of the Muslim Brotherhood since the beginning of the 1930s but also within the Arab Muslim world was the most ardent supporter and perpetrator of the annihilation of European Jews. Husseini was indeed a Terrorist and also, of course, viewed himself as a religious Muslim cleric, defending the faith. Nazi criminals being sought in Europe, poured in droves into the Arab Muslim world. Masses of copies of the Russian forgery, "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" were published for decades after the exposure of the Nazi death camps by 2 well-known Muslim Brothers, Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar al-Sadat. The Brotherhood ignored and justified Hitler's extermination of the European Jews. Creation of the Jewish State is seen by them as an attack against the Arab Muslim world. This mad notion of a world-wide Jewish conspiracy not only survived but got fresh impulse in 1947 in an Arabic Muslim world where the Muslim Brotherhood had meanwhile garnered a million supporters. The impact of a Nazi-like conspiracy is obvious in the Charter of the Muslim Brotherhood of Palestine which calls itself Hamas. Adopted in 1988, it defines Hamas as a "universal movement" whose Jihad has to be supported by Muslims all over the world. These Islamist programs call for Hamas and also Al Qaeda to resume the Nazi-compatible policies of Amin el-Husseini. Mohammed Atta, a (or the) leader of 9/11 for Osama Bin Laden totally subscribe to the motives which lead to the suicidal mass-murders of innocent people in Israel and the America." (2) Other nations of Europe and even America simply looked the other way as Terrorists used their Free Western nations as a safe haven in which to grow, train, raise funds, prosper and spread their propaganda. These same nations have now become the target 9/11 broke through the psychological barrier of diplomatic "hands-off" policies for many - but, not all. Even the pro-Arab State Department backed down in public but, continued to protect and collaborate with Saudi Arabia - long known to American Ambassadors who served there as hostile to America. President George W. Bush, whether forced to act by 9/11 or personally galvanized by 9/11, finally saw the threat to all of Global Terrorism "in the clear". Bush pierced the festering boil of radical Islamic Terror before it had reached operational maturity. Had 9/11 NOT triggered Bush to press the American war against Global Terror, that festering boil would have grown to even greater proportions than when it was perceived first in Afghanistan and later in Iraq. There are those who complain that Terror has ramped up since Afghanistan and Iraq. The fact is that: It was there before and growing exponentially. It was growing quietly in many nations. It was gathering weapons, training, establishing a matrix of interlocking cooperative links for collective war against all whom Muslims perceived of as the infidels (un-believers in Islam). It is well recognized that Europe is becoming Islam-ized at an alarming rate and predicted to be wholly dominated by Muslims with native Europeans becoming a minority or emigrating.(3) Therefore, the battle against Terror is raging in Iraq, winding down in Afghanistan - fought by the Americans - while similarly in Israel, the battle against Arab Muslim Terror continues. Here we can recall the nations ignoring Hitler's build-up to war and accommodating his expansionism - just as we have ignored the growing power of a hostile, radical Jihadist Islamism. Any of the countries in Europe, could have stopped Hitler in his early stages and didn't. Later, we could have united and stopped him before he killed 6 million Jews, including 1.5 million Jewish children and a total of 50 million killed in WW2 - and we didn't. Can you imagine what we would have been facing had Al Qaeda not prematurely exposed their ultimate plans with 9/11? We already know both the Terrorists and the nations who supplied Global Terror were steadily building an arsenal of conventional weapons and WMD (Weapons of Mass Death) including NBC (Nuclear, Biological and Chemical) area-wide weapons with accurate missiles to reach Europe, Russia, Israel and soon even America. By 2010 the then integrated Terrorists of Islam could have threatened every nation on the planet with WMD. (Note! Those weapons were not invented by these semi-backward countries or by the Terrorists. No! It was we, the Free West in America, France, Russia, China, Europe who developed them in our own laboratories and then gave them to these primitive hostiles.) As Americans, we cannot rely on old Europe to either save themselves nor assist us in saving them and the rest of the world. As they allowed Hitler a free hand to occupy Europe, so too, they are permitting Europe to become Islam-ized. The Jihadists are using the double threat of Terror plus overwhelming the native populations with Muslims until they reach a critical mass to exercise supreme control and power. If that doesn't work, they always have the threat available to them of blowing up their host cities. That same phenomenon is overtaking America as Muslims establish centers of power, strict Islamic schools, called Madrassas, making extraordinary demands to accommodate their hostile religion and to allow "sleeper cells" to blend in for cover with all the other "peaceful" accommodating Muslims. The nations are all upset that the mostly Arab Muslim Terrorists, Mujahadiin, have descended upon Iraq and are killing, beheading, blowing up people and oil pipelines, including infrastructure beneficial to the Iraqi people and non-Iraqi civilian construction workers who are trying to put the country Saddam destroyed back into functional working order. The Terrorists are generally doing what Terrorists do best. They are successfully Terrorizing. They have made America's fight to give Iraq freedom, a winner-take-all showdown. America is fighting the good fight in a Global battle which the Europeans always refuse to do - even for themselves. In 5 or 10 years these same Terrorists would have been far better organized and equipped to dictate terms of surrender to America, Europe and all other nations whom they choose, had Bush NOT pierced the boil earlier than the Terrorists had planned. I happened to write on 9/11/01 at 10 am that the attacks on the Twin Towers were America's Second Pearl Harbor and I quoted the Japanese general, Yamamoto, who on December 7, 1941 prophetically said: "We have awakened a sleeping giant." Personally, I have plenty of concern about what the Bush Road Map has become under the pro-Arab U.S. State Department, collaborating with the U.N., the E.U. and Russia as the "Quartet". They are trying to appease the Arab Muslim nations and Terrorists much as the nations of the Free West tried to appease Hitler. However, we must recognize that, if Bush had NOT attacked the incubator where Terrorists were and are breeding more Terrorists, we would all have been facing a far greater calamity. We ignored Hitler's march across Europe on his way to conquer the world for his 1000 Year Reich much as we have, up to now, ignored Islam's march toward making Earth a great U'umah, a Muslim Empire from pole to pole and from sea to shining sea. In the political debates between Bush and Kerry, the Kerry message is that we have fought a war that didn't need to be fought. That we are handling the war badly and that he, Kerry, would somehow take us back to a pre-9/11 policy of "see no evil" and therefore peace would reign. This political position may make for good speeches but it has nothing to do with a long overdue war that finally cleans out the mind-set that brought us Global Terrorism and threatens to Terrorize until Muslims reach World Domination for Islam (strict Shariah Islamic law). Now this war is epi-centered in Iraq and must be won there first. Israel continues to fight daily Terror - despite demands of restraint by the pro-Arab State Department. I do not exclude Syria, Iran and/or North Korea as hot-spots, rogue nations with possible WMD and hostile intent. They all need to be dealt with. IF Iraq is dealt with definitively, it may not be necessary to actually go to war against all these rogue nations. Notice how Gadaffi seems to have folded Libya's WMD tent - immediately after Saddam was captured? Senator John Kerry has been and remains a pacifist in synch with European avoidance and reality denial until it is too late to act effectively. He demonstrates weakness and vulnerability to Arab Muslims, encouraging them to attack more often and more fiercely with WMD and Terror. President Bush has engaged Global Terror with no assistance from the United Nations or the leaders of the European Union, (France and Germany, particularly). Regrettably, Bush has NOT recognized that Israel is fighting the same Terrorists today and Israel fought the same Terrorists in the past, that America is fighting now. Hopefully, Bush will come around in his thinking before the next 9/11 hits America or some other country in the West who thinks they are Free - or at least safe, having bribed the Terrorists with a promise of free access to their nations. The blister of Terror has been lanced and now it's time to clean out the infection to its very core - or it will infect all of us. ### 1. "A Rare Look At A Secretive Brotherhood In America: Struggle for the Soul of Islam" by Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah, Sam Roe and Laurie Cohen CHICAGO TRIBUNE Sun. Sept. 19, 2004 2. "Jihad Against the Jews: Jihad and anti-Semitism" by Dr.
Matthias Kuntzel Source: Judische Allgemeine, Berlin, No. 1/03 Jan. 2,
2003 matKuentzel@aol.com
3. "THE MULLAH'S EUROPE" by Robert Spencer FrontPageMagazine.com 9/22/04
***Note our prior article: "MANKIND AGAINST ISLAM" of March 14,
2004 President George W. Bush, both by intent and happenstance may
have very well saved the world by giving her a fighting chance against
global terror - in real time. After 9/11 America was awakened to the
fact that she was no longer invulnerable to terror. We discovered that
we have been methodically penetrated by Muslim enemies both from
outside and within. Bush concluded that we were in a war. The
terrorists had brought the terror war to our shores -
dramatically...but, Bush kicked over the ant-hill of Terror.
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of PanAm Flight 103, 12/21/88
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the World Trade Center in 2/26/93
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the Marine Barracks in Lebanon, 10/23/83
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of Khobar Towers, U.S. Barracks Saudi Arabia, 6/25/88
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of U.S. Embassies-Nairobi & Dar es Salaam, Africa, 8/10/98
REMEMBER the MUSLIM attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon & (probably) the White House or Congress on 9/11/01
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombings of 4 commuter trains in Madrid 3/11/04
REMEMBER the MUSLIM murders of at least 368, - of them children in
Beslan, Russia 9/1/004
AND, PLEASE REMEMBER the MUSLIM murders of at least 1500 Israelis
since Oslo was signed 9/13/93, with tens of thousands wounded - many
maimed for life!
REMEMBER all the AMERICAN and other lives who were lost in those vicious MUSLIM attacks.
Emanuel Winston is a commentator and Middle East analyst. His
articles appear often on Think-Israel and Gamla. He is a member of the
Board of Directors and a research associate of the Freeman Center For
Strategic Studies (http://www.freeman.org/online.htm).
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THE LESSONS OF THE HOLOCAUST
Posted by Ruth Matar, September 23, 2004. |
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Thursday, September 23, 2004
Dear Friends, The greatest tragedy of the present situation in Israel is that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon attempts to completely crush the democratic process. For good reason has he been nicknamed "The Bulldozer". He was elected on a platform completely contrary to the policies which he is presently trying to enforce on the Israeli public. Without any prior warning or justification Sharon is now advising us that we must follow him in what he previously told us would be suicidal behavior, namely to retreat from our Land in the face of terror and war! All this in the face of Hamas, Hezbollah and Arafat openly fighting for the spoils of Sharon's anticipated perfidy, that is who will get the fruits of the labor of the Jews in the communities from which they are to be forcibly expelled. And all this in the face of Egypt merrily winking at the terrorists' continued massive smuggling of weapons from Egypt to Gaza. The national consensus, and that included Sharon himself, as well as the commanders of the army, the police and the intelligence services, was that there must be no retreat until the war has been won. And now Sharon has announced that he has decided it is best for the country to abandon 8,500 Jews from Gaza and Northern Shomron. No reason given. Just in true dictatorial fashion Sharon says he knows what's best for Israel. But Sharon is trying to do all this without a mandate! It is erroneous to think that the Israeli People overwhelmingly voted for him personally in the last election. It must be understood that the Israeli system is different from the American system, where we vote directly for the President. In Israel, the vote is for the Party. And the leader of the party which receives the majority of votes, becomes Prime Minister, if he can successfully put together a coalition within a given amount of time. The Likud Party won the last election overwhelmingly with a platform of "No to a Palestinian State", and "No Concessions to the Arab Enemy". Sharon's Unilateral Disengagement Plan has been soundly rejected by his own Likud Party.
Sharon's statement that the Disengagement Plan has been decided upon by the Government, is an outright, and it may be assumed, deliberate misrepresentation. Yes, the cabinet has given its approval, but only after Sharon fired those of his Ministers who had announced that they planned to vote against the Plan. Sharon then appointed such Ministers who could be counted on to be his yes-men. Please note: The Israeli Knesset (Parliament) of 120 members has not yet been given the opportunity to vote on Sharon's Disengagement Plan. Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Education Minister Limor Livnat and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom have now called for a national referendum on this vital issue. But officials from the Prime Minister's office recently declared brazenly on Israeli television, Channel 2, that a national referendum is no longer considered "because the Government might lose". This is supposed to be Israeli democracy in action? How does the Sharon Government explain their fear that a growing majority might not vote for the Disengagement Plan in a national referendum? Of course, they blame the "inciters", i.e. Israelis who disagree with the plan to forcibly drag 8,500 Jews out of their homes. And the Israeli leftist media is enthusiastically helping the Sharon government in this endeavor. It is extraordinary how the Israeli left , with a few exceptions, passionately hated Ariel Sharon as long as he was in the forefront of building Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Now that he is intent to expel the Jews from the very communities which he helped build, an equally passionate love affair has developed between Sharon and his erstwhile leftist detractors. Nadia Matar, co-chair of Women in Green, has apparently been chosen and designated as the chief "inciter". In fact, Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra says that Nadia is a threat to internal security, and has ordered the police to bring her in for questioning, even before Yom Kippur. In addition, Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra wants Attorney General Mazuz to investigate if Nadia is guilty of criminal incitement. What is Nadia's "crime"? Nadia Matar had the "audacity" to send to Jonathan Bassi, the man appointed by Ariel Sharon to be head of the Evacuation Agency, a response to his draft letter to the Gush Katif residents, who are to be deported from their homes, together with a letter written by the Judenrat (Jewish Council) to the Jews of Berlin in Germany in 1942. Nadia noted that the 1942 documents ended with an emotional plea by the Berlin Jewish leadership to behave calmly and thus ease the process of deportation. Nadia further accused Bassi that he is a modern-day version of the Judenrat and is, in fact much worse. During the Holocaust the deportation of Jews was forced upon community leaders by the Nazis, whereas Bassi's decision to head the Evacuation Agency was purely voluntary. Bassi, as Nadia correctly points out, was under no threat to his life or limb when he assumed his position as head of Sharon's Evacuation Authority. Tomorrow you will receive an essay by email written by Nadia Matar herself, in which she describes these two letters in detail, and her motivation for sending them to Jonathan Bassi. Nadia noted that the Judenrat letter was "chillingly similar" to the one Bassi planned to send to the Jewish Gush Katif residents. Many public figures and media pundits protested the use of the Holocaust comparison. Avner Shalev, head of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, on Monday last lambasted comparisons made by Matar between Israel's plan to dismantle Jewish settlements in Gaza and events of the Holocaust as "a distortion of history and the cheapening of the Shoah." He further stated that "the use of the Holocaust to advance political positions is irresponsible, disrespectful and distorts historical facts." But in 1998 Avner Shalev apparently felt differently. He lobbied for the idea that Arafat should be allowed to visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem, but said that he understood that official visits from dignitaries were determined only by the Foreign Ministry. Was his desire to invite the murderer Arafat to Yad Vashem not political? On the contrary, shouldn't we learn from the Holocaust never again to allow ourselves to be expelled from our homes and again be evacuated and powerless to resist as the German Jews were in 1942? Nadia and I are both, in a sense, Holocaust survivors. Members of both our families were murdered by the Nazis. Should we not learn lessons from what happened? It is not enough to visit Holocaust museums all over the world (even Germany has such a museum), to sorrowfully study what many of us believe was a one-time terrible and tragic occurrence? The Holocaust was not a one-time event. The Jews over the ages have suffered various Holocausts and Expulsions. Examples are the Spanish Inquisition and Expulsion, the Crusaders murdering all the Jews on their way to the Holy Land, and the many countries where Jews were murdered, expelled, even though in some cases subsequently readmitted. More recently the Muslim countries have violently expelled virtually all of their once blossoming Jewish communities. Only with the fulfillment of the Biblical Prophecy of the Jewish return to our Promised Land have we been able to feel some safety. However, if Ariel Sharon succeeds in the forced deportation and ethnic cleansing of the 8,500 Jews now living in Biblical Gaza and Northern Samaria, many countries, in order to appease their rapidly growing Muslim population, may well do what Ariel Sharon plans to do to his own People. With G-d's help, we must defeat Sharon's evil Unilateral Disengagement Plan which is really just a plan of forced deportation and ethnic cleansing of Israeli Jewry. With Blessings and Love for Israel,
Ruth and Nadia Matar established Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green), an activist group of women based in Jerusalem. Their website address is http://www.womeningreen.org |
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ISRAEL'S VIRTUAL SURRENDER TO ARAFAT AND TERRORISM
Posted by Bernard J. Shapiro, September 23, 2004. |
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1. It is apparent to many people that, despite his exalted military career, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is showing cowardice in the face of Palestinian attacks during the current war. While IDF soldiers and officers certainly are personally brave in the face of the enemy, Israel's political leadership is indecisive and non-aggressive. I ask you: When in Israel's military history did its forces not attack and occupy enemy positions from where live fire was coming? Only today is the IDF entangled with rules that prevent its ability to defeat the enemy decisively. The failure to engage the enemy with force and aggressiveness has led to a massive loss of deterrence on the part of Israel. 2. The repeated cease-fire talks and restraint demanded by the Americans have made the Israelis look like a "banana republic" as well as fools for expecting Arafat's signature on an agreement to mean something tangible. 3. The failure to pursue VICTORY by the IDF allows the Arabs to regroup, learn from their experience and prepare for the next round of fighting. They have a high learning curve. If the Security Fence stops suicide bombers, then they will fire rockets over it, tunnel under it or have Israeli Arabs inside the fence carry out the attacks. Like a surgeon who must totally excise a cancer or it will metastasize and destroy whole body, the IDF must eliminate completely terrorism and those who support it. 4. The level of lying on the part of the Palestinians about Arafat's war is an indicator of how unreasonable and "anti-peace" they really are. Of, course, they are truthful about their ultimate goal of destroying Israel and committing genocide against its Jewish population. 5. It is clear to me that Sharon is using Arafat's war for the purpose of causing the Jews of YESHA to evacuate their homes. This was meant to save himself the difficulty of personally taking charge of the ethnic cleansing of Jews from the area. Unfortunately today, he leading the forces demanding the ethnic cleansing of Jews from Eretz Yisrael. Sharon has already given the green light to Arafat, Hamas and Islamic Jihad by his failure to suppress and destroy them. 6. Sharon's giveaway of Gaza and the Shomron and his plans to make all of YESHA Judenrein should have brought down his government, yet he still rules. I am very disappointed at this. Where is the nationalist/religious camp? 7. There is talk of international observers for YESHA. This would be a great victory of Arafat and justify his war against Israel. The Israeli response should be a deafening no. From experience of 52 years, we all know that the UN, its bodies, and all International Forces are biased against Israel and in the pocket to the Arabs. The only purpose of such a plan would be to diminish Israel's rightful sovereignty in the area. 8. Sharon's constant warnings and threats, for which he never acts, further reduce Israeli deterrence. 9. Allowing the news media to photograph teenagers throwing stones is bad for Israel's image. It is well know that these very same photographers avoid taking pictures of Palestinian gunfire. The print journalists avoid references to live fire from the Palestinian side. Many rioters wait for journalists to arrive before rioting. Others actually collaborate with journalists to start riots strictly for the anti-Israel propaganda it inevitably brings the Arab cause. It is past time to remove journalists from the areas of clashes. 10. If Israel wants to rid itself of terrorism, it must first get rid of its AG, pro-Arab Supreme Court, and pro-Arab anti-Zionist media. Then it must release from all restraint the IDF to totally destroy the PA and other terrorist groups. And finally it must expel all the disloyal and terrorists supporting residents of Israel. It is not brain surgery. This does not require going beyond the international standard for survival of a nation state. 11. Oslo, Camp David, Road Map, Geneva, and the Disengagement (Retreat -Appeasement to terror) must be terminated with extreme prejudice. 12. Israel must annex immediately all of YESHA. Then the Palestinians must be told that those who engage in hostile activity against Israel will be expelled from the country. If hostility is widespread then the entire population should make a new home in Jordan. SIMPLE RULES FOR CREATING A GIANT WAVE OF ALIYA TO ISRAEL 1. Crush terrorism and pre-empt all existential threats to the State of Israel. Why move to a country unable to protect its Jewish population? 2. Annex all state lands within the borders of Israel (post 1967). Annex all property stolen from the Jewish People during the last 2000 years, including Church and Waqf property (exceptions, of course for Holy Places. The term Holy Places does not include fraudulent claims of Muslims to Jewish or Christian Holy Places.). Remove all illegal Arab buildings and farms. 3. Require all voting citizens of Israel to do military or community service for 3 years (including Arabs). The right to vote and be a citizen will depend such service + a loyalty oath to the Jewish State. 4. Re-affirm that Israel is a Jewish State and NOT a democratic(one man one vote) state of all its citizens. The loyal citizens of Israel whether Jewish, Christian, Druze, Beduin or Arab will have equal rights. 5. Adopt Prof. Paul Eidelberg's constitution with constituency elections. 6. Open up Judea & Samaria for massive building, thus creating giant suburbs close to the heavily populated Israeli coastline. A system of toll roads, and light rail will connect these suburbs to the coast from Ashdod to Nahariya. This will solve the over population along Israel's coast and create a better quality of living for all Israelis. 7. Anyone in Israel who raises up a rock to crush Jewish skulls, or a knife, gun or bomb to kill Jews should be killed or expelled from Eretz Yisrael. A final thought: It took Jews 2000 years to regain Eretz Yisrael. We should most emphatically not allow the world who wished us dead to influence our decisions on how we should LIVE. 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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SUICIDE BOMBER WAS CHILDREN'S TV SHOW HOSTESS
Posted by Bryna Berch, September 23, 2004. |
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This was a news item in today's Arutz Sheva (www.INN.com).
Wealthy. Educated. Articulate. Engaged in working with children.
She definitely fits the profile of a suicide bomber - and I'm not
being sarcastic.
The young 18-year-old female suicide terrorist, Zeinab Ali Isa Abu-Salem, who murdered two Israelis yesterday and wounded some 30 others, was none other than a children's TV show hostess on a local station in Shechem. Ofra resident Debbie Segal, who noticed the terrorist approaching the bus stop moments before she blew herself up, described her as "extraordinarily beautiful." She comes from a very wealthy Arab family in Shechem, which owns the TV station where she worked. Palestinian Media Watch has thoroughly documented numerous children's TV programs that indoctrinate Arab children to seek "heroic death for Allah." On January 15, 2002, Arafat himself, during a PA televised message to children, told them, "Is it not the greatest message to the world, when a child dies for Allah?" Abu-Salem raises the number of female suicide terrorists to eight. Security sources say that she, like most of them, was young, single, and intelligent. Another 40 female terrorists have been arrested since the Oslo War began on Rosh Hashana, 2000, some of whom were on their way to commit suicide attacks. Eyewitnesses to yesterday's attack said that the terrorist, clad in a veil, was stopped at the Border Guard post at the entrance to the crowded bus-and-ride stop, and argued with one of the policeman who wanted to check her. When the second officer approached them, Abu-Salem detonated the explosives that she held in a bag in her hand. IMRA notes that this occurred just a day after US President Bush told the UN General Assembly that Israel must "end the daily humiliation of the Palestinian people" - a reference to the checkpoints. The two Border Guard policemen who were killed in yesterday's suicide bombing in northern Jerusalem were buried today. They are Momoya Tahio, 20, from Rehovot, who immigrated from Ethiopia a number of years ago, and Menashe Komemi, 19, from Moshav Aminadav in the Jerusalem area. Komemi's cousin, Raanan Komemi, was killed a year ago in a battle with terrorists in central Gaza. Raanan's father - the uncle of the policeman killed yesterday - is one of the founding members of an organization called the Three Fathers, which demands that the government allow the army to fight the anti-terror war without restraint and that the Supreme Court not prevent the army from razing structures used by terrorists to perpetrate attacks. A few hours after the attack, Israeli forces demolished the homes of the terrorist and of her dispatcher. The two lived in the Shechem area in northern Shomron. In addition, IDF forces arrested over 15 terrorists in various Yesha areas last night. |
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HOW THE ENEMY BUILDS UP STRENGTH; PALESTINIAN ARAB WAR
Posted by Richard Shulman, September 23, 2004. |
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OTHER ARABS URGE SYRIA TO WITHDRAW The foreign ministers of the Gulf Arab states urged Syria to obey the Security Council Resolution and withdraw its forces from Lebanon. Countries should not pick and choose which Resolutions to follow (NY Sun, 9/14, p.8). The Arab League criticized the Resolution as "interference." Arab states rarely criticize another. I am not sure of the significance of this departure. WWIV: THE ENEMY IS BUILDING STRENGTH What the US calls a terrorist war really is an ideological one. By mis-defining the war, we impede devising a winning strategy. We focus on the military aspects, while the enemy builds an intellectual movement, with indoctrination centers in madrassas and mosques. They are laying the groundwork for decades of struggle. As an ideological movement more than a national or military one, the Islamists follow different rules. They don't rely upon any single territory, whereas we overcome particular states. Our public demands such victories, but the terrorists do not. They feign martyrdom, and win more favor. They use satellite TV better than we, to persuade their masses across several countries. We need new methods to combat beliefs. We investigated our intelligence failure but not our intellectual failure (nor the State Dept). In the ideological struggle, we are naive. Many of our own scholars are too bemused with Western abuses of the past, to rally to its defense in the present (Jewish Political Chronicle, 7/2004, p.5 from David Brooks, NY Times, 7/27). We defeat the Islamists here and there, but they get stronger. They get stronger not because we are doing something offensive or irking them by fighting back, but because they are building up their following. Think of an anthill, through whose exit ants stream out to forage at a nearby food warehouse. An exterminator waits outside, to kill those which emerge. He keeps eliminating those pests, and reports victories to his employer. But the ants keep coming. Inside the anthill, the nest is breeding many more fighters than the exterminator eliminates. One day, they will make five exits, and he will not be able to keep up with their marauding. HOW U.S. GOVERNMENT WORKS: in another aspect New York Congressional representatives contend that the bulk of the domestic defense funds should be spent where the likeliest targets are. The representatives from areas with the fewest targets have spread the funding out by population, so as to most of it. Sen. Clinton calls that latter policy a pork barrel and an outrage (NY Sun, 9/15, p.4). It is just as she calls it. This pork barrel often gets filled with funds for superfluous military bases and unneeded weapons in influential representatives' districts. Having spent the money on that, Congress then does not have enough left to provide sufficient training nor sufficient numbers of troops. The Members win re-election, but the country gets less secure. I think that rather than trying to defend every target, we should overthrow the rest of the evil axis and close madrassas. S. ARABIA NOT RISING TO THE CHALLENGE S. Arabia's deal with the radicalized Islamists that it bred in its schools and mosques was to bribe them to fight elsewhere, and itself to seek protection from Pakistan and the US. The presence of US troops helped goad the Islamists to doubt the regime's "purity." The monarchy realizes the menace, and talks about reform, but is too conservative to change (Jewish Political Chronicle, 7/2004, p.21 from Daily Times of Pakistan, 7/28). INTERNATIONAL BRUTALITY "'Yediot Ahronot' believes that the recent spate of terrorist attacks around the world has been characterized by exceptional brutality, and suggests that 'The world - how awful -- has become a smaller, narrower, scarier, and more threatening place.'" (Foreign Ministry, 9/7.) Yes, as Islamists emigrate and disseminate. SHARON THREATENS ARAFAT PM Sharon contemplates expelling Arafat from the Territories "at a convenient time" or treating him like the Hamas leaders whom Israel has liquidated for terrorism. A P.A. Cabinet minister saw in those threats a hidden agenda to kill Arafat and promote chaos in the P.A. (Mark Lavie, NY Sun, 9/15, p.7). "Hidden agenda"? It is long threatened but not fulfilled. The US objects to it. The US will stop objecting when it sees that Arafat has become the obstacle not to peace but to Israeli concessions to the Arabs. (Concessions to jihadists, however, promote war.) As for chaos, Arafat promotes it. He make all the decisions himself, but does not maintain order. (Notice that I did not put it, "law and order." There is no rule of law or business law in the P.A.. P.A. and PLO gangs extort from businesses and individuals. Municipal services and workers' salaries are neglected, because the money is diverted into cronies' coffers and terrorism.) Israel does not want chaos. It wants established government with which to negotiate for security and on common matters such as the P.A. untreated sewage. A well-organized P.A. government, however, would not guard Israel's security but undermine it. "JERUSALEM POST" MISUNDERSTANDS THE ARABS AND THE WAR "Pres. George W. Bush was right when he said that only a new, representative Palestinian (Arab) leadership that rejected terror can help bring real peace." The "Post" added that defeating the terrorists by fencing them off would be the required first step (Foreign Ministry, 9/7). Pres. Bush and the "Post" misunderstand the Arabs in supposing that somehow a new leadership will arise in a dictatorship that squelches challengers and compromisers and indoctrinates in extremism. They further misunderstand in anticipating that a new leadership would be both representative and reject terrorism. Representatives of that people celebrate terrorism. The Israeli army would be on the Israeli side of the fence. Unfortunately, the fence cannot be effective without the Israeli Army patrolling the Arab side of it, to prevent organized assaults on the fence and a buildup of weapons that can be fired over it. Nor does the fence keep the million Israeli Arabs apart from the Jews. The "Post" misunderstands the nature of this war. ARAB FAMILY VALUES Of 30 appeals from court verdicts against men convicted of murdering female relatives to protect family "honor," 27 had sentences reduced to less than one year. There may be many more murders than reported, as implied by the Parliament's rejection of appeals for reform (IMRA, 9/7). Only women are attacked, mere suspicion suffices, no trial is held, their offense may be minor but their punishment is death, and Arab society approves. HOW U.S. GOVERNMENT REALLY WORKS While the campaign diverts attention to Vietnam and past mistakes in Iraq, and Pres. Bush accuses Sen. Kerry of favoring a tax-and-spend policy, the Bush administration is favoring a borrow-and-spend policy. Extensive borrowing means heavy repaying. For example, the Administration was well on its way to getting an energy bill passed. That bill proposes subsidizing giant energy companies by billions of dollars, making oil and gas development the dominant use of the western wild lands, and building more nuclear power plants at risk to our cities. (The government wants to exempt the companies from full liability.) A grass roots campaign forced Congress to retreat. Senate leaders, however, now are trying to attach the bill's provisions to other legislation, so as to capture our taxes quietly (Nature's Voice, 9/2004 from Natural Resource Defense Council). The Bush tax reduction in the uppermost bracket would be restored by Kerry, so burden of debt repayment does not fall as hard on the middle class, which is less able to pay. When the government insists it hasn't the funds for something, and must either forego it or borrow for it, examine what it does do. It has many subsidies for big corporations and wealthy people. Example: Many business people eat $100 lunches at fancy restaurants, whereas most of us probably eat out for $15. The businesspeople don't pay for the lunch, and the government gives the business a credit of perhaps $40. A bigger example: Western mineral and range lands are leased to mining and ranching interests for a fraction of market value. As they profit, our natural resources shrink. STATE DEPT. OPPOSES ANTI-ANTI-SEMITISM A Senate bill would have the State Dept. prepare an annual report on international anti-Semitism. The State Dept. opposes the effort. Stated reason: "... it would show 'favoritism' to Jews by 'extending exclusive status to one religious or ethnic group." Actually, "It is the anti-Semites who are singling out Jews..." Anti-Semitism is at levels just before the Holocaust. The State Dept. is acting the same way it did, then (Eli Lake, NY Sun, 9/14, p.7). Yes, then it argued that letting Jews in would give them preference. So it let Jews die. Actually, the immigration maximum was not reached, and a few thousand could have been admitted within the existing limits, but the State Dept. would not do even that. But my fellow American Jews do not realize that the State Dept. is their enemy and Israel's. The State Dept. typically waits for genocide to get well under way, before acting. In the case of the Jews, it never did act. "HAARETZ" WARNS OF INTERNATIONAL DISAPPROVAL The daily warns the government that failure to evacuate the non-documented outposts could cost Israel international recognition of certain established Jewish towns in Samaria (Arutz-7, 9/7). Where is the linkage? Since when does meeting foreign demands gain Israel credit rather than more demands? Although Israeli communities in Samaria confirm to international law, Israel does not enjoy international recognition for them. The foreign countries have a double standard towards Israel. The State Dept. demands Israeli withdrawal. SHARON PLAN ROLLING ON The Israeli Army is setting up training for troops on how to remove Jews from Yesha. The training includes psychological support (Mark Lavie, NY Sun, 9/15, p.7). Some people still doubt that Ariel Sharon intends to remove Jews from Yesha. Training for it, already begun, is too advanced to support that belief on the basis of a misunderstood reputation of a man, once a hero of the nation but now a destroyer of it and a dissembler. The "psychological support" is meant to assuage the attenuated conscience of troops, selected for hostility to nationalist and religious Jews and for lack of scruples, as they destroy the hopes of, and physically harm, their most idealistic people and in behalf of a brutal enemy of the whole country. The plan is evi; the psychologists are a tool of the evil plan. WHOM A SOCIETY HONORS One may judge a society by whom it honors. Some honor entertainers. (Ours has come down to that.) Some honor great discoverers. (Ours still does that.) The Arabs honor murderers and mass-murderers. During the recent Arab prisoner strike in Israel, the P.A. celebrated a terrorist strike leader under life sentence for having murdered several Israeli civilians. P.A. TV repeatedly praised him as a "brave," "model warrior." A P.A. Cabinet minister thanked him. Due to overcrowding, Israel has released a little early some security prisoners convicted of lighter offenses, such as stone throwing, (IMRA, 9/7). If no room, make room by executing murderers who fought when asked to surrender. Were we to pity such prisoners for not having more TV sets and having to submit to searches lest they break out and murder more innocents? The Western wire services misrepresented and misstated the prisoners' demands, labeling them "humanitarian." Since the prisoners were not abused, they struck for no humanitarian rights but for privileges and also for reduction in security measures. Against those leashed killers, security measures must be stringent. When they do kill Israelis, and savagely, the wire services' "humanitarian" hearts do not open. Media hypocrisy over humanitarianism, like that of the human rights organizations, indicates that their humanitarianism is a pose for their bigotry. They side with one of the most inhumane of ethnic groups and against one of the most humane ones. SYRIA'S DIPLOMACY & ACTIONS DIVERGE The Foreign Minister (has made what for Israel is a great discovery. He) recognizes that Arab actions disprove their diplomatic avowals. He rejected Syria's diplomatic overtures for negotiations for peace. He rejected them because Syria still is on a course for belligerency. He said that Israel will not negotiate peace while Syria makes war. Syria continues to occupy Lebanon contrary to UNO Security Council Resolutions. It continues to support terrorist groups warring on Israel (IMRA, 9/7). It would negotiate for military advantage. WELCOME MUSLIMS TO THE PLURALISTIC WEST A Muslim leader in Britain defended the killing of Russian children by the terrorists, by blaming Russia (without explanation). He thought Iraqis would be justified in abducting British children (Arutz-7, 9/7). Welcome to the pluralistic West. We Westerners clasp the viper to our bosom! 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 ISLAMIC STATE
Posted by Yashiko Sagamori, September 23, 2004. |
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This article was written by Daniel Pipes and appeared in
www.FrontPageMagazine.com today. It is archived at
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/2100
The hardest thing for Westerners to understand is not that a war with militant Islam is underway but that the nature of the enemy's ultimate goal. That goal is to apply the Islamic law (the Shari'a) globally. In U.S. terms, it intends to replace the Constitution with the Qur'an. This aspiration is so remote and far-fetched to many non-Muslims, it elicits more guffaws than apprehension. Of course, that used to be the same reaction in Europe, and now it's become widely accepted that, in Bernard Lewis' words, "Europe will be Islamic by the end of the century." Because of the American skepticism about Islamist goals, I postponed publishing an article on this subject until immediately after 9/11, when I expected receptivity to the subject would be greater (it was published in November 2001as "The Danger Within: Militant Islam in America"). I argued there that The Muslim population in this country is not like any other group, for it includes within it a substantial body of people - many times more numerous than the agents of Osama bin Ladin - who share with the suicide hijackers a hatred of the United States and the desire, ultimately, to transform it into a nation living under the strictures of militant Islam. The receptivity indeed was greater, but still the idea of an Islamist takeover remains unrecognized in establishment circles - the U.S. government, the old media, the universities, the mainline churches. Therefore, reading "A rare look at secretive Brotherhood in America," in the Chicago Tribune on Sept. 19 caused me to startle. It's a long analysis that draws on an exclusive interview with Ahmed Elkadi, the Muslim Brotherhood leader in the United States during 1984-94, plus other interviews and documentation. In it, the authors (Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah, Sam Roe, and Laurie Cohen) warily but emphatically acknowledge the Islamists' goal of turning the United States into an Islamic state. Over the last 40 years, small groups of devout Muslim men have gathered in homes in U.S. cities to pray, memorize the Koran and discuss events of the day. But they also addressed their ultimate goal, one so controversial that it is a key reason they have operated in secrecy: to create Muslim states overseas and, they hope, someday in America as well... This Brotherhood approach is in keeping with my observation that the greater Islamist threat to the West is not violence - flattening buildings, bombing railroad stations and nightclubs, seizing theaters and schools - but the peaceful, legal growth of power through education, the law, the media, and the political system. The Tribune article explains how, when recruiting new members, the organization does not reveal its identity but invites candidates to small prayer meetings where the prayer leaders focus on the primary goal of the Brotherhood, namely "setting up the rule of God upon the Earth" (i.e., achieving Islamic hegemony). Elkadi describes the organization's strategic, long-term approach: "First you change the person, then the family, then the community, then the nation." His wife Iman is no less explicit; all who are associated with the Brotherhood, she says, have the same goal, which is "to educate everyone about Islam and to follow the teachings of Islam with the hope of establishing an Islamic state." In addition to Elkadi, the article features information from Mustafa Saied (about whose Muslim Brotherhood experiences the Wall Street Journal devoted a feature story in December 2003, without mentioning the organization's Islamist goals). Saied, the Tribune informs us, says he found out that the U.S. Brotherhood had a plan for achieving Islamic rule in America: It would convert Americans to Islam and elect like-minded Muslims to political office. "They're very smart. Everyone else is gullible," Saied says. "If the Brotherhood puts up somebody for an election, Muslims would vote for him not knowing he was with the Brotherhood." Citing documents and interviews, the Tribune team notes that the secretive Brotherhood, in an effort to acquire more influence, went above ground in Illinois in 1993, incorporating itself as the Muslim American Society. The MAS, headquartered in Alexandria, Va. and claiming 53 chapters across the United States engages in a number of activities. These include summer camps, a large annual conference, websites, and the Islamic American University, a mainly correspondence school in suburban Detroit that trains teachers and imams. Of course, the MAS denies any intent to take over the country. One of its top officials, Shaker Elsayed, insists that MAS does not believe in creating an Islamic state in America but supports the establishment of Islamic governments in Muslim lands. The group's goal in the United States, he says, "is to serve and develop the Muslim community and help Muslims to be the best citizens they can be of this country." That includes preserving the Muslim identity, particularly among youths. Notwithstanding this denial, the Tribune finds MAS goals to be clear enough: Part of the Chicago chapter's Web site is devoted to teens. It includes reading materials that say Muslims have a duty to help form Islamic governments worldwide and should be prepared to take up arms to do so. One passage (www.masmn.org/Books/Fathi_Yakan/To_Be_A_Muslim/009.htm) states that "until the nations of the world have functionally Islamic governments, every individual who is careless or lazy in working for Islam is sinful." Another one http://www.masmn.org/Books/Fathi_Yakan/To_Be_A_Muslim/010.htm) says that Western secularism and materialism are evil and that Muslims should "pursue this evil force to its own lands" and "invade its Western heartland." [links added by me, DP] In suburban Rosemont, Ill., several thousand people attended MAS' annual conference in 2002 at the village's convention center. One speaker said, "We may all feel emotionally attached to the goal of an Islamic state" in America, but it would have to wait because of the modest Muslim population. "We mustn't cross hurdles we can't jump yet." These revelations are particularly striking, coming as they do just days after a Washington Post article titled "In Search Of Friends Among The Foes," which reports how some U.S. diplomats and intelligence officials believe the Muslim Brotherhood's influence "offers an opportunity for political engagement that could help isolate violent jihadists." Graham Fuller is quoted saying that "It is the preeminent movement in the Muslim world. It's something we can work with." Demonizing the Brotherhood, he warns, "would be foolhardy in the extreme." Other analysts, such as Reuel Gerecht, Edward Djerejian, and Leslie Campbell, are quoted as being in agreement with this outlook. But it is a deeply wrong and dangerous approach. Even if the Muslim Brotherhood is not specifically associated with violence in the United States (as it has been in other countries, including Egypt and Syria), it is deeply hostile to the United States and must be treated as one vital component of the enemy's assault force. |
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IRAQ: A SHORT HISTORY LESSON
Posted by Menachem Kovacs, September 23, 2004. |
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1. The garden of Eden was in Iraq. 2. Mesopotamia, which is now Iraq, was the cradle of civilization! 3. Noah built the ark in Iraq. 4. The Tower of Babel was in Iraq. 5. Abraham was from Ur, which is in Southern Iraq! 6. Isaac's wife Rebekah is from Nahor, which is in Iraq. 7. Jacob met Rachel in Iraq. 8. Jonah preached in Nineveh - which is in Iraq. 9. Assyria, which is in Iraq, conquered the ten tribes of Israel. 10. Amos cried out in Iraq! 11. Babylon, which is in Iraq, destroyed Jerusalem. 12. Daniel was in the lion's den in Iraq! 13. The three Hebrew children were in the fire in Iraq. 14. Belshazzar, the King of Babylon saw the "writing on the wall" in Iraq. 15. Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, carried the Jews captive into Iraq. 16. Ezekiel preached in Iraq. And you have probably seen this one. Israel is the nation most often mentioned in the Bible. But do you know which nation is second? It is Iraq! However, that is not the name that is used in the Bible. The names used in the Bible are Babylon, Land of Shinar, and Mesopotamia. The word Mesopotamia means between the two rivers, more exactly between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The name Iraq, means country with deep roots. Indeed Iraq is a country with deep roots and is a very significant country in the Bible. No other nation, except Israel, has more history and prophecy associated it than Iraq. And also... This is something to think about! Since America is typically represented by an eagle. Saddam should have read up on his Muslim passages... The following verse is from the Koran, (the Islamic Bible)
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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REPORTING ABUSES BY HERALD TRIBUNE AND NEW YORK TIMES. SO WHAT ELSE IS NEW?
Posted by Steven Plaut, September 23, 2004. |
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1. HERALD TRIBUNE CARRIES PIECE SUGGESTING AMERICAN JEWS OF "POISONOUS" ATTITUDE IN CHARGES AGAINST FRANCE Tom Gross adds in relation to the above item "France to distribute copies of 'Shoah' film in anti-hate drive": Yesterday the New York Times-owned International Herald Tribune (IHT) ran as their top-of the page, main comment piece (with a large photo, giving it twice the space usually reserved for a comment piece), an article titled "A poisoned 'j'accuse' from America." The piece, specially translated from French by the IHT, was written by Jean Daniel, the co-founder and director of the French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur. Earlier this year Daniel was presented with a special award for his contribution to "the Humanities." The piece did not run in the New York Times, but does follow in a long tradition by the Jewish-owned (but often giving the appearance of Jewish-hating) family (some of whom have converted to other religions) that owns the New York Times of denigrating Jews and downplaying anti-Semitism. (The most notorious example being the downplaying by the New York Times of anti-Jewish measures in the 1930s and of the Holocaust in the 1940s. Over half a century later, the family that owns the New York Times offered a semi-apology for this cover-up.) In his article, Daniel suggests that the idea that there is increasing and widespread anti-Semitism in France is due to "certain ultra-Zionist camps of French Judaism... [making] their concerns known in Tel Aviv and New York, where they were hijacked for use against France." (Daniel neglects to mention that Jerusalem and Washington are actually the capitals of Israel and the US. He neglects to mention that a large increase in anti-Semitism throughout France has been admitted by French government ministers. He neglects to cite a single example of the hundreds of anti-Semitic attacks carried out in France in recent years. He neglects to mention that thousands of French Jews have fled to Israel, Canada, Florida, New York and elsewhere in the last four years.) Daniel goes on to argue that the French population cannot be anti-Semitic because they only handed over one third of their Jewish population to their death in Nazi camps. (He neglects to mention that among these were thousands of young children.) "Two out of three!" he writes in his piece (the exclamation mark is his) in relation to those French Jews who didn't die, citing this as what he appears to consider to be a good record proving non-anti-Semitism. "It was not a Frenchman who killed the great Yitzhak Rabin," he adds for good measure, as if this bore any relevance to French anti-Semitism. Deliberately employing a word associated with WW2 Germany, he refers to the "Bush-Putin-Sharon axis." With less news than usual emanating from Israel, the West Bank and Gaza at present, and with news dominated by particularly bloody clashes and beheadings in Iraq during recent days, as well as on-going massacres in Sudan, the IHT again chooses on its comment pages to instead lead with misinformation about Jews. The abuses of reporting by the New York Times and even more by the International Herald Tribune about Israel and Jews are too numerous to cover on a daily basis. 2. For more details, see: "All The News That's Fit to Print? The New York Times and Israel," www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-gross031403.asp also: "DOES THE TIMES HAVE AN AGENDA?" The Times's distorted presentation of events is especially troubling given the very high respect in which the paper is generally held by its readership, policymakers, and other members of the media. The Times's framing of the conflict has for years contributed to bad diplomacy at the State Department and elsewhere, and has fueled negative images of Israel among the public at large. As I know from personal experience working as a correspondent in the Middle East for both American and European papers, foreign news editors throughout the world often look to the Times for story ideas. Every evening, editors across America check the next day's front-page stories on the New York Times before altering their lineups. Especially abroad, some mistakenly presume that the New York Times must be pro-Israel since it is Jewish-owned and has several prominent Jewish writers and editors. In fact, it may be precisely for this reason that it bends over backward to avoid being seen as the "Jew York Times," as one European journalist I used to work with in Israel called it. There would be nothing new in this. The Times deliberately downplayed reports on the Holocaust in the 1940s. It hid news of the ongoing genocide of European Jewry "in small print on the back pages Jewish-owned but anxious not to be seen as Jewish-oriented," as historian David S. Wyman put it. Full reports in http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-gross031403.asp 3. Dated but worth reading: http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-gross051302.asp 4. A rare comment of common sense in the Israeli press: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1095650550698&p=1078027574097 5. Could someone report this to the Israeli tax authorities? http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1095743613874 6. http://www.jewishpress.com/news_article.asp?article=4194 "Jews And Ostriches", posted 9/22/2004 by Jackie Mason & Raoul Felder. Its been said that "Jews are the people of `The Book.`" From what we observe today, "The Book" is not a survival manual and may end up being the Koran. There are three things certain in life: death, taxes and anti-Semitism. Well, death is death, taxes are down, and anti-Semitism is up. Like some demon seed that lay dormant, sleeping, covered over or ignored, it has now sprouted once again. The hated symbols are scrawled across the gravestones in Jewish cemeteries and on the walls of the ancient capitals of Europe and the Near and Middle East. Jews are blamed for everything from the destruction of the World Trade Center to the war in Iraq, and are called "baby-killers" in relation to the Palestinian problem even while the world`s media print the photographs of the arms of small slaughtered Jewish children hanging from the side of a bus that Palestinian terrorists decided to destroy. American Jews are disconnected from these realities, and apparently are determined to make their lack of interest in unfolding world events evident by supporting the Democratic candidate for president. An ostrich buries its head in the sand, and in so doing leaves another part of its anatomy vulnerable. American Jews should take heed and perhaps consider emulating the eagle rather than the ostrich. In a recent poll conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, American Jews who were likely voters favored Kerry by 75 to 22 percent. The problem, like it or not, that American Jews choose not to deal with is that to some degree the life and well-being of any Jew, anywhere in the world, is connected to the fate of Israel. This is true even for Jews who go to country clubs, ride polo ponies, or name their daughters Tiffany. When the Nazis came into power, with equanimity they murdered Jews with blond hair and blue eyes and who'd been loyal German soldiers for the Kaiser, along with the ones with yarmulkes and long beards. The Jewish knee-jerk propensity to vote Democratic is unrelated to any particular advantage the party offers American Jews in the modern world. The allegiance of Jews is basically historical, beginning with President Roosevelt and then becoming embedded in their psyches, with no connection to events or reality. The Jews believed that somehow Roosevelt was their savior. In point of fact, Roosevelt was a canny politician who believed he had the Jews in his pocket. Notwithstanding Churchill`s plea, Roosevelt would not order the bombing of the Nazis` transportation web to slow the delivery of Jews to the concentration camps -- even after Churchill`s prophecy to him that history would condemn both of them for his refusal. Democrats since Roosevelt have not been much better for Jews when it comes to Israel: Jimmy Carter engineered a sellout of Israel at Camp David; Hillary Clinton hugged Mrs. Arafat; John Kerry called Arafat "a statesman" and, in his unending acceptance speech at the Democratic convention, did not mention Israel even once. On the other hand, Nixon, Reagan, and the present president have been the guardians of Israel`s survival. President Bush, however, has been extraordinary in this regard. American Jews who do not like Bush are quick to insist that the he and the Religious Right and are supportive of Israel only because such support fits their belief that there must be a state of Israel when the Messiah comes. The unworthy thought crosses our minds that if your house is burning and your neighbor puts out the fire, not out of any love for your family but because he doesnt want a burned-out wreck of a house next to his own, does it really make a difference? Either motive leaves you and your family with your home. In the Greenberg poll, only 15 percent of the Jews surveyed mentioned Israel as the most important factor they take into account when deciding which presidential candidate to vote for. Unfortunately, there are six million reasons why they are wrong. Jackie Mason is the world-renowned comedic genius. Raoul Felder is a prominent Manhattan attorney. 7. Banning the "T" Word http://www.jewishpress.com/news_article.asp?article=4192 8. Reform synagogue space pods take over Connecticut? http://www.intellectualconservative.com/article3807.html 9. 14:30 Sep-22-04 / 7 Tishrei 5765 29 Municipalities Refuse Fiscal Reform (IsraelNN.com) The Interior Ministry today released data showing that 29 municipalities have refused to sign on to the fiscal reform package that is designed to restore economic health and responsibility to the faltering cities. The package would also free funds for payment of city employees. Of the 29 "rebel" municipalities, 27 are Arab-majority cities. 10. A quote from "Intellectual Morons," http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=15189. "Noam Chomsky is Michael Moore with his brain on steroids. In the late 70s, he deemed stories of Pol Pots killing fields capitalist propaganda. Later, he fantasized a conspiracy between ex-Nazis and U.S. government officials to shape the post-World War II world. Prior to the war on terrorism, Chomsky maintained that the U.S. was in the midst of apparently trying to murder 3 or 4 million people in Afghanistan, predicting mass starvation and death." 11. Neutering a Cat: http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=15219 12. The REAL Axis of Evil: http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=15218 13. WHAT humiliation? http://israelnn.com/article.php3?id=4214 14. Let's have MORE Humiliations: http://web.israelinsider.com/views/4157.htm 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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MICHAEL MOORE AND AMERICAN SELF-HATRED
Posted by Freeman Center for Strategic Studies, September 22, 2004. |
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This article was written by Dennis Prager, who is
one of America's most respected and popular nationally
syndicated radio talk-show hosts. He is the author of several books and a
frequent guest on television shows such as Larry King Live, Politically
Incorrect, The Late Late Show on CBS, Rivera Live, The Early Show on CBS,
Fox Family Network, The O'Reilly Factor and Hannity & Colmes.
Did you ever notice that there are no Germans going around the world saying, or making movies about, how awful Germany is or has been? Given that Germany unleashed two world wars and invented industrialized genocide, why has there been no German Michael Moore? Are there any Japanese making films about the absence of Japanese soul-searching or expressions of sorrow over their country's enslavement, torture and murder of Asians in World War II? Has anyone ever encountered any Japanese self-hate? Any Belgians telling the world how bad their country is? Argentinians? French? France surely has reason to produce people ashamed of their country. The answer, of course, is no. In fact, among all the world's peoples, only two produce large numbers of individuals who have greater sympathy for those who hate their country or national/ethnic group than for those who love it Americans and Jews. Many on the American Left loathe America (they love the Constitution and their vision of what America could be) and have contempt for the average American. That is why most of the Left has such admiration for Michael Moore, who has said, among so much more, the following: Americans "are possibly the dumbest people on the planet ... in thrall to conniving, thieving, smug p----s" (London Daily Mirror). "Should such an ignorant people lead the world?" (open letter to the German people in Die Zeit). Elsewhere, he speaks of America as bringing immeasurable misery and sadness to the world and as essentially deserving attacks on it. There are no comparable self-haters in any other country except Israel, whose leftists have the same contempt for their country, nor among any other group except the Jews, whose Left also generally loathe the Jewish state (and America). Israeli professors in the West are often the leaders in anti-Israel demonstrations and movements. Jews such as professors Norman Finkelstein and Noam Chomsky devote much of their lives to trying to harm the one Jewish country in the world (and America) and express deep hatred of Jewish institutions. Here is Finkelstein: Jewish organizations "steal, and I do use the word with intent, 95 percent of the monies earmarked for victims of Nazi persecution" (Counterpunch, Dec. 13, 2001). Jews "are not Zionist by conviction, they are Zionist because it is useful for their political and more recently financial self-interest" (same). In a lecture delivered in Beirut, Finkelstein likened Israeli actions to "Nazi practices" during World War II, albeit with some added "novelties to the Nazi experiments" (Commentary, June 2002). And Noam Chomsky wrote the foreword to a book denying the Holocaust. This is the same as a black professor writing the foreword to a book by a Ku Klux Klansman. This self-loathing on the part of Americans and Jews is all the more remarkable when you consider that leftists of every other group strongly affirm their national, cultural and ethnic identities. For example, while American and Jewish leftists ceaselessly attack America and Israel, black and Hispanic leftists ceaselessly defend blacks and Hispanics. How, then, to explain this anomaly of American and Jewish self-loathing? I offer four explanations in no order of importance. First, those Jews and Americans who loathe Israel and America are virtually always on the Left, and the Left around the world hates America and Israel. You can't be a leftist and strongly defend America or Israel. The Left will shun you. And since most of these individuals' primary identity comes from being a leftist, being ostracized from fellow leftists is hell on earth. Second, many leftists are psychologically adolescents. And one feature of adolescent psychology is anger at a parent who claims very high ideals and turns out to be flawed. Many on the Left are angry at America and Israel for being imperfect and therefore disappointing them. Third, the words "American" and "Jewish" both represent distinctive value systems, not only national and ethnic identities. And these value systems clash with leftist values. Both American and Jewish identities are rooted in religion and divine chosenness. And the further left one goes, the greater the hostility to religion especially to Judaism and Christianity (not to Islam, which the Left often defends, because many Muslims hate Judaism and Christianity as much as the Left does) not to mention to any notion of national or religious exceptionalism. When you add to this that America also represents capitalism and holds liberty higher than equality, you can further understand why America elicits so much hatred from its own leftists. Fourth, since America and Israel are the two most hated countries in the world, and the Jews are the most hated ethnic/religious group, many Americans and Jews would rather identify with the haters than with the hated. That is why, for example, so many American leftists base a large part of their case against George W. Bush on his having increased anti-American sentiments around the world. This makes leftists livid again, like adolescents, they yearn to be part of the in-crowd (meaning America- and Israel-haters) and fear being disliked. There may be other explanations. But what is certain is that American self-hatred and Jewish self-hatred are unique phenomena that play a particularly destructive role in our world. |
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ONE JERUSALEM: SIGN THE PETITION
Posted by David Horowitz, September 22, 2004. |
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The War on Terror and the war in the Middle East are one war. Radical Islam has declared its enemy to be Jews and Crusaders,
i.e., Jews and Christians. America, Abu Musab al Zarqawi recently
declared, is the enemy of radical Islam because it is the "bearer of
the Cross." In the war on terror, Israel is the canary in the mine.
Israel`s enemies, the PL0, Hamas and Hizbollah are all integral
elements of the Islamic jihad against the West. Signing this petition
is a small but important act in the defense of the West against its
mortal foes. I urge you to add your name. Go to
http://www.onejerusalem.org/petition.asp?referrer=fpm
David Horowitz is publisher of Front Page Magazine (http://www.frontpagemagazine.com), a leading publication in the fight against terrorism. |
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ANTISEMITISM EVENTUALLY HITS EVERYONE
Posted by Irwin N. Graulich, September 22, 2004. |
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It only begins with the Jews. Jew-Hatred should be a wake up call for all decent human beings of every religion and no religion. Hitler's initial target was indeed, the Jews. But that was only the beginning of his plan. He invaded Czechoslovakia, France, England and would have eventually progressed to the rest of humanity. Attention planet earth! Antisemitism is not exclusively a Jewish problem, because it never ends with only Jews. The latest example of this phenomenon is the Arab and Muslim world, which has despised Israel since 1948. Anti-Israel and antisemitism are virtually synonymous terms. However, this time, the antisemitic cancer has metastasized further than previous masses, growing into anti-American and anti-Western tumors. The hatred for the tiny Jewish state should have been an early detection warning for the world that this lump will eventually spread. Had the West biopsied the problem immediately, perhaps 1 million black Sudanese Christians would still be alive and 3000 Americans who perished on 9/11 would continue to hug their children, parents and spouses today. What is even more amazing is that Jew-Hatred does not stop with murdering all other groups. As displayed clearly in Iraq and Afghanistan today, these Jew-Haters are more than happy to murder their own innocent Muslims using car bombs, suicide bombers and other tactics. As America's great moral beacon, Dennis Prager, has continually explained, "The Jews are the miner's canaries for the world." Miners have been known to take canaries down into the mines when working. It seems that canaries are much more susceptible to noxious fumes than humans. When the miners see the canaries dying, they know it is time to fight the fumes, and get out of the mines, or they too will die. Let the world know, that Jews play the role of miner's canaries for good people everywhere. When there are "noxious moral fumes," the Jews die first. But it does not end there. All innocent people are next in line. For 25 years, Israel was at the top of the Islamic world's list. Now, these evildoers are beheading Americans, British, Italians, South Koreans and yes, even blowing up their own. Unless the world recognizes from where these horrible, evil fumes emanate, and do something definitive to eliminate the poisons, we can all kiss our families good-bye right now. Political correctness has crept into this equation, not permitting world leaders to tell the truth; that the real problem is fundamentalist Islam. To call Islam "a religion of peace," at this time in history is a "fundamental" error of gross proportions. Of course there are some beautiful, kind Muslims, especially in America. However, there were some lovely members of the Nazi party during WWII, and even wonderful Communists during the heyday of the Soviet Union. The bulk of the world's issues with evil today unfortunately fall within one group, and it happens to be a religion. That is the plain and simple truth. Unless leaders like George W. Bush point that out clearly, without fear of offending, Islam will never solve its disastrous problems. Imagine a therapist being "uncomfortable" telling a patient their flaws. Pointing out faults and gross behavior is a positive thing for everyone. Thank God that humanity has never thought of polio, malaria, AIDS or any other disease as a problem for only one group or country. If civilized people everywhere do not fight the battle to wipe out this new "Islamic Terrorist" disease, eventually we will all catch it. America has the cure. Use it! Irwin N. Graulich is a motivational speaker on morality, ethics, Judaism and politics. He is also President and CEO of a marketing, branding and communications company in New York City. He can be reached at irwin.graulich@verizon.net |
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RUSSIA AND ISRAEL VERSUS TERRORISM AND OTHER ITEMS
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, September 22, 2004. |
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MISUSE OF ISRAELI TROOPS We have shown false the argument that retention of Yesha diverts Israeli troops from the defense of Israel, because then the P.A. would concentrate on Israel. Many troops in Yesha these days are dismantling outposts. Dismantling is a counter-productive use of Israeli troops. It is anti-Zionist, divides the country, and strengthens its enemies. REPORTING THE OTHER SIDE News reports used to state factually the events and the situation. Audiences knew what was happening. Now news reports mostly quote leaders. Audiences know little of what is happening. This new way is both lazy and biased. Sometimes the bias is in omitting the Israeli side. It is not difficult to do that, because the Israeli government either takes the Arab side, is appeasement minded, or is so uncomprehending of public relations that it has nothing to say. Actually, there is no Arab side - the Arabs are totalitarian fanatics who seek conquest by brutal and deceptive means. They have no veracity. They are the enemy not only of Israel but of the entire West and of civilization. To publish their statements and their claims plays into their propaganda drive to bring us down. By "us," I mean the non-Muslim world. Imagine if during WWII, the Allied media gave equal billing to the Nazi press! Our media would be full of Nazi blame of the Jews and calling the US degenerate, whereas the Nazis were to blame and socially were degenerate. Nazi propaganda, all false, would have confused our people, clouded our resolve, and softened us up for conquest. Our current media does that with the Arabs. Perhaps the media thinks it is being objective when it gives equal billing to the drive to destroy our society, but might it not realize that it is part of our society it is undermining? AMERICAN & ARAB POLARIZATION Hikers enjoy camaraderie. Four of us were driving home. The driver and I always have a hilarious time. There was a silent passenger whom I won't mention again, and a pleasant woman from Manhattan's Upper West Side who liked to converse. She effusively started to discuss her plans to volunteer for the Kerry campaign. Not getting a response, she said she supposed we all were Democrats. (Why did she suppose that?) Seeing me shake my head, to head off the driver, she then declined to discuss politics. She said her neighbors don't talk to each other any more, and she is afraid to discuss politics with her beloved but Republican son. It took much reassuring from me that the driver has a sense of humor about it, and I, a sense of tolerance. She got discouraged, again, when he observed that every criticism of Kerry she called a distortion, and every criticism of Bush a fact. These partisan Democrats don't know to drop the irrelevant and minor parts of the Kerry campaign and explain the major issues. She tied herself up in self-contradiction over it. (That does not mean she is wrong. She probably is not used to skepticism). Neither side understands the war on radical Islam or cares that they both would overspend and just for politics, not for effectively reaching public goals. She taught at college. One class was mostly of Arabs. She brought them a well-researched paper pointing out the dangers of radical Islam. The students called it "all lies." I reminded her that their culture features deceit. Their calling the paper lies may be their deceptive evasion. Since they know that their leaders believe in deceit, let them doubt Arab propaganda and the statements by radical Muslims. They are "all lies." She is upset over the US warring in Iraq; I regret the US failure to build up its forces to take on half a dozen more countries and win this world war. This is a problem that neither campaign faces. Kerry opposes it. Bush is too cheap and leery of being criticized to propose it. This will cost our lives. WHAT VIDEOS ARE POPULAR IN BAGHDAD? Terrorists take videotapes of their beheading of hostages, and Baghdad video stores run a land-office business. The recent beheadings are the most popular, replacing ones of crimes by Saddam and his sons. On the other hand, many Muslims deny that beheadings were done by Muslims, for it is too barbaric (IMRA, 9/6 from Jordan Times via Reuters). Of course Muslims did it! They have torn people to pieces, as did the Palestinian Arabs who beat some Israelis into a pulp, long after death came, and the one who dipped his hands into the victim's blood and held the hands up for the cheering crowd. Do the Badhdadis think that the more civilized Westerners do the beheading? The Arabs often claim that anything evil is a conspiracy by outsiders injuring their own people in order to gain sympathy. They are in a state of denial. Is that for public relations or out of neurosis? RUSSIA & ISRAEL VS. TERRORISM Israel is offering Russia valuable security cooperation against terrorism and facilities for rehabilitating child victims of the school hostage crisis. Russia seeks some such cooperation. Old attitudes persist. Although Israel called this terrorism an Islamic threat, Russia's Foreign Minister declared that the terrorism has nothing to do with religion. Oh, no? The terrorists launched their capture of the school with the usual Islamic cry of "God is great." Russia also intends to maintain friendly ties with Arab states and to continue the "peaceful" development of Iran's nuclear industry. (Iran indicates it is using its knowledge for belligerent development). IMRA wonders how many Arab states would join Russia in anti-terrorism and how would Russia enforce Iranian compliance with promises not to develop nuclear weapons from its atomic fuel. IMRA calls this "Russian blindness" (IMRA, 9/6). Pres. Putin seems to be attempting to restore the Soviet Union and to resume the Cold War. Israel had better be careful not to trust him at risk to itself. PLO CRITICIZES UNO RESOLUTION ON SYRIA & LEBANON A PLO official described the UNO Resolution on Lebanon as interference in the fraternal relations between Lebanon and Syria, as if Syria were not forcing Lebanon to submit to its will. The Resolution demands that Syria stop occupying Lebanon (IMRA, 9/6). Other P.A. reactions are to admit that Syria is occupying Lebanon but to suggest that the UNO also demand an end to other, alleged occupations. To the Arabs, liberation is "interference" with occupation? The Arabs demand that the UNO interfere in other countries' affairs, just not in theirs. CLOSING ISLAMIST WEB SITES Thanks to individual efforts and cooperation by web site hosts, several sites of Palestinian Islamic Jihad have been shut down and its application to be hosted on another facility was turned down. This is a kind of counter-terrorism. The Patriot Act "defines the facilitation of communication for terrorist purposes" as a terrorist act. Is the Dept. of Homeland Security enforcing the Act? Congress should require that US-based ISPs require hosts to identify their customers and (for vague reasons) should ratify the Council of Europe's Convention on Cyber Crime (Rachel Ehrenfeld, NY Sun, 9/13, p.9). CRITIQUE & COUNTER-CRITIQUE OF SHARON'S PLAN IMRA presented its critique and then a description and analysis of PM Sharon's abandonment plan by Prof. Shlomo Brom of the Jaffee Center. Jaffee has traded common sense and experience for an appeasement-minded ideology. The impractical approach that led to Oslo has not be replaced in academia by the skepticism that Oslo's failure warrants. The critique finds that Prof. Brom naively and falsely assumes that: (1) The Palestinian Arabs are moderate and desirous of peace; (2) Egypt wants to stop its arms smuggling into Gaza; (3) The rest of the world has pure motives towards Israel; (4) Israel may put its security into foreign hands; (5) Present conditions are permanent, and there is no need to provide for failure. Actually: (1) The P.A. is enhancing its capability of warfare in a drive to destroy Israel in phases (of which the first phase is to get its own territory); (2) Egypt wants to ship arms in so as to weaken Israel; (3) The rest of the world would not be a reliable third-party mediator and enforcer. Experience has proved this. Under the Plan: (1) Israel would remove all its forces from the designated areas except along the Egyptian border, and, later, perhaps from that, too; (2) Israel intends to guard the Gaza air space and sea space, and later may allow an airport and seaport to open in Gaza; (3) Israel reserves the right of retaliatory and preventive self-defense against threats from the evacuated areas (but if the P.A. declares sovereignty, Israel would lose that right); (4) Foreign countries would consult with Israel about training the P.A. in fighting terrorism and may not themselves station forces in Gaza (but without Israeli forces there, foreign forces could move in, and the P.A. never fought but produced terrorism; (5) Israel would remove residences and synagogues, but turn over industrial, agricultural, and other facilities to a third party to use for the benefit of the Arabs (what a reward for pirates that should pay Israel reparations!); (6) Israel expects that the other existing arrangements for demilitarization (which the Arabs continuously violate), water usage, and economic measures would remain in force; (7) Israel would coordinate with international organizations' measures to benefit the Arabs. (These organizations build up terrorism. The Arabs would demand control over it, get it, and devote more of it to graft and warfare.) The professor points out that Arabs and Jews remain on both sides of the fence. That makes for instability (yes, because the Arabs are jihadists and not peacemakers). Therefore, he favors expanding the Plan in stages. (What does he think the US and Sharon have cooked up?) The Plan is an "opportunity," because it creates a "positive dynamic" in relations between the two sides. (There are no relations in this unilateral Plan! It isn't positive -- it simply whets the jihadist appetite.) It would reduce friction between them in Gaza. (It would increase friction, because the Arabs would increase their firing over the fence, would violate the conditions, as would the foreign powers, and would make new demands. There would be friction when the Arabs continue to bring in arms, want to bring in armies, demand sovereignty and would get foreign recognition for it, etc..) Later, the professor admits that there is likely to be more friction with the IDF troops guarding the border and over Israel's claiming continued overall control over Gaza. Further into his report, Brom contradicts the hope he stated above, by remarking that there already is minimal friction in Gaza, because the two peoples live apart. (The problem is not friction at points of contact, but that the Arabs are pursuing jihad against the Jews.) Bron hopes that if violence decreases and incomes increase, both sides would like the Plan and be encouraged to do more and to make peace. The P.A. may yet demonstrate serious intent to make peace. (How, as a result of spontaneous combustion? Has he not seen P.A. polls that show the Arabs wholeheartedly behind jihad? The P.A. exists for graft and jihad? Why should violence decrease when the terrorists are in sole charge, they are allowed to regroup their forces and get trained by Egypt in warfare, the IDF is not around to tamp down terrorism, and, if Israel allowed airport and seaport to open, the terrorists would more easily import heavy weapons? The first move the Arabs would make is to demand that the "occupation" of the Egyptian border be removed. Fighting over that is likely to increase.) The new arrangement would hamper Gaza economic development. (How?) The professor acknowledges that the Arabs would not start permanent status negotiations now, but thinks they would be encouraged to do so, as the Plan unfolds. (So by showing that they are nice, Israelis would convert all those fanatical terrorists into civilized negotiators? That was the failed assumption of Oslo. The professor did not learn from that failure.) The analysis raises questions: (1) Would there be dialogue and coordination with the P.A.? (2) How much international activity would Israel permit; (3) What conditions would lead to opening of port and airport and withdrawal of the border guards alongside Egypt ; (4) Would the P.A., Hamas, or anarchy control Gaza, and how would Israel influence the outcome; and (5) Would the plan actually reduce violence and enhance security? (The absence of those questions in the Plan is an indictment of the Plan's author for not having thought it through. These questions merit analysis, but the report discusses too briefly and still in the mode of hope rather than realism. Later, Brom warns that unless there is coordination, mobs are likely to loot the infrastructure left behind and strongmen are liable to seize control over it. With such, one makes peace?) Any evacuation would set a precedent. (This contradicts PM Sharon's assurances to his people that the purpose is to preclude further withdrawal.) Evacuation also would show the world's Israel's seriousness. (Israel's sincerity never was in doubt. Doubted was expressed only as a cynical pretense by Israel's critics. An evacuation to show that the Jews are good boys is part of the centuries-old Jewish neurosis of trying to please hostile gentiles. In this age of advanced antisemitism, the attempt is futile. Better to force and to earn their respect by means of self-respect. It is the Arabs who should have to demonstrate not sincerity by fundamental ideological reform. Instead of reform gaining ground, the Islamists are.) The problem is that the Arabs do not trust Sharon. (They have said the same thing about the other Israeli leaders. It is part of their propaganda if not also their mind-set.) Since the US may be over-committed around the world, Europeans should help the US monitor the Arabs and tutor them. (The Arabs would resent the thought of being held in tutelage. If they thought that the US were not abandoning the task soon enough, they would commit terrorism against the Western monitors and tutors. As for monitoring, when the CIA and State Dept. monitored P.A. non-compliance with Oslo, they called it compliance. Brom should know that.) The P.A. should persuade Hamas to make a ceasefire. (A ceasefire is worse than continuous warfare, because it extracts Israeli concessions, while the Arabs rearm and resume warfare.) Implementation of the Plan would take a year, which Brom thinks is long enough for the P.A. to change. (Have jihadists ever changed? Oslo ran for 11 years, without any change for the better and much organization for the worse.) The P.A. would have to cooperate with Israel, in order to improve its economy (IMRA, 9/6). The P.A. refuses to do so now. Jihad takes precedence over living standards. For example, rather than recognize Israeli authority, the P.A. tries to keep many Arabs from jobs with the Israelis. The report seems worse than it is, because it expresses all the hopes, before the doubts. It indicates little understanding of Arab deception and jihadist goals. It discusses problems with Arab genocidists as if with wayward boys just needing some adult guidance. 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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WHEN THE RIGHT IS WRONG: PART I
Posted by Ellen W. Horowitz, September 22, 2004. |
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"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven." (Kohelet) This is the season when G-d shows us mercy. Strict justice is suspended for even the worst of us, in order that we be given time to reflect and strive towards change. This is a time of heavenly compassion. If G-d, in His mercy, opens the gates of repentance and forgoes rigid judgement, then it's certainly incumbent upon us mere mortals to suspend our pointing of accusing fingers in condemnation of our brethren. Between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur every Jew is entitled to a temporary reprieve (including our misled leaders), and we passionate, uncompromising zealots would do well to take a breather from our relentless pursuit of justice and redirect our efforts towards serious introspection -if only for 10 days. This week, Nadia Matar, co-chairperson of Women in Green, launched a well deserved and scathing public relations blitz against Evacuation Administration head Yonatan Bassi. But, with all due respect, her timing and tactics may have been off. Nadia quoted a 1942 Judenrat's letter which was addressed to the Berlin Jewish community, and compared it with Bassi's appeasement letter to the Jewish residents of Gush Katif. She wrote to Bassi, "You are a modern version of the Judenrat - but actually much worse..." The analogy was indeed chilling, but its effect and fairness is debatable. However, it should be noted that any accusations associating Nadia's methods with incitement are far off the mark. "We strongly request that you follow the instructions and carry out all of the preparations for the transport in a calm manner". Frightening words from sixty-two years ago, but I imagine residents of America's Gulf Coast heard similar instructions last week, as they were preparing to evacuate the hurricane zone. I suppose residents in the Chernobyl area also received analogous directions, as have refugees from various war and famine torn regions, and people participating in civil defense exercises.. Discomforting directives for sure, but nobody holds an exclusive on the existential fear that grips all individuals when they are about to be torn from their homes in efforts aimed at either destroying them or saving them. If those same directives are, at some time in the future, issued to the Palestinian Arab population, will Nadia find them problematic? In the article, "Lens, Lies and Videotapes" (http://www.israelnn.com/article.php3?id=3770), I called into question the Palestinian Arab and international media's visual and verbal antics, as they tried to hijack the tragedies of the Holocaust and Hiroshima and superimpose them on Israel's defensive operation in Rafah. Indeed, Justice Minister Tommy Lapid fell into the media's Holocaust memorial trap when he told the world that images of an elderly Palestinian woman searching through the rubble of her Rafah home reminded him of his grandmother who was killed during the Holocaust - made big headlines across the globe. If we Jews set a precedent of taking historical events out of context and manipulating them to play upon the traumatized Jewish psyche, then surely every other revisionist group and historian will gladly jump on the bandwagon -in fact, they already have. Aside from comparing Israelis to Nazis, numerous academics, politicians and historians have compared our unique national situation to the struggles which took place in Algeria, Northern Ireland, and India. These comparisons are unfair, because Jewish history marches to a different drummer. We must remember and learn from our history, but there are more differences between the Holocaust and Nazism than there are similarities to the tragedies unfolding in Israel today. The Holocaust was a Diaspora event and the current parallels being drawn are demoralizing for a nation engaged in an uphill march towards Redemption. One can certainly draw a general comparison between the behavior of the Court Jew throughout our history and the way in which our current Diaspora and Israeli leaders pander to the gentile nations. But when it comes to our internal struggle, we have many more appropriate homegrown examples to pick from than that of the Judenrat. Our lessons and direction with regards to our national struggle should be taken directly from the events which took place in the Land of Israel as outlined in the Torah. This is something that Israel's founding secular Zionist leaders knew, and this knowledge and pride in their land and history inspired them - and for many years led us on the road to to success. Let's not confuse the issues. The Jews are clearly forbidden to surrender portions of the Land of Israel. Our leaders are acting in an undemocratic, godless and criminal fashion due to their arrogance, lack of wisdom and a series of historic blunders. We don't have to turn to Nazi-occupied Europe in order to recognize a pattern of mistakes which has clearly been a part of our national heritage. Because the majority of the generation has lost its connection to G-d and to Torah, we're now living in an era characterized by an unprecedented lack of wise and creative leadership, while we are faced with a glut of arrogant dolts. I'd classify our leaders as being more idiot than Nazi -more stupid than sinister. But there is also an element of rebelliousness and treason among them. They "...have turned away from Your commandments and from Your good laws..." Those of us who are actively trying to wake-up the nation and alert them to the dangers at hand find it tortuous to continually bear witness to the gross injustices and atrocities taking place in Israel. We are champing at the bit for a day of reckoning. Moderation, balance and patience are often qualities that are lacking in the zealous personality, but wisdom, timing and thoughtfulness must fill that void if we are to be effective and do our job. Nadia Matar, Ruth Matar and all those associated Women and Green have worked tirelessly these last eleven years in order to preserve the integrity of the Land of Israel. Their efforts have been nothing less than heroic. They are genuinely guided and inspired by the words, "For the sake of Zion I will not be silent, for the sake of Jerusalem, I will not rest." But to pause, reflect and contemplate a change in tactics during this time is hardly rest. It may be the most difficult and painful task that is required of us. We hope and pray that Ariel Sharon, Yonatan Bassi, and the rest of the gang, take advantage of a heavenly opportunity and season of mercy to turn to G-d and to return to their true selves. Ellen Horowitz lives in the Golan Heights, Israel with her husband and six children. She is a painter and columnist. She can be contacted through her website |
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THE LETTER ARIEL SHARON SHOULD SEND OUT THIS WEEK, BUT WON'T
Posted by Steven Plaut, September 22, 2004. |
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1. The Letter Ariel Sharon should send out this week, but won't:
President George W. Bush
Dear Mr. President: I noted with concern your offhand comments in your UN speech denouncing Israel for "humiliating Palestinians" at security checkpoints, and calling upon Israel to freeze and remove settlements. Mr. President, it was not clear to me why you think it is okay for the United States to operate security checkpoints all over Iraq and Afghanistan and at the Mexican border entry points into the United States, in which cars are stripped and checked, as are humans, yet you think it is "humiliating" for Israel, under nonstop attack and victim of endless nazi-like atrocities, to inspect cars and bodies of passing Palestinians, when stopping them at checkpoints. Be that as it may, I hereby make a formal pledge to you. Let the Palestinians halt all violence, end all murders of Israelis, desist from shooting all rockets and mortars into Jewish homes or businesses, end all violence and bombing, and end all rock throwing. If that happens, we will no longer operate any security checkpoints that slow down Palestinian mobility or prevent their having free access to any place they wish to visit, including clinics. And until that happens, we will continue to defend our citizens, regardless of whether other people think that is "humiliating". The rights of Palestinians not to be "humiliated" at our checkpoints count for infinitely LESS than the rights of Jews to continue staying alive. As for freezing settlements and removing them, we will be happy to follow the example of the United States, the moment the Congress decides to remove all American settlements from occupied native and Mexican territories in the American Southwest, Hawaii, and Alaska. Respectfully yours,
2. Ehud Olmert has emerged as one of the most unprincipled and demagogic slugs in Israeli politics. Having left behind the Jerusalem mayor-hood and a long trail there of financial misdeeds and dubious finances, he then decided to fence off the Likud's far Left and has been leading the jihad for implementing Mitzna-like unilateral "disengagement" and surrender, and expulsion of Jewish "settlers" from their homes. Now he has gone even further down the path of demagoguery and has backed Amir Peretz and the Histadrut crime family in their demand that the Treasury just pony up endless funds for the deficit-mongering local authorities without any conditionality. Olmert explicitly demanded that Netanyahu ABANDON any conditioning of Treasury aid to the deficit-running municipalities on any restructuring or reform program that would prevent new deficit-running in the future. In other words, Olmert's new banner is eternal fiscal malfeasance. I strongly urge the Likud to ship Olmert to the US, where he can join his brother, who recently sought refuge there to escape his underworld creditors. 3. "The latest Palestinian "moderate": Arafats Mouthpiece" by Joel Mowbray, FrontPageMagazine.com, September 22, 2004. JERUSALEM: The man sitting across from me was a consummate PR flack: smooth, eloquent, charming, passionate. He also happened to be the spokesman for the world's most experienced terrorist, Yasser Arafat. Saeb Erekat is something of a rarity in the Palestinian Authority (PA): by his own account, he has never had a gun in his hand and has never been to jail. While he may not personally perpetrate violence, his polished prose advances its cause deviously. Whereas most spokesmen cleverly contort the truth without fracturing it, Erakat lies like he breathes. At a one-hour session with nine American journalists, Arafat's mouthpiece wasted no time in doing what he does best. Asked upfront whether Arafat's machine, the Palestinian Liberation Organization, recognizes the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state, he emphatically states that it does. Except it doesn't. 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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WHOSE HUMILIATIONS, MR. BUSH?
Posted by Beth Goodtree, September 22, 2004. |
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Today the news had another cry of "Humiliation!" But it was not coming from Islamist world. This time the cry of "Humiliation!" was from, of all people, that supposed Israel-supporter President Bush. The word humiliation has become the emotional bullet in the Arab/Islamist propaganda weapon. But it seems that our president is now using it to show the international world that he commiserates with the genocidal murderers who want to destroy Israel and wipe out the Hebrew people. So okay, let's talk Arab/Islamist humiliations, but from the viewpoint of those who have been and continue to be the victims: the non-Islamist world. In 638 C.E. Caliph Omar Ben Hatav attacked and conquered Jerusalem, placing it under Arab/Muslim rule. By 642 C.E. the Muslim Arabs conquered Egypt, driving out or subjugating the mostly Christian Arabs. It was also during this time that the Muslims attacked and conquered Syria and Persia, doing the same to their populations. When 688 C.E. rolled around, the Arabs and Muslims desecrated, for the first time, Judaism's holiest site, the Temple Mount, by building a mosque on top of it. Then in 711 C.E. the Muslim hordes invaded and conquered Spain, subjugating the entire Spanish population. Between 1100 C.E. and 1500 C.E., the Muslims invaded India, desecrating and converting many of the Hindu sacred holy sites to Islamic shrines. You say ancient history is boring and of no immediate purpose in today's world? Think again. Here is a quote from Dr. Mahathir, former Prime Minister of Malaysia and former Head of the Organization of Islamic Conferences (OIC). This is what he said during his introductory speech at the autumn 2003 OIC Summit-- to a standing ovation no less: "At the time the Europeans of the Middle Ages were still superstitious and backward, the enlightened Muslims had already built a great Muslim civilization, respected and powerful...The Europeans had to kneel at the feet of Muslim scholars in order to access their own scholastic heritage." Dr. Mahathir was, in effect, relishing and gloating about previous Muslim conquests over the non-Muslim world. He seemingly expressed regret that Europe freed itself from the shackles of Islam and its repressive ways. Not once did Dr. Mahathir express remorse for the millions upon millions of lives that were humiliated, nay, exterminated by the Muslims and Arabs. And lest you think this is just more ancient history, you are wrong. Islamists/Arabs like to think backwards, keeping their pasts as close as if they happened yesterday. If the standing ovation of 50-some odd countries is proof, all the Muslim world would like to revert back to the day when they can conquer and subjugate the non-Muslim world. Moving on to modern history, we see not humiliation of Islamists/Arabs by the civilized world, we see just the opposite. Oil is their main weapon and blackmail is their choice method of subjugation and humiliation. The Arab/Islamist world demands that we in the civilized world sit still while they behead our citizens for not being Muslim, all the while using our ingenuity and technology to further their murderous and barbaric campaigns. The price if we protest? They cut off that which makes our society run: oil. Because of oil, our leaders are humiliated into making concessions no rational human would make. The US, the EU and even Russia are now forced into making humiliating appeasements to the terrorist Arabs and their supporters occupying Israeli Gaza, Judea and Samaria. By offering them a country of their own -- cut from a chunk of Israel's (and Judaism's) rightful holy land -- while allowing the terror to continue and the criminals go unpunished, the US, the EU, and Russia are being constantly humiliated by those whose war cry is "Humiliation!" Even Colin Powell, US Secretary of State, must temper his words when dealing with the genocidally-bent Arabs who want to exterminate the Jews and their descendants that Hitler never managed to kill. Every time there is a suicide/genocide bombing (deliberately targeting families, not soldiers), the most Mr. Powell seems to be allowed to say, lest the oil be cut off, is "tone down the violence." Or what about the humiliation inflicted by the Arabs upon Christians and Jews when they use our headstones for urinals and paving blocks? Or when these 'Palestinians' took over The Church of the Holy Sepulchre for use as a terrorist hideout, ripping up the Bibles for use as toilet paper? Where is the apology and relief coming from the Arab/Islamist world? Where is the acknowledgement of humiliations done against non-Muslims? And finally, what about the 24/7/365 humiliations heaped upon the Jewish people by the Arab/Islamist world? Day after day, year in and year out, the Jews living in Israel are forced to live in fear of genocidal murder. They are forced to drastically alter their lifestyles, lest their homes be hit by rockets, their babies shot in the heads by snipers, their families wiped out by bus or restaurant bombers. And then there is the unrelenting humiliation of these same Jews, as well as Jews the world over. Imagine being told that you have no right to your aboriginal homeland, no right to your holiest sites, no right to stay in your homes and the towns you have lived in for generations. On top of that, imagine that you are told you must give your homes and towns over to those who openly admit that they themselves have absolutely no right whatsoever to your holiest, aboriginal, and only homeland? If I may remind (or educate) you Mr. President, this is what one of the Palestinian's own leaders had to say regarding their legitimacy and rights to the Jewish land they now occupy: "The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct 'Palestinian people' to oppose Zionism." -- Zahir Muhsein, PLO executive committee member, in an interview with the Dutch newspaper Trouw March 31, 1977 and http://www.paktoday.com/expert.htm Meanwhile, what contributions has the Arab/Islamist world made to modern civilization? They have perfected the art of beheadings; slow, gruesome, sawing-off-the-head beheadings. They have perfected the art of terror. And they have perfected the art of using our technology to spread their hatred, terror, genocide and propaganda. Has the Arab/Islamist world contributed to anything that is not war and conquest-related? Do they invent medicines or technologies to advance the human condition? Hardly. Yet Israel, the US, and Europe all leaders in these areas, willingly sharing it with the Arab/Islamist world, only to have it used against us. We are the ones being humiliated, Mr. Bush. And you are groveling to their lies and agendas. So the next time you hear the cry of "Humiliation!" coming from the Arab/Islamist world, think of the humiliations that they are inflicting daily upon each and every one of us, American, Christians and Jews. Think of the sermons coming from mosques all over the planet calling for "Kill the infidel (non-Muslim) where you find him." And think about any beneficent contributions to society that the Arab/Islamist world has made of late. Bet ya can't. (And by the way, Mr. Bush, I realize that a few weeks ago I said I would vote for you, but your statement about 'Palestinian humiliation' is making me rethink my position. And I'll bet I'm not alone. I'll never vote for Kerry and his Islamist-supporting Ketchup Queen wife -- certainly not when the biggest genocidal monster since Hitler -- Yasser Arafat -- wants him to win. But at this point, I'm finding it very hard to vote for you with your talk about the 'humiliation' suffered by a bunch of lying genocidal monsters. Are you with us or with the terrorists? Do you have the courage of your religious convictions and will you honor God's covenant with Israel as written in the Bible? Will I have to do a write-in vote, yet again, maybe for Rudy Giuliani this time? Your move, Mr. Bush.) 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. Her website address is http://hometown.aol/BethGoodtree |
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THE DEMISE OF DIGNITY
Posted by Michael Freund, September 22, 2004. |
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The following is a column of mine from yesterday's Jerusalem Post about the
underlying cause of many of Israel's current problems. It is archived
at
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/
ShowFull&cid=1095828001063&p=1006953079865
From politicians to banks to sports, the problem is us. Eureka! After reading the newspapers over the past few weeks I think I can say with a good deal of confidence that the underlying cause of so many of Israel's current problems is at last apparent for all to see. It is not the ongoing hatred that our enemies continue to nurture toward us, though that certainly does not help matters. Nor is it the double standard various international institutions like to apply when it comes to the Jewish state. It isn't media bias, State Department Arabists, or even the French who are responsible for our plight; and I dare say it has nothing whatsoever to do with Madonna's dubious embrace of Jewish mysticism. The root of Israel's troubles, the origin of our predicament, can be found right in front of you, very close to home. Just look in the mirror and there you will see: The problem is us. We are it. As a people, we have done truly incredible things in the past six decades. We have built a country from scratch, fended off far more numerous foes, and established a democratic system amid a sea of tyranny, all while accommodating new immigrants and forging a state with unprecedented technological and intellectual prowess. No other nation can boast such achievements in such a short period of time. But for all of our successes, one key failure that continues to haunt us, and that is the demise of dignity in Israel's public life. As a society we have elevated the stereotypical bickering and infighting that has characterized Jewish life over the centuries to a new, and far more dangerous level, one where nearly all sense of limitation and boundaries has been abruptly cast aside. Public officials and institutions, it often appears, will say or do just about anything, with no apparent sense of shame reining in their actions. And once the brakes are off, there is no telling just how far this vehicle can spin out of control. Take, for example, reports earlier this week about the behavior of some of Israel's banks vis-a-vis Holocaust victims' assets. After a June 2003 study found that Bank Leumi was sitting on some NIS 500 million in assets that should have been returned to Holocaust victims or to their heirs, the bank officials "managed to get the computational method changed, thereby significantly reducing its obligations" (Haaretz, September 20). And so, if the reports are correct, we have a situation where a Jewish-owned bank in the State of Israel decides to rip off survivors of the Nazi genocide by manipulating the decimal points in its favor. Can it get much worse than that? And how about this headline from Sunday's Jerusalem Post: "Shinui ministers slam Jewish knowledge project" (September 19)? After Minister Natan Sharansky briefed the cabinet on a wonderful program called Judaism for Everyone that will sponsor 195 explanatory Yom Kippur prayer services around the country, free and open to the public, Justice Minister Yosef Lapid threw a fit, decrying it as "missionary" activity unworthy of government backing. When other officials expressed support for the program and suggested that similar criticism voiced abroad regarding Jewish activities would rightfully be deemed anti-Semitic, Interior Minister Avraham Poraz let loose his own bombshell of a statement. Coming to Lapid's defense, Poraz said, "Even a Jew is permitted to be anti-Semitic." Huh? WHILE HE later sought to backtrack from the remark, Poraz's statement is so astonishingly stupid that one cannot help but wonder: What is such a man doing in a senior government post? Is there no limit to what our leaders will say or do? Apparently there is not. And that is precisely the problem. Whatever caution they may have practiced was long ago tossed to the winds. No remark, no matter how offensive or obtuse, is deemed out of bounds anymore; nor, it seems, is any amount of corruption or dishonesty greeted with much shock. Even the societal norms that once united us despite our differences are no longer considered worthy of preservation. Just this past weekend, three - count 'em, three - Israeli soccer teams decided to ignore the sanctity of Rosh Hashana to avoid forfeiting matches that had been scheduled to take place on the festival. Showing hardly any remorse, they went ahead and played on one of the holiest days on the Jewish calendar. Put aside for a moment the issue of religious piety or observance - how about some basic self-respect and national pride? As arcane as it might sound, it is nevertheless essential that we find a way to restore a sense of propriety, and even decorum, to Israel's national life. We have lost our sense of collective dignity, greeting each outrage with numbness or despair. The result, of course, is a free-for-all, and it is time for that to change. We must stop shrugging off such delinquency and recklessness, and start holding public officials accountable for what they say and do. In any other country, Bank Leumi would be settling its Holocaust-era accounts, not manipulating them; Avraham Poraz would be looking for work, and the nation's soccer teams would be a tad more respectful of our ancient tradition. If they have pushed the limits of what is right and proper, it is only because we, the public, have allowed them to do so over and over again. But by placing renewed emphasis on basic values such as honor and respect, we can inject a sense of shame back into the system. And shame, after all, is what instills each of us with humility. That, more than anything else, is what Israeli society must now seek to recoup. The writer served as deputy director of communications and policy planning in the Prime Minister's office under Binyamin Netanyahu. |
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ADVANCED WEAPONS FOR GAZA TERRORISTS TURN SECURITY HEADS ABOUT RETREAT
Posted by IsrAlert, September 22, 2004. |
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This is by he Israel Insider Staff and is archived at
(http://web.israelinsider.com/bin/en.jsp?enPage=ArticlePage
&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enDispWho=Article%
5El4152&enZone=Security&enVersion=0&).
A new missile threat has compelled Shin Bet Director Avi Dichter and IDF chiefs to openly challenge prime minister Ariel Sharon's plans for the accelerated removal of Israeli settlements, residents, and forces from the Gaza Strip. The Luna-2 short-range ground-to-ground missile, based on the Soviet-era Frog-2, has already extended Hizballah's missile range from the north to cover Israel's coastal cities of Haifa and as far south as Netanya and Hadera. With Tehran already playing a direct role in leading military operations of Hamas in Gaza, it is believed likely that these missiles eventually will be transferred to the Strip, especially if Israel retreats and loosens its grip on the border crossing with Egypt and Mediterranean Sea approaches. This would bring all of southern Israel, including the Tel Aviv metro region, within striking range. Israeli intelligence sources believe that Syria has fitted the Lebanon-based missiles with chemical warheads, which can be attached in hours. In July, Maj. Gen. Aharon Zeevi ("Farkash"), head of Israeli military intelligence, said that Hizbullah possesses around 13,000 short-range rockets, some 500 of medium range and a few dozen long-range rockets capable of traveling 70 to 134 miles. The rockets appear to have granted Hizballah a strategic parity with Israel along the Blue Line, deterring the Israeli army from launching large-scale military operations against the group for fear of major strikes against northern Israel. Hizbullah has already penetrated deep into terrorist groups in the West Bank and Gaza. Israeli officials say Hizbullah plays a key role in providing funds, guidance and training to Palestinian terrorists there. In August, Yediot Aharonot daily quoted a senior army officer as saying that Hizbullah was involved in 75 percent of Palestinian military operations in the West Bank. "The involvement of Hizbullah in Palestinian operations is no longer a secret matter, but is common knowledge and it is increasing and expanding," he said. Security chiefs fear that the Hizballah, working with Iran, is already shipping and prepositioning missiles in northern Sinai, anticipating the "morning after" and Israeli retreat. Egyptian security authorities, who are concerned by the arrival of heavy weapons from Iran on their territory, have reportedly seized one shipment of Katyusha rockets before they could be smuggled into the Gaza Strip. But military intelligence sources believe that some such weapons have already reached their intended destination. Iran and Syria have reportedly instructed Hamas to veto any Egyptian or other programs to secure the Gaza Strip after Israel's planned retreat. Senior security officials in Israel and Egypt have concluded that the implementation of Sharon's plan will transform Gaza into a second missile front against Israel's heartland, a "South Lebanon to Israel's South, as one put it. On Sunday, Sharon, reportedly admitted that forced removal of some 7800 Israelis living in the Gaza Strip cannot be achieved, if at all, without substantial losses in military and civilian lives. However, the security officials presenting their grim prognosis were stunned to hear that the prime minister intended to pursue his withdrawal plans timetable, even if it meant retreat under intensive enemy fire. He asked the security officials to prepare for such scenarios. The logic of the Arabs is that if unrelenting terrorist bombings, shooting and artillery attacks could push a warrior like Sharon to abandon Gaza, the same would be possible in other areas, the IDF's monthly journal Bamachaneh reported in its current edition. A "high ranking intelligence officer" cited by the journal said the strategic goal of the Palestinian Arabs was to "do in Judea and Samaria what they succeeded in doing in Gaza," Arutz 7 reported Sunday. "The terror organizations will adopt the model of Israel's retreat from Gaza, and will try to cause us to flee under fire from Judea and Samaria as well," the officer explained. "In the short-term," he said, the terror organizations are liable to attain the ability to fire Kassam rockets at Jewish locations within the Green Line, including Jerusalem and Ben Gurion Airport.? Palestinian Authority spokesmen have acknowledged that Israel's hasty retreat from southern Lebanon in May 2000 encouraged them to launch their campaign of violence the following September, four years ago. The prognosis of Israel's military and security chiefs in the south appears even more dire. The likely result of Israel's flight will be a full-blown war involving a combination of terrorist attacks, gunfire and missiles blasting the Gaza Strip, the western and southern Negev and Gush Katif. Under these conditions, they believe, the army would be forced to drive back into the large sections of the Strip just to blunt their offensive, at substantial losses to Israeli forces. At the Sunday cabinet meeting, Shin Bet director Avi Dichter focused his warnings on a single issue: If Israel were to pull out of the Philadelphi corridor on the Gaza Strip-Egyptian border it would open the door to an avalanche of advanced weapons which had never previously reached Palestinian terrorist organizations. He said Iran was pursuing its strategic goal of exporting Islamic revolution to the territories and Israeli Arabs, repeating its success in Lebanon. IsrAlert, a Jewish advocacy network, is hosted by Harv Weiner. To subscribe to IsrAlert, send an email to isralert@aol.com |
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NEVER AGAIN?
Posted by Tamar Rush, September 21, 2004. |
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The most blatant and vulgar expressions of anti-antisemitism are on the upsurge in North America, and this time it's well-respected "businessmen" stirring up the trouble. Urban legends, planted on thousands of web-sites by Islamists and their anti-semitic comrades in arms, have created an atmosphere in which the most fantastic of blood libels are accepted as pure, unvarnished, truth. Is this an exaggeration? A recent e-mail from a friend who promotes Israeli products and services provided all the evidence I needed to verify the veracity of these claims. I am not going to name names at this point, however, I have confirmed that hot on the heels of the latest media anti-Israeli smear campaign, mall managers across the U.S. and Canada have been closing down Israeli run businesses at an alarming rate. Last week, one business owner in the U.S. returned from distributing Rosh Ha'Shana gifts to local Holocaust survivors to find a letter from mall management informing him that he was being evicted for the "crime" of closing two hours early on the eve of the holiday. Pretty feeble excuse actually! The same mall management has closed down two other Israeli owned businesses during the month of September alone! When North America's most prestigious malls begin to "cleanse" their premises of pesky Jews and Israelis, can similar actions by neighbourhood associations be far behind? Certainly this is a "kinder and less violent" sort of Kristalnacht, but the intentions are the same as the 1930's version, "Juden Raus"!! I think it's high time for "Jewish Organisations" and individuals (far more likely) to convey their displeasure to the media giants who are fueling this travesty with their sensationalist reportage, and to the jew-hating mall mangers who are exploiting the situation by ridding their establishments of any and all Israeli presence. Never again? Well it is happening again, and this is only the beginning. This article appeared on the IsraPundit website (http://IsraPundit.com). |
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IRAQ: FACING TODAY'S REALITIES
Posted by Barry Rubin, September 21, 2004. |
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President George W. Bush and his opponent Senator John Kerry agree on very little except regarding one important foreign policy issue: the United States should stay in Iraq until there is a stable government, violent extremists are defeated, and U.S. credibility assured. This seems a responsible stand. But is it a correct one? Bush wants to prove his decision to attack Iraq was correct and can still bring victory. Kerry wants to show he is a tough protector of U.S. interests. Nevertheless, this bipartisan strategy is based on some doubtful assertions. Though they at first seem obviously true, these ideas neglect the specific realities of Iraq. Unless they are seriously reexamined now, whoever becomes America's next president is going to face a much bigger disaster there. First, that the American presence will give the new government in Baghdad time to become strong enough to let foreign forces leave within a year or so and still keep power. In reality, though, the current regime is unlikely to rule Iraq without a large-scale coalition presence, having no coherent interest group, army or mass base of supporters ready to fight to the death for it. There are just too many others who want the job for themselves and will do anything to get it. The regime is not steadily getting stronger. No matter how well it governs or what decisions it takes, legitimacy will be elusive. Six months or a year from now it is likely to be equally dependent on foreign forces. Second, that by continuing to fight terrorist forces the United States will eventually defeat or suppress them. Equally, another year or two of combat by American military force is not going to stop the violence. Yet it is the foreign forces' presence which lets the terrorists survive, recruit, and fight by using nationalist and Islamic appeals against the "occupation." This argument so often wrongly applied to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict actually fits Iraq. The Palestinian leadership's goal is to destroy Israel and it uses terrorism toward this end. But Iraqi terrorists are fighting a civil war, treating the Shia majority like the Palestinians treat Israelis. Only the foreign presence is stopping the majority from destroying them by means far more violent, but effective, than the coalition forces can apply. The main Iraqi political forces don't view the terrorists as their champions or as fellow Arabs or Muslims. They want to wipe the terrorists out in self-defense, then take over the country for themselves. They want American forces to get out of the way so they can begin this dual offensive. Equally, though, they have no interest in supporting the interim government which also keeps them from power and cannot eliminate the terrorists. Only when the coalition forces leave and this civil war takes place will the violence end. Third, that if the United States leaves Iraq its worst enemies--Saddam loyalists, Iran's clients, or al-Qaida's allies, will be in control. In fact, though, these forces are quite weak. The violence which will take place after the coalition leaves will be messy but at the end of it any survivors of these radical forces would be lucky to be in an American prison compared to what their fellow Iraqis would do to them. The al-Sadr clan, whose patron is Tehran and has caused U.S. forces the most problems, is not a contender for ruling the country, which is why it has attacked the coalition now, realizing this is their only hope for posing as the Shia community's heroes. The American presence is preventing an all-out civil war by staying in Iraq but it is also sustaining a different kind of civil war. And it is only the post-American civil war that will settle the country's future. Fourth, that by refusing to leave Iraq, the United States will ensure that it retains a high level of credibility. To leave sooner, as apparently happened in Vietnam, or to let its allies be defeated--as in the shah's Iran--would signal radical forces that they could attack U.S. interests with impunity and disregard its threats. This sounds like a persuasive argument but in fact the United States is so over-extended in Iraq--and its enemies know it--as to be incapable of taking action on any other issue. Forget about a tough response against Iran getting nuclear weapons or Syria sponsoring a war against America in Iraq, the United States is too preoccupied to do anything. The United States may have thrown Saddam Hussein out of power but is not making other regional dictators tremble today. The same situation applies to the war on terrorism. Sunni Muslim terrorists have moved their main operational front to Iraq where they seek to relive their glory days in Afghanistan fighting the Soviets. No matter what happens they will claim to have driven the Americans out of the country, but they will be too busy fleeing hundreds of thousands of Shias out for revenge to spend much time gloating. The point is that there are serious arguments for the United States to seek an early withdrawal from Iraq, not due to cowardice or foolish appeasement but as the result of a more sophisticated strategic concept. Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and co-author of "Yasir Arafat: A Political Biography" and "Hating America: A History" (Oxford University Press, August 2004). Prof. Rubin's columns can now be read online at http://gloria.idc.ac.il/columns/column.html. |
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THE PSYCHOLOGICAL BATTLEFIELD
Posted by Aliza Karp, September 21, 2004. |
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The disengagement plan, with all its pre-expulsion positioning - impressive meetings setting deadlines and dates, official offices being set up, threats of administrative detention for those who disagree and special army units training to expel Jews from their homes - makes us feel like Gush Katif is in the small sailboat. We know we are in the right, but the ocean liner is coming straight for us. It's frightening. Fear is a very powerful emotion. The one who is feared controls the one who fears. The control is a result of the victim being convinced of the strength of the enemy. And sometimes the enemy is pretty convincing. The disengagement plan needs uncertainty and doubt in order to succeed. One of the battles to fight the disengagement is that of confidence, certainty and determination against the forces of ambiguity, submission and resignation. Reinforcing the armor of confidence is needed to protect against the persuasive onslaught of hostile concepts and tactics. Sara Nachshon, one of the righteous women responsible for the modern Jewish community in Hevron, once stood opposite 200 soldiers. Her infant son Avraham had returned his soul to his maker. Sara wished to bury him in the ancient Jewish cemetery in Hevron. The army did not want to allow her to do so and sent enough soldiers to make sure she could not pass. (They had dealt with her before in the Beit Hadassah days and other times and knew she was a determined woman.) But Sara did not see herself as a little sailboat. She spoke to the soldiers about the Jewish roots that are deep in Hevron. She told them that Avraham bought property in Hevron to bury his wife Sara. And her name is Sara and she has come to bury her son Avraham, and if she had to pass through their ranks on foot carrying her child, she would do so. Over their walkie-talkies the soldiers got renewed orders to not let her pass. The soldiers answered, "If you want to stop her, come here yourself, we are going to escort her." If soldiers are indeed sent to Gush Katif to expel Jews from their homes they will no doubt be a new breed, hand picked and trained to be hostile to the Jewish residents of Judea, Samaria and Gaza. But that does not render the story of Sara Nachshon irrelevant. Circumstances and protagonists may be different, but we must understand that we can and will prevail. Hashem will open the door, somewhere, somehow and we will march through in safety, in simcha and in peace. There should be no doubt in anyone's mind of the validity of Jewish settlement in Gaza. It is no less than our claim to Hevron, which is based on Avraham's purchase of the Machpela Cave. Our claim to Gaza is from the first verse of the Torah, as explained by Rashi, as well as the Shulchan Oruch that rules on the importance of maintaining the security of border towns (Orach Chaim 329:6). Our claim is not based on a United Nations vote or on military victory, for these are potentially negotiable; our claim in non-negotiable. Our claim to the land is not half-a-century old, it is millenniums old. In 5749 (1989), Ron Nachman, the mayor of Ariel, came to speak to the Lubavitcher Rebbe. He asked the Rebbe what he could tell people who fear there will be withdrawal and retreat from Judea and Samaria. How could he get past their disheartened feelings and despondency? The Rebbe answered, "All the reports that, G-d forbid, they wish to give back territories have no basis in reality? To the contrary, we will hold these areas joyfully and peacefully and pleasantly? All of Eretz Yisroel will remain whole as it is today, and Moshiach will soon add the other parts of Eretz Yisroel, with peace and pleasantness and without any battles... And if we state our position clearly, wars and conflict will be unnecessary. In contrast, talk about giving away land strengthens those who do not desire peace and tranquility." In his talk on the eighteenth of Elul in 5738, September 17, 1978, just days after the Camp David Accords were signed, the Rebbe pointed out that the Torah opinion is to defend Jewish settlement, even with weapons and even on Shabbos; and the military experts agree that surrendering land will cause more bloodshed. The Rebbe then explained that if we follow the way of the Torah, which is in line with the military experts, then the verse from the Torah (B'shalach 15:16), "May dread and fear fall upon them, at the greatness of Your arm may they be still as stone," will come to be. It will be our enemies who are afraid and they will be still. And there will be peace. This was actually felt in the days following the Six Day War, when it was the Arabs who were afraid and Jews could travel freely amongst the Arabs without fear. The Rebbe takes it one step further. He says that our resolve of firmness and bravery, together with the proper weapons, will negate another force, as stated in Isaiah 49:17, "those who destroy you and those who lay you waste shall go forth from you"; i.e., the ones who have come forth from our own ranks, specifically, the Jews who plan to uproot Jews. By winning the psychological war, by showing resolve and determination and no hesitation to use weapons, we will not have to use the weapons for long, because our enemies will retreat in fear. And those who are from our own ranks, who want to destroy us, will also not be able to carry out their plans. As the Rebbe said to Mayor Nachman, "And if we state our position clearly, wars and conflict will be unnecessary." On September 9, the 23rd of Elul, a statement was signed by over 150 public figures, an initiative by the organization Gamla Shall Not Fall Again. According to what has been reported in the media, this statement advocates wisdom and justice, bravery, integrity and self-defense. It states our position clearly, without fear. This initiative follows many grass roots projects: rallies, demonstrations, petitions, solidarity visits to Gush Katif, house to house visits inside the Green Line, newspaper and magazine articles and the inspirational 'Human Chain.' All these projects, and many more, have provided the solid ground on which the Gamla statement stands. Together with the projects that have come before it, and are still in the making, this statement has the potential to make a difference, to pierce the balloon of insanity and corruption that surrounds the actors in the disengagement performance. Together, all us little guys, who have interrupted our schedules and missed out on sleep so that we could do whatever we could to hold onto our border towns, the settlements of Gush Katif, together, we have become the ocean liner. And it is Sharon and his ilk, who will have to fend for themselves in their little sailboat. But they do not have the right of way. And the Rebbe's words will again prove true, that "All the reports that, G-d forbid, they wish to give back territories, have no basis in reality." [On a personal note, I would like to wish all my readers a very
wonderful, good, sweet, productive, successful, meaningful, happy and
peaceful new year. We should all share peace of mind, tranquility of
heart and Shalom with our brethren and our neighbors. May this be the
year that Hashem will bless us with the complete and final redemption,
with our righteous Moshiach.] Notes The actual encounter between Mayor
Nachman and the Lubavitcher Rebbe can be viewed online under the title
"Eye To Eye: Tell them you are not moving!"
Aliza Karp, the Administrator of the Friends of Families of Hebron fund, writes about issues of concern to the Jewish world, including the Lubavitcher Rebbe's perspective on defending Israel. This article appeared in http://www.theraphi.com |
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SOMETHING ALWAYS BEATS NOTHING
Posted by Yuval Zaliouk, September 21, 2004. |
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Dear friends, I am writing to you from Israel, where the sun is shining every day, in the sky and on the ground, as Israeli security forces manage to gain ever increasing control over Palestinian terror. Just a few minutes ago it was announced that 16 wanted terrorists were arrested in Jenin. 16 murderers who were prevented from achieving their cowardly deeds. 16 murderers whose families will be able to visit them in prison, instead of burrying their shredded corps. As a result, the country is again starting to entertain many tourists. Restaurants and cafes are full to capacity and the people of Israel have some worry-free time to deal with the old, almost forgotten, Israeli maladie, labor STRIKES. Are these strikes the yearned for signs that Israel is gradually returning to normal? Even Madonna was here expressing her sense of complete safety. Kabala aside, she did a fantastic service for the tourist industry of Israel. What is particularly upsetting to me is the distinct difference in the news being reported here, compared to the USA. The almost completely liberal US media chooses to report mostly bad news on Iraq. Ib Israel we get the complete picture. For instance: Did you know that since January this year, 68% more couples in Iraq registered for marriage, compared with the time of Saddam? 68%!!! Does this not prove the tremendous surge in optimism in Iraq, for a better future, just around the corner? Friends, the troubles in Faluja and other pockets of terrorism can be dealt with immediately, and be completely resolved. No more Hudnahs. John McCain, Senator Lugar and others are correct. Terrorists understand one language only: STRENGTH!!! I believe President Bush knows it and will act correctly in due course, I hope sooner than later. As you may know, Israelis are extremely political. They cherish good political discussions whenever possible. Israelis love to debate issues, real issues. I do not think Israelis will tolerate a campaign the like of Senator John Kerry. Whenever I listen to him, I find myself shouting HOW at the TV screen. How would you have done better than President Bush Mr. Kerry, specifically how? S p e c i f i c a l l y!!! I am convinced Bush and his administration understand the Middle East better than any past US administrations. Things are really changing here for the first time in decades. Are there really some people in the USA who wish to undo the tremendous progress achieved so far? And they have the audacity to call the Bush administration conservative? I can hardly believe it. The Bush Mid-East policy is the most bold and progressive approach ever. It harbors within it the seeds of far reaching transformation of the entire region. We are talking big stuff, folks, real big! Your Truth Provider,
Yuval Zaliouk writes the Truth Provider columns. To subscribe, send an email an email to ynz@netvision.net.il |
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YESHA COUNCIL LEADERS ATTEMPT TO WARN GOV'T MINISTER
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, September 21, 2004. |
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For reasons that are beyond my comprehension, these people refuse to accept the obvious. Sharon, Barak, Peres, Ezra, et al understand clearly and completely the implications of their actions and intended actions. They are not misinformed, mislead or under foreign pressure. They are willing and eager villains. No doubt each one for his own reasons but they all know that what they are doing will lead to a terrible end and want that end. In PERKEY AVOS we are taught to judge every ADOM favorably. The BARTENURAH explains the word ADOM to mean a Kosher Jew and not an evil person. He adds that anyone one who judges a know evil doer favorably is strengthening his hand and by implications, helping him to accomplish his evil. This is a news item from Arutz Sheva (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=69202). Sharon must resign. Gush Etzion Regional Council Chief Sha'ul Goldstein told Arutz-7 last night, "It was a very difficult meeting. We feel that we are the prophets in the gate, warning of this terrible split in the nation that is liable to happen, and they're not listening." The police department, under the auspices of the Public Security Ministry, is slated to carry out the actual uprooting of the residents from their homes, if that stage arrives, while the army is to stand guard on the outskirts of the Jewish towns. Goldstein told Minister Ezra and Deputy Minister Yaakov Edry, "IDF officers are afraid to express their objections, [even though] they foresee catastrophes - regarding both the disengagement and the partition fence." "This fissure in the nation is liable to slide into real violence," the Yesha leaders said last night, "and the only way out is to by returning to the nation - either with elections or a national referendum. If not, the responsibility for such will fall on the government and all its ministers; you won't be able to hide behind Sharon's back." Minister Ezra is a staunch backer of the disengagement/expulsion, having explained once that his job as a Cabinet minister is to support the Prime Minister. Ezra told the Council leaders, "Most of the nation supports this plan," to which his guests countered, "Then why do you fear bringing the matter to a public vote?" Ezra, it was reported, had no answer. Several very strong statements were uttered. Amanah Settlement Organization treasurer head Moshe Yogev said, "Prime Minister Sharon is leading to a civil war. If he is allowed to take a bulldozer and destroy the synagogue in Atzmonah that is named in memory of my parents, then I can take a bulldozer and destroy his Shikmim Farm." Amanah head Ze'ev Chever, a personal friend of Sharon over the past decades of their work together in building the Land of Israel, said, "The last person whom I would have believed would be willing to be a sucker of the Palestinians is Arik Sharon." Yesha Council spokesman Yehoshua Mor-Yosef said, "If the matter is not given over to the nation [in a referendum or elections], tens of thousands of people will stream in and cut the fences around Gush Katif, and there will be a mass fracas that will end in violence. There is a genuine fear of true chaos that will be simply terrible." Yesha Council Chairman Bentzy Lieberman was perhaps the most moderate: "We are a group that even if forced against the wall, we will not perpetrate civil war violence. But open your eyes! A catastrophe is very liable to be on the 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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ACHAN'S LEGACY AND THE YOM KIPPUR WAR
Posted by Steven Plaut, September 21, 2004. |
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It is 31 years since the Labor Party debacle of the Yom Kippur War. Ever since that horrid day in 1973, I have been unable to get through a Yom Kippur without thinking of those traumas. And ever since 1973, I have associated the Yom Kippur War with the Biblical character of Achan. Let me explain. Achan is not a well known character in the Bible and his entire role consists of a few sentences in the Book of Joshua. The Israelite tribes had invaded their promised land, had swiftly defeated Jericho. The Canaanite pagans were shaking in their sandals, and had been in a state of panic ever since the word had reached them of the parting of the Red Sea. They knew their time was up, their goose cooked. The Israelites had received a Divine commitment that they would conquer and defeat the Canaanites. They enjoyed unprecedented strategic advantage. The entire world knew that God was in a strategic alliance with them. Their deterrence was legendary. Their military prowess feared. They could overcome pagan opposition effortlessly, on the basis of their fearful reputation. Until Achan came along. The Divine military commitment was contingent on the Israelites obeying Divine commands regarding what would be done with booty from the vanquished. It belonged to God, which was to say - to the priests and the Tabernacle staffs, for public use. Achan however had helped himself to some of the loot after the conquest of Jericho. His act undermined the entire strategic position of Israel and the deterrence of the Israelite tribes. Because of Achan's act, the next battle went badly. When the Israelites attacked Ai, the next town after Jericho, they lost the first battle. While a mere 36 Israelite fighters were killed by the pagans, the very fact that a battle had been lost changed the entire strategic situation irreversibly. It was a development that changed history. To the astonishment of the world, it became evident that the Jews were not invincible, that they actually could be defeated in battle. The effect on Jewish morale was no less earth-shaking. Achan's folly had changed the map of the Middle East, raising existential questions about the military capacities of the Jews and ultimately about their survivability and chances of victory. It raised hopes among the pagans that the Almighty just might not be protecting the Israelite military flanks after all. It pumped new energy into the enemies of the Jews, feeding their campaign through demonstration of Jewish vulnerability and defeatability. I was an American graduate student at the Hebrew University in 1973. When the sirens went off, the university emptied out. As a non-Israeli at the time, I was one of the few still walking about the campus. Many other students never returned from the fronts. The modern equivalent of the Folly of Achan was the Labor Party Debacle of October 1973. The Labor Party had run Israel since its birth as its own private fiefdom. It had imposed a silly socialist command structure on the country based on 19th century economic illiteracy, which had kept the country impoverished and underdeveloped. In 1973, the bulk of Israelis still did not have telephones or televisions. Many still had no kitchen. Some still had no bathroom. The country was shackled by government-established monopolies, tax rates often over 100%, spend-till-you-drop fiscal policy, and regularly shut down by the trade union terrorism of the Histadrut. The same Labor Party had nurtured a blind faith in the capacities of the military. After Israel's military success in the Six Day War, the political leadership was convinced that military deterrence was no longer something in need of maintenance and construction. The country was awash in blind hubris and baseless over-confidence. Mediocre generals and colonels were celebrities and followed by the paparazzi. Newspapers bragged about Israel being stronger than NATO and jokes abounded of single Israelis capable of defeating entire Arab regiments with no effort. The Bar Lev line of fortresses along the Suez Canal was impregnable, impossible to overcome. The politicians undermined and under-maintained the military defenses, thinking them unnecessary. The government agreed to the pinnacle of stupidity, the ceasefire with Egypt in 1970 that allowed the Egyptians to move their forces and missiles right up to the Suez Canal, and so neutralizing Israeli military capability. The army ignored reports about the capabilities of the new high-tech anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles flooding into Egypt and Syria. Israeli military intelligence was asleep (as it has also been since the beginning of Oslo regarding Palestinian intentions and behavior), ignoring the Egyptian-Syrian buildup and ignoring all of the warning signs, exhibiting Pearl Harbor stupidity in the summer of 1973. There were 500 poorly equipped Israeli soldiers along the front line against Egypt the day before Yom Kippur. Even when the fighting began, Golda Meir and Moshe Dayan displayed gross incompetence and, later, cowardice. They feared calling up the reserves, lest this provocation upset the Americans. Surely, single Israelis would chase away entire regiments of Arab tanks, right? They nursed the delusion that this was a skirmish, not a full Egyptian-Syrian-Russian attempt to defeat Israel and wipe it out. About 2,600 dead Israeli troops and 10,000 maimed were the price paid by the country for the foolishness of the Labor Party "conception". The Bar Lev line collapsed in hours, joining the Maginot Line in the history of world records in human folly. But it was not the only "conception" imposed on the country by the Labor Party and its allies to prove to be mega-stupidity. The collapse of the pre-1973 hubris led to Achan-like reassessment of Israeli military prowess and survivability by the world. Perhaps Israel could be defeated and destroyed militarily after all. Golda Meir and Moshe Dayan succeeded in re-establishing the Arab belief that Israel could ultimately be erased through armed force and terror. Even more destructive in the long run was the undermining of Israel's own faith in itself and belief in its own power. The blind hubris from before 1973 was replaced by whiny Israeli defeatism and self-doubt, by attempts to attribute the conflict with the Arabs to the evil nature and insensitivity of the Jews, and to seek its resolution through appeasement and self-abasement. This self-doubt reached its height a mere nine years after the Yom Kippur War. While the 1973 War had started as a debacle and had cost the country the lives of a huge segment of its youth cohort, it had ultimately ended with a dazzling military victory, one orchestrated, incidentally, by Ariel Sharon before his later metamorphosis into a Beilinized appeaser. But the 1982 invasion of Lebanon in the Peace for Galilee campaign saw the transformation of the Israeli Left from a rather-naive, but basically patriotic, group of people nursing delusions into a full-fledged movement of self-hatred and anti-Israel radicalism. The Left took to the streets to denounce Begin and Sharon as war criminals and fascists, and the Left underwent radicalization that transformed it into an anti-Israel, anti-Zionist movement, in a manner similar to the morphing of the Western campus Left into little more than a movement of anti-Americanism. The more extreme segments engaged in open treason. By the late 1980s, the Israeli Left and much of the Israeli Labor Party were in the process of imposing a new Grand Concept on the country, one that would prove even more destructive and foolish than the pre-1973 "conception" of military hubris and overconfidence. It was the Grand Oslo Delusion, the Oslo Pagan Cult, where Israel attempted to disarm Arab savagery and fascism through displays of goodwill gestures, restraint, self-abasement, turning the other cheek when Jewish children are mass murdered, unilateral disarmament, refusal to fight, and nurturing Israeli defeatism through lecturing the country that it was their fault that there was war and terror, because they were insensitive to the Other and trying to occupy another people. The Israeli chattering classes were the most open in embracing treason. The campuses became cesspools of Tenured Traitors openly supporting Arab terror, mutiny and insurrection by fellow leftists in the Israeli military, many openly endorsing the end of Israels existence as a Jewish state, and a handful endorsing Holocaust Deniers and neo-Nazis around the world in their zeal to delegitimize Zionism. These people openly endorsed anti-Semites and boycotts of Israel by those overseas seeking the destruction of Israel and its population. The Israeli media became the occupied territories of the Israeli Left, where non-Left opinion was increasingly suppressed and denied access to the media. The country's literary figures conscripted themselves into the Radical Left and increasingly support treason and mutiny, such as the air force officers refusing to serve or follow orders until the government implements the political ideas advocated by the most extremist 5% of the country's electorate. Shimon Peres, who did not play a serious role in the 1973 Labor Party debacle (and Rabin, who was safe from blame in an ambassador's job in 1973), is likely to go down in history books as the man who did more to destroy his own country than any other. It is still too early to know if he and Yossi Beilin succeeded. They imposed their Conception on the country, a concept that proved to be absolutely, 100% wrong. On the strength of that Concept they converted the West Bank and Gaza into large bases for launching Nazi mass murders of Jews, terrorist attacks, and missile and rocket attacks on the Jews. They destroyed Israel's capability of acting militarily and effectively against the savages, lest this upset the White House and the rest of the world. They convinced the world that the Israelis and the Jews had lost their will to survive and to resist anti-Semitism. They restored Arab faith in their ability to erase Israel at the point of bayonets. They undermined the will of Israelis to resist anti-Semitic demonization. They refused to subject the PLO to tests of its intentions before arming it, bankrolling it, and importing its stormtroopers into Jewish lands. They created a situation where even Likud governments are shackled by Labor Party faits accompli and are incapable of undoing the mindless follies of the Labor Left; where the hero of the Suez Canal is afraid to attack the Hizbollah, and instead offers wholesale release of Palestinian murderers in order to buy back the bodies of three POWs that were murdered by the Hizbollah; where the same man is afraid to use a bomb large enough to wipe out the Hamas altogether, lest some innocent bystanders get hurt. And in doing so, the long-term strategic destruction caused by this new Labor Party Concept makes the folly of Achan and the 36 fallen Israelites in the battle of Ai appear as children's games. By the way, what ever became of Achan? For his folly, he and his entire household were killed and erased. But his memory is in fact a mixed one and he was in large part redeemed. Tradition has it that, before being executed, Achan not only repented for his crimes, but went on to write a special prayer. The second paragraph of the Aleinu prayer, which ends every Jewish prayer service and is recited three times each day, is attributed to the very same Achan. Curiously, it is the only part of Jewish prayer in which the concept of Tikkun Olam (repairing the world by establishing the rule of God and the defeat of paganism) actually appears. Tikkun Olam has long been hijacked by the assimilationist liberals (or asslibs) among Jews as a code word for leftist "social justice" and political correctness. This no doubt has made Achan roll about in his grave. And, as the ultimate silliness, many of those same Reform and Liberal synagogues that misdefine all of Judaism as liberal political activism in the name of the hijacked Tikkun Olam do not even read Achan's prayer, the only prayer in which Tikkun Olam appears. They simply skip over it. Perhaps this is part and parcel of a greater phenomenon. Jewish leftists are wrong about absolutely everything. Jewish liberals are wrong almost as often. But, unlike Achan, they never admit being wrong about anything. They never seek repentance or redemption through atoning for their crimes and follies. 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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EZER MIZION TO HOLD ISRAEL-WIDE BONE MARROW DRIVE FOR SICK CHILD
Posted by , September 21, 2004. |
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This news item is from Arutz-Sheva (http://www.IsraelNN.com).
Over 15,000 people are expected to turn out Monday, October 4 for Ezer
Mizion's Israel-wide bone marrow drive in a bid to find a matching donor
for 9-year-old Matthew, a Jewish child living in the USA. Matthew has
leukemia, and a bone marrow transplant is his best hope for life.
Ezer Mizion holds such bone marrow drives regularly to find donors for Jewish people suffering from cancer and other diseases that destroy bone marrow. A bone marrow transplant can only succeed if the donor and recipient have nearly identical tissue types. Tissue type is an inherited trait, such that chances for a match increase significantly if the patient and donor share the same ethnic background. With 170,000 registrants, the Ezer Mizion Bone Marrow Registry is the largest Jewish registry in the world. "760 Jews turned to Ezer Mizion in search of matching donors in 2003," says Dr. Bracha Zisser, who founded the Ezer Mizion six years ago. "To date, we have facilitated 108 transplants all over the world. But we haven't yet found a match for Matthew, nor for many other Jewish patients in need of transplants." Matthew was diagnosed with leukemia at age 5, and has since undergone four years of devastating chemotherapy. "Matthew is one of those people who embraces life," says his mother, Marlene. "He exudes warmth and enthusiasm, and everyone always feels great around him. These qualities have enabled him to overcome the trials of treatment and enjoy an active life. Marlene has a message for her fellow Jews: "I turn to all Jews of Ashkenazic descent to give a small blood sample and join the registry of Jewish potential donors. As important as this is for our own family, situations like ours pose a challenge to the Jewish world at large. Our efforts to find a match for Matthew will hopefully bring many new potential donors into the registry, donors who might save the lives of other sick patients." The entire process of joining the Ezer Mizion registry is free of charge to the donor and consists of a simple blood test. Donors must be between the ages of 18 and 50 and in good health. Anyone tested in the past need not be tested again. The cost of processing each registrant is now up to $58, and Ezer Mizion is seeking financial contributions to help cover the huge cost of the drive. See http://www.ezermizion.org/ for more information. |
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CHAMPIONS OF FREE SPEECH DON'T UNDERSTAND IT; BEST DEFENSE IS AN OFFENSE
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, September 21, 2004. |
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CHAMPIONS OF FREE SPEECH DON'T UNDERSTAND IT "Our Town," a Manhattan weekly, rebuked the City's for not allowing an estimated 250,000 GOP Convention protestors to gather in Central Park lest in such numbers they inevitably destroy the lawns that recently cost millions of dollars to restore. The editorial declared this a matter of free speech. Therefore, we New Yorkers could live with the inconvenience to our parks. Not this New Yorker. During years of restoration, parts of the park were closed. It now is more beautiful than I remember it. The park is a countryside oasis in this urban area. We need it for serenity and nature, not found in the city outside of parks. We do not need parks for massive political rallies, noisy concerts, buildings, and statues. Facilities for those abound outside them. The civil right in contention, by the way, is not free speech but assembly. The 250,000 didn't come to talk but to assemble and demonstrate. Since some demonstrators planned violence, and they weren't identifiable, the whole assemblage was kept from the Convention. The Park also is not near the Convention. Therefore, the protestors were not deprived of the right to assemble, when permitted to assemble elsewhere than in the Park. "EVIL AXIS" PHRASE DID NOT RESONATE When Pres. Reagan condemned the Soviet's "evil empire," Americans knew what he meant and rallied to the cause. When Pres. Bush condemned the terrorists' "evil axis," Americans resented the interruption to their consumerism. What happened in between those Presidencies? Americans stopped believing that some people and movements are evil. They became moral relativists. To them, "evil" is a quaint, religious concept. (The make religion look good.) Worse, some came to oppose some of their country's own traits and their governments' own policies so much, as to hate them. They sympathize with the enemy, without looking too closely into the nature of the particularly hateful enemy. Pres. Bush partly has himself to blame. He called the enemy "terrorists" instead of radical Muslims and their supporters. He made excuses for Islam, which is the wellspring of the Islamist terrorists. He made war on some terrorist states but calls others allies. He confiscated the funds from some terrorists but spent funds on others. He has not consistently rallied the country, keeping before them an image of who the enemy is, why the enemy is evil, and how the enemy threatens us. How confusing! "THE BEST DEFENSE IS A GOOD OFFENSE" Israel is tiny. Its cities are not far from any border. Its enemies revel in murdering civilians in cities. Therefore, Israel must keep would-be Arab invaders on the other side, by carrying the war to them and by fighting preemptively. That means taking the offense. Those considerations are far from the minds of the average person who supports abandonment. That person argues that it is better to stop having a lot of troops around the Jewish communities in Yesha, to defend them, and withdraw them to Israel, to defend the State. But he cannot explain why that would be so. It is not so. The opposite is so. The troops are not there just to defend those communities. They patrol all of Yesha to catch terrorist cells that would attack not only those communities but the State. It does not take as many troops to do that as it would to withdraw behind the long Green Line, and try to watch every part of the fence. Does it make more sense to keep the P.A. from acquiring heavy weapons than to withdraw, let them acquire heavy weapons, and watch the missiles fall on one's cities? To sit and wait in Israel is to die! ARABS STARTING TO REALIZE THEY SPAWN TERRORISTS An Arab TV manager expressed a realization dawning on other Arab commentators, too. They are struck by the fact that most of the world's terrorists are Arabs. Terrorism is a product of Arab culture (IMRA, 9/4) and not outside oppression. Those are the first signs of a conscience. So far, their religious authorities rationalize exceptions so as to permit all sorts of terrorism. A COMMISSION SHOULD INVESTIGATE THE 9/11 COMMISSION The 9/11 Commission advanced Americans' understanding of WWIV by pointing out that the enemy is not terrorism but the ideology that spawns it. Then it retarded the country's understanding by asserting that Islam is not the enemy, and does not teach terrorism; the enemy is those who pervert Islam. This is knee-jerk defense of Islam. Striving to maintain pluralism, it aids those who would destroy it. The assertion cites no recognized Muslim religious authority that Islamism is a perversion of Islam. Muslim authorities have not said it is. They do not denounce Islamists as heretics nor object to terrorism unless so hedged with justifications for that terrorism as to be meaningless. For proper defense, we had better stop being politically correct and name our enemies: "Muslim fanatics, full of contempt for Western reasoning, who are waging a religion-based war against the West unhindered by a seemingly passive mainstream Islam. In this regard, we must call mainstream Islam to account. We must declare Wahhabism as an enemy ideology in the same way Communism was opposed during the Cold War. Finally, we must recognize that our enemies include every Muslim state that supports those fanatics, directly or indirectly, including Iran and S. Arabia." (Jewish Political Chronicle, 7/2004, Ed..) But be clever about it and don't threaten ones we don't need to fight, or they all will come down on us. Perhaps the way to view this is that Islam is the trunk of the tree from which Islamism branches out; the trunk does not disavow its branches. Both trunk and branch want to shadow the West, and both are willing to use violence to do so. The branch uses methods that the trunk may not, use itself, now, but the trunk does not denounce those methods. The Commission report should be reviewed to undo its political correctness and to ascertain why it did not criticize the State Dept. laxness that facilitated 9/11 terrorist entry. ARABS RECRUIT WOMEN & CHILDREN FOR SUICIDE-HOMICIDE Al-Qaeda magazine urges women to become suicide-murderers. A P.A. TV program encouraging children to blow themselves up with Israelis was revealed to the US Senate. It embarrassed the P.A. into withdrawing such programs. Now, a year later, the original segment has been brought back to P.A. TV (IMRA, 9/4, 9/5). The Senate still subsidizes the P.A.. What vicious cruelty! Let us not call it "humiliating," but necessary when Israeli soldiers inspect Arab women and children who seek to enter their country or to pass by their communities! The P.A. attempts to send a barbaric message to its people and make a humanitarian impression upon the West. We should not be taken in by it. Unfortunately, appeasement neurosis, prejudice, bribery and vested economic interests, failure to understand the depths of evil to which Arab culture descends, and misplaced chivalry, multiculturalism, and political correctness combine to give the Arabs at least equal standing with Israel. These problems indicate the difficulty of saving civilization and the questionable value of what we will have saved. ZOA PUTS LIBERALS ON SPOT ZOA President Klein reminds liberals of their defense of the right to dissent from Israeli policies of firmness towards the Arabs. Now he calls on their help to allow Israeli Cabinet Min. Landau to dissent from Israeli policies of weakness towards the Arabs. PM Sharon is punishing Landau by forbidding him to travel to the US (IMRA, 9/5). The call challenges liberal belief in free speech. Why should Sharon have such power in the first place? NO LET-UP IN P.A. ATTACKS ON ISRAEL There is an impression of fewer terrorist attacks on Israel this year. It is false. There were 420 attacks and attempted attacks in the past half-year (averaging 2 1/3 per day). Fatalities were lower, however, due to better methods of anti-terrorism (Arutz-7, 5/4). I think the toll will rise, soon. The Arabs have improved the range and accuracy of their rockets, and PM Sharon wants to abandon patrols in Gaza that keep the Arabs from firing at will. TERRORISM AGAINST RUSSIA VS, TERRORISM AGAINST ISRAEL As Chechen terrorists murdered Russian schoolchildren, the world did not react the way they do when terrorists murder Israelis: (1) Suppose that the killers have a just cause; (2) Suggest that we feel their plain; (3) Propose independence for them and part of Moscow and the Kremlin; (4) Condemn Russia for summarily executing four captured kidnappers instead of providing them with expensive legal counsel and trials; (5) Send demonstrators to Chechnya to express solidarity with them; (6) Write Op-Eds justifying the murders; (7) Organize a boycott of Russia; (8) Demand Russian subsidy of Chechnya; (9) Insert poems into the Russian curriculum glorifying Chechen terrorism; (10) Deny that there are military solutions to the problem with Chechnya; and (10) Demand Russian concessions to show goodwill (Prof. Steven Plaut, 9/5, e-mail). Do not take your cues from international public opinion about Israel! UNSAVORY USE OF POLLARD CASE There was one case of Israeli spying on the US, but several intentionally false allegations of Israeli spying, like the current one. These other allegations fade away, their purpose in being fabricated having been served. The purpose is political, often to pressure Israel to acquiesce to US demands or sales of US arms to the Arabs. Each time, CAMERA reminds us, the authorities and their media allies mention Pollard having spied for Israel, but they forget that the US routinely and widely spies on Israel. Why do they dredge up the Pollard case, but when someone of another nationality is accused of spying, they do not remind us of other cases by that ethnic group? The answer is that they want to keep the memory of Pollard's conviction alive (if not Pollard), in order to intimidate US Jewry. Although most of the accusations against Pollard were false, and his sentence was unjust, US Jewish "leaders" do not protest. They are afraid to demand equal justice for him. They are made to think that he caused antisemitism in the intelligence profession, whereas he is its victim (making due allowance for his having committed a crime), in some cases crude antisemitic language being exhibited. By failing to protest, the Jewish leadership leaves those antisemites in a position to continue punishing any Jew, not just Pollard (IMRA, 9/5). Moral courage is in short supply. When horses have blinders, you see them; people don't see their own. SURRENDERING WHEN ALMOST VICTORIOUS Just when Israel, even with one hand tied behind its back, has killed most of the terrorist leaders and greatly reduced its own casualties, PM Sharon plans to hand terrorism a great victory and a greater opportunity. His planned abandonment of Yesha would give the Arab losers that victory. That victory not only would inspire much more terrorism, the resulting borders would afford the terrorists greater opportunities to inflict murder. (Longer borders, not patrolled on the P.A. side.) What does the government claim would be accomplished? Not much. Even the government, or at least all those in Intelligence and with intelligence admit that withdrawal would not end terrorism. They admit that Israel would continue to have to counter-attack the P.A. (but they don't realize the new difficulties of doing that if abandonment leads to sovereignty and to emplacement of foreign "observers" who would fire on the IDF). In mobilizing all the institutions of the country in behalf of his abandonment scheme, PM Sharon has assembled dictatorial powers that choke dissent and threaten what little democracy Israel has (Winston Mid East Analysis, 9/6). It is the pre-existing lack of much democracy that is causing Israel to risk its survival. PM Sharon expressed to the Russian Foreign Minister Israelis' sympathy for what his people are going through, as their kinsmen are murdered by terrorists. He declared that terrorism is terrorism, and no compromise should be made with it. Minutes later, he discussed his abandonment of key strategic areas and parts of his people's homeland to Arab terrorists. PM Sharon expressed his appreciation for Russia's tolerance of its Jewish citizens (IMRA, 9/6). Only a few years ago, there were parades in Russia vowing death to the Jews. It seemed ominous. There has been a respite. Israel is so close to victory, it would be a pity to concede defeat, as Sharon is doing, so to speak. SHARON STILL ARGUING FALSELY PM Sharon still argues that his plan to abandon Gaza and parts of Judea-Samaria would stave off international pressure for greater withdrawals. Thus he represents his abandonment plan as really a retention plan (NY Sun, 9/13, p.6). At first the argument was merely naive. Initiating bargaining with a concession reduces one's bargaining power. The rest of the world has an agenda for full Israeli withdrawal. This world has no scruples. They would not be impressed by the Jews showing themselves reasonable. They never have been. They keep demanding more concessions after each one by Israel, and demand no concessions from the Arabs except false promises. For Sharon to have offered that argument was so na?ve as to be disingenuous. For the Israeli media not to question it indicates unscrupulous complicity. For the people not to question it is just plain stupid. Now the characteristic of that argument has moved beyond being na?ve to being disproved. As soon as the plan was announced, the rest of the world called it inadequate, merely a start (like the Gaza & Jericho First portion of the Oslo process). The US called the plan consistent with the Road Map, which proposes much more abandonment and which the US and the entire Quartet insists still is operative and that Israel has agreed to it. (PM Sharon does not correct them on that, by reminding them that Israel agreed only to parts of it, and had reservations about other parts. Pres. Bush reiterates that the Arabs first would have to drop terrorism, but his Map has no enforcement mechanism, and the Arabs never had to meet the qualifications for concessions.) 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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CIVIL WAR
Posted by Moshe Feiglin, September 21, 2004. |
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During the Independence Day party held in the Israeli Embassy in Washington, each of those present was asked to describe his most memorable experience on Israel's first Independence Day. Each in turn described an event he remembered very well. When the Ambassador's turn came, to everyone's surprise he chose to describe an event that took place somewhat later, on the shore of Tel Aviv. "I shot them on the ship and I shot them while they were swimming ashore". This was how Yitzhak Rabin, Israeli Ambassador in Washington at that time, described to those present how he had shot fellow Jews, most of them Holocaust survivors, who wished to enlist in the war against the Arab enemy, but found themselves being slaughtered by Jews who had declared a civil war against them. Rabin's choice should not come as a surprise. The "hunting seasons", including acts of kidnapping, torture, betrayal to the British Mandatory authorities, and tens of murders of people of the Right, were always regarded as legitimate by the founders of the Israeli Left. What's more, as in Rabin's case, they were regarded as acts that should be publicized and boasted about. It is, however, important to emphasize that the majority of people who identify themselves as belonging to the Left do not entertain thoughts of this kind, and, in contrast to the national camp, it is their leaders who advocate the extremist line. If anyone thinks that things have changed, it is enough to present a few quotations from central personalities of the Israeli Left: * "A situation may arise in which I will say: It's not worth preserving this society, and then a civil war will not frighten me". (Moshe Negbi, the legal commentator of Kol Israel, in his book 'Democracy and Obedience') Leading media and public relations people are currently engaged in creating fear and panic that the Right will drag Israeli citizens into civil war. As a Jew who does his best to observe Mitzvot, as one who studied in Yeshivot at various times, and as an active participant in the struggle being waged by the national camp against the expulsion of settlers from their homes and against the handing over of regions of the homeland to the terrorists, I can truthfully declare that I have never heard a single call for a civil war. If such a call has ever been voiced, this has not come from well-known personalities, as in the case of the Left, but from unknown strange people discovered by Israeli TV. A painful debate is being held regarding legitimate methods of action, but a call for a civil war has never existed and will never come about. The reason is very simple: Civil war is a total violation of everything held dear by the national camp - the preservation of the nation as a complete entity. In contrast, the universality forming the basis of the Leftist ethos minimizes the value of the nation, whose integrity may be sacrificed for the sake of higher values, such as "peace", for example. For some reason I started thinking about the battle for Dir Yassin (today's Har Nof, Jerusalem). Dir Yassin was just one of the numerous Arab villages conquered in the War of Independence, many of whose inhabitants were killed in the battle. There were many such battles, but this particular Arab village, Dir Yassin, was captured by people of the Right. Naturally, the Left rushed to condemn the "terrible massacre" that had occurred and, as a result, the story of this battle was rapidly circulated throughout the world and, in particular, throughout the Arab world. Here something strange happened. The Arabs, as usual, greatly exaggerated the extent of the "massacre" (knowing what would have occurred if, G-d forbid, Arabs had conquered a Jewish village), thus inventing the myth of Dir Yassin. What happened next is well known: mass flight of Arabs from Eretz Israel -- making possible the birth of Israel as a Jewish State. The last thing the Right is doing is to threaten a civil war. But, who knows, since the Israeli media are controlled by the Left, they may well convince the public that a civil war is imminent. The result could be a self-inflicted wound, since the public would then think twice before agreeing to the disengagement plan if it involved paying such a price. The Creator moves in mysterious ways. 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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SYRIA'S AMERICAN FELLOW TRAVELERS
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, September 20, 2004. |
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These were high officials in government, industry, banking, military equipment manufacturers who were never arrested for treason. (I shall provide the reader with a deeper version of America's betrayers on this subject in a following article.) In the meantime, let us focus on Syria. We are told that the Bush Administration is seeking collaboration from Syria's President Bashar Assad, presumably to close the border between Syria & Iraq. That is because Syria has been aiding a mix of Arab Muslim Terrorists 'Mujahadeen' (Islamic holy warriors) to use Syria an a convenient entry point into Iraq. What's wrong with that? In brief, Syria has been outstanding enemy of America and has done everything possible to assist the Muslim Jihadists (Islamic holy warriors) to kill, wound, kidnap and behead American and Allied troops in Iraq. On September 19, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld said at Fort Leonard Wood, MO: "We have no doubt that the money [for the 'insurgency'] comes from Syria...." (1.) Syria has been an enemy of America and a well known spoiler against any peace in the Middle East for decades. But, as Hitler had friends in America in high places, so, too does Syria. First under President Hafez al Assad and now under his son, Bashar who continues to be cultivated by Americans in high places. This has never been adequately explained nor has Congress ever investigated these Syrian connections - even after the Syrians set up the killing of 241 Marines in Lebanon by blowing up their barracks in 1983. We have observed a veritable parade of American Secretaries of State make almost religious pilgrimages to Syria's Presidents including William Rogers, James Baker, Madeleine Albright, Warren Christopher, Colin Powell - among others from the State Department. Earlier plans during the Rabin and Peres times and later under Ehud Barak a deal was in the works as follows: Israel was to give up the Golan Heights which would be highlighted by the U.S. State Department that Syria was no longer a Terrorist nation and could be taken off the list of States sponsoring Terrorists. That would allow Syria to be gifted with approximately $30 Billion (or more) in sophisticated arms, much the same as was done with Egypt after the Camp David Accords. Egypt has now received some $60 Billion in American taxpayers dollars to buy advanced American weaponry and has become a military colossus in the Middle East. The politicians, the State Department and the arms industries have been anxious to take Syria off the list of Terrorist nations so Syrian supporters in American could ship in arms aid packages - with the approval of Congress. Although it will be the U.S. taxpayers who will dig deep (unwittingly) to pay for these free gifts, nevertheless the U.S. arms industry wants the business. (As a relevant aside, if President Bush can get Iraq under control, watch for a big push to assemble an arms grant package to re-build Iraq's army but, paid for by American taxpayers with American armaments, Eg., tanks, aircraft, artillery and all the stuff that goes with them.) Back to Syria: The present negotiation with Syria to have them stop assisting Terrorist Jihadists from using Syria as a staging area and then sending them into Iraq is well known. But, to get them to cease and desist requires payment or a bribe of major proportions. Even then, bribing an Arab or an Arab Muslim country is like squeezing Jello - the bribes just cannot be held - nor can the West expect accountability and transparency. (Look at the Oil-For-Food scandal orchestrated by the United Nations and Kofi Annan that has just been fully exposed by a documentary on FOX NEWS September 19, 2004.) But, it looks like this is just a first threshold to be crossed to make Syria look clean and take it off the list of nations who inspire and support Terror. It all will be made to look as if Syria (like Libya) has turned a new leaf and is cooperating with American and Allied forces. That will be followed by a U.S. State Department effort to have Congress agree to removing Syria from the State Department's list of States sponsoring Terrorism (like Libya) - and thus, they will be able to do on-the-table as opposed to under-the-table business with Syria. Earlier, the U.S. government allowed five U.S. based oil companies to obtain oil leases from Bashar, while seeking to make Syria look like an important oil source. As Syria isn't known for having serious oil reserves, this was obviously another ploy of the U.S. political supporters of Syria to make Syria look like a valuable friend of America when it wasn't. Like the Saudis. By the way, look for an "October Surprise" to assist Bush win the November election. Satellites observed truckloads of materials driven from Iraq and buried under 'crops' in fields of the Beka'a Valley of Syrian-controlled Lebanon. Soil samples show traces of Anthrax and other toxins. Two battalions of Syrian tanks stand guard over these fields. What's in them? Wait for the 'election coup' for President Bush to find Saddam's hidden WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction)." (2.) Somewhere in this mix of high level betrayal and manipulations, watch for a move to try to force Israel off the Golan Heights and give it over to Syria. I would expect that Sharon, Olmert, Weisglass have already been in deep discussions with Condoleeza Rice and the U.S. State Department to transfer Jews out and receive a package of armaments for removing themselves from the vital and irreplaceable Golan high ground overlooking Damascus. From Mt. Hermon on the Golan, Israel can tell every time a Syrian tank starts up or their Russian MIGs take off. Would Israel really trust the pro-Arab State Department to give early warning in real time so Israel could strike pre-emptively. There will, no doubt, be new elections coming soon in Israel. Sharon will be removed. Netanyahu wants the post but, somehow I feel that he will be on the same short chain to U.S. interests as was Sharon. A far better choice would be Uzi Landau. Having "One Honest Man" as Prime Minister would shake up America who is so accustomed to easily manipulate politicians at the helm of Israel, which is why the President and State hated Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir. They might even begin to really play fair and honest to defend Israel, the only democracy with American values, in the Middle East. Perhaps all this will take place within a Civil War where the manipulators and political users will be swept out of business. Israel could merely deport them or, at least, send them to prison. ### 1. "Iran is Helping Insurgents in Iraq, U.S. officials Say," by Thom Shanker & Steven R. Weisman, "Reach of War: Troublesome Neighbors Next Door," New York Times, 9/19/04. 2. "Jerusalem Summit" October 14, 2003, John Loftus & Root&Branch October 18, 2003. JOHN LOFTUS SPEAKS AT ROOT & BRANCH OCTOBER 18, 2003 John Loftus, is the author (with Mark Aarons) of "Secret War Against the Jews: How Western Espionage Betrayed the Jewish People - 1920 to 1992" St. Martin's Press NY 1994 plus several other history making books. We suggest it is the sine qua non book without which you cannot understand Israel's history and especially her relationship with America. In addition to being one of the premier speakers at the JERUSALEM SUMMIT, October 12-14, 2003, John spoke to a packed hall at the Israel Center on Saturday night. Some of what John said [as paraphrased by Gail Winston]: "America will take out the danger of the 7 countries supporting, funding and aiding Terror and/or building WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) which threaten all of the Free West, as well as Israel. .....Syria. U.S. satellites tracked trucks and buses traveling every night from Iraq to the Northern Beka'a Valley in Lebanon. Certain satellites can see below ground and note that holes are dug at night and covered with crops by daylight. However, 'someone' got soil samples that show liquid Anthrax and Sarin gas. All totaled, there are approximately 1000 shells of each, Anthrax and Sarin, buried in the North Beka'a Valley, Lebanon - with 2 Syrian armored brigades sitting on top of them....Syria is also funding, arming and training the Hezb'Allah who are attacking Israel from Lebanon. John Loftus says taking out Syria will be relatively easy, as the American army and Special Forces have certain advanced technology that can take out Syria. Since Syria controls Lebanon that covers Lebanon - also. The Iraqi WMD which Saddam had will be discovered in time for Bush to look like a real hero and win the 2004 elections" so John Loftus says. Israel just has to sit tight, not open up another front in any other Mid East countries, has the green light to take care of her local Terrorists who threaten life and limb with as many as 40-60 threatened attacks every day. Most are thwarted now. Some aren't. [From Oslo in 1993 to August 2004: 1500+ Israelis have been murdered, blown up, shot, bombed, fire-bombed, with tens of thousands more injured - many maimed for life. Multiply Israel's casualty figures by 55 and you will have the ratio of Israel to America in population. That is, Israel's 1500 murdered by Terror would = 82,500 Americans murdered by Terror.] Loftus says that "Israel has the green light to take out any and all Terrorists that threaten her within the Jewish State and America will use her super technology to take out the surrounding hostile neighbors." This is a real Revolution of life as Israelis must live it in today's world of rampant Terror. Who is John Loftus and why should we believe him? His life is an amazing amalgam of being in the right place to get the secret information which tweaked his sense of justice to put right the wrongs done to the Jews in the last century. He was in Fort Benning, Georgia when Sec. of Defense Gen. Alexander Haig ordered all the TOW missiles stockpiled there to be loaded on transports and flown to Israel during the Yom Kippur War. Loftus taught the IDF how to use them. When he became a lawyer and then a Federal Prosecutor, somehow he discovered the acres of hidden papers, secrets buried in Suitland, Maryland. Remember the penultimate scene in "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark" when the workman was pushing the crate with the Ark into a corridor of a huge underground warehouse? Right. That's where and how the secrets are buried. Loftus became a Nazi hunter, wrote several books about the Vatican's complicity in getting Nazis free to the West. As an Irish Catholic, Loftus wears well his sense of responsibility for the evils done by the Church during the Holocaust and he used what he found to prosecute many Nazi war criminals. Need more proof? Loftus filed a One Trillion Dollar lawsuit against Saudi Arabia on August 15, 2002, with $3 million slated to go to each of the 9/11 victims' families. He also sued Sami Al Arian, a well-known Islamist, hiding behind his job as a Professor in a Florida University. The FBI raided al-Arian's office and home, discovered tons of documents - as predicted by Loftus. U.S. Intelligence adopted him because he knows so much and doesn't use his knowledge for personal gain. That the FBI refused to hire any of the 90+ Sephardic, Arabic speaking Jews who applied to assist with intelligence after 9/11, is another indication of the stigma of anti-Semitism in Washington's bureaucracy. I checked with Loftus to see if he was placing himself in danger by revealing all of these American plans to take out Terror where it exists and who harbors it. He said that everything was open for publication and he doesn't appear worried about his own safety. I think perhaps the openness protects him rather than endangers him. Take the information herein and spread it far and wide. Use it all to the best of your abilities - it will make us all safer. If Terrorism is defeated in the Middle East, then America and the Free West will be safer. If Israel is at risk, so is America and the Free West. Remember that Islam is aiming for World Domination and is using Terror to achieve their goal. BTW: Loftus suggests if you're looking for a revealing information, go to GOOGLE, type in 2 words: 'banna' and 'nazi'. See what you come up with! John Loftus has a Website: John-Loftus.com; can be heard every night
at 10:35 EST on the John Batchelor/Alexander radio show; can be seen
at 4:20 PM on FOX NEWS. I don't know how that translates to Israel
time. His Email address is: loftushome@cs.com.
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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RIVLIN: FRENCH MINISTERS LAUGHED WHEN I TOLD THEM SHARON'S PLAN
Posted by Bryna Berch, September 20, 2004. |
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This is a news item from today's Arutz-Sheva (www.INN.com).
Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin quoted Prime Minister Sharon as saying he hopes the Europeans will give Israel 15 years of quiet after the disengagement from Gaza - and his European hosts laughed at this idea. Reactions like the above do not make Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom's scheduled appearance at the United Nations today, in which he will attempt to rebuff an international onslaught against Israel's policies, any easier. Minister Shalom will use his UN platform to remind his audience that Syria is not adhering to the recent UN call to remove its forces from Lebanon. Chiefly, however, he will explain Israel's need for an anti-terrorism fence in light of continuing Arab attempts to carry out terror attacks against Israeli targets. While there are those within Israel who fear that the partition will return Israel to its dangerous pre-1967 borders, opponents of Israel attack it as an "apartheid" partition. Shalom hopes that Israel's latest moves towards a retreat from Gaza and the northern Shomron will help him make his case. This is far from guaranteed, however. Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin told HaTzofeh newspaper last week the following anecdote: "On my last visit in Strasbourg [site of part of the European Parliament], at a convention of leaders of legislatures from around the world, the heads of the French Parliament invited me to visit them in Paris. I came, and after a few words of courtesy, they asked me, 'Tell me, Mr. Israeli Parliament Chairman, you are known as one of Prime Minister Sharon's close friends, so why is it that you do not support his disengagement initiative?' I said, 'Well, the truth is that I should ask you. He has been trying to convince me that the moment we disengage, Europe will give us at least 15 years of quiet and won't put pressure on us [to make further concessions], and during this time we will be able to stabilize our control over areas on which we cannot compromise, such as the Jordan Valley and Jerusalem. So tell me: Will you in fact give us 15 years of quiet?' They started to laugh and said that they now understand why I don't support the Prime Minister. "Later on, I asked them if they would give us 15 months of quiet. They laughed. I said, 'How about 15 weeks?' and they continued to laugh. '15 hours?' - and they still laughed. Regarding 15 minutes, they didn't laugh, but neither did they nod..." |
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ISRAELI SETTLERS: YOU WILL BE PROSECUTED!
Posted by Ariel Natan Pasko, September 19, 2004. |
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Since the beginning of 2003, I've written several articles about the injustice of transferring Jews out of their homes in the Land of Israel. I've spoken about how real peace with the Arabs should allow Jews to stay put as equal Palestinian citizens if they chose to be (in a democratic Palestine), just as Israeli Arabs participate in Israeli politics as full citizens, and how ethnically cleansing Jews from parts of their historic homeland opens the can of worms to ethnically cleansing Arabs as well. For some time, few other writers braved the intellectual chasm to call a spade a spade, and describe the despicable racist (anti-Semitic) idea of expelling Jews from parts of Yesha (Judea, Samaria - the West Bank - and Gaza) as just that, racist, despicable, immoral, and illegal. Thank G-D, since the Gaza expulsion plan has finally gotten everyone's attention - Sharon's agreement to the Roadmap should have already - many other writers for some time now have been castigating the Is raeli government for its "illegal," "immoral," "disengagement" plan. But now is the time to move past rhetoric to plans of action... No, I don't mean planning the first battle in "the coming civil war," (the title of a recent article in the Israeli left-leaning newspaper Ha'aretz), but the strategy of the post-Sharon pro-Jewish government that's come to power, whether through ballot or bullet. Much talk has been made recently of civil war in Israel, mainly by the Left - including Sharon and his clique - as a way of scaring people and shutting them up from partaking in any real debate over the pros and cons of unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip under fire. Yes that's right, the Israeli Army is preparing for the likelihood of withdrawal under fire. Neither has there been any serious discussion about the advantages or disadvantages of expelling Jews from Gaza. No, threaten that your opponent threatens civil war, to later justify the first shots, that seems to be the name of the game. Yet, anyone with half a cabbage upstairs, knows - as Sharon himself knows - most, probably 95% plus of the Jewish "settlers" are unlikely to use violence against their own army, and their own police (except in self-defense maybe), its against their ideology. So, what to do? Start broadcasting the message loud and clear at every opportunity, that in the future, after the Sharon government collapses, and is replaced by a pro-Jewish government in Israel, all war criminals, both those who participated in the "disengagement process," and the "original ones" who brought the Jewish People, the Oslo War - you know Peres, Beilin, and their ilk - WILL BE PROSECUTED! A pro-Jewish government, with real Jewish pride might just institute the death penalty in Israel (perish the thought - or is that Peres the thought?). Right now there are many messages coming out of the settler movement, "disengagement is tearing the nation apart," "you have no mandate," "don't throw people out of their homes." Well I'm sorry friends, but these emotion-laden appeals to justice, and fairness, aren't going to move "bulldozers" (Sharon and Co.). And slogans with implied fears of civil war, like "disengagement is tearing the nation apart," only play into the hands of Sharon's grand strategy to blame the settlers for any outbreak of violence, so as to justify the use of force against them. No, one unified message must be repeated and repeated and repeated ad nauseum, YOU WILL BE PROSECUTED! Appeals to their conscience won't work. If they had any conscience, after more than 1,000 dead Jews, would we not have seen an end to the Oslo War already? Through serious military action up to and including the killing of Arafat; dismantlement of the Palestinian Authority, killing or exiling of all Arabs who resist, and finally the annexing of part of our homeland. Simply put, an end to the big lie called the "peace process". But the promise to bring legal justice against them will work. Why, because in all the other scenarios, only the little people are threatened, Sharon, Peres, Netanyahu, Barak, the Supreme Court, etc. are left off the hook. But in promising, YOU WILL BE PROSECUTED, their own lives have been put at risk. They are being told, they will be held legally accountable for their policies; "tread carefully". The message is simple; all sectors of the resistance - settlers and their supporters - can easily adopt it, and it's lawful. If things keep going the way they are, people like me, might just eventually have to try and stop the mobs, from stringing the war criminals up on light posts... In the near future, a pro-Jewish government will arise in the Land of Israel, maybe after Sharon's fall, maybe in ten or twenty years, but the message is clear: YOU WILL BE PROSECUTED!
Ariel Natan Pasko is an independent analyst & consultant. He has a Master's Degree in International Relations and Policy Analysis. His articles appear regularly on numerous news/views and think-tank websites, in newspapers, and can be read at: www.geocities.com/ariel_natan_pasko |
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PLO TRYING TO KIDNAP ISRAELI SOLDIERS AND OTHER ITEMS
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, September 19, 2004. |
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PLO ATTEMPTING TO KIDNAP ISRAELI SOLDIERS Hizbullah had kidnapped and murdered three Israeli soldiers. In return for the three cadavers and a live, criminal Israeli, hundreds of live Arab prisoners were released. This inspired the PLO attempts to kidnap Israeli soldiers. They failed (IMRA, 9/3). Jewish nationalists and other opponents of appeasement warned that the prisoner-for-corpse exchange would whet the Arab appetite for hostage-taking. They were right, as usual. UNDERSTANDING THE PLO Why doesn't the PLO prevent terrorism, so that it could get a state established and Israeli forces removed from it? Perhaps because Arafat does not want to be known as the Arab who relinquished jihad (NY Sun, 9/10, letter). Perhaps, but that explanation falls short. The repression of terrorism would be temporary, so that Arafat would not get the reputation described. Surely one does not expect him to keep his agreement with Israel. He never has done so, before. On the other hand, Hamas would accuse him in advance of relinquishing jihad. He does fear their ill will. But he also prefers winning at the end by conquest. He wants to force Israel to give up the Territories without his making promises. With so much international support, including from the supposedly pro-Israel US, he has grounds for his evil hope. WRONG PSYCHOLOGY FOR DEALING WITH ISLAMIST PSYCHOLOGY The UNO Security Council had given Sudan 30 days to halt the genocide and arrest leaders of he Janjaweed militia. That deadline ended in August, but no major leaders were arrested as of 9/10. A draft resolution would give Sudan another 30 days (Eli Lake, NY Sun, p.5). Since Sudan is acting in bad faith, it shouldn't be offered more time. During this diplomacy of delay, the Arabs are murdering more blacks. Why defer the inevitable conflict? For one thing, the UNO always crawls. For another, the Islamists control most of it. For a third, Westerners believe in conflict-avoidance. It may work in orderly parts of Western society. It does not work with jihadists. Jihadists don't stop until stopped. To stop them, we have to understand not our beliefs about forceful persuasion, but their beliefs. What stops them? Force or a credible threat of force. To be credible, a threat must be backed by means of enforcement. Sen. Kerry's notion of UNO efficacy notwithstanding, the problem is that the UNO, still responsive to evil states, is inconsistent in such matters and the US is out of troops for another war. To regain respect, the UNO would have to become consistent and fight more. Other countries would have to cooperate with the US on these moral issues instead of pretending that the US is immoral. The US would have to raise a respectable-sized army. Then the UNO would have to move swiftly, not reissue an ultimatum upon its expiration. Otherwise, the Arabs temporize until the heat of the moment passes. The Arabs promise, but lie; we believe, we wait. P.A. READY FOR DEMOCRACY? So asserted Arafat, segting a new date for the years-long overdue elections for his office. Such dates have been pledged and reneged before. Each time he blames it upon Israeli incursions (IMRA, 9/4). Israeli raids here and there, now and then, are not the decisive factor but the usual Arab dictator's excuse for blaming his oppression on enemies. Incursions are reactions to Arafat's terrorism. He has but to halt it, and the raids would cease. The P.A. is not ready for democracy, peace, or statehood. People ought to be asking why he doesn't halt the raids, rather than asking him to "try harder" to halt them. The West doesn't care how much the raids damage Israel. It objects to how much the counter-attacks damage the P.A., I think, as a pretext for criticizing Israel. EGYPT BEHIND THE ARMS SMUGGLING INTO GAZA Smuggled from Egypt into Gaza were: hundreds of rocket propelled grenades, 350 anti-tank rocket launchers, 5,000 rifles, millions of bullets, and much else. That quantity requires trucks. Egypt could have inspected the trucks if it wanted to, but it wants to weaken Israel. Now Egypt officially is arming the P.A., with Israeli permission. Israel seeks to change its treaty to allow more heavily armed Egyptian troops there, instead of pressuring Egypt to honor the treaty by stopping the smuggling (IMRA, 9/4). Egypt is demanding other conditions that would prevent Israel from counter-attacking against the P.A. troops that Egypt is training and arming. Will PM Sharon yield? There seems to be no point at which the Israeli leadership refuses to concede. Israel is confused. ISRAELI LEGAL ADVISOR WARNS AGAINST NEW APPEASEMENT A legal advisor to the Foreign Ministry warns that new appeasement is making the same blunders as in the Oslo plan. He calls the Oslo leadership na?ve for not planning recourse if the agreement failed or if rejectionists gained power in the P.A.. The civil servants proposed protections for Israel and limits to concessions, but the negotiators -- politicians or their ideological agents -- overrode the recommendations. Dr. Aaron Lerner calls this not naive, but a messianic secularist belief that a full retreat from Yesha would bring peace. All the diplomatic maneuverings and documents by these extremists aim falsely to reassure Israelis that their interests are being protected (IMRA, 5/4) or that the withdrawals would not be as drastic as intended. CHECHNYA The Chechens have long striven for independence from the Russians. In Soviet times, their drive was nationalist. Now it is Islamist. The brutal Russian response may have hastened that turn of motivation. It reflects the clash of civilizations (George Jonas, NY Sun, 9/10, p.9). The two sides have interesting features. The Russian side forfeits much sympathy by its brutality. It bombarded villages, killing many civilians and not many terrorists. Pres. Putin's disgust with the terrorists' murder of Russian schoolchildren is not a clean one. The Chechens lack natural resources. For centuries they lived largely off banditry. What they are doing now is a form of banditry. What is to be done with them? Build factories there? Perhaps, but in this global economy, factories are transient, and the workers are not. P.A. READY FOR DEMOCRACY? So asserted Arafat, segting a new date for the years-long overdue elections for his office. Such dates have been pledged and reneged before. Each time he blames it upon Israeli incursions (IMRA, 9/4). Israeli raids here and there, now and then, are not the decisive factor but the usual Arab dictator's excuse for blaming his oppression on enemies. Incursions are reactions to Arafat's terrorism. He has but to halt it, and the raids would cease. The P.A. is not ready for democracy, peace, or statehood. People ought to be asking why he doesn't halt the raids, rather than asking him to "try harder" to halt them. The West doesn't care how much the raids damage Israel. It objects to how much the counter-attacks damage the P.A., I think, as a pretext for criticizing Israel. EGYPT BEHIND THE ARMS SMUGGLING INTO GAZA Smuggled from Egypt into Gaza were: hundreds of rocket propelled grenades, 350 anti-tank rocket launchers, 5,000 rifles, millions of bullets, and much else. That quantity requires trucks. Egypt could have inspected the trucks if it wanted to, but it wants to weaken Israel. Now Egypt officially is arming the P.A., with Israeli permission. Israel seeks to change its treaty to allow more heavily armed Egyptian troops there, instead of pressuring Egypt to honor the treaty by stopping the smuggling (IMRA, 9/4). Egypt is demanding other conditions that would prevent Israel from counter-attacking against the P.A. troops that Egypt is training and arming. Will PM Sharon yield? There seems to be no point at which the Israeli leadership refuses to concede. Israel is confused. A MAN OF SOME IMPORTANCE Mr. X is important. At least he assumed an air of importance. Whence came it? He has money, and prays in the same synagogue as people whom everyone has heard of. His importance derives from proximity. He expresses it by patiently stating his views and abruptly dismissing dissenting views. Dismissal would be understandable if the dissent were well known to him. My views, being original, are not. Having already formed an opinion from neo-conservative journalists, he has no curiosity about ones that challenge his. He did not ask how I reached a contrary conclusion. How comforting to be so secure about one's own dogma! A good Zionist and connoisseur of journalism, Mr. X named William Saffire as one of his last ties to the "NY Times" and Norman Podhoretz as his guide to supporting the Bush candidacy. I tried to explain that although Mr. Saffire opposes giving Arab terrorists a military victory over Israel, he proposes giving them the Territories Israel needs for survival if the Arabs would quiet down long enough for a pretense of peacemaking. The point was too subtle for this man-in-a-hurry. X favors Pres. Bush, because "Bush was the only President who let Israel defend itself," allowing Sharon build the fence and kill terrorist leaders. Not true. Most Presidents interfered with Israeli defense, Bush included. Mr. X conveniently forgets recent US rebukes of Israeli means of defense. Neither would he acknowledge that Bush and Safire favor P.A. statehood, which means a terrorist state "side-by-side" with Israel. Sharon's vaunted anti-terrorism is but a pale imitation of his youthful, kilometer-by-kilometer round-up of all terrorists in Gaza. The fence, not far from the Green Line, before, has been moved closer to it. I've seen the map, but X chalks my point up to being "misinformed." He doesn't believe that Sharon intends, as his deputy asserts, more giveaways. He has faith that these politicians are lying when they promise to do what the US and recent Israeli politicians all have been trying to do. It is a weak basis for faith. I find more credible the theory that Sharon escapes indictment by toeing the leftist line. Should one take as Gospel the opinion of one's fellow neo-conservative, Norman Podhoretz, because he analyzes so keenly? No, Podhoretez is conflicted between a love of Israel and Republican partisanship. Podhoretz just wrote another brilliant, lengthy analysis in "Commentary Magazine," this time of jihad. The paragraphs that praise Pres. Bush, however, were pathetic in their excuse-making. Podhoretz gave Bush credit for what Bush said but does not do. Ruinous domestic policies simply are ignored. Partisan brilliance degenerated into rationalization. The stakes are too high for the Jewish people to insist on views out of egotism. EU SOLICITOUS OF ISRAEL? Various European diplomats are trying to fill the hole that the US election puts into Western efforts in the Arab-Israel conflict. They express eagerness to "help" Israel avoid chaos during its disengagement plan. They are making trips to the region, proposing to resume the Road Map, and finding Israeli officials who welcome this "help." I think they are eager to smother Israeli dissent, so Israelis calmly accept the deadly "peace process." Think if it: how sincere can the Europeans be while they condemn every Israeli method of self-defense and they subsidize the Arab attackers? Israeli officials who cooperate with the Europeans are betraying their
people just as they did with Oslo, with the mistreatment of the
Sephardic Jews, with the trade deal with the Nazis that ended the
boycott of Germany, with the nationalist drive to get the Jews into
Palestine before the Holocaust had started, with the revolt against
the British, the defense against the Arabs, and with the undermining
of the movement to free Soviet Jewry. But the Jewish masses still
listen to their Establishment admonitions not to listen to the
nationalists.
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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CRIMES PLANNED AGAINST THE JEWISH PEOPLE
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, September 19, 2004. |
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Clearly, the evidence against some Jewish leaders is piling up in a manner that must inevitably lead to a Nuremberg Tribunal. The perpetrators (note spelling: Perp a Traitors) is not an accident of linguistics. These Jews have started a war against their own people and must be tried as war criminals. The Perps are all those - political, military and police - who are planning and instrumental in forcing Jews from their homes, their land, their schools, their synagogues, farms, businesses, infrastructure, water and cemeteries. All those who initiated this process as a gift to the Bush Administration were substantially in breech of their obligation to protect the Jewish people first. Now we hear that a war plan including concentration camps for Jewish objectors is well along. I wonder if Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's traitors will follow the German plan of electrified barbed wire, German shepherd dogs, guard towers with 30 caliber machine guns to shoot dead any Jews trying to escape back to their own homes. Somehow the government of Sharon and his sycophant followers have become the government dedicated to the Arab Muslim interests. Like the infamous Shabtai Tzvi who, at first, led his followers as the Jewish Moshiach (Messiah) but who later accepted Islam when he was captured by Mohammedans. Shabtai Tzvi was a false prophet, a liar and a coward. Like almost all the leaders of Israel, the current one has no belief in being Jewish nor in the ancient Jews? rights to the Land that HaShem promised them forever. These are the lowest and most corrupt among the Jewish people and, most certainly, belong minimally in prison and maximally in a Nuremberg trial for enabling the killing of fellow Jews. These dishonorable people have packed the Courts with biased Judges dedicated to the vision of the Left (a secular non-Jewish State). They appoint corrupt officials to the various Intelligence Agencies assumed they will follow the political dictates of the nation's leaders. They have misused the Israeli Military by forcing it to be an incubator for biased Leftist officers who are to be groomed for political office upon their retirement. One finds such governments in the Kremlin or Iran or Iraq or Egypt or Syria. Laws evolved to protect the day-to-day affairs of the nation have been misused to benefit the corrupt visionaries of the political Left. They have displayed their ignorance, hostility to the Jewish people and their support of a dedicated enemy through the instrument of Oslo. Those of the Oslo gang have filled graveyards with 1500 innocent Jews murdered by Arafat's various Arab Muslim Terrorists. There is no question that these Osloids should stand before a Peoples' Court for treason which includes both the political and judicial. **** PART 2: YONATAN BASSI: IS HE READY TO COMMIT CRIMES AGAINST JEWS? I have this unsettling feeling that Yonathan Bassi, who has accepted PM Sharon's appointment as Head of Sharon's Unilateral Disengagement Plan, may have been tasked long ago to settle into the communities of YESHA (Yehuda, Shomron and Gaza) to establish credibility. It would not be the first time the GSS (General Security Services) - Shabak has pre-positioned individuals to either act as informants or provocateurs. Avishai Raviv was employed by the GSS and known by Rabin as a planted spy and provocateur to serve the political goals of the Left. It was an ugly business and Raviv was protected by the GSS and the Courts and never paid the price for his betrayal of all Israelis. There is no information at this time that I am aware of that Yonatan Bassi is a plant or pre-positioned to act as a spoiler to his fellow settlers. Yet, he seems deeply committed to the re-partition of Israel - although he has worked hard to establish himself as a solid member of the community of settlers. If Mr. Bassi and his family are another Avishai Raviv, pre-positioned as something a sleeper agent to carry out a mission, such as leading the dismantling of settlements, then this should be made public. If he is not a GSS/Sharon agent tasked to weaken the settlers of Judea and Samaria, that too must be known. Regrettably, Avishai Raviv could not have been the only sleeper agent used for political spying and tricks. The GSS (Shabak) has been given a black eye because unethical politicians have used this invaluable asset to push their political agenda. Directors of Security were appointed not for their capability but rather for their political correctness and/or willingness to obey political orders from the Prime Minister's office. Israel desperately needs a clean GSS where its agents are beyond question. Many risk their lives to penetrate Arab cells to stop their Terror attacks. While keeping an eye on the general populaton is always the correct thing to do, it is not correct to place agent provocateurs in the general populace to stir up trouble. Taking a closer look at Yonatan Bassi is not out of line and, no doubt, he expects to be questioned about the unusual position he has taken in favor of Unilateral Disengagement. I wonder if he would agree to taking a lie detector test by independent professionals? I cannot help but feel that Israel will soon be submerged in a Civil War brought on by the arrogance of one man, Prime Minister Sharon. There are times when a nation must free itself of dictatorial leaders who are certain that only they know best. For many years Israel has slowly been chained by politicians, mostly of the Left, who have decided that a secular State for Jews in the correct course. Perhaps it is destined that a clash of their dramatically opposed lifestyles must take place. 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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ISRAEL'S COWARDLY CENTER
Posted by Plaut, Steven, September 19, 2004. |
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Israel is not simply divided between the Left and the Right. It has a large Center as well. The Center has eloquent, respected, and important spokespersons, the most important probably being journalists Ben-Dror Yemini and Dan Margolit. And the Center has a large following among the general public, as indicated in polls. The problem is that the Center consists of people who prefer to sit on the fence, rather than take a position on the existential questions confronting Israel today. When given a clear choice, they prefer to equivocate. Israelis today are faced with a clear choice between a "Right", which wants an Israeli victory over its enemies, and a Left, which wants a victory by Israel's enemies over Israel. The Center does not want to choose sides. It wants everyone just to get along, without any victories for anyone. The "Right" wants to defeat terrorism through military force. The Left wants a victory for terrorism. The Center does not want to choose sides. It wants everyone just to get along, without any victories for anyone. The "Right" is in favor of free speech for everyone. The Left is in favor of free speech only for other leftists. The Center says it wants free speech for everyone, but is unwilling to defend anti-Oslo dissidents when they are denied free speech, persecuted by the judicial system, or demonized by the media. The "Right" thinks that Sharon's "disengagement" plan will result in escalated terror out of Gaza. So does the Left, and that is why the Left supports it. The Center prefers to posture and pretend that maybe terror will decrease after the "disengagement". The "Right" thinks the Left consists of people seeking the destruction of Israel. The Left thinks Rightists should be imprisoned as "racists" and criminals. The Center prefers to believe that everyone has good intentions but that the others are confused. The "Right" thinks Israel should deal with the PLO by destroying it. The Left thinks that Israel should capitulate to all PLO demands. The Center thinks Israel should hold talks with the PLO that will lead to new accords, which the Center is certain the PLO will then violate. The "Right" considers itself to be patriotic. The Left does also, except the country to which it is patriotic is Palestine. The Center does not want to be the bad guys. It wants everyone just to get along. The "Right" thinks that Yossi Beilin and Shimon Peres are directly responsible for the Oslo carnage and bloodbaths. The Left thinks Sharon and Bibi are because they have not implemented the Left's agenda effectively enough. The Center does not want to point fingers. It just wants everyone to get along. 2. Actvists? Miltants? Nope. Haaretz, the Palestinian newspaper published in Hebrew, now has a new official term it has adopted to refer to the squads of Palestinian mass murdering terrorists. Starting today, Haaretz is calling them "The Palestinian Security Organizations." Really. 3. "I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people and I require the same from them." John Wayne - "The Shootist" 4. SO let us sum up this week's Israeli media red herring. A single person who is not a Rabbi, but rather is a Kahanist kook, issues a pronouncement that he thinks Sharon should die and is considering saying a kabbalistic prayer, a Pulsa Denura, against Sharon. Except the guy is not considered by anyone to be a religious authority on anything and his knoweldge of kabbalah is about the same as that of Madonna and Roseanne. Then the media go on a blitzkrieg against the racist Orthodox and the violent rabbis. They denounce Rabbis in general as racist because a group of Rabbis issued a pronouncement saying that it would be ok to kill some civilian bystanders if this were needed to kill terrorists. In other words, these Rabbis are as racist as the racist Geneva Convention, which says exactly the same thing, and hence they are being denounced for being racists by the racist Left and its captive racist media, who believe that there is nothing wrong with Palestinians mass murdering racist Jewish children riding on racist buses in order to protest racist occupation of "Palestinian lands". All clear now? 5. While Sharon is preparing to expel the Jews from the Gaza Strip, it is becoming pretty clear that it is not only the Gush Katif "settlers" who will have to be "resettled" as a result of Sharon's plan, but also the residents of the Negev town of Sderot. To date, no one in the Israeli establishment has cared much that Sderot is becoming the Israeli version of Guernica, being bombed almost daily by Kassam rockets fired out of Gaza by the peace partners. After all, there are no leftist media yuppies who live in Sderot, so who cares? Ashkelon is next on the map, and after "disengagement", Ashkelon will become the Israeli Coventry. I propose that all residents of Sderot be evacuated to Sharon's personal ranch in the Negev when the heavy rockets fall. Meanwhile, I propose that a human shield be erected around Sderot, composed of Israeli leftists and their pro-terror ISM designer-jean "anarchist" buddies from overseas. I think these caring people should protect the homes of Sderot residents with their hashish-filled bodies. True, it is Sharon implementing the plan, but the plan itself is the brainchild of the Left. While we are at it, let's send some Reform Rabbis from the RAC to Sderot. 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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TIME FOR A DIASPORA PARLIAMENT
Posted by Bryna Berch, September 19, 2004. |
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This was written by Natan Sharansky and appeared in Ha'aretz on
September 15, 2004.
The State of Israel and the Jewish people have been undergoing a process of disengagement over the last few years. We know less, are less committed, and take less interest in what is happening in each other's world. With all the challenges and dangers that Israel faces, this issue has been shunted to the sidelines. But it is a very important issue. The State of Israel was born as a national home for the Jewish people. The Zionist leadership has always declared that the Jewish state belongs not only to its citizens but to Jews everywhere. We are responsible for one another and we have a commitment to each other. We are one family. But today, we are much less of a family. There is more assimilation, less sense of Jewish identity and a smaller Jewish lobby. The State of Israel is less Jewish and more a state of all its citizens. This kind of erosion does not bode well. It endangers our security, our identity, and above all, the lofty goals underlying the founding the state, for which we battled so fiercely and sacrificed so much. This disengagement process is a reversible one, but it will not reverse itself. Something must be done to change its course. What we need is some serious, meaningful, novel idea like that proposed by President Moshe Katzav, which I support and have been working to promote: the establishment of a Diaspora Parliament alongside the Knesset. This proposal has already set off a barrage of criticism, with the loudest voice being that of Prof. Shlomo Avineri. Prof. Avineri's chief objection is allowing the Jews of the Diaspora a say in the decision-making process when they themselves are not affected by those decisions. They have no right to influence if they don't bear the consequences. They are not the ones who will fight; they are not the ones who will pay the price. So don't interfere. This argument may sound convincing, but it doesn't hold water. The Jews of the Diaspora are very much affected by the decisions reached in Jerusalem, and very often they do pay the price. They are affected not only by decisions relating to "who is a Jew" and conversion, but by matters of state security, war and peace. The Jews of Argentina, for example, paid an intolerably high price when the Hezbollah avenged Israel's assassination of one of its leaders by blowing up the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. Hundreds of Jewish lives were lost that day. The Jews of Europe pay the price when Islamic organizations use them as pawns in their war against the State of Israel. And if they are affected, then why not allow them to voice their opinion? Why not invite them to sit down at the table with us to discuss issues that concern us all? True, there may be arguments, but isn't it better to argue than not to talk at all? Beyond the impact that establishing a Diaspora Parliament will have on Israel-Diaspora relations, it is likely to have a positive effect on internal conflicts in Israeli society, helping to free us from the rigid thinking that plagues us. I saw it happen with my own eyes a few weeks ago at a meeting of the Government of Israel-Jewish Agency Coordinating Committee, where the recommendation of the Ne'eman Commission to create a joint conversion institute was discussed. The minister of justice, Tommy Lapid, insisted that no compromise was possible, and it was imperative to break the Orthodox monopoly over conversion - no matter what. How surprised he was to discover that representatives of the non-Orthodox movements at the meeting were actually willing to compromise for the sake of Jewish unity - an objective that seemed more important to them than a victory over the Orthodox. There is no question that more frequent and open dialogue with the Jews of the Diaspora can be of great assistance to Israeli society. I am not deluding myself: Establishing a Diaspora Parliament is no simple matter, and there are many issues that have yet to be resolved. Who will sit in this parliament, and how will the delegates be elected to ensure that Diaspora Jewry is fairly represented? To whom will the recommendations of the parliament be submitted, and how much clout will they have? How will the influence of foreign governments be neutralized? And the list goes on. A great deal of thought and hard work will be needed to bring this idea to fruition - a process that has already begun. Nevertheless, I am convinced that such a parliament must be founded. The historic responsibility for the continuity and unity of the Jewish people rests on our shoulders. Even if the mission is not completed in our day, we cannot stand idly by. |
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THE DOOMSDAY BOOK OF JEWISH TRAITORS
Posted by Eliezar Edwards, September 19, 2004. |
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I have recently discovered an incredible website. Masada 2000 has put
together a list of Jews who hate Israel, Jews who want to see Israel
destroyed, Jews who use their Jewish identity to malign and slander
the Jewish state. As Masada says, "... they are a tiny minority. But
they get around."
You'll find photos of Adam Shapiro who shared his Wheaties with Arafat and Noam Chomsky, whose colloboration with neo Nazis has been more successful than his linguistic theories. There's a bio on Suzanne Goldenberg, reporter for the UK "Guardian" in Israel, who doesn't have a word of criticism for Arab terrorists - she saves it all for the Jews. And there's one on Amy Goodman of Pacifica Radio, a station that takes public money to preach Jew-hate. Some of the graphics are very funny but make serious statements on the evil of some of the people on the list. My favorite is the Tracing Evil to the Devil page. It depicts Neve Gordon of Ben Gurion University and his buddies, Norman Finkelstein and David Irving - three nasties - morphing into Hitler. I urge you to go look at
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ISRAEL REFERENDUM UPDATE
Posted by AFSI, September 19, 2004. |
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Dear Friend of Israel, Thank you for voting "No" to a Palestinian State in the heartland of Israel. Recently, I visited ground Zero where they are now preparing the foundation to build "The Freedom Tower." In President Bush's RNC speech he talked a lot about freedom. An excerpt from his speech reads, "I believe that America is called to lead the cause of freedom in a new century. I believe that millions in the Middle East plead in silence for their liberty. I believe that given the chance, they will embrace the most honorable form of government ever devised by man. I believe all these things because freedom is not America's gift to the world, it is the Almighty God's gift to every man and woman in this world." Throughout history, miraculous exploits to free mankind from oppression and tyranny have been told and retold of men and women who, in the face of death, said, "No." David said, "No" to Goliath, Daniel said "No" to the king's image, Our Founding Fathers said, "No" to British tyranny, and we are saying "No" to a Palestinian state in the heartland of Israel. To launch the final phase of the Israel Referendum Campaign, we are initiating what the media calls "a viral message." Millions of emails will be sent out via media sources and our voters. To create a viral message explosion, each voter needs to pass the referendum ballot on to his contact list, requesting that they pass it on to their contact list. Please forward this mail to your email contacts, and ask them to
vote "No" to a Palestinian state in the heartland of Israel by If you have any questions or would like to become a part of the Global Israel Alliances team to reach this world with the message of Israel, please contact me at 1 800 235 3658 or email me at khj@globalisraelallilance.com May we all continue to unite for a cause greater than ourselves, the Future and Hope of Israel! Kim Johnson
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A MESSAGE FOR THE NEW YEAR
Posted by Harv Weiner, September 19, 2004. |
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(Author unknown)
Isralert.com apologizes to those groups still in formation.
To modern, ultra & just plain Orthodox Jews, Charedi Jews, Misnagdim, Conservative, Conservadox, Reform, Reconstructionist, Reconstituted & ConForm Jews, Gartel Jews, non-Gartel Jews, Jews with sheitels & without, Tichel Jews, Sheitel, tichel & hat Jews, converted Jews, adult & child Jews, Frum from birth Jews, Baalei Teshuva, Satmar, Agudah, black hat, kipa s'ruga, Mir, Munkacs, Belz, Beta Yisrael, Bobov, Chaim Berlin, Y.U. Jews, payos in front of the ear Jews, payos in back of the ear Jews, kipa only in shul/ hat in shul/ no shul at all Jews, Mizrachi Jews, Jews by choice, Bathrobe on Friday night Jews, Likud Jews, Labor Jews, Meimad Jews, Ten Lost Tribes Jews, cardiac Jews, Irish Jews, Black Jews, White Jews, 3-day-a-year Jews, Rav Nachman Jews, Rav Shlomo Jews, Neturei Karta Jews, Hasidim, Telz, Lakewood & Ner Yisrael Jews, Chofetz Chaim Jews, zaftig Jews, skinny Jews, Fremeiners, Dinevers, Kook-ies, JTS, RJJ, HUC, HTC, MTJ, BMT Jews, Celebrity Jews, Generation X,Y & Z Jews, NCSY Jews, Solomon Schechter Jews, Chinuch Atzmai Jews, Fackenheim Jews, Yitz Greenberg Jews, Kahane Jews, Feminist Jews, Chauvinist Jews, egalitarian Jews, traditional Jews, Kaddish-zuger Jews, political Jews, intellectual Jews, ignorant Jews, tomato Jews & orange Jews, Shinui Jews, Shas Jews, Israeli Jews, American Jews, Persian Jews, Russian Jews, Galitzianers, Litvaks, Polacks, Birthright Jews, single Jews, married Jews, wish I was married Jews, Greener Jews, Redder Jews, Scandinavian Jews, South of the Border Jews, Italian Jews, Bald Jews, Hairy Jews, Canadian Jews, Latino Jews, Ladino Jews, Jews in kapatas, Jews in T-shirts, Jews in sandals, Jews in gym shoes, Jews in cowboy boots, Hungarian Jews, Czech Jews, Jews on the Hungarian-Czech Border Jews, Ashkenazim, Sefardim, Yemenite Jews, Afrikaaner Jews, Romanian Jews, Zionists, non-Zionists, anti-Zionists, post-Zionists, Jews with an accent, Jews who speak perfect Midwestern English Hebrew, Native American Jews, Anglo-Saxon Jews, French Jews, German Jews, Greek Jews, Indian Jews, Chinese Jews, Jew who likes David Levy Jews, Wannabee Jews, Conspiracy Theory Jews, Japanese Jews, Shayna Panim Jews, Meesekite Jews, Closet Jews, Shnorrers, Baalei Tzedaka, Tzadikim, Baynonim, Rashaim, Chacham-Tam-Ayno Yodea Jews, Chevramen & Forbisseners, kvetching Jews, Guta Neshama Jews, Vizhnitzer, Ger, Gerer, Chabadnik, Kohenim, Levi'im, Yisraelim, Machers, Mavens, & Pashet Jews, EVERYKIND of Jew in this vast Universe: May we all unite - without a fight! - and together ignite G-d's great light. May we see a sweet and blessed year together with a true peace. Shana Tova Umtuka! Harv Weiner IsrAlert, a Jewish advocacy network, is hosted by Harv Weiner. To subscribe to IsrAlert, send an email to isralert@aol.com |
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A PHONE CALL
Posted by Carrie Devorah, September 19, 2004. |
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Minutes ago I received a call from Dick, a "radio man" I met yesterday at the National Museum of American Indian media call. Dick was shaking his head over a phone message he just picked up. A dear friend lost a son. Kevin Shea is the first senior officer lost in Fallujah. "TV will be all over them by tomorrow." Dick was right. He didn't call me today to tell me that. He wanted to know words I told him comforted me when my brother was one of eleven commuters murdered by a bomb murderer while commuting, January 29th, to Jerusalem. He wants to remember them, to share, when he stands with his friends at Arlington after Kevin comes home. I had told Dick an email I received from one editor rose above traditional expressions of condolence offered to me that couldn't work. My brother did not die a death we are accustomed to. Neither does a warrior fallen in battle for God and his country. I told Dick, an upside of being a journalist is recognizing the weight words. A few months back I wrote an editorial addressing the etiquette of terrorist death including the editor's words which offered a genuine expression while I was reeling from the chaos, society wants to blanket as pain. No. Chaos. Insane acts upon loving hearts. She cushioned my world as I fell through the blackness, grieving for a future without him, eventually finding my way to being proud of our 41 years, and his gift of seven nieces and nephews. I read to Dick slowly the words I share with you. "He will be sorely missed." They all are. For eternity. Carry Devorah is an award winning photojournalist based in Washington, D.C. She is the sister of bomb murder victim Yechezkel Chezi Scotty Goldberg murdered January 29 2004 on Bus 19, in Jerusalem, one block away from Prime Minister Sharon's residence. She can be reached at carried@carrieon.com |
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GLICK: THE LEFT MUST GET OUT OF THE GUTTER
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, September 19, 2004. |
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The article by Carolyn Glick, "The Left Must Get Out
Of The Gutter" (www.jpost.com, 15 September 2004) is a dramatic
presentation of how vicious the Left has become in its war against the
Jews of the Right - and particularly those Jews they pejoratively call
"Settlers".
I would only add one reminder. In the early 1980s, I wrote several heads-up articles which spoke of the secret and illegal meeting that Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres had with Yassir Arafat to first pressure the Pioneering Settlers to leave their homes and then to use Arab Muslim Terrorist tactics to drive the Jews away from their homes. It was intended to be a "Phased Plan" to first cut off resources and security and then bribe those who had no ideological commitment to the land - with the remaining stalwart Jews either being driven out by specially trained soldiers and finally abandoned to Arafat's Arab Muslim Terrorist shock troops. The perpetrators of these secret plans were never indicted for dealing with an illegal Terrorist organization and simply moved onto Oslo. With Oslo they resurrected the Master Terrorist Arafat, made him legal, gave him and his Terrorists guns and land - and they killed Jews. What does Sharon think will pacify them now that he plans to reward them with all of Gush Katif? 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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IRAQ, GHANDI'S GRANDSON, SETTLEMENTS, AND OTHER ITEMS
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, September 19, 2004. |
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IRAQ & THE U.S. ECONOMY The war in Iraq was supposed to wind down but is ratcheting up. Terrorists are pouring into the country (so although the coalition liquidates many, more arrive). Anti-Americanism has grown, sabotage is increasing, and thousands of US troops have been wounded. The stock market disregarded what effect the war would have on the US economy. Unfortunately, the war is likely to escalate and may spread. The US is having difficulty winning a war fighting like a gentleman and according to rules demanded by a ruthless enemy that exempts itself from those rules. For example, the US avoids combat at mosques in which the enemy hides, and refrains from killing its leaders while the leaders enlist wider support against us. Meanwhile, Russia is training Iran and N. Korea in nuclear technology and missile-delivery. There are other terrorist threats. Oil prices are soaring, and interest rates are rising. The stock market is at risk (Dan Dorfman, NY Sun, 8/27, p.14). GHANDI'S GRANDSON FAVORS ARAFAT'S ARABS He sympathized with the Arab terrorist prisoners of Israel, asserted an Arab right of return, and alleged that Israeli counter-violence would not produce peace. He ignored the fact that refugees usually are integrated among their own people, not foisted upon their enemies (IMRA, 8/23). If Ghandi really were a pacifist, he would not sympathize with terrorists, who are the worst sort of aggressors. He claims they are fighting for freedom. By murdering children? By insisting that the Jewish people have no right to independence? His sympathy is perverse. Counter-violence can produce peace, if it conquers the aggressor. At least, it cannot be avoided when the Arab aggressor wants to keep fighting until it conquers the victim. His grandfather could lie down in front of a British tank and not be run over. A Jew cannot survive a bout of pacifism towards the Arabs. Pacifism does not deter genocide. There is no international right of return. He and others blithely allege such a right, without regard to international law or to common sense. The sizeable, hostile Arab population in Israel presents sufficient problems; an influx of many more would produce civil war, invasion, and genocide. Hence Ghandi's prescription is far from pacifistic. How would he like it if a couple of hundred million Pakistanis asserted a right of return to India, with the objective of conquering it and foisting its religion upon the current majority? I doubt he would. He would find it easier to be generous with the Jewish people's country than with his own. ARAB REACTION TO PROGRESS An Israeli communications company and the municipality of Jerusalem plan to introduce wireless fidelity (WiFi) service to the city. The new service would give residents access to the Internet without having to go through a telephone company. The Arab League condemned the project. It accused Israel of planning to liquidate the city's Arab identity and its historical and archeological features, and of serving Israeli interests under the pretext of seeking international investment. The Arab League claimed that the project violates international law and resolutions and indicates a lack of desire for peace (IMRA, 8/23). Why doesn't the League condemn the P.A. for actually destroying Jewish archeological features on the Temple Mount? It did not indicate how the project incurred any of the charges. The Arabs never do. They just accuse. This one sounds absurd. I think it is an oblique objection to Israeli rule. U.S. CHANGES STANCE ON SETTLEMENT CONSTRUCTION The US no longer opposes Israeli building in Jewish communities of Yesha within existing building lines. It still opposes construction outside the building lines even if within municipal boundaries. The change was attributed to election year politics. It is a minor change, if a change at all, to make Bush seem pro-Israel and Sharon seem to have US support. Not many houses could be built on empty lots and the grass between houses (IMRA, 8/21 & Arutz-7, 8/22). What would be Bush's policy if re-elected? How much credence should Israel place in the Road Map, which is being changed now at the President's whim and was changed by Sec. Powell and the rest of the Quartet in opposition to Pres. Bush's earlier assurances to Israel that the harsh provisions proposed by the rest of the Quartet would not be included. How much credence should people place in PM Sharon, who originally accepted the Map with 14, mostly significant reservations he has not reiterated as if he has dropped them? What is agreed to when one party writes down provisions that another party declares stricken from it? Why has State Dept. inconsistency on construction in Yesha, allowing Arabs but not Jews to build, not been criticized? The answer is simple. The major media do not analyze inconsistencies that would show US policy as pro-Arab. It is a policy of "Don't ask, don't answer." HIZBULLAH PROMISES AGGRESSION Asserting that it is battle-ready, Hizbullah admitted having designs on Israel itself, not just on Israel's former security zone in Lebanon. It wishes to come to the aid of Arafat's Muslims. This, it feels, is its religious duty. Its standard of ethics is to side with co-religionists against infidels. Israel has reported that Hizbullah is fighting it in Yesha. Hizbullah admits it (IMRA, 8/22). In other words, Hizbullah is fighting not for national independence but for jihad. That was the analysis of the Jewish nationalists, which is more rational than the analysis of Jewish leftists. The leftists base their assessments upon their ideology, i.e. upon wishful thinking. Since Hizbullah is fighting jihad, it was a big blunder to let it survive and build up its forces and position itself near the border with Israel. So far, it has killed only a few Israelis, but when Iran and Syria unleash it, its 13,000 missiles, would take their toll. That potential may be what intimidates Israel from wiping out Hizbullah to eliminate its support for Arafat's war. S. ARABIA BENEFITING FROM OIL PRICES S. Arabia had projected a budget deficit. Surging oil prices are providing a surplus (IMRA, 8/22). One does not hear of any Saudi generosity towards Iraq. Arab states seldom donate much for conflict resolution. They spend on conflict promotion. One way to reduce terrorism, promote the US economy, and lower otherwise uncontrolled medical costs would be to reduce combustion of oil, and therefore reduce the oil revenue behind terrorism. Sen. Kerry has made a statement in that behalf, but has not advanced a program for that or for much else. He has campaigned primarily on his controversial record in Vietnam, and then on condemning the Bush campaign for responding to it. His condemnation contends that Bush is evading national issues. Kerry hasn't? His evasion allows Bush to evade; his failure to criticize Bush more than superficially enables Bush to get away with dismantling much American progress. Kerry's vapid platform, demagogic deception, opportunism and unrealism about the world are frightening. I am afraid that one of the candidates will win. ISRAEL'S SECURITY FENCE Throughout history, defensive walls eventually fail. In the long run, Israel's security fence will be ineffective. Sometimes the Arabs dig under it; often they fire over it. Despite the criticism of it as a land grab, it reflects appeasement, for it is positioned too close to the Green Line. That placement signifies PM Sharon's willingness to evacuate most of Yesha. A fence, if built at all, should be as cages around the P.A. cities, to contain the terrorists, leaving the innocent Jews free access to the rest of Yesha. There is another flaw in the theory that fences provide security. This fence has numerous gates. Through those gates pass tens of thousands of Arabs into Jewish communities in Yesha and in Israel, to work. Among those Arabs are some terrorists. The US does not let day laborers in from Mexico, but demands that Israel let in dangerous day laborers from the P.A.. There is no alternative to military victory against fanatics (Prof. Steven Plaut, 8/22, email). Still another flaw is that a million Arab sympathizers of terrorism live inside Israel. P.A. DESCRIPTION OF BALATA REFUGEE CAMP P.A. literature describes the Balata refugee camp as having originated as a tent city. Eventually permanent structures were erected. Many services were lacking. The P.A. does not grant the residents citizenship, lest the refugee problem be resolved and the P.A. lose sympathy. The literature omits the fact that the foreign Arab countries refused to grant help to that and other refugee camps, and refused to let anyone else help the camps. They wanted the refugee problem to persist in order to have a cause to mobilize sentiment against Israel (Arutz-7, 8/22). They falsely blame Israel for the problem and make improper demands upon it to rectify it. FAILED POLITICIANS STRIVE FOR COMEBACK MK Shimon Peres had assumed the chair of the Labor Party temporarily, until the next elections, when the Party would field another candidate. Now that Labor seems to be moving towards elections, he wants to be the candidate. Former PM Barak had been defeated resoundingly because of his defeatist policies towards the Arabs (and for his neglect of other policies). He went into business and made a fortune. Now he is undermining Peres in order that he may re-enter politics. In other countries, obviously and objectively failed politicians would not so boldly return to the ring (Arutz-7, 8/22). Be suspicious about the fortunes made by Israeli politicians. Those fortunes seem the wages of corruption, in or out of office. TERRORIST PRISONER DEMANDS The more items on the list of Arab prisoners' demands one sees, the more effrontery they indicate. One is to bring visitors into immediate and physical contact with the prisoners, without delay at checkpoints. Barring that, children under 14 should not be searched (Arutz-7, 8/22). If children were not searched, their parents would have them conceal contraband. The P.A. has no scruples. Arab adults do not consider their word to infidels binding. Arab children have been indoctrinated to do their part. The prisoners, most of whom have committed serious acts of terrorism, would murder guards and stage escapes. The demands include some for kinder treatment of those undeserving fiends and others for facilitating terrorism and escape. EGYPT BEHIND ARMS SMUGGLING INTO P.A. Israel Radio accused Egypt of knowing just which weaponry is being smuggled into Israel from the Sinai, and of condoning it (IMRA, 8/24). The news brief did not cite the source for the charge. The charge is credible, given the bare terrain and Egypt being a dictatorship. EGYPT CALLS FOR BOYCOTT OF ISRAEL A government newspaper in Egypt accused Israel of committing brutal aggression in Yesha and the US of backing Israel in this. The editorial followed the "Non-Alignment" Movement's proposal to boycott Jewish residents of Yesha with a call to boycott the State of Israel (IMRA, 8/24). Brutality was by Egypt, when it barred medical attention for Israeli tourists wounded by an Egyptian soldier. It is inconceivable that Israel would have done that to Egyptians. Is the US wise to give $2 billion a year in military aid to that country, Egypt, which hates the US so much? Is Israel wise to bank on it peace treaty with Egypt, which hates it so much as to violates that treaty in various ways, as in calling for a boycott? In a sane and honest world, newspapers would call for a boycott of the P.A. for committing brutal aggression in Yesha and against Israel. If the US government disapproved of that aggression, would it continue to pour financial aid into the P.A.? HOW SHARON IS IMPOSING HIS ABANDONMENT PLAN Although PM Sharon has not put the abandonment plan to a Cabinet vote (nor discussed it except evasively), the government is proceeding with it. It set up a commission to make the arrangements for it, it has been training army units to drag Jews out of Yesha, and now it is calling for a vote to offer compensation to Israelis who agree to leave Yesha (Arutz-7, 8/24). ATTY.-GEN. MIGHT GET YESHA RESIDENTS CALLED WAR CRIMINALS Israel first denied the Hague Court's right to rule on Yesha, not it is falling in with the ruling. Attorney-General Mazuz is considering reversing Israeli policy that the Geneva Convention does not apply to Yesha. It does not apply to Yesha, because it applies only to an occupied area, and Israel does not occupy Yesha. To be occupied, an area must have been taken from a sovereign state. Yesha's status is that of the unallocated territory of the Mandate, meant for the Jewish national home and to which Israel is primary heir. The Mandate highlights the Jewish people's right to settle in it all. The Arabs voided their claim, a weak one to begin with, by making war. By voluntarily submitting itself to the Geneva Convention as an occupying power, Israel would forfeit the right to settle its citizens in the territory. The Jews in Yesha would become illegal residents and might even be charged with a war crime. If the Territories were considered occupied, then Israel's claim to some neighborhoods in Jerusalem also might be deemed occupied, because they were part of Yesha until annexed (Arutz-7, 8/24). Jerusalem neighborhoods (and the Golan) would erroneously be deemed occupied, because even if they had been enemy territory, Israel as victim of aggression has a right to annex territory needed for national security against prospective repeated aggression. The world does not think in legal terms about Israel. It thinks in antisemitic terms, rationalizing anything against the Jews. Why would leftist Israelis put Israel into that embarrassing position? They are antisemitic, too. This is an example of phony legalism that hurts the Jewish people but supports the leftist ideology of finding any means to get Israelis out of Yesha. They naively imagine that this would make peace with the real war criminals, the Arabs. (I'm not name-calling. The P.A. Arabs use human shields and ambulances for terrorism, fight out of uniform, and deliberately attack civilians. Those all are Arab policy and war crimes.) The Far Left has moved from striving for peace, to identifying with the Arabs, to hating their fellow Jews, especially religious ones. RE-ROUTING OF SECURITY FENCE The so-called security fence is being re-routed mostly along the Green Line. Thus turns it from a security fence into a political one, since it abandons much Jewish development and would let the Arabs overlook Ben-Gurion International Airport and other critical areas (Arutz-7, 8/24). The new route of the security fence cuts off one of the two main highways linking the Tel Aviv region to Jerusalem. In determining where the route should go - by ruling that it must not impede Arab access to their fields -- the Supreme Court usurped government power (IMRA, 8/25). I object to US government pressure on Israel to re-route the fence, and do not respect Israel for acceding to it. Israel often succumbs to foreign pressure. Note that this pressure, which would seem to put Israelis' current safety at risk and puts Israel's future at risk by facilitating a withdrawal from beyond the Green Line, comes from the Bush Administration. Many Jews are voting for G. Bush as a protector of Israel. He is not its protector, though that does not make Kerry an attractive alternative on that issue. It is with ill grace that PM Sharon proceeds with fence-building, now that the fence is counter-productive, budget-breaking, and often fired over by rockets. The capital of the country is perilously close to Arab areas. Leaving the Arabs in position to sever one of its two major arteries, is unwise. The Court jeopardized the heart of the country. SECRET SERVICE SUED FOR ORDERING DECEPTIVE MARRIAGE An Orthodox Israeli is suing the secret service for ordering its secularist agent to marry her, so he could spy on her community without arousing suspicion. The newly observant young man had declared himself dedicated to a Jewish life in Yesha. He often was away, working hard but providing little financial support. Three babies later, the wife deposes, she confronted him and he had his handlers admit to her that they had ordered the marriage to provide cover for his secret service work in her community. They denied that he was a provocateur and claimed that he was just protecting Jews from extremists. When she filed for a divorce, they had seven children and she found out that he was well paid. Now divorced, he withholds much of the child support. As a result of this "protection", her life was ruined and her children had an absentee father. What a shameful, police-state tactic and personal misbehavior! (Arutz-7, 8/24.) MUSLIMS USE ISRAEL AS PRETEXT FOR ARMS RACE A London-based Saudi journalist declared that countries in the Mideast misstate their military build-ups as intended against Israel. So declared Saddam, shortly before invading Kuwait. Now Iran declares that its nuclear development (which it denies is a military build-up) is designed against Israel. Iran also has built up a massive battery of artillery, hardly likely to fire on Israel, far out of range. The journalist points out that although Iran sponsors Hizbullah fighting against Israel, it does not have confrontations with Israel. He concludes that Iran's build-up is aimed at its neighbors. Iran has had armed confrontations with S. Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Azerbaijan. Iran's neighbors then seek more arms (IMRA, 5/25 from MEMRI). Iran has transferred rockets and missiles to Hizbullah. Perhaps the artillery is next. TERRORIST LEADERS FREQUENTLY ARRESTED Just about every week, Israeli news sources report the arrest of a commander of P.A. terrorists. Israeli forces make these arrests. P.A. forces do not. Obviously Israel opposes terrorism and the P.A. does not. Exhorting the P.A. to crack down on terrorism and prompting it to "try harder" have no basis. They either are self-deceptive or intended to deceive audiences. WHY POLITICIANS FOLLOW FAILED POLICIES What is more pathetic and more tragic than politicians following a demonstrably failed policy? Why do they do it? Why can't the first politician to implement the policy realize instead that it is not feasible or successor politicians not realize it failed? A contributing factor simply is reluctance to admit error. Imagine if Pres. Bush or Sen. Kerry admitted to making a mistake. The opposition would make the mistake a case for electoral victory. The basic factor is rooted deeper in the psyche. Political theories often originate as a catchy statement that slips into people's consciousness without analysis. Popularized, it becomes the prevailing wisdom of the day, however unwise. Although the human species is known for adaptability, it is slow to re-examine political theories. Youth tends towards change, but it often is thoughtless change. Older people incline to favor stability, but it often is thoughtlessly conservative. The result may be harmful change or painful status quo. People identify themselves too much with their theories to relinquish them gracefully. People who consider themselves open-minded may be more open to fads than to re-examination of political theories. Consider the policy of appeasement. In the memories of older folks, appeasement has been tried successively and unsuccessfully with three major movements: Nazism, Communism, and Islamism. The failure of the policy with the previous movement did not give pause to advocates of it for the second and third movements. Neither did the success of the reverse policy of fighting the first two movements down. Who can negotiate a reasonable compromise with unreasonable fanatics? It is impossible. Time to admit it! Appeasement is the key issue of the current Presidential campaign, but neither camp realizes it. Both camps discuss how they would deal with Islamism, but what they say may not be what they would do. Pres. Bush seems to have pulled back from his initial policy of taking the fight to the enemy and winning it. He is satisfied with still getting credit for that policy without having to pursue it. I wonder whether he ever were serious about it. The 9/11 attack was too dramatic for him to ignore it, so he fought two countries. His resolve seems remarkable only because it followed a President who had no resolve. Sen. Kerry urges more reliance upon the UNO and on a broader coalition. Countries outside the coalition have made plain their reluctance to enter it. The UNO is too much under Islamist and anti-American influence to help fight Islamism. Is that so difficult for him to understand? Yes, when he has the opposite mind-set and his advisors are appeasement-minded. If the Democrats could be objective, they would realize that Pres. Clinton's policy on terrorism let terrorism build up and left us open to attack. They would not want to emulate him on foreign policy. Instead, Sen. Kerry has selected or considered as foreign policy advisors some of the Clinton officials responsible for our weak approach to terrorism or some earlier officials who condoned the Arab build-up. Too bad Kerry didn't consult people with workable ideas, and direct his campaign to contend that Bush has done too LITTLE against terrorism! The Democratic Party reflects hedonist democracy's great failure - people wanting benefits without having to pay for them: costly medical insurance without tax increases; safety without fighting to eradicate terrorism. The GOP increased Medicare benefits with a deficit, and rests on its laurels in fighting terrorism while terrorists in unchallenged countries build up. Both actually would weaken a US ally to confer statehood upon a group of terrorists under Arafat or his equally jihadist successors. Nader? He appeals to fellow Arab voters with a particularly anti-American type of anti-Semitism - that US Jewry and not the oil companies, run US foreign policy for private interests, and that US Jewry is disloyal and not US Arabs, who hate US culture and donate for terrorism to destroy it - and worse coddling of terrorists than his rivals. There is domestic policy to consider. Could the candidates get beyond platitudes and military records? 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 ISRAEL REFERENDUM. PLEASE SIGN
Posted by Jerome S. Kaufman, September 19, 2004. |
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The Web page IsraPundit.com has been kind enough to help circulate a general petition wherein any interested citizen can register his opinion as to whether or not there should be a Palestinian State. Please read additional information below and then take a moment to go to the designated web page and vote. Thank you for your help. THE ISRAEL REFERENDUM - BULLETIN #1 Israel Referendum" is an initiative sponsored by AFSI (Americans for a Safe Israel) and GIA (Global Israel Alliance). In contrast to conventional petitions, the Israel Referendum asks people, "Do you support the creation of a PLO state in the Land of Israel? - yes/no". The object is to collect signatures and present them next month to President Bush and the Congress. The referendum is open to all - US citizens as well as non-citizens, regardless of religion. The goal of the project is to receive up to one million votes, with the vast majority presumably voting against such a state. The organizers then plan to put all the ballots in an 18-wheel tractor-trailer and drive them to the White House, followed by tens of thousands of supporters, in advance of the presidential elections. The message to President Bush will be: "Your core group of 20 million voters will vote for you if you adopt a policy against a Palestinian state - but about a quarter of them will stay home and not vote at all if you ignore them on this issue." The emphasis on US Christians, the core constituency of President Bush, is more than obvious. Since the Referendum's inception, however, several non-Christian individuals and groups, both in the US and throughout the world, have demanded that they too be included, so the Israel Referendum is now open to all, even though the emphasis on US Christians remains in place. Now, please take out a minute to vote "No to a PLO state in the Land of Israel". The ballots are available at
http://www.globalisraelalliance.com/referendum/ref.html.
Jerome Kaufman is host of the http://www.israel-commentary.org website, which specializes in essays and commentaries of importance to events in Israel. Contact him at jkaufman253469MI@comcast.net |
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A QUESTION OF RELATIVE DANGER
Posted by "Yoel Ben-Avraham, September 19, 2004. |
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Over the weekend I attended the Bar Mitzvah of a friend's child. At the 'seudah' I sat together with the leaders of several Torah observant communities. One of the rabbis challenged me (that is the best word to describe it) to explain why communities in Yesha should not be uprooted if they are "relatively dangerous". Specifically it appeared to this individual that soldiers were risking their life without warrant. Worse yet he felt that parents raising children in these "relatively dangerous" communities were in some way wrong for endangering their children's lives by living there. If I needed an example of why I established this blog, this is it! This was not a secular athiest, not some "ultra-Orthodox" rebbi cut off from the twenty-first century. This was the spiritual leader of a community that supports Israel, in fact many of its members made Aliyah and others still dream of doing it. Here is the leader - teacher of a community expressing in public his agreement with the principle of uprooting Jews from their homes in the Land of Israel as a reward to terror. Forget the halachic implications, simply the moral implications are enough! This man is an example of the kind of person who sees himself as a supporter of Israel, perhaps even Yesha, but still succumbs to the 'big lie' and intellectual and moral weakness. Who is willing to write a reasoned and yet passionate reply to this man and all those like him? This is what "Yesha Speaks Out" is all about! Below, there's a very Jewish response by Yossi Shomron, who lives in Neve Dekalim, Gaza, Israel. It's entitled: "Everything you ever wanted to know about Gush Katif..." The importance of Gush.Katif is primarily as an integral part of Eretz Yisroel (land of Israel) as is Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Hebron, Tzafat etc. It is included in the borders as defined by G-d in the Torah and given to the Jewish people for eternity. No Israeli government has the moral/religious right to give it away to foreigners (Arabs). Many ask whether Gush Katif is an asset or liability to the State of lsrael and whether it should be "kept" therefore. A Jew who believes in G-d would not ask such a question as the Gaza Strip is part of G-d's gift to the descendants of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob (the Jewish nation). The question is a form of "internal Jewish racism. " Do 20 Jewish towns need to justify their existence on how much they contribute to the rest of that nation or how much they cost the rest of the nation? Does Jewish presence in Gaza add to Israel's security? Who cares; does Tel Aviv add to my security? Does Kiryat Shemona next to Lebanon add to Haifa's security? Does Alaska add to California's security? No community of Jews in the Land of lsrael should have to justify its' existence on how it adds or detracts from the security of nearby towns of Jews. No one town of Jews is more important than another. Could one say Ashkenazi Jews are more important to the State of Israel than Sephardi Jews because the latter have a higher rate of crime and imprisonment and cost the country more money? An obscene question! If the nation is threatened by Arabs in the Gaza Strip, wipe out the enemy -not your own citizens' towns in that area. At all costs using all available military means available to the State. Because the government has not vanquished the enemy quickly and therefore at low cost financially and politically; nations of the world have applied increasing pressure on Israel. Our citizens grow weary of war and want to "cut and run" to appease the Arab enemy. After 100 years of Arab war, I can emphatically say that only a decisive defeat will bring us peace. Israel has won many battles but never finished off the enemy with unconditional surrender. The 100 year war was over our national existence in an " Arab/Moslem middle east" not over territories won in 1967. Therefore, the giving away of such territories will.not buy peace. Only after Israel wins a decisive war, removes the vast majority of Arabs(who identify with the enemy) from our land and maintain a very threatening posture to any country that would dare to attack it. There are no quick fixes for "peace now." As a believing Jew, I do not want to coexist with Arabs. G-d did not take the Jews out of Egypt to live in a binational state of Israel/Palestine. We Jews have a religious/national purpose in the land of Israel fulfilling a Torah way of life. Large numbers of even peaceful non-Jews in the land would at best interfere with the national purpose and certainly lead to a religious/cultural assimilation and intermarriage. Multiculturalism is good for America, not for Israel between Jews and non-Jews within the Land. "Good coexistence" means Jews living in their one state and Arabs in their 20 plus states maintaining good and proper neighborly relations - trade, tourism, exchange in science, industry, agriculture etc. Perhaps. If I were solely concerned about safety I wouldn't live in Israel or the Orthodox area of Milwaukee, WI for that matter. Giving up parts of the Land of Israel in the pursuit of safety is not a Torah commandment. Actually, here in Gush Katif, we have no local crime. We have no rapes, no murders, no robbers, no muggings, no child abductions, not even graffiti on public property. We do have terrorist attacks from Gazan Arabs. Is life here more dangerous than other areas of Israel that have more crime but less terrorism; or in the central parts of American cities where so many Orthodox Jews live? Who knows. Without a thorough statistical analysis, danger is a matter of perception. Sara Layah and I feel safer here than we ever felt living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Remember, the focus of foreign media here is on terrorism; the result is a perception of Israel as a place of war and terror. The entire State of Israel with 6 plus million citizens has about the same number of murders as the city of Phoenix, Arizona with one million people. Are the 80,000 Jews of Phoenix putting their children in danger by living there? The Jews here in Gush Katif didn't compare crime statistics with Tel
Aviv before moving here. We're here to reclaim our G-d given
inheritance. We're fulfilling a great commandment of G-d to live and
settle the Land of Israel. Tel Aviv has plenty of Jews and a consensus
for its' inclusion in Israel among most Israelis. Gush Katif, like
many outlying areas doesn't have enough Jews and such consensus. We
need to rectify this.
"Yoel Ben-Avraham is publisher of Yesha Speaks Out
(http://www.YeshaSpeaksOut.org).
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DOES THE U.S. SPREAD DEMOCRACY? AND OTHER ITEMS
Posted by Richard Shulman, September 19, 2004. |
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So many double standards are applied to the Jewish people, that they are the dominant way of treating Jews. When a double standard is exhibited in an indignant manner towards the Jews, the hypocrisy is particularly grievous - insult added to injury. Double standards are of two types: calculated and instinctive. "Instinctive" ones are inadvertent but nevertheless painful. An example of an instinctive one is the swift condemnation of Israeli assertion or enforcement of Jewish rights as a "provocation" towards the Muslims. By contrast, Muslim leaders rail in their mosques, on TV, and through their press, calling for murder in the name of non-existent rights against other faiths, such as the right to exclusive worship at the holy sites in Hebron and Jerusalem. They mob infidels and desecrate rival faiths' holy places, but are not called provocative. What great sensitivity towards Islam is exhibited by other faiths! It is taken for granted by the Muslims as due them. Whence originates this one-way sensitivity? I think it stems from political correctness, which is synonymous with short-sighted appeasement of die-hard enemies. The word, "sensitivity," has become an element of political correctness in the appeasement of fanatics. That kind of "sensitivity" amounts to insensitivity to the victims and potential victims of the fanatics. Avoiding "provocation" of Muslims is a dhimmi mentality, whereby non-Muslim subjects display obeisance towards Muslims. It is impossible to win Muslim good will. When Muslims are told that infidels are "arrogant," i.e., self-respecting, a mob bursts out of the mosque to spill infidels' blood. Were countries still self-contained, having homogenous or harmonious cultures, there would be no provocation. That does not describe our world, anymore. It has not been like that since Sen. Kennedy objected to the US immigration quotas as discriminatory. He changed them to encourage diversity. Now there are a couple of million Muslims in our country, constantly finding themselves "provoked," even as they are tolerated. More millions in Western Europe, demanding an end to diversity there, not by returning to the Islamic world but by imposing their failed ways upon the native peoples. Any native objection is called a provocation. The aggressors pose as the victims. Victims who object are labeled "fascists" by fascists who label themselves "progressive." Is it progressive of these left-wing fascists to defend the right to trample the rights of the natives, who are supposed to submit meekly to backward fanatics, because after having fended off the Muslim onslaught some hundreds of years ago, they went on the offensive until mid-twentieth century? The Crusaders' non-imperialist descendants are supposed to inherit guilt, while the imperialist Muslims are supposed to be excused from actual guilt. DOES AMERICA SPREAD DEMOCRACY? The Bush Administration must know the difference between right and wrong or at least the difference between what is popular and what it wants. It enunciates admirable polices but implements miserable ones. An honest Democrat must envy how inspiringly Pres. Bush repeatedly articulated a war on international terrorism. The speeches go on but that war has stalled. It cost too much, though less than the damage from a single atomic bomb by a terrorist state we let exist. Likewise, Bush declares US policy to be the spread of democracy. In that he is not the first. It is a limited program. He doesn't call for democracy in China and for China to leave it blossoming in Taiwan and Hong Kong. He is not pressing for it in the P.A.. Not from Bush will one hear that Arafat was not democratically elected and his term has expired. What Bush presses upon the P.A. is dollars, good, old, US taxpayers' revenue. It is called "humanitarian" aid. That means that it doesn't go directly for terrorism, it goes to the people who overwhelmingly support terrorism. Likewise, the US dictates to Israel contrary to what its electorate voted. SAUDIS SQUANDER MILLIONS ON PUBLIC RELATIONS Periodically and ever more frequently, S. Arabia puts some of our petrodollars to work on a P.R. campaign. The desert kingdom tries to reassure Americans that it is not an enemy, is not fanatical, not dictatorial, and not antisemitic. You know, it is not all the things that define S. Arabia. What the English-language P.R. campaign might achieve in painting those over-heated haters into demure democrats with great family values constantly gets undone by remarks in Arabic or even in English from segments of the ruling circle. Prince this and Prince that can't restrain themselves from depicting the US as an enemy, Arab terrorism as a Zionist plot, and the media that criticizes S. Arabia as subjective and owned by Zionists (though it calls mostly for Israeli concessions). On his website, Saudi professor al-Omar declared that the US is collapsing, as tens of thousands of Muslims have joined the American Army. He was depicting that enlistment (which I hope is as exaggerated as most Saudi statements), as not protecting the US but subverting it (Steven Stalinsky of MEMRI, NY Sun, 8/25, p.7). That last depiction reflects a double standard. The Arabs openly advocate dual loyalty. To the Arabs, who on the whole dislike the US, dual loyalty means disloyalty. Arabs believe that government employees should represent their ethnic, national, or religious group, not their country as a whole. Nobody else accuses them of dual loyalty, but the Arabs and some government agencies have accused or implied that Jews have dual loyalty in behalf of Israel, which is an ally of the US. Probably a few Jews out of several million ignore orders against Israel. Antisemites would make their case on those few, and ignore the Arabs. They also ignore the dual loyalty of gentile US officials who undermine our ally, Israel, in behalf of special interests. EGYPT REDUCING COUNTRY'S ISLAMISM? The government has decreed that al-Azhar's 6,000 religious schools become public schools. Following the public school curriculum, those schools are supposed to drop most of their religious education. Al-Azhar also was ordered not to set up religious departments in colleges. Fans of al-Azhar have an explanation. It is the usual Arab explanation. The Zionists and the Americans are responsible for the change. Not the Egyptian government, but outsiders. Didn't the Americans begin to criticize al-Azhar for fanaticism? (The Arabs have popularized the inanity that a few Jewish neo-conservatives, not the National Security Advisor, not the Secretary of State, and not the gentile neo-conservatives control US foreign policy in behalf of the Jewish people.) So far, the decisions have not been implemented (IMRA, 8/21). Most news is about decisions to make decisions, often trial balloons or posturing. EGYPT LOSING PRESTIGE IN AFRICA S. Africa was chosen over Egypt to host African parliamentarians and African sports. Egypt became concerned that it was losing prestige in Africa. Africa is of concern to it, because southern Africa is where its Nile waters originate, and there are security considerations. An Egyptian diplomat lamented this new development and decried it in view of Egypt's having sent peacekeepers and relief supplies to Sudan. IMRA points out that Egypt did not send any (Op. Cit.). Egypt opposed pressure on Sudan to stop its genocide. LACK OF NATIONAL IDENTITY IN ARAB STATES Masses of Arab families have been living in certain Arab states for generations, without having been allowed to become citizens. When foreign Arabs marry native ones, the offspring may or may not receive citizenship, depending on whether the particular state confers citizenship upon the children of fathers or of mothers. One may not think that this matters in dictatorships that lack many basic human rights. It does have practical effects. In various Arab countries, education and jobs are based on national quotas. Other rights affected by citizenship, too. "Jordan has a Palestinian problem, Kuwait has an Iraqi problem, Egypt has a problem with anyone who isn't Egyptian, and Lebanon has a problem of the demographic balance between ethnic groups, so that if it grants citizenship to a Sunni, it must also grant citizenship to a Christian or a Shiite. The beautiful slogans of Arab unity smash on the rocks of citizenship. The Arabic language and the Islamic religion have not been enough to produce a common Arab identity ever since the Arab nation states were created." Ironically, the staunchest opponents of reform are the Islamists, who care not for national boundaries. They object to reforms likely to equalize women (IMRA, 8/21). Some countries worry that if they freely grant citizenship, their resources and rights would be swamped by the new Arab citizens, who literally are clannish. Rulers fear that their right to rule would be challenged. Some assert that they wish to maintain the Palestinian identity and keep the refugee problem alive (as a tool against the Jewish state). This may be just an excuse. These concerns are of personal and ethnic privilege and of turf. They arose from the division of Turkey's former empire among the Arabs into separate states with separate ruling classes. The differences are only slightly due to different national feeling. The Arabs often do not have a sense of pan-Arab nationality. They conceive of themselves as individuals, families, clans, tribes, ethnic groups, countries, and religions, vis-a-vis opposing individuals, families, clans, tribes, ethnic groups, countries and religions, during some controversy. It is on this fractured Arab society that US policy on Iraq is foundering. The US opposed the division of Iraq into its natural Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdish components. Those three groups, however, are jealous of their autonomy and the Arab ones seek to dominate. SYRIA CONDEMNS ALL KINDS OF TERRORISM EXCEPT "RESISTANCE" (IMRA, 8/21.) "Resistance" is the term the Arabs misuse to cover their aggression against the Jewish state. In the topsy-turvy Arab parlance, they call Jewish self-defense, and even Israel's existence, "aggression." Thus the Arabs condemn all kinds of terrorism except terrorism against Israel. Actually, having become genocidal, the racist Arabs count terrorism against all Jews as "resistance," for they do not distinguish between the Jews of Israel and elsewhere. To them, it is legitimate to murder Jewish children but not German children. I think that when they move on Germany, they will rationalize murdering German children. The Arabs believe that the ends justify the means, so they find an excuse to do anything. IRAN & S. AFRICA AGREE TO DEFENSE COOPERATION That means technical and industrial cooperation, not particularly movement of forces. S. Africa has military technology furnished by Israel. Iran probably will get its hands on that. Then it could devise counter-measures (IMRA, 8/21). When advanced countries try to make money from their military technology, they risk its falling into the hands of enemies. 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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CASUALTY FIGURES, HUMAN SHIELDS AND OTHER ITEMS
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, September 19, 2004. |
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FALSE P.A. CASUALTY FIGURES FOR PROPAGANDA After presenting accusatory Palestinian Authority (P.A.) casualty statistics (from Palestinian Center for Peace and Justice), the St. George Orthodox Information Service's Summer 2004 newsletter acknowledged an Israeli side, but didn't present it. Allow me to. This is not a "tit-for-tat" war, as editorialized. The P.A. broke its peace agreement to wage a war of attrition, deliberately striking civilians. Israel seeks to stop the bombardment of Israeli homes and liquidate the terrorist leaders of this war criminality. It should not be difficult for upholders of morality to choose between war criminals and their victims. Then why such doleful casualty statistics? Three reasons. (1) PLO casualty statistics are notoriously false. In a totalitarian society, all groups are marshaled to make propaganda, without regard to truth. Examples: (a) A couple of years ago, Arafat's agents were making publicity out of the funeral of a man allegedly killed by the Israeli Army. When the cortege heard Israeli helicopters approaching, it scattered. The "corpse," too, rose and hid. (b) During the War in Lebanon, the Palestinian Red Crescent accused Israel of wantonly destroying cities and producing 600,000 Lebanese refugees. Almost all of the destruction occurred earlier and from intra-Arab combat. The whole population of that part of Lebanon was less than 600,000. There was a smaller surge of refugees, but rather than fleeing the Israeli Army, they were following it back to their homes that Israel was liberating from a PLO dictatorship! (2) The P.A. attributes many natural deaths and deaths by its own, careless gunmen to Israel. Human rights organizations counted the deaths of gunmen not in uniform as "civilian." The P.A. exhorts children to engage in battle; the Arabs do not clear their children from combat zones; and P.A. gunmen fire from behind civilians. Those are war crimes. (3) Another P.A. war crime is to conceal troops and weapons in ambulances. Hence Israel has to examine them. If the P.A. didn't sneak terrorists into Israel, checkpoints would not be needed. Blame the Arabs for them, not Israel. If Israel were so tough, it would end checkpoints by barring the tens of thousands of Arab enemy aliens from entering Israel to work. P.A., Saudi, and other weekly mosque sermons broadcast over Arab TV urge the murder of Americans, Christians, and Jews. Thus the Arab-Israel conflict is part of an international jihad, something like the old Nazi and Communist drive to conquer the world. The original jihad centuries ago took Orthodox Christianity by surprise. Be not overtaken likewise, again! HUMAN SHIELDS P.A. terrorists use human shields to deter Israeli counter-fire or to denounce Israel if the deterrence fails. Under international law, it is a war crime for troops to invest civilian areas. Doing so changes the status of those areas to military ones not protected against enemy fire. Being civilized, Israeli forces are reluctant to fire back. The terrorists count on that conscience. In Iraq, al-Sadr is protecting his insurgency by stationing his forces in the Shiites' holiest site. It is too holy to shoot into, he says, but not too holy for his men to shoot out from. If the US forces attack his forces and damage it, we are told, millions of Shiites would become enraged against the US. They aren't already? Seems to me they damn us if we do and damn us if we don't. They have a double standard in entering combat but telling us it is a sacrilege for us to. Meanwhile, thousands of Shiite civilians are volunteering as human shields. They have forfeited consideration. Suppose the US destroyed all the Muslim shrines, including the main ones in S. Arabia. Would the religion survive? FOREIGN ARABS TO POLICE P.A. ARABS? The P.A. does not adequately govern its territory nor negotiate peace. The answer might be to bring Egyptian and Jordanian forces into the Territories, to discipline Arafat and stop his war. Unfortunately, those states are diverted by their own problems (Max Singer, NY Sun, 8/18, p.10). Before proposing that Israel relinquish its patrimony in the Territories to the Arabs, Mr. Singer might review how those states controlled the Territories before. They kept the local population economically undeveloped, somewhat as prisoners, restricted in their exercise of religion, and with an outlet in terrorism. Israel had to invade the Sinai in 1957, to clear out the terrorist bases. From Judea-Samaria, Jordan bombarded Jerusalem in 1967 and instructed its army to exterminate any Jewish residents of cities it conquered. Would Singer recommend a re-run? It is naive to expect Arabs from one area to halt a jihad by Arabs in another. The "Axis of Evil" cooperates mostly with each members against infidels. Instead of treading water strategically, in the hope that the fanatical Arabs will make peace genuinely after violating many agreements, Mr. Singer and Jews in general ought to advance Israel's position against its totalitarian foes. B'TSELEM: CIVIL RIGHTS OR PROPAGANDA ORGANIZATION? When Arafat's terrorists made it their practice to assault Israelis on roads running through Arab towns, Israel built separate roads for its people. B'tselem does not explain that objectively but in terms of Arab propaganda. "The roads regime, which is based on separation through discrimination, bears clear similarities to the racist apartheid regime that existed in S. Africa until 1994." B'tselem condemns the separate road system for assuming that all the Arabs pose a risk. Unlike other anti-Israel "human rights" organizations, B'tselem acknowledges that Israel has the right to take measures in self-defense. However, it condemns the roads as violating Arab rights. B'Tselem gives away its own bias by ignoring Israel's reduction in checkpoints and lifting of closure and condemning most Israeli defense measures, without suggesting any. The hateful language about apartheid expresses that bias (IMRA, 8/16). The justification for separate roads is self-evident. I would reduce the number of checkpoints by not allowing any Arabs to enter Israel or Israeli communities in Yesha. I do not respect B'tselem's concern for "rights" of a belligerent population engaged in jihad and genocide. Those who cite apartheid do not know what it was. Apartheid imposed separate residency and lower wages on a non-threatening, presumed inferior race. Israel neither imposes those things nor considers the Arabs inferior. The P.A. bars Jewish residence, considers Jews inferior, and wants to exterminate them. Which side, then, is racist? What then is B'tselem? SECURITY FENCE NOT WORKING Arms, including rockets, are being smuggled into Judea-Samaria, despite the fence. Arabs in Judea-Samaria also are manufacturing rockets, for even ones of short range can over-fly the security fence (Prof. Steven Plaut, 8/17, e-mail). This was foreseen by Jewish nationalists but not by the Sharon regime, which has been spending billions upon the fence. The P.A. has made a lot of money supplying cement for the fence. Wonder if there are any kickbacks to Sharon officials. U.S. DEMANDS THAT SYRIA RELEASE LEBANON The US government asserts that it is time for Syria to stop occupying Lebanon (IMRA, 8/17). The US did not explain why that time is now and not years earlier when Israeli forces withdrew from Lebanon, nor years before that, when the UN passed a resolution calling for it. Perhaps the explanation s that the US is waking up to the existence of an evil axis and an international jihad, which Syria supports though its control of Lebanon. IRAN OPENLY PROPOSES ATTACKING U.S. The Iranian media features national leaders' plans to attack the US. The supreme ruler boasts that his missiles soon will be unleashed, especially if the US attacks Iran. His acolytes express readiness to launch missiles, on his word. They state their goal as jihad and destruction of our country. Agents of their government have been captured in the US, videotaping ordinary sites whose only feature in common and of interest is their capacity to hold crowds. They also filmed famous national sites. An Iranian legislator describes the Muslims here as "time bombs within America." (Steven Stalinsky of MEMRI, NY Sun, 8/18, 2004.) What should our reaction be to an immigration policy for diversity that introduces "time bombs"? IRANIAN MISSILES AIMED AT ISRAEL Iran's Lebanese protege, Hizbullah, has thousands of short-range missiles aimed at Israel. Iranian Revolutionary Guards alongside them control newer, longer-range missiles (Benny Avni, NY Sun, 8/18, 2004). Sometimes Hizbullah fires at Israeli cities. INTERPRETING THE ISSUANCE OF BUILDING PERMITS IN YESHA The Sharon regime has issued about a thousand building permits in Judea-Samaria, for houses within the building lines of Jewish towns. This set off criticism of Israel for violating the Road Map, which it had approved. (Critics do not quote from the Road Map. US and Israeli positions about it have changed so many times that I am not clear about what was agreed to, and, I believe, neither are the governments involved. If I recall, Israel agreed not to build beyond existing building lines but did not agree to prevent building within them. In any case, the Map is something that the government of Israel had no right to agree to and the US had no right to demand.) Ariel Sharon is a formidable tactician. Instead of viewing the permits as his defiance of the US, interpret it as a deal between the US and Sharon. Sharon can pretend he still is nationalist and thereby retain power to do the anti-nationalist bidding of the State Dept.. This offer of permits may be intended to neutralize Likud Party opposition to Sharon's bringing the Labor Party into the governing coalition in order to put over massive withdrawal. He would pursue ever-expanding withdrawal from Yesha. If the communities that got the permits join the protest, Sharon would rescind the permits. (Israeli government is nothing if not arbitrary.) When he forces widespread evacuation, what good for Jewish claims to the Territories would those permits have been? Anything built on them would be demolished or turned over to the Arab terrorists. Those who objected to the permits would be shown to have been phony or manipulated into indignation, and those who rejoiced over the permits would be shown to have been duped. Israelis must learn to perceive Sharon and the State Dept. as duplicitous connivers, before it is too late (Winston Mid East Analysis, 8/17). NEW SOURCES SOUGHT FOR ISRAELI DRAFT Israeli Army enlistments have fallen. Accordingly, a commission has recommended tapping the currently exempt ultra-Orthodox and Arab sectors. The Arabs would be called up for civilian national service rather than military service, because they would object to fighting against Arab enemies. Their term of service would be one year, and it would be called "civil service" because they do not want to be considered part of the same nation as the Jews (Arutz-7, 8/17). What was proposed to eliminate the secularist youth's abuse of exemptions, whose excessiveness greatly reduces the draft pool? What arrangements were suggested to protect the ultra-Orthodox from the secular hostility encountered by the few who tried military service before, and from the immorality of secularist troops who seem preoccupied with pre-marital sex? Why only one year for Arabs, when Jewish men are drafted for three years and are subject to recalls? If the Arabs would not come to their country's defense against Arab invaders, and if they refuse to perform "national service," why not rescind their citizenship and the privileges that accompany it? Isn't it time to consider them a fifth column? P.A. LIKENS ARAB REFUGEES TO HOLOCAUST VICTIMS P.A. propaganda depicts Arab refugees like well-known cartoons of Jewish Holocaust victims, hanging over barbed wire. It is a cheap shot (IMRA, 8/19 from MEMRI). The Nazis put Jews in concentration camps. Israel does not do likewise with the Arabs. Rather, the Arabs, like the Nazis, urge the murder of Jews. LIKUD REBUFFS SHARON PM Sharon wants to bring the Labor Party into his coalition, in order to gain the votes to dispossess some or all of the Jews of Yesha. The Likud Party Convention, although stuffed with temporary members brought in to influence it in such instances, voted by the same 60% majority against that coalition proposal, as the rank and file did against the abandonment plan directly. There is no indication that Sharon will abide by these majority votes. The Left argues that those vote represent a fringe (Dr. Aaron Lerner, IMRA, 8/18), but it is a majority his party. U.S. AGREES NOT TO GIVE AMRAAM MISSILE TO EGYPT After the Bush Administration had notified Congress of intent to sell the AMRAAM air-to-air missile to Arab states, Israel persuaded the Administration not to give it to Egypt or sell it to other states but Jordan. The US assumes recklesslly that Jordan will remain stable (IMRA, 8/19). THE ARABS' FANTASY WORLD A former Jordanian Ambassador reiterated the myth that Israel expelled the Arabs from Israel, and added that they expelled many Arabs from Judea-Samaria, that the Arabs never threw a stone at Israelis for 40 years, and that PM Sharon is systematically expanding the Jewish hold on Arab territory. His country sits on the bulk of Palestine, but since Israel has most of what is left, he assert that Israel has the lion's share of Palestine (IMRA, 8/18). It's Jewish territory. PM Sharon is systematically overriding opposition to relinquishing the Jewish hold on it. He had given lip service to holding on to half of Judea-Samaria, but then his Deputy admitted he would give up much more. No end of Israeli concessions in sight. "SETTLEMENT ACTIVITY" The wrangling over whether Israeli approval of new housing in Judea-Samaria breaches the Mitchell and Road Map agreements is due to the agreements' "constructive ambiguity". "Constructive," indeed! It is destructive. Its ambiguity leads to these arguments and to unfavorable publicity for Israel. The agreements are ambiguous because they did not define their terms. (This is deliberate. Everybody can assert that the agreements fulfill their requirements. Sooner or later, however, people adopt an anti-Israel interpretation. Israel has yet to catch on to this tendency.) Israel contends that "settlement activity" refers to geographical expansion of communities, whereas reporters contend that it means addition to the number of buildings. The State Dept. confirms Israel's interpretation by sending people to study whether the new buildings would be within existing municipal boundaries or at least within the existing built-up areas (IMRA, 8/19). "JEWISH EXTREMISTS" The Organization of the Islamic Conference commemorated the 35th anniversary of what they called was a Jewish extremist attempt to burn down al Aqsa Mosque. Jordan made the same statement. The Conference demanded that Israel protect Muslim holy places. IMRA reminds us that the arson was attempted by a deranged Christian tourist. Due to their prejudice, Arab women interfered with Israeli fire fighters hosing down the fire. The women supposed that the Jews were spraying petrol on the fire rather than water (IMRA, 8/19). I remember this well-known incident, but Muslims adhere to anti-Jewish slander regardless of the facts. Note that the Conference includes non-Arab Muslim states. Time-after-time, non-Arab Muslims, with some exceptions, exhibit the same cultural vices afflicting the Arabs. Draw your own conclusions about the significance of that in the war with Islamism. (People refer to the "war ON Islamism" or terrorism, but the Islamists started it and we hardly respond to it - we are leaving the worst terrorist states intact - so at most it is a war WITH Islamism, not ON it.) ISRAELI CHECKPOINTS IN RESPONSE TO MORTAR ATTACKS After the Arabs stepped up their mortar and rocket attacks on Israeli civilians on both sides of the Green Line, the Israeli Army yet again trisected the Gaza Strip, barring Arab traffic from one third to another (IMRA, 8/19). The Army rescinded the order the next day (Arutz-7, 8/020). Many times, but not this time, IMRA advises readers that the IDF waits until the casualties mount, briefly intercedes to prevent movement of terrorist weaponry, and then, as demanded by the US and other "friends" of Israel, restores Arab traffic and therefore the movement of terrorist weaponry. This charade is deadly. WHY THE U.S. DEMANDS THAT SYRIA STOP OCCUPYING LEBANON The U.S. demand came suddenly, without apparent cause. The Arabs know the reason. This demand the Lebanese officials in office by the grace of Syria attributed it to: (1) US efforts to placate the "Zionist lobby;" or (2) A US-Zionist plot against Islam (IMRA, 8/20). The Lebanese did not reconcile the two choices. Arabs simply plug in some paranoia or propaganda bit into every explanation. Notice that they put the Zionists practically on a par with the US. Flattering for Israel, demeaning for the superpower, or, in Arab eyes, is Israel the superpower? They attribute all the major wars and revolutions to the Jewish people. Generous of them, considering how many wars the Arabs started, and are on the march, again. NON-CONFRONTATIONAL DEALING WITH SUDAN "I predict the (State Dept.) report will say the Janjaweed have committed acts of genocide, but we have no information or clarity of intent and we cannot make a legal determination." "We've watched 16 months of an ethnic cleansing campaign with no measure introduced against the Sudan government or its officials." "They have learned well that they can do anything including up to committing acts of genocide. The paradigm has been thus far to threaten and provide a deadline and say if you don't do 'x,' we will do 'y''. We never do 'y." This time we should do 'y' immediately and say if you do 'x' we will remove 'y.'" (Eli Lake, NY Sun, 8/24, p.6.) The critics are right. The US and the UN temporize while the murderer act. The notion of having to have the kind of proof used in court hampers resolution. "NON-ALIGNED" STATES RESOLVE AGAINST ISRAELIS About 450,000 Jews live in eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights areas of the State of Israel, and in Yesha. The conference of "non-aligned" nations passed a series of resolutions against Israel, one of which is to bar those Jews from visiting their countries. The states object to the security fence that Israel is erecting, calling it a violation of international law (Arutz-7, 8/20). Many of those states violate international law. Why don't they ostracize Sudan for mass-murder? The so-called non-aligned nations were notorious for siding with the Soviet Union against the West. Apparently they still are up to no good. Does prejudice and hypocrisy or ignorance motivate them? Their criticism of Israel is erroneous, exaggerated, one-sided. WEST SEEKS NON-CONFRONTATIONAL SOLUTION WITH IRAN W. Europe wishes to resolve Iran's nuclear proliferation menace by offering Iran financial compensation (IMRA, 8/20). Iran is not a normal country that one can buy off. Its government is fanatical. It wants nuclear weapons both to deter counter-attacks against its fomenting of terrorism in other countries and to be able to destroy other countries. It prefers dealing death to healing life. The answer is to confront Iran, before it gains that terrible capability and becomes uncontrollable. CHRISTIANS FLEEING IRAQ Muslims attacked Christians in Iraq during the US occupation: Bombed five churches in Baghdad and Mosul on 8/1; fired a missile at a convent in Mosul; placed bombs in two Christian schools in Baghdad and Mosul; exploded a bomb at a Baghdad church; planted a bomb at a monastery in Mosul; attacked the predominantly Christian owners of liquor, music, fashion stores, and beauty parlors, demanding they close; threatened Christian women who didn't cover their heads Islamic style; assassinated Christians. Christians are fleeing Muslim persecution in Iraq, as from the rest of the Mideast, including the P.A.. The Mideast used to be known for its diversity (Daniel Pipes, NY sun, 8/24, p.7). When columnists defend the invasion of Iraq as "liberation," do they not realize that the US freed fanatics to impose their ruthless backwardness on Iraqis, a la Taliban? U.S. DENIES ISRAEL ADVANCED ANTI-TANK MISSILE The U.S. refused Israel's request to buy the advanced Hellfire
helicopter ammunition (IMRA, 8/20). No reason was given.
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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SELLING OUT YOUR NEIGHBORS?
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, September 19, 2004. |
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We are told that the Israelis who live in the mostly coastal areas of Israel are solidly behind a forceful transfer of Jews out Gaza first and the rest of YESHA, Judea and Samaria next. Many on the coast call themselves Leftists. They have certain beliefs that appeasing Arafat's Palestinians by withdrawals and the transfer of Jews will make their lives easier, if not safer. These are selfish Jews of Israel who have forgotten that the outer barriers of Jewish settlements are what have kept Muslim Arab Terrorists from even greater access to the major coastal cities. Some Terrorists have successively pulled off Terror attacks there but only a fraction of what is possible - if it wasn't for the protection of the outlying settlements. The outer barrier is a veritable wall of settlers, soldiers, road patrols and check points. This is a woven matrix of dedicated Jews who make easy access to heavily populated Israel difficult to penetrate. But, Leftists and City Jews do not notice that their streets are safe and they do not need military checkpoints in the middle of Tel Aviv, Haifa or the other coastal cities. Should this outer barrier, which are those Jewish settlements defending them, be eliminated and replaced with dedicated Islamists, those comfortable Jews would begin to feel greater effects of daily terror. They will also be within range of longer distance, more accurate Kassem missiles once the Arab Muslims have made all of Gaza their international base of Global Terror. Then the 70% of Israel's population who live on the coast would begin shouting for better protection and for the Israeli Government and Military to push the hostile Arab Muslims further away from their cities, buses, schools, restaurants, etc. When the Leftists gave the nation of Israel those insidious Oslo Accords and the agreements that followed them, handing over Israel's heartland territory to Arafat's Palestinian Authority, the resulting Terror - now much closer in - seemed lost on the Left. They had entered a Faustian bargain with the devil, Arafat and the cemeteries of murdered Jews grew by leaps and bounds. Having weakened Israel's defenses, they thought the gift of appeasement would be reciprocated. This reciprocation came in the form of intifadas and the license for Palestinians to murder Jews whenever and wherever and in any horrific way possible. The Leftists and the soft Jews of the coast are ready to sacrifice their fellow Jews if it will bring them a few more years of ephemeral safety. We have seen that wishful philosophy fail completely. Since Oslo was signed September 13, 1993, Arab Muslims have murdered more than 1500 Jews (about 45 Americans), wounded tens of thousands, some crippled for life. Now these same Leftist Jews and the weak Jews of the cities hope to buy a few years of non-terror by betraying their Jewish brothers at the outer perimeters of Eretz Yisrael. As the Osloids used secrecy to creep to the gates of the city and open them for the Palestinian Arab/Muslim Terrorists, now they wish to open them further. To betray and sell out what should be their own families is as low as any Jew can sink. Sharon has joined the Left in this War against his own Jews. He plans re-partition, transfer of Jews, giving the land, homes, farms, schools, synagogues, infrastructure and water to Muslim Arab Jihadists who have sworn to Allah that no matter what the Jews give up, it won't be enough. They swear on their religion to remove and eliminate every Jew, they can lay their hands on. We see it even now in Gaza as the mix of Arab Muslim Terrorists have launched almost 5000 Kassem rockets at Jewish settlements and at cities over the Green Line. Israelis can be exceedingly stupid when they create dream-like scenarios out of thin air which promise them safety and peace even as the primitive Arabs chant "Allahu Akbar" (Allah is Great) and "Itbach al Yehud" (Kill the Jews). Perhaps, except for some, most Jews are uneducable to danger and who their true enemies really are. If Sharon succeeds in transferring the Jews out of their homes in Gaza, it will not be Judea and Samaria that follow. It will be Ashkelon, Ashdod, Haifa, Be'er Sheva, Tel Aviv and Haifa which will likely be targeted by Terror and slowly melt away. One day, the Jews of Israel will wake up to the enemies among them and hunt them down for what they have done. Naturally, they will first bring them to a new Peoples' Court - given that Israel's Leftist Supreme Court is closely allied with the aspirations of the Palestinians Arabs and the Arab Muslim nations. Surely, they too must share the pain. Sharon has unleashed terrible forces - even to the point of provoking Civil War, which he blames on those men, women and children who simply do not want to leave their homes and see everything they have strived to build for 30 years, 3 generations, be given away to an implacable enemy. There is a message within the question that can be asked of the Left and the City dwellers in the Dan region: Are you ready to sacrifice fellow Jews because they are pejoratively called 'settlers', for whatever short term relief you think it will bring you personally? This just in: It has been reported that, in what appears to be another desperate lie in the face of growing opposition to his "Disengagement (aka Surrender) Plan", Sharon pledges that, after uprooting Jews from Gush Katif in the Gaza Strip, he will no longer follow the Bush/Quartet Road Map. I don't know how the American Administration, the U.S. State Department, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia (the "Quartet) will view this abrupt reversal of Sharon's commitment to the "Road Map". But, having lied to his own people repeatedly, reversed his Likud Party's platform, violated his pledge to follow the Likud Party referendum (which he lost 60% to 40%), I doubt that Sharon has any intention of keeping this newest pledge. 8,500 Jews should not be uprooted and expelled from Gush Katif in the Gaza Strip on one man's faulty brainstorm. What will it tell to the governments around the world where Jews live safely now, that Jews can be thrown out of their homes by their own Jewish government? Will any Jews be safe - anywhere in the world if Sharon succeeds in betraying Israel's own sovereignty? 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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ISRAELI NATIONAL RETREAT REFERENDUM - HONORING THE SOCIAL CONTRACT
Posted by Aaron Lerner, September 19, 2004. |
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"The prime minister's office says it opposes a national referendum on the disengagement plan because the plan may be defeated at the polls." -- Channel Two Television News 13 September 2004 "...and if we arrive at the possibility of signing a peace treaty between Syria and Israel which would require a significant withdrawal a decision on this would be made in a national referendum. In other words, the people will decide on what it is prepared to give up in order to reach peace. I do not see this as being subject only to a Knesset decision." Prime Minister Rabin on Israel Radio, 1 August 1994. There is no law on the books that prevents a prime minister from winning an election by promising the voters one thing and then doing the opposite. And while ministers swear to "uphold the State of Israel and its laws, to faithfully fulfill my role as a member of the Government", since many genuinely believe that their greatest service to the State is making sure that they become prime minister some day, there is nothing legally stopping them from voting in favor of disengagement even though they are confident the plan is fundamentally flawed - and even dangerous - because they feel that opposing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon may jeopardize their chances to become prime minister. And while the 40 Likudniks sitting in the Knesset are there because 925,279 Israel citizens thought they were giving them a mandate to oppose disengagement, no one expects that the Supreme Court would force them to honor their Knesset pledge to "faithfully discharge my mandate in the Knesset." This isn't a legal question. It's a moral one. Until Monday evening Sharon's team could at last argue that they were absolutely certain that the public changed its mind and supported retreat. Now they admit that they aren't so sure. I appreciate and understand my leftist colleagues who hold that the "the ends justify the means." I also frankly don't doubt that the Israeli police and IDF could effectively pull off a brutal and swift evacuation of the Jewish communities in the Gaza Strip with casualties limited to some broken bones. But that isn't the question. The social contract that keeps our divided nation together isn't a legal one to be searched for loopholes but a moral one. As we start a new Jewish Year it is my fervent hope that our leaders have the wisdom to put this social contract ahead of their lust for victory at any price. Dr. Aaron Lerner is co-founder of IMRA (Independent Media Review and Analysis (http://www.imra.org.il). IMRA provides "an ongoing analysis of developments in Arab-Israeli relations. [It] provides an extensive digest of media, polls and significant interviews and events." This article was published September 15, 2004. |
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COMPIEGNE: ARIEL SHARON -- MODERN MARSHAL PETAIN OF FALLEN VICHY ISRAEL
Posted by Aryeh Yosef Gallin, September 19, 2004. |
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The Bible Says: "Then came the word of the Lord to Samuel, saying: 'It repents Me that I have set up Saul to be king; for he is turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments'. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried to the Lord all night". [I Samuel 15:10-11] "And Samuel said (to Saul): 'Though you be little in your own sight, are you not the head of the Tribes of Israel? And the Lord anointed you king over Israel; and the Lord sent you on a journey, and said: 'Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. Wherefore then did you not harken to the voice of the Lord, but did fly upon the spoil, and did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord?'" [I Samuel 15:17-18] "Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house to Gibeath-shaul. And Samuel never beheld Saul again until the day of his (Saul's) death; for Samuel mourned for Saul; and the Lord repented that He had made Saul king over Israel". [I Samuel 15:34-35] 1. Marshal Philippe Petain, French hero of Verdun in 1916, failed his people at Compiegne in the summer of 1940, when France surrendered to Nazi Germany. 2. General Ariel Sharon, Israeli hero of Suez in 1973, failed his People at our Compiegne in the summer of 2004, when he placed Israel in peril of falling to the U.S. Oil & Banking Establishment by agreeing (publicly) to surrender Gush Katif and (privately) to surrender most of Judea, Samaria and part of Jerusalem and that they become Judenrein ("Free of Jews"). 3. General Sharon is no longer suitable to serve as Prime Minister of the State of Israel. 4. General Sharon must resign as soon as possible to spare himself and his nation further humiliation, shame, disgrace and embarrassment. 5. Should General Sharon refuse to resign, may it be the Will of the Holy One Blessed Be He that elections be held as soon as possible and Sharon be swept from office. Shana Tova (Happy Jewish New Year of 5765) from Liberated Yerushaliyim, NOTES: ABOUT COMPIEGNE "I [William L. Shirer] followed the German Army into Paris that June [1941], always the loveliest of months in the majestic capital, which was now stricken, and on June 19 got wind of where Hitler was going to lay down his terms for the armistice which Petain had requested two days before. It was to be on the same spot where the German Empire had capitulated to France and her allies on November 11, 1918: in the little clearing in the woods at Compiegne". [Page 741] "And so it was that on the afternoon of June 21 [1941] I stood by the edge of the forest at Compiegne to observe the latest and greatest of Hitler's triumphs, of which, in the course of my work, I had seen so many over the last turbulent years. It was one of the loveliest summer days I ever remember in France. A warm June sun beat down on the stately trees -- elms, oaks, cypresses and pines -- casting pleasant shadows on the wooded avenues leading to the little circular clearing". [Page 742] "...Hitler left the French government an unoccupied zone in the south and southeast in which it ostensibly was free to govern. This was an astute move. It would not only divide France itself geographically and administratively, it would make difficult if not impossible the formation of a French government-in-exile and quash any plans of the politicians in Bordeaux to move the seat of government to French North Africa -- a design which almost succeeded, being defeated in the end not by the Germans but the French defeatists: Petain, Weygand, Laval and their supporters. Moreover, Hitler knew that the men who had now seized control of the French government at Bordeaux were enemies of French democracy and might be expected to be co-operative in helping him set up the Nazi New Order in Europe". [Page 745] "...negotiations -- for a peace treaty -- would never take
place, but the spirit which the Nazi Third Reich would have
shown, if they had, soon became evident as the occupation
became harsher and the pressure on the servile Petain regime
increased. France was now destined to become a German vassal,
as Petain, Weygand and Laval apparently believed -- and
accepted". [Page 746]
ABOUT PHILIPPE PETAIN "Petain, Henri Philippe, 1856-1951, marshal of France, head of the
Vichy government (1940-44). In World War One he haled the Germans at
Verdun (1916) and became (1917) French commander-in-chief. Named
ambassador to Spain (1939), he succeeded (June, 1940) Paul Reynaud as
premier when France was on the brink of collapse in World War Two. He
soon arranged an armistice with Germany. On July 10 the French
constitution was suspended, and Petain became 'chief of state' at
Vichy. Petain's fascistic government collaborated with Nazi Germany
and grew unpopular as it yielded to harsh German demands. In 1942
Pierre Laval took power, and Petain remained chiefly a figurehead.
After the Allied victory, he [Petain] was convicted of treason (1945)
and was sentenced to death; the sentence was commuted by Charles De
Gaulle to life imprisonment".
Mr. Aryeh Yosef Gallin is President of Root & Branch Association, Jerusalem. He is a member of the Foreign Press Association in Israel and of the Society of Professional Journalists in the USA. |
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UCI RESOLUTION FAVORING NETANYAHU'S REFERENDUM ON SHARON'S DISENGAGEMENT PLAN
Posted by Unity Coalition for Israel, September 19, 2004. |
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This Resolution is a response to Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's call for a referendum on the issue of the future of established communities in the heart of Israel ... in Gaza, Judea and Samaria. The Unity Coalition for Israel supports the position of Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, announced on September 13, 2004, when he declared, "I propose as a condition ... as something that can help national unity, an expedited process for a national referendum that will include one question: Are you in favor of or against the government decision regarding disengagement?" Netanyahu said that the Knesset must immediately draft legislation to enable such a referendum. Netanyahu expressed increasing concerns over the possible outbreak of a civil war and calls from the [political] Right to soldiers, policemen and reservists to refuse orders to evacuate settlements. He said that a quick referendum will prevent a major rift in the country. CLICK HERE to support the call by Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his call for a referendum of the Israeli people to affirm their position regarding the disengagement plan. A sample letter is included, which you can change in any way you wish. Your letter will automatically be sent to Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister Sharon, Minister-Without Portfolio Uzi Landau, MK Yuri Shtern, MK Arieh Eldad and Mayors of 20 Israeli communities in Gaza/Judea/Samaria. In support of Israel's right to hold a referendum and vote on the issue of retreating from communities in Gaza, Judea and Samaria The Unity Coalition for Israel, representing many millions of Americans, acknowledges that Israelis are in a predicament. Their government is planning to retreat from and evacuate tens of Jewish communities with no reciprocity from its Arab enemies. Coalition members are acutely aware that this might encourage the Arabs to proceed with their deadly terrorist assaults on the one-and-only Jewish state and might even embolden a major military strike on Israel by its radical Islamist adversaries (Iran, in particular). In this situation, the unqualified support of the American public is essential for the survival of the State of Israel. This support has been motivated for years, not only by the strategic importance of the Western-oriented Jewish state in the forefront of the global struggle with our radical Islamist enemies, but also by the fact that Israel is a democracy, the only true democracy in the Middle East. Since the current worldwide conflict is ideological in nature, it is important to have in Israel an ideological ally. As of late, we have observed the erosion of democracy in the State of Israel. Israel's Prime Minister has fired Cabinet members who disagreed with his disengagement policies. He has ignored two recent referenda in the Likud - his own political party - the majority of whom oppose his disengagement policy. They consider it dangerous to the survival of the Jewish state. Only yesterday he rejected a proposal for a national referendum on the disengagement plan that was requested by a large segment of the Israeli citizenship, including senior members in his reshuffled Cabinet. A national referendum on a political and military plan that might endanger the very existence of the State of Israel is an appropriate expression of democracy. The rejection of this requested referendum, following the previous non-democratic actions of Israel's Prime Minister, might be used by Israel's political enemies in the US as evidence that Israel is no longer a genuine democracy. If such a conclusion were to be widely accepted by the American public, it could cause tremendous damage to Israel's political stance in the U.S., at the same time blemishing the image of a very important ally in the global anti-radical Islamist struggle. Therefore, we call on both the Israeli and American public to request that Prime Minister Sharon reconsider his objection to a national referendum on the disengagement plan. Prime Minister Sharon would have a national mandate to execute this plan if the majority of Israeli Jews endorse it. This is what democracy is all about.
The National Unity Coalition 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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L'SHANAH TOVAH!
Posted by Yashiko Sagamori, September 15, 2004. |
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LeShanah Tovah! May your hair, your teeth, your face-lift, your abs, and your stocks not fall; and may your blood pressure, your triglycerides, your cholesterol, your white blood count and your mortgage interest not rise. May you get a clean bill of health from your dentist, your cardiologist, your gastroenterologist, your urologist, your proctologist, your podiatrist, your psychiatrist, your plumber, and the IRS. May you find a way to travel from anywhere to anywhere during rush hour in less than an hour, and when you get there may you find a parking space. May this Yom Tov, find you seated around the dinner table, together with your beloved family and cherished friends, ushering in the Jewish New Year ahead. May what you see in the mirror delight you, and what others see in you delight them. May the telemarketers wait to make their sales calls until you finish dinner, may your checkbook and your budget balance, and may they include generous amounts for charity. May you remember to say "I love you" at least once a day to your spouse, your child, and your parent(s). You can say it to your secretary, your nurse, your butcher, your photographer, your masseuse, your seamstress, your hairdresser or your gym instructor, but not with a "twinkle" in your eye. May we live as intended, in a world at peace with the awareness of the beauty in every sunset, every flower's unfolding petals, every baby's smile and every wonderful, astonishing, miraculous part of ourselves. Bless you with every happiness, great health, peace and much love during the next year and all those that follow. Yashiko Sagamori is a New York-based Information Technology consultant. To read other articles by the author, go to http://www.middleeastfacts.com/yashiko/ or email ysagamori@hotmail.com |
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ROSH HASHANAH IN 1944
Posted by Deb Kotz, September 15, 2004. |
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This was written by Dr. Rafael Medoff on September 25, 2003.
Every year, on the eve of Rosh Hashana, American presidents, candidates for office, and assorted other VIPs send the Jewish community their wishes for a happy new year. Under ordinary circumstances, such greetings are welcomed in the spirit of friendliness in which they are offered. But on Rosh Hashana,1944 (5705), one Jewish organization took a very different approach. That year, while Jews around the country dipped their apples in honey to symbolize their hopes for a sweet new year, the American public received a vivid reminder that for the Jewish people, it was, in fact, a bitter holiday. Readers of the New York Times, the Philadelphia Record, and other major dailies opened their morning paper to find a large advertisement headlined "What's So Happy About This New Year?" In the center of the ad was a riveting illustration of a ragged European Jewish refugee child, drawn by the renowned artist Arthur Szyk. "As the Jewish New Year approached, greetings and messages of good will" were issued by the various Allied leaders, the ad began. "What's happy about this New Year for us if one of the foremost democratic allies [Britain]... still blockades the sole practical route of escape [from Hitler Europe] - through the Balkans into Palestine" "What's so happy about a Jewish New Year which mourns millions of our people brutally murdered, burned alive, asphyxiated in gas chambers, thrown, still living, into burial trenches, while the governments of our friendly nations dilly-dallied and split hairs about matters of rescue? ...What has happened to us will go down in history as democracy's greatest disgrace... "Maybe what we say does not sound very tactful to your ears. But this is no time for tact. It is now time to act - where governments have been remiss in their first human duty to save lives..." The end of World War II - and Hitler's war against the Jews - was still months away, and several million Jews were still in danger of becoming the Nazis' final victims unless a safe haven could be found for them. British Mandatory Palestine was the obvious choice, but England had shut off all but a trickle of Jewish immigration, in order to appease the Arab world. The ad concluded with a powerful appeal to the American public: "You have one last chance to do something for a people who will not know happiness this New Year, nor next New Year, nor for generations... Let your government and your Congress know that vague promises and polite good wishes are not enough. Let them know that we can accept New Year's greetings only in the form of rescue - in the form of a haven - open the gates of Palestine - so that we can live..." The stunning newspaper ad was sponsored by the Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe, a group established by Peter Bergson, a young Zionist activist from Jerusalem. During 1943-44, Bergson's group employed a variety of dramatic tactics to arouse awareness of the Holocaust and pressure the Roosevelt administration to intervene.They staged a dramatic pageant called "We Will Never Die", sponsored more than 200 full-page newspaper ads, and organized a march of 400 rabbis in Washington, D.C. Bergson was particularly adept at what we today call "coalition politics." He brought together Americans from all walks of life who disagreed with each other on many issues, but all shared a common sympathy for the goal of rescuing Jews from Nazi Europe. The "What's So Happy About This New Year?" ad, for example, featured a long list of Bergson group supporters, including singer Eddie Cantor, Harvard criminologist Sheldon Glueck, poet and Academy Award winning screenwriter (for A Star is Born) Dorothy Parker, Unitarian Church official Rev. Albert Dieffenbach, one of the most prominent Orthodox rabbis in America, Eliezer Silver, Nobel Literature Prize laureate Sigrid Undset, actress Stella Adler, science fiction writer and naval historian Fletcher Pratt, and the governors of Pennsylvania, Indiana and Rhode Island. A coalition this broad could not be easily ignored. The Bergson group's most important initiative was the introduction of a Congressional resolution that helped bring about (in early 1944) the creation of the War Refugee Board, a U.S. government agency to rescue refugees from Hitler. Although understaffed and underfinanced, the Board played a crucial role in saving the lives of more than 200,000 Jews. Among other things, the Board helped finance the work of rescue hero Raoul Wallenberg. Many more could have been saved if the Roosevelt administration had shown a little interest. On September 13, 1944, just one week before the "What's So Happy About This New Year?" ad was published, a fleet of 96 American "Liberator" bombers struck German oil factories less than five miles from the gas chambers of Auschwitz. Stray bombs even accidentally hit an SS barracks and the railway line leading into the death camp. There were many other such raids on German industrial sites near Auschwitz in late 1944 and early 1945. But the gas chambers and crematoria remained untouched. The Roosevelt administration knew very well about the mass murder of Jews in Auschwitz, and in preparation for bombing the factories, U.S. pilots had taken detailed aerial reconnaissance photos that also showed the mass-murder machinery. But U.S. planes were never ordered to bomb the gas chambers, because FDR feared he would be accused of deviating from the war effort, and because saving Jews would have resulted in more pressure to let the refugees come to the United States. It was indeed the bitterest of all Rosh Hashanas that year, as the inmates of Auschwitz, including 16-year-old Elie Wiesel, watched Allied planes dropping bombs nearby and hoped against hope that the gas chambers were on their list of targets. They were not. 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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SHARING THE HOLOCAUST
Posted by Tamar Rush, September 15, 2004. |
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Lola Lackman, 80, of Sun Lakes recounts some of her memories as a concentration camp prisoner. Lackman works with WWII veterans Hank Harris (left) and Phil Tener to share stories about the war and the Holocaust with junior high and high school students. This news item was written by Kevin Blocke for The Arizona Republic, Sept. 10, 2004. Lola Lackman of Sun Lakes thought Sept. 11, 2001, would be the turning point. For the second time in her life, during the month of September, an enemy had declared war on her homeland. On Sept. 1, 1939, German dictator Adolf Hitler unleashed his army against Lackman's native Poland. Three years ago, terrorists driven by religious fundamentalism crashed jetliners into the World Trade Center and Pentagon buildings. In the most recent incident, Lackman thought the youngest residents of her adopted United States would finally emerge from their PlayStations, and that their parents would finally look beyond the hoods of the newest sport utility vehicles. She doesn't believe that has happened. It's a tough assessment coming from a Jewish woman who survived five Nazi concentration camps. That's why for the past two years, Lackman, her husband, Sol Lackman, who himself escaped from a concentration camp, and their good friend, Hank Harris, have spoken to students across the Valley about their experiences during World War II. "At the end of the war, I never believed that kind of genocide could happen again. But it has repeatedly happened all over the world, and there's nothing preventing that from happening here," Lola said. Harris remembers telling students at Bogle Junior High School in Chandler at the end of the last school year about Pearl Harbor. A student finally asked: "What's Pearl Harbor?" In response, two other classmates declared Pearl Harbor was a movie. "I couldn't believe it," Harris said. It was during coffee a few years ago in Sun Lakes that the Lackmans told Harris their story. Sol and Lola were born in the town of Krzepitce, Poland. They didn't know each other but shared common friends. Shortly after Germany crushed the Polish army in September 1939, German troops entered and stayed until the war's end. Lola remembers the Nazis entering Krzepitce in 1940 when she was 15. The young men in the town were rounded up and taken away. Lola recalled her family preparing to sit down at the table to eat when German soldiers kicked in the front door and dragged her father away, beating him bloody, she said, with the soup ladle he was using to serve dinner. "I never saw him again," she said. After two years of occupation, German troops emptied Krzepitce of its Jewish population and sent them to concentration camps scattered throughout Poland and the rest of occupied Europe. Lola, who turned 18 in a concentration camp, suffered from typhus and weighed 80 pounds. Sol now struggles to speak, so Lola told his story. He fled to a neighboring town with another woman who was then his fiancee. Later, she was caught and killed by German soldiers. Sol was also captured and sent to a concentration camp in Treblinka. There, the Germans made him collect the clothes and valuables of fellow Jews who were unloaded by the thousands from boxcars to be exterminated. He would later escape the camp and spent the rest of the war in hiding until the Russians entered Poland. As for Lola, she shifted from camp to camp. Her last stop was the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. It was the last place she saw her mother. "They humiliated us; they stripped us of everything," Lola said. One corpse after another was tossed into a "death pit." " I finally said: 'God, they will never drag my body like this.' " At the war's conclusion, Sol and Lola, unknown to each other, made their way to Brussels, Belgium, seeking haven and medical treatment. By chance they met at a health clinic in 1944 and married shortly thereafter. The Lackmans came to the United States after the war ended in 1945 and lived in New York where they raised a son and daughter. Bogle Junior High Principal Sharon Kenyon had high praise for the Lackmans. She said many World War II veterans and Holocaust survivors who were contacted by school officials chose not to talk about their experiences. "Our students today are mesmerized and bombarded with so much media and video that I think it becomes hard for them to personalize anything," Kenyon said. "Lola, she was poignant. She had a cafeteria of 600 eighth-graders occupied," she said. After arriving in the United States after the war, Sol started his own tailor and manufacturing business before retiring to the Valley. "Sol and I educated our two children here, and we are very grateful for that," she said. "But I'm concerned that we are at a point in our society where the majority of people don't appreciate what it is that is available to them, and what other people around the world can have with our help." |
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ROSH HASHANAH: WHO'S JUDGING?
Posted by IsrAlert, September 15, 2004. |
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This was written by Rabbi David Aaron, the founder and dean of Isralight, an
international organization with programming in Israel, New York South
Florida, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Toronto. He has taught and
inspired thousands of Jews who are seeking meaning in their lives and
a positive connection to their Jewish roots. He is the author of the
newly released, "The Secret Life of G-d", and also the author of
"Endless Light," "Seeing G-d" and "Love is my religion." He lives in
the old City of Jerusalem with his wife and their seven children.
This article appeared in Jewish World Review (http://www.jewishworldreview.com) Sept. 15, 2004 / 29 Elul, 5764. On Judgment Day we tell the Creator to 'bring it on' - why? The oral tradition teaches that when we blow the shofar on Rosh Hashanah the King, Who is sitting sternly on His throne of judgment, suddenly gets up and takes the seat of compassion. Suddenly, the whole nature of the day changes when we blow the shofar. With just a blast of the shofar the day is transformed from a day of judgment to compassion. How do we toot our way out of this frightening trial? By accepting it and embracing it. When we blow the shofar we are, so to speak, signaling G-d to judge us. Nowadays, when there's a court case and the judge wants to bring the court to order, he bangs a gavel to commence the trial session. But in the olden days the trial began with a blast of a shofar. Now imagine you are summoned to stand trial before the King to be judged for your deeds of the entire last year. You are trembling, frightened, overwhelmed. Nonetheless, to everyone's surprise, you enter the court with excitement and joy. You confidently walk up to the judge's desk, grab the shofar and blow it. Everyone is absolutely shocked. You not only do not evade the trial, or deny the charges; you actually invite the judgment and anxiously announce "this is my day of judgment. I want no delay. Go ahead - judge me now." In other words, when we blow the shofar we initiate the judgment. We are saying we want to be judged and we are not in the least afraid of the outcome. We joyfully accept the judgment and embrace it with love. How could this be? Most people are either in denial of judgment or spend much effort evading it. January 1, the secular New Year, is also viewed by many as a day of judgment and personal evaluation. People often make resolutions for improvement in the coming year. However, that day has also become a time to get drunk. People make resolutions and then get smashed. I can understand why. Judgment is so painful, frightening and challenging. It is natural to just want to get drunk, run away, avoid and deny it. The Psalms teaches, "Happy are those who know the secret of the blast of the shofar." What is the big secret? Couldn't anybody figure out how to blow a shofar? The real secret of blowing the shofar is to know that when you lovingly accept and embrace judgment it transforms into compassion. This is because you realize that the One who is judging you is not only your King but also your Father, as the saying goes in Hebrew - Avinu Malkeinu - our Father is our King. He is judging you not because He is insulted by your behavior - you get on His nerves - so He wants to get back at you and slap you out. He is judging you because He loves you and cares about you. When you don't understand who is judging and for what purpose then you will naturally run from it. But when you understand that your Father is the Judge and all He wants is the best for you then you will lovingly embrace a day of judgment as an opportunity for change and growth. If we deny our mistakes and avoid paying the consequences then we continue to make them and continue to hurt ourselves. I would rather be living in reality than denying it and living in illusions. When we transgress the mitzvas, our religious duties, we forfeit our mission to build G-d's kingdom on Earth and we ultimately cause harm to ourselves. Our neglect to obey G-d's will becomes the source of our own personal destruction. Therefore, we tremble with joy on Rosh Hashanah because we joyously accept the judgment. We understand the true meaning of judgment and we know that the Judge is our Father and He loves us. We know that no matter how harsh is the sentence that He decrees upon us it is exactly what we need to get in line, back on track, to fulfill our life mission. Carl Jung once said that neurosis is a substitute for legitimate suffering. In other words, when we deny our suffering we end up suffering in other ways and cause ourselves more harm. I would say the same principle applies when we deny judgment and are not willing to accept the consequence of our behavior. When we do that, we continue to hold onto the illusion that we are self-defined, existing independent of G-d, and this attitude generates feelings of alienation from the true ground, source, context and essence of our self, which is G-d. The feeling of alienation from G-d, Who is the source of all life and all pleasure, is the cause of all pain and sickness both physically and spiritually. When we accept judgment then we no longer need it. The very acceptance of the judgment fixes the cause of all our mistakes and sins because we realize that we are not independent of G-d and unaccountable. G-d does not need to decree upon us any corrective consequences to get us back on track because when we lovingly accept judgment we put ourselves back on track. We have learned our lesson. Therefore, the Judge gets up from His throne of judgment and sits on the throne of compassion. IsrAlert, a Jewish advocacy network, is hosted by Harv Weiner. To subscribe to IsrAlert, send an email to isralert@aol.com |
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EXTREMISTS; SHARON - BAD PLAN, PUNISH DISSENT
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, September 15, 2004. |
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U.S. VS. SUDAN GENOCIDE The US is proposing that the UN levy sanctions against Sudan (Benny Avni, NY Sun, 9/9, P.7). The next day, Sec. Powell called the carnage there, "genocide." Although the US now has a poor reputation, it often takes the lead in moral issues. The countries that call it names do not. The Americans who call it names often do not. To them, the US is all bad and the rest of the world is acceptable. To me, the picture is mixed, but in the scale of evil, topped by the Nazis, the Soviets, the Chinese, and the Arabs, the US, flawed though it be, currently is the world's only hope. Israel could be, too, if it would reform itself. RABINOVICH WRONG ON GOLAN Tel Aviv U. President Itamar Rabinovich is a former Ambassador to the US. After that service, he devised a plan for the Golan to secede from Israel along with a piece of Israel that Syria was occupying, and turning it over to Syria. (Then Syria would be able to shoot down again upon Israelis in the valley below or put pressure on Israel by threatening to do so unless Israel made more concessions, Israel would lose the tank trap terrain that helped thwart the last Syrian invasion. Thousands of Israelis would have to move, at great expense. One of Israel's three main water sources would be lost, and Syria could dip into, and pollute, a second one. Jihad would gain great confidence from this major Israeli retreat.) FAR-LEFTIST, ANTI-ISRAEL EXTREMISTS There is an antisemitic line that certain neo-conservative Jews, such as Norman Podhoretz of Commentary Magazine, manipulate US foreign policy for Israel. What nonsense! First, there are other types of influential conservatives besides the neo-conservatives. Among neo-conservatives, there are gentile ones as well as Jewish ones. To emphasize the Jews among them is an excuse for antisemitism. Second, to suppose that Jews control US foreign policy reiterates an old antisemitic canard. Third, to consider the Jews in government posts as betrayers of this country is still another. Fourth, to accept as if true the leaked allegations that a (non-Jewish) Pentagon employee turned secrets over to AIPAC for Israel (and they weren't secrets), is premature and naive. The leaks bear the hallmarks of a smear. Perhaps Israel is being made the scapegoat for an intelligence agency culpability and turf war. Fifth, what do they mean, "unnecessary" war on Iran? Iran is the source of much terrorism, including in Iraq. Iran is developing nuclear weapons aimed at the US. Why wait for them? Is this a case study in a Jewish inferiority complex expanding into ignorant and illogical antisemitism? IS THIS THE RIGHT WAY TO FIGHT TERRORISM? The IDF evacuated residents from two buildings from which terrorists launched rocket attacks against Jewish towns. Then it blew up the buildings (IMRA, 9/2). Any terrorists would have been evacuated, too. But perhaps they already fled. In that case, Israel really is punishing the residents. On the other hand, is there is too much concern for what are called Arab civilians, since Arab society is collective-minded? Israel is blamed regardless of the care it takes to limit Arab casualties. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CENSORSHIP & DEFENSE Robin Cook is a journalist for the official Egyptian daily, "al-Ahram." He reported a false massacre in Jenin and smeared Israeli troops as using Arab children for human shields (which the Arabs do). He once wrote in praise of a P.A. bomb-making engineer. On August 31, he advised the Arabs to turn from non-violent protests to violent ones (which they had done some time ago). That story was carried by the "NY Times'" foreign organ, "the Herald Tribune." Mr. Cook further urged Israeli leftists to become more violent in behalf of the Arabs. Under Israeli law (probably a foolish accommodation to the foolhardy Oslo), it is legal to praise past mass-murders but illegal to suggest new ones. Why did Israel grant this terrorist P.R. agent press credentials and admission to the country instead of to a cell? How serious is Israel about defending itself? (Prof. Steven Plaut, 9/2, e-mail). Israel is afraid to strongly counter this form of warfare, lest it be called censorial. ISRAEL NOW DEPORTS ISM MEMBERS The Intl. Solidarity Movement pretends to be a peace movement, but encourages deceit and lawbreaking in behalf of terrorism. Lead ISM trainer, Jamie Spector, taught a squad of volunteers how to damage Israeli property and interfere with Israeli defense against terrorism, such as checkpoints, thereby endangering the lives of the Israeli troops on the scene and of Israeli civilians later caught by terrorisms whom the ISM helps escape. She taught the squad how to lie their way into Israel, sometimes pretending to be interested Jewish youth eligible for free trips. Under the guise of peace activism, she said, they seek to destroy Israel. ISM doesn't want just for Israel to give up Yesha, but for Israel to do down. Some organizations belonging to ISM also want to overthrow the US,. Spector told the trainees to follow instructions from the Arab handlers, i.e., from the terrorists. The PLO would send over a bulldozer, with which the volunteers could dig out roadblocks. They were to distract the troops at checkpoints, so Arabs (including terrorists) could sneak past. If needed, they should be human shields for terrorists. The ISM people were taught to report the whereabouts of Israeli troops to P.A. armed forces. Israeli border police found about this, and ordered her deported. She appealed, and got free legal advice, perhaps from the National Lawyer's Guild, that old Communist front (and more recently advisors to the arrested protestors at the GOP National Convention). This cost Israel time and money. She was deported, as were 73 others of the hundred volunteers who came from the US, this year (Op. Cit). They should be imprisoned as terrorists, if not shot when dismantling checkpoints and assaulting soldiers. That would give civil rights groups an opportunity to complain, but when it comes to Israel, they should be seen for what they are - terrorist auxiliaries. SHARON TIGHTENS THE DICTATORSHIP Likud MK Uzi Landau has traveled to the US to inform the public there about Israel. As a Cabinet Member, he refrains from disputing Israeli governmental policy. MK Landau lined up local US financing for another trip, but PM Sharon vetoed it. PM Sharon objected to a Cabinet Minister giving out information abroad critical of governmental policy. That is not what Landau does. Sharon simply is punishing Landau for dissidence (IMRA, 9/3). WHAT WENT RIGHT IN IRAQ Iraqis were on schedule in assuming control of government, drafting a democratic constitution, holding free municipal elections, holding a convention that picked a representative parliament. Yes, there isn't much security in Iraq. Neither was there security under Saddam. Any person might be arrested. Tribes were dispossessed. Mass graves were filled. Millions fled. A new social order is struggling to emerge. Iraqis have a choice (IMRA, 9/3 from MEMRI). NEWS ABOUT AMERICA & FOR AMERICANS "Establishment of an American Gulag, whose geographic expanse exceeds anything established in the Soviet Union," was alleged in "Al-Ahram" by Prof. M. Shahid Alam, no, not of Cairo U. but of Northeastern U. of Boston. He said Americans died in Iraq to fulfill Israel's objectives. When Americans realize that al-Qaeda has not committed another major attack on the US in three years, they will wonder whether al-Qaeda's menace was exaggerated and whether the US over-reacted to it. The rest of the world deems the war on Iraq illegal and immoral (but Saddam's regime was). The US lost prestige; Europe considers the US the world's worst danger. The US is likely to extend the war to Iran, Syria, and Pakistan. (The war would be futile if not extended.) Americans might also conclude that the current war was an excuse to curb civil liberties, divert attention from corporate looting, and transfer funds to corporations. But the people won't be allowed to raise such questions, and democracies find excuses for what they do (IMRA, 9/3). Arabs find excuses for not fighting terrorism. There was no US plot against civil liberties. The Soviet Gulag held millions! Israel tried hard to avoid a linkage to Iraq. Al-Qaeda may not have committed another attack because the last one aroused us to shoot its troops, arrest its agents, and confiscate its funds. It fights elsewhere, however, as in Madrid. Europe's opinion is beclouded with appeasement and world disapproval of the US over the war is to the credit of the US. Few civil liberties were curbed. The questions the professor raises ARE raised in the US. Similar ones about Egypt would not appear in "Al Ahram." What is alarming is how many Arab professors in the US defend terrorism. BRITISH SUBSERVIENCE TO ISLAM Muslims abroad seek patiently to establish their religion and supercede others. They convert the native population's tolerance of dissent into appeasement of Muslim demands. They make resistance to it politically and legally incorrect. They seek to ban incitement against religions, under laws worded without properly defining incitement and religion, so that they outlaw criticism of offensive political tools of Islam, which is not just a religion but a war society. The sponsor of such a bill in Britain cites fiery Christian preachers as one of its targets, and Islamists as another. The difference, however, is that the Islamists have primed their followers to murder. As for the few overzealous Christian preachers in the current era, their force is spent. Unlike Christian preachers, the imams present a clear and present danger to public safety, and should be repressed under existing criminal law. They preach, and followers don foot bombs or set out for military training abroad. Wartime powers should be invoked against radical Islam. We unwilling victims of WWIV are entitled and obliged to fight back. The leftist Mayor of London denounced British newspaper "demonization" of Islamism. (It is impossible to demonize Islamism. Islamism is maniacal. He should denounce, instead, the Muslim demonization of other faiths and societies. That demonization is the danger to those societies. Christian defenders of the Islamists would seem more like civil libertarians and less like hypocritical dhimmis if they denounced Islamist extremism as well as unfair criticism of Islam. Unfair criticism of Islam is such a minor problem, now, that to emphasize it, as the Mayor does, is extravagant and diverts attention from the real problem.) The Mayor is leading a campaign against France's ban on headscarves. (The ban is controversial, perhaps improper, and a minor way to combat Islamism.) One of his arguments is that the ban is reminiscent of the Nuremberg laws leading up to the Holocaust, which Europe has outgrown. No, W. Europe has not. W. Europe is antisemitic in its attitudes, with anti-Zionism being an excuse. W. Europe subsidizes terrorists seeking to perpetrate another Holocaust. Britain assisted the Arab attempt shortly after WWII. The Mayor's hypocritical reminiscence adds a kind of insult to injury. Let him denounce the truly dangerous Islamist fulminations against the Jews and Christians!) A speaker at the conference against the ban on headscarves was al-Qaradari, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist organization. His TV program, popular among Muslims, wants Islam to dominate Europe. Islamic TV debates the best way to so. Lacking the military means, they try by immigration and conversion. (Befuddled Westerners are pleased with the resulting "diversity.") He said that the way to deal with Jews is not by dialogue but by shooting them. Some champion of civil rights! (He exploits the headscarf issue to shame all criticism of Muslims, legitimate and non-legitimate) Al-Qaradari is banned from the US. (Why does Britain admit him? It is like the US Communist protest meetings in behalf of Negro civil rights. The Communists piggybacked on a genuine issue in order to advance their denial of civil rights for all.) Defending al-Qaradari, the Mayor said it would be an honor if he returned to Britain. (An honor, that terrorist?) Britain passed a law against spanking children, but al-Qaradari justified suicide bombing of them. While he defends the right of Muslim women to wear headscarves, his book advocates wife-beating to maintain the purity of Islam. (If Islam's purity depends on wife-beating, let them explain, "Pure what?" Does he represent it or pervert it?) The Mayor intends to examine whether the media reflects the general population's diversity (MEPF, 9/1 from Miriam Gardner of American Yated Neeman, 8/5). Expected remedy: a quota system instead of a free press. The object: enable the Islamists to influence the media. They would use that voice to further stifle free speech, i.e., criticism of their own side's excesses. The problem in Western society is not a lack of diversity but a surplus of it. The campaign for diversity fails to distinguish between legitimate viewpoint and revolutionary, subversive programs. 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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RAPES IN BESLAN: IN MUHAMMAD'S FOOTSTEPS
Posted by Emanuel W. Winston, September 14, 2004. |
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Slowly, slowly Islam as a barbaric religion is shown to us. They kill,
rape - always in the voice of Muhammad and in honor to their pagan god
Zin/Allah. The Storyof Arabs has always been one long orgy of
butchery. What's worse is that most of humanity lhinks Arabs are
merely romantic killers from the sands of the desert. Humanity seems
willing to overlook their monster of Islam as long as they massage
their egos with the oil they bring. Arabs and Muslims have proven that
they live on the lowest rung of life. Beslan, Bali, New York Twin
Towers, the Pentagon, Khobar Towers, the USS Cole, Madrid and 100
years of Arab/Muslim Terrorism and War against Jews in Israel... Until
the Free West decides to stop them definitively, they don't intend to
stop. They are aiming for world domination for Islam.
This was written by Srdja Trifkovic, and is archived at http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/News/Trifkovic/NewsViews.htm The media in the United States have been oddly fastidious in failing to report one aspect of last week's horror in Beslan: that several Russian girls were raped by Muslim terrorists in front of their parents and classmates. The failure to report rapes in the Russian school was at odds with the eagerness of American journalists, a decade ago, to report ad nauseam on the entirely fictitious "rape camps" supposedly run by Bosnian Serbs in which Muslim women were allegedly subjected to similar degradation. That Muslim propagandists and their Western abettors should have resorted to this particular whopper is especially galling in view of Islam's encouragement of violence against women in general, and its explicit blessing of rape of captive non-Muslim women by Muslims in particular. The behavior of Chechen terrorists in Beslan, disgusting in every gory detail by the standards of civilized humanity, was justified by the tenets of Islam and by the personal example of the cult's inventor, Muhammad. Having established himself as the ruler of Medina, Muhammad attacked the Jewish tribe of Banu-'l-Mustaliq in December of A.D. 626. His followers slaughtered many Jewish tribesmen and looted thousands of their camels and sheep. They also kidnapped 500 of their women. The night after the battle Muhammad and his brigands staged an orgy of rape. As one of the brigands, Abu Sa'id Khudri, later remembered, a legal problem needed to be resolved first: In order to obtain ransom from the surviving Jews for the captive women, Muslims had pledged not to violate them: We were lusting after women and chastity had become too hard for us, but we wanted to get the ransom money for our prisoners. So we wanted to use the Azl [coitus interruptus]. We asked the Prophet about it and he said: "You are not under any obligation not to do it like that." ---- Having ethnically cleansed and robbed of property all but one of three Jewish clans in Medina, in A.D. 627 Muhammad decided to deal with the last, Banu Qurayzah. He offered the men conversion as an alternative to death. Upon their unsurprising refusal, some 900-exact numbers are unknown-were decapitated, one by one, in a ditch surrounding their encampment, in front of their women and children. Muhammad's Einsatzgruppen worked hard: Torches had to be lit so that the slaughter could be accomplished in one day. The women, thus widowed or orphaned, were raped that same night. Muhammad chose as his concubine one Raihana bint Amr, whose father and husband were both slaughtered before her eyes only hours earlier. (Such treatment of the victims had been duly sanctioned by a prophetic revelation in the Kuran.) In his early years, as a powerless and often ridiculed outsider in Mecca, had enumerated the series of temptations which could enslave human beings: The passion for women, the desire for male children, the thirst for gold and silver, spirited horses, and the possession of cattle and land (Kuran, 3:12). Once enthroned in Medina as the head of a theocratic statelet, he wanted to possess them all. Muhammad freely admitted that two things in the world, women and perfume, attracted him-so much so that he departed from his own laws in pursuit of both. Contrary to his own regulations he had at least 15 wives (some sources claim up to 25). The youngest was Aisha, who was seven years old when Muhammad-44 years her senior-"married" her. Two years later, 53-year-old Muhammad consummated this liaison and raped the girl of nine left under his control. The sordid story of Muhammad's "marriage" to Aisha reflected a mind-set and a lifestyle. Rape of enslaved women came naturally to Muhammad. A Christian slave woman by the name of Maryah aroused his passion for nights on end, which provoked a rebellion in his harem. Divine assistance was, in the end, needed to restore order in the household, with the Kuranic verse duly advising Muhammad not to restrain himself from "that which Allah has made lawful" (66:1-3). Even more scandalous was the case of Zeinab, the wife of Zayd, Muhammad's adopted son. Lusting after her, Muhammad ordered Zayd to divorce her and took Zeinab as yet another wife. The deal was soon sanctioned by another revelation from Allah: "there should not be any fault in the believers, touching the wives of their adopted sons, when they have accomplished what they would of them" (36:37). These examples indicate that the status of women in Islam is comparable to that of the human rights in Cuba: theoretically exalted, deplorable in practice. The sources of true Islam-the Kuran and Hadith-provide the basis for theory and subsequent Shari'a practice regarding the role of women. When a judge in Pakistan recently sentenced a young woman to death for "adultery" by stoning after she had been raped by her husband's brother, he had merely followed the Kuranic law. The fact the woman, Zafran Bibi, was raped was of no consequence: She was still guilty of "having intercourse outside of marriage." Violence against women is also condoned, even mandated, in Islam. Allah mandates that the disobedient wives are to be beaten (4:34). As the authoritative Azhar University scholars in Cairo explain, "the Qur'an bestows on man the right to straighten her out by way of punishment and beating, provided he does not break her bones nor shed blood." Physical violence against one's wife is divinely ordained and practically advised in Islam. In Muhammad's rendering of the story of the righteous Job, Allah ordered him to beat his wife: "Take in thine hand a branch and smite therewith and break not thine oath" (38:44). Some Muslim apologists claim that the Islamic teaching and practice is in line with the findings of clinical psychology. Beating is beneficial to them, we are told, because "women's rebelliousness (nushuz) is a medical condition" based either on her masochistic delight in being beaten and tortured or sadistic desire to hurt and dominate her husband. Either way, beating is her remedy. So the Qur'anic command: 'banish them to their couches, and beat them' agrees with the latest psychological findings in understanding the rebellious woman. This is one of the scientific miracles of the Qur'an, because it sums up volumes of the science of psychology about rebellious women (The Australian Minaret, Australian Federation of the Islamic Councils, November 1980, p.10). ----- Islam stands or falls with the person of Muhammad, a flawed man by the standards of his own society, as well as those of the Old and New Testaments (both of which he acknowledged as divine revelation). He was flawed even by his new law, of which he claimed to be the divinely appointed medium and custodian. The horror unleashed by Chechen terrorists on Russian children in Beslan, and the rape of adolescent girls in particular, is the fruit of Muhammad's example. The problem of Islam, and the problem of the rest of the world with Islam, is in its claim that the words and acts of Muhammad provide the universally valid standard of morality and behavior for all time. Islam, in Muhammad's texts and its codification, discriminates against women. It is extremely offensive. Those who submit to that faith must solve the problem they set themselves. Islam further discriminates against all "unbelievers." Until the petrodollars support a Kuranic revisionism that does not, we must go for it with whips and scorpions, hammer and tongs. 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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OUR HEARTS CRY ... WHAT LIES AHEAD?
Posted by Tamar Rush, September 14, 2004. |
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This was written by Yaffa and Moshe, Faga and Rena, Lev U'Neshama Volunteers.
When we speak of compassion for our fellows, the premise generally is thought of as involving adults. But in a school in Tzfat, the story of a child's compassion for a hungry classmate, is heart-wrenching. Notwithstanding political misinformation or myopia in Israel, there are hungry people in Israel, and it certainly includes hungry children in their formative years. Little Chaim, (fictitious name) noticed that his classmate had no lunch. Chaim is sensitized to the needs of others because his 12 year old sister is fighting Cancer. Also, his family has been receiving food boxes from Lev U'Neshama albeit once a month. It didn't take long for him to decide to give his friend his sandwich: he ate what remained from his lunch. He knows about hunger, pain and deprivation; lessons not taught in school but taught to him in life. He in turn is teaching by example what we all should be doing . . . sharing what we have been given even if it's "just a sandwich." Our hearts cry ... what lies ahead? Hashem grant us strength to do His work and open the hearts of others so that their donations may help us lessen the pain of at least some needy families. For more information contact: reco@isdn.net.il |
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WHO IS THE REAL ENEMY?
Posted by IsrAlert, September 14, 2004. |
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This was written by Joel Gaines, who advises us that "This information is
provided by "Pure Pursuit" as a service to members of the Military and
Air Defense Community with the purpose of offering relevant and timely
information on (open source) defense, aviation, emergency, law
enforcement and terrorism issues. Posts may be forwarded to other
individuals, organizations and lists for non-commercial purposes. For
new subscriptions please send an e-mail with "Pure Pursuit" in the
subject line to Nena Wiley at : coyotearz@aol.com
Nearly anywhere you read, you will find a different name for the forces we are doing battle with in Iraq and Afghanistan, Indeed, for the forces governments are battling all over the world. There are those who still want to understand why someone hates us enough to kill us out of hand. There are still those who oppose any effort to defend ourselves militarily and certainly oppose any preemptive measures to ensure we are not attacked. Who is our enemy? Some call them radical muslims, muslim extremists, muslim fundamentalists, to name a few. These terms are misnomers, which do not describe the enemy at all. There are several disciplines of Islam, just as there are several disciplines of Judeo-Christian religions. Radical or Extreme Islam is a relative term and refers directly to a religion. There are monks living in Grecian caves for 20 years, with no contact with the outside world. That is comparatively radical or extreme in modern society, but in no way brings harm to anyone. Fanatical piety is not our enemy. Fundamentalism connotes a strict adherence to the practices of a specific belief. Certain Christians do not celebrate Christmas, yet have a Chr..t Mass at another time of the year. The basic practices, as applies to their beliefs, have not changed in any way other than as applies to what is accepted in contemporary society (i.e. they don't offer doves and rams as sacrifices). Again, this speaks directly to the religion without any basis for violence. Strict adherence to the basic and/or original tenets of a religion is not our enemy. Islam is a religion, those who practice Islam are Muslims. The tenets of the faith require no more or less violence than the tenets of any of the Judeo-Christian religions. There is a societal equivalence in the practice of Islam with any of the other major religions. If this were not the case, we would long ago have been overrun by the nearly 2 billion muslims around the world. Islam is not our enemy. So, who is doing all of this killing? Islamists. Islamism has nothing to do with the religion Islam, beyond using it as clothing. Islamism is just like any of the other dangerous "isms". It is not a religious movement, but a societal one. Islamism is a promise of utopia, wrapped in a set of religious rules. Fascism was not a Christian movement, but did use Christianity as a means to gather strength, even as it sought to destroy Christianity in favor of nationalism. Fascism promised a nationalist heaven throughout the world - but killed freedom. Socialism/Communism is wrapped in the teachings of a different kind of prophetical ideologue, but the relevance remains. Socialism/Communism used the strength of the ordinary individual's want for power (strength in numbers) - at least until it could eradicate individualism. Socialism/Communism promised a workers heaven throughout the world - but killed freedom. Islamism is wrapped in the cloak of Islam, but espouses practices and goals, which have not been a part of contemporary Islam for roughly 500 years - maybe more. Islamists are adherents to a movement, not a religion. Their goal is to create a heaven on earth for all - at least, for all who remain. Infidels do not have a place in the Islamist dream. The enemy is not Islam - a religion. It is Islamism - a dangerous ideaology. >From this it is easy to understand why Islamists hate us. We have no place in the heaven on earth they propose to create. We are obstacles to their utopia. We can also understand why they stop at no atrocity in their pursuit of heaven on earth. Islamists would like to see the creation of the Utopia take place sooner, rather than later. The question which cannot be answered is: Why do not more of those who practice the religion not recognize and denounce those who practice the ideology? Are they as blind as everyone else or is there some sinister correlation between the religion and the ideology? Those who practice Islam need to understand they are being doomed by those who practice Islamism. It behooves Muslims to work harder at "self-policing" because they are the ones who have the most to lose. IsrAlert, a Jewish advocacy network, is hosted by Harv Weiner. To subscribe to IsrAlert, send an email to isralert@aol.com |
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PA RELIGIOUS LEADERS CALL FOR GENOCIDE OF JEWS
Posted by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook, September 14, 2004. |
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Twice in three days, PA religious leaders have openly called for the genocide of Jews. Broadcast on official PA TV, both called for the murder of Jews until the Jewish people are annihilated. Both presented the killing of Jews not merely as the will of Allah, but also as a necessary stage in history that should be carried out now. To support these mandatory killings, both cited the same Hadith - Islamic tradition attributed to Mohammed - expressing Allah's will that Muslims will kill Jews, before the "Hour" of Resurrection. The words of the Hadith: "The Hour [Resurrection] will not take place until the Muslims fight the Jews, and kill them. And the Jews will hide behind the rock and tree, and the rock and tree will say: oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, this is a Jew behind me, come and kill him!" Numerous times in recent years Palestinian religious leaders and academics have taught publicly that this particular Hadith applies today. This teaching may well be a dominant motivating factor that drives terror against Israeli civilians, because it presents the killing of Jews as a religious obligation, not related to the conflict over borders, but as something inherent to Allah's world. Note also the defining of Jews as "the brothers of the monkeys and pigs" in Maadi's religious lesson. PA religious leaders teach, based on a story in the Quran, that Jews were cursed by Allah and turned into monkeys and pigs. This is consistent with the PA teaching that the Jew's have inherent and unchanging character defects. You can view the teachings of Sheik Ibrahim Madiras during his Friday sermon and Dr. Muhammad Ibrahim Maadi on his weekly TV show teaching Islam on the PMW website. The following are the texts of these broadcasts: Sheik Ibrahim Madiras Friday sermon, PA TV Sept. 10, 2004: "The Prophet said: the Resurrection will not take place until the Muslims fight the Jews, and the Muslims kill them. The Muslims will kill the Jews, rejoice [in it], rejoice in Allahs Victory. The Muslims will kill the Jews, and he will hide Dr. Muhammad Ibrahim Maadi on his weekly TV show, Sept. 12, 2004: "We are waging this cruel war with the brothers of the monkeys and pigs, the Jews and the sons of Zion The Jews will fight you and you will subjugate them. Until the Jew will stand behind the tree and rock. And the tree and rock will say: oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him." Itamar Marcus is director of PMW -Palestinian Media Watch - (http://www.pmw.org.il). Barbara Crook, a writer and university lecturer based in Ottawa, Canada, is PMW's North American representative. |
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MUSLIM CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND OTHER ITEMS
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, September 14, 2004. |
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MUSLIM CONSPIRACY THEORIES 1. Sudan broadcast a mosque sermon that whether the World Trade Center was destroyed by "Israel's enemies, as the US claims, or by Israeli agents, as we claim (without evidence), the outcome is the same: the Jews are the cause?" 2. The Lebanese Druse leader Walid Jumblatt explained that the US is responsible, because the US gave bin Laden his start and he reappears as needed. (Bush needs to catch him, but can't.) 3. Iranian TV blames the Jews, because "The FBI arrested five Israelis who had planned to blow up the New York Bridge in the Manhattan and New Jersey area." Also, on the day of the attack, the several thousand Jews working in the World Trade Center were not present; they had been tipped off not to come (Steven Stalinsky of MEMRI, NY Sun, 9/8, p.7). The first example of Muslim conspiracy theory brings out the difference in mentality between at least the Arabs and the West. The Sudan Arabs reason that if Israel's enemies bombed the World Trade Center, then the fault is Israel's. A Westerner would reason that if Israel's enemies bombed the Center, the fault is those enemies'. The ones who plan and perpetrate a crime, not their enemies, are the criminals. That Arab logic blames the Jewish people "coming and going." If Israel arranged the bombing, the Jews are guilty, and if enemies of Israel arranged the bombing, the Jews are guilty. Under Western logic, that is ridiculous. Moreover, the Arabs blame all the Jews, even if only a few were involved. That is not ethnic logic but simply poor logic. It is like blaming S. Arabia and Egypt for the 9/11 attack, because the perpetrators were Saudis and Egyptians. If the Muslim attackers had, instead, been born in France, should one blame France? Of course not. The second example is popular in the Muslim world. Muslims both deny that bin Laden was involved, and they affirm that he was involved but as a US agent. (Can't be both.) If he were a US agent, the US would have had him discontinue the insurgency and not plot other terrorist attacks, so that the government could proclaim a swift and cheap victory in Iraq. Bin Laden got his start in the US-subsidized insurgency against Soviet rule in Afghanistan. That does not make him an agent of the US. The US delegated to Pakistan the provisioning of the Arab "Afghans." Pakistan is Islamist. Pakistan saw to it that the US aid built up an Islamist foreign legion. The US never exerted control over those people. The third example shows how the Muslims get a news story mixed up, but if it fits their conspiracy theory, they repeat the slander ad infinitum. The Israelis were arrested on suspicion that turned out not to be confirmed. They had not planned to blow up anything. They were innocent. Jews got killed at the World Trade Center. One was my neighbor. Jews were not notified to absent themselves. If they had been, the surviving companies would have noted the pattern. Actually, Israel does not know who are all the Jewish employees in big complexes. The implications of Muslim accusations are self-refuting for anyone who knows the situations involved. EVALUATION OF THE FENCE The IDF has concluded that the fence separating Gaza from Israel no longer is effective in blocking terrorism. The terrorists have adapted to it, by developing a form of artillery that fires over it. Terrorists who get through it are helped by Arabs on the other side (Arutz-7, 9/1). Israel nevertheless lurches on with the Judea-Samaria wall. Plenty of Arabs are on both sides of that wall. ARAB DEFINITION OF "BARBARISM" The P.A. described Israel's demolition of the houses of terrorists who had bombed Israelis as barbarism. It did not describe those terrorists as barbarians but as honored "martyrs." (IMRA, 9/1 from Michael Widlanski). PALESTINIAN HUMAN RIGHTS MONITORING GROUP Citing an "unacceptable" number of deaths of Arab children allegedly from Israeli attacks, PHRMG condemns both sides for attacks on children, and the Israelis as irresponsible under international law. (Israel does not launch attacks on children, the Arabs do. Israel does not put its children in harm's way, the Arabs do.) PHRMG omitted a number of Arab attacks in August. In an IDF attempt upon the life of a Hamas leader, some family members were killed. PHRMG disapproves of this policy as not following "proper legal channels." (The Arabs call this a war. In warfare, attacking military commanders is legal. No trial need be held.) Roadblock and checkpoint restrictions on Arab travelers increased in August. This is discriminatory and contrary to international law. (The restrictions have decreased, allowing terrorism to increase. Checkpoints to maintain law against known terrorists are not against the law. The notion that it is discriminatory to check Arabs and not Jews is risible, because terrorism is committed by Arabs and not Jews.) Despite the International Court of Justice ruling that Israel's security fence violates international law, Israel has not yet allocated funds for rerouting it. PHRMG is concerned that it still would interfere with the Arabs, and since it still is being built within the Green Line, would hamper establishment of a viable P.A. state. (Israel is not obliged, nor has it a right, to help establish in the Jewish homeland a P.A. state whose purpose is to help destroy Israel. An Arab state constantly at war and on a sliver of land without resources cannot be viable and would reduce the viability of Israel by terrorism, inviting invaders, and consuming water supplies. PHRMG expects the Israeli government to move fast to obey the Intl. Court that has no jurisdiction over it, is unjust, and is part of the international drive to destroy Israel.) Lack of a comprehensive Israeli plan to abandon Judea-Samaria puts a peaceful solution in doubt. (There cannot be a peaceful solution with jihadists. But a plan to get the Arabs to abandon Judea-Samaria would improve the chances of peace. Unfortunately, PHRMG misunderstands how "bulldozer" Sharon maneuvers. He does not come up with a comprehensive abandonment plan, lest he arouse greater opposition. First he ousts some, and has in place a callous police force ready to oust the rest. Then he'd move against more. He is criticized for insufficient anti-Zionism, whereas he is quite anti-Zionist but surreptitiously.) Arab prisoners in Israel were said to be hunger-striking for humane conditions (IMRA, 9/1) No, it was to get terrorists luxuries and to halt security measures against them. PHRMG cites Arafat's support for the strikers, as if he were not a grievous violator of human rights! It also cites an Israeli Minister as saying he did not mind if they starve to death. Neither do I, for they should be executed. But the Minister prefaced his statement by declaring that he would not risk the lives of Israelis for terrorists. In other words, it is better that terrorists kill themselves than give hem the means or escaping and murdering innocents. The full statement exposes PHRMG's bias. The P.A. is among the worst violators of international law and of peace agreements, but one would not know that from PHRMG. It focuses on Israel, which does not violate them. HOW IS U.S. DOING IN IRAQ? "The Fallujah Bigade, which the Americans organized in May to maintain security after the Marines lifted a three-week siege, has all but disappeared, along with virtually all signs of Iraqi state authority. They fled after insurgents executed a commander. "Local police operate under the tacit control of the rebel fighters." (Hamza Hendawi, NY Sun, 9/9, p.7). Pres. Bush had expressed satisfaction with the progress the US made in rebuilding Iraq. Most of the media do not report that. But the Administration counted as progress turning security over to Iraqis. It is not progress if, when needed, they desert. The S. Vietnamese used to desert in battle, leaving the Yanks alone against the Communists. The Yanks always won, but in the end, Americans did not want to continue paying the price. WHAT THE DURBAN CONFERENCE REALLY DID A little-noted action by the UNO's Durban Conference was to denounce "terrorism." Conference organizers proudly upheld their human rights credentials. But did they denounce terrorism? No, because they defined it so as to exclude much jihad, especially terrorism against Israel. They followed the Arab definition that terrorism is a matter of who injures whom for what reason, rather than the use of inhumane methods. No cause excuses the deliberate murder of children. Besides, the Arab cause is not noble but murder for the sake of murder, conversion, and dominance. Most of the world calls Arab terrorists "activists" or "militants," rather than terrorists. Thus the Arabs have secured approval for their terrorism from a world that largely is appeasement minded, mercenary, ignorant, and antisemitic (Dr. Aaron Lerner, IMRA, 9/2). What a perverse world! Terrorism is "human rights", the UNO upholds terrorism, and the Arabs cite world public opinion in their behalf. This world public opinion is manipulated and perverse. ANOTHER DEFECT IN ISRAELI "DEMOCRACY" Just as the elected US Senate confirms Cabinet nominees, the elected Israeli Knesset confirms Cabinet nominees. The difference is that the Senate regularly holds hearings to examine the candidates, whereas the Knesset has no such mechanism (IMRA, 9/2). Add that to the half-dozen other major flaws in Israeli democracy, and heat until half-baked. P.A. ON TERRORIST BOMBINGS IN ENGLISH & IN ARABIC Recently, Arab terrorists bombed Israeli bus passengers in Beersheba. The P.A. issued press releases in English reporting about the attacks and condemning them. The condemnation, however, merely was for harming the P.A. cause by giving Israel a "pretext" to fight back. The condemnation never is of the terrorist organizations, of the terrorists, or of the barbarism. Hanan Ashrawi and Sari Nusseibeh make such pretended denunciations. The P.A. Arab-language media mostly ignored the attacks, but called the perpetrators "holy martyrs," Islam's highest honor and guaranteeing a place in paradise for them. NEW KIND OF ARAB TUNNELING A second tunnel was discovered running from an Arab village almost all the way to a Jewish community, this time, Kfar Darom in Gaza. The tunnel would have enabled Arabs to infiltrate the Jewish community and murder residents (IMRA, 9/2). Note that the "security fence" does not run 30' down to where tunnels are. The only solution is to move the Arabs far away. This is a matter of innocent life Vs. political correctness. Political correctness, which means death, is winning. COLA WARS Cola is big business. Foreigners consider it not as a junk drink but as a bit of Americana. In reaction, Muslims are selling colas with Islamic brand names. They are marketing their products as symbols of their own ethnic pride (and for the money). The marketing method is to imitate the design of a Western product, even if the brand is not Islamic-oriented, though most are. One of the products is called "OBL," short for Osama bin Laden. It glorifies terrorism. Islamic-oriented products serve to radicalize (and insulate --apartheidize) Muslims everywhere. The marketing and consumption make a political statement. The Arabs claim that their new rivalry with Pepsi and Coke is part of the war on America and Zionism. The brand names are like battle cries. Indeed, the Arabs donate some of the proceeds to the P.A., which is at war with infidels. Purchaser participate in this junk juice jihad, which is psychological. Muslims are attempting to penetrate Western markets in order to facilitate money-laundering for terrorism. They promote a boycott of Western products, and penetrate the US market to do so. These products are just beginning to flood in. They get Westerners used to a strong Muslim presence. They take advantage of Western political correctness (i.e., a sheepish excess of tolerance of those who would murder us) that is not likely to stop them. Hence they get us used to being dhimmis in a sense, suffering indignities from Muslims (MEPF, 9/1 from Miriam Gardner of American Yated Neeman, 8/12). You will understand that, if you are informed about dhimmis. In self-defense and as a security measure, we should not buy Islamic-oriented products (or admit them or their people). I have passed up nice shirts, because they were made in Pakistan and Egypt, but those products were not Islamic-oriented, as is "Qibla-Cola" and "Mecca-Cola." CENSUS BUREAU IDENTIFIES MUSLIM ENCLAVES The US Bureau of the census has given the Dept. of Homeland Security statistics on how many Muslims live in various zip codes and by what countries of origin. The Bureau frequently shares data with other agencies (and with corporations seeking marketing data), but does not identify individuals, which would be illegal. Arab advocacy groups and the ACLU criticize this practice as undemocratic. They liken it to compiling information about Japanese-Americans during WWII (Op. Cit.). Analogies lead to slippery logic. The trick is to liken what is done here to something that Americans have learned to regret, so the opprobrium of the latter rubs off on the former. There is another major difference in the two situations. The Japanese-Americans proved loyal. Arab-Americans generally felt that 9/11 gave the US what was coming to it. Islamists have been circulating among the willing US Arabs, raising funds, indoctrinating, and recruiting for terrorism. Some terrorist cells have been captured. The census data seems meant to assist law enforcement. If it can, then its dissemination is reasonable. If it is not likely to, then it is wasted effort. BRITISH PROSECUTORS TAUGHT SENSITIVITY TO MUSLIMS Prosecutors of terrorism took a week course to provide "a better understanding of the Muslim community and Muslim faith," discrimination, and disadvantage. Jihad Watch remarks that if prosecutors learn what Islamic holy works really state about jihad and how Muslim radicals use that to recruit, the course would be worthwhile. Such courses usually are politically correct indoctrination that Muslims are misunderstood and humiliated, Islam means peace, jihad is an inner struggle, and Muslims should be treated gingerly (Ibid.). As gingerly as serial killers. 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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INDICT ME!
Posted by Steven Plaut, September 14, 2004. |
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1. As part of Ariel Sharon's efforts to implement his "disengagement plan," he is launching an energetic asaault against free speech and free expression in Israel. That is not an exaggeration. This week saw a large demonstration against Sharon's plan held in Jerusalem. About 100,000 people participated, which is why the leftist media said 70,000 and Haaretz, the Palestinian newspaper printed in Hebrew, said 40,000. In this demonstration, some protesters held signs reading "Ariel Sharon is a Dictator". To prove that the signs are correct and that Ariel Sharon really IS a dictator, Ariel Sharon has evidently instructed his leftist Attorney General to "investigate" whether those holding such signs should be indicted for criminal prosecution. I am not kidding. Now, describing Sharon's actions as dictatorial is not only protected speech, or at least would be if Israel were a democracy, but it is empirically well-founded. After all, Sharon was elected on a platform OPPOSING precisely the plan he is now trying to implement, and so is disenfranchising those who voted for him and against the plan. Reasonable rational people might fairly regard that as dictatorial. Sharon is also ignoring the 60% of his own party who rejected the plan in the party referendum a few months back. And now he has rejected calls from within his own party and from various other corners of Israeli society to hold a national referendum on the plan before trying to implement it. After all, since voters have rejected the plan, it behooves Sharon to ask them again before implementing it. Sharon's people, joining the Left, are now insisting that ballot referenda are anti-democratic. Tell that to California. This is not the only part of the assault against free expression. Sharon's people have been planting story after story in the media about how the evil settlers and the anti-disengagement protesters opposing his plan are a clear and present danger of violence, how they are plotting murder and mayhem, how they are planning a civil war. Yeah, sure they are. The General Security Services (Shin Bet) has taken time off from tracking terrorists to operate surveillance of these "inciters". This is all part of Sharon's attempt to delegitimize those disagreeing with him. AT the same time, the leftist Attorney General, a crony of Yossi Beilin but an appointee of Sharon, has ordered an investigation to prepare indictment of a haredi ultra-Orthodox newspaper for "racism". Its crime? The paper, Sha'a Tova (The Good Hour) ran an article about the deaths of 242 Moslems stomped to death in riots and disorders in Mecca during the haj. A columnist commented that, "This time the sacrifice was really a holiday," a play on words of the "Holiday of the Sacrifice". The columinist went on to write that these victims "at least made this day a holiday for us". Now you might disagree with the columnist, and you might think that other people's religion should not be a target of mockery. But there is a difference between poor taste and criminality. I mean, come on, Haaretz runs worse comments than that against Judaism and Rabbis every day. Moreover, the investigation was in response to a petition by pro-terror Knesset Member Ahmed Tibi. Tibi himself has made far worse comments than this newspaper, endorsing and justifying Palestinian terror and atrocities, and Tibi has yet to be indicted for incitement or racism or worse. Let us note that the Israeli judicial establishment has long argued that it is protected speech and decidedly NOT racist for Arabs and Jewish leftists to praise terrorists, suicide bombers, and otherwise praise those who murder Jews. Not a single one of these has ever been indicted for "racism". It is supposedly ok to praise murders already committed, as long as you do not actually call for NEW murders. Those are not MY speech rules but those of the legal establishment. SO where exactly is the criminal offense in the newspaper's column? The answer is that Ariel Sharon and his Attorney General are unhappy with Israelis having free speech at this juncture in history. With free speech, too many people disagree with their agenda. Since Sharon wants the protesters indicted for "incitement", I have a suggestion. I suggest that Sharon first indict ME for incitement. Seriously. After all, I have repeatedly referred to Sharon as Israel's Mugabian leader. THAT has gotta be worse than holding a sign saying he is a dictator. SO I hereby issue an open invitation to the Attorney General and the police to indict me for "incitement" for exercising this prohibited form of free speech. I will make it easy; I will collect all me incitements onto a CD-Rom and provide it to you for free. What do you say? 2. Ehud Barak has announced that he wishes to run again for Prime Minister and head of the Labor Party. Yep, the same Barak who triggered the "Al-Aqsa Intifada" when he demonstrated Israel had lost the will to survive by offering Arafat the kitchen sink at Camp David II, the fella who was within whiskers of turning the Western Wall over to the terrorists. Now you may recall that Ehud Barak once tried to attract votes by saying that if he had been born an Arab, he would no doubt have become a terrorist and murderer of Jews. Could someone please contact him with this question: If you had been born a Chechen, would you have helped murder 600 children? Inquiring minds want to know! 3. When Tali Fahima, the Jewish gyno-terrorist who is now jailed under "administrative detention" for assisting her Palestinian terrorist "lover" to plan bombings and other murders, was first arrested, I claimed she was the poster girl for the entire Left. Some people dismissed my remarks as paranoia, insisting the Left would not come out in support of a Jewish anti-Semitic terrorist. Well they were wrong. There is a large ad in Haaretz yesterday with the names of a hundred or so Jews for a Second Holocaust, all expressing support for Tali Fahima and demanding that she be released. These include a number of tenured extremists, communists, and members of Uri Avnery's pro-terror cult. In response to these petitions, I would like to make my own modest suggestion. Let's collect an alternative dissident petition calling on the Israeli government to execute Tali Fahima if she is convicted of terrorism. Sure, I have been promoting capital punishment as an effective anti-terror policy for years. And whenever I do so, I am lectured about how it would just be unfair and "racist" to use it only against Arab terrorists. Well, never let it be said I am not open to constructive criticism and positive suggestions. Let's introduce capital punishment, but where the first implementation is for a JEWISH terrorist. Are you with me? If so, post a call for executing Tali if convicted for terrorism to israel.indymedia.org, which is the official web page of her comrades in terror. 4. Haaretz is upset. It seems that when non-Jews apply for Israeli citizenship outside the Law of Return (which allows Jews requesting it to receive automatic Israeli citizenship, in a law similar to the Laws of Return operating in Germany, Armenia, Greece, and elsewhere), they are asked to sign a statement confirming that they are not mentally unbalanced. Jews arriving under the Law of Return are not asked to sign similar statements. But my guess is that Jews moving to Israel, such as myself, are automatically presumed to be mentally unbalanced. My sabra wife sure is convinced that is the case, aren't you sugar
plum?...
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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MADRE - FORD FUNDED NGO LEADS DEMONIZATION OF ISRAEL
Posted by NGO Monitor Organization, September 13, 2004. |
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This was written by Samuel Chester.
Founded in 1983, and based in the United States with 23,000 members, MADRE describes itself as an "international women's human rights organization that works in partnership with women's community based groups - to develop long term solutions to the crisis they face." In practice, however, MADRE's activities reflect an extremist political and ideological agenda that also justifies terror. Nevertheless, and despite its high-profile role in the 2001 Conference on Racism at Durban, MADRE received $350,000 of funding from the Ford Foundation in 2003 (There is no list of sponsors on the MADRE website.) A former MADRE official, Sarah Leah Whitson is currently the Executive Director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch, providing another example (along with Joe Stork and Gary Sick) of the primacy of anti-Israel bias in HRW's Middle East activities.) The 2001 Durban Conference and beyond MADRE was a major participant in the NGO forum of the Durban Conference on Racism in 2001, including a highly biased presentation on the history of Palestinian refugees. MADRE's political agenda is also reflected in the partnership formed with the Palestinian NGO Ibdaa, a "refugee community center" engaged in virulently anti-Israel activities. Ibdaa also had a prominent role at the Durban conference, and supplies much of MADRE's anti-Israel materials. Historical Distortion In examining MADRE's publications on the conflict, extreme distortions in the service of a political agenda are commonplace. Reports accuse Israel of using F-16s to destroy "houses, mosques, kindergartens, clinics" and make the false claim that "half of all the land [in West Bank] will be swallowed by Israel." Its background resource to the conflict is a farce. There is no reference to Arab terror attacks, no historical background, and Israel is consistently portrayed as responsible for the 1948 and 1967 Wars. MADRE repeats the canard blaming Zionism for anti-Semitism, and portrays the Oslo process as an anti-Palestinian accord designed to consolidate Israeli control over the West Bank and Gaza, a claim repeated in a MADRE report "Hunger in Palestine". MADRE's dominant political agenda is also seen in the differences in the distribution of its reports. Between December 1999 and April 2003, this organization issued 17 reports on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as compared to 13 on all of Latin America, eleven on Iraq, five on women's health and three on Africa during this period. The content of these reports reflect the continued ideology of delegitimization of Israel. Excusing terror in order to demonize Israel In its "Palestine Country Overview", the post-Oslo violence beginning in September 2000 is termed a "Palestinian struggle" versus an Israeli "military offensive characterized by grave and massive violations of Palestinian human rights." Rejecting Israel's security concerns, MADRE places Palestinian terror in the context of the "right to resist military occupation". Marking International Women's Day on March 8, 2002, a MADRE statement ignores Palestinian terror and the murder of hundreds of Israelis, while charging Israel with assassinating "activists" or "leaders" and building an "Apartheid Wall", which is falsely labeled "electrified". This is a blatant propaganda text, including sentences such as "Israeli forces have responded to Palestinian demands for independence by attacking with US made Apache helicopters and F-16 fighter jets..." A MADRE press statement of April 2, 2002 during the height of the Palestinian terror campaign continues this theme: "Israel is killing unarmed women, children and old men?" and adding the grossly unethical statement that "Israelis killed by Palestinian suicide bombers are victims of Sharon's policy." MADRE's amoral equivalence between Israeli victims and Palestinian perpetrators is demonstrated in its view that "[state] terrorism is the essence of Sharon's policy." Despite MADRE's claim to be a human rights organization, there is no mention of Palestinian violation of Israeli rights through terror or encouragement of childhood martyrdom and official incitement. Violence and terror are excused as part of Palestinian culture and nationalist struggle. MADRE's only mention of human rights violations within the Palestinian Authority is in a short letter of December 10, 1999 asking "honored President Arafat" to reassess his incarceration of twenty political opponents. In summary, MADRE's radical political agenda and demonization of Israel are in direct contrast to its claimed objective "to develop a long term solution to the crisis". Women's rights issues are discarded in favor of carrying out a blatant anti-Israel politicized agenda. If it continues to fund this organization, the Ford Foundation is ignoring its own guidelines. The NGO Monitor organization (www.ngo-monitor.org) promotes critical debate and accountability of human rights NGOs in the Arab Israeli Conflict. The Monitor is produced by The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs/Institute of Contemporary Affairs. |
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THE VIEW FROM HERE
Posted by Joseph Alexander Norland, September 13, 2004. |
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This essay, "The View from Here", was written by Barry Shaw. To
subscribe, write to netre@matav.net.il
Shame on you ! We Jews are entering into a period of soul-searching and self-reflection. We, in Israel, remain tense and concerned about the constant threat from neighbours whose life motivation is to kill Jews, and destroy the one-and-only Jewish state. This Rosh HaShanana, many of us will be saying Yizkor for loved ones killed by those who have succeeded in finding their way to paradise by destroying the lives of those dear to us. At such a time we naturally thought we would hear the support of fellow Jews abroad. We thought we would hear words of encouragement and understanding for our suffering. Instead, we hear the criticism of Jews who blame us for our predicament. We read that they are turning their backs on an Administration in America that has given strength and understanding, in favour of an alternative that would placate our enemies. Netanya has known twelve terror attacks that have killed fifty of our citizens, and injured more than four hundred. That was before we constructed a section of anti-terror barrier, which candidate Kerry describes as 'another barrier to peace'. At a time when Israel is crying out for the support of fellow Jews, where are they? At best, these 'politically correct' co-religionists are Jewish Neutralists. At worst, they actively support and give succor to those who plan our deaths in the spirit of liberal humanism. At a time when the echoes of the bombs and explosive belts still rings in our ears, we are being punished by our own brethren. Criticism of Israel has become 'politically correct' but morally wrong. Jewish movers and shakers, such as London's Rabbi Dunner, find it trendy to knock Israel. Dunner recently shot at Israel's Prime Minister for calling on French Jews to make Aliyah. This prominent rabbi called it 'Zionist Chutzpah' for the head of the Jewish state to call Diaspora Jews to return to Zion. I imagine Rabbi Dunner's Passover Hagada does not contain the prayer 'Next Year in Jerusalem!' In the United States, Rabbi David Saperstein criticised the U.S. Congress for being too supportative of Israel. This rabbi is the head of the American Reform Movement. With a head like this the Reform Movement is in need of reform. Leaders, Jews, like this think that our tragedy is of our own making. They lighten the load of blame from the terrorists shoulders and burden we Jewish victims with their self-hating guilt complex. Shame on you! Shame on you and your misguided politics. Shame on you for turning your backs on us, only to smile encouragement at those who will gladly kill you because of your faith. Shame on you for being asked for your love, and seeing you kiss our killers. As you wrap yourself in your tallit and begin to pray 'Al Chait!', please add another one for me.... "For the sins I have committed by returning to my 10th September New York state of mind."
Shana Tova! Joseph Alexander Norland is co-host of IsrApundit, a pro-Israel activist website (http://www.israpundit.com). |
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IF YOU COULD BE G-D FOR ONE WEEK, WHAT WOULD YOU DO
Posted by IsrAlert, September 13, 2004. |
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This essay was written by Rabbi Aron Moss, who
teaches Kabbalah, Talmud and practical Judaism at the Foundation for
Education in Sydney, Australia. It is archived at Isralert@aol.com
source: http://chabad.org/article.asp?aid=171062
Dear Rabbi Moss, The recent movie "Bruce Almighty" raises some important questions. It is about a man who is given the job of being G-d for a week. Answers to the questions he faces have aided me in my search for the truth. If you could be G-d for one week, what would you do? Who would you help? What punishments would you mete out? How would you handle this awesome responsibility? Answer: I have not seen the movie, but the storyline is familiar. A small book was written by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan in 1983 called "If You Were G-d" posing the exact same scenario. You may be interested in reading that to see his perspective. I'm sure there are many similar works from many different perspectives. Here's mine. You pose the question as a theoretical one: "if" you could be G-d what would you do? But according to Jewish thought this is not a hypothetical; it is the reality! G-d has endowed each of us with a Divine spark, a piece of Himself, which we usually refer to as "the soul." This Divine spark is our true identity; our body and the "personality" that comes with it are merely the vehicles through which our soul expresses itself. Our bodies are human. But our souls are Divine. From a soul perspective, we have the same attributes as G-d Himself. We are made in His image. 1) We have free choice. In truth, only G-d can have free choice. Because to have truly free choice you have to be above any influence that may sway you to choose one path or the other. If I choose something out of peer pressure, ignorance or habit, I am not making a free choice. G-d alone is above any influence. From a body perspective, a human being is influenced by environment, education, genetics and mood swings. That means we aren't truly free in our choices. Scientifically, we are essentially machines that will make predictable choices based on external or internal influences. But that's only according to nature. From a spiritual perspective, we aren't so one-dimensional. G-d has given us a piece of Himself, a soul, and that is the core of our being that is above any influence. Our soul allows us to rise above even our own nature and be free to choose. So, like G-d, we have free choice. Our destiny is in our own hands. 2) We are creators. Apart from the fact that we can invent, build and even reproduce (which animals can also do), we humans are, in our very essence, creators. The Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) teaches that every action we do not only affects the world around us, but also creates new spiritual forces. When we perform an act of goodness we create a "good angel," a positive energy force. On the other hand, when we act selfishly or destructively we create a "bad angel" -- negative energy. Throughout our lifetimes we accumulate legions of these creatures that are our own creations, and they hover around our souls. The negative energy can be destroyed and even transformed to goodness if we regret the evil we have done and right the wrongs. These angels are ours, and we decide their fate. Like G-d, we are creators, and our creations are in our hands. 3) We can influence the direction of the entire world. The soul's power is unlimited. My thoughts, words and actions can push the entire world towards its ultimate purpose, or delay the realization of that purpose. The Talmud says that one should see the world as exactly balanced between good and evil. My next move will determine which way the scales are tipped -- will I bring more corruption, pain and sorrow into the world, or will I promote peace, happiness and harmony? So just like G-d we have free choice, we create and control our creations, and the destiny of the entire world is in our hands. G-d could have created us otherwise. He didn't have to give us such power. But He took a gamble. He placed the world in our hearts; in us He invested His very self. Because He trusts us to do a good job. So the question is not "What would you do if you were G-d?", but rather "G-d has given you His power; what's your next move?" |
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WE PRAY FOR A BETTER YEAR
Posted by Samson Krupnick, September 13, 2004. |
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The war on "Saudi" Arabian petro-dollar profit financed Wahhabi worldwide mass murder ("global terror") continued, despite the many efforts by the United States and its allies on the Iraq front. The United States has lost over 1,000 dead. More American soldiers are killed almost daily in ambushes and by sniper fire. The United States and allies are now doing as Israel does, directly targeting mass murder ("terror") leaders and taking the initiative in tracking down mass murder ("terrorist") bases. The basic difficulty is continued support for the mass murderers by Iran as supplier of arms through Syria to Shi'ite Hizbullah against Israel and to attacking mass murderers in Iraq. Some fifteen Arab states (led by petro-dollar profit financed Wahhabi "Saudi" Arabia) support the mass murder organizations in one form or another, including donations of huge sums of petro-dollar profits. The basic program of the United States and its allies to sponsor and to introduce a democratic Iraq in the Middle East is looked upon with much disfavor by Arab and Muslim states, and as a danger to their very existence. Even Egypt, aided by American huge funds, declared American efforts in Iraq constitutes interference in the internal affairs of Iraq. Hence, the United States has dispatched Assistant Secretary of State William Burns with a demand that Syria expel eleven mass murder organizations; to close its borders with Iraq now open to mass murderers crossing into Iraq; to withdraw its troops from Lebanon; and to join the United States in the war against mass murder. Regarding Iran, the International Atomic Energy Agency has given a deadline for Iran to stop uranium enrichment and related activities. Thereafter, the U.N. Security Council will act accordingly. Should these two major suppliers and supporters of mass murder -- Syria and Iran -- refuse to comply, sanctions would be declared and ultimately some military operation launched. Meanwhile, the entire United States stood at attention in observance of the third anniversary of the "Saudi" Arabian petro-dollar profit financed Wahhabi 9/11 mass murder attacks on Washington, D.C. and New York, with the crippling of the Pentagon, destruction of the World Trade Centers and murder of 2,796 people. All agreed that this dastardly act will never be forgotten and the terrible costing of lives truly remembered by all. In this closing month of our Jewish year of 5764 a flurry of mass murder attacks occurred that shocked the western world. At the Beersheva market two Resident Arab suicide slaughterers boarded and blew up two buses, murdering 16 passengers and wounding 45. One bus driver managed to open the doors to his bus, saving many lives. Henceforth, special dogs will be used to detect explosives. Also, Israel's security fence will be completed there soon. The headquarters of "Saudi" Arabian petro-dollar profit financed Wahhabi Hamas mass murderers is in Hebron. That night some 20 Hamas leaders were arrested. The next day the Israel Air Force targeted a Hamas group in Gaza, killing 15 and wounding 24. These are ongoing operations wherein the I.D.F. arrests or destroys mass murderers before they have an opportunity to attack. The American army has learned from Israel to do the same. A few days later there occurred a "9/11" type "Saudi" Arabian petro-dollar profit financed Wahhabi mass murder attack in the city of Beslan in Russia, resulting in the mass murder of over 400 people, including some 150 children, and the wounding of over 700 people. The mass murderers, Arab and Chechen Wahhabis, captured a school filled with students, parents and guests in the large assembly hall and held them for ransom. At first there were negotiations but suddenly a female Wahhabi mass murderer blew herself up, causing the roof to fall in, killing the terrorists as well as the parents and children and wounding many others. The Russians were dumfounded. Russia declared two days of mourning and called upon Israel for consultations in their war against "Saudi" Arabian petro-dollar profit financed Wahhabi mass murder. European Union members sat up and took careful notice. Some of them who sent soldiers to Iraq at the request of the United States, received notices that mass murder will strike them if they refuse to recall their soldiers from Iraq. Some E.U. members responded and withdrew their troops. Most countries ignored the warning. More and more it has become a war of the "Saudi" Arabian petro-dollar profit financed Wahhabis against the Western world. However, there are definite important exceptions. The most important is ethnic Turkic, Sunni Muslim majority Turkey with whom Israel has a joint defense agreement facing joint enemies Syria and Iran. Israeli tourists flock to Turkey. The seven ethnic Turkic, Sunni Muslim majority nations of central Asia, which were part of the Soviet Union, all have good relations with Israel. Uzbekistan, with over 40,000 Jews, has an excellent relationship with us. We met the President of Uzbekistan on his visit to Israel to gain "know how" from Israel on agriculture and industry. We had his ambassador, who spoke a perfect Hebrew, as our guest. A week ago there was a dedication in Astana, capital of ethnic Turkic, Sunni Muslim majority Kazakhstan, of the largest synagogue in Central Asia. Israel Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger who had a special relationship with Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, participated in the ceremony. The Rabbi and the President held a menorah together. President Nazarbayev has a good relationship with Iran and helped free the 13 prisoners in Iran. President Nazarbayev was also involved in helping to arrange the return of the bodies of the three soldiers. He offered to get information about Ron Arad. At the dedication, President Nazarbayev stated: "In our city you see the Islamic Center, the Catholic Church, the Protestant Church, and now we are opening the Great Synagogue. Today the world is not quiet, but if all will take an example from us, there will be peace and harmony between all the nations". It is very comforting to finish this trying year on a positive tone. We wish all our readers an happy, healthy and good year. Together we pray for a better new year. Shana Tova (Happy Jewish New Year of 5765) from Liberated Yerushaliyim Samson Krupnick is Board Member and Treasurer, Root & Branch Association in Jerusalem (www.rb.org.il). He can be reached at krup@barak-online.net |
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GIANT RALLY AGAINST EXPULSION AND UPROOTING
Posted by Israel Unity Coalition, September 13, 2004. |
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Tens of thousands of protestors opposed to the expulsion of Jews from Gaza and northern Shomron packed downtown Jerusalem last night, calling upon Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to either back down from his plan or to hold new elections. "Tonight we won't be hearing from politicians," announced the master of ceremonies Chisdai Eliezer, the Mayor of Alfei Menashe. "Tonight we will be hearing from people just like you and me, who are being threatened with expulsion from their homes and everything they have built." The demonstration centered in Zion Square, but large movie screens enabled supporters who flooded Jerusalem's streets from across the country to see and hear what was going on. Rabbi Yigal Kaminetzky, the Chief Rabbi of Gaza, opened the event with a reminder to the tens of thousands of participants that there is a higher authority. "We have embarked on a struggle to win the hearts of the nation and to oppose the plan to withdraw from Gush Katif," he said, "and we must devote 100% of our efforts to averting the expulsion. But we must remember that there is One who is in charge of this world, and we are merely striving to help Him help us." Raising his voice and looking skyward, the rabbi ended by quoting a verse from Psalms 28: "Save Your people and bless Your inheritance; tend them and sustain them forever." Noam Namir, a young girl from the threatened community of N'vei Dekalim, elicited prolonged cheers and applause when she addressed Prime Minister Sharon: "How could you threaten to throw me out of my home in Israel, after my grandmother was expelled from her home in Poland, my grandfather was thrown out of Spain, and my father was exiled from the Sinai town of Yamit? I don't know how any Jewish soldier or police officer could bring himself to throw my family and me out of our house! How will they be able to listen to such an order?" Former MK Rabbi Chanan Porat followed the 12-year-old Gush Katif resident, telling the crowd: "Noam Namir will overcome the Prime Minister!" Porat then read a prayer on behalf of the Jews of Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Media coverage of the event concentrated on the "incitement" aspects. Voice of Israel reporter Guy Kotev did not quote the above speakers, but rather repeated several times - including in pre-demonstration coverage earlier in the day - that the Yesha Council's strategy was to talk about "love for Israel" while at the same time not avoiding "scare tactics." Kotev said, "They're going both ways with full gas. They talk about love, but they also know that they have to play the 'village crazy' in order to make sure people know that this won't go down easily." Many speakers called on Prime Minister Sharon to return his electoral mandate and declare new elections. Rabbi Shlomo Aviner of Beit El cried out, "Don't split the nation! On the contrary: You can unite the nation, by changing your mind and returning to us!" Other speakers called upon the National Religious Party to quit the coalition immediately. Many protestors held banners reading, "Disengagement tears the nation apart" and "The Sharon government - a government of destruction." A handful of signs referred to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's refusal to heed the voices of his own party members, calling the Prime Minister a dictator. Similarly-styled placards bore pictures of Yonatan Bassi, who heads the Disengagement Administration, with the words, "Head of the expulsion authority - we will not forgive." Yesha Council-appointed ushers made sure to remove these signs. They were unable to prevent, however, the dissemination of hundreds of copies of a letter calling for a "change in tactics" and emphasizing that, as opposed to the Yesha Council motto that "Love Will Win Out," love alone will actually not win out, and that tough measures must be employed. All streets leading to Zion Square were packed with people as far as the eye could see, and Yesha Council spokesman Yehoshua Mor-Yosef released an estimate of 70,000 protestors present at the event. The rally was advertised far less than previous rallies. From Zion Square, the throngs of protestors lit torches and marched down the Ben-Yehuda pedestrian mall, along King George Street, and toward the Prime Minister's residence. Avner Shimoni, head of the Gaza Coast Regional Authority, expressed satisfaction with the turnout, saying, "We saw many people who do not usually show up at these events." He said that there is no alternative other than to hold new elections: "Even if we lose, I will continue to fight for my house, but at least the nation won't be split. Sharon was elected on one agenda, and then suddenly changed his mind. He must therefore call new elections, and let the people decide." Shimoni said he would also support a national referendum on the issue, "on condition that it be determined by a special majority of 60%." Prayer Rally At The Western Wall A prayer rally filled the Western Wall plaza yesterday afternoon, with thousands of worshippers crying out for Divine protection from terrorism and expulsion from parts of Israel. The event was set to precede the giant rally held two hours later about a mile away, in Zion Square. Psalms were sung in a responsive manner, with loudspeakers projecting the sound of King David's poetry throughout the area. The recitation of the Psalms was punctuated by the blowing of shofarot (rams' horns), symbolic of the Jewish people calling out to the Creator, as well as the sounding of silver trumpets, which were traditionally sounded each day at the Temple and in times of trouble. The prayers were led by former Chief Rabbis Mordechai Eliyahu and Avraham Kahane Shapira.
The National Unity Coalition 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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ISRAELI EDUCATION ABOUT THE ARABS
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, September 13, 2004. |
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In a mainly Muslim Internet discussion group, a reader of mine asked Muslims why they have a culture of death (against infidels). A Muslim replied by referring to a study that accused Israeli education of being anti-Arab, and by concluding that this is not surprising in a people "known for killing their prophets." The reader asked my opinion about that study, as reported by the "Washington Report," which, he knows, is zealously anti-Zionist. What do we mean by anti-Zionist? There are three types of critics of Israel: (1) Disagree with some Israeli policies, perhaps, like myself, out of a love of Zion; (2) Anti-Zionists, who think the Jewish people not ready for statehood but who are not hostile towards the Jewish people; and (3) Antagonistic towards the Jewish people and the right of that people but not of other nationalities to sovereignty. The "Washington Report" is of the third type. It is known for reporting with biased selectivity and misleading allegations. Since its objection to Israel is based on error and bigotry, it bolsters its argument with false propaganda. The "Washington Report's" bias would not matter, if it reprinted the entire study for readers to judge for themselves. Since it excerpted from the study, the bias matters greatly. It also is difficult for me to comment about the study, because I do not read Hebrew and cannot examine the textbooks, myself. I am going by what I read in sources I find usually accurate and fair. Let's take the Muslim's personal statement, first. Ask yourself, did the Jews slay their prophets, are they known for having done it, does that bear on their religious practice and their character now, and is it relevant to their treatment of Arabs now? Answering in reverse order, how Jews treat their prophets has nothing to do with how they treat the Arabs. (If only the Arabs treated the Jews as well as the Jews treat the Arabs!) The Muslim's statement was a gratuitous insult. He evaded the question of his own people's guilt by seeking to saddle other peoples with it. Arabs aren't the only ones to argue this way, but they usually do. T What the Jewish people did thousands of years ago, as their religion and culture developed, does not mean they behave that way after it evolved. Arabs tend to argue irrelevantly because they do not have the same sense of chronology as do Westerners. To them, the past has a presence. In this case, as often, the gratuitous insult is false. The Hebrews often did not heed their prophets, and their kings sometimes persecuted them, as most societies do of their moralistic dissidents, but as a rule did not kill them. The Arabs had one prophet of their own but their would-be social reformers meet with Arafat's prescribed "10 bullets in the chest." Perhaps the Muslim is referring to Jesus, whom the Jewish people do not consider their prophet and whom the Jewish people did not kill. Unfortunately, Jew-haters distort the tale in the Christian Testament, itself propagandistic, to accuse the Jews of having done so. That Muslim's statement is typical Arab propaganda, revealing bigotry and ignorance or dishonesty. The Arabs still emphasize the canard of deicide, after the Vatican and most Christians have outgrown it. Now we turn to Israeli education. Take two steps back. First, beware of studies. Studies often have their pitfalls, but nowadays, many studies are outright tendentious. When Judah P. Magnes and Martin Buber founded Hebrew University, they carried Reform Judaism further into an anti-Zionism that sought a bi-national state (which the Arabs never accepted), and denigrated Jewish national aspirations. They trained a growing core of social studies academics, who in recent years burst into public view as falsifiers known as "new historians." They defame the Zionists and religious Jews in terms like the Nazis'. This neurosis afflicts that major part of academia. The study has two levels of analysis: (1) What is taught; and (2) What should be taught. I think that the study is largely misleading about what is taught. Much of what it criticizes (and that are for it unpalatable truths) should be taught. Education should be truthful and useful. Since Israel is part of the Jewish homeland, and was established to be the Jewish people's national home, and is under existential assault, Israeli education needs to be patriotic and clever. Anti-Zionists complain that Israeli education is too patriotic, but Zionists complain that it is not patriotic enough to help Israelis understand sufficiently their history, their entitlement to the Land, the value of Judaism to civilization, and the nature of their chief, immediate enemy. The study was done in 1994. It is obsolete. Textbooks have changed since then. Israeli history books veered away from the historical record and even from whole periods of history and into universalism, and then began careening back. Citing that dated report does not explain what is being taught. Although the "Washington Report" quotes attitudes Jewish Israeli students allegedly held about Arabs, it failed to show any linkage between those attitudes and the problems between the two nationalities or faiths. Was it poor education or poor Arab behavior that influenced those attitudes? Not explained. The study also does not refute what it calls stereotypes of the Arabs. Most of the traits denied are typically Arab. The critics fail to define Arab Muslim culture. I wonder whether their lack of definition stems from recognition of that culture's refusal to co-exist in equality with other cultures. Here is what it is like in Israel. Arabs go anywhere in Israel, unconcerned that the supposedly nasty Jews would molest them. Jews must be armed in certain areas, lest the nice Arabs tear them to pieces. Arabs have done that. Why? The Arabs are subjected to daily TV slander about the Jews having cheated them out of the country in 1948 and 1967. The mosques deliver weekly sermons on the conclusion - it is their religious duty to kill Jews. The majority approves of this, and the P.A. and formerly also Saddam paid them to. Terrorism is the major P.A. industry and its chief rationale besides graft. It becomes difficult to consider such jihadists as normal people with whom one can make peace. The notion that Israeli textbooks were anti-Arab in 1994, shortly after Oslo was signed amid high but false hopes for reconciliation with the Arabs was absurd. Books had the opposite tendency. Israeli historical accounts usually are descriptive rather than moralistic. Insults of the Arabs and expressions of hatred would have aroused too many objections to get by. The report maintains that the books call the Arabs "dirty," but do not cite the book. Second step back, assume for the sake of argument that Israeli education were anti-Arab. Would that be causing the wars with the Arabs? No. The Arabs started, or engendered by constant terrorist raids, all the wars between them, just as they initiate wars among themselves, with other neighbors, and now all over the world. Thus the major complaint of the study, that Israel does not educating for peace, is not relevant to peace. (Has the "Washington Report" described the studies of Arab governmental curriculums that educate for war? That would be relevant, since it the Arabs who initiate the conflict with Israel and they educate for war. Anti-Zionists blame Israel for what are the Arabs' faults.) This proclivity for war is an Arab cultural trait whose mention belongs in history books. Education should teach who we are, how we got here, and by overcoming what obstacles. That may not be politically correct, but political correctness, being primarily ideological now, is anti-academic. It doesn't care about truth but about imposing a value system that I consider largely twisted. Now, forward to the study and the report of it. Arab belligerence and violence are crucial factors in the Arab-Israel conflict, but the "Washington Report" objects to their mention in Israeli education. What the "Washington Report" wants is for the Arabs to be presented as nice, decent, normal people, just like the Jews, except that the Jews should be presented as not so nice and decent, and the Arabs should be given preference over the Jews, even as the Arabs within Israel and without seek to overthrow Jewish sovereignty and wipe out the Jewish people. What a mass of contradictions and contra-indicated objectives! The key objective is to facilitate Arab dominance while pretending it is to facilitate tolerance. You see, from mosques in the P.A., S. Arabia, Kuwait, and even Israel, and in the textbooks of the P.A., Jordan, Egypt, etc., the calls goes out to murder Jews. Not just to defeat Israel and gain some territory that Israel controls, but to destroy the Jewish state and the Jewish people. Thus when the study complains that Israeli textbooks describe Arab policy towards the Jewish people as genocidal (as Saddam's was towards the Kurds and Sudan's is towards its blacks), it really is complaining that Israeli books teach the truth and might open Israelis' eyes to the jihad confronting them. Should the books pretend that the Arabs have no vicious intention? Such indoctrination would be deceptive, dangerous for survival. Truth before pretense. The study gives its ulterior motives away by its chief complaints: (1) Israeli textbooks for Arabs are written by Jews; (2) Israeli colleges "discriminate" against Arabs by not having separate dorms for them; (3) Israel has no separate Arab language colleges; (4) Israeli textbooks do not promote a "Palestinian" identity; and (5) There is no "affirmative action" for Arabs in Israeli schools and, with the excuse that the Arabs do not perform military service, no financial aid programs for Arab college students. These complaints are a prescription for both a bi-national state and Arab autonomy in it. Those would be stations along the route to dissolution of the Jewish state. They are not about fairness in textbooks and the educational system, but about Arabs gaining eventual dominance by degrees and by stealth. By contrast, Israeli education was intended, if not successful at least well meant, to treat all the people as part of the same country. Hence it did not emphasize Arab identity. Israel, in a burst of good will, of which it has too much and for which it gets too little credit from those who elicit concessions, made Arabic one of the country's official languages. Nevertheless, it does try to unify the county by having one main language, the majority's, Hebrew. Nothing wrong with that. The critics promote divisiveness. Thus "Palestinian" nationality was fabricated as a weapon against Zionism, but the critics want Israel, itself, to give the Arabs that weapon. These complaints are a type of subversion. The study has it backwards about discrimination. Separate dorms would be discriminatory. Note that it is the Arabs who favor this form of apartheid. The notion that Jews cannot write scholarly passages in textbooks about the Arabs is biased. It also is integral to Arab ideology, which favors loyalty to faith and ethnic group over loyalty to country. "Affirmative action" does not help people to succeed so much as to place them in positions they did not earn and may not live up to. In Israel's case, promoting the Arab enemy would be self-destructive. I think that the critics know it. Autonomy for the Arabs was tried in the Territories. Israel built seven colleges for the Arabs there. Those colleges, now run by the Arabs, are centers of terrorism. Arabs write the P.A. textbooks. Those textbooks are vehicles of bigotry. Those textbooks and similar ones in supposedly moderate Jordan and Egypt demonstrate that the Arabs lack academic integrity. Another complaint is that the textbooks give only the Jewish side of the Arab-Israel conflict. I was not aware that there is another, legitimate side to this decades-old story of Arab intolerance, terrorism, and holy war. It is like denouncing US textbooks for describing WWII as taking issue with Axis imperialism and for describing the Cold War as Winston Churchill did: Soviet subversion for world dominance. Those are matters of fact. Who cares what false excuses unscrupulous, fanatical totalitarians give for their evil purposes and deeds! The study's critique is not specific, but slightly more concrete are its complaints of stereotypes of the Arabs. The study, or at least the "Washington Report," gives no examples. The books were reported to define the Arabs as having been neglectful of the country. But the Arabs were! The Bedouin looted and destroyed towns and farms, leaving them to become sand and swamp. Western travelers remarked about how desolate the country was. Modern Zionists found the country largely undeveloped. They re-developed it. The Arabs did not. Q.E.D. Israeli Arabs were depicted, the report informs us, as liars and violent. Apparently the academics who prepared the report don't now, or won't admit, that Arab and Muslim cultures value deception and advocate violence. Are the textbooks supposed to lie about the Arabs? Of course, not all Arabs do all those things. We are talking of the general characteristics. The Arabs also were described as greedy and traitors. I disagree with that description. Greed is universal. Power corrupts, and ruling classes become greedy, whether they are capitalists, Histadrut unions, or kibbutzim that over-invest in the stock market and then ask the general taxpayers to bail them out, and who leased their farms and then want the right to sell them to housing developers as if it were their land. Having made war on the Jewish state, the defeated Arab enemy signified it was not loyal to it, though some villages were neutral and some minorities among the Arab-speaking population were loyal, though much less so, now. The Arabs sulked, multiplied, and immigrated for a generation, with only their annual marches breaking out into changes of "death to the Jews." Israeli Jews took the Arab quiescence for acceptance. After having become numerous, the Arab sector elects Members of Knesset who openly advocate for the outside Arabs warring on Israel and they sympathize with the P.A. insurgency against Israel. They would deny being traitors, since they do not recognize the legitimacy of Israel. Becoming increasingly radical, many are nice today, nasty tomorrow. That change is apparent all over the West. They (excepting, again, the Druse and some of the Bedouin) do not serve in the Israeli Army. Then why should they be given preference in college? What the Muslim who cited the 1994 study may not realize is that Arabs now ARE given preference in college admission and financial aid. They are charged less and are admitted with much lower achievement academically, according to Prof. Steven Plaut of Haifa University. That is the path to lower national standards. It is unjust to Jews who study hard to achieve academically after serving their country and risking their lives against people for whom Israeli Arabs cheer. Jewish Israeli children were asked what they thought of the Arabs. Their views were negative. I hope that is true. It would be disastrous if Israelis viewed the Arabs positively when they negotiate with them and consider defenses against them. In fact, it has been disastrous, for that is just how Beilin, Peres, and Pundak deemed the Arabs, when they drafted the Oslo accords that led to daily attacks and a thousand Israeli deaths, tens of thousands of Israeli wounded, and billions in wartime expenses. The problem with the curriculum is that ideologues secretly seek to mould it so as to foist their hostile views upon the majority, rather than educate about the world around the children. It would be proper for Israeli education to foster national unity and to teach about the nation's history and current conflict and about Jewish values of tolerance and cooperation. The whole discussion, however, misses the real point of the Arab-Israel conflict. Point is, Israel has no business harboring an enemy population, especially such a relatively large one, whose goal is to expel the majority. The majority has a right to defend itself against this. Unfortunately, a spirited defense is not likely. Israeli leaders are concerned with political correctness and what the West would say about it or, like Beilin and Peres, among others, are on Western payrolls. Political correctness is deadly. It must be ridiculed out of existence. (I consulted an Israeli curriculum writer, who made the points about Israeli books not being emotional, not denigrating the Arabs, and public opinion not tolerating prejudicial s tereotypes). 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 POLITICS OF ACADEMICS
Posted by Steven Plaut, September 13, 2004. |
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This is an article by Ben-Dror Yemini, which appeared in Maariv
(http://www.maarivintl.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&xCache=
%7Bts%20%272004%2D09%2D12%2012%3A17%3A51%27%7D&articleID=4173)
The Jewish community in the western U.S. is not happy about what is happening on many campuses, especially the well-known campus of the University of California at Berkley, where the atmosphere is, to put it mildly, extremely hostile to Israel. Therefore, says Dr. Martin Kramer, the former head of the Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University, the community decided to do something about it, and raised money to pay for an Israeli guest lecturer who would present Israel more fairly against the vocal anti-Israeli stream. Is it okay for Jewish money to dictate academic contents? No more than it is for any other money to dictate them. However Jewish money is far from the only one in this game. Moreover it is bubkes (small change) compared to the vast sums that the Arabs, particularly Saudi Arabia have lavished on western academia, which has succeeded in nurturing an entire generation of anti-Israel academics who head research centers that spew out vitriolic anti-Israel propaganda masquerading as legitimate academic research. Against this reality, the initiative to raise a scholarship for a guest lecturer from Israel is the least that could be done. The money has been raised. It is mainly a five million dollar donation by Helen and Sanford Diller. Not a small amount. They also donate a lot of money to Israeli organizations. But once the money has been donated, the choice is in the hands of an academic committee. So who is the first academic selected for the task? Prof. Oren Yiftachel from Ben-Gurion University. He is a serious academic. I have read many of his articles. But there is a problem. Reading his articles leaves a heavy feeling. He calls Israel an ethnocracy. Loosely translated, it means government on the basis of race. He presents a familiar, trite approach that is popular in certain circles, that blames Israel for the current deterioration. That is his right. But this is a political, not academic position. For someone with that position to take the lead in presenting the mainstream Israeli position as an academic, is tantamount to a fox giving a course in the art of guarding henhouses. It does not take too much work to prove that Yiftachel's publications are inaccurate and surely unbalanced. There is something disingenuous about articles masquerading as academic that present the Zionists as guilty of everything, without saying one word about the Palestinians long refusal to recognize Israel, their wholesale rejection of any form of compromise, from the various partition plans proposed the British and the UN to Camp David, and their ongoing terrorism. What a shame. It is sad. Criticizing Israel is legitimate. Lying about it is not. Worst of all is political criticism wearing the mask of academic research, which invariably is a mixture of truth and falsehoods, concocted together in order to create the plausible. In the past Yiftachel himself was victim to the academic boycott of Israel. An article he sent to an important periodical, which he wrote with an Arab academic, was sent back unopened because of the boycott. To his credit, Yiftachel fought the boycott. But anyone who reads his articles, that compare Israel to South Africa, might conclude that the boycott is justified. And back to the appointment. Is Yiftachel the best choice to effectively counter the ugly anti-Israeli stream that already dominates at Berkley? Common sense dictates not. So what was the point of the exercise? Well, it failed. Which means, Jews are as prone to folly as anyone else, irrespective of whether they live in Israel or the diaspora. "Mis-Education at Brandeis" by Tom Ryan, Front Page Magazine. On July 21, 2004, Front Page Magazine published an expose of the Peace Studies program at Brandeis University: Leftist War Studies at Brandeis, written by Thomas Ryan. Ryan found that Fellman taught anti-American propaganda in the classroom, graded his students on their political views and recruited students for antiwar protests. Gordon Fellman responded in The Justice, claiming the article was nonsense. Below is Thomas Ryan's reply, which we believe demonstrates Fellman's Justice article to be but another of the professor's smokescreen for his anti-American agenda, both inside and outside the classroom. -- Front Page Magazine Editors. [E]ntirely inaccurate is how Brandeis Peace Studies Professor Gordie Fellman sums up my July 21st, 2004 article Leftist War Studies at Brandeis in the September 7th issue of the Brandeis student Newspaper, The Justice. In the article, Fellman defends his courses claiming that far from being anti-American, he loves the U.S. He furthermore criticizes my claims that the Peace Studies program at Brandeis indoctrinates students although he doesnt provide a single example of a text required by him that supports the American military or American foreign policy. Fellman specifically questions the validity of my sources, and challenges me to prove that the Peace Studies department at Brandeis uses anti-American literature in its courses. Ironically, most of the quotes and sources I used for my piece came directly from the Brandeis student newspaper, and the disputed required readings in Fellman's courses are plainly listed on the class syllabi. In my article, I referred to the fact that many Peace Studies courses around the country are providing students with an overtly anti-Western, anti-Capitalism curriculum. I then demonstrated how the Peace, Conflict, and Coexistence Studies Program at Brandeis University, and other general Brandeis courses, specifically indoctrinate susceptible students through their hiring of Marxist professors like Dessima Williams, formerly the ambassador from the Marxist dictatorship of Grenada to the United States; their utilization of fringe left books as required sources; and the anti-American rhetoric of their faculty as reported in The Justice. Thus Fellman himself has been quoted saying, If [the War on Terror] is about terrorism and terrorism is the killing of innocent civilians, then the United States is also a terrorist. This does not help his defense. Following the publication of my article in July, I received an e-mail from David Cutler, the writer of the recent Justice article featuring the retort by Fellman. In the note, Cutler stated, "This summer, you wrote an article for Frontpagemag.com accusing Prof. Fellman of teaching students to hate America... After ensuing investigation, myself and another reporter would like to [ask] you a few questions. Quite a few students with whom we have spoken with have refuted your article and do not know where you obtained most of your quotes or other information. Is it possible for you to supply us with your notes, specifically for the unattributed quotes used in the article?" I was at first perplexed by his request, for all but one of the Fellman-related quotes came from The Justice itself, for which Cutler is News Editor. I immediately obliged. In The Justice's attack on my article, which is really an interview by Cutler with Gordie Fellman, Cutler reports that Fellman questioned the sources I used in my piece. To clear up any confusion, the quotes concerning or stated by Fellman, and their respective sources (namely The Justice), can be found on the following (see http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=15031 for links and outrageous citations) Fellman challenges my reporting that he tells students in their first day orientation class that a third of the grade is dependent on their personal evolution in the class. This was information provided to David Horowitz by a student who dropped Fellman's class when she heard this because of the clear implication in what Fellman said that agreeing with him politically would be an important part of the grade. Another point in my article with which Fellman took issue was my assertion that he has encouraged participation in activities against America. Fellman declared that he has never encouraged anybody to participate in anti-American activities. If one does not include rallies against American-led wars aimed at hostile aggressors and terrorists, while confronting student supporters of American foreign policy and calling them freaks, then his assertion would be correct. In a recent article appearing in The Justice to commemorate Fellman's 40 years at Brandeis, reporter Alex Bakst states, Fellman has helped organize countless anti-war rallies, including the on-campus demonstration last year against the War in Iraq. He helped organize a national campaign, headquartered here, against the Vietnam War during the early 70s. To this day, he has supported a large number of other initiatives to promote political activism here. In his Justice response, Fellman declares that he loathes all terrorists. The Justice article further faults me for using only part of a paragraph in which Fellman expresses his rationalization for Palestinian terrorism, blaming me for taking Fellman's remarks on terrorism out of context. Here's what Fellman has said (in full) "Many Palestinian terrorists appear to feel hopeless to affect the Israeli degradation they experience, to find themselves at dead ends with no perceived ways out in their personal lives, and to consider suicide bombings as ways of inflicting revenge on an enemy that seems unable or unwilling to respond to rational pleas for discussion and justice." Since the terrorists profiles are generally of middle class and upper middle educated people (who are also religious fanatics) and since the Clinton-Barak proposals which inspired the suicide bombing campaign offered Palestinians 97% of the land they were demanding, and since the targets of the suicide bombers are children, old people and innocent civilians, Fellman's comment seems reasonably described as a rationale for terror. In his Justice response, Fellman also challenged me to cite one anti-American book that is used to indoctrinate students at Brandeis. In my July article, I actually described several such books; and below are a few more. Prof. Gordon Fellman Defends His Peace Studies Program Addicted to War: Why the U.S. Can't Kick Militarism, by Joel Andreas, is an anti-American comic book, which Fellman requires students of his War and Possibilities of Peace class to read. Addicted to War blames America for all of the world's problems period. Its first strip features a little cartoon boy saying, "Unfortunately, after [the American founders] won the right to determine their own destiny, they thought they should determine everyone else's too!" Saddam Hussein/Slobodan Milosevic-sympathizer Ramsey Clark is quoted approving this book, stating, "The enormous criminal impact of U.S. militarism on the people of the world and the U.S. is hard to grasp. This book makes it easier to understand. Now we must act." Fellman also requires students in this course to read Secrets, Lies and Democracy, written by Noam Chomsky, an author who regards America as worse than Nazi Germany and whose latest book Hegemony Or Survival argues that humanity is faced with a choice between US world domination and its own survival. Yet another book Fellman uses, Behind the Invasion of Iraq, claims that the invasion of Iraq is a desperate gamble by a section of the U.S. ruling elite to preserve their power, driven by the wish to stave off economic crisis through military means. Fellman claims that he loves the U.S. What he loves is his fantasy of what the United States might be if anti-American radicals like him could destroy it and remake it in their own image. He certainly has no love for the America in which he lives. See also http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=14086 Since Brandeis gets lots of money from Jewish donors, please spread the word that Brandeis is engaged in Marxist anti-American indoctrination and should be defunded. Political indoctrination at other schools - see http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=15009 "The annihilation of olive trees... In the last two years half a
million olive trees have been annihilated in Palestine. The olive tree
is the oldest and deepest-rooted tree in Palestine. Why are they being
annihilated? Is this not Nazism? Is this not a modern Holocaust?" "The Last Word: Risen and fallen angels - the Israel-hating Left" by Bret Stephens, The Jerusalem Post, Sep. 9, 2004. A couple of months ago, the Associated Press published a series of pictures taken in the village of Kabatiya, near Jenin. They showed a Palestinian man being marched down a street by armed guards, then shot like a dog in the village square. Were the executioners Israeli? No. They were members of the Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the military wing of Fatah, Yasser Arafat's political movement. The victim was 45-year-old Muhammed Daraghmeh, accused of molesting his two daughters and collaborating with Israel. Was the accusation true? Who knows. Had the charge been proved by some kind of normal judicial procedure? It had not. Instead, the crowd chanted "death, death," the gunmen obliged, and the crowd cheered. More astonishing was that the gunmen invited the foreign press to record the scene. They were pleased with themselves, not ashamed. Now consider the plight of Palestinian homosexuals. In August 2002, Yossi Klein Halevi wrote a piece in The New Republic which told the story of "Tayseer," a 21-year-old Gazan homosexual, who was lured to a tryst in an orange grove near his refugee camp. The next day he was summoned to the Palestinian police and told his partner of the day before was an informant. If Tayseer wanted to avoid prison, he had to become an informant. Tayseer refused. What happened next was this: Tayseer was arrested "and hung by his arms from the ceiling. A high-ranking officer he didn't know arranged for his release and then demanded sex as payback. Tayseer fled Gaza to Tulkarm on the West Bank, but there too he was eventually arrested. He was forced to stand in sewage water up to his neck.... During one interrogation, police stripped him and forced him to sit on a Coke bottle. Through the entire ordeal he was taunted by interrogators, jailers, and fellow prisoners for being a homosexual." I take note of these stories for two reasons. First, because Tayseer and Muhammed were victims not of the Israelis but of other Palestinians, and the context of their victimization was not the occupation but the style of rule established by the PLO from the moment it arrived in Gaza in 1994. The second reason is that the abolition of capital punishment, and the promotion of gay rights, are two great causes of the "engaged" Left. A third great cause, of course, is Palestine. How is it that the three causes can travel together? How can the Left treat with veneration a movement that, in basic respects, is the antithesis of the very values it claims to champion? Conversely, how can it view with venomous hatred the one country in the Middle East that attempts to live by those values? There are several plausible answers to this question, which fall into one of two categories: First, that whatever Israel's virtues or Palestine's vices, Israel's crimes against the Palestinians are such that they command the Left's attention above and beyond other international conflicts. Second, that there is something deeply wrong with the Left's moral and political vision. It will come as no surprise to readers that I subscribe to the second view. But let's try to do justice to the first. There is, of course, the usual charge sheet: Occupation, settlement, land seizures, indiscriminate use of force, extrajudicial killing, house demolitions, and so on. Yet none of these accusations constitutes the real core of the Left's complaint about Israel. After all, Israel is not the only country denying an angry minority its state: the Sinhalese in Sri Lanka are doing the same to the Tamils. Nor is Israel the only country building a wall. Morocco built one in Western Sahara, which it illegally occupies, against the Polisario Front. Nor, certainly, has Israel been uniquely heavy-handed in its tactics: Whatever Sharon did in Jenin or Sabra and Shatilla, it's as nothing next to what Putin did in Grozny. A more serious argument would begin by pointing out that however Israel treats its own citizens is not material to the question of how it treats Palestinians. France, too, was a liberal democracy in 1957, when General Aussaresses was torturing Algerian militants. Nor, to extend the analogy further, does the misrule of the Palestinian Authority necessarily delegitimize the cause it represents, any more than the actions of the FLN delegitimize the cause of Free Algeria. Furthermore, one might say that precisely because Israel is a democracy, the standards the West applies to it must be higher than the standards the West applies to the Palestinians. "Israelis", says Giancarlo Chevellard, the outgoing EU ambassador to Tel Aviv, "are one of us... We expect more from Israel than from Cambodia or Colombia." Finally, it can be argued that Israel, on account of its superior power, is in a position to make political and territorial concessions whereas Palestinians are not. Thus, Israel's failure to make such concessions can only be attributed to greed for land or religious fanaticism for The Land. For the Left, then, what it boils down to is this: Israel is a country that could do better, morally speaking, but chooses not to. It could safely withdraw to the 1967 borders, but chooses not to. It could hold itself to the highest legal and ethical standards, but chooses not to. It could have peace at the cost of a little land, but chooses not to. This, indeed, would seem to justify special opprobrium, if true. For true evil the Satanic paradigm, the paradigm of God's fallen angel is contingent on knowledge of good. Hutus in Rwanda and Arab militias in the Sudan may murder by the hundreds of thousands but that is what Africans and Arabs do, isn't it? It may be dreadful, but it's not surprising. As moral theories go, this is a defensible one: defensible in the way that judgments of guilt or innocence require a prior determination of mental and moral fitness. Did the defendant know he was committing a crime when he committed it? If the answer is yes as it is assumed to be in the case of the Israelis then the crime is damnable; if the answer is no as it is assumed to be in the case of the Palestinians then the crime is forgivable. The problem here is that rendering a "yes" or "no" answer in the cases of Israel and Palestine is not simple. Take Israel: Can it really be said that Israel's conduct against the Palestinians is markedly worse than the conduct of other Western democracies at war? Furthermore, how does one go about determining whether Israel's alleged failure "to do better" is willful and malicious, or circumstantial and excusable? Neither question is easy to answer. It is one thing to judge Israel's actions in light of relevant international legal covenants. But the strong case against Israel should not be proved normatively but comparatively: That is, not by the extent to which Israel departs from a given legal standard, but rather by how Israeli standards compare with the standards of Israel's Western peers. If, for example, France and the United States have employed a policy of targeted assassination against select enemies of state (as they have and do) then Israel must be held to that same standard (even if it continues to be held to a different standard vis-a-vis the Palestinians). On the second point could Israel have done better on the peace front? one may equally ask: Could Germany do better on the economic front? I mention Germany because it presents a case in which almost all economists and policy makers are agreed on what needs to be done (mainly, reducing high labor costs), but the actual doing of it is not so simple. Germany is a democracy; there are competing sectoral interests, some quite obstructionist; there is a delicate political balance; and it is not enough for the chancellor to give his orders and be done with it. The same goes for Israel. If Israel's tougher critics are going to demand that it comport itself in a way that befits a democracy, then they must also accept that democratic outcomes will often be imperfect and not to their liking. There is another logical difficulty with ascribing to Israel willful malice toward Palestinians, and the problem is this: Why hasn't Israel acted worse? Israel, say its critics, is the powerful party; therefore it is morally incumbent on it to make the bulk of concessions. But if Israel fails to make those concessions, and if it fails to make them precisely because it's greedy and fanatical, why has it not proceeded to the next steps? If you're capable of one Sabra and Shatilla, you're capable of dozens of them. It is difficult to square the image of a murderous Ariel Sharon with the fact that 2,500 Palestinians have been killed in four years of fighting, and not 25,000, or 250,000. In other words, the only way Israel can credibly be alleged to have chosen not to do good when it could have done good is if it had gone on to commit the most heinous crimes, in the style of Nazi Germany. Satanic evil chosen evil is never half-hearted. Now to the Palestinians. This column began by asking how a movement that is in so many respects violent and illiberal should have such an overwhelming claim on the sympathy of the pacifist and progressive Left. Part of the answer, of course, is that the pacifist and progressive Left often has a secret fondness for violence and illiberality - remember the Red Brigades and the Weathermen. Part of the answer, too, is that the Western media has tended to magnify Israeli violence and minimize Palestinian violence, leading to a generally distorted picture of events. But these are not the deepest reasons. Rather, the Palestinian cause has benefited from a certain kind of mirror-imaging or inverse correlation. To the extent that Israel is seen as powerful, the Palestinians are seen as powerless. To the extent that Israel is seen to be guilty, the Palestinians are seen to be innocent. To the extent that Israel is seen as having deliberately chosen its course, the Palestinians are seen as having been stripped of the ability to choose. And to the extent that Israel is seen to represent a unique kind of evil the evil of the fallen angel - the Palestinians represent a unique kind of good - the good of the lost little puppy. It is easy to see that in this role the Palestinians perform a real function for their champions in the West: as the fetishized "other" and as receptacles for their compassion. Yet here too there are problems with the Left's vision. Does the Left really want to suggest that Palestinians are unfit to be judged by the same standards used to judge Israelis? And if the Palestinians are not quite "innocent" of such crimes as suicide bombing, can it still be said that they are innocents in a more general sense, as people who have been deprived of individual moral agency by the all-encompassing reality of Israeli occupation? There is also the problem of whether the Left's vision of the Palestinians as emblems of powerlessness coincides with the Palestinians' vision of themselves. My impression is that it does not. On the contrary, I am repeatedly struck by how confident Palestinians are of ultimate and total victory over Israel. At a private conference last year in London, one Palestinian embassy official put it bluntly: "The '67 borders were your last hope," he said. For the Israel-hating Left, Palestine has become a religious
destination, not a political question; a world of fallen and risen
angels, in which facts conform to molds and evidence yields to faith.
At some point, however, it will become increasingly difficult to
bridge the chasm between their faith and their values. If they're not
careful, it is a chasm into which they will, eventually, fall.
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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TWO ESSAYS: "A HUMAN CHAIN" AND "FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE"
Posted by Moshe Feiglin, September 13, 2004. |
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Do you remember the human chain, from Gush Katif to Jerusalem? About 200,000 people took part in it. I juggled with the numbers. 200,000 represents about 4% of the Jewish population of Israel. Just imagine that someone in the US had organized a similar demonstration, of proportionate dimensions, on any issue in the world. The number of participants would come to about nine million Americans, and they could hold hands, without difficulty, from the Atlantic to the Pacific coasts. Those who know what simpler demonstrations in the US led to, in which a million blacks took part, understand that such a demonstration of strength could achieve anything in the democratic super-power. However, in Israel the situation is somewhat different. Who remembers that demonstration, that took place only a month ago? Who remembered it after a week? What does this say about our "democracy", about the methods of the struggle waged by the belief-based public? In the Israeli people's democracy everything works in the opposite way. The more the people expresses its views in a clearer, nobler, more democratic way, the more the government ignores it. Take, for example, the recent Likud Conference. This was a wonderful demonstration of real democracy in action: A popular ruling party defending itself against a ruthless leadership that wished to destroy every vestige of its beliefs. On one side stood the party machine, with intrigues, threats, bribes, deception, vote fixing, changing the volume of the microphones depending on the identity of the speaker, organized transport for supporters, pressures, good jobs in Mifal Hapayis for the right people, all orchestrated by the shaven-headed son of the leader, who controls everything and of whom all the small fry in the party go in dread. On the other side were the ideologists, the founders, Manhigut Yehudit people, ordinary Likudniks who hadn't forgotten where they came from, and seven veterans of the Lehi and Etzel underground movements, who came in wheelchairs and on crutches at risk to their health. Who won? Democracy, the people, the ideology? Of course not! Ben Caspit, a journalist from Ma'ariv, said that victory went to the "extremists, fanatics, the unenlightened". We can see that those who are supposed to be the watchdogs of democracy are really the Dobermans of dictatorship. Again and again the journalists refuse to allow themselves to be confounded by facts. The referendum held amongst all members of the largest party in Israel, the voting by members of the Likud Central Committee, all these represent only a small number of fanatics who have gained control. Real democracy is needed, they explain to us. In other words, we need an absolute regime, that will dismantle, expel, and destroy, without the Supreme Court and without citizens' rights organizations, without Likud conferences and without all these primitive Likud Center members. Who counts them, anyway? In short we need deluxe democracy, democracy without the people. The Likud Conference is of course only a small example of the Israeli People's Democracy in action. We could give numerous other examples, but there are too many of them to do so. I have personally drawn three conclusions from this issue: The first is that we, Manhigut Yehudit, are located at exactly the right point. I don't mean from the political aspect but regarding the understanding of the processes taking place in the nation. We have understood that those who least represent the people are members of the Israeli media. We have come to understand, and this was proved in the referendum, that if you come to Israelis with a spark of belief, they associate themselves with this very easily. If there are still Israelis who have not placed themselves in a specific sector - neither Haredim, religious people, anti-religious, fellow travelers, nor groups of interested parties - these are the Likudniks. If there is a party that really represents a microcosm of Israeli society, it is the Likud. Those who speak of the disintegration of the Likud fail to understand this real issue, that in my humble opinion will continue to hold this party together despite its leaders. When the Likud opposes Sharon, this is because the Israeli public opposes Sharon and his Leftist plans of destruction and retreat. The people saw the results of the Oslo Agreement, realized what was happening, and drew the correct conclusions. To those who think otherwise I propose holding a national referendum. However, I'm sure that Ben Caspit & Co. won't trouble to consider this option. The people in Ma'ariv only read what they themselves write. Nothing else concerns them. The second point is that no demonstration, however impressive, will be of any use. It doesn't matter how many demonstrators turn up, or how logical and beautiful we are. The bulldozers of the Left (of which the media are only one of many) are constantly pushing us towards a reality of dictatorship. That which was achieved by three demonstrators from the movement for quality of government against Zahi Hanegbi, with the backing of these bulldozers, can never be achieved by a million demonstrators acting against those same bulldozers. Let's face it - we have here a kind of selective, Greek, democracy, for the elite only. So what can we do? After all, the refusal to listen to the warnings of the Right led to the Oslo disaster, whose fruit we ate again yesterday in the massacre in Beersheba. Should we just give up? The device known as "non-violent civil disobedience" is designed specifically for this twilight state between democracy and dictatorship. Zo Artzeinu employed it in the 1990s. Now it's the turn of someone else to take up the gauntlet at the beginning of the 2000s. The third point is that we are winning. Sharon's haughty attitude to all the unambiguous democratic messages he is receiving; the fact that his picture of reality is based solely on the illusion created by television announcers Haim Yavin, Ayala Hason and Eyal Arad; all these create a situation in which Sharon is totally divorced from reality. Those who have lost contact with reality will inevitable make one mistake after another until they fall in the end. It will be painful, but he will inevitable fail. The question is of course what will the price be and, even more important, what will come after him. Not who, but what. Manhigut Yehudit is working on this. From Russia "With Love" Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom couldn't have dreamed of more successful timing for the official visit of his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Precisely before the planned visit Islamic terror created a horrifying performance in Russia, and the whole world saw the hundreds of small bodies slaughtered in the Russian school in the name of Allah. Could there have been a more suitable background to Israel's claim that terrorism is not its private problem, and that the time has come for the nations of the world to realize that they and Israel are facing a common enemy? "It's impossible to conduct negotiations with terror", explained Shalom in the joint press conference. "We've all in the same boat". He assumed that the spectacle of the hundreds of fresh graves would force the Russian minister to agree with him. But Lavrov didn't falter even for a moment. He hurriedly explained to the Israeli journalists the fundamental difference between the terror attacking them and that attacking us. "Chechnya is an integral part of Russia", explained the Russian sphinx, "But Israel is occupying territories that the international community regards as not forming part of the State of Israel". Apparently Lavrov revealed the real countenance of the international community. The Israeli representative is for once setting aside the political arguments and trying to focus attention on the issue of human suffering. The Israeli is in fact saying that child murderers are child murderers are child murderers, forget about the political arguments, these murderers are the common enemies of all cultured nations. In contrast, the Russian minister (who is himself an unofficial representative of Western culture), even when hundreds of his own countrymen's children are massacred before his very eyes, still ignores the common suffering and persists in perpetuating the purposeless historical arguments regarding the ownership of the hills of Shomron and those of Chechnya. It seems that the diplomatic courtesies are merely disguising cynicism, absence of humanity, and evil. But this is just an illusion. The Russian minister deserves to be warmly hugged by every Israeli wishing to understand reality. Lavrov sent us a message of paramount importance, from Russia "with love". What determines if you are a terrorist or a freedom fighter, what determines the morality of your action, is not the degree of cruelty involved but whether it was right. Israel is the most Christian country in the world. It is the sole one that really attempts to realize the Christian approach to morality, that declares that the weak are in the right. Consequently, when Sylvan Sharom addresses his colleague Lavrov regarding the massacres in Beersheba and in Baslan, he is attempting to make contact based on the common Christian culture. Shalom, just like many Jews without roots over the generations, is far more catholic than the Pope. He really believes in this moral nonsense and is incapable of understanding why it isn't working now. Israel, that has cast off its Judaism, can never come in the name of Jewish justice. Instead it tries to come in the name of Christian morality: we are in the right because we are the murdered children, we are actually the weak characters in the story. Now Lavrov is doing us an important favor. "Forget it", he explains to the viewers of the Israeli television news magazine. "If you're not objectively in the right, you don't lie on the same scale as cultured nations. They can murder your children and slaughter your women and old people, and all this appearance of wretchedness won't help you a bit, because your murderers are freedom fighters, but ours are just terrorists. So what can we do? There's only one way to change the "justified" murder of our children into terrorism with which no compromise can be made. In the story we have to become the characters in the right. Immediately after the Russian Foreign Minister had explained that Chechnya was an integral part of Russia, the Israeli minister should have requested the right to speak, and explained to the cultured nations that Judea and Samaria are the very heart of our Holy Land, the country promised to our forefathers by the Creator, as written in the Book of Books, in which members of all the religions believe. The Israeli minister should have explained to his Russian counterpart that an Israeli kingdom was established in Judea and Samaria thousands of years before the existence of either Russia or Chechnya, and added that the Jewish people had never lost their aspirations, even during their long exile, to return to that same Holy Land, in which its task was to bring the light of divine morality to the entire world. He should have reminded Lavrov that no other political entity had ever possessed those regions during the long period of exile, and that only in the wake of the recent Return to Zion had foreign workers begun to come from the deserts of Arabia to the dead country brought to life again by the return of its sons. These Arabs represent the imaginary "Palestinian people", whose sole aim is to steal from us our Holy Land. If Silvan Shalom had explained all this to Lavrov, we would become the people in the right in the story. Any action taken by us, however acute, against our enemies would have been understood by the world, the fear of G-d would have fallen on our enemies, and not a single hair of our children's heads would have been harmed. However, Israel that is not a Jewish State, but is a slave of
Christian consciousness, is incapable of doing so. All the Israeli
technology and devices, such as the Arrow missile, the Ofek satellite,
the atomic reactor in Dimona, and the separation fence, will be of no
avail in protecting the lives of the children of a nation that has
lost its sense of justice.
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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MUSLIMS RULE MAJOR SWEDISH CITY
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, September 12, 2004. |
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Dear Friends, I cannot help but wonder when the nations of Europe
confront the peril of radical Islam and begin the mass deportation of
Arab Muslims back to the nations from which they came. Sadly, I
predict that this will be followed by a declaration of martial law in
America after the expected next 9/11 - with similar mass deportations.
This article is from an exclusive series of translations from the Swedish press made for Jihad Watch by Ali Dashti. It appeared on Jihad Watch (http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/) September 09, 2004 Sweden is one of the worst hit countries in Europe of Muslim immigration and Political Correctness. Now, the police themselves have publicly admitted that they no longer control one of Sweden's major cities. I have made some exclusive translations from Swedish media. They show the future of Eurabia unless Europeans wake up. I've seen the future of Eurabia, and it's called 'Sweden.' Malm is Sweden's third largest city, after Stockholm and Gothenburg. Once-peaceful Sweden, home of ABBA, IKEA and the Nobel Prize, is increasingly looking like the Middle East on a bad day. All following links to major Swedish newspapers, with a brief translation: http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/nyheter/story/0,2789,529910,00.html Malm, Sweden. The police now publicly admit what many Scandinavians have known for a long time: They no longer control the situation in the nations's third largest city. It is effectively ruled by violent gangs of Muslim immigrants. Some of the Muslims have lived in the area of Roseng rd, Malm, for twenty years, and still don't know how to read or write Swedish. Ambulance personnel are attacked by stones or weapons, and refuse to help anybody in the area without police escort. The immigrants also spit at them when they come to help. Recently, an Albanian youth was stabbed by an Arab, and was left bleeding to death on the ground while the ambulance waited for the police to arrive. The police themselves hesitate to enter parts of their own city unless they have several patrols, and need to have guards to watch their cars, otherwise they will be vandalized. "Something drastic has to be done, or much more blood will be spilled" says one of the locals. http://w1.sydsvenskan.se//Article.jsp?article=10092861 The number of people emigrating from the city of Malm is reaching record levels. Swedes, who a couple of decades ago decided to open the doors to Muslim "refugees" and asylum seekers, are now turned into refugees in their own country and forced to flee their homes. The people abandoning the city mention crime and fear of the safety of their children as the main reason for leaving. http://w1.sydsvenskan.se/Article.jsp?article=10090830 ALL of the 600 windows at one of the schools in Malm have been broken during the summer holiday. Window smashing alone costs the city millions every year. City buses have been forced to avoid the immigrant ghetto, as they are met with youths throwing rocks or bottles at them if they enter. Earlier this year, a boy of Afghan origin had made plans to blow up his own school. http://w1.sydsvenskan.se//Article.jsp?article=10093267 People working at the emergency ward at the major hospital in Malm receive threats every day, and are starting to get used to it. Patients with knives or guns are commonplace. They have discussed having metal detectors at the emergency entrance, but some fear this could be seen as a provocation. http://w1.sydsvenskan.se//Article.jsp?article=10093495 Lisa Nilsson has lived in Manhatten, New York City, for 25 years. After moving back to Malm, Sweden, she now misses the safety of New York. She never walks anywhere in Malm after dark, but takes a taxi everywhere she goes. http://www.expressen.se/index.jsp?a=180423 Rapes in Sweden as a whole have increased by 17% just since the beginning of 2003, and have had a dramatic increase during the past decade. Gang rapes, usually involving Muslim immigrant males and native Swedish girls, have become commonplace. Two weeks ago, 5 Kurds brutally raped a 13-year-old Swedish girl. http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/nyheter/story/0,2789,528363,00.html 22-year-old Swedish woman going out for fresh air gang raped by three strange men. The only said one word to her: "Whore!" Ali Dashti comments: "Stories like this are in Swedish newspapers every week. Swedish media usually take great care not to mention the ethnic background of the perpetrators, but you can usually read it between the lines." One more: how have Swedish politicians reacted to the chaos caused in one of their major cities because of Muslims of whom even the police seem to be afraid? By making it easier for Muslims to enter Sweden: http://www.cphpost.dk/get/81008.html Sweden's politicians view arranged marriages as a positive tradition: a cultural pattern that immigrants should be allowed to preserve even in Sweden. The Swedish government feels that interfering in arranged marriages is an encroachment upon private life. In addition, immigrant couples can apply for family reunification in Sweden even if they've never seen each other before - as long as the marriage is entered in a culture with a tradition of parents arranging marriages on behalf of their children. A 2002 study by Vxj University economics professor Jan Ekberg found that immigration cost Swedish taxpayers DKK 33 billion that year, compared to just DKK 10 billion in Denmark. And while one might assume that the rise in costs would result in knee-jerk opposition to immigration, just the opposite has happened in Sweden. A Swedish government commission has proposed abolishing the so-called "seriousness requirement." 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 INVESTMENTS OF THE 50 STATES
Posted by IsrAlert, September 12, 2004. |
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Executive Summary is the first national security-based statistical analysis of the investment patterns of America's public pension funds. This report proves empirically that this nation's largest and most prominent public pension systems tend to be heavily invested in global publicly traded companies that have business activities in terrorist-sponsoring states. (1) Together, these funds invest over $1 trillion in stock alone (2) on behalf of this country's fire fighters, police officers, teachers, state and local officials and other public employees, making this collection of funds one of the most powerful investment blocks in the world. Given this extraordinary financial influence and the important role played by public companies in the economies of terrorist-sponsoring states (3), the Center for Security Policy has reached a key finding: America's 100 largest and most prominent pension systems have the power to help defeat terrorism. >From the pension system of this country's smallest state, Rhode Island, which has close to $400 million invested in 41 companies that are active in terrorist-sponsoring states, to America's largest public pension system -- the California Public Employees Retirement System -- which has over $17 billion invested in 201 such companies, the results were remarkably uniform: On average, America's Top 100 pension systems invest between 15 and 23 percent of their portfolio in companies that do business in terrorist-sponsoring states. (4) Among the report's other important findings: == 39 of the Top 100 pension systems were found to be invested in more than 100 companies with corporate ties to terrorist-sponsoring states. Of the rest for which there is data, only five hold less than 30 companies with such ties in portfolio. == On average, the Top 100 pension systems invest in 101 companies that have business activities in terrorist sponsoring states. These companies, in turn, are involved in projects in terrorist-sponsoring states valued at more than $73 billion. (5) == On average, the Top 100 public funds were invested in: 73 companies doing business in Iran; 24 companies doing business in Libya; 26 companies doing business in Sudan; 31 companies doing business in Syria; and 9 companies doing business in North Korea. == On average, the Top 100 pension systems were invested in 17 companies that did business with Saddam Hussein's Iraq prior to the war. From the fact that virtually each and every public employee in this country holds stock in companies that partner with governments that sponsor terrorism flows an extraordinary opportunity: America's 100 largest and most influential pension systems have the power to help defeat terrorism. To understand why requires only one further statistic: The total estimated value of the stock of some 400 companies doing business in terrorist sponsoring states held by America's leading public pension systems is approximately $188 billion. (6) When a group of investors own roughly $200 billion worth of stock in some 400 companies, they should be able to exercise considerable influence over the decision-making and business activities of those companies. Accordingly, if these Top 100 pension systems were to make clear that their funds will not be available to corporations partnering with terrorist-sponsoring states, the message would be unmistakable: There will no longer be simply profits to be garnered from investments in rogue states; from now on, there will be real costs. Ideally, those costs will translate into a choice between doing business with the American people and capital markets on the one hand or, alternatively, doing business with terrorists' friends and this country's enemies. The South Africa divestment campaign of the 1980's taught Americans a compelling lesson: When companies receive a unified message from state pension systems and other institutional investors who follow their lead, they respond. It seems reasonable to expect that, just as such corporate actions (notably, withdrawal from business operations in-country) compelled changes in the policies -- and ultimately the government -- of South Africa, application of this model to state-sponsors of terror could also produce salutary results. In other words, the Top 100 public pension systems can help defeat terrorism by using their investments in public companies to force the governments of Iran, Syria, North Korea, Sudan and Libya to choose between their sponsorship of terrorism and their critical partnerships with public companies. In a recent letter to the Executive Directors of the same Top 100 pension systems assessed herein, Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) left little doubt as to the moral responsibility of our nation's pension systems to help defeat terrorism. According to the Senator, "It is unconscionable for our country's public pension systems to permit investment in companies that provide revenues, advanced equipment and technology to countries that threaten our vital security interests." The data in this report establishes that such "unconscionable" behavior is pervasively occurring today. For Americans to understand the full extent to which their money is being used by publicly traded companies to help terrorist-sponsoring regimes, they will need greater transparency and disclosure on the part of those who manage and invest such funds. Toward that end, public employees, taxpayers and state and federal officials and legislators should insist on knowing the full extent of their unintended and undesirable exposure -- moral, strategic and financial -- to aiding and abetting our enemies. In the meantime, a simple principle must be applied: Americans do not want to invest in terror, directly or indirectly. Regrettably, that is what is being done on a massive scale today. Stopping such a practice -- the goal of Divest Terror (http://www.DivestTerror.org) -- can make a significant contribution to waging and winning the war on terror. This report sought to analyze America's "Top 100" largest and most prominent public pension systems, excluding public university endowments. At the time of publication, only 87 of these public pension funds had provided the data required to undertake this analysis. America's Top 100 funds invest via a number of other investment vehicles, making their total investments on behalf of the American people closer to $2 trillion. For the purposes of this report, terrorist-sponsoring states are defined as Iran, Saddam Hussein's Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria. Although Cuba is also correctly listed as a state-sponsor of terrorism by the U.S. Department of State, relevant data for Cuba was not available for this study. To perform the analyses of the 100 pension systems' investment portfolios, the Center forwarded this data to the Conflict Securities Advisory Group (CSAG). Using their Global Security Risk Monitor, CSAG ran each portfolio to determine its exposure to companies doing business in terrorist-sponsoring states or to proliferation-related concerns. The Center's use of this data and the views and policy recommendations expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect those of CSAG or its partner firm, Investor Responsibility Research Center. Of the roughly 400 companies considered in this report, project values and similar financial data was available for only some 150 companies. A reasonable estimate of the value of all 400 companies' projects in terrorist-sponsoring countries would be well over $100 billion. Based on the results for the 87 funds analyzed, we estimate that the actual holdings of the Top 100 pension systems in the stock of companies that do business in terrorist-sponsoring states likely exceeds $210 billion. Footnotes: 1. This report sought to analyze America's "Top 100" largest and most prominent public pension systems, excluding public university endowments. At the time of publication, only 87 of these public pension funds had provided the data required to undertake this analysis. 2. America's Top 100 funds invest via a number of other investment vehicles, making their total investments on behalf of the American people closer to $2 trillion. 3. For the purposes of this report, terrorist-sponsoring states are defined as Iran, Saddam Hussein's Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria. Although Cuba is also correctly listed as a state-sponsor of terrorism by the U.S. Department of State, relevant data for Cuba was not available for this study. 4. To perform the analyses of the 100 pension systems' investment portfolios, the Center forwarded this data to the Conflict Securities Advisory Group (CSAG). Using their Global Security Risk Monitor, CSAG ran each portfolio to determine its exposure to companies doing business in terrorist-sponsoring states or to proliferation-related concerns. The Center's use of this data and the views and policy recommendations expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect those of CSAG or its partner firm, Investor Responsibility Research Center. 5.Of the roughly 400 companies considered in this report, project values and similar financial data was available for only some 150 companies. A reasonable estimate of the value of all 400 companies' projects in terrorist-sponsoring countries would be well over $100 billion. 6.Based on the results for the 87 funds analyzed, we estimate that the actual holdings of the Top 100 pension systems in the stock of companies that do business in terrorist-sponsoring states likely exceeds $210 billion. IsrAlert, a Jewish advocacy network, is hosted by Harv Weiner. To subscribe to IsrAlert, send an email to isralert@aol.com |
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LEAVE THE ARMY OUT OF THIS UGLY GAME
Posted by Dr. Ron Breiman, September 12, 2004. |
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Professors for a Strong Israel today finds itself in full agreement with the Prime Minister. We call upon him to take his own statements seriously, and to act accordingly: * "Leave the army out of this ugly game."
* "There is a serious campaign of incitement afoot, including calls to
civil war."
* "Ministers are silent in the face of this incitement." Ron Breiman is Chairman of Professors for a Strong Israel (PSI). |
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TERROR RING UNCOVERED - EGYPTIAN STUDENTS PLANNED ATTACKS IN ISRAEL
Posted by Mordechai Ben-Menachem, September 12, 2004. |
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This is a news item from today's Arutz-Sheva. Note that they intended to abduct soldiers and bring them into Egypt. It should be noted that Egypt is a police state. It is doubtful whether they could have successfully moved through hundreds of kilometres of Sinai without the active participation of the authorities. A "blind eye" would not have been sufficient. Additionally, they certainly could not transfer captives to Egypt and use them for negotiations without very active participation of the Egyptian government. (IsraelNN.com) GAG ORDER LIFTED: Six Egyptian university students were arrested last month, members of a cell planning terror attacks in Israel. The students, who were arrested in the Negev area, were indicted in the Be'er Sheva District Court, allegedly for planning to abduct soldiers and perpetrate other attacks. They planned to use the soldiers' weapons to take control of a tank and even rob a southern area bank for funds to continue their wave of terror. The soldiers were to be used as negotiating pawns towards the release of terrorists held in Israeli prisons. Security officials stated the cell members already accumulated a considerable amount of equipment towards their goal, including black clothing, binoculars, tape, rope, and other items towards realizing their master plan. It was also learned the terror cell members during 2001-2004 made a number of attempts to cross the border from Egypt into Israel, but were unsuccessful for various reasons. Mordechai Ben-Menachem is at Ben Gurion University. He can be reached by email at quality@computer.org |
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SHARON AND CIVIL WAR
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, September 12, 2004. |
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One is reminded of the kid who killed his parents and then pleaded for sympathy and mercy because he was an orphan. Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is complaining that the protests against his unilateral disengagement may cause a Civil War in Israel - implying that it would NOT be his fault. This is the man who put the issue of Gaza withdrawal to a referendum of his Likud Party April 29th, 2004, promising to accept the results of the vote. When he lost, 60% against withdrawal to 40% in favor, he reneged on his pledge. He later lost another crucial vote during a Likud Party convention. At least half of the 40 Likud members of Knesset oppose the pullout. He needs their support on September 26th when his Cabinet drafts legislation for funding the Agency which will implement the uprooting of 8,500 men, women and children from their homes, farms, schools, synagogues, businesses, infrastructure and water in Gush Katif. This bill will have to be approved by the Cabinet on October 24th. By November 3rd Sharon plans to present this legislation to the Knesset for the first of three votes. Ehud Olmert, (former mayor of Jerusalem and deputy Prime Minister) loudly announced that Judea and Samaria were similarly scheduled to be surrendered. A furious Sharon denied this was in his plan. He has adamantly refused to offer any explanation as to why he is retreating from Gaza/Gush Katif and his plans for Judea, Samaria, the Golan Heights and Jerusalem. Sharon has inspired - even incited - a Civil War and cannot claim 'victim-hood' as if it wasn't his fault. By provoking a large majority of the Israeli people, he has inspired a Civil War all by himself. Sharon has ignored the warnings of his top Generals and Intelligence Directors who have repeatedly told him that Terror will get worse and much closer when Gaza is occupied by Arab Muslim Palestinians and other international Terrorists like Al Qaeda who are expected to flood in from outside. Sharon not only ignored his military and Intel experts but he told them to "Shut Up!" - that "The decision is mine alone to make." Few Israelis doubt that Sharon is on a short leash to Washington, that is the U.S. State Department who controls America's foreign policy no matter who is President. The State Department's M.O. (Modus Operandi) is to behave as if they truly believe they need to pacify the Arab oil world. Gaza is one of the sacrifices expected - with more to follow. The Jewish people deserve better than a Prime Minister who blames his own people who object to his political tinkering as radical and dangerous. Sharon is trying to turn the facts on their head as he blames those who object to his plan of re-partition. It is Sharon who has started the talk of Civil War. His behavior is very Jungian. Carl Jung, the psycho-analyst said a perpetrator will accuse his victim of the negative behavior the perp intends to commit against the victim. I suspect that, not only will soldiers refuse to pull Jews from their homes but, many of the Jewish soldiers may very well walk over and create a barrier against those who are willing to obey Sharon's orders to drive Jews from their homes. If there is a Civil War in the Jewish State of Israel, the fault will be Sharon's alone. Sharon's newly adopted role as dictator to his people does not go down well for a people who have just gained freedom - 56 years of fighting hostile Arab Muslims who surround them just to stay alive and create a blooming, successful Jewish Democratic State. Sharon has worked hard at dividing the nation to get his way. This dictatorial attack on those who do not wish to be driven out of their homes is the underlying reason for Sharon's accusations about an imminent Civil War. It is time for Sharon to leave office and leave the decisions to newly elected people. Emanuel Winston is a commentator and Middle East analyst. His articles appear often on Think-Israel and Gamla. He is a member of the Board of Directors and a research associate of the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies (http://www.freeman.org/online.htm). |
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DIALOGUE WITH YONATAN BASSIE, THE SHARON PLAN ADMINISTRATOR
Posted by David Bedein, September 11, 2004. |
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Yonatan Bassie, appointed by Ariel Sharon to set up the administrative office designed to implement Sharon's plan, invited his critics to meet with him. I took Bassie up on his offer, and was graciously received by him this past Wednesday in his office, which is located at 7 Kanfei Nesharim Street in the Givat Shaul neighborhood Jerusalem Bassie, a member of Kibbutz Sde Eliahu, a settlement comprised of Orthodox Jewish farmers in the Beit Shean Valley, described himself as a veteran administrator of agricultural settlements who wanted to sensitively help each and every citizen of the Katif farming communities to relocate to a new community. Bassie asked what were the concerns of the people who had been criticizing him and his work I elucidated eight concerns, pausing after each concern to give Bassie the opportunity to listen and digest each point: 1. Concern for Democracy The Knesset has never been asked to approved Sharon's plan. 2. Concern for Human rights: Section Six of the The Universal Declaration of Human Rights forbids a government from destroying the homes of its citizens. Israel is a signatory to that declaration. In that light, how can Israel destroy homes and farms of its citizens and hand them over to Arab terrorists? 3. Concern for International Law: The League of nations and then the United Nations guaranteed the right Jews to purchase and settle land in the "Jewish National Homeland", defined by both international bodies as anywhere west of the Jordan river 4. Concern for strengthening the military power of a sworn adversary of Israel : Clause five of the Sharon Plan calls for Israel to once again train the Palestinian security forces, while clause one of the Sharon Plan states that there is no Palestinian partner for peace. 5. Concern for strengthening Egypt - At a time when senior sources in Israel's security establishment confirm that Egypt has armed terrorists throughout Gaza, Israel is negotiating the possibility of handing over security responsibility to Egypt. The question is why? 6. Concern for appeasing a terrorist: Israel has been negotiating the transfer of power over the Palestinian Authority to Muhammad Dahlan. Only two years ago, The Israeli government released Dahlan's security file to the Wall Street Journal. That file shows that Dahlan is directing involved in organizing the campaign of premeditated cold blooded murder that Israel has suffered from over the past four years 7. Concern for corruption: The Israel government official who has authored the Sharon Plan, The Prime Minister's Chief of Staff, Dov Weisglass, has never closed his law firm or his business, where Weissglass continues to be a business partner of the leading enterprises which operate in the Palestinian Authority. Weissglass continues to represent the Palestinian casino business, which plans to develop a resort hotel complex in place of the Jewish communities which the Sharon Plan proposes to demolish. 8. Concern for the fact that Bassie's office operates without the authorization and funding of the Knesset Finance Committee. I showed Bassie a letter from the Israel Civil Service Commission which the commission's spokesman had sent to our news agency, which explicitly stated that the Israeli government could not legally pay salaries for Bassie's ten workers nor could the government sign any contract, unless and until the Knesset Finance Committee authorized the funding for Bassie's office. Bassie shuffled uncomfortably in his chair as I reviewed each of these concerns, commenting only about the last concern brought to his attention: The fact that the Knesset Finance Committee had not approved funds for his office to function. Bassie said that his staff had worked voluntary for the past two months, and that they had all expected to be paid. Bassie nervously commented that he had first heard about the legal authorization issue on the radio two days earlier, when a member of the Knesset referred to the Civil Service Commissioner's ruling that his office could not function without legal authorization. Bassie was also surprised to learn from me that the Israel Finance Committee would not be meeting next week, to which Bassie reacted with the comment that "If they do not approve funds for this office, I will close this office next week". Sources at the Knesset Finance Committee report that the committee may convene shortly after the Jewish New Year, which occurs on Sept. 16th and Sept. 17th this year. The fate of Sharon's plan lies in the hands of the Knesset Finance Comittee, which may convene sometime between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, the Days of Judgment and Atonement. David Bedeinis Bureau Chief, Israel Resource News Agency. (http://Israelbehindthenews.com). |
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A LETTER TO MANKIND BY ALI SINA
Posted by Nonie Darwish, September 11, 2004. |
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Ali Sina used to be a devout Muslim and converted out of Islam with
many others and what he says has to be heard. Check this URL:
http://www.faithfreedom.org/oped/sina40908.htm
From Ali Sina Dear Friend, We are a group of ex-Muslims who have seen the face the of evil and have risen to warn the world. Madness has overtaken a portion of humanity and what they do is nothing short of insanity. We are losing the fight against terrorism. That is because we are missing the target. We must reach to the world and let everyone know that terrorism is the symptom and the real problem is the ideology behind it. We need your help. Please read the following short "Letter to Mankind" and if you agree please forward it to all the people in your address book and request them to do the same. Send a copy to your newspaper and politician too. Everyone must hear this message. Sincerely yours
Dear fellow human, Today humanity is being challenged. Unthinkable atrocities take place on daily basis. There is an evil force at work that aims to destroy us. The agents of this evil respect nothing; not even the lives of children. Every day there are bombings, every day innocent people are targeted and murdered. It seems as if we are helpless. But we are not! The ancient Chinese sage Sun Zi said, "Know your enemy and you won't be defeated." Do we know our enemy? If we don't, then we are doomed. Terrorism is not an ideology, it is a tool; but the terrorists kill for an ideology. They call that ideology Islam. The entire world, both Muslims and non-Muslims claim that the terrorists have hijacked "the religion of peace" and Islam does not advocate violence and terror. Who is right? Do the terrorists understand Islam better, or do those who decry them? The answer to this question is the key to our victory, and failure to find that key will result in our loss and death will be upon us. The key is in the Quran and the history of Islam. Those of us who know Islam, know that the understanding of the terrorists of Islam is correct. They are doing nothing that their prophet did not do and did not encourage his followers to do. Murders, assassinations, beheadings, massacres and sacrilege of the dead "to delight the hearts of the believers" were all practiced by Muhammad, were taught by him and were observed by Muslims throughout the history. If ever truth has mattered, it is now! This is the time that we have to call a spade a spade. This is the time that we have to find the root of the problem and eradicate it. The root of Islamic terrorism is Islam. The proof of that is the Quran. We are a group of ex-Muslims who have seen the face the of evil and have risen to warn the world. No matter how painful the truth may be, only truth can set us free. Why this much denial? Why so much obstinacy? How many more innocent lives should be lost before YOU open your eyes? A nuclear disaster is upon us. This will happen. It is not a question of "if" but "when". Oblivious of that, the world is digging its head deeper in the sand. We urge the Muslims to leave Islam. Stop with excuses, justifications and rationalizations. Stop dividing mankind in "us" vs. "them" and Muslims vs. Kafirs. We are One people, One mankind! Muhammad was not a messenger of God. It is time that we end this insanity and face the truth. The terrorists take their moral support and the validation for their actions from you. Your very adherence to their cult of death is a nod of approval for their crimes against humanity. We also urge the non-Muslims to stop being politically correct lest they hurt the Muslims' sensitivity. To Hell with their sensibilities! Let us save their lives, and the lives of millions of innocent people. Millions, if not billions of lives will be lost if we do nothing. Time
is running out! "All it takes for evil to triumph is for good people
to do nothing." Do something! Send this message to everyone in your
address book and ask them to do the same. Defeat Islam and stop
terrorism. This is your world, save it.
Nonie Darwish is a member of the ex-Muslim Movement
www.faithfreedom.org
She writes analyses of "current issues involving Mideast culture and
politics from the perspective of a woman of Mideast descent." She is a
board member of the Mid East Education Team (M.E.E.T) -
http://www.meetnet.org. Other essays by her can be read on her
website: http://www.noniedarwish.com |
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JEWISH NEUTRALITY ON ISRAEL
Posted by Tamar Rush, September 11, 2004. |
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This was written by Barbara Sofer Barbara Sofer, an award-winning
writer, who is the spokesperson and Israel director of public
relations for Hadassah, the Women's Zionist's Organization of America.
She lives in Jerusalem with her husband scientist/writer Gerald
Schroeder. You can visit her website at www.barbarasofer.com
This article can also be read at: http://www.aish.com/jewishissues/
israeldiary/Jewish_Neutrality_on_Israel.asp
For the vast majority of American Jews, the presidential candidate's attitude towards Israel isn't crucial. Most simply don't care. Living in Israel, I have naively believed that whether or not a president of the United States supported the State of Israel would make a significant difference to my voting Diaspora brethren. That was particularly true after these four painful years of terror. I imagined the awkwardness of Democrats voting Republican for the first time because of President George W. Bush's closeness to us during these times. I was wrong. This isn't a question of Republican or Democrat. According to a recent poll, for only one of the seven Jews who step into a voting booth for the presidential election will the candidate's attitude towards Israel prove crucial. Most don't care. This revelation comes from a survey conducted on July 26-28 by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research for the National Jewish Democratic Council. Forty-two percent of those polled do worry about terrorism and national security. Three percent will vote for Ralph Nader, the candidate who suggests that the Bush administration is a puppet of the Israeli government. A mere 15% of Jewish voters see Israel as the lynchpin of their voting decision. Remember that American Jewish support of candidates at the polling booth and in campaign fundraising -- not our estimable democracy or our biblical promise -- are the most important factors in the American government's support of Israel, according to Uzi Dayan, the former head of Israel's National Security Council. But according to this poll, President Bush's support of Israel did nothing for him in the Jewish community. So whoever wins the race may easily conclude: Why bother? Explaining the lack of zeal about Israel, the New York Jewish Week, a distinguished newspaper with a Zionist editor, suggests that "the suicide war has taken its toll on American Jewish support, [resulting in] a sense of fatigue in the effort to keep Israel at the highest levels of concern through four years of bloodshed. The longer the war drags on, one fears, the more observers tend to equate the Palestinians and Israelis as combatants who refuse to make peace." Among the factors that Brandeis University historian Jonathan Sarna blames for the low priority placed on Israel are "the growing emotional detachment of younger Jews from Israel" and the "increasing discomfort many liberal Jews feel with Israel." Ouch. In addition to having had to face an attack on our very existence -- 25% of Israel's population have been close enough to hear at least one bomb go off -- we are being patronized and punished as irredeemable warmongers. Once again, we bemoan the failure of our flaccid national public relations campaign, which has failed to prevent this new equivalency of bellicosity among our own Jews. Once again we are assailed by a sense of unfairness. But -- even more important -- what consequence does the indifference to Israel have within the world of the Jewish people? American Jewish Committee Executive Director David Harris sees the poll as good news. He told the JTA that the real winner was the Jewish community, courted by both sides: "The key for me is that the Jewish vote is still very much in play. Both parties are making a concerted effort to go after [it]." Sorry, but this Zionist can't share Harris's optimism. I'm deeply disappointed that so few of my fellow Jews feel love or family affiliation with the Jewish state. At the very least, I'd expect them to care out of self-interest. My version of Zionism includes the notion that Israel's continued existence and prosperity are important to all Jewish voters. What can we do? It's so easy and pointless to cast blame. The survey demands a drastic awakening among those cherished brethren who do care. What a daunting challenge: How do we get our own community to love Zion? There's no time to lose. I suggest that all rabbis focus their High Holiday sermons on the need to support Israel and then announce the immediate reinstatement of bar/bat mitzvah programs that bring high school students and their families to Israel. Absence doesn't make the heart grow fonder. The requirement for leadership in Jewish organizations to study in Israel must be renewed. Don't wait for birthright israel to mold your offspring's Jewish identity. Every family should set up an Israel Travel Fund. I have friends that took home improvement loans to travel to Israel. They felt they couldn't think of anything that would improve their home more. Every Jewish parent should insist on Jewish pre-school and Jewish summer camp, encourage kids to apply to colleges that have large Jewish populations, and boycott universities fermenting with anti-Israel activism. Philanthropists, hold back checks and pledges from universities until you are sure Israel isn't vilified in the Middle East departments. Instead, redirect those checks to support Jewish day schools and summer camps. And Jewish students, don't hesitate to cross campus wearing Jewish stars and kippot. Grandparents, take on the traditional role as an unflagging resource of Judaism and Zionism. Get educated yourself, and bestow Jewish books, Jewish games, theater tickets to Jewish plays, Jewish jewelry, and Jewish trips. Having Jewish grandchildren is a privilege and a responsibility. Indifference shouldn't be confused with commendable neutrality. The Greenberg survey was conducted on Tisha B'av. Let it be a wake-up call that leads us to rethink and rebuild. |
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ISLAM, AS PRACTISED BY JIHADISTS, IS NOT A RELIGION OF PEACE
Posted by ASFI, September 11, 2004. |
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Sept. 11 is now upon us. Despite the overwhelming evidence of the Islamic world's responsibility in that horrific attack against America, Muslims world-wide are still denying that they were the perpetrators and are continuing to lay blame on the "Zionists" and America. It is incumbent upon the western world to remember how the Arabs in Baghdad, Jerusalem, Gaza, Cairo, Damascus and Amman celebrated the murder of 3000 innocent people on 9/11/01, with dancing in the streets, handing out candies, and shooting off their guns. These same people rejoice deliriously every time the Muslim world succeeds in butchering non-Muslims. Americans must now understand that we are presently engaged in a global war. It is the clash of civilizations, the Muslim world against the "infidels." We have seen the Muslim hatred and brutality unleashed in America, Russia, Israel, the Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, throughout the Middle East, as well as Asia and Africa. As we commemorate this sad anniversary of 9/11, let us also learn from it. We must not deny the truth as the Muslim world and those who hate America would have us do. As citizens of the civilized world, we must recognize that the Islamic jihadists are actively working to destroy our world as we know it. We must not let that happen. As George Santayana has told us, "He who does not learn from history is doomed to repeat it." 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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ISRAEL EXPLODES BOMB HIDDEN IN TOMB, MUSLIMS ANGRY
Posted by Tamar Rush, September 10, 2004. |
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Jim Wilson wrote:
Hi Folks, New Policy: President Bush should announce publicly that instructions have been given to all of our military services, effective immediately, that once islamic/muslim/arab fighters occupy, fight from or store supplies in a mosque or sacred site it will no longer be off limits. Our military should advise advise all of our combat commanders, worldwide, that combat considerations are the first priority. If religious sites become military targets because of enemy or terrorist acts, they should be neutralized by appropriate military action. The USA should lead on this policy change. Our allies should be encouraged to take a similar position rather quickly. Then, Israel can make a statement that they are instituting the same policy in support of worldwide action against terrorists. This way, the USA provides political cover so Israel cannot be singled out - as the sole supporter of this action. This news item comes from Reuters. BETHLEHEM, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli soldiers blew up a bomb hidden by militants in a Muslim cemetery in Bethlehem on Thursday, prompting an outcry by Palestinians who said the graveyard had been desecrated. Israel said the militants were to blame for the damage when troops detonated the bomb concealed in an empty grave. The location is especially sensitive as it is near Rachel's Tomb, a flashpoint West Bank shrine that is one of Judaism's holiest sites. "We didn't desecrate a cemetery. We neutralized a bomb," said army spokesman Jacob Dallal. But the explosion also destroyed the nearby grave of a 60-year-old Palestinian and rankled the nerves of local people who said the soldiers had violated the sanctity of Bethlehem's only Muslim cemetery. The head of Bethlehem's Islamic Waqf, which oversees the cemetery, said even the presence of a bomb would not justify the army's actions and it should have coordinated with Muslim religious authorities. "This is the first time we see the remains of the dead strewn into the open air. It is a violation of Islamic law, a very serious violation," said Waqf chief Nasr Nawfal. "Even the entry of an Israeli soldier to the cemetery is forbidden." Witnesses said soldiers had found the bomb hidden inside an empty tomb above ground. The army said it was too dangerous to remove the bomb to detonate elsewhere. But the explosion destroyed the grave of Mohammed Khalil, who died in 2001 of natural causes. A relative said his family had moved his remains to a new grave far away. "It was very painful to see that shameful and appalling scene," said Mustafa Ma'ali, 70. The cemetery abuts Rachel's Tomb, which Jews regard as the final resting place of the biblical matriarch. The site is also sacred to Muslims who say the real Rachel's Tomb is elsewhere and the compound in question contains a revered old mosque, Bilal Bin Rabah, from which they have been barred since Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war. Bethlehem is also holy to Christians, who revere it as the birthplace of Jesus. |
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PLEASE SIGN PETITION TO THE UN
Posted by Dafna Yee, September 10, 2004. |
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Finally, an organization that talks about defending democracy and
human rights and means ISRAEL!
Please go to: Free Nations United and sign the petition to the UN. CLICK HERE. This is the message on the Home Page of Free Nations United: Welcome Welcome to Free Nations United. At this moment, free men and women everywhere are threatened by the brutal aggression of global terrorism. The future of democracy depends on the resolve of the American people to wage an unceasing war against evil men who seek to destroy innocent life. Without the unwavering dedication of the United States to the defense of free people and institutions, the war to secure liberty against terrorism cannot be won. FreeNationsUnited.org endeavors to be the online leader in pro-democracy activism. Our mission is to harness the deep commitment of the American people to crushing terrorism and preserving representative government, human rights, and the rule of law. By enlisting the power of online activism, we can join together to deliver a powerful message in support of democracies now struggling to survive. Too many leaders - from the halls of the United Nations to the capitals of Europe - remain unwilling to stand with democracies threatened by terrorism. Instead, they practice appeasement and accommodation. It is our mission to challenge this weakness, and through our work, unite all free people in the defense of liberty. Please help us make this mission a success.
Dafna Yee, is director of JWD - Jewish Watch Dog
(http://jwd-jewishwatchdog.home.comcast.net ).
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WORLD IGNORES ISLAMIC HORRORS
Posted by Tamar Rush, September 10, 2004. |
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My friend Jenny wrote, "Seeing as how the mainstream media is refusing
to report the full story of just what exactly is going on in Sudan
figured I would forward this article to learn more. It has some
horrific facts at the terror the North Sudanese government and the Arab
militias have been inflicting on Christians. The most heartwrenching is
the story about a little boy named Ding Ding whose whole family was
slaughtered and the little boy himself had one of his hands blown off
and lost most of his other hand leaving him with a deformed hand with
only two fingers. Left on his own to scrounge for food. Sad to say his
story isn't an isolated incidence.
"It is amazing the cruelty that the North Sudanese government and their militias inflict without mercy or compassion for human life. So like their terrorist counterparts through out the Middle East. I have made a couple of donations to feed the Sudanese who have suffered persecution. Perhaps it will help with providing food or inspire them with hope that someone cares but the reason I forwarded this to you was for you to see what was going on in Sudan that the media refuses to address. "Shame on them the State Dept and the UN for their indifference which has allowed so many innocent civilains to be slaughtered but that seems to be the norm for the above mentioned. They show the same indifference to Israeli civilains. It seems if you're a victim of terrorism and you happen to be Christian or Jewish, it's met with indifference from the media, the UN and the State Dept; but if you're a fundamentalist terrorist and present an allegation of mistreatment, well it brings full coverage and cries of outrage from the above mentioned and liberal lefties. Gee where is that same outrage and media coverage when civilian victims just happen to be Christian or Jewish who were deliberately targeted by Islamic fundamentalist terrorists. "There is so much bias going on at the UN, media and the State Dept that it makes me sick and of course at this point I no longer believe that any of them are credible. No wonder they have such a good relationship with liberal lefties. They all share two character flaws indifference and incompetence. Let alone they wouldn't recognize the truth if it came up and bit them on their butts." This article is from Pastor Rod Parsley and describes the Bridge of Hope work in Sudan. Our Bridge of Hope teams are working night and day to get food into the hands and mouths of starving children ... but more will die without your help. You can save a life in Sudan! Click here now with your gift of $40 to help rush another 130,000 pounds of relief to these desperate people. Like Fatima (we have changed her name for her protection). She woke up to the sound of gunshots in the dead of night -- to find her husband's lifeless body beside her in a pool of blood. Their house was ablaze, and she couldn't find her four children -- she barely escaped with her own life, and then fled for 15 days on foot, through the Sudanese bush. Fatima's home and village had been decimated by government forces or slave traders, she wasn't sure which -- even the UN says it's hard to tell the difference between the Sudanese military and the civilian militias they bankroll. So now she's alone, homeless, starving, hopeless ... but thank God, a friend like you reached out for her with emergency food and relief through our Bridge of Hope missions outreach. Just $40 supports all our Bridge of Hope outreaches and helps feed an entire displaced family! A gift of $80 would feed two families. Whatever you can do will make a difference of eternal significance. The need is that urgent! With your help, Bridge of Hope has already delivered 1.75 million pounds of food, and over $3 million in medical supplies -- but there is so much more to be done! Over two million have died and four million have been left homeless. We must respond with God's love for these suffering people. Every moment we wait, a child could die from hunger, a family could be slaughtered, an entire community burned to the ground. So please! Go to http://www.breakthrough.net/PstrDsk/PastorsDesk.htm now and say you'll help me build a Bridge of Hope to our brothers and sisters in Sudan. |
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YESHA SPEAKS OUT
Posted by Yoel BenAvraham, September 10, 2004. |
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A group of residents ("the settlers") of Jewish communities ("the settlements") throughout Yesha (Judea, Samaria, Gaza and the Jordan Valley often called the "West Bank") has established an Internet site to publish their description of their lives and experiences. The catalyst behind this grassroots advocacy initiative is a fifty three year old software engineer, resident of Shilo, Benyamin, by the name of Yoel Ben-Avraham. Mr. Ben-Avraham established one of the first interactive online training services via the Internet in the world in 1994, and since then has pondered how to effectively exploit the communication potential of the internet to get the "Yesha community's message" out to the broad world audience. Establishing this "community blog" is his solution. The group publish stories, essays, open letters and photo essays sharing their day-to-day experiences, their thoughts and feelings on current events and their aspirations and dreams for themselves, their children and the Jewish People. The group called their initiative Yesha Speaks Out, alluding to their pent up need to have their voices heard. The product of this endeavour is published on the Internet at http://www.YeshaSpeaksOut.org, exploiting the rapidly burgeoning technology called "Blogging", a kind of public diary that permits painless publishing for the writer, and makes it easy for the reader to leave comments or send feedback to the author. In this initiative, as there are multiple authors publishing material from many different locations, this is correctly called a "Community Blog." Tired of being portrayed in negative stereotypes by often hostile media, the initiative is an attempt to circumvent the "sound byte" censorship of in-the-field journalists where politically correct anti-Israeli or anti-Jewish stories sell, but positive uplifting stories about Jewish values and regular life are not deemed newsworthy. Each author submits their material as they find the time and as the inspiration moves them. A committee of peers decides whether the material is suitable for publishing or requires more polishing or correction. A volunteer publisher completes the process by formatting the material and selecting the appropriate section of the "blog" to display it. The group will be sponsoring a national essay contest for high school youth on the youth's thoughts and feelings about "growing Up In Israel". They also intend to hold an international photography contest on the topic "My Israel" collecting photographs from individuals around the world who wish to share their most memorable photograph that captures what "Israel" means to them. www.YeshaSpeaksOut.org is a classic example of how current Internet communication technologies can empower individuals and groups to reach out and influence those beyond their geographic location in a powerful and relatively cost effective fashion. For more detailed background information please visit:
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MIGRATION ALTERS THE JEWISH MAP OF EUROPE
Posted by IsrAlert, September 10, 2004. |
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This was written by Eliahu Salpeter and appeared in Haaretz. It is
archived at http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/475028.html
Fear in France, a new society in Germany, Israelis who return to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) - all are making a mark. The Jewish map of Europe is changing at a pace. Old centers are waning, new ones are growing. This combination of decline and renewal is conspicuous in three places - France, Germany and the Commonwealth of Independent States. In France, the home of the largest Jewish community in Europe, the last five years have witnessed a dramatic rise in anti-Semitic incidents: from nine in 1999 to 230 in the first eight months of this year, or an annual projection of 350. For the first time since the end of Occupied France, Jews are again living in fear for their personal safety, which prompts many to remove their skullcaps and Star of David pendants. The French government still prefers to speak in general terms of "hooliganism," but in effect is finally admitting that the "hooligans" are almost always young Muslims and the victims, Jews. Even though the authorities still mention (not without justification) the failure of the absorption of North African immigrants into French society, it is no longer an unforgivable sin to say that the French are not solely to blame. Everyone basically understands that there is ethnic hostility toward the Jews that stems not only from the unemployment, poor living conditions and family problems, but rather from a guided hatred whose roots are in the Middle East conflict. For the first time since the Nazi era, Jews in a democratic European state view emigration as the answer to their fears and their children's future. Very quietly, the French government is beginning to recognize the new reality, if not the true nature of the threat. And even the Israeli government is beginning to admit that the confrontation with the Palestinians is affecting the security of Diaspora Jewry. The French government is sensitive to the electoral strength of the millions of Muslim voters, but the French security services are among the most diligent in the war against Muslim violence and terror. It is too early to speak of a change in the climate, but there are probably signs of such change in Paris. It is also too early to foresee the effect of the kidnapping of two French journalists in Iraq. Will more Muslims in France join those demanding their release, or will there be a renewal of the traditional hostility toward Arabs? What is already clear to many French is that their pro-Arab policy does not guarantee them immunity from Arab terror. And France presumably will not be immune to the harsh murmurings throughout Europe regarding continued immigration to the continent. Germany is also experiencing far-reaching change in the Jewish community. Here too the cause is mass immigration - this time of Jews from the CIS. This Germany government granted Jews from the former Soviet Union the right to immigrate to Germany, with intertwined results: For the first time since the Holocaust, Germany has a large Jewish population, some 120,000 or perhaps more. This population brought its own social values and cultural traditions, just as strong as the values of the new country. For 200 years before Hitler's rise to power, Germany was a magnet for both intellectuals and Jewish merchants from Russia, but they trickled in, longing to absorb German culture. Now there has been a sudden influx of immigrants holding on to their ways. Paradoxically, many of these immigrants to Germany will actually have to learn their Judaism. The greatest change of all is happening among Jews in the CIS. This is due in large part to something that is usually considered negative: people leaving Israel. More than a million Jews immigrated to Israel from the Soviet Union and later from the CIS. Most of them came after the disintegration of the Soviet regime, but at the same time a reverse movement began: a return to the CIS. Returnees to their country of origin are a common phenomenon in any mass emigration during the modern era. Before World War II, during the years of the great migrations, close to half the emigres went back to their homelands, including Jews who returned to Eastern Europe from America, with American passports in their pockets. Over the past decade Jews have begun to return to the CIS while holding on to their Israeli citizenship. At first this was a kind of "insurance policy" that also made it easier to visit relatives back in Israel, but it soon turned out that the returnees brought not only Israeli passports, but also an Israeli spiritual and cultural awareness they had gained here. Among the CIS's many ethnic groups, the returnees are an insignificant number, but among the hundreds of thousands of Jews who remained in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and other states, many emigres returned as representatives of Israel and Zionism. More than a few say that in Israel they were considered "Russians," and they now feel and are considered Israeli. They want a Jewish education for their children (provided mainly by some 150 schools run by the Chabad movement), and they are joined by many children who never visited Israel. An estimated one-third of the pupils in these schools are the children of returnees from Israel, while two thirds are locals. The influence of the Israeli children is often a deciding factor. The Israelis join the local Jewish community being rehabilitated (or being started from scratch) and take an active part in community activities. Many returnees even earn a living from their Israeli experience, working as teachers in the Jewish schools, as employees of the Jewish communities and organizations and even as substitute clergymen when necessary. They listen to Voice of Israel broadcasts, receive Israeli newspapers from their relatives and visit Israel often. Anyone passing through Ben-Gurion Airport will find it hard to believe the number of flights between Tel Aviv, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev and dozens of other cities in the CIS. Former Israelis have also become an important factor in the promotion of trade between Israel and the CIS. Apparently, Jews returning to the CIS are less bothered by anti-Semitic incidents than Jews in France or other West European countries. They are probably familiar with anti-Semitism from their Soviet upbringing, and their stay in Israel may have given them confidence that they lacked beforehand. On the other hand, news of terror attacks in Israel is quickly relayed by relatives. The harsh economic crisis in Russia is beginning to fade, the currency is stabilizing and with it the urban middle class, which includes most of the Jews. Beyond this, the returnees are spawning a new phenomenon: dual spiritual and cultural identity - Israeli and Russian. They enjoy good Russian theater but sing Israeli songs; read Israeli books translated into Russian but want their children to learn to read Hebrew; want to live in the CIS but feel, at least a little bit, like Israelis abroad. It is too early to tell what their children will do when they grow up and possibly consider leaving for Israel or remaining in the CIS. One thing, however, is certain; the returnees, just like the mass immigration to Israel a decade ago, are helping to save the Jews of the CIS from total assimilation. The building of the Jewish community in Berlin. Immigrants from the CIS are changing its composition. IsrAlert, a Jewish advocacy network, is hosted by Harv Weiner. To subscribe to IsrAlert, send an email to isralert@aol.com |
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MY MIRACLE FISH STORY
Posted by Stan L Bowman Jr., September 10, 2004. |
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I have my own miracle story what the GOD of Israel done for me.
I just got a fishing licence and started fishing after 20 some years on July 1,04. The biggest fish I ever caught was a 12 inch bass until last tue. On tue Sept 7,04 I went fishing around 4PM. I got tips from people that Lyman green lures catch big fish, so I was throwing a lure for 3 hours. I never caught a thing. I decided I would go home. On the way I decided to throw the lure in the river a few times. Heres were the miracle occurs. I never had my net with me, but just as I seen a man coming with a net I latched on a fish. By now he's up to me and helping me with tips. When I got the fish it jumped out of the water 3 or 4 times then went running. At one point he told me my line was caught around the pole, I did not even know it was. The fish had stopped for a few seconds so I got the line straightened out. I was yanking hard to get it in, but this guy said do not do that or the line will snap and you will lose the fish. So after about 15 minutes I got the fish to the side and the man netted it for me and brought it to the cement which is about 12 feet above the water. I discovered I only snagged it with one single hook of the 3 hooks and I was shocked that I caught it because of all the mistakes I made in reeling it in. I later measured this salmon to be 28 inches long and 9 lbs. I could only praise the GOD of Israel for helping me with this fish when he supplied a person with a net to help me, with my line tangled and just snagged the 9 lbder with 1 single hook near the gills. This to me was GOD in action, because I did not know what to expect and was so excited just to catch a fish. I GIVE THE GOD OF ISRAEL ALL THE PRAISE AND GLORY FOR THIS MIRACULOUS FISH CATCH. |
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EU SUPORTS TERRORIST, WHO COST ARABS JOBS
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, September 10, 2004. |
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EUROPE SYMPATHETIC TO JEW-KILLERS? Arafat sent a delegation to explain to Europe the harsh conditions over which terrorist prisoners of Israel had been hunger striking (until they got really hungry). He complained that Israel's approval of some housing permits in existing Jewish communities in Judea-Samaria hinders the "peace process." (IMRA, 8/31.) Only if the "process" involves expelling Jews. "Peace process?" What peace process? Arafat renewed the war a couple of years ago. Basically, the Arabs have been trying to drive the Jews out of the Land of Israel for the past 85 years. The Arabs believe in hegemony, not harmony. Pres. Bush may talk about "two states, side-by-side," but the Arab side already is planning to absorb the Jewish one. Wouldn't it be nice if the Democratic candidate denounced Bush's faulty vision as appeasement of terrorism, the very terrorism we spent hundreds of billions of dollars fighting in other countries? Pity the terrorist prisoners? I think they should have been interred, not imprisoned. Harsh conditions? They don't have numerous television sets. They are not given the means to direct terrorism from their cells, nor to kill guards with. That must be a violation of international law, under which it is the Arabs' human right to murder Jews. The P.A. ought to complain to Human Rights Watch about that. It probably would be sympathetic, as apparently Arafat expects the Europeans to be. What does that tell you about the moral state of the Europeans? CARRYING RIGHTS CONCEPTS TOO FAR Israeli prison authorities deny that the Arab terrorist prisoners have a right to store salt in their cells. The Supreme Court agreed. When the prisoners refused food, the wardens supplemented their water with minerals (IMRA, 8/31). The article implies that lawyers for the prisoners applied to the Supreme Court for salt-storing privileges, as if it were a right. The Court should have refused to hear the case as frivolous. NO "PALESTINIAN" NATION, JUST POST-ZIONIST NONSENSE An anti-Zionist historical revisionist in Israel has written a book alleging a long history of "Palestinian" nationality. It calls all Arabs in the vicinity "Palestinian," although they had no notion of such a nationality nor even of an Arab nationality. It claims they asserted such a nationality, whereas they asserted themselves part of southern Syria. When Jordan and Egypt seized Yesha, in 1948, the non-Jews did not demand independence nor assert nationhood. Such assertions came later, falsely, and for public relations against Israel. The new element in this item is a reminder that the non-Jews in Palestine at the time of the modern Jewish return were a polyglot group. There were Arabs, Turks, Bosnians, Circassians, and other Christians. The book fails to mention that most of the families later called "Palestinian" were in the country for only three generations, same as the bulk of the Jews. The book erroneously blames the Arab refugee problem on Israel, and fails to mention the Mideastern Jewish refugee problem caused by the Arabs. (A propaganda hatchet job.) Most of the people of Jordan are called "Palestinian," too. They do not demand independence there. They demand it only where they can take it away from the Jews. The book neglects the Palestinian Arab alliance with the Nazis, their terrorism, oppression of their own people, and corruption. Those acts forfeit any moral claim to sovereignty. The book blames Oslo's failure on Israel, rather than on the wholesale Arab violation of it. The book blames the tunnel riots on Israel tunneling under Al Aqsa mosque, but the ancient tunnel was not under it. The book's other biases are more extremist (Prof. Steven Plaut, 9/1). WHAT DO ARAFAT'S ARABS THINK OF PEACE & TERRORISM? By about 6:4, the Arabs in the Territories told pollsters they believe that they should continue suicide bombing Israel (IMRA, 9/1). When appeasement minded editors and politicians propose statehood for those Arabs, they sometimes suggest P.A. reform and democracy. Then the Arabs would vote 6:4 to continue suicide bombing. Democracy is Bush's panacea for the Arabs. He expects too much of it. ARABS ILLOGICAL OR JUST CLUMSY WITH LANGUAGE? IMRA translates Arab news items and comments about them. Many of the remarks expose contradictions in Arab statements. On 9/1, the "Jordan Times" was quoted as reporting that the King ordered a plan for sending preachers to the Western world "to explain the real image of Islam, which is known for its moderation and tolerance." IMRA remarked, "If Islam is known for its 'moderation and tolerance,' the mission is unnecessary." The paper asserted that in reaction to 9/11, a campaign of Islamophobia was organized. IMRA remarked that it did not have to be organized, because revulsion was a natural reaction to drastic terrorism. The Arabs keep falling back on conspiracy theory. The Jordanian Minister declared that the kidnapping of foreign nationals has nothing to do with Islam. IMRA asked, how about the bus bombing in Israel, responsibility for which was claimed by the Islamist organization, Hamas? (IMRA, 9/1.) I think that the first remark was more over the newspaper's clumsiness with language than poor logic. The paper should have put it, "known among Muslims for its moderation and tolerance." I dispute the assertion. The Muslim world seethes with hatreds and violence; many of those countries are at war; Islam started as a warrior's creed. Jordanian textbooks are bigoted. The other two remarks are more about rationalizations and excuse-making than merely poor logic, though their logic is poor. SECRETARY-GENERAL'S SMALL COMFORT TO ISRAEL Secretary-Gen. Annan denounced the major suicide-bombing in Beersheba. He demanded that the P.A. halt such attacks. The P.A. condemned the attack, and called for a ceasefire, but it did not condemn the organization that confessed to having made the attack (IMRA, 9/1). Never does. Sec. Annan failed to blame the P.A. for facilitating such attacks. His demand does not try to rally the Security Council to impose sanctions upon the P.A.. Thus he really is not taking a moral stand, but pretends to. He is small comfort to Israel and no friend of the victims. TERRORISTS STRIKE AT ARABS' JOBS P.A. terrorists target the joint industrial zone and crossings from the P.A. to Israel. The zones provide several thousand jobs for Arabs; the crossings are the route Arab workers take to their jobs in Israel. The P.A. has opposed their cooperating with Israel and working in it. Hence the government of Israel believes that the terrorists have the P.A.'s best wishes when they attack the source of income for P.A. Arabs (Arutz-7, 9/1). The world blames Israel for P.A. poverty. It should blame the P.A. for making war, extortion, stealing foreign aid, omitting business law, and keeping Arabs from earning a living. ISRAEL ELIMINATING PESTICIDES WORLDWIDE An Israeli company breeds and sells predator insects to eradicate infestations of insects that harm crops. In one case, the predators cleared up the pests for the farmer who bought them, and then moved out to clear up the whole area. One crop after another in Israel is being raised wholly or largely pesticide-free (MEPF, 9/1 from Miriam Gardner of American Yated Neeman, 8/20). Israel benefits the world in many ways. This is particularly gratifying, since Israel was a heavy user of pesticides, and almost all my food is organic. ISRAEL HELPS DETECT TERRORIST WEB SITES Israeli university researchers have developed software that can identify web sites used for terrorism and who uses them. This is an important measure of global security, because terrorism makes extensive use of Internet for recruitment, training, fundraising, and operational instructions (MEPF, 9/1 from Miriam Gardner of American Yated Neeman, 8/27). U.S. USES ISRAELI ANTI-TERRORISM METHODS The US Capitol Police have switched to anti-terrorism measures they learned from Israel. The relationship between the two countries is not the one-sided one most politicians indicate (MEPF, 9/1 from Miriam Gardner of American Yated Neeman, 9/1). ARABS & ISRAEL SEE OPPOSITE TRENDS S. Arabia argues that by exhorting French Jews to immigrate, Israel proves that it wants to settle them on land the P.A. hopes to inherit in Yesha. It warns that Israel may secretly have French Jews attacked, to prompt their flight. S. Arabia has plans to expand Islam at infidel expense. Meanwhile, PM Sharon has come up with schedules, budgets, rules, and training of police to remove thousands of Jews from Yesha initially, and an unknown number afterwards, leaving the area to the Arabs (MEPF, 9/1 from Miriam Gardner of American Yated Neeman, 8/27) Inviting French alliyah does not prove that the arrivals would be settled in Yesha. Budgeting abandonment of Yesha indicates the opposite. What illogical reasoning the Arabs practice! This Arab indignation about land is unseemly, considering that the Arabs are stealing land en masse in Israel and in Yesha, and since they have a poor claim to Yesha. SAUDIS COMPLAIN ABOUT UNO Unusual breeding conditions have multiplied swarms of locusts sweeping eastward from the northern half of W. Africa and towards Asian Arab states, devastating crops and other greenery and starving millions of people. Had $25 million been spent eradicating the initial brood, hundreds of millions of dollars would not be needed now for relief. The Saudi government criticized the UNO for not laying out the initial sum. Oil prices have multiplied, too. S. Arabia enjoys billions of dollars in surplus. It did not occur to it to lay out what for it would be a minor sum (MEPF, 9/1 from Miriam Gardner of American Yated Neeman, 8/27). Last I recall, S. Arabia pays low UNO dues compared to its wealth. The Arabs create so much misery, as they do in Iraq, Sudan, the P.A., and donate far less than does the West to relieve it. I think that the West should find worthier objects of charity than the Arabs out to conquer 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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WHY A PATRIOT MUST SUPPORT ISRAEL
Posted by Don Feder, September 10, 2004. |
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A version of this essay ran on www.FrontPageMag.com.
I recently did a column exposing the Israel bashing in Patrick J. Buchanan's new book, "Where The Right Went Wrong: How Neoconservatives Subverted the Reagan Revolution and Hijacked the Bush Presidency" - the Michael Moore Book Club's selection of the month. Fortunately, only a small segment of the right has been infected with Buchanan's neo-isolationism and anti-Zionism. Still, Pat's fulminations spur the following reflections on why I support Israel as an American patriot. First, a bit of personal history - not to boast, but to let you know that, for me, patriotism transcends bumper-sticker slogans. I've been fighting for America my entire adult life. In the 60s, I was a campus conservative activist. While John Kerry was defaming Americans serving in Vietnam (we were "butchering a lot of innocent people," the future nominee told a Senate committee), I organized a rally on the Boston Common in support of our troops. As a syndicated columnist, I spent nearly 20 years defending America against the lies of multiculturalists and historical revisionists. I devoted my pen to supporting Reagan's foreign policy and opposing Soviet expansionism. (I once spent a week in Cuba, to better understand the tragedy of daily life under communism.) Since the end of the Cold War, I've shifted my focus to militant Islam, and the peril it poses to our nation. I've taken every opportunity to remind my countrymen of why America is the greatest force for good in the world, and worthy of our love and loyalty. I've warned of clear and present dangers to our national unity - including language fragmentation, the failure to control our borders, the inculcation of anti-Americanism through public school and college curricula, and an internationalist elite that controls the media, academia and Hollywood. Other than wearing my country's uniform (a privilege neither Pat nor I had), I've done everything in my power to protect the nation that gave my grandparents a home and gave the world a model of liberty, prosperity and republican government. Thus, I address the matter of U.S. support for Israel as an unabashed patriot. You might think that, as a Jew, my views on Israel were predetermined. But, Jewish leftists -- like Noam Chompsky, Michael Lerner and George Soros -- are among the most savage opponents of the Jewish state. At the same time, Israel's most eloquent champions today are Christians, among them William Bennett, Pat Robertson, Cal Thomas, George Will and House Speaker Tom DeLay. In 2004, support for Israel is far more philosophic than genetic. I'm pro- Israel for the same reason I'm pro-Taiwan. The course of history often turns on the fate of little countries - Belgium in World War I, Czechoslovakia in the 1930s, and Taiwan and Israel today. The same foreign-policy sophisticates who are blasé about the fate of Israel are equally nonchalant regarding Taiwan. Who made us their keepers? Why risk war for an insignificant dot on a map, half a world away? I mean, really - Whose land is it, anyway? It's easy to rationalize the betrayal of little countries. But when the great powers sell out the small democracies, they reap the appeasement whirlwind. Who thought the Czechs were worth fighting for at Munich (other than Churchill) or the Poles at Yalta? World War II and the Cold War proved the folly of such short-sighted pragmatism. After feeding little countries to the wolves, the Western powers barely avoided being devoured themselves. Our honor was redeemed in blood. Yet Israel has a special connection to America that neither Taiwan, Belgium nor the Czech Republic share. We are soul-mates. In the deepest sense, a betrayal of Israel would be a betrayal of ourselves. America didn't begin at Philadelphia in 1776 or 1787. Spiritually, it started at a mountain in the Sinai peninsula more than three millennia ago. America was founded on those values - liberty, justice, righteousness - first articulated in the Hebrew Scriptures. The first settlers to these shores and the Founding Fathers both were inspired by a Jewish worldview. Cotton Mather, the famous Puritan divine, wanted to make Hebrew the language of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. For the Great Seal of the United States, Benjamin Franklin proposed a depiction of Moses leading the Children of Israel through the Dead Sea. As my friend Rabbi Daniel Lapin, of Toward Tradition, so eloquently explains, over the course of history, ancient Israel and the United States of America are the only two nations founded on ideals. For each, the vision - in once case, articulated in Mosaic Law and, in the other, in the Mayflower Compact -- actually preceded possession of the land. Every president of the United States, from George Washington to George W. Bush, has taken the oath of office on a Book that includes the story of the Exodus, the encounter at Sinai and the possession of the Promised Land. The rights and duties set forth in the United States Constitution are echoes of that older covenant. Throughout our nation's capital, testaments to America's Biblical heritage are chiseled in stone. A representation of The Ten Commandments is engraved on each of the oak doors leading to the Supreme Court's courtroom. A frieze of Moses adorns the Chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives. In the National Archives Building, near the Declaration of Independence, the Roman numerals one through 10 are set in the floor. More than Rome or Athens, London or Paris, the light that guided our infant republic shone forth from Jerusalem. The US and Israel are two nations joined at the heart. Colonial America was only the beginning. America offered shores of refuge to generations of Jewish immigrants. In the Second World War, the United States destroyed history's greatest anti-Semite (though, admittedly, that wasn't our reason for going to war) and liberated the death camps. At the end of the war, America provided crucial support for the rebirth of the Jewish state and has helped sustain it for the past half-century. From Hayim Solomon (financier of the Revolution) to the present, Jewish patriots have done their duty. A Jew named Einstein gave America the weapon to win the war in the Pacific and keep our freedom during the Cold War. And a Jew with the improbable name of Berlin gave us what's called America's second national anthem. There is yet another reason why the patriot is called on to support Israel. In a global conflict, with the fate of humanity hanging in the balance, Americans and Israelis confront the same fanatical, hate-filled, anti-human foe. The same totalitarian ideology masquerading as a religion that killed 242 Americans in the Beirut Marine Barracks bombing in 1983, that slaughtered 3,000 Americans on 9/11 and that's responsible for the deaths of more than 1,000 of our servicemen in Iraq - also bombs buses, murders motorists and slays children, from Tel Aviv to Hebron. Yasser Arafat is the mold from which Osama bin Laden was cast. His followers are a division of an army bent on world conquest. Three years ago, when America was shrouded in tears, Palestinians did goalpost victory dances in the streets. Later, they named a square in Ramallah after the first suicide bomber who killed American soldiers in Iraq. Hamas contributes fighters to the Iraq jihad. Should Israel fall, the enemy would have another bastion to rival Taliban Afghanistan and Iran under the mullahs. Resources could be shifted to other fronts in the world war - Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans, Chechnya, and on and on. If we do nothing when the jihad comes for Israel, comes for India, comes for Serbia, comes for Russia, comes for the Christians of the Third World - who will be there for us when it come for America? Our history, heritage, faith and national interest all mandate American support for Israel -- the land where (in a spiritual sense) America began. A patriot who doesn't understand this is no patriot at all. Don Feder was an opinion writer for the Boston Herald and a syndicated columnist. He is currently a political/media consultant. |
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THE VICTIMS OF THE DISENGAGEMENT
Posted by Manhigut Yehudit, September 10, 2004. |
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Our aim: To perfect the world in the kingdom of the Almighty. Shana Tova - A Happy, Healthy and Torah filled year to Manhigut Yehudit's friends and supporters and to the entire Jewish world. The Victims of the Disengagement "The terrorist attack in Beersheba was intended to halt the disengagement plan", explained Ariel Sharon. To those whose memories have not been erased by suffering, this sounds like a replay of the days of Oslo, when Rabin and Peres explained that there were no longer "Jews" and "Arabs", only those "who wanted peace" and the "enemies of peace". These heartless politicians always told us that the murderers don't want to murder Jews... they just want to murder "peace", and the victims are victims of peace. Currently, we are being told yet a new (ridiculous) story: "It happened because there was no security fence". Is this true?" The facts are that there is NO CONNECTION between the security fence and the murders. No murderer has been caught on the fence so far. Most of them were killed in the planning areas, and a few succeeded in penetrating, either WITH a fence (the Maxim restaurant, Highway 6, Ashdod Port), or without (Beersheba). All that the fence does is to divert tremendous resources from the effective elimination of the sources of terror to the defense of a political line forced upon us, ostensibly for security reasons. This diversion of resources will inevitably lead to changing the active security concept, and to increasing dependence on this white elephant. And let's not forget the million plus "Israeli" Arabs that live INSIDE the fence and how they love us so dearly... In the end, of course, reality will make itself felt. But don't worry, even after the mega-massacre awaiting us (G-d forbid), we'll never hear a word of remorse from Dan Margalit, Amnon Dankner, Uzi Dayan, and the other formers of public opinion. They also supported Oslo, but somehow failed to assume responsibility for the death, bereavement, and poverty that it brought to our country. Judging by past experience, it is more reasonable to assume that when the fence blows up in our faces, they'll find a new magic formula to match their political desires. Wait for the new idol. Let's hope that it'll cost less than ten billion dollars (the price of the fence) or seven billion dollars (the price of the disengagement). By the way, the shapers of public opinion don't travel by bus, and Netanyahu isn't expecting support from them, so that they won't pay the price of the blood spilled. A comprehensive belief-based revolution is required. A revolution of consciousness, culture, society. Such a revolution will inevitably take place, since it is the sole chance remaining for the current Return to Zion to survive. In fact it will not merely survive but blossom. In order to do this we must build the tools for the belief-based revolution today, otherwise it won't be a real revolution but just one more turnabout that provides a living for Israel's media. 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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HATE MUSIC VIDEO ON PA TV: ISRAELI SOLDIERS SHOOT AT KIDS
Posted by Itamar Marcus & Barbara Crook, September 10, 2004. |
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Music videos around the world are intended for children's entertainment. But the Palestinian Authority (PA) uses music videos as a tool to promote hatred and violence among Palestinian children. In recent months, PA TV has increased the frequency of hate broadcasting aimed at children. One example of this escalation is the repeated broadcast this month of a 30-second music video depicting Israeli soldiers as cold-blooded murderers. In this fictitious scene, children are seen playing soccer, while actors portraying Israeli soldiers wearing yarmulkes (skullcaps) watch them from the side. Suddenly one of the soldiers moves over to the children and, after attempting to steal the ball, hits one of the children. The other children turn against the soldier and chase him away. He then grabs his automatic rifle, takes careful aim and fires at the children. Other fictitious PA hate videos directed at children include: - Scenes of children playing soccer when the ball explodes in their faces; - A girl on a swing who turns into a burning inferno; - Soldiers throwing an old man to the ground and then shooting him in the head; - A blind infant carried by his mother; when she is murdered by Israeli soldiers, they fall to the ground together; - and many others. The result of all this hate indoctrination is a generation of Palestinian children who have been convinced by the PA leadership that Israel is intentionally murdering civilians, especially children. The PA is creating for its children a moral equivalence between PA terror, which deliberately targets civilians in buses and cafes, and Israel's defensive war, in which some civilians have been inadvertently killed. This hate promotion is creating a generation of children who are filled with hatred for Israelis, and who see killing Israelis as legitimate because they are convinced that Israel is also targeting civilians. The more this hate promotion continues, the more entrenched the Palestinian children's hatred becomes, and the bleaker the prospects for peace in the next generation. The hate clip can be viewed on the PMW website. Itamar Marcus is director of PMW -Palestinian Media Watch - (http://www.pmw.org.il). Barbara Crook, a writer and university lecturer based in Ottawa, Canada, is PMW's North American representative. |
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TERRORISM KNOWS NO BORDERS
Posted by Ruth Matar, September 10, 2004. |
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Dear Friends, The bloody ending of last week's siege at school No. 1 in Beslan in Southern Russia has shocked the entire civilized world. The murderers were Chechens, along with Arabs believed to be allied with al-Qaeda. There was general agreement amongst political commentators: Islamic terrorists have set a new low by holding hostage and ultimately killing hundreds of children- boys and girls taken hostage when they arrived for the first day of the new school year. The ultimate cruelty: the Muslim terrorists denied the children so much as a sip of water over the three days they held them hostage, before their slaughter by rigged explosives and sniper fire. The following is a quote from an article in the Wall Street Journal: "The depravity of this is hard to believe but believe it we must. For it is the new reality of the current age in which innocents are specifically targeted by Muslim terrorists in the name of some Islamic cause." But was this indeed a "new" low for Islamic terrorism? Unfortunately not! Sadly, the Arab-Israeli conflict, has for many years been treated as an utterly disconnected conflict by the world, and not part of the Islamic Jihad (Holy War). People tend not to remember terror attacks against innocent civilians, especially when such terrorism takes place against Jewish victims. Some examples: * On May 15, 1974, terrorists from the Democratic front for the Liberation of Palestine broke into a high school in Ma'alot in Northern Israel. Twenty six innocent people, including 21 school children were murdered and a further 66 wounded. When the Muslim terrorists attacked the Israeli school in Ma'alot, they were not only equipped with Russian arms, but they had Soviet political support as well. * In December of 1968, even before the Ma'alot massacre, Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization machine-gunned an El Al aircraft at Athens airport. * In February of 1969, Palestinian terrorists attacked an El Al 707 on the runway at Zurich airport. * In September 1970, planes from TWA, Swiss Air and BOAC - plus more than 400 hostages - were hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and taken to Jordan (Black September). * In 1972 the Israeli Olympic team was murdered by Arafat's terrorists. * In 1988 Libyan agents planted a bomb aboard Pan Am Flight #103 which exploded over Lockerbie in Scotland, with the loss of 270 lives. These are only some of the early examples of Muslim terrorism against Jews, even before the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993. Since the naive (or worse) Oslo architects invited Arafat and his henchmen to come to Judea and Samaria as their peace partners, more than 1,400 had been murdered by Islamic terrorists. Jews have not been safe outside of Israel either. For example, on July 18, 1994 a bomb exploded at the Jewish Community Center at Buenos Aires killing 85 people and wounding hundreds. This deadly anti-Semitic attack occurred ten years ago. There were strong indications that the terrorists were Muslim, supported and abetted by Syria and Iran. On November 16, 2003, at least 20 people were killed and over 250 injured when car bombs shattered two Istanbul synagogues as worshippers celebrated the Sabbath in the mostly Muslim nation of Turkey. Turkish officials said they could not rule out a role by Osama Bin Laden's al Queda, blamed for attacks on other Jewish targets around the world in the previous 18 months. Where and when did all this Islamic terrorism start? Yasser Arafat is often deservedly called the father of modern terrorism. He was the first to use terror against civilian aircraft. He was the first to equip suicide bombers with deadly explosive belts and to send them to blow themselves up in buses, cafes, wedding halls and hotels, wherever they could kill a maximum number of Jews. Israel has been the testing ground for the detailed planning of successful terrorist warfare. For this accomplishment Arafat was awarded the Nobel Prize of Peace in Oslo in 1994. The world has become quite indifferent to the spilling of Jewish blood. Jewish blood has become cheap. In many quarters Muslim terrorism against Jews was "understood" as having been undertaken by "desperate" Palestinians. What was unfortunately not realized, is that once it becomes acceptable for the ends to justify the means, then what starts with the Jews, will ultimately extend to other places and other people. President George W. Bush has apparently understood this. The political leaders of Russia, Spain, Germany and France, and many other nations are slow learners. Hopefully they are now beginning to understand it? It is time that the so-called Free World faced up to the fact that Muslim terrorism knows no borders. That this terrorism will not be content with only Jewish blood. The following words of Pastor Martin Niemoeller, one of the most respected Protestant leaders in Germany, who himself perished in Auschwitz, are inscribed above the entrance to Yad VaShem, the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem. First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out--
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out--
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out--
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
Then they came for me--
May we all have a good year of health and happiness and may we be inscribed in the Book of Life. May G-d's promises for His Holy Land be fulfilled. With Blessings and Love for Israel,
Ruth and Nadia Matar established Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green), an activist group of women based in Jerusalem. Their website address is http://www.womeningreen.org |
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HAMAS: LEFT-WING ENCOURAGED US TO ATTACK
Posted by Steven Plaut, September 10, 2004. |
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This appeared in today's Arutz-Sheva (www.IsraelNN.org).
How many lives have left-wing statements cost Israel? A new book about the Oslo War quotes Hamas leaders saying that Israel's left-wing encourages them to continue their terrorist attacks. How many lives have left-wing statements cost Israel? In a damning condemnation of the Israeli left, a new book about the battles known as the Oslo War quotes Hamas leaders saying that the behavior of Israel's left-wing encourages them to continue their terrorist attacks. The book, "The Seventh War," by journalists Avi Yisacharov of Voice of Israel Radio and Amos Harel of Haaretz, is based on comprehensive investigations and interviews with Hamas terrorist leaders in Gaza and Israeli prisons. Yisacharov told Channel 1 Television yesterday that Hamas leaders had told him clearly: "It was the Israeli left and your peace camp that ultimately encouraged us to continue with our suicide attacks." Yisacharov said he was told as follows: "We tried, through our attacks, to create fragmentation and dissention within Israeli society, and the left-wing's reaction was proof that this was indeed the right approach. When we heard about the 'Pilots' Letter' [written and publicized last year by 27 Israel Air Force pilots who refused to take part in bombing missions against terrorist leaders in Arab towns], and the elite soldiers who refused to serve [in Judea, Samaria and Gaza], it strengthened those in our camp who promoted the idea of suicide bombers... |
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MUSLIM BAIT AND SWITCH
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, September 9, 2004. |
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The Arab Muslims have an insidious technique of negotiating falsely that seems invisible to the Free West. Have you noticed that every time Arab Muslims have their backs to the wall in a losing position due to a conflict they initiated, they immediately proclaim they are willing to negotiate? It is Terrorists like Yassir Arafat, Osama Bin Laden and other al Qaeda operatives, Saddam Hussein in his time and Moqtada Sadr now (head of Shiite Terrorists in Iraq) who rise up and kill - but, when hit hard, they plead for negotiations - only to start attacking again. Nations like Egypt, Libya, Syria, Iran, et al, who, in prior wars, howl for international intervention as they start to lose battles they started. Perhaps it is not just their cleverness in following War and Terror instructions from the Koran but, our anxiousness to NOT finish the battle and our vain hope for an easy way out. We should have learned the lesson of their trick of calling for a breather - called a "hudna" or truce, where they say they want to negotiate a fair ending to the conflict. They usually use the word: "Peace" so often that it becomes meaningless but, we Westerners fall for it every time. This "Bait & Switch" tactic harks back to Mohammed when he made the ten year Hudaibiya Treaty (Hudna) in 628 C.E. with those he could not conquer but, 2 years later when he was stronger, he broke the Hudaibiya treaty with the Jewish Quraysh tribe. During his conquests in the Arabian peninsula there were many battles with the indigenous Jewish tribes or clans. (1) See how this impacted the Mid East debate in America. (2) Mohammed's revelation of Islam was particularly criticized by the Jewish Qurayza tribe. After they surrendered, Mohammed had all the 600 men slaughtered, sold the women and children into slavery. (2) Arafat frequently refers to this trick, relying upon the ignorance of the West and his own people when he speaks to his people to explain away any call he may make for negotiations and returning to the Peace table that never existed. On May 10, 1994, 10 days after signing the Gaza-Jericho First agreement, Arafat spoke in English at a mosque in Johannesburg. He was recorded (secretly) as saying: "This agreement, I am not considering it more than the agreement which had been signed between our prophet Muhammad and Quraysh..."(3) Arafat has often since repeated this illusion to the Hudaibiya Treaty to his people in Arabic. It seems obscure to us but they understand well what he means. If I said: "Don't ever trust an Arab/Muslim when it comes to Peace Agreements.", the Left Liberals would have apoplexy. Think how many times Arafat made agreements and broke them every time under the vague promise of "accommodation" or "truce" or whatever was supposed to lead to peace. When Arafat's Terrorists were stalking around the streets of Amman, Jordan in the 1960s, Arafat made 26 separate agreements with then King Hussein. Arafat broke every single agreement up to the point when he put out a contract on the King's brother wherein the King finally declared war in September 1970 and slaughtered 7,000 of Arafat's Terrorists. This was called "Black September". Arafat mounted several of his Terror attacks under the name of honor "Black September". Israel made the same pathetically stupid mistake and accepted all sorts of accommodations and temporary "Hudnas", each one broken and each followed by another stupid agreement. The Oslo Accords were signed September 13, 1993 on the White House lawn under the guarantee of President Bill Clinton. Oslo, negotiated secretly by Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Yossi Beilin was not only stupid, it was criminal. The guns and control of territory in Israel's heartland Rabin and Peres gave to Arafat's Terrorists enabled them to kill more than 1500 Israeli Jews (some 45 Americans) and wounded tens of thousands more, many crippled for life. Needless to say, neither Presidents Clinton nor Bush accepted the responsibility as guarantors for Arafat's abrogation of Oslo but continued paying him $200 Million American tax-payers' dollars every year. All of the Oslo Gang should be tried for endangering lives and the Jewish State because they were left exposed and made vulnerable by these corrupt politicians. Perhaps it is acceptable for a politician to make one stupid mistake which costs lives but, when the same mistake is made time and again - then it is no longer mere stupidity, it is a decision made with malice. It is a decision which, in effect, orders the deaths of others. It is a decision where the deciders have joined with a dedicated enemy and knowingly conspire to allow or enable the Terrorists murder their own people. Back to the "Bait & Switch": Each time Israel was fed up with the killings, usually after a particularly gruesome attack, they sent in troops to re-occupy areas over which the Oslo Accords had given control to Arafat's Terrorists. Regrettably, many of the strikes were on empty buildings or empty Terrorist training camps to pacify the angry Jewish electorate. But, when too many Jews were killed then the bumbling leaders of Israel had to really unleash the IDF (Israel Defense Forces). When enough Terrorists had been killed and their leaders were scurrying underground to avoid being targeted, they called for a cease fire. This usually came from Arafat, backed up by the U.N., the Europeans and pressure from Washington. All pretended that this time he would seriously undertake to cease Terror and negotiate from that elusive Peace table. Naturally, the Jewish Leftists were screaming that "our self-defense is so unfair" and retaliation is collective punishment" - and other drivel. So, there was a brief cease fire interlude when the Terrorists re-armed, re-grouped and the Terror started all over again while the Leftists babbled about how we hadn't given up enough to satisfy the Terrorists. While that happened repeatedly with the Israelis, we Americans were caught up in a similar syndrome. How many times did we start to take out either Saddam's Terrorists or Moqtada al Sadr's Terrorists? Only we usually stopped the offensive operations against the Terrorists too soon because everyone was screaming: "Give Peace a Chance" - or - "Let's Negotiate" - or - "Let's Have a Truce to Talk Over Our Differences", etc. After all, we were trying to win the hearts and minds of barbarians who didn't appreciate the freedom given to them by the deaths and wounding of our soldiers. So, we stopped the operations, the Terrorists re-grouped, re-armed, re-positioned themselves and a lot of U.S. soldiers were killed from new and more reinforced positions. There is also the fable of unfair collective punishments. The fact is that Terrorists cannot be separated from the people they hide among. They do not act like trained soldiers observing the arcane rules of war. Whether among the Arab Muslims in Iraq or among the Arab Muslims Palestinians, we observe that the so-called non-combatants swarm into the street, ready to lynch (kill with extreme brutality) any U.S. soldier, worker or non-Muslim civilian who inadvertently take the wrong turn and fall into their hands. I recall Winston Churchill's comment about the Germans during WW2: "The Hun is either at your throat or at you feet". How much more true is that of Arab Muslims, Jihadists, Mujahadiin or the Arab Muslim people at large? Israel was forced - by its friends and the non-friendly Europeans and Soviets to halt each of the six defensive wars the Arab Muslim nations mounted against her before Israel could force the Arab enemy to a complete surrender. These outside interests forced cease-fires, armistices, hudnas to save the Arab Muslim Armies and Terrorist Organizations from a total defeat by the Jewish State. What the Allies wanted for themselves in the defeat of Germany and Japan, namely, unconditional surrender and an unbreakable treaty for the cessation of war, they denied to Israel. As a result, they reaped today what they sowed in the past. They "sowed the wind and reaped the whirlwind - of Global Terror". The American CIA trained the Arab Muslims in Afghanistan to beat the Soviets. After they won, the Arab Muslims, now fully trained in the art of Terror, returned to sow radical Islamic Jihadism in the Free World to prepare for world domination by Islam. In the Intelligence world that's called "Blow-back" or unintentional consequences. The West insured that the Islamic world would build up to what it is now, a threat to the entire world. What's worse, we the advanced West, greedy for money, sold the Islamo-facists the advanced weapons we developed to eventually kill us. We taught the Muslim Jihadists how to make nuclear weapons, develop Chemical and Biological materials in our own Western universities. We sold them the pre-cursors for super-killing agents and toxins because we needed their oil and thus had to pacify them. Remember when Nikita Khrushchev said to John F. Kennedy: "We will sell you the rope you use to hang yourselves with?" We certainly sold the 'hanging rope' to the Arab Muslims! We cannot deny that we sold the makings, the technologies and the turn-key plants to the primitive Arab Muslims who promise that they will one day vaporize our cities, poison the air we breath and infect our people with incurable plagues we invented in our own laboratories. In the meantime, we will go for the "Bait & Switch" delaying tactics of a nation like Iran until they have finished developing the nuclear weapons they will use to force us to our knees. We will keep Israel out of the information loop of whatever we know about the status of Iran's nuclear development because we still want Iran's sweet crude oil, no matter what the price. Perhaps we are already secretly negotiating a 'Hudna' with Iran's Ayatollahs wherein we will accept their promise to use their nuclear technology only to make electricity while telling Israel everything's A-OK. Former President Bill Clinton fooled us about North Korea's nuclear development, insuring a clear field to continue their development. Can our judgement ever be trusted? I don't think so. Not if you are living in a small nation in a dangerous neighborhood whose people want to see the sun rise next year. Even our own American people cannot count on the judgement of our elected leaders when they first worry about how the Arabs and Muslims would feel if we told Tehran that "You have 10 days to stop your nuclear development or we will take out every nuclear facility you have." But, we cannot hurt their feelings, lest they stop pumping oil! If Senator Kerry became President, he would want to consult with France (in French) or the U.N. for several years before taking action. Our various past American Presidents waited 12 years before taking out Saddam Hussein! We can no longer wait to eliminate Terrorists through lengthy negotiations leading to useless cease-fires. We have provided them with Hi Tech missiles and area-wide weapons that can kill thousands with a single strike. Our clever pinpoint High Tech missiles that are supposed to avoid collateral damage sound great but, they don't result in a complete collapse of the enemy and their full surrender. Every 'civilian' we saved or released from jail, then picks up a gun and kills us. Is there something wrong with that scenario? The Terrorist Wars just continue and they get more effective in their potential for wiping us out. No more "Bait & Switch" negotiation tactics. We must all just move forward and destroy the Terrorists without a 'Hudna' or we will soon have a very empty Planet Earth awaiting a new species - which may be the answer to the chain of events we have set into motion. I wonder if G-d has come to the same conclusion and that is why His nature is on a rampage? ### 1. "Lessons from the Prophet Muhammad's Diplomacy" by Daniel Pipes Middle East Quarterly September 1999 www.danielpipes.org/article/316 September 8, 2004 2. "Muhammad: in Medina; The Jewish Tribes" ENCYCLOPEDIA JUDAICA p. 508-511 3. "DISCLOSED: Inside the Palestinian Authority & the PLO" by Arlene Kushner Center for Near East Policy Research israelbehindthenews.com/pdf/Precis/pdf 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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FREE BANGLADESH'S PRISONER OF ZION
Posted by Michael Freund, September 9, 2004. |
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This is an article of mine from the Jerusalem Post about a Bangladeshi journalist being detained by his government on account of his desire to improve relations between Bangladesh and Israel, and the need for all of us to speak out on his behalf. [Editor's note: For more information on Mr. Choudhury, see http://www.think-israel.org/oct04bloged.html (October 14, 2004); http://...org/feb04bloged.html (February 13, 2004); and http://...org/jun04bloged.html (June 7, 2004).] In a world where heroes are increasingly rare, Bangladeshi journalist Salahuddin Shoaib Choudhury stands out as a model of courage and determination. For the past nine months, this brave man has been rotting in the bowels of a Bangladeshi prison, a victim of government repression and mounting Islamist extremism. His crime? Planning to attend a writer's symposium in Israel last December, where he was going to deliver a speech calling for greater Jewish-Muslim understanding. Choudhury was picked up by police on November 29, 2003, as he prepared to board a flight at the airport in Dhaka, Bangladesh's capital. He has remained a political prisoner ever since. The authorities in the mostly Muslim nation have charged Choudhury with the serious crime of "sedition". Apparently, they view dialogue between the followers of Moses and Muhammad as a threat on par with treason. His detention has been condemned by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists and by Reporters Sans Frontieres. The New York Times devoted an editorial to it, criticizing Choudhury's "mistreatment" by Bangladeshi authorities and noting that the charges against him are "a baseless sham" (December 14, 2003). Nevertheless, Choudhury remains in limbo, as Bangladesh callously tramples upon his human rights. Just two weeks ago, the country's High Court rejected his request to be released on bail, asserting that the case was still "under investigation", in effect giving a "green light" to authorities to hold him for as long as they wish. The special cruelty to which Choudhury is being subjected was exemplified recently when his mother passed away from a heart attack, unable to bear the stress of her son's imprisonment. Despite appeals from his family, Choudhury's request to attend the funeral was denied. In recent years, Choudhury has been no stranger to suffering for his beliefs. As editor of the English-language news magazine Blitz, he did not hesitate to publish articles favorable to Israel. He was subsequently blacklisted and fired from his post at a television station, but he refused to back down. Choudhury's scheduled trip to Israel would have made him the first Bangladeshi journalist to speak out publicly in the Jewish state. The two countries do not have diplomatic relations, as Bangladesh refuses to recognize Israel or its existence. The government of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia has chosen to make Choudhury a "Prisoner of Zion", hoping that the world will forget this precious man as it seeks to bury him and his inalienable human rights. That cannot be allowed to happen. It is essential that a cry go out, loud and clear, to free Choudhury at once. Pressure must be brought to bear on the Bangladeshi government to cease its persecution of this intrepid and daring journalist. This is far more than just a simple case regarding freedom of the press. At a time when Islamist extremism is spreading, we cannot allow the voices of moderates such as Choudhury to be silenced by the forces of fanaticism. This, of course, should be obvious to everyone. Everyone, that is, except for the US State Department, which has done little of any consequence on Choudhury's behalf. Instead, US Ambassador to Bangladesh Harry K. Thomas, Jr., prefers to pander to his hosts, rather than to confront them on their dreadful abuses of human rights. Take, for example, a statement he released to coincide with America's Independence Day on July 4. In it, Thomas wrote, "The people of both Bangladesh and the United States are connected by many fundamental beliefs: a belief in the rights of the individual, a faith in the rights of free speech, freedom of religion and free press, and a dedication to the fundamental principles of democracy." "America," he concluded, "proudly stands with Bangladesh in a mutual dedication to the ideals of freedom and liberty." The next time Thomas decides to pen such sycophantic nonsense, he might first wish to consult his own department's annual report on human rights, which earlier this year concluded that in Bangladesh, "The Government's human rights record remained poor, and it continued to commit numerous serious abuses." "Attacks on journalists," noted the February 2004 report, "and efforts to intimidate them by government officials, political party activists, and others increased. The Constitution provides for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government did not respect these rights in practice." The fact is that Bangladesh is a scary place for journalists who defy the regime, and particularly for those such as Choudhury who are looking to promote better ties with Israel and the West. But all is not lost. Bangladesh is reliant on foreign aid, which provides some 40% of government revenues and 50% of the country's foreign exchange. Every year, Dhaka receives between $75 million to $100 million in US assistance, giving Washington both the means and the ability to bring about change. With that in mind, here is what you can do to help free Salahuddin Shoaib Choudhury. First, write a letter to your elected representatives, and urge them to get involved in seeking Choudhury's release. America should link further US aid to Bangladesh with an improvement in the government's record on human rights. Second, drop a line to Ambassdor Thomas in Dhaka at dhaka@pd.state.gov and let him know how you feel about the Choudhury case as well as the need for US pressure to resolve it. Finally, check out www.freechoudhury.com, a website maintained by US human rights activist Dr. Richard Benkin, who is leading the international effort to raise awareness about Choudhury's plight and win his release. Educate yourself and your friends about this matter, and help to spread the word. In a recent letter smuggled out of his jail cell, in Dhaka's central prison, Choudhury wrote, "I feel that I am absolutely deprived of human rights in my own country. I would request you all to please raise your voice in your respective countries and also please convey this message to our friends who support our cause." The least we can do is to heed this courageous man's call, and reach out to help him before it is too late. The writer served as Deputy Director of Communications & Policy Planning in the Prime Minister's Office under former premier Binyamin Netanyahu. |
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BOMBARD THE OFFICES OF "SELA" AND OF JONATHAN BASSI
Posted by Susie Dym, September 9, 2004. |
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Jonathan Bassi is in charge of coordinating the expulsion of the Jews from Gaza. Want to help prevent Biblical Gaza from being cleansed of its Jews? Bombard Bassi's office. Tell him what you think of expelling Jews from their own land? Many thanks to the many subscribers who faxed and emailed the members of the Knesset Finance Committee. That meeting was postponed. There is absolutely no doubt that the faxes and emails played an important role. Please continue to respond to calls to contact our MKs and ministers. These are most often at short notice since the political system moves at truly breakneck speed. Sign up to receive alerts by writing sddym@bezeqint.net Check your email often for emergency alerts. The committee is most likely to meet next week -- although absolutely nothing is certain. Contact the MK members of Knesset Finance Comm Ask them To Vote Against the allocation of 7M NIS for the "Disengagement/Derangement [Evelyn haze@rcn.com] Administration" Ruhama Avraham 02-675.3360, RAVRAHAM@KNESSET.GOV.IL
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INDIA'S CIA SPY SCANDAL
Posted by Mordechai Ben-Menachem, September 9, 2004. |
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In light of the recently reported "scandal" in Washington, this looks
somewhere between ludicrous and simply humorous!
This is from Jane's Intelligence Digest - first posted to
http://jid.janes.com - 8 September 2004.
India's external intelligence service, the Research and Analysis Wing
(RAW) has launched a major internal investigation for possible moles
following the apparent defection of a senior officer recruited by the
US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). JID's regional intelligence
correspondent reports on a scandal the Indian authorities are not keen
to air in public.
Mordechai Ben-Menachem is at Ben Gurion University. He can be reached by email at quality@computer.org |
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WEST BANK STORY
Posted by Steven Plaut, September 9, 2004. |
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Well, the newest Abu "Prime Minister" in the Palestinian pantheon, Abu Ala or Ahmed Qurea, has been hailed by the media as a moderate in recent years. Now of course the moderate came out this week to announce that he endorses any mass murders of Israeli children the Hamas may wish to perpetrate from now on, since Israel had the temerity to respond to the two buses being blown to bits in Beer Sheba by recycling 15 Hamas terrorists in Gaza. Nothing wrong of course with the blowing up of any buses, in the view of this moderate. And not a single media talking head has apologized to us for their months of sycophantic treatment of Qurea. Now I know what you are thinking about all this, and that is that it has been quite a while since there was a musical composed about the New Middle East. SO I have taken the liberty to outline a script for a new Broadway show to be called West Bank Story and of course whose climax is the beautiful haunting song about the beloved Qurea. Let me briefly fill in some of the plot. First out comes Beilin and his boys in pink and they sing, "When you are Left, you go Left all the way, from your first Peace Now cap until Israel's last day." They dance around on stage with the Women in Black behind them flipping up their black skirts so's we can all see their unshaved thighs with their PLO flag tattoos. Ok, then the cops show up to see what's going on, led by Arik Sharon, and the gang breaks out in a song, "Officer Cupcake". The Beilinettes are then backed up by David Saperstein and the Religious Action Center of the Reform synagogue movement, singing "We feel liberal, yep so liberal,
and then "Israel get stuffed, we're in America
But the climax comes after Officer Cupcake has fallen deeply in love with the bald terrorist in the Prime Minister's hovel in Ramallah. He stands under the lamppost sighing, and yearning for his love, disappointedly reciting her name, all to the tune of Maria:
The most ludicrous sound we have ever heard (long pause):
Qurea, we've heard from that cur named Qurea,
Qurea, say it loud and it's like Kassams whining.
And here's a new idea not that we've not yet heard
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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