July 29, 2009

400 At Manhigut Yehudit "Get Involved" Conference in NY

July 27, 2009..

Manhigut Yehudit held its first-ever North American “Get Involved” conference in Manhattan July 26th at the New York Marriott hotel, drawing a large crowd of over 400 with a common goal of bringing authentic Jewish leadership to the State of Israel.




Manhigut President Moshe Feiglin, who has run and plans to run again for Likud Chairman (which would then make him the Likud candidate for Prime Minister of Israel), addressed the full house via video. Feiglin gave an update on the political situation in Israel and also focused on how Benjamin Netanyahu - the so-called “right-wing” Prime Minister - is running away as fast as he can from his own electorate into the arms of the left. Mr. Feiglin gave everyone his heartfelt thanks for attending and for getting involved.

Mr. Feiglin further discussed how the only solution for the State of Israel is for it to be guided by Jewish principles and Jewish values. No longer can Israel bear to be led by those who give lip-service to their Jewish roots while at the same time evicting Jews from their homes and insisting that Israeli children not be taught anything in school about their faith, their land and their history.

A film of the December campaign for the Likud’s Knesset list was shown. The film highlighted the fact that Manhigut Yehudit's message of "authentic Jewish leadership" for Israel is clearly being picked up on by all Likudniks. Feiglin finished in a position from which he would have been in the Knesset were it not for Netanyahu's dubious wranglings to push him down to an unrealistic spot on the Likud list after the election results were already tallied. This demonstrated to Feiglin and all attendees that the people of Israel (as demonstrated by the fact that the Likud is a microcosm of Israeli society) are hungering for the new way proposed by Manhigut Yehudit. It is only a matter of time.

Also shown to the crowd was Moshe Feiglin’s video response to US President Barack Obama’s Cairo speech. In his remarks, Feiglin told Obama that he should not mistake Netanyahu’s weakness to mean that the Israeli people are just as weak. Feiglin further told him that by insisting that Israel divide itself that Obama is opposing the only peace plan that will work – namely the Divine peace plan.

Shmuel Sackett, Manhigut Yehudit’s International Director hosted the event and also discussed “what a strong and proud Jewish State means to the world”. Rob Muchnick, Manhigut Yehudit’s US Director spoke about “turning Israel from the state of Jews into the Jewish state” and how to distribute our weekly english-language newsletter. Tova Abady, Manhigut’s Media Spokesperson, discussed various strategies for getting our message to the media, and Yocheved Seidman, Manhigut Yehudit’s new Program Director, discussed Manhigut’s new online tools and how each attendee can help make the dream of authentic Jewish leadership for Israel into a reality.

The attendees left the conference updated, informed, ready and completely energized to turn the “state of the Jews” into “The Jewish state”.

July 28, 2009

Sign of Hope for a deal? - NY Times 7/27/09

From the front page....

They talk about Modiin Illit, and Ultra Orthodox community in the foothills of the Judean Mountains. It has 45,000 residents and 30 Births per week.

They claim not to be Zionists, or Settlers, have no ties to Judea and to be willing to go along with what the world wants according to the NYT.

They quote Yaakov Gutterman (The Mayor) as saying:
We have gone through the Holocaust and know what it means to have the world against us.
The Torah says a man has to know his place.

If this is true, and it very well may be, it shows another major fissure in the unity of the nation of Israel. It shows some of the fundamental differences between factions of even "Orthodox" Jewry.

Where is the unity? Each "sects" belief is so strong that they believe that their way is the only way! Would this group be hurting themselves by standing with the rest of "A" religious right platform?

What will it take?

Avi

July 27, 2009

Destruction with a Smile: By Moshe Feiglin


Just one day after Netanyahu's assertive words against the US demand to halt all construction in East Jerusalem, his bulldozers already began to destroy outposts in Samaria. In his televised speech on Sunday, Netanyahu explained that a demand to halt construction in Jerusalem is intolerable. If this demand were to be made in a different city in the world, it would be labeled anti-Semitism, he declared.

The same logic, however, can be applied to all the towns and settlements in Judea and Samaria. Why is a forced construction freeze in Jerusalem anti-Semitic, while the same freeze in Judea and Samaria accepted policy?

This failure in simple logic together with our negative experience with Netanyahu in the past, leads us to the conclusion that there is a connection between his strong stand on Jerusalem and the destruction of the outposts that came on its heels.

Netanyahu is much more dangerous than Sharon or Olmert. He doesn't have more sentiment for the Land of Israel than Sharon and he doesn't have more sentiment for Judaism or the Likud than Olmert. With considerable shrewdness, Netanyahu has surrounded himself with a gaggle of fools with crocheted kippot on their heads. With their help, he slowly but surely carries out the demands of the US and Europe and even more important - Israel's leftist elite.

Netanyahu didn't just announce out of the clear blue sky - as Sharon did before him - that he would give the "Palestinians" a state. He introduced his dramatic announcement with a fiery speech on Israel's historic right to this land and on the Jewishness of the State of Israel. Netanyahu did not attack head on, like Olmert in Amona. He "stings" in the places that his advisors tell him the Nationalist public can tolerate. And so, with gentle strokes and meaningful winks to the nationalist public and the Land of Israel faithful in the Likud - who so desperately want to be enticed and to believe that they have a leader who is "one of the boys," Netanyahu achieves his goals easily and efficiently.

If Netanyahu speaks about our historical right to the Golan Heights, we had better begin to worry about our northern flank. If Netanyahu vows not to forget Jerusalem, then Jerusalem is in danger. The settlements are in even greater danger, because they must be destroyed so that Netanyahu can keep his promise on Jerusalem.

Netanyahu's style may be different than Sharon's or Olmert's. But his method is amazingly similar to the method that Sharon used to destroy Gush Katif: First of all, put together a narrow coalition, carried by the votes of the Right. After that, stabilize the government and get the budget passed. Then destroy settlements, bring the Left into the coalition, fire the rightist ministers and destroy to your heart's content. It is very simple. And it is exactly what Netanyahu is doing today.

Now that Netanyahu has stabilized his coalition and passed the national budget, he is preparing for the next stage; bolstering his coalition by bringing in MKs from the Left. When that happens, the Likud MKs loyal to the Land of Israel will become irrelevant, and Netanyahu will comfortably implement the Left's policies.

Every loyal Jew tries to figure out what makes Bibi do it. But after Begin and Sinai, Bibi on his first round and Hebron and Sharon and Gush Katif, we know that the question is not 'why' but 'when and how'.

The thought process that is not based on faith is circular. A believing person knows that there is a Creator Who directs history toward a certain goal. This thought process is linear, or actually, a spiral ascending toward its ultimate goal. Sometimes there are setbacks, but the dynamic is spiral.

The logic employed by Netanyahu, Sharon and Olmert is devoid of G-d. Their rationale is circular (which is actually idolatrous). There is nothing before me and nothing after me. All that exists is what I am experiencing here and now. Just like the Biblical spies, Netanyahu sees the ominous reality, the world pressure and the Left. He is clueless about the true value of the Nation of Israel and its uniqueness.

We can expect nothing more from Netanyahu, who excludes G-d from his list of considerations, than complete withdrawal. He is not on the spiral that constantly progresses toward its goal. He is in the middle of a circle, in which no motion is significant. All that one can do from the middle of the circle is to try to preserve the current situation. Betrayal is built in to circular thinking. Loyalty to anything is impossible. Netanyahu has already betrayed us in the past and he will continue to betray any fool who trusts him in the future.

Currently, Netanyahu is putting all his weight behind the Mofaz and Smolianski laws.
Bibi is not a bulldozer like Sharon. He is calculated and slick. He didn't demand that the Likud bring Kadimah into its coalition. On the contrary - his proposal means the end of Kadimah. If the Likud supports the Mofaz law, Shaul Mofaz of Kadimah will be able to defect from his party with a group of Kadimah MKs and to join the coalition. Netanyahu will buy the support of the nationalists in his coalition for this move by promising Ketzaleh a position, and the Slomianski law will ensure that the Jewish Home MKs will once again be the patrons of the Religious Zionist schools and institutions. When it will become necessary, they will all be thrown to the dogs. And then, the new Bibi Mofaz government, the government of betrayal, will fulfill all of Israel's dreams.

July 24, 2009

Jerusalem- One City, Undivided


by Jeff Jacoby - The Boston Globe - July 22, 2009

LATE LAST WEEK, the Obama administration demanded that the Israeli
government pull the plug on a planned housing development near the Sheikh
Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem. The project, a 20-unit apartment complex,
is indisputably legal. The property to be developed -- a defunct hotel --
was purchased in 1985, and the developer has obtained all the necessary
municipal permits.

Why, then, does the administration want the development killed? Because
Sheikh Jarrah is in a largely Arab section of Jerusalem, and the developers
of the planned apartments are Jews. Think about that for a moment. Six
months after Barack Obama became the first black man to move into the
previously all-white residential facility at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in
Washington, he is fighting to prevent integration in Jerusalem.
It is impossible to imagine the opposite scenario: The administration would
never demand that Israel prevent Arabs from moving into a Jewish
neighborhood. And the Obama Justice Department would unleash seven kinds of
hell on anyone who tried to impose racial, ethnic, or religious redlining in
an American city. In the 21st century, segregation is unthinkable -- except,
it seems, when it comes to housing Jews in Jerusalem.
It is not easy for Israel's government to refuse any demand from the United
States, which is the Jewish state's foremost ally. To their credit, Israeli
leaders spoke truth to power, and said no. "Jerusalem residents can purchase
apartments anywhere in the city," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on
Sunday. "This has been the policy of all Israeli governments. There is no
ban on Arabs buying apartments in the west of the city, and there is no ban
on Jews building or buying in the city's east. This is the policy of an open
city."

Eastern Jerusalem, seen through the barbed wire that used to divide the city
There was a time not so long ago when Jerusalem was anything but an open
city. During Israel's War of Independence in 1948, the Jordanian Arab Legion
invaded eastern Jerusalem, occupied the Old City, and expelled all its Jews
-- many from families that had lived in the city for centuries. "As they
left," the acclaimed historian Sir Martin Gilbert later wrote in his 1998
book, Jerusalem in the Twentieth Century, "they could see columns of smoke
rising from the quarter behind them. The Hadassah welfare station had been
set on fire and . . . the looting and burning of Jewish property was in full
swing."
For the next 19 years, eastern Jerusalem was barred to Jews, brutally
divided from the western part of the city with barbed-wire and military
fortifications. Dozens of Jewish holy places, including synagogues hundreds
of years old, were desecrated or destroyed. Gravestones from the ancient
Mount of Olives cemetery were uprooted by the Jordanian army and used to
pave latrines. Jerusalem's most sacred Jewish shrine, the Western Wall,
became a slum. It wasn't until 1967, after Jordan was routed in the Six-Day
War, that Jerusalem was reunited under Israeli sovereignty and religious
freedom restored to all. Israelis have vowed ever since that Jerusalem would
never again be divided.
And not only Israelis. US policy, laid out in the Jerusalem Embassy Act of
1995, recognizes Jerusalem as "a united city administered by Israel" and
formally declares that "Jerusalem must remain an undivided city." US
presidents, Republican and Democratic alike, have agreed. In former
President Clinton's words, "Jerusalem should be an open and undivided city,
with assured freedom of access and worship for all."
As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama said much the same thing. To a
2008 candidate questionnaire that asked about "the likely final status
Jerusalem," Obama replied: "The United States cannot dictate the terms of a
final status agreement. . . . Jerusalem will remain Israel's capital, and no
one should want or expect it to be re-divided." In a speech to the American
Israel Public Affairs Council, he repeated the point: "Let me be clear . . .
Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided."
Palestinian irredentists claim that eastern Jerusalem is historically Arab
territory and should be the capital of a future Palestinian state. In
reality, Jews always lived in eastern Jerusalem -- it is the location of the
Old City and its famous Jewish Quarter, after all, not to mention Hebrew
University, which was founded in 1918. The apartment complex that Obama
opposes is going up in what was once Shimon Hatzadik, a Jewish neighborhood
established in 1891. Only from 1948 to 1967 -- during the Jordanian
occupation -- was the eastern part of Israel's capital "Arab territory."
Palestinians have no more claim to sovereignty there than Russia does in
formerly occupied eastern Berlin.

The great obstacle to Middle East peace is not that Jews insist on living
among Arabs. It is that Arabs insist that Jews not live among them. If Obama
doesn't yet grasp that, he has a lot to learn.

July 22, 2009

Spies .... participation of the "Yesha council" in the disengagement!!!



"Explanation and evidence of the participation of the "Yesha council" in the expulsion process. "

The question is why? Did the council think that many deaths would occur and the the crowds could not accomplish their goal of stopping the disengagement?

This movie shows how the Yesha Council coordinated every step of the anti disengagement demonstration/blockade with the police/IDF to prevent any action to save Gush Katif. The movie shows how the council made sure a police representative was present at every single meeting.

Judge for yourself!!

Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H27TUyXm8HQ&feature=related

Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lQfws5peIQ&feature=related

Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmkHopgglJU&feature=related

Part 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWUN-jniJz4&feature=related

July 21, 2009

Prophets or Kings....


What do you believe? Who leads Israel? Who should lead Israel?

Did the Right win the election?
Is Bibi any more than a typical politician?
Should we simply reinstate the Sanhedrin? Who would support that?

Divided, Divided, Divided....that may be the real problem!

Do the religious (Orange Jews) right follow a King or the Prophets?
Did they follow the Prophets during the "disengagement" or did they listen to Yesha?
Did they want to have King David leading them, Isaiah's" Kingdom of Judea?

What path to Redemption?
Did Hashem want us to have Kings?
For what...we have HaShem!!!


Avi

July 20, 2009

Iranian Street Scene



It's not that the world is sitting by and watching what's happening on the streets of Iran. No, it's even worse that that. The world seems not to be watching at all. Which lead me to wonder what it would take for either the UN or the current American administration to take notice.
-Dry Bones- Israel's Political Comic Strip Since 1973

July 8, 2009

Who is a Jew?

Will this debate rage on? Are only Orthodox Jews "real" Jews?

I was born into a family that has been in the Reform movement at the same Temple since 1880, the same as my wife. We both can trace our families to Vilna and I am a descendant of the Vilna Gaon....

Yet, we were both born Jews. Our Grandparents one side were Orthodox.
We did not go to Hebrew day. I dropped Hebrew at 10 years old.

But I have always been a Jew and at times really had no idea why. Was it the food and the Holidays that we did keep?

Our families had assimilated. When did I realize that? I didn't even realize that we had assimilated until I started on the road to Tshuvah.

I assessed where we were as a family and noted that:

1)My children did not go to Hebrew Day
2)My wife knew more about Judaism then I ever will and understand what a Mitzvah I received by her marrying me. She went to every Jewish Summer camp and was leader in TYCON, NFTY and virtually all of the movements.
3)My oldest is just unaware, my middle is very educated in Judaism and has read a lot but considers himself ethnically Jewish and feels no attachment to Religion, my youngest is the most active and was confirmed and traveled to Israel for 6 Weeks and liked it.
4)They think I am a little nuts to want to make Aliyah.
5)That I need a strong structure to my observance and that the Reform Temple is not that.
6)That if I lead by example my youngest will follow and the oldest may as well to please me. The middle child is not out of the picture yet.
7)That a lifestyle change is less threatening to them, then a IDF Service and the Arabs as a roadblock to Aliyah..
8)I am neither a young or rich man and need to be in excellent shape in both categories to have a hope of surviving Alyah.
9) That yes My wife and I need a pilot trip
10) That I still have elderly relatives who rely on me now for some things and that that will only accelerate as they age.
11) That I feel the calling, but I am not yet ready to walk into the furnace...
12) That I will not give up.

Avi

July 7, 2009

Avoiding an American ambush - Caroline Glick


From

Our World: Avoiding an American ambush
July 7, 2009
Caroline Glick, THE JERUSALEM POST


Rather than making wrongheaded concessions to Obama on Jewish population growth in the vain hope of mollifying him, Israel should go on the offensive on issues where it has something to gain from a confrontation. Two specific issues - aside from Iran's nuclear program - should be raised in this regard.

FIRST, IN recent months the Obama administration has applied massive pressure on Israel to remove its military forces from Judea and Samaria, curtail its counterterror operations and allow US-trained, anti-Israel Palestinian military forces to deploy in the towns and cities. Rather than openly oppose these demands, in the interests of cultivating good relations, the Netanyahu government has gone along with the program. This it has done in spite of the fact that the Palestinian forces now deploying throughout the areas have a history of participating in and supporting terror attacks against Israel as well as terrorizing their own people.

Last week the government quietly announced that the IDF is pulling out of most Palestinian population centers and turning the keys over to these hostile US-trained forces. This was a mistake.

In the weeks to come, the government should bluntly and publicly discuss and protest Fatah political and military leaders' continued support for terrorists and terrorist attacks against Israel. Netanyahu and his government should also detail human-rights abuses Fatah personnel routinely carry out against Palestinian journalists, businessmen and other civilians. The administration should be forced to defend its decision to empower these corrupt, terror-supporting brutes at the expense of Israel's security, and to force US taxpayers to foot the bill for its cockamamie priorities.

THE SECOND ISSUE is US military aid. For years Israel's detractors have pointed to this aid as "proof" that it is a strategic burden for America. But in recent years, and particularly since the Obama administration took office, it is becoming increasingly clear that US military assistance may be a greater burden for Israel than for the US.

On Sunday The Jerusalem Post reported that the Pentagon has forced Israel Aerospace Industries to back out of a joint partnership with a Swedish aerospace company to compete in a multibillion dollar tender to sell new multirole fighters to the Indian air force. And as the Post reported, this is the second major deal the Pentagon has forced Israel to withdraw from in the past year. Last summer it was forced to bow out of a $500 million tender to supply the Turkish army with a new main battle tank. In both cases, US firms were competing in the tenders and the Pentagon threatened that Israeli participation would risk continued US-Israeli cooperation.

Today Israel faces the prospect of not having a new-generation fighter. The Pentagon has placed so many draconian restrictions on its purchase of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, and raised the price so high, that it makes little strategic or economic sense to purchase it. So too, last week the navy announced it has decided to explore the option of building its own warships rather than buy one of two competing US naval platforms as planned because the US contractors' costs have gone up so high. The navy is also taking into consideration the fact that by building domestic platforms, it will provide needed employment to shipyard workers.

All in all, both in terms of pure economics and in terms of the massive and constantly escalating restrictions the Obama administration is now placing on Israeli use of US technologies and munitions, maintaining US military assistance makes less and less sense with each passing day.

Were Israel to initiate a conversation about cutting back on this assistance, it would be able to ensure that the talks take place on its terms. Moreover, given the fact that Israel may indeed be best served by simply ending its military assistance package, the risk involved in such discussions would not be particularly earth shattering. Finally, by making clear that it is not dependent on Obama's kindness, it would be expanding its maneuvering room on other issues as well.

What Obama's radicalism tells us is that he is not a man who is moved by rational discourse. He is not a man who is willing to be convinced that he is mistaken. But even in these dire circumstances, Israel is not without good options for securing its interests vis-à-vis Washington.

To do so, Jerusalem must first understand that it gains nothing from making concessions to a president bent on picking a fight with it. Then it must recognize that there are issues where a confrontation with Obama can serve its interests. Finally it must pursue those issues with energy and passion.

July 6, 2009

Feiglin: Netanyahu's "Two-State" Proposal Hijacks Nationalist Votes That Elected Him

July 5, 2009...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu today made the statement that there is a national Israeli consensus in favor of his “two-state” proposal of carving an Arab state out of the biblical Jewish heartland in the state of Israel.

Manhigut Yehudit President Moshe Feiglin points out that Netanyahu was elected with the votes of the national camp that favors a "one-state" proposal - and this state remaining Jewish. As 65 out of the 109 Jewish seats in the Knesset are in parties on the right wing of the political spectrum, it can be surmised that approximately 60% of the Jewish citizens of Israel actually oppose Bibi's giveaway.

Bibi’s proposal does not reflect national consensus, but rather hijacks the votes of the national camp and applies them to leftist policies.