Presbyterian Conference

Presbyterians in America held a week-long conference this past week.

The meeting of Christians provided an opportunity for political radicals to continue their campaign against the Biblically-promised rebirth of Israel and the return of "His Chosen People" to "their Promised Land".

The story is reported by the NY Sun in a piece headlined:
Presbyterian Church Proposals Could Reopen Wounds With Jews -

http://www.nysun.com/national/presbyterian-church-proposals-could-reopen-wounds/80474/

"At least 19 Jewish organizations, ranging from Americans for Peace Now to the Zionist Organization of America, have spoken out against some of the so-called overtures to be debated at the week long biennial meeting of Presbyterians in America." -
(http://www.nysun.com/national/presbyterian-church-proposals-could-reopen-wounds/80474/)

How did Jerusalem come to be so holy to Moslems? or: Why and when was the myth of al-Aqsa created?

By Dr. Mordechai Kedar

When the Prophet Mohammad established Islam, he
introduced a minimum of innovations. He employed the hallowed
personages, historic legends and sacred sites of Judaism and
Christianity, and even paganism, by Islamizing them. Thus,
according to Islam, Abraham was the first Moslem and Jesus and
St. John (the sons of Miriam, sister of Moses and Aron) were
prophets and guardians of the second heaven. Many Biblical
legends ("asatir al-awwalin"), which were familiar to the pagan
Arabs before the dawn of Islam, underwent an Islamic conversion,
and the Koran as well as the Hadith (the Islamic oral tradition),
are replete with them.

Islamization was practiced on places as well as persons:
Mecca and the holy stone - al-Ka'bah - were holy sites of the
pre-Islamic pagan Arabs. The Umayyad Mosque in Damascus and the
Great Mosque of Istanbul were erected on the sites of
Christian-Byzantine churches - two of the better known examples
of how Islam treats sanctuaries of other faiths.

Jerusalem, too, underwent the process of Islamization: at
first Muhammad attempted to convince the Jews near Medina to join
his young community, and, by way of persuasion, established the
direction of prayer (kiblah) to be to the north, towards
Jerusalem, in keeping with Jewish practice; but after he failed
in this attempt he turned against the Jews, killed many of them,
and directed the kiblah southward, towards Mecca.

Muhammad's abandonment of Jerusalem explains the fact
that this city is not mentioned even once in the Koran. After
Palestine was occupied by the Moslems, its capital was Ramlah, 30
miles to the west of Jerusalem, signifying that Jerusalem meant
nothing to them.

Islam rediscovered Jerusalem 50 years after Mohammad's
death. In 682 CE, 'Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr rebelled against the
Islamic rulers in Damascus, conquered Mecca and prevented
pilgrims from reaching Mecca for the Hajj. 'Abd al-Malik, the
Umayyad Calif, needed an alternative site for the pilgrimage and
settled on Jerusalem which was then under his control. In order
to justify this choice, a verse from the Koran was chosen (17,1 =
sura 17, verse 1) which states (trans. by Majid Fakhri):

"Glory to Him who caused His servant to travel by night
from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque, whose precincts We
have blessed, in order to show him some of Our Signs, He is
indeed the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing."

The meaning ascribed to this verse (see the commentary in
al-Jallalayn) is that "the furthest mosque" (al-masgid al-aqsa)
is in Jerusalem and that Mohammad was conveyed there one night
(although at that time the journey took three days by camel), on
the back of al-Buraq, a magical horse with the head of a woman,
wings of an eagle, the tail of a peacock, and hoofs reaching to
the horizon. He tethered the horse to the Western Wall of the
Temple Mount and from there ascended to the seventh heaven
together with the angel Gabriel. On his way he met the prophets
of other religions who are the guardians of heaven: Adam, Jesus,
St. John, Joseph, Idris (=Seth?), Aaron, Moses and Abraham who
accompanied him on his way to Allah and who accepted him as their
master. Thus Islam tries to gain legitimacy over other, older
religions, by creating a scene in which the former prophets agree
to Mohammad's mastery, thus making him Khatam al-Anbiya' ("the
Seal of the Prophets").

Not surprisingly, this miraculous account contradicts a
number of the tenets of Islam: How can a living man of flesh and
blood ascend to heaven? How can a mythical creature carry a
mortal to a real destination? Questions such as these have caused
orthodox Moslem thinkers to conclude that the nocturnal journey
was a dream of Mohammad's. The journey and the ascent serves
Islam to "go one better" than the Bible: Moses "only" went up to
Mt. Sinai, in the middle of nowhere, and drew close to heaven,
whereas Mohammad went all the way up to Allah, and from Jerusalem
itself.

What are the difficulties with the belief that the
al-Aqsa mosque described in Islamic tradition is located in
Jerusalem? For one, the people of Mecca, who knew Muhammad well,
did not believe this story. Only Abu Bakr, (later the first
Calif), believed him and thus was called al-Siddiq ("the
believer"). The second difficulty is that Islamic tradition tells
us that al-Aqsa mosque is near Mecca on the Arabian peninsula.
This was unequivocally stated in "Kitab al-Maghazi" (Oxford
University Press, 1966, vol. 3, pp. 958-9), a book by the Moslem
historian and geographer al-Waqidi. According to al-Waqidi, there
were two "masjeds" (places of prayer) in al-Gi'irranah, a village
between Mecca and Ta'if, one was "the closer mosque" (al-masjid
al-adna) and the other was "the further mosque" (al-masjid
al-aqsa), and Muhammad would pray there when he went out of town.
This description by al-Waqidi which is supported by a chain of
authorities (isnad), was not "convenient" for the Islamic
propaganda of the 7th century. In order to establish a basis for
the awareness of the "holiness" of Jerusalem in Islam, the Califs
of the Ummayad dynasty invented many "traditions" upholding the
value of Jerusalem (known as "fadha'il bayt al-Maqdis"), which
would justify pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the faithful Moslems.
Thus was al-Masjid al-Aqsa "transported" to Jerusalem. It should
be noted that Saladin also adopted the myth of al-Aqsa and those
"traditions" in order to recruit and inflame the Moslem warriors
against the Crusaders in the 12th century.

Another aim of the Islamization of Jerusalem was to
undermine the legitimacy of the older religions, Judaism and
Christianity, which consider Jerusalem to be a holy city. Islam
is presented as the only legitimate religion, destined to replace
the other two, because they had changed and distorted the Word of
God, each in its turn. (ghyyarou wa-baddalou). On the alleged
forgeries of the Holy Scriptures, made by Jews and Christians,
see the third chapter of: M. J. Kister, "haddithu 'an bani
isra'il wa-la haraja", IOS 2 (1972), pp. 215-239. Kister quotes
dozens of Islamic sources).

Though Judaism and Christianity can exist side by side in
Jerusalem, Islam regards both of them as betrayals of Allah and
his teachings, and has always done, and will continue to do, all
in its power to expel both of them from this city. It is
interesting to note that this expulsion is retroactive: The
Islamic broadcasters of the Palestinian radio stations
consistently make it a point to claim that the Jews never had a
temple on the Temple Mount and certainly not two temples. (Where,
then, according to them, did Jesus preach?)

Arafat, himself a secular person (ask the Hamas!), is
doing today exactly what the Califs of the Umayyad dynasty did
1300 years ago: he is marshaling the holiness of Jerusalem to
serve his political ends. He must not give control of Jerusalem
over to the Jews since according to Islam they are impure and the
wrath of Allah is upon them (al-maghdhoub 'alayhim; Koran 1,7,
see al-Jalalayn and other commentaries; note that verse numbers
may differ slightly in the various editions of the Koran). The
Jews are the sons of monkeys and pigs (5,60). (For the idea that
Jews are related to pigs and monkeys see, for example, Musnad
al-Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, (Beirut 1969) vol. 3, p. 241. See also
pages 348, 395, 397, 421, and vol. 6, p. 135.) The Jews are those
who distorted the holy writings which were revealed to them
(2,73; 3,72) and denied God's signs (3,63). Since they violated
the covenant with their God (4,154), He cursed them (5,16) and
they are forever the inheritors of hell (3,112). So how can
Arafat abandon Jerusalem to the Jews?

The Palestinian media these days are full of messages of
Jihad, calling to broaden the national-political war between
Israel and the Palestinians into a religious-Islamic war between
the Jews and the Moslems. READ THEIR LIPS: for them Christianity
is no better than Judaism, since both "forfeited" their right to
rule over Jerusalem. Only Islam - Din al-Haqq ("the Religion of
Truth") - has this right, and forever. (shaykh 'Ikrima Sabri, the
mufti of Jerusalem, in Friday's khutbah 4 weeks ago, "Sawt
falastin", the PA official radio).

Since the holiness of Jerusalem to Islam has always been,
and still is no more than a politically motivated holiness,
Arafat would be putting his political head on the block should he
give it up. Must Judaism and Christianity defer to myths related
in Islamic texts or envisioned in Mohammad's dreams, long after
Jerusalem was established as the ancient, true center of these
two religions which preceded Islam? Should UN forces be sent to
the Middle East just because Arafat decided to recycle the
political problems of the Umayyads 1250 years after the curtain
came down on their role in history?





Dr. Mordechai Kedar, Lecturer

Dept. of Arabic

Bar-Ilan University

52900 Ranmt-Gan, Israel

Phone+Fax: 972 9 7449162

email: mkedar@mail.biu.ac.il

Is Adam Sandler our greatest Jewish mind?

By Daniel Treiman, The Forward

Is Adam Sandler the most important living Jewish commentator? Believe it or not, this actually isn't the first time those words have appeared in print. In fact, the question was posed way back in 1999, on the cover of the national Jewish student magazine New Voices.

At the time, I must confess, I thought it was an absurd question. After all, Sandler's brand of humor isn't particularly Jewish, owing more to the bathroom than it does to the Borscht Belt. What can a guy who made his name singing faux-operatic ditties on "Saturday Night Live" and punching out "Price Is Right" host Bob Barker in "Happy Gilmore" teach us about the Jewish condition? Not much, I thought.

Then I watched "50 First Dates."
Yes, that "50 First Dates" - the 2004 slapstick comedy in which Sandler woos an amnesiac Drew Barrymore. True, in contrast to other films that tackle the perennially funny subject of Jewish men pursuing the affections of non-Jewish women (think Woody Allen in "Annie Hall," or Billy Crystal in "When Harry Met Sally"), there's nothing recognizably Jewish about the protagonist of "50 First Dates." Sandler's character lives in Hawaii, of all places, and works as a marine veterinarian, of all things. Aside from his name, Henry Roth, there's not so much as a hint that the character is Jewish - until, that is, the movie's ending, when (spoiler alert!), completely out of the blue, Sandler is standing under a chupah, sporting a yarmulke and a tallis.

The sudden appearance of a traditional Jewish wedding canopy and ritual garb is treated with utter nonchalance. Now, some might find this jarring, but I would counter that it brilliantly reflects the zeitgeist.

To be an American Jew today is to be, like Sandler, a part of the mainstream, not apart from it. In our daily lives, most of us are not so different from our non-Jewish neighbors. (Unlike in "Annie Hall," none of Sandler's 50 dates involved taking Barrymore to see "The Sorrow and the Pity.") At the same time, we're not abashed when it comes to expressing our Jewishness. Getting hitched under a chupah is no longer so exotic. That's why, I would humbly argue, "50 First Dates" may very well be the single most accurate cinematic depiction of contemporary American Jewish identity.

Nor is Sandler's contribution to Jewish culture limited to the silver screen. He's also responsible for the single most important Jewish song of the past quarter-century. Seriously, is there a Jewish song in the post-"Fiddler on the Roof"/"Jerusalem of Gold" era that is as widely beloved by Jews and non-Jews alike as Sandler's "Hanukkah Song"? The song also represents a revolution in Jewish self-assertion. As critic J. Hoberman has noted, "Sandler's open cultural narcissism - identifying a 'list of people who are Jewish just like you and me' on national TV without fear that this might be a problem - dispensed with the underlying subject of American Jewish comedy. Say it loud. No more anxious self-deprecation. Just the slightest bit of irony!"

For these reasons, I had high hopes for Sandler's latest film, "You Don't Mess With the Zohan," in which he plays a cracker-than-crack Israeli commando who leaves his conflict-ridden homeland to pursue his dream of being a hairstylist in New York City.

Let's just say I wasn't disappointed.

"You Don't Mess With the Zohan" is a stupid movie; I couldn't stop laughing. And if you look beyond the gross-out humor about intergenerational intercourse and gratuitous animal cruelty gags that dominate much of the film, "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" also happens to be a pretty spot-on send-up of Israeli cuisine and culture, manners and mores.

The movie conveys the national obsession with hummus (which the Zohan uses as a hair-care product, toothpaste and fire-retardant), the wild popularity of cheesy dance music (a disco beat is all it takes to get the crowd at an Israel vs. Lebanon Hacky Sack tournament grooving together), the sabra directness that can occasionally veer into crudeness (much of the Zohan's well-intentioned salon banter shouldn't be repeated in a family newspaper) and the pushy salesmanship of Israeli electronics merchants (a clerk at a store named "Going Out of Business" insists that there's nothing wrong with an obviously broken piece of audio equipment, suggesting instead that something might be wrong with the customer's ear).

No mainstream American film has ever delved so deeply (or so shallowly, as the case may be) into such everyday attributes of modern-day Israeli-ness. (For those worrying that Sandler is tarnishing Israel's image abroad, fear not: The film's Arab characters don't come off any better. So it's a tie.)

Because its protagonist is a war-weary Israeli operative who finds a multicultural refuge in New York City, "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" has drawn comparisons to Steven Spielberg's Oscar-nominated drama "Munich." The New York Times calls Sandler's Zohan "basically a less anguished version of the character played by Eric Bana in 'Munich.'"

It's not, however, an apt analogy. For starters, Bana's character couldn't catch a speeding bullet with his nostril or immobilize foes by tying them into pretzel shapes, let alone make elderly women's hair look "silky smooth."

More broadly, Spielberg's "Munich' had remarkably little to do with Israel as it actually is. The film grafted a cautionary post-9/11 warning about the dangers of retaliation onto a storyline inspired by the Mossad counterterrorism efforts in the wake of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre, cavalierly rewriting history to suit its thesis.

Granted, "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" also dabbles in simplistic moralizing, the message being that Israelis and Arabs are really the same - so why all the fighting? The film even comes complete with a Palestinian love interest for the Zohan. But at least "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" doesn't do violence to the historical record (any resemblance to actual events or persons - with the exceptions of Mariah Carey, John McEnroe and George Takei, who play themselves - is, it seems safe to say, strictly accidental). And who really goes to an Adam Sandler film for the purpose of being educated in the nuances of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

Sandler's strong suit isn't politics - it's sociology. And "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" manages to perfectly capture Israel's complicated national mood - the deep-rooted patriotism on the one hand, and the fatigue from the ongoing conflict on the other. "I love my country, but the fighting, it never ends," the Zohan explains to a pair of shaggy dogs with which he is sharing the cargo hold on a trans-Atlantic flight.

"You Don't Mess With the Zohan" may aim low, but it also rings true. Then again, I wouldn't expect anything less from the most important living Jewish commentator.

Daniel Treiman is the Forward's Web editor.

The enemy has a name

On Danielpipes.org

Submitted by Prof. Paul Eidelberg (Israel), Jun 19, 2008 at 09:10


With all due respect to Daniel Pipes, and although I understand his reticence, it is not sufficient to classify the enemy as "Islamism." Islamism is nothing less than Islam. The Quran, the Hadith, and Islam's murderous history make this crystal clear. But consider the judgment of two astute scholar-statesmen of uncommon urbanity:

Alexis de Tocqueville:

I studied the Quran a great deal. I came away from that study with the conviction that by and large there have been few religions in the world as deadly to men as that of Muhammad. So far as I can see, it is the principal cause of the decadence so visible today in the Muslim world and, though less absurd than the polytheism of old, its social and political tendencies are in my opinion more to be feared, and I therefore regard it as a form of decadence rather than a form of progress in relation to paganism itself.

Winston Churchill said as much in 1899, but with chilling significance for Europe today:

How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries, improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome. (Emphasis added.)

Unlike Americans and Europeans, Muslim leaders name their enemies. They call Christians the "Sunday people," and Jews the "Saturday people." Ahmadinejad of Iran calls for a world without the United States and Israel, meaning a world without Christianity and Judaism. The same murderous hatred is preached in innumerable mosques in the United States financed by Saudi Arabia.

Muslims do not speak of "moderate" Christians or of "moderate" Jews—no more than we ever spoke of "moderate" Nazis. Intellectually liberated Muslims like Nonie Darwish and Wafa Sultan are strategically irrelevant. Indeed, the more we appease the enemy by refraining from calling him by his true name, the more so-called moderate Muslims will manifest their violent Mohammedan heritage. Even secular Muslims supported Saddam Hussein.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Israeli Exercise Seen as Signal to Iran

FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 2008 - The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Israel carried out a major military exercise earlier this month that U.S. officials say appeared to be a rehearsal for a potential bombing attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Several U.S. officials said the Israeli exercise appeared to be an effort to develop the military’s capacity to carry out long-range strikes and to demonstrate the seriousness with which Israel views Iran’s nuclear program.

More than 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 fighters participated in the maneuvers, which were carried out over the eastern Mediterranean and over Greece during the first week of June, U.S. officials said.

The exercise, which ended June 5, also included Israeli helicopters that could be used to rescue downed pilots. The helicopters
and refueling tankers flew more than 900 miles, which is about the same distance between Israel and Iran’s uranium enrichment plant at Natanz.

Israeli officials declined to discuss the details of the exercise, but its scope virtually guaranteed
that it would be noticed by foreign intelligence agencies. A senior Pentagon official who has been briefed on the exercise said it appeared to serve multiple purposes.

One Israeli goal, the official said, was to practice flight tactics,
aerial refueling, and all other details of a possible strike against Iran’s nuclear installations and its long-range conventional missiles. A second, the official said,
was to send a clear message to the United States and other countries that Israel was prepared to act militarily if diplomatic efforts to stop Iran from producing bombgrade uranium continue to falter.

“They wanted us to know, they wanted the Europeans to know, and they wanted the Iranians to know,” the Pentagon official said.
“There’s a lot of signaling going on at different levels.”

Many American experts believe that such an attack would delay but not eliminate Iran’s nuclear program, which is buried under earth and concrete and installed in long tunnels or hallways, making precise targeting difficult.

Several U.S. officials said they did not believe that the Israeli government has concluded that it must attack Iran and did not think that such a strike was imminent.

Shaul Mofaz, a deputy prime minister, told the newspaper Yediot Ahronot, in an interview published June 6: “If Iran continues with its program for developing nuclear weapons, we will attack. Attacking Iran, in order to stop its nuclear plans, will be unavoidable.”

But Mofaz was criticized by other Israeli politicians for seeking to boost his own standing as questions amount about whether the embattled prime minister, Ehud Olmert, can hang on to power.

Israeli officials have told their American counterparts that Mofaz’s statement did not represent official policy. But American military officials were also told
that Israel had prepared plans for striking nuclear targets in Iran and can carry them out if needed.

Iran has shown signs that it is taking the warnings seriously, beefing up its air defenses and stepping up air patrols. In one instance, Iran scrambled F-4 jets to double-check an Iraqi civilian flight from Baghdad to Tehran.

MICHAEL R. GORDON and ERIC SCHMITT

The U.S. is Neither "Best Friend" Nor "Honest Broker"

July 19, 2008...

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice is at it again. Last week she scolded the Israeli government for having the "audacity" to authorize the construction of housing units inJerusalem.

According to Ms. Rice, Israel building homes for Jews in Jerusalem - The Eternal Capital of the Jewish People - provokes the "palestinians" and undermines the so-called "peace process."

Manhigut Yehudit officials reject the entire "peace process", as no Jew has the right to give away any of our divinely-given Land of Israel . Additionally, it is clear to see that after 15 years of this so-called "peace", the only things that Israel has received from it are thousands of dead Jews and the loss of the belief in the justness of our cause by many Israelis and Jews worldwide.

The United States claims to be " Israel 's best friend", and it also claims to be an "honest broker" in the "peace process".

Rice's statement highlights the dichotomy between the two opposing positions that America has claimed vis-à-vis Israel . If the US was Israel's best friend, Rice would not publicly call for Israel not to build homes in a city which even the US Congress has recognized as the Eternal Capital of Israel. Rice seemingly thus tries to fit America into its position as "honest broker". However, by repeatedly demanding that Israel make concession after concession to enemies that have not lived up to any of their agreed-upon obligations throughout the entire "peace process", it becomes clear that the United States is not an "honest broker for peace" either.

Israel must wake up and realize that our destiny lies only in the hands of our Creator and ourselves.

Rob Muchnick, US Director

Jewish War

by Moshe Feiglin - Future Prime Minister of Israel

"And when you go to war in your land against the adversary who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets; and you shall be remembered before G-d your G-d, and you shall be saved from your enemies.” (Numbers 10:9) The above verse in this week's Torah portion holds all the elements that we need to fight the rockets being shot at us daily from Gaza. But nothing in this verse exists today in
Israel. That is why we cannot deal with our current security challenges. First, "War". This is not a low-intensity conflict nor any other type of post-modern aphorism used to blur reality. When rockets and shells fall in Sderot and Ashkelon, that means that we are at war. He who does not understand that he is at war cannot win. Second, "In your land". The simple and basic understanding that this is our land does not exist today. A government that does not internalize the fact that Gaza is an inseparable part of Israel cannot really fight there. It will necessarily be lured into policing operations. And when here or there it actually accomplishes something, it will immediately be at the receiving end of international condemnation
- and justifiably so. If you have decided that you are a policeman, then don't expect the respect reserved for soldiers fighting a just battle. Third, "The adversary who oppresses you". There is a good side and an evil side in this story. It is not just a meaningless conflict. We are the “good” side. The destruction of evil is a lofty cause. This is not the war of survival of the browbeaten weakling gasping for just one more breath of life. It is the war of the Jewish Nation, fighting to realize its Divine destiny. Fourth, "Then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets". The trumpets must also sound in the hearts of the residents of Tel Aviv. This is not the war of the outlying areas alone. Just like the siren sounded on Yom HaZikaron unites the entire nation, we must all unite around our common goal and destiny. Fifth, "Before G-d, your G-d". We have a G-d. We are empowered by an unquestionable moral force. We rely on our G-d while we prepare ourselves for war with the utmost military professionalism. We understand that it is not the might of our IDF that brings us victory, but rather our faith and humility before G-d.
We pray that we will soon merit Jewish leadership that will build Israel's army on the above foundations and will restore Israel's security and national pride.

Rabbi David Algaze - Speech at the Concert in Central Park, New York City

June 1st, 2008

I have come to ask a question, a simple question, one that has been forgotten in all the talk about peace in Israel.

Who does this Land belong to?

We have an answer and it is the only answer. Let us say it out loud, let the whole world hear it. Let no one, not even us, have any doubt about it:

This land is my land, it’s your land it’s our land.
It’s the land of our fathers, it is the land for our children.

This is the simple truth we are being asked to forget and ignore. But we won't forget it, we won't betray our land. We say today and every day: “If I forget thee Jerusalem let my right hand be paralyzed….”

There is a reason why this land is called the promised land. And do you know why? Because it is promised to our fathers and it is promised to our children.

How can we give it away? We do not have the right to give it away.

G-d said to our father Abraham over and over again: this is your land, I have given it to you. How can we forget this? It is reported that President Truman, the first U.S. President to recognize and support the State of Israel, often cited the verse in Deuteronomy (1:8) “Behold, I have given the land before you, go in and take possession of the land which the Lord has sworn unto your fathers through Abraham, through Isaac and through Jacob.”

Truman remembered, many Christian preachers remember, dare we be the ones to forget?

We created the World Committee for the Land of Israel just to spread that simple truth that the land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people and we will not part with it. This is our land and we will not barter it away. Period.

The rebirth of Israel in its land is an event hard to understand. The world has never seen something like it. The story of our return is without parallel. Jews never left Israel voluntarily and they returned when they could. We never abandoned the land entirely either, there were Jews throughout history in the land. It is a miracle and as with all miracles we need to believe it to see it.

Let us be clear: the Jews have returned to our land.

We did not come as conquerors. We displaced no one. The return was mandated by the nations of the world. although they have since many times rescinded and diminished their assurance, the return has been legal and moral.

The land was a desert before the Jews returned. Churchill once remarked that the land belonged to the Jews because the Arabs destroyed the land, whereas Jews create the land.

This is a love story between a people and its land like no other. No other nation ever created a State in the land, and the Jews never created a national homeland outside of it. The land once flowing with milk and honey, when the Jews parted, refused to give its fruits. The beautiful land became a wasteland. Waiting for her children.

We are the children of the land and the land smiled upon us when we returned. Would anyone desert their mother? Can we think of leaving the land voluntarily in the hands of strangers?

This is our land, and we will not betray her.

The story of Gush Katif proves this. The land the Arabs called “accursed,” as soon as the Jews came, began to yield the most beautiful fruits, flowers and plants. The tiny portion of land in Gaza yielded at one time most of the agricultural exports of Israel. Yet, when the Jews left, the land became useless again. Even the insects participated. The vegetables that had been once famously bug-free, began to develop bugs. The thriving businesses of Gush Katif languished in the hands of the Arabs. Even the same managers who had worked under the Jews and had all the expertise to make it go, could not do it. Why? The land did not cooperate.

The land was loyal to the Jews, are we going to be faithful to the land?

There is a new campaign in the Jewish people, a dangerous and inexplicable dementia. It is called “land for peace” it was tried in Oslo, it was tried in Wye, it was tried in Taba, and nothing worked. Things are getting worse. When time after time a problem is not resolved, is it not reasonable to suspect that it may be irresolvable? At least in the manner it is planned?

Yet there is a campaign afoot involving all major Jewish organizations to give the land away. When we give away Judea and Samaria we are giving away the core of our land, the holy places where our history evolved. We are giving up only Judea? What would Jews be called if we give up Judea? And those intruders who will occupy Judea, would they not have the right to be called Judeans as well?

When we give up the land, we give up our history, we give our identity and we give up our soul.

We have come to stop this madness. To say to them:

We are tired of expulsions, we are tired of pogroms, we are tired of suicide bombers and indiscriminate murder in the streets. We are not going to speak of the rights of others, we are going to speak of our legitimate and inalienable rights. We will not endanger our people with foolish dreams that have been tried and discredited over and over again.

There is a spirit of feebleness among us. Our leaders have lost the way. They know that there is no hope for a peaceful Arab state in the land of Israel. But they insist because they have forgotten the essential: this land belongs to us. They failed and yet they keep trying without remorse and without shame.

To them we tell them: enough. Enough Oslos, enough Wyes, enough lifting of roadblocks, enough risking the lives of our innocent people, enough of Sderot, enough!

In our long history we witnessed the destruction of Jewish communities before. But this time is worse, much worse. This time we want to help the destruction along.

After Hitler, we vowed “never again” but today our leaders, our Rabbis, our major Jewish organizations are saying “over and ever again.”

We need to rise and tell them “NO!”

The current government in Israel with the aid of weak-minded Jewish leaders in the Diaspora has embarked upon a program that may signal the destruction of the State of Israel. With a blend of haste and submissiveness, with deceit and self-deception, the present leadership of the Jewish people has succeeded where its most bitter foes have failed. They are endangering the accomplishments of the Zionist enterprise that were attained with a sacrifice and dedication unparalleled in history. Our leaders are plagued with an irresponsible shortsightedness and are rushing headlong into accords with partners they know are deceitful.

We protest. The World Committee for the Land of Israel has come to object and refuse these plans of the demented and the pathetic.

We need to repudiate any plan that involves betraying our land. We must oppose any program that puts our population within the range of the kassam. We have to stand against any suggestion that places our children at risk. We did not return to Israel to relive the tragedy of Poland and Germany. If our leaders are tired, let them step aside. If they feel exhausted and drained, let them make room for a new generation that remembers the dream of Abraham and has the courage to fight in our defense.

This is not to say that we do not want peace. We should be zealous in the pursuit of peace, but we should be no less fierce in the defense of our land.

We extend our hand in peace towards all our neighbors. our hands contain no rancor, nor hatred nor war. But they also contain no land. We offer peace, a real genuine peace. Nevertheless, our peace is not the peace of beggars. It does not give away our cherished land. What other nation in the world gives away its land? We will not give away our land no matter who counsels it or who profits from this betrayal!

Our first father Abraham had to undergo ten trials. The last of which was to bury his dear wife Sara. The trial was that although G-d had promised him the entire land of Israel, he did not have even a place in which to bury Sarah. Yet, he, the owner of the entire land, did not complain. He had no land now but he still kept the hope. It is ironic that our father Abraham, when he did not have the land, kept the hope and we who possess the land are thinking of giving it away.

The World committee for the Land of Israel calls upon the Jews of the world to rally around our beautiful mother, the land of Israel. When established Jewish organizations are pathetically accepting and even calling for the establishment of an Arab state in the land of Israel-- it is time for us to say no!

If they have been brainwashed or worse, we will not allow to being brainwashed. The giving away of land to create another Arab state, this one in the land of Israel is wrong. It was wrong when the Arabs wanted it, it was wrong when Jesse Jackson suggested it, it was wrong when our enemies suggest it and it is still wrong!

Hashem oz le’amo yiten, Hashem yevarech ..

G-d should grant us the strength to stand up to our enemies. If we do, then we will merit that he blesses us with lasting peace.

I call upon all Jews and good people everywhere to rally around Eretz Israel, the land of our forefather and our grandchildren. Do not leave her, do not betray her. This land can become the rallying point for all Jews, regardless of their religious preference. let us all be brothers and sisters and in the defense of our land we will become one nation again.

When all Jews are united, no force on earth will ever conquer us. Let us unite, brothers and sisters, and let us have the hope of Abraham that this land is our land now and forever.

Hand of Peace....

"WE EXTEND our hand of peace and unity to all the neighbouring states and their peoples, and invite them to establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help with the sovereign Jewish people settled in its own land. The State of Israel is prepared to do its share in a common effort for the advancement of the entire Middle East."

From the Israeli Declaration of Independence
Friday 14th May 1948 - Erev Shabbat 5th Iyar 5708

Time for the rest of the Middle East to extend the hand of peace....

Especially Jordan...

Take in your refugees now!

Getting Stronger Every Day: An Interview with Moshe Feiglin

The following is an excerpt from a recent Front Page interview with Moshe Feiglin. The interviewer is Dan Rabkin of FrontPageMagazine.com.

Rabkin: If the polls are to be believed and the Likud win the next general election, what role do you see yourself playing in that government?

Feiglin: In a nutshell, in Israeli elections you don’t vote for a person, you vote for a party. Based on what share of the vote your party gets, you get a certain number of people from your party’s list in the Knesset (Israeli Parliament). I plan on getting a high enough spot on the Likud’s list to get a seat in the Knesset. After you are in the Knesset your spot on the list doesn’t matter.

I am not sure though that I would want to be a government minister. I am talking about a revolution in Israel, but if I accept a cabinet position under a leadership that will continue in the same direction, I will end up being a part of the problem instead of part of the solution. So I am not sure at all that I want to be a minister. I want to be Prime Minister.


Rabkin: Israel is in serious trouble today. What needs to be done to turn things around?

Feiglin: The problem is much more than Olmert not giving the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) an order. Not that I like Ehud Olmert, believe me, I am not one of his fans. But the problem is much bigger. The problem is our mentality. Since Rabin’s handshake, the entire state of Israel marched into a state of mind of pragmatism and non-spirituality.

We don’t need more F-15s and F-16s from America. That is not our problem. What we need is to march back into the right state of mind. And for that we need leadership. True, authentic leadership based on Jewish values. A leadership for Israel that believes in the God of Israel.

Look at Olmert and many of the other leaders of Israel today. They can’t even explain to their own kids why we established the State of Israel to begin with. Olmert’s kids are not in Israel (Olmert’s son Shaul lives in New York and has been associated with anti-militaristic left-wing groups. His other son, Ariel, studies French Literature at the Sorbonne in Paris). The same thing is true of our other current leaders.

What we need is a Jewish Revolution to take back the leadership - and it has already begun. We are growing stronger every day. Last August the Likud held primaries, a race that was not only going to define the leader of the Likud party, but also the next Prime Minister of Israel. Every fourth Likudnik, your average Israeli, voted for me. And do you know what my slogan was in that race? “Feiglin – Because He Has a G-d”.

And let me tell you something else - in the next primaries I will win. I say this because the concept of Jewish leadership, leadership that will lead the State of Israel in the name of G-d, leadership that will lead the State of Israel with Jewish values, leadership that knows where it comes from and where it is going, real Jewish leadership, is picking up steam and cannot be stopped. This totally new concept, which is being attacked from all sides, is gaining more and more popularity. And believe me, it will continue. We cannot lose, we cannot stop going in this direction, because without Jewish leadership there is no hope. No hope for Israel and no hope for the entire Jewish Nation.

I say the entire Jewish Nation because whatever happens in Israel immediately reflects back on all Jews worldwide. When the Jews in Gush Katif were dragged from their homes, what happened to the level of anti-Semitism worldwide? It went up of course. Israel did what the world expected of us and anti-Semitism went up. When we defied the world and did what we had to do in 1967, the level of anti-Semitism dropped. Suddenly every Jew on the streets of Toronto and New York was proud to be a Jew. So you see, what happens in Israel immediately affects all Jews worldwide. A proud Israel with real Jewish faith, that knows what it stands for, impacts on every Jew.

Manhigut Yehudit needs your help now more than ever. You can help to get our message out. Support Manhigut Yehudit, print out this update and distribute it in your community, arrange a Manhigut Yehudit lecture in your community, and tell your friends about the fast-growing Jewish Leadership alternative. For information call:


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Obama or not to Obama

Obama and the future of the US:

Is Obama up to the (new) threat posed by the 21st Century version of the Cold War and the threat by Islamic imperialism.

Obama has zero experience in international affairs, His "audacity" means he is more inclined to negotiate with and appease tyrants and terrorists.

Obama has Brzezinski. You remember he persuaded Carter to reduce the U.S. defense budget. Obama has promised to reduce the defense budget also when elected. When Brzezinski was his national security adviser, Carter contributed to the removal of the Iranian Shah and in essance helped install Ayatollah Khomeini. Nuclear weapons anyone?

Brzezinski is a globalist. He believes that the nation-state system is historically obsolete. Obama must be close to this postion to deal with Brzezinski. Obama call for a change, what change is available? Does he want the US number one in anything we are not currently number1? No, the only changes available to him are capitulation of the United States to the United Nations. The less the US becomes the more the Ruassians and Islamofascists become.

The question is what would McCain do? I guess you can't keep business as usual leadership at this point. The stakes are to high and the timetables to short.

We will soon not be talking Euro...but Eurabia.

Israels Achievements In The First Months Of 2008 - Naomi Ragen

(And in the same period of time, what has the Muslim world accomplished?)

1. Scientists in Israel, found that the brackish water, drilled from underground desert aquifers, hundreds of feet deep, could be used to raise warm-water fish. The geothermal water, less than one-tenth as saline as sea water, free of pollutants, and a toasty 98 degrees on average, proves an ideal environment.

2. Israeli-developed designer-eyeglasses, promise mobile phone and iPod users, a personalized, high-tech video display. Available to US consumers next year, Lumus-Optical's lightweight and fashionable video eyeglasses, feature a large transparent screen, floating in front of the viewer's face that projects their choice of movie, TV show, or video Game.

3. When Stephen Hawkins visited Israel recently, he shared his wisdom with scientists, students, and even the Prime Minister. But the world's most renown victim of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease, also learned something, due to the Israeli Association for ALS' advanced work in both embryonic and adult stem cell research, as well as its proven track record with neurodegenerative diseases. The Israeli research community is well on its way, to finding a treatment for this fatal disease, which affects 30,000 Americans.

4. Israeli start-up, Vetreix, has developed an innovative new electronic capsule that sits in the stomach of a cow, sheep, or goat, sending out real-time information on the health of the herd, to the farmer via Email or cell phone. The e-capsule, which also sends out alerts if animals are distressed, injured, or lost, is now being tested on a herd of cows, in the hopes that the device will lead to tastier and
healthier meat and milk supplies.

5. The millions of Skype users worldwide will soon have access to the newly developed KishKish lie-detector. This free internet service, based on voice stress analysis (a technique, commonly used in criminal investigations), will be able to measu re just how truthful that person on the other end of the line, really is.

6. Beating cardiac tissue has been created in a lab from human embryonic stem cells by researchers at the Rappaport Medical Faculty and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology's biomedical Engineering faculty. The work of Dr. Shulamit Levenberg and Prof. Lior Gepstein, has also led to the creation of tiny blood vessels within the tissue, making possible its implantation in a human heart.

7. Israel's Magal Security Systems, is a worldwide leader in computerized security systems, with products used in more than 70 countries around the world, protecting anything from national borders, to nuclear facilities, refineries, and airpo rts. The company's latest Product, DreamBox, a state-of-the-art security system that includes Intelligent video, audio and sensor management, is now being used by a major
water authority on the US east coast to safeguard the utility's sites.

8. It is common knowledge that dogs have better night vision than humans and a vastly superior sense of smell and hearing. Israel's Bio-Sense Technologies, recently delved further, and electronically analyzed 350 different barks. Finding that dogs of all breeds and sizes, bark the same alarm when they sense a threat, the firm has designed the dog bark-reader, a sensor that can pick up a dog's alarm bark, and alert the human operators. This is just one of a batch of innovative security systems to emerge from Israel, which Forbes calls 'the go-to country for
anti-terrorism technologies.'

9. Israeli company, BioControl Medical, sold its first electrical stimulator to treat urinary incontinence to a US company for $50 Million. Now, it is working on CardioFit, which uses electrical nerve stimulation to treat congestive heart failure. With nearly five million Americans presently affected by heart failure, and more than 400,000 new cases diagnosed yearly, the CardioFit is already generating a great deal of excitement as the first device with the potential to halt this deadly disease.

10. One year after Norway's Socialist Left Party launched its boycott Israel campaign, the importing of Israeli goods has increased by 15%, the strongest increase in many years, Statistics Norway reports. In contrast to the efforts of tiny Israel to make contributions to the world so as to better mankind, one has to ask what have those who have strived to eliminate Israel from the face of the earth done other than to create hate and bloodshed?

Olmert and the Envelopes of Cash

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Olmert and the Envelopes of Cash

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Dry Bones:Olmert and the Envelopes of Cash

Olmert and the Envelopes of Cash


Much of the Israeli fascination with the unfolding saga of corruption in high places is focussed on the "envelopes".


Driver: I personally handed Olmert envelopes stuffed with cash
"Avi Sherman, a limousine driver who drove Prime Minister Ehud Olmert during his tenure as mayor of Jerusalem, testified to police on Thursday that he personally gave Olmert envelopes stuffed with cash from several businessmen, among them U.S. businessman and fund-raiser Morris Talansky and American billionaire Daniel Abraham". -more


Predictions Thread: The Jerusalem Envelope
"Ever since Long Island businessman Morris Talansky’s testimony that he gave Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert more than $150,000 cash in envelopes, it looks like Olmert’s days are numbered. " -more


Olmert 'took cash in envelopes'
"Mr Talansky raised thousands of dollars at meetings in New York
A US businessman has testified he gave envelopes full of cash to Israel's prime minister but said he did not seek or receive any favours in return.
Morris Talansky told an Israeli court he did not know how the money was spent, but linked it to Ehud Olmert's "love" of "expensive" luxury goods.
Police are investigating whether the PM took up to $500,000 (£250,000) in bribes or illegal campaign donations." -more


* * *
Kosher Nostra is a play on Cosa Nostra, the proported "real name" of the Sicilian Mafia. -more

This is the lull....

Thomas Friedman wrote the wall has stopped suicide bombers so successfully, the Israeli public has relaxed.

So this is the lull before the storm. This is the PLO Terrorist
Hudna. They are waiting for Hamas or Hezbollah or whoever to strike so they can join in. Or they are just disorganized and pinned down.

Israel has control of the timing ...still. But not forever and as long as Olmert remains PM the process will stall. This is because he will remain PM unless the scandals take him down. Remember that someone who takes bribes etc., also gives them and also probably has something on all of his enemies. So keep your eye out for the usual sweeping under the rug or mysterious deaths or the like.

This Summer of 2008 when the world expects the Summer War to begin, Israel needs to make a decision. Will this just be another military excercise to keep the pressure off of Olmert? Every time there is a war the scandals and political pressure goes away.


Retake Gaza and begin the expulsion of "Jordanians" and make the King of Jordan absorb them.

GW Bush needs to make the King end the conflict by bringing his people home. Jordan has only the UN Partition right to Jordan(TransJordan)

Send them home
Send them home!!!

Radical Pragmatism - THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

From NY Times Digest

RAMALLAH, West Bank — The West Bank is an ugly quilt of high walls, checkpoints, Jewish settlements, Arab villages, Jewish roads that only Israeli settlers use, Arab roads and roadblocks. This hard and heavy reality on the ground is not going to be reversed by any conventional peace process. “The two-state solution is disappearing,”
said Mansour Tahboub, senior editor at the West Bank newspaper Al-Ayyam.
We are at a point now where the only thing that might work is what I would call a “radical pragmatism” that is as radical and energetic as the extremism that it hopes to nullify. Without that, I fear, Israel will remain permanently pregnant with a stillborn Palestinian state in its belly. The need is obvious: the business as usual course that Israelis and Palestinians are on right now does not have enough energy or authority to produce a solution.

They remind me of a couple who, after a stormy courtship, finally get married and one
year after they tie the knot they each cheat on the other: Israelis kept on building settlements and the Palestinians kept on building hate. When you cheat and have war after peace, trust vanishes for a long time. The trust deficit is exacerbated by the fact that after Israel quit the Gaza Strip in 2005, the Palestinians, instead of building Singapore there, built Somalia and focused not on how to make microchips but on how to make rockets to hit Israel.

With the wall that it has erected around the West Bank, Israel has so shut down Palestinian suicide bombers that the Israeli public feels no sense of urgency, especially with the economy booming. The West Bank behind the wall might as well be in Afghanistan. “Today, you have neither the romanticism of the peace process before Oslo fell apart nor a visible disaster knocking at the gates of Israel’s consciousness,” noted the Haaretz columnist Ari Shavit. The political system in both Israel and among the Palestinians is so internally divided that neither one can generate the authority to take a big decision. Only the U.S. can overcome this diplomatic brownout by offering some radical pragmatism, and the logic would be this: If the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, does not get control over at least part of the West Bank soon, he will have no authority to sign any draft peace treaty with Israel. He will be totally discredited. Radical pragmatism would say that the
only way to balance the Palestinians’ need for sovereignty now with Israel’s need for a withdrawal now, but without creating a security vacuum, is to enlist a trusted third party, Jordan, to help the Palestinians control whatever West Bank land is ceded to them. Without a radically pragmatic new approach, any draft treaty will be dead on arrival.

Olmert Survives....

For me, watching Olmert remain in power has become spellbinding. It really is like some twisted version of the TV show "Survivor" ...in which the more that people want him off the show, and the more unpopular he becomes ...the more he stays on!

-Dry Bones- Israel's Political Comic Strip Since 1973

Death Penalty for Terrorists!

In Israel there is talk of the murderer Samir Kuntar being released in exchange for the captured soldiers or their remains.

The Holocaust mentality pervades every aspect of Israeli life. The concept of allowing captured Terrorists to live, gives the Terrorists motivation to capture Israeli soldiers ..for barter. They know that Israeli soldiers are valuable ...alive or dead. If the Terrorists that were captured were executed, there would be no barter.