Anne Bayefsky of the Hudson Institute spoke at the Durban (2) conference and ripped Iran. She scolded the United Nations for giving a platform to Iranian President Ahmadinejad and his genocidal racism. Her speech drew the usual criticism from the Iranian delegate.
Anne Bayesky stood up in front of the racist world and said...no, it is not OK to hate Israel because it is the state of the Jews!
Kudos!
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/131135
April 30, 2009
Terrorists convicted of any murder must be given the death penalty!
I understand Yousef Majed al-Molqui, the terrorist responsible for the hijacking of the Achille Lauro, has been freed from an Italian prison. Molqui served 23 years of his 30-year jail sentence and wheelchair-bound Leon Klinghoffer remains dead.
Terrorists convicted of any murder must be given the death penalty...no ifs, and or buts.
I also believe in the concept of wrong place, wrong time. If you are caught in a very bad place at 3AM, you had better be able to keep yourself out of my justice system.
Wrong place and wrong time, long rap sheet and murder means you will not be doing any time.
Israel needs to kill every Terrorist it finds and hang all of the prisoners that have been convicted of murder. At this point we could even just fling them out of helicopters near the international waters of their country of origin.
Whatever, dead means they can't hurt anyone...I am not interested in deterrence.
April 24, 2009
When is it time to go, when will it be to late?
How many factors make us nervous, our "complete" acceptance in American society or the Anti-Semitism that is very visible in the US.
Are the bulk of US citizens racists or not? By nature they are...
Don't xtains only want to proselytize. Of course they do...except for the Reform xtians!
A Seder in the White House attended by a Green President that wants a 2 State solution and he wants it now .. Obama's choices offered are:
1) if by Annapolis or
2) if by the road map
3) if Israel simply commits suicide and by granting the fraudulent right of return to the Mohammedans.
We have been expelled by many friendly countries over the years.
The list is long and Israel is the only place...the only place for us!
Does anyone think that this modern day roman empire will last forever?
Do they also believe that Jews will be welcome til the end and then will Jews be welcome after the fall.
Will the USA morph or fall?
Avi
Are the bulk of US citizens racists or not? By nature they are...
Don't xtains only want to proselytize. Of course they do...except for the Reform xtians!
A Seder in the White House attended by a Green President that wants a 2 State solution and he wants it now .. Obama's choices offered are:
1) if by Annapolis or
2) if by the road map
3) if Israel simply commits suicide and by granting the fraudulent right of return to the Mohammedans.
We have been expelled by many friendly countries over the years.
The list is long and Israel is the only place...the only place for us!
Does anyone think that this modern day roman empire will last forever?
Do they also believe that Jews will be welcome til the end and then will Jews be welcome after the fall.
Will the USA morph or fall?
Avi
Seder in the White House, Oy Vey
by Carol Schwartz
History has a way of repeating itself.
There is apparently bigger news than the historical Passover story, when millions of Jews freely walked out of Egypt amongst incredible G-dly wonders and miracles after 210 years of slavery. It was reported that US President Barack Obama, along with his family, attended the second night Passover Seder in the White House with staff and friends. This is believed to be the first White House Seder attended by an American president.
William Daroff, who runs the United Jewish Communities' Washington office, stated that this occurrence is "a testament to how far we have come as a Jewish people in America." Daroff continued his awe of this "joyous" event by noting, "Jews are a vital component in the mosaic that is American culture and society. This night is indeed different from all other nights."
For those of us whose memory is longer than a week, we recognize this "act of brotherly love" as not quite "different" at all. Jewish history tells us that when we are warmly welcomed into the arms of countries in which we have been exiled, our downfall in those "host cultures" cannot be far behind.
Let's start with the Passover story itself. The Torah tells us about the miraculous rise of Joseph, the son of our father Jacob, into the house of Pharaoh. After 22 years in jail, overnight Joseph becomes the second in command of Egypt, the greatest nation at the time. Joseph saved from starvation, during a severe famine, all of Egypt as well as most of the world. In doing so, Egypt acquired incredible wealth and fame. Joseph was honored and beloved by all.
Click the link to read the rest
History has a way of repeating itself.
There is apparently bigger news than the historical Passover story, when millions of Jews freely walked out of Egypt amongst incredible G-dly wonders and miracles after 210 years of slavery. It was reported that US President Barack Obama, along with his family, attended the second night Passover Seder in the White House with staff and friends. This is believed to be the first White House Seder attended by an American president.
William Daroff, who runs the United Jewish Communities' Washington office, stated that this occurrence is "a testament to how far we have come as a Jewish people in America." Daroff continued his awe of this "joyous" event by noting, "Jews are a vital component in the mosaic that is American culture and society. This night is indeed different from all other nights."
For those of us whose memory is longer than a week, we recognize this "act of brotherly love" as not quite "different" at all. Jewish history tells us that when we are warmly welcomed into the arms of countries in which we have been exiled, our downfall in those "host cultures" cannot be far behind.
Let's start with the Passover story itself. The Torah tells us about the miraculous rise of Joseph, the son of our father Jacob, into the house of Pharaoh. After 22 years in jail, overnight Joseph becomes the second in command of Egypt, the greatest nation at the time. Joseph saved from starvation, during a severe famine, all of Egypt as well as most of the world. In doing so, Egypt acquired incredible wealth and fame. Joseph was honored and beloved by all.
Click the link to read the rest
The New American Jewish Bible
by Mark Gold
There are indeed false prophets.
I regret to report on the ascendancy of an American Jewish version of "Replacement Theology" and a corresponding new American Jewish Bible. These have been adopted primarily in the Reform and secular sectors, as well as in the overlapping wider societal groups of Democrat Party faithful, academia and the media establishment.
The new American Jewish Bible is the newspaper, and to a lesser degree, broadcast media outlets such as National Public Radio, the Public Broadcasting System, and commercial television networks. But this new American Jewish Bible is actually a false prophet.
As there are different translations of both the Torah and the Christian Bible, the newspaper comes in different geographic versions (New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, etc.). And the broadcast networks each proselytize different versions of the same message.
Click the link above for the rest....
There are indeed false prophets.
I regret to report on the ascendancy of an American Jewish version of "Replacement Theology" and a corresponding new American Jewish Bible. These have been adopted primarily in the Reform and secular sectors, as well as in the overlapping wider societal groups of Democrat Party faithful, academia and the media establishment.
The new American Jewish Bible is the newspaper, and to a lesser degree, broadcast media outlets such as National Public Radio, the Public Broadcasting System, and commercial television networks. But this new American Jewish Bible is actually a false prophet.
As there are different translations of both the Torah and the Christian Bible, the newspaper comes in different geographic versions (New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, etc.). And the broadcast networks each proselytize different versions of the same message.
Click the link above for the rest....
Obama's Image
Having drawn Dry Bones for thirty-six years now, I've done plenty of cartoons about the meetings between our Prime Ministers and the powerful occupants of America's White House. ...and here comes another one!
* * *
For the cartoon to work it had to be set in America. The script would not work as an Israeli dialogue. So to get that across, I did not use any of my stock characters and wrote the punchline as Netanyahu is coming to Washington, and not that Bibi is going to Washington.
-Dry Bones- Israel's Political Comic Strip Since 1973
April 22, 2009
Hitler's Death Confirmed...
He did not show up for his award ceremony at Durban 2.
The crowd was of course, very disappointed.
The award was for creative genius and the recognized lifetime achievement award in the category of : Anti-Semitism.
Accepting the award for him was : Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ( Wrestling nickname - The Terror from Tehran). His acceptance speech met with some resistance from the crowd.
See you at Durban 3, this meeting will held in a large active volcano.
Avi
Paul Reiser, mad about Israel
By Nicky Blackburn April 20, 2009
It's the voice that gets you first. His hit TV series, Mad About You, may have wound down some 10 years ago, but the moment you hear Paul Reiser's familiar, gently ironic voice, you're waiting for a punch line. And Reiser is quick to oblige. Even when he's making a serious point, there's a joke hovering somewhere in the background about to be made.
Reiser first came to Israel 25 years ago, to visit his then girlfriend, Paula Ravets, (now his wife) who was studying for six months at Tel Aviv University. They swore to visit often, but it was only this April that he and Paula finally made that promise a reality.
As Reiser discovered, 26 years has made a big difference to Israel. "It's looking better than I do," quips the 52-year-old. "It looks better, it looks younger, snappier. I look a little tired."
Reiser, an actor, producer and writer, came to Israel on a family visit, with his two boys, Leon (eight) and Ezra (13). With family scattered all over the country, they have been touring - from Haifa, to the Dead Sea, Masada and Jerusalem.
Telephone numbers shoved into his hand
"It's amazing. It's like no other place," Reiser tells ISRAEL21c. "When we told friends we were coming here, numerous telephone numbers were shoved in our hands - relatives, friends, friends of friends. We have billions of cousins here, but everyone told us we just had to meet their friends and relatives."
The trip to Israel is the first trip abroad Reiser and his family have made in some time. "I haven't traveled in a while, and getting out into the world was kind of invigorating," he says. "There's something about Israel that opens your eyes. Seeing the vibrancy of the community, and realizing what a lot is going on."
Before he left LA, Israeli friends told him that the Israel he sees on the news is nothing like the real Israel, and he admits this is true.
"I'm interested in human stories and the human side," he tells ISRAEL21c. "My brain doesn't understand the big stuff, but I understand people one on one. When you're in the comfort of your home, and you read about Israel - this explosion, that bomb - you get a picture in your head. But there's much more to it than that.
"People have misconceptions about Israel. If you just read the headlines, it looks like constant crisis, but when you are here, you get a different feeling," explains Reiser.
People are getting on with their lives
"The threats are real, but you don't see it. Instead you see a thriving active world, where people are getting on with their lives, taking their kids to school, and going to work," he says. "There's such a wealth of humanity that isn't reflected in the headlines. It's an infinitely positive experience."
Reiser began his career as a stand-up comedian. His first breakthrough into movies came in the classic 1982 movie Diner. He went on to star in a number of films including Bye, Bye Love, The Marrying Man, Aliens, and Beverly Hills Cop I and II.
Reiser is best remembered, however, for his role as Paul Buchman in the comedy series, Mad about You, with co-star Helen Hunt as his wife. The popular seven-year NBC series, which Reiser helped create, write, and produce, was critically acclaimed, and won many awards. By the final season in 1999, Hunt and Reiser were making $1 million per episode.
In the wake of this, Reiser starred in a few films, including My Beautiful Son, One Night at McCool's, and Women vs. Men, but he preferred to take a lower visual profile, focusing on writing and producing instead. He set up his own production studio, Nuance Productions, named after a speech his character gives in Diner.
He has also written two books, Couplehood, which sold over two million copies and reached the number one spot on The New York Times best seller list, and Babyhood, the follow up, which describes his experiences being a first-time father, which also made The New York Times best seller list.
Staying home with the kids
Reiser, who was born and raised in New York, but now lives in Los Angeles, admits that his real joy in the last 13 years, is being a father, and spending time at home with his boys. "I've been taking it easy in the last few years, staying home, being with the kids," he explains.
The trip to Israel also proved enjoyable for his children. "They're eating it up," says Reiser, whose trip coincided with Passover. "It amazes me how they can hit the ground running. It was a great opportunity for them to meet their extended family, and for the next generation to get to know each other. It's hard traveling with kids, you move at a different pace and it takes a long time to do things, but it's more fun."
A cool technology for the disabled
During the vacation his family also visited the start up Argo Medical Technologies. First featured in ISRAEL21c in the summer of last year, the article shot the company to worldwide attention. Since the item appeared in July last year, Argo has been filmed by 12 TV networks around the world, including CNN. It has also featured in dozens of newspapers, from The Washington Post, to The Teheran Times.
"A friend showed me the article and it looked like such a cool technology," admits Reiser. With his visit to Israel already planned, he decided to meet the Haifa-based company during his trip. ISRAEL21c provided the contacts and a visit was arranged.
He was impressed by what he saw. Argo has designed a quasi-robotic ambulation system that enables wheelchair users to stand and walk upright. The device was developed by Dr. Amit Goffer, an electrical engineer who was paralyzed in an auto accident. He developed the prototype at home, and then set up the company to take it commercial.
"It looks like some cool Robocop mechanism," says Reiser. "It's a tremendous innovation and a remarkable piece of technology. It's amazing to see such a cool innovation with fabulous commercial potential coming out of this tiny little office with just a handful of guys.
"There's obviously something brewing in Israel," he adds. "There's so much innovation taking place in the country, in so many different areas and there's a very active high-tech community. There are obviously a lot of very clever people here."
Iranian Calls Israel Racist at U.N. Meeting
GENEVA — President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad of Iran on Monday used the platform of a U.N. conference on combating racism to disparage Israel as a “cruel and repressive racist regime,” prompting delegates from European nations to desert the hall and earning a harsh rebuke from Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.
As Ahmadinejad began to speak, two protesters wearing rainbow-hued clown wigs pelted Ahmadinejad with red foam noses. Hustled out the door by security agents, they were soon followed by lines of stony-faced diplomats from the 23 European nations attending the conference. They walked out to the sound of some other delegates applauding Ahmadinejad.
Ahmadinejad of Iran on Monday used the platform of a U.N. conference on combating racism to disparage Israel as a “cruel and repressive racist regime,” prompting delegates from European nations to desert the hall and earning a harsh rebuke from Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.
As Ahmadinejad began to speak, two protesters wearing rainbow-hued clown wigs pelted Ahmadinejad with red foam noses. Hustled out the door by security agents, they were soon followed by lines of stony-faced diplomats from the 23 European nations attending the conference. They walked out to the sound of some other delegates applauding Ahmadinejad.
Loyalty Oath - Lieberman
I have always had a soft spot for Avigdor and feel he is a fairly straight shooter.
Of course I don't agree with the 2 State solution, roadmap, nonsense and I have a feeling he doesn't either. It is just good politics. He knows that the terms of the road map could not and never will be carried out by the Arabs...
The Annapolis crap is just...more Anti-Semitic crap and useless to Israel and her future.
The concept of a Loyalty Oath is a law that would just allow the Government to take action after a Arab MK or the like breaks the Oath.
Sounds like a nice small start to removing the Arabs and their spikes in our eyes and thorns in our sides, that are harassing us in the land in which we settled!
Lieberman, Egypt Hush-Hush on Meeting with Suleiman
(IsraelNN.com) Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman (Yisrael Beiteinu) and Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman will meet in Jerusalem Wednesday, but neither side wants to talk about it. The Egyptian government has issued no comment on the meeting, and Irene Ettinger, acting spokeswoman for the Israeli Foreign Minister, told Israel National News she would not make any statement because of the issue's “sensitivity”.
The sensitivity dates back to last October, when Lieberman, who heads Yisrael Beiteinu, said in a Knesset session that Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak can “go to hell” if he continues to refuse to visit Jerusalem. The only time Mubarak has visited Israel as president was to attend the funeral of assassinated former Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin.
President Shimon Peres and then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert apologized to Egypt for the remark, but Lieberman has stood his ground. A spokesman for his office said Wednesday morning that he has nothing to apologize for.
Egypt thinks otherwise. Its Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said earlier this month of Lieberman, "He is a man who ought to reconsider how his brain communicates with his tongue” and that he would “keep his hands in his pockets” if the two men were to meet.
Egypt apparently has backed down from its threat not allow officials in face-to-face discussions with the Israeli Foreign Minister, but Suleiman is also marking his visit to Israel with visits to higher rankings officials, including President Peres and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. He also will meet with Defense Minister Ehud Barak and his deputy Matan Vilnai (Labor).
Foreign Minister Lieberman, who was born in the former Soviet Union, is molding a new image for Israel’s relationships with Russia and the United States as well as speaking more bluntly about policies towards the Palestinian Authority.
In an interview this week with the Russian daily Moskovskiy Komosolets, he played up ties with Russia and said, “Russia has a special influence in the Muslim world, and I consider it a strategic partner that should play a key role in the Middle East. I have argued for some time that Israel has insufficient appreciation for the 'Kremlin factor'; I intend to mend this gap," he said.
He also maintained that the United States “accepts all our decisions” despite his rejection of any binding commitment to the Annapolis, Maryland conference that called for the creation of a new PA state, effectively ignoring the stipulations in the American Roadmap plan.
Foreign Minister Lieberman stated that he accepts the Roadmap, which specifically requires the PA to halt violence and incitement against Israel. PA leaders said they "are not very familiar with the document." While not specifically rejecting the “two-state solution,” he added that is a nice slogan but has little meaning.
He reiterated his rejection of the Saudi Arabia “2002 Peace Plan” that calls for Israel to surrender all land, including Jerusalem neighborhoods, that was restored to the Jewish state in the Six-Day War in 1967. He said that the Saudi demand that Israel allow the immigration of several million Arabs claiming to be descendants of former Arab Israelis is a"recipe for Israel's destruction."
The Foreign Minister also asserted that Afghanistan and Pakistan, and not Iran, pose the greatest strategic threat to Israel. "Pakistan is nuclear and unstable, and Afghanistan is faced with a potential Taliban takeover, and the combination form a contiguous area of radicalism ruled in the spirit of Bin Laden," he explained.
The sensitivity dates back to last October, when Lieberman, who heads Yisrael Beiteinu, said in a Knesset session that Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak can “go to hell” if he continues to refuse to visit Jerusalem. The only time Mubarak has visited Israel as president was to attend the funeral of assassinated former Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin.
President Shimon Peres and then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert apologized to Egypt for the remark, but Lieberman has stood his ground. A spokesman for his office said Wednesday morning that he has nothing to apologize for.
Egypt thinks otherwise. Its Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said earlier this month of Lieberman, "He is a man who ought to reconsider how his brain communicates with his tongue” and that he would “keep his hands in his pockets” if the two men were to meet.
Egypt apparently has backed down from its threat not allow officials in face-to-face discussions with the Israeli Foreign Minister, but Suleiman is also marking his visit to Israel with visits to higher rankings officials, including President Peres and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. He also will meet with Defense Minister Ehud Barak and his deputy Matan Vilnai (Labor).
Foreign Minister Lieberman, who was born in the former Soviet Union, is molding a new image for Israel’s relationships with Russia and the United States as well as speaking more bluntly about policies towards the Palestinian Authority.
In an interview this week with the Russian daily Moskovskiy Komosolets, he played up ties with Russia and said, “Russia has a special influence in the Muslim world, and I consider it a strategic partner that should play a key role in the Middle East. I have argued for some time that Israel has insufficient appreciation for the 'Kremlin factor'; I intend to mend this gap," he said.
He also maintained that the United States “accepts all our decisions” despite his rejection of any binding commitment to the Annapolis, Maryland conference that called for the creation of a new PA state, effectively ignoring the stipulations in the American Roadmap plan.
Foreign Minister Lieberman stated that he accepts the Roadmap, which specifically requires the PA to halt violence and incitement against Israel. PA leaders said they "are not very familiar with the document." While not specifically rejecting the “two-state solution,” he added that is a nice slogan but has little meaning.
He reiterated his rejection of the Saudi Arabia “2002 Peace Plan” that calls for Israel to surrender all land, including Jerusalem neighborhoods, that was restored to the Jewish state in the Six-Day War in 1967. He said that the Saudi demand that Israel allow the immigration of several million Arabs claiming to be descendants of former Arab Israelis is a"recipe for Israel's destruction."
The Foreign Minister also asserted that Afghanistan and Pakistan, and not Iran, pose the greatest strategic threat to Israel. "Pakistan is nuclear and unstable, and Afghanistan is faced with a potential Taliban takeover, and the combination form a contiguous area of radicalism ruled in the spirit of Bin Laden," he explained.
Call for Pope to Reveal Hidden Holocaust Children
by Hillel Fendel
(IsraelNN.com) The Yad L’Achim organization calls on Pope Benedict XVI, as he prepares to visit the Holy Land, to act to reveal the “hidden Jewish children” of the Holocaust.
It is estimated that thousands of Jewish children were left with Christian monasteries or families by their Jewish parents during the Holocaust, in the hope that they would thus survive the war. However, many of these children were never claimed, returned or told of their Jewish background.
A letter from Pope Pius XII to his representative in Paris on November 20, 1946 shows that he ordered Jewish babies baptized during the Holocaust not to be returned to their parents. The recipient of the letter, Angelo Roncalli, who was later to become Pope John XXIII, often disobeyed these instructions.
Yad L’Achim has been active for decades in fighting against the decimation of the Jewish Nation, whether it comes in the form of missionaries, Arab men who marry and oppress Jewish women, or the issue of the missing Holocaust orphans.
Asking the Pope to Give an Order
The organization has now asked the Pope to declare that all those who follow him must reveal the truth to their Holocaust orphan children. “The continued silence on this sensitive topic will eternalize the Jewish nation’s suffering, and the triumph of the Nazi objective,” its letter to the pontiff states.
“As you prepare for your historic visit to the Land of Israel,” the letter reads, “we turn to you from the depths of our hearts and souls, in light of the story that shocks every Jewish heart regarding the Holocaust orphans left by their holy parents with Christian families with the express purpose of returning them to their Jewish families. However, to our great sorrow, anguish, and disappointment, the adoptive families refuse to tell the children of the holy martyrs their background, and thus prevent them from returning to the Jewish People.”
A gesture by the Pope in this direction would be of inestimable value, says Yad L’Achim director Rabbi Shalom Dov Lifshitz: “Even today, not returning the children means a continuation of the Holocaust. This is a golden opportunity for the Pope, as he visits the Holy Land, to end the ugly state of affairs between us, via this gesture of utmost meaning to the entire Jewish People.”
Previous Popes
Former Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau has said that the Holocaust-era Pope Pius XII refused several requests by Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog to meet with him before and during the war to discuss how the Church could either help save Jewish lives or locate Jewish orphans cared for by Catholic families.
On the other hand, Rabbi Lau said that the previous pontiff, Pope John Paul II, told him in 1993 that he had refused to baptize a Jewish child whose parents had died, "because the parents had specifically requested that the child be brought up as a Jew."
However, the same John Paul II did not respond to a request by Ukraine's Chief Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich to open church archives and reveal the names of Jewish children who were raised as Catholics during World War II.
Response From the Queen
Yad L’Achim has been working for some years throughout Europe to locate the children. Most of its work is being done in Holland, but much is also being done in other countries. The organization reports that it received positive responses from the Queen of Holland and the Presidents of France and Belgium to their requests to use their influence to have the churches reveal the names of the hidden children.
(IsraelNN.com) The Yad L’Achim organization calls on Pope Benedict XVI, as he prepares to visit the Holy Land, to act to reveal the “hidden Jewish children” of the Holocaust.
It is estimated that thousands of Jewish children were left with Christian monasteries or families by their Jewish parents during the Holocaust, in the hope that they would thus survive the war. However, many of these children were never claimed, returned or told of their Jewish background.
A letter from Pope Pius XII to his representative in Paris on November 20, 1946 shows that he ordered Jewish babies baptized during the Holocaust not to be returned to their parents. The recipient of the letter, Angelo Roncalli, who was later to become Pope John XXIII, often disobeyed these instructions.
Yad L’Achim has been active for decades in fighting against the decimation of the Jewish Nation, whether it comes in the form of missionaries, Arab men who marry and oppress Jewish women, or the issue of the missing Holocaust orphans.
Asking the Pope to Give an Order
The organization has now asked the Pope to declare that all those who follow him must reveal the truth to their Holocaust orphan children. “The continued silence on this sensitive topic will eternalize the Jewish nation’s suffering, and the triumph of the Nazi objective,” its letter to the pontiff states.
“As you prepare for your historic visit to the Land of Israel,” the letter reads, “we turn to you from the depths of our hearts and souls, in light of the story that shocks every Jewish heart regarding the Holocaust orphans left by their holy parents with Christian families with the express purpose of returning them to their Jewish families. However, to our great sorrow, anguish, and disappointment, the adoptive families refuse to tell the children of the holy martyrs their background, and thus prevent them from returning to the Jewish People.”
A gesture by the Pope in this direction would be of inestimable value, says Yad L’Achim director Rabbi Shalom Dov Lifshitz: “Even today, not returning the children means a continuation of the Holocaust. This is a golden opportunity for the Pope, as he visits the Holy Land, to end the ugly state of affairs between us, via this gesture of utmost meaning to the entire Jewish People.”
Previous Popes
Former Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau has said that the Holocaust-era Pope Pius XII refused several requests by Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog to meet with him before and during the war to discuss how the Church could either help save Jewish lives or locate Jewish orphans cared for by Catholic families.
On the other hand, Rabbi Lau said that the previous pontiff, Pope John Paul II, told him in 1993 that he had refused to baptize a Jewish child whose parents had died, "because the parents had specifically requested that the child be brought up as a Jew."
However, the same John Paul II did not respond to a request by Ukraine's Chief Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich to open church archives and reveal the names of Jewish children who were raised as Catholics during World War II.
Response From the Queen
Yad L’Achim has been working for some years throughout Europe to locate the children. Most of its work is being done in Holland, but much is also being done in other countries. The organization reports that it received positive responses from the Queen of Holland and the Presidents of France and Belgium to their requests to use their influence to have the churches reveal the names of the hidden children.
April 21, 2009
In Israel, a voice of realism
by Jeff Jacoby - The Boston Globe
April 5, 2009
Avigdor Lieberman, the new Israeli foreign minister
IF AVIGDOR LIEBERMAN'S first speech as Israel's new foreign minister did
nothing else, it certainly vexed the media.
The Associated Press called it a "scathing critique of Mideast peace
efforts" that had diplomats "cringing," while other reports said Lieberman
had "dropped a political bombshell," "sparked an uproar," "repudiated a key
accord," and "reinforced fears." The New York Times pronounced Lieberman's
remarks "blunt and belligerent," describing the foreign minister as a
"hawkish nationalist" who is "not known for diplomacy" and heads an
"ultranationalist" party that is "seen by many as racist." Headlines summed
up Lieberman's debut as an attack on peacemaking: "Lieberman dashes peace
hopes," "Israeli official hits peace efforts," "Lieberman dumps peace deal."
But the headlines were wrong, as anyone can ascertain by reading Lieberman's
short address. Far from disparaging peace, Israel's new foreign minister
called for pursuing it with the respect and realism it deserves. And far
from "dumping" agreements entered into by his predecessors, he explicitly
committed himself to upholding the Roadmap -- a step-by-step blueprint to a
"two-state solution" adopted by Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and the
international Quartet (the United States, the United Nations, Russia, and
the European Union) in 2003.
"I voted against the Roadmap," Lieberman acknowledged, but it was "approved
by the Cabinet and endorsed by the Security Council" and is therefore "a
binding resolution and it binds this government as well." However, he
insisted, it must be implemented "exactly as written" and "in full." The
Road Map imposes specific obligations that the Palestinians must meet prior
to achieving statehood -- above all, an unequivocal end to violence,
terrorism, and incitement against the Jewish state -- and Israel will not
agree to waive them in order to negotiate a final settlement.
If Lieberman is as good as his word -- and if he is backed up by Benjamin
Netanyahu, the new prime minister -- we may finally see an end to Israel's
fruitless attempts to buy peace with ever-more-desperate concessions and
retreats. Under Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert, Israel surrendered the entire
Gaza Strip, released hundreds of terrorists from prison, expelled thousands
of Jews from their homes, and even offered to divide Jerusalem with the
Palestinian Authority. "But none of these far-reaching measures have brought
peace," said Lieberman. "To the contrary." The steeper the price Israel has
been willing to pay for peace, the more it has been repaid with violence:
suicide bombings, rocket attack s, kidnapped and murdered soldiers, and wars
with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
It is time, Lieberman is saying, for Israel to stop genuflecting to a
feckless and counterproductive "peace process" and to return instead to the
pre-Oslo policy of deterrence. "The fact that we say the word 'peace' 20
times a day will not bring peace any closer," he noted. It only makes Israel
seem weak and irresolute, encouraging its enemies not to halt their
murderous jihad, but to redouble it. Sixteen years of appeasement have left
Israel more demonized and isolated than ever, the foreign minister observed.
And when was Israel most admired in the world? "After the victory of the Six
Day War," when no one doubted the Jewish state's audacity or resolve.
President Washington: "To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual
means of preserving peace"
"If you want peace, prepare for war," Lieberman declared. That belief may
offend the smart set and leave diplomats "cringing," but Israel's new
foreign minister is scarcely the first to express it. "To be prepared for
war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace," affirmed
President George Washington in his first address to Congress in 1790. Nearly
two centuries later, Ronald Reagan told the world much the same thing.
"Peace is made by the fact of strength," said the leader who would go on to
win the Cold War. "Peace is lost when such strength disappears -- or, just
as bad, is seen by an adversary as disappearing."
Perhaps the world would more clearly understand the nature of Israel's
adversary if the media weren't forever fanning moral outrage at the
Mideast's only bulwark of freedom and democracy.
In recent weeks, the Palestinian Authority has warned Arabs that it is "high
treason" punishable by death to sell homes or property to Jews in Jerusalem;
shut down a Palestinian youth orchestra and arrested its founder because the
ensemble played for a group of elderly Israeli Holocaust survivors; and
celebrated the deadliest terrorist attack in Israel's history -- a PLO bus
hijacking that left 38 civilians dead -- with a TV special extolling the
massacre. On Thursday, after a P alestinian terrorist used an axe to murder
a 13-year-old Jewish boy, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades -- a wing of the
supposedly "moderate" Fatah party -- issued a statement claiming
responsibility.
There is no appeasing such hatred, and demonizing those who say so will not
change that fact. "If you want peace, prepare for war." How refreshing, at
last, to hear an Israeli leader say so.
(Jeff Jacoby is a columnist for The Boston Globe.)
April 5, 2009
Avigdor Lieberman, the new Israeli foreign minister
IF AVIGDOR LIEBERMAN'S first speech as Israel's new foreign minister did
nothing else, it certainly vexed the media.
The Associated Press called it a "scathing critique of Mideast peace
efforts" that had diplomats "cringing," while other reports said Lieberman
had "dropped a political bombshell," "sparked an uproar," "repudiated a key
accord," and "reinforced fears." The New York Times pronounced Lieberman's
remarks "blunt and belligerent," describing the foreign minister as a
"hawkish nationalist" who is "not known for diplomacy" and heads an
"ultranationalist" party that is "seen by many as racist." Headlines summed
up Lieberman's debut as an attack on peacemaking: "Lieberman dashes peace
hopes," "Israeli official hits peace efforts," "Lieberman dumps peace deal."
But the headlines were wrong, as anyone can ascertain by reading Lieberman's
short address. Far from disparaging peace, Israel's new foreign minister
called for pursuing it with the respect and realism it deserves. And far
from "dumping" agreements entered into by his predecessors, he explicitly
committed himself to upholding the Roadmap -- a step-by-step blueprint to a
"two-state solution" adopted by Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and the
international Quartet (the United States, the United Nations, Russia, and
the European Union) in 2003.
"I voted against the Roadmap," Lieberman acknowledged, but it was "approved
by the Cabinet and endorsed by the Security Council" and is therefore "a
binding resolution and it binds this government as well." However, he
insisted, it must be implemented "exactly as written" and "in full." The
Road Map imposes specific obligations that the Palestinians must meet prior
to achieving statehood -- above all, an unequivocal end to violence,
terrorism, and incitement against the Jewish state -- and Israel will not
agree to waive them in order to negotiate a final settlement.
If Lieberman is as good as his word -- and if he is backed up by Benjamin
Netanyahu, the new prime minister -- we may finally see an end to Israel's
fruitless attempts to buy peace with ever-more-desperate concessions and
retreats. Under Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert, Israel surrendered the entire
Gaza Strip, released hundreds of terrorists from prison, expelled thousands
of Jews from their homes, and even offered to divide Jerusalem with the
Palestinian Authority. "But none of these far-reaching measures have brought
peace," said Lieberman. "To the contrary." The steeper the price Israel has
been willing to pay for peace, the more it has been repaid with violence:
suicide bombings, rocket attack s, kidnapped and murdered soldiers, and wars
with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
It is time, Lieberman is saying, for Israel to stop genuflecting to a
feckless and counterproductive "peace process" and to return instead to the
pre-Oslo policy of deterrence. "The fact that we say the word 'peace' 20
times a day will not bring peace any closer," he noted. It only makes Israel
seem weak and irresolute, encouraging its enemies not to halt their
murderous jihad, but to redouble it. Sixteen years of appeasement have left
Israel more demonized and isolated than ever, the foreign minister observed.
And when was Israel most admired in the world? "After the victory of the Six
Day War," when no one doubted the Jewish state's audacity or resolve.
President Washington: "To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual
means of preserving peace"
"If you want peace, prepare for war," Lieberman declared. That belief may
offend the smart set and leave diplomats "cringing," but Israel's new
foreign minister is scarcely the first to express it. "To be prepared for
war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace," affirmed
President George Washington in his first address to Congress in 1790. Nearly
two centuries later, Ronald Reagan told the world much the same thing.
"Peace is made by the fact of strength," said the leader who would go on to
win the Cold War. "Peace is lost when such strength disappears -- or, just
as bad, is seen by an adversary as disappearing."
Perhaps the world would more clearly understand the nature of Israel's
adversary if the media weren't forever fanning moral outrage at the
Mideast's only bulwark of freedom and democracy.
In recent weeks, the Palestinian Authority has warned Arabs that it is "high
treason" punishable by death to sell homes or property to Jews in Jerusalem;
shut down a Palestinian youth orchestra and arrested its founder because the
ensemble played for a group of elderly Israeli Holocaust survivors; and
celebrated the deadliest terrorist attack in Israel's history -- a PLO bus
hijacking that left 38 civilians dead -- with a TV special extolling the
massacre. On Thursday, after a P alestinian terrorist used an axe to murder
a 13-year-old Jewish boy, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades -- a wing of the
supposedly "moderate" Fatah party -- issued a statement claiming
responsibility.
There is no appeasing such hatred, and demonizing those who say so will not
change that fact. "If you want peace, prepare for war." How refreshing, at
last, to hear an Israeli leader say so.
(Jeff Jacoby is a columnist for The Boston Globe.)
April 19, 2009
'Realism'
by Prof. Paul Eidelberg
(IsraelNN.com) Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's candor in his "maiden speech" was indeed refreshing. He said, inter alia, that the Palestinian Authority must fulfill all the requirements of the "Road Map" to a Palestinian state; which means there will be no Palestinian state. This is "realism." It means no end to the conflict - not if one takes Islam or Arab-Islamic culture seriously.
It is plain that the Obama administration and the European Union do not take Islam seriously, which is why they are demanding a Palestinian state immediately. Unconditional acceptance of a Palestinian state was the objective of the Annapolis Conference, which Mr. Lieberman rejected in his speech. In other words, he rejected unconditional surrender to Israel's enemy, the Fatah-Hamas Palestinian Authority.
Turn now, however, to President Barack Obama's visit to Saudi Arabia. That the President of the United States should genuflect from the waist down to Saudi King Abdullah signifies the (ignominious) unconditional surrender of the United States to Islam.
Mr. Obama's father was a Muslim (which makes him a Muslim). His mother, a secular Christian. Obama's bowing to King Abdullah signifies an alliance of Islam and the secularized Christian West against Judaism and the Jewish State of Israel.
This alliance may be said to have begun in 1975, when the United Nations declared Zionism a form of racism and subsequently endowed the Yasser Arafat-led PLO with "observer status". Thereafter, both the US and the EU rolled out the red carpet to Arafat. In violation of its agreement with Israel concerning the PLO, President Jimmy Carter allowed the PLO to establish an office in Washington, DC. PLO offices were also established in various European capitals. The two offspring of Judaism again bit the breasts that had suckled them.
All this is beyond the "realism" of Foreign Minister Lieberman. His realism merely elaborates Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's oft-repeated slogan of "reciprocity" (a term foreign to the Islamic mind). What Lieberman and Netanyahu fail to see is that their affirmation of a Palestinian state makes their realism impossible.
This affirmation has pernicious consequences. First, to say "yes" to an Arab-Islamic state in Judea and Samaria cannot but shrink and stultify the national identity of the Jewish people, as well as their confidence in the justice and nobility of Israel's cause. Acknowledging an Arab-Islamic state in Judea and Samaria - the heartland of the Jewish people - constitutes a public teaching to Jews and Gentiles alike that the Land of Israel does not belong exclusively to the Jewish people. This makes a mockery of the Torah and the teachings of the prophets and sages of Israel.
This teaching cannot but erode the historical memory of the Jewish people, since the teachings of their prophets and sages are intimately bound up with Judea and Samaria.
Second, nothing encourages the Arabs to persist in their genocidal objectives as much as the Jewish people's renunciation of their God-given and exclusive right to the Land of Israel. Affirming a Palestinian state not only arms Israel's Islamic enemies, it also undermines American and European support of Israel vis-a-vis the demands of those enemies. It is a confession of weakness. This weakness leads to almost irreversible errors.
For example, at the Likud central committee meeting that elected him as the party's chairman a few months before the June 1992 election, Mr. Netanyahu rejected a resolution to the effect that a Likud government would not be bound by any agreement that compromised Israel's security. He rejected this resolution on the fallacious grounds that a democracy must abide by its agreements. This is precisely the position of the present government coalition agreement.
What irony! For Great Britain violated the San Remo international agreement, which incorporated the Balfour Declaration and which affirmed exclusive Jewish sovereignty over what is now called the "West Bank".
Quite apart from attorney Howard Grief's scholarly argument that the Oslo Accords, or the Israel-PLO Agreement of 1993, is itself a violation of international law (as well as of Israeli law), common sense tells us that no nation can be bound by an agreement which subsequently proves dangerous to its existence. It is not international law - nor is it simply economic interests - that prompts democratic America and democratic Europe to unite with Islamic despots against the Jewish State of Israel. More significant is the age-old hatred of Judaism, the greatest enemy of paganism, which still animates the nations of mankind.
Here, political science or the reform of Israel's flawed system of multiparty cabinet government is of limited value. Israel's needs a rebirth of freedom - the freedom Abraham initiated when he turned away from paganism and became a servant of God. This is the freedom Jews exalt on Passover.
At this crucial moment of history, in which the West is capitulating to Islam, I can only pray that God will endow Israel's new government with the wisdom and courage to hold the fort against the barbarians and their timid allies in the democratic world.
Prayer by the Jewish people and by their political leaders may well be the only authentic "realism".
(IsraelNN.com) Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's candor in his "maiden speech" was indeed refreshing. He said, inter alia, that the Palestinian Authority must fulfill all the requirements of the "Road Map" to a Palestinian state; which means there will be no Palestinian state. This is "realism." It means no end to the conflict - not if one takes Islam or Arab-Islamic culture seriously.
It is plain that the Obama administration and the European Union do not take Islam seriously, which is why they are demanding a Palestinian state immediately. Unconditional acceptance of a Palestinian state was the objective of the Annapolis Conference, which Mr. Lieberman rejected in his speech. In other words, he rejected unconditional surrender to Israel's enemy, the Fatah-Hamas Palestinian Authority.
Turn now, however, to President Barack Obama's visit to Saudi Arabia. That the President of the United States should genuflect from the waist down to Saudi King Abdullah signifies the (ignominious) unconditional surrender of the United States to Islam.
Mr. Obama's father was a Muslim (which makes him a Muslim). His mother, a secular Christian. Obama's bowing to King Abdullah signifies an alliance of Islam and the secularized Christian West against Judaism and the Jewish State of Israel.
This alliance may be said to have begun in 1975, when the United Nations declared Zionism a form of racism and subsequently endowed the Yasser Arafat-led PLO with "observer status". Thereafter, both the US and the EU rolled out the red carpet to Arafat. In violation of its agreement with Israel concerning the PLO, President Jimmy Carter allowed the PLO to establish an office in Washington, DC. PLO offices were also established in various European capitals. The two offspring of Judaism again bit the breasts that had suckled them.
All this is beyond the "realism" of Foreign Minister Lieberman. His realism merely elaborates Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's oft-repeated slogan of "reciprocity" (a term foreign to the Islamic mind). What Lieberman and Netanyahu fail to see is that their affirmation of a Palestinian state makes their realism impossible.
This affirmation has pernicious consequences. First, to say "yes" to an Arab-Islamic state in Judea and Samaria cannot but shrink and stultify the national identity of the Jewish people, as well as their confidence in the justice and nobility of Israel's cause. Acknowledging an Arab-Islamic state in Judea and Samaria - the heartland of the Jewish people - constitutes a public teaching to Jews and Gentiles alike that the Land of Israel does not belong exclusively to the Jewish people. This makes a mockery of the Torah and the teachings of the prophets and sages of Israel.
This teaching cannot but erode the historical memory of the Jewish people, since the teachings of their prophets and sages are intimately bound up with Judea and Samaria.
Second, nothing encourages the Arabs to persist in their genocidal objectives as much as the Jewish people's renunciation of their God-given and exclusive right to the Land of Israel. Affirming a Palestinian state not only arms Israel's Islamic enemies, it also undermines American and European support of Israel vis-a-vis the demands of those enemies. It is a confession of weakness. This weakness leads to almost irreversible errors.
For example, at the Likud central committee meeting that elected him as the party's chairman a few months before the June 1992 election, Mr. Netanyahu rejected a resolution to the effect that a Likud government would not be bound by any agreement that compromised Israel's security. He rejected this resolution on the fallacious grounds that a democracy must abide by its agreements. This is precisely the position of the present government coalition agreement.
What irony! For Great Britain violated the San Remo international agreement, which incorporated the Balfour Declaration and which affirmed exclusive Jewish sovereignty over what is now called the "West Bank".
Quite apart from attorney Howard Grief's scholarly argument that the Oslo Accords, or the Israel-PLO Agreement of 1993, is itself a violation of international law (as well as of Israeli law), common sense tells us that no nation can be bound by an agreement which subsequently proves dangerous to its existence. It is not international law - nor is it simply economic interests - that prompts democratic America and democratic Europe to unite with Islamic despots against the Jewish State of Israel. More significant is the age-old hatred of Judaism, the greatest enemy of paganism, which still animates the nations of mankind.
Here, political science or the reform of Israel's flawed system of multiparty cabinet government is of limited value. Israel's needs a rebirth of freedom - the freedom Abraham initiated when he turned away from paganism and became a servant of God. This is the freedom Jews exalt on Passover.
At this crucial moment of history, in which the West is capitulating to Islam, I can only pray that God will endow Israel's new government with the wisdom and courage to hold the fort against the barbarians and their timid allies in the democratic world.
Prayer by the Jewish people and by their political leaders may well be the only authentic "realism".
April 13, 2009
Beautiful Pesach Seder!
We (wife and daughter and I )were invited to Passover Seder by friends from Temple. They were very kind to invite us to our first Kosher Seder and I believe their first as a married couple.
My wife and I had enjoyed the Birchat Hachama prayer on our front porch earlier and felt rather good from that already.
We had decided to bring the desert for the Kosher Seder. The experience of shopping in Upstate NY for Kosher Baked goods was in itself reminiscent of being lost in the desert (not that I have been). There was no Bakery in Rochester, Syracuse, Ithaca etc....so we resigned ourselves to the local Grocery Stores. We really wanted to get something nice to contribute to the meal. We looked for the most appetizing things they offered and then we lowered our expectations. No really, the chocolate cake , macaroons were good, the Apple pie ...not so much.
The Seder was called for 6:30 and we were on time. The hosts were very excited because there was someone from LA, who called the Temple in need of a Seder and we were lucky enough to have her attend ours! She ended up getting lost, so we waited to start the Seder until 7:30. Everyone chatted and the time passed quickly, and then we began.
Now I must confess that in my own house the challenge with a Seder is how far you can get in the service before people start grumbling and simply want to eat. We knew this was going to be different. We all wanted to be there and to soak up the Mitzvah.
One of the interesting things that our hosts did was offer a bunch of different Haggadahs. We were all able to choose the one that suited us, gender friendly, translinear, Reform etc... As we did the Service we were constantly making sure we were all on the same page so to speak. Some Haggadahs had less etc. When it was time to open the door for Elijah, instead of filling his wine cup...we each dripped a little wine in the cup and stated how we were going to help the Jewish people more after this new beginning. We sang some creative songs and argued the meaning of the 4 Sons at length.
The service went beautifully and the food was excellent. The evening slid by quickly and the next thing we knew it was 12:30AM and we were saying goodbye!
All in All, the best Seder I had ever attended. It was draining and left us all very tired...as I guess it is supposed to!
I am still hoping for Jerusalem next year...I also hope it is still in Jewish hands!
Avi
My wife and I had enjoyed the Birchat Hachama prayer on our front porch earlier and felt rather good from that already.
We had decided to bring the desert for the Kosher Seder. The experience of shopping in Upstate NY for Kosher Baked goods was in itself reminiscent of being lost in the desert (not that I have been). There was no Bakery in Rochester, Syracuse, Ithaca etc....so we resigned ourselves to the local Grocery Stores. We really wanted to get something nice to contribute to the meal. We looked for the most appetizing things they offered and then we lowered our expectations. No really, the chocolate cake , macaroons were good, the Apple pie ...not so much.
The Seder was called for 6:30 and we were on time. The hosts were very excited because there was someone from LA, who called the Temple in need of a Seder and we were lucky enough to have her attend ours! She ended up getting lost, so we waited to start the Seder until 7:30. Everyone chatted and the time passed quickly, and then we began.
Now I must confess that in my own house the challenge with a Seder is how far you can get in the service before people start grumbling and simply want to eat. We knew this was going to be different. We all wanted to be there and to soak up the Mitzvah.
One of the interesting things that our hosts did was offer a bunch of different Haggadahs. We were all able to choose the one that suited us, gender friendly, translinear, Reform etc... As we did the Service we were constantly making sure we were all on the same page so to speak. Some Haggadahs had less etc. When it was time to open the door for Elijah, instead of filling his wine cup...we each dripped a little wine in the cup and stated how we were going to help the Jewish people more after this new beginning. We sang some creative songs and argued the meaning of the 4 Sons at length.
The service went beautifully and the food was excellent. The evening slid by quickly and the next thing we knew it was 12:30AM and we were saying goodbye!
All in All, the best Seder I had ever attended. It was draining and left us all very tired...as I guess it is supposed to!
I am still hoping for Jerusalem next year...I also hope it is still in Jewish hands!
Avi
Foundation for Constitutional Democracy
I am currently a Jewish American citizen living in upstate NY that learned about George Washington, not Ben Gurion growing up. So my experience in politics has been American and the style of Government we were taught in school was 100% Checks and Balances. I take for granted the way things work in the US and have always assumed it was the best way to run a Government. It seems that there are so many politicians that to form a conspiracy would take a gigantic effort...and would not be possible.
So when it came to "Democratic" Israel I understood that there was a difference in style of Government. I understood that Israeli's background models came from England, and so we have a Parliamentary style of Government. Israel is not a
Democracy because their is no represention for the people. The Government does not have to answer for anything they do.
Then I found out how the Supreme Court Justices are appointed in Israel.
The difference between voting for a candidate or a political party.
The way the police are manipulated like an internal military at the whim of the Government....makes it appear more like a mild police state.
The majority of the Jews in Israel are not Secular....they may not be Orthodox, but they are Jews. All Jews own Israel. That includes all of the Jews in the Diaspora...like me. My soul was part of the nation of Israel and was included. Currently my space in Israel is like a Condo in Miami I am not using.
So I have a very large interest in what happens to my Country and my land!!
Dr Paul Eidelberg of the Foundation for Constitutional Democracy has opened my eyes about a few things.
1) I supported Moshe Feiglin and Manhigut Yehudit and asked Dr. Paul Eidelberg his opinion of MY and why he did not support them. He informed me that the the whole basis for MY was based on a 10 page paper that Dr Eidelberg wrote 10 years ago and that he feels that Feiglin is a Reform Jew leading MY.
2) I then investigated FCD further. I began to see that the problem is not the Politicians in office in Israel, it is the system itself that corrupts people due to its very workings. The major problem in Israel is not the citizens, they are in effect powerless. it is clearly the current style of Government that creates crooks and power brokers.
3) http://www.foundation1.org/ - Check it out for yourself and then
4) Join the movement for the solution - http://futureisrael.org/
Then let me know what you think!
Avi
So when it came to "Democratic" Israel I understood that there was a difference in style of Government. I understood that Israeli's background models came from England, and so we have a Parliamentary style of Government. Israel is not a
Democracy because their is no represention for the people. The Government does not have to answer for anything they do.
Then I found out how the Supreme Court Justices are appointed in Israel.
The difference between voting for a candidate or a political party.
The way the police are manipulated like an internal military at the whim of the Government....makes it appear more like a mild police state.
The majority of the Jews in Israel are not Secular....they may not be Orthodox, but they are Jews. All Jews own Israel. That includes all of the Jews in the Diaspora...like me. My soul was part of the nation of Israel and was included. Currently my space in Israel is like a Condo in Miami I am not using.
So I have a very large interest in what happens to my Country and my land!!
Dr Paul Eidelberg of the Foundation for Constitutional Democracy has opened my eyes about a few things.
1) I supported Moshe Feiglin and Manhigut Yehudit and asked Dr. Paul Eidelberg his opinion of MY and why he did not support them. He informed me that the the whole basis for MY was based on a 10 page paper that Dr Eidelberg wrote 10 years ago and that he feels that Feiglin is a Reform Jew leading MY.
2) I then investigated FCD further. I began to see that the problem is not the Politicians in office in Israel, it is the system itself that corrupts people due to its very workings. The major problem in Israel is not the citizens, they are in effect powerless. it is clearly the current style of Government that creates crooks and power brokers.
3) http://www.foundation1.org/ - Check it out for yourself and then
4) Join the movement for the solution - http://futureisrael.org/
Then let me know what you think!
Avi
Column One: Surviving in a post-American world
Apr. 9, 2009
Caroline Glick , THE JERUSALEM POST
Like it or not, the United States of America is no longer the world's policeman. This was the message of Barack Obama's presidential journey to Britain, France, the Czech Republic, Turkey and Iraq this past week.
Somewhere between apologizing for American history - both distant and recent; genuflecting before the unelected, bigoted king of Saudi Arabia; announcing that he will slash the US's nuclear arsenal, scrap much of America's missile defense programs and emasculate the US Navy; leaving Japan to face North Korea and China alone; telling the Czechs, Poles and their fellow former Soviet colonies, "Don't worry, be happy," as he leaves them to Moscow's tender mercies; humiliating Iraq's leaders while kowtowing to Iran; preparing for an open confrontation with Israel; and thanking Islam for its great contribution to American history, President Obama made clear to the world's aggressors that America will not be confronting them for the foreseeable future.
Whether they are aggressors like Russia, proliferators like North Korea, terror exporters like nuclear-armed Pakistan or would-be genocidal-terror-supporting nuclear states like Iran, today, under the new administration, none of them has any reason to fear Washington.
This news is music to the ears of the American Left and their friends in Europe. Obama's supporters like billionaire George Soros couldn't be more excited at the self-induced demise of the American superpower. CNN's former (anti-)Israel bureau chief Walter Rodgers wrote ecstatically in the Christian Science Monitor on Wednesday, "America's... superpower status, is being downgraded as rapidly as its economy."
The pro-Obama US and European media are so pleased with America's abdication of power that they took the rare step of applauding Obama at his press conference in London. Indeed, the media's enthusiasm for Obama appeared to grow with each presidential statement of contrition for America's past uses of force, each savage attack he leveled against his predecessor George W. Bush, each swipe he took at Israel, and each statement of gratitude for the blessings of Islam he uttered.
But while the media couldn't get enough of the new US leader, America's most stable allies worldwide began a desperate search for a reset button that would cause the administration to take back its abandonment of America's role as the protector of the free world.
Tokyo was distraught by the administration's reaction to North Korea's three-stage ballistic missile test. Japan recognized the betrayal inherent in Defense Secretary Robert Gates's announcement ahead Pyongyang's newest provocation that the US would only shoot the missile down if it targeted US territory. In one sentence, uttered not in secret consultations, but declared to the world on CNN, Gates abrogated America's strategic commitment to Japan's defense.
India, for its part, is concerned by Obama's repeated assertions that its refusal to transfer control over the disputed Jammu and Kashmir provinces to Pakistan inspires Pakistani terror against India. It is equally distressed at the Obama administration's refusal to make ending Pakistan's support for jihadist terror groups attacking India a central component of its strategy for contending with Pakistan and Afghanistan. In general, Indian officials have expressed deep concern over the Obama administration's apparent lack of regard for India as an ally and a significant strategic counterweight to China.
Then there is Iraq. During his brief visit to Baghdad on Tuesday afternoon, Obama didn't even pretend that he would ensure that Iraqi democracy and freedom is secured before US forces are withdrawn next year. The most supportive statement he could muster came during his conversation with Turkish students in Istanbul earlier in the day. There he said, "I have a responsibility to make sure that as we bring troops out, that we do so in a careful enough way that we don't see a complete collapse into violence."
Hearing Obama's statements, and watching him and his advisers make daily declarations of friendship to Iran's mullahs, Iraqi leaders are considering their options for surviving the rapidly approaching storm.
Then there is Europe. Although Obama received enthusiastic applause from his audience in Prague when he announced his intention to destroy the US's nuclear arsenal, drastically scale back its missile defense programs and forge a new alliance with Russia, his words were anything but music to the ears of the leaders of former Soviet satellites threatened by Russia. The Czech, Polish, Georgian and Ukrainian governments were quick to recognize that Obama's strong desire to curry favor with the Kremlin and weaken his own country will imperil their ability to withstand Russian aggression.
It is not a coincidence, for instance, that the day Obama returned to Washington, Georgia's Moscow-sponsored opposition announced its plan to launch massive protests in Tblisi to force the ouster of pro-Western, anti-Russian Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.
And as for Russia, like Iran, which responded to Obama's latest ode to the mullahs by opening a nuclear fuel plant and announcing it has 7,000 advanced centrifuges in operation, so Moscow reacted to Obama's fig leaf with a machine gun, announcing its refusal to support sanctions against North Korea and repeating its false claim that Iran's nuclear program is nonaggressive.
Finally there is Israel. If Obama's assertions that Israel must support the immediate establishment of a Palestinian state, his declarations of support for the so-called Saudi "peace plan," which requires Israel to commit national suicide in exchange for "peace" with the Arab world, and his continuous and increasingly frantic appeals for Iran to "engage" his administration weren't enough to show Israel that Obama is sacrificing the US's alliance with the Jewish state in a bid to appease the Arabs and Iran, on Tuesday Vice President Joseph Biden made this policy explicit.
When Biden told CNN that Israel would be "ill-advised" to attack Iran's nuclear installations, he made clear that from the administration's perspective, an Israeli strike that prevents Iran from becoming a nuclear power is less acceptable than a nuclear-armed Iran. That is, the Obama administration prefers to see Iran become a nuclear power than to see Israel secure its very existence.
AMERICA'S BETRAYAL of its democratic allies makes each of them more vulnerable to aggression at the hands of their enemies - enemies the Obama administration is now actively attempting to appease. And as the US strengthens their adversaries at their expense, these spurned democracies must consider their options for surviving as free societies in this new, threatening, post-American environment.
For the most part, America's scorned allies lack the ability to defeat their enemies on their own. India cannot easily defeat nuclear-armed Pakistan, which itself is fragmenting into disparate anti-Indian nuclear-wielding Islamist and Islamist-supporting factions.
Japan today cannot face North Korea - which acts as a Chinese proxy - on its own without risking a confrontation with China. Russia's invasion of Georgia last August showed clearly that its former republics and satellites have no way of escaping Moscow's grip alone. This week's Arab League conference at Doha demonstrated to Iraq's leaders that their Arab brethren are incapable and unwilling to confront Iran.
And the Obama administration's intense efforts to woo Iran coupled with its plan to slash the US's missile defense programs - including those in which Israel participates - and reportedly pressure Israel to dismantle its own purported nuclear arsenal - make clear that Israel today stands alone against Iran.
THE RISKS that the newly inaugurated post-American world pose for America's threatened friends are clear. But viable opportunities for survival do exist, and Israel can and must play a central role in developing them. Specifically, Israel must move swiftly to develop active strategic alliances with Japan, Iraq, Poland, and the Czech Republic and it must expand its alliance with India.
With Israel's technological capabilities, its intelligence and military expertise, it can play a vital role in shoring up these countries' capacities to contain the rogue states that threaten them. And by containing the likes of Russia, North Korea and Pakistan, they will make it easier for Israel to contain Iran even in the face of US support for the mullahs.
The possibilities for strategic cooperation between and among all of these states and Israel run the gamut from intelligence sharing to military training, to missile defense, naval development, satellite collaboration, to nuclear cooperation. In addition, of course, expanded economic ties between and among these states can aid each of them in the struggle to stay afloat during the current global economic crisis.
Although far from risk free, these opportunities are realistic because they are founded on stable, shared interests. This is the case despite the fact that none of these potential alliances will likely amount to increased support for Israel in international forums. Dependent as they are on Arab oil, these potential allies cannot be expected to vote with Israel in the UN General Assembly. But this should not concern Jerusalem.
The only thing that should concern Jerusalem today is how to weaken Iran both directly by attacking its nuclear installations, and indirectly by weakening its international partners in Moscow, Pyongyang, Islamabad and beyond in the absence of US support. If Japan is able to contain North Korea and so limit Pyongyang's freedom to proliferate its nuclear weapons and missiles to Iran and Syria and beyond, Israel is better off. So, too, Israel is better off if Russia is contained by democratic governments in Eastern and Central Europe. These nations in turn are better off if Iran is contained and prevented from threatening them both directly and indirectly through its strategic partners in North Korea, Syria and Russia, and its terror affiliates in Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
For the past 16 years, successive Israeli governments have wrongly believed that politics trump strategic interests. The notion that informed Israel's decision-makers - not unlike the notion that now informs the Obama administration - was that Israel's strategic interests would be secured as a consequence of its efforts to appease its enemies by weakening itself. Appreciative of Israel's sacrifices for peace, the nations of the world - and particularly the US, the Arabs and Europe - would come to Israel's defense in its hour of need. Now that the hour of need has arrived, Israel's political strategy for securing itself has been exposed as a complete fiasco.
The good news is that no doubt sooner rather than later, Obama's similarly disastrous bid to denude the US of its military power under the naive assumption that it will be able to use its new stature as a morally pure strategic weakling to win its enemies over to its side will fail spectacularly and America's foreign policy will revert to strategic rationality.
But to survive the current period of American strategic madness, Israel and the US's other unwanted allies must build alliances with one another - covertly if need be - to contain their adversaries in the absence of America. If they do so successfully, then the damage to global security induced by Obama's emasculation of his country will be limited. If on the other hand, they fail, then America's eventual return to its senses will likely come too late for its allies - if not for America itself.
Caroline Glick , THE JERUSALEM POST
Like it or not, the United States of America is no longer the world's policeman. This was the message of Barack Obama's presidential journey to Britain, France, the Czech Republic, Turkey and Iraq this past week.
Somewhere between apologizing for American history - both distant and recent; genuflecting before the unelected, bigoted king of Saudi Arabia; announcing that he will slash the US's nuclear arsenal, scrap much of America's missile defense programs and emasculate the US Navy; leaving Japan to face North Korea and China alone; telling the Czechs, Poles and their fellow former Soviet colonies, "Don't worry, be happy," as he leaves them to Moscow's tender mercies; humiliating Iraq's leaders while kowtowing to Iran; preparing for an open confrontation with Israel; and thanking Islam for its great contribution to American history, President Obama made clear to the world's aggressors that America will not be confronting them for the foreseeable future.
Whether they are aggressors like Russia, proliferators like North Korea, terror exporters like nuclear-armed Pakistan or would-be genocidal-terror-supporting nuclear states like Iran, today, under the new administration, none of them has any reason to fear Washington.
This news is music to the ears of the American Left and their friends in Europe. Obama's supporters like billionaire George Soros couldn't be more excited at the self-induced demise of the American superpower. CNN's former (anti-)Israel bureau chief Walter Rodgers wrote ecstatically in the Christian Science Monitor on Wednesday, "America's... superpower status, is being downgraded as rapidly as its economy."
The pro-Obama US and European media are so pleased with America's abdication of power that they took the rare step of applauding Obama at his press conference in London. Indeed, the media's enthusiasm for Obama appeared to grow with each presidential statement of contrition for America's past uses of force, each savage attack he leveled against his predecessor George W. Bush, each swipe he took at Israel, and each statement of gratitude for the blessings of Islam he uttered.
But while the media couldn't get enough of the new US leader, America's most stable allies worldwide began a desperate search for a reset button that would cause the administration to take back its abandonment of America's role as the protector of the free world.
Tokyo was distraught by the administration's reaction to North Korea's three-stage ballistic missile test. Japan recognized the betrayal inherent in Defense Secretary Robert Gates's announcement ahead Pyongyang's newest provocation that the US would only shoot the missile down if it targeted US territory. In one sentence, uttered not in secret consultations, but declared to the world on CNN, Gates abrogated America's strategic commitment to Japan's defense.
India, for its part, is concerned by Obama's repeated assertions that its refusal to transfer control over the disputed Jammu and Kashmir provinces to Pakistan inspires Pakistani terror against India. It is equally distressed at the Obama administration's refusal to make ending Pakistan's support for jihadist terror groups attacking India a central component of its strategy for contending with Pakistan and Afghanistan. In general, Indian officials have expressed deep concern over the Obama administration's apparent lack of regard for India as an ally and a significant strategic counterweight to China.
Then there is Iraq. During his brief visit to Baghdad on Tuesday afternoon, Obama didn't even pretend that he would ensure that Iraqi democracy and freedom is secured before US forces are withdrawn next year. The most supportive statement he could muster came during his conversation with Turkish students in Istanbul earlier in the day. There he said, "I have a responsibility to make sure that as we bring troops out, that we do so in a careful enough way that we don't see a complete collapse into violence."
Hearing Obama's statements, and watching him and his advisers make daily declarations of friendship to Iran's mullahs, Iraqi leaders are considering their options for surviving the rapidly approaching storm.
Then there is Europe. Although Obama received enthusiastic applause from his audience in Prague when he announced his intention to destroy the US's nuclear arsenal, drastically scale back its missile defense programs and forge a new alliance with Russia, his words were anything but music to the ears of the leaders of former Soviet satellites threatened by Russia. The Czech, Polish, Georgian and Ukrainian governments were quick to recognize that Obama's strong desire to curry favor with the Kremlin and weaken his own country will imperil their ability to withstand Russian aggression.
It is not a coincidence, for instance, that the day Obama returned to Washington, Georgia's Moscow-sponsored opposition announced its plan to launch massive protests in Tblisi to force the ouster of pro-Western, anti-Russian Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.
And as for Russia, like Iran, which responded to Obama's latest ode to the mullahs by opening a nuclear fuel plant and announcing it has 7,000 advanced centrifuges in operation, so Moscow reacted to Obama's fig leaf with a machine gun, announcing its refusal to support sanctions against North Korea and repeating its false claim that Iran's nuclear program is nonaggressive.
Finally there is Israel. If Obama's assertions that Israel must support the immediate establishment of a Palestinian state, his declarations of support for the so-called Saudi "peace plan," which requires Israel to commit national suicide in exchange for "peace" with the Arab world, and his continuous and increasingly frantic appeals for Iran to "engage" his administration weren't enough to show Israel that Obama is sacrificing the US's alliance with the Jewish state in a bid to appease the Arabs and Iran, on Tuesday Vice President Joseph Biden made this policy explicit.
When Biden told CNN that Israel would be "ill-advised" to attack Iran's nuclear installations, he made clear that from the administration's perspective, an Israeli strike that prevents Iran from becoming a nuclear power is less acceptable than a nuclear-armed Iran. That is, the Obama administration prefers to see Iran become a nuclear power than to see Israel secure its very existence.
AMERICA'S BETRAYAL of its democratic allies makes each of them more vulnerable to aggression at the hands of their enemies - enemies the Obama administration is now actively attempting to appease. And as the US strengthens their adversaries at their expense, these spurned democracies must consider their options for surviving as free societies in this new, threatening, post-American environment.
For the most part, America's scorned allies lack the ability to defeat their enemies on their own. India cannot easily defeat nuclear-armed Pakistan, which itself is fragmenting into disparate anti-Indian nuclear-wielding Islamist and Islamist-supporting factions.
Japan today cannot face North Korea - which acts as a Chinese proxy - on its own without risking a confrontation with China. Russia's invasion of Georgia last August showed clearly that its former republics and satellites have no way of escaping Moscow's grip alone. This week's Arab League conference at Doha demonstrated to Iraq's leaders that their Arab brethren are incapable and unwilling to confront Iran.
And the Obama administration's intense efforts to woo Iran coupled with its plan to slash the US's missile defense programs - including those in which Israel participates - and reportedly pressure Israel to dismantle its own purported nuclear arsenal - make clear that Israel today stands alone against Iran.
THE RISKS that the newly inaugurated post-American world pose for America's threatened friends are clear. But viable opportunities for survival do exist, and Israel can and must play a central role in developing them. Specifically, Israel must move swiftly to develop active strategic alliances with Japan, Iraq, Poland, and the Czech Republic and it must expand its alliance with India.
With Israel's technological capabilities, its intelligence and military expertise, it can play a vital role in shoring up these countries' capacities to contain the rogue states that threaten them. And by containing the likes of Russia, North Korea and Pakistan, they will make it easier for Israel to contain Iran even in the face of US support for the mullahs.
The possibilities for strategic cooperation between and among all of these states and Israel run the gamut from intelligence sharing to military training, to missile defense, naval development, satellite collaboration, to nuclear cooperation. In addition, of course, expanded economic ties between and among these states can aid each of them in the struggle to stay afloat during the current global economic crisis.
Although far from risk free, these opportunities are realistic because they are founded on stable, shared interests. This is the case despite the fact that none of these potential alliances will likely amount to increased support for Israel in international forums. Dependent as they are on Arab oil, these potential allies cannot be expected to vote with Israel in the UN General Assembly. But this should not concern Jerusalem.
The only thing that should concern Jerusalem today is how to weaken Iran both directly by attacking its nuclear installations, and indirectly by weakening its international partners in Moscow, Pyongyang, Islamabad and beyond in the absence of US support. If Japan is able to contain North Korea and so limit Pyongyang's freedom to proliferate its nuclear weapons and missiles to Iran and Syria and beyond, Israel is better off. So, too, Israel is better off if Russia is contained by democratic governments in Eastern and Central Europe. These nations in turn are better off if Iran is contained and prevented from threatening them both directly and indirectly through its strategic partners in North Korea, Syria and Russia, and its terror affiliates in Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
For the past 16 years, successive Israeli governments have wrongly believed that politics trump strategic interests. The notion that informed Israel's decision-makers - not unlike the notion that now informs the Obama administration - was that Israel's strategic interests would be secured as a consequence of its efforts to appease its enemies by weakening itself. Appreciative of Israel's sacrifices for peace, the nations of the world - and particularly the US, the Arabs and Europe - would come to Israel's defense in its hour of need. Now that the hour of need has arrived, Israel's political strategy for securing itself has been exposed as a complete fiasco.
The good news is that no doubt sooner rather than later, Obama's similarly disastrous bid to denude the US of its military power under the naive assumption that it will be able to use its new stature as a morally pure strategic weakling to win its enemies over to its side will fail spectacularly and America's foreign policy will revert to strategic rationality.
But to survive the current period of American strategic madness, Israel and the US's other unwanted allies must build alliances with one another - covertly if need be - to contain their adversaries in the absence of America. If they do so successfully, then the damage to global security induced by Obama's emasculation of his country will be limited. If on the other hand, they fail, then America's eventual return to its senses will likely come too late for its allies - if not for America itself.
Will Netanyahu Let Us Rebuild Yad Ya'ir?
Marchers Test Netanyahu: Will He Let Us Rebuild Yad Ya'ir?
Nisan 19, 5769, 13 April 09 12:11
by Hillel Fendel
(IsraelNN.com) Hundreds of people have begun a Passover holiday march to Yad Ya’ir, an 18-year-old neighborhood that was destroyed seven months ago by the Olmert-Barak government.
At 4 PM, a major event will be held at Yad Ya’ir, near Dolev in the Binyamin region of southern Samaria. Public figures including rabbis and Knesset Members will be in attendance. Monday is the 18th anniversary of the establishment of Yad Ya’ir, marking the murder of Dolev resident Ya’ir Mendelson by Arab terrorists.
March to Resettle
The area, which is owned by Jews, had been torched and vandalized by local Arabs several times before IDF Division Commander Brig.-Gen. Noam Tivon ordered the town’s destruction last September. The marchers say they are paving the way for Jews to resettle the sight.
It took the IDF two days to demolish the tiny town. The army first arrived with a force of soldiers and demolition equipment, but called off its plans when it understood the size of the crowd standing ready to protect the town - some 300 Jews from the nearby Jewish towns of Dolev, Talmon, Neriah and others. Two days later, the army arrived in larger numbers and did the deed - even though word of a Supreme Court ruling to delay the action until 4 PM that day had already been received.
The army later claimed that the fax machine didn't work and that the order was not received until it was too late.
Test for the Netanyahu Gov’t
"We still hope to return," a former resident stated recently. Monday’s marchers are hoping to lay the groundwork for just such a return. “We have not given up on Yad Ya’ir,” organizers of the march said, “and we plan to return and settle the area once again. This will be a major test of the Netanyahu government, to see if it puts an end to the leftist policies that allowed unrestrained illegal Arab construction while forbidding Jews to build legally.”
Meir Goldmintz, a long-time resident of Yad Ya’ir, told the story of its establishment in memory of a terrorist victim, its abandonment by the army, the Arab vandalism it suffered, and its ultimate destruction by Israeli forces – despite ongoing negotiations for its peaceful relocation.
Shortly before Passover 1991, after Dolev resident Yair Mendelson was murdered, his neighbors wished to establish a community on the site of the murder, in keeping with the tradition of "a proper Zionist response." However, then-Defense Minister Moshe Arens of the Likud refused. After a protracted struggle, it was decided to establish a military base there.
Building the Site
"Over the years," Goldmintz said, "a park was also built there, on lands that were purchased from their Arab owners. For years, the Yad Yair group worked on building up a vibrant Jewish presence there: prayers, Torah classes, activities. A monument to Yair was erected, as were a playground for children, a plaza, and a synagogue. Cakes and other foodstuffs were given out to soldiers on Purim and other occasions, we lit Chanukah candles there, and more. The high point was our yearly springtime event, in which hundreds of people would take part."
The army abandoned the site circa 2004, Goldmintz said: “Thus began a period of constant Arab vandalism, which the army did not 'succeed' in preventing. Over the course of time, the electric grid was destroyed, the synagogue was looted, the monument was defaced, and the synagogue was set ablaze no fewer than three times."
"Finally, we realized that we would have to do something, and we decided to actualize our right to the land - and start our own town there. We [finally did this] after a group of leftists and Arabs arrived on the scene, set fire to the synagogue, and even replaced the Israeli flags with PLO flags...
"In response, our family [Meir, his wife Chana and four children] moved to the site, together with a group of students from Yeshivat Nachliel. It required great self-sacrifice, as well as financial resources. The yeshiva helped out and held classes there, and nearby communities helped with fuel for the generator, guards, food for the yeshiva students, etc. But we still had to deal with problems such as minimal housing conditions, getting back and forth to work and school, etc.
"We lived in a container of only 12 square meters (120 square feet), without showers and with no room for furniture; we left the refrigerator and table outside. Every night we would spread out the mattresses on the floor, and in the morning we would pile them up again."
Meir said that most of the army officers recognized the importance of the location, "and they sent frequent patrols, and even held exercises there. Don't forget, it's only 100 meters from the outlying homes of Ramallah..."
One of the hardships the family faced was travelling 20 minutes back and forth to their home community of Haresha, "for showers, laundry, and even for the children to be with friends."
Illegal Destruction
The actual destruction of this budding Jewish neighborhood - four buildings and two more under construction - "was also illegal," Meir said, "in that a person may not be forcibly removed from his residence if he has been living there for 30 days, without a legal hearing beforehand. In addition, they ignored the Supreme Court ruling ordering them to delay the demolition."
Dolev and Yad Yair are located just a few minutes’ drive away from Beit El and other eastern Binyamin towns – but the trip now takes about an hour. This, due to the closing of the road linking them several years ago, because of security considerations. Children who learned in Beit El and workers with jobs in eastern Binyamin were forced to change their lives when access to these areas was abruptly cut off. The women of MachsomWatch raised no uproar at the “harm to the quality of life” of the Jewish pioneers.
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Attacking Sderot From DePaul U.
Attacking Sderot From DePaul U.
Nisan 16, 5769, 10 April 09
by Jacob Shrybman
(IsraelNN.com) Last month, I shared the human side of the conflict in southern Israel and told my personal stories from Sderot in a presentation at DePaul University in Chicago sponsored by StandWithUs, Hillel and the university's Political Science department. As a representative of Sderot Media Center, I traveled from Israel to explain the daily reality of rocket fire that has been plaguing the country for the past eight years. Because of the overshadowing anti-Semitic harassment and disruption caused by pro-Hamas student and non-student organizations, my message of understanding and empathy for the people of southern Israel has not yet permeated people's minds.
I wasn't 30 hours off the plane from Israel before I was greeted with more direct anti-Semitism than Kassam rockets have been fired at Sderot. Several anti-Israel posters draped the entrance to the building in which I was to tell my personal stories. I began my presentation with a small audience of around 20 people. As my presentation went on, the room began filling with people not merely against Israel's political policies and action, but people in clear support of the terrorist organization Hamas.
When I welcomed the custom of a question-and-answer period following my presentation, the very right of free speech that I welcomed for the audience of now over 100 people was thrown in my face and denied to me. To start the question-and-answer period, an audience member verbally attacked me, stated his support for the firing of rockets into Israel, and ended his anti-Semitic rhetoric-filled rant with a question irrelevant to anything in my presentation. I then pointed out to the audience that this person was not simply criticizing Israel, but was clearly expressing his support for the terrorists of Hamas. Before I could finish answering the question that was underneath all the threatening hate-filled propaganda in this audience member's statement, I was interrupted and silenced by the overwhelming Hamas supporters. Another audience member rose up in the front of the room and screamed out, calling me a "dirty whore" in Arabic and proceeded to grab his crotch and scream, "Here's your Kassam!" in Arabic.
My free speech was denied, I was not able to utter a word and the event was shut down. As I was collecting my belongings amidst the continuing anti-Semitic harassment, a small minority of audience members who were interested by my presentation approached me. They expressed their resentment for the interruption and their fear to speak out. The local police, teamed with university security, had to then escort me to my car several blocks down the street. The unceasing preaching of common anti-Semitic rhetoric, personal harassment and clear signs of solidarity with a terrorist organization successfully hijacked the event.
As I told of the human side of the daily reality of rockets, the Hamas supporters laughed at raw footage of kindergarten children running for shelter as a Kassam rocket was fired at their city. If it wasn't clear before, it was clear to me then that these people were not there to learn about this reality, or gain understanding of the trauma and suffering in southern Israel, or even object to any of my presentations of personal stories. They were there for the sole reason that it was an event about the Jewish State of Israel, to whose existence they visibly objected. How was I even to proceed with promoting human understanding if the unruly crowd didn't even recognize my basic right as a Jew to live in Israel?
Afterwards, I answered email after email, phone call after phone call, from everyone ranging from people at the event to the event organizers, to reporters and journalists, to heads of major organizations. It is saddening that not one of the emails or phone calls has been regarding the fact that more than three out four children in Sderot have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), or that now one million Israelis live under the daily threat of rockets. No one remembers the story I told of the baby in the stroller gasping while pointing to the sky as the Color Red alarm sounded in downtown Sderot. The message I brought from Israel was lost.
For the past eight years, the rockets fired into southern Israel have been acceptable in the eyes of the world. It is more saddening that the longer anti-Semitic harassment and overwhelming hate-filled propaganda is commonplace in cities and college campuses across the globe, the more the targeting of innocent Israelis by terrorist rocket fire is accepted.
End the Illegal Occupations!
End the Illegal Occupations!
Nisan 16, 5769, 10 April 09
by Prof. Steven Plaut
(IsraelNN.com) So let us see if we have this straight. The anti-Zionists claim that the Jews have no right to the land of Israel because before Israel was re-created in 1948, it had been almost 1,900 years since the last time Jews exercised sovereignty over the Land of Israel. And the anti-Zionists claim that it is absurd to argue that anyone still has rights to land that was last governed with sovereignty 1,900 years ago.
And on what basis do they argue that the Arabs have some legitimate claim to these same lands? On the basis of the claim that the Arabs last exercised sovereignty over that land 1,000 years ago.
You all with me? 1,900-year-old-claims are inadmissible. Thousand-year-old claims trump them and are indisputable.
Now let us emphasize that even the thousand-year-old Arab claim is not the same thing as a claim on behalf of Palestinian Arabs. After all, the last time that Palestinian Arabs held sovereignty over the lands of "Palestine" was... never. There has never been a Palestinian Arab state in Palestine.
Ever.
It is true that Arabs once exercised sovereignty over parts or all of historic Palestine. There were small Arab kingdoms in the south of "Palestine" already in late Biblical days, and they were important military and political allies of the Jews, who exercised sovereignty back then in the Land of Israel. After the rise of Islam, historic "Palestine" was indeed part of a larger Arab kingdom or caliphate. But that ended in 1071, when Palestine came under the rule of the Seljuk Turks. That was the last time Palestine had an Arab ruler. After that, it was always ruled by a long series of Ottomans, Mamluks, other Turks, Crusaders, British and - briefly - French.
In any case, why does the fact that Palestine once belonged to a larger Arab empire make it any more "Arab" than the fact that it also was once part of larger Roman, Greek, Persian, Turkish or British empires?
Now, it is true that Palestine probably once had a population majority who were Arabs, but today it has a population majority who are Jews. So if population majorities are what determine legitimacy of sovereignty, then Israel is at least as legitimate as any other country.
So why exactly do the anti-Zionists claim that a thousand-year-old claim by Arabs, who were never ruled by Palestinian Arabs, has legitimacy, while a 1,900-year claim by Jews to the land should be rejected as absurd, even though the United Nations granted Israel sovereignty in 1947? The anti-Zionists say it is because the thousand-year-old Arab claim is more recent than the older Jewish claim. But if national claims to lands become more legitimate when they are more recent, then surely the most legitimate claim of all is that of the Jews of Israel to the lands of Israel - because it is the most recent.
The other claim by the anti-Zionists is that Jews have no rights to the lands of Israel (historic Palestine) because they moved here from some other places. Never mind that there was actually always a Jewish minority living in the lands of Israel even when it was under the sovereignty of Romans, Greeks, Arabs, Crusaders, Turks or British. Does the fact that Jews moved to the land of Israel from other places disqualify them from exercising sovereignty there?
The claim would be absurd enough even if we were to ignore that fact that most "Palestinian Arabs" also moved to Palestine from neighboring countries, starting in the late nineteenth century. But more generally, does the fact that a people moves from one locality to another deprive it of its claims to legitimate sovereignty in its new abode? Does this fact necessitate the conclusion that they need to pack up and leave, as the anti-Zionists insist?
If it does, then it goes without saying that the Americans and Canadians must lead the way and show the Israelis the light, by returning all lands that they seized from the Indians and the Mexicans to their original owners and going back whence they came. For that matter, the Mexicans of Spanish ancestry also need to leave.
The Anglo-Saxons, meaning the English, will be invited to turn the British isles over to their rightful original Celtic and Druid owners, while they return to their own ancestral Saxon homeland in northern Germany and Denmark. The Danes, of course, will be asked to move aside; in fact, to move back to their Norwegian and Swedish homelands to make room for the returning Anglo-Saxons.
But that is just a beginning. The Spanish will be called upon to leave the Iberian peninsula that they wrongfully occupy and return it to the Celtiberians. Similarly, the Portuguese occupiers will leave their lands and return them to the Lusitanians. The Magyars will go back where they came from and leave Hungary to its true owners.
The Australians and New Zealanders obviously will have to end their occupations of lands that do not belong to them. The Thais will leave Thailand. The Bulgarians will return to their Volga homeland and abandon occupied Bulgaria. Anyone speaking Spanish will be expected to end his or her forced occupation of Latin America.
It goes without saying that the French will lose almost all their lands to their rightful owners. The Turks will go back to Mongolia and leave Anatolia altogether, returning it to the Greeks. The Germans will go back to Gotland. The Italians will return the boot to the Etruscans and Greeks.
Ah, but that leaves the Arabs. First, all of northern Africa, from Mauritania to Egypt and Sudan, will have to be immediately abandoned by the illegal Arab occupiers and squatters, and returned to their lawful original Berber, Punic, Greek and Vandal owners. Occupied Syria and Lebanon must be released at once from the cruel occupation of the Arab imperialist aggressors. Iraq must be returned to the Assyrians and Chaldeans. Southern Arabia must be returned to the Abyssinians. The Arabs may retain control of the central portion of the Arabian peninsula as their homeland. But not the oil fields.
Oh, and the Palestinian infiltrators, usurpers and squatters will, of course, have to return the lands they are illegally and wrongfully occupying, turning them over to their legal and rightful owners - which would be, of course, the Jews.
And right after all this, Israel will be happy to implement the Road Map in full.
Nisan 16, 5769, 10 April 09
by Prof. Steven Plaut
(IsraelNN.com) So let us see if we have this straight. The anti-Zionists claim that the Jews have no right to the land of Israel because before Israel was re-created in 1948, it had been almost 1,900 years since the last time Jews exercised sovereignty over the Land of Israel. And the anti-Zionists claim that it is absurd to argue that anyone still has rights to land that was last governed with sovereignty 1,900 years ago.
And on what basis do they argue that the Arabs have some legitimate claim to these same lands? On the basis of the claim that the Arabs last exercised sovereignty over that land 1,000 years ago.
You all with me? 1,900-year-old-claims are inadmissible. Thousand-year-old claims trump them and are indisputable.
Now let us emphasize that even the thousand-year-old Arab claim is not the same thing as a claim on behalf of Palestinian Arabs. After all, the last time that Palestinian Arabs held sovereignty over the lands of "Palestine" was... never. There has never been a Palestinian Arab state in Palestine.
Ever.
It is true that Arabs once exercised sovereignty over parts or all of historic Palestine. There were small Arab kingdoms in the south of "Palestine" already in late Biblical days, and they were important military and political allies of the Jews, who exercised sovereignty back then in the Land of Israel. After the rise of Islam, historic "Palestine" was indeed part of a larger Arab kingdom or caliphate. But that ended in 1071, when Palestine came under the rule of the Seljuk Turks. That was the last time Palestine had an Arab ruler. After that, it was always ruled by a long series of Ottomans, Mamluks, other Turks, Crusaders, British and - briefly - French.
In any case, why does the fact that Palestine once belonged to a larger Arab empire make it any more "Arab" than the fact that it also was once part of larger Roman, Greek, Persian, Turkish or British empires?
Now, it is true that Palestine probably once had a population majority who were Arabs, but today it has a population majority who are Jews. So if population majorities are what determine legitimacy of sovereignty, then Israel is at least as legitimate as any other country.
So why exactly do the anti-Zionists claim that a thousand-year-old claim by Arabs, who were never ruled by Palestinian Arabs, has legitimacy, while a 1,900-year claim by Jews to the land should be rejected as absurd, even though the United Nations granted Israel sovereignty in 1947? The anti-Zionists say it is because the thousand-year-old Arab claim is more recent than the older Jewish claim. But if national claims to lands become more legitimate when they are more recent, then surely the most legitimate claim of all is that of the Jews of Israel to the lands of Israel - because it is the most recent.
The other claim by the anti-Zionists is that Jews have no rights to the lands of Israel (historic Palestine) because they moved here from some other places. Never mind that there was actually always a Jewish minority living in the lands of Israel even when it was under the sovereignty of Romans, Greeks, Arabs, Crusaders, Turks or British. Does the fact that Jews moved to the land of Israel from other places disqualify them from exercising sovereignty there?
The claim would be absurd enough even if we were to ignore that fact that most "Palestinian Arabs" also moved to Palestine from neighboring countries, starting in the late nineteenth century. But more generally, does the fact that a people moves from one locality to another deprive it of its claims to legitimate sovereignty in its new abode? Does this fact necessitate the conclusion that they need to pack up and leave, as the anti-Zionists insist?
If it does, then it goes without saying that the Americans and Canadians must lead the way and show the Israelis the light, by returning all lands that they seized from the Indians and the Mexicans to their original owners and going back whence they came. For that matter, the Mexicans of Spanish ancestry also need to leave.
The Anglo-Saxons, meaning the English, will be invited to turn the British isles over to their rightful original Celtic and Druid owners, while they return to their own ancestral Saxon homeland in northern Germany and Denmark. The Danes, of course, will be asked to move aside; in fact, to move back to their Norwegian and Swedish homelands to make room for the returning Anglo-Saxons.
But that is just a beginning. The Spanish will be called upon to leave the Iberian peninsula that they wrongfully occupy and return it to the Celtiberians. Similarly, the Portuguese occupiers will leave their lands and return them to the Lusitanians. The Magyars will go back where they came from and leave Hungary to its true owners.
The Australians and New Zealanders obviously will have to end their occupations of lands that do not belong to them. The Thais will leave Thailand. The Bulgarians will return to their Volga homeland and abandon occupied Bulgaria. Anyone speaking Spanish will be expected to end his or her forced occupation of Latin America.
It goes without saying that the French will lose almost all their lands to their rightful owners. The Turks will go back to Mongolia and leave Anatolia altogether, returning it to the Greeks. The Germans will go back to Gotland. The Italians will return the boot to the Etruscans and Greeks.
Ah, but that leaves the Arabs. First, all of northern Africa, from Mauritania to Egypt and Sudan, will have to be immediately abandoned by the illegal Arab occupiers and squatters, and returned to their lawful original Berber, Punic, Greek and Vandal owners. Occupied Syria and Lebanon must be released at once from the cruel occupation of the Arab imperialist aggressors. Iraq must be returned to the Assyrians and Chaldeans. Southern Arabia must be returned to the Abyssinians. The Arabs may retain control of the central portion of the Arabian peninsula as their homeland. But not the oil fields.
Oh, and the Palestinian infiltrators, usurpers and squatters will, of course, have to return the lands they are illegally and wrongfully occupying, turning them over to their legal and rightful owners - which would be, of course, the Jews.
And right after all this, Israel will be happy to implement the Road Map in full.
April 7, 2009
The Temple Mount Antiquities Salvage Operation
Archaeology, Temple Mount, Jerusalem, archaeological destruction, Israel
http://templemount.wordpress.com/
Last Wednesday we transferred two truckloads of dirt, possibly remains of First and Second Temple garbage dumps, to our sifting site in Emek Zurim Park. On the eastern slopes of the Temple Mount, in the area beneath the Ophel Street, there is a closed garden owned by the Franciscan Church. For a long time I have considered examining these slopes, since I believe they might contain debris from the Temple Mount that washed down after the collapse of the compound walls during the destruction of the First Temple. In addition, I believe that some original Temple dumps might be located at that area.
During the last two weeks major renovations were begun in preparation for a Pontifical Mass that will take place in this area during Pope Benedict’s planned visit to Israel in May. These renovations required some digs into the terraces at the site. These digs are supervised by an Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) inspector to ensure that no archaeological remains are damaged. At the location where a restroom compound was planned, the contractor dug deep into the terrace, revealing a section of the slope in which various layers could be seen. Among them was a layer of a Second Temple Period dump similar to those on nearby ancient Jerusalem slopes. At the same location, the remains of a human burial were also spotted. For this reason Atra Kadisha, the organization that supervises the handling of ancient Jewish remains, directed the contractor to refill the terrace with the dirt taken out and build a retaining wall to enclose the area.
I was anxious to sample some of soil in the layer beneath the Second Temple Period dump, but realized this might now be impossible since the remains of a human burial were found there. Also, the procedures for obtaining an immediate IAA excavation permit are quite complex. When I revisited the compound on Wednesday, to my surprise I saw that the excavation I was intending to request had already been completed! The contractor at the site had dug a deep foundation trench for the retaining wall required by Atra Kadisha. Upon examining the material removed from this trench, I discovered that the debris from the northern part of the trench contains only First Temple Period pottery! Together with IAA inspector Lara Shluf, we concluded that the trench had penetrated the ancient slope of the Temple Mount from the First Temple Period. The slope included First Temple Period pits full of very large fragments of pottery vessels. Another section of the trench included natural dark brown soil with First Temple Period pottery washed down from higher up the slope. The southern edge of this trench penetrated a Second Temple Period dump, and the northern edge revealed an ancient wall that abuts the bedrock. This wall appears to lie under the First Temple Period layer, and will probably be excavated by the IAA in the near future.
I realized that if the debris that was removed from this trench was not transferred immediately to the sifting site, we might lose this unique opportunity to discover what archaeological remains are hidden within the debris. Unbelievably, but undoubtedly with miraculous Divine help, in less than an hour and a half we managed to get the authorization and help of all the necessary authorities required for such a task – the representative of the Vatican in Israel, the Israel Antiquities Authority, the National Parks Authority, the Atra Kadisha organization, and the Ir David foundation – and we found a contractor to do the job. Obtaining these authorizations is usually a bureaucratic nightmare!
We do not know yet if the material we have brought to the sifting site also contains artifacts that had washed down the slope during the destruction of the First Temple, as this material would have the most promising finds. We will know much more about these unique archaeological remains in the near future. As far as I know, no one has ever studied ancient Iron Age dumps in Jerusalem. The abundance of very high quality “stripe burnished” vessel fragments seen in this dump may indicate that these dumps may come from the Temple Mount itself!
Stay tuned….
April 4, 2009
Si vis pacem, para bellum
Avigdor Lieberman said:
"We are also losing ground every day in public opinion. Does anyone think that concessions, and constantly saying "I am prepared to concede," and using the word "peace" will lead to anything? No, that will just invite pressure, and more and more wars. "Si vis pacem, para bellum" - if you want peace, prepare for war, be strong."
I guess Olmert has left the building. What do you think Bibi thinks about these kind of statements? Bibi wanted a more moderate government with Livni and Kadima onboard, no? He did all he could to avoid Avigdor in his coalition.
Avi brings a refreshing sense of honesty to Bibi. He may even call him out when he disagrees with him.
"We are also losing ground every day in public opinion. Does anyone think that concessions, and constantly saying "I am prepared to concede," and using the word "peace" will lead to anything? No, that will just invite pressure, and more and more wars. "Si vis pacem, para bellum" - if you want peace, prepare for war, be strong."
I guess Olmert has left the building. What do you think Bibi thinks about these kind of statements? Bibi wanted a more moderate government with Livni and Kadima onboard, no? He did all he could to avoid Avigdor in his coalition.
Avi brings a refreshing sense of honesty to Bibi. He may even call him out when he disagrees with him.
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