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THE WESTERN WALL
Posted by Mordechai Ben-Menachem, November 15, 2005. |
Mordechai Ben-Menachem is a Ben-Gurion University in Beer-Sheva. Contact him at quality@acm.org |
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THE STRANGE CASE OF CUT DOWN OLIVE TREES THAT WERE NOT CUT DOWN
Posted by David Meir-Levi, November 30, 2005. |
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In December, "Spotlight on the Middle East" will air a program devoted to "Pallywood" (the palestinian authority version of Hollywood), where pure fiction and professional actors combine to create faux-news that the western world thinks is real. Israel is accused, demonized, condemned in every "pallywood" scene. Israeli soldiers (actually PA actors in Israeli uniforms) are "caught" on film by French and PA cameramen as they perpetrate "horrific human rights violations" against poor palestinians. and western viewers think that the staged events are real news because our western journalists, photojournalists, and editors never bother (or care?) to check the sources. The airing schedule for our december show will be available in a few days; meanwhile, read the article below. "Pallywood" is not just the domain of the PA. PeaceNow seems to have bought into it as well. The endless stories of the horror of IDF annihilation of whole olive groves....may be more of "Pallywood" (at least in some, many?, cases) as properly pruned and tended trees provide fodder for the mendacious cameramen who use the pruned trees as props for anti-israel accusations. It is really hard for us (at least me) to come to grips with the bona fide evidence (as summarized in our TV show and exemplified below) that news from PA sources, even via respected western journalists, may be all or in part just pure fiction. This was written by Hillel Fendel, Senior Editor at Arutz-Sheva, www.IsraelNN.com. It is called "Tree-Cutting "Libel" - Once Again, Jews Stand Accused." It appeared on November 28,2005. Once again, reports that Jewish settlers cut down Arab-owned olive trees are suspected to be a "left-wing provocation" against the Jews of Judea and Samaria. It was widely reported Sunday, in the name of Arab sources in the Palestinian Authority-controlled areas, that Jewish settlers from the Shomron had chopped down 200 olive trees owned by Arabs. The Ynet site, for instance, wrote, "Palestinian sources reported that settlers from an outpost near Elon Moreh had cut down" the trees. The reports were immediately followed by condemnations of the Jewish population in the Shomron and Israel's rule there. The extremist left-wing organization "Peace Now" released a statement saying that the incident was a direct result of the lack of law enforcement in the areas and the continuing "problem of the [Jewish] outposts." However, the Yesha Council looked into the matter and said that though "we condemn all violence, including harming Palestinian property," it had found that the incident was apparently a provocation staged by extreme left-wing activists who "wish to sully their Jewish brothers, while at the same time extending their hand to terrorists." The residents of Elon Moreh, in a statement, "wish to emphasize that we have no connection with this incident, which is based on the testimony of a single Arab." A widely-published AP photo of an Arab woman weeping and embracing an allegedly chopped-down tree (similar photos were taken by Reuters, AFP, and others] shows that the trunk is intact, and that only the top branches are cut off - as if it had been purposely pruned. In fact, the Haifa-based Land of Israel Task Force says that this is exactly what happened. "The left-wingers and Arabs pulled the same trick last year," Task Force head Aviad Visuly said, "and using the same method." Photos of the trees show that the branches were sawed off in a manner that is beneficial to the trees. "Why would vandals bother sawing off each individual branch? Wouldn't they just cut down the trunk?" The branches begin growing back 2-3 months after they are cut, and grow to full size within two years. "In the meanwhile," Visuly said, "the orchard owners receive stipends from the Saudis, via the PA." Visuly said that left-wing activists look for trees that have been pruned, and then blame the Jews for cutting them. "They have even admitted to the police that they do this," he said, "such as in the case of Ein Avus near Hawara [south of Shechem]. In that incident, they blamed the people of [nearby] Yitzhar, because Yitzhar was a convenient media target. Two Jews were arrested for five days and were then released with no charges whatsoever. Today, it's convenient for them to accuse the people of Elon Moreh. If the police had an investigator who was half-fair, he would throw the case out." Two years ago, a similar story on Arutz-7 began as follows: "It led to anti-settler headlines, international embarrassment for the State of Israel, condemnations, and apologetics - and yet it all may have been one big bluff, or worse." At the time, international media reported as fact that Jews had destroyed the Arab trees, and President Katzav and Prime Minister Sharon issued statements implying that the Jews were responsible. Even the Yesha Council said that the tree-cutting had "defamed the entire sector of Jews living in Judea, Samaria and Gaza." What went under-reported was that the police began to suspect that left-wing Israelis and Arabs were behind the incident. The police even asked Rabbi Arik Asherman of the Reform Movement and an Arab who filed charges against Jewish Yesha residents to submit to lie-detector tests - but it was reported at the time that the two had refused. A Jewish National Fund expert brought in by the police concluded that no lasting damage was done to the trees, and that the tree-cutters did not "cut down" the trees, but rather "pruned" them. David Meir-Levi is an American-born Israeli, currently living in Palo Alto. His expertise is in Near Eastern studies and the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. He is Director of Peace and Education at Israel Peace Initiative (www.ipi-usa.org). Contact him at david_meirlevi@hotmail.com |
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A LIFE AND DEATH MESSAGE
Posted by Ken Heller, November 30, 2005. |
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The author of this article is Chinese-American General Dr. Vernon Chong, surgeon, Headquarters US European Command, Stuttgart, Germany, now a retired Air Force surgeon. Professor Paul Eidelberg (eidelberg@foundation1.org), who is President of the Foundation For Constitutional Democracy, wrote this about Chong's article: The primary weakness of Israel's political, judicial, and intellectual elites is that they cannot take Islam's religious commitment to Israel's destruction seriously. This is why I am forwarding the message below. When reading this message, think of Sharon and Peres and the one hundred and more other Knesset members that belong to the "cult of peace." Think of the suicidal rulings of Chief Justice Aharon Barak that favor Arab terrorists. Think of the legions of academics that do not see that Israel's Arab enemies are, in certain respects, worse than Nazis, hence, that to negotiate with the former is no less reckless than it was to negotiate with the latter. And while reading the message below, think of all the newspaper editors and journalists that supported the "Disengagement Plan". Clearly, Israel is being undermined by what Lenin called "useful idiots". This War Is For Real! To get out of a difficulty, one usually must go through it. Our country is now facing the most serious threat to its existence, as we know it, that we have faced in your lifetime and mine (which includes WWII). The deadly seriousness is greatly compounded by the fact that there are very few of us who think we can possibly lose this war and even fewer who realize what losing really means. First, let's examine a few basics: 1. When did the threat to us start? Many will say September 11, 2001. The answer as far as the United States is concerned is 1979, 22 years prior to September 2001, with the following attacks on us: * Iran Embassy Hostages, 1979; (Note that during the period from 1981 to 2001 there were 7,581 terrorist attacks worldwide). 2. Why were we attacked? Envy of our position, our success, and our freedoms... 3. Who were the attackers? In each case, the attacks on the US were carried out by Muslims. 4. What is the Muslim population of the World? 25%. 5. Isn't the Muslim Religion peaceful? Hopefully, but that is really not material. There is no doubt that the predominately Christian population of Germany was peaceful, but under the dictatorial leadership of Hitler (who was also Christian), that made no difference. You either went along with the administration or you were eliminated. There were 5 to 6 million Christians killed by the Nazis for political reasons... Thus, almost the same number of Christians were killed by the Nazis, as the six million holocaust Jews who were killed by them, and we seldom heard of anything other than the Jewish atrocities. Although Hitler kept the world focused on the Jews, he had no hesitancy about killing anyone who got in his way of exterminating the Jews or of taking over the world - German, Christian or any others. Same with the Muslim terrorists. They focus the world on the US, but kill all in the way -- their own people or the Spanish, French or anyone else. The point here is that just like the peaceful Germans were of no protection to anyone from the Nazis, no matter how many peaceful Muslims there may be, they are no protection for us from the terrorist Muslim leaders and what they are fanatically bent on doing -- by their own pronouncements -- killing all of us "infidels. " I don't blame the peaceful Muslims. What would you do if the choice was shut up or die? 6. So who are we at war with? There is no way we can honestly respond that it is anyone other
than the Muslim terrorists. Trying to be politically correct and avoid
verbalizing this conclusion can well be fatal. There is no way to win
if you don't clearly recognize and articulate who you are fighting.
So with that background, now to the two major questions: 1. Can we lose this war? If we are to win, we must clearly answer these two pivotal questions. We can definitely lose this war, and as anomalous as it may sound, the major reason we can lose is that so many of us simply do not fathom the answer to the second question - What does losing mean? It would appear that a great many of us think that losing the war means hanging our heads, bringing the troops home and going on about our business, like post Vietnam. This is as far from the truth as one can get. What losing really means is: We would no longer be the premier country in the world. The attacks will not subside, but rather will steadily increase. Remember, they want us dead, not just quiet... The plan was clearly, for terrorist to attack us, until we were neutered and submissive to them. We would of course have no future support from other nations, for fear of reprisals and for the reason that they would see, we are impotent and cannot help them. They will pick off the other non-Muslim nations, one at a time. It will be increasingly easier for them. They already hold Spain hostage. It doesn't matter whether it was right or wrong for Spain to withdraw its troops from Iraq. Spain did it because the Muslim terrorists bombed their train and told them to withdraw the troops. Anything else they want Spain to do will be done. Spain is finished. The next will probably be France. Our one hope on France is that they might see the light and realize that if we don't win, they are finished too, in that they can't resist the Muslim terrorists without us. However, it may already be too late for France. France is already 20% Muslim and fading fast! If we lose the war, our production, income, exports and way of life will all vanish as we know it. After losing, who would trade or deal with us, if they were threatened by the Muslims If we can't stop the Muslims, how could anyone else? The Muslims fully know what is riding on this war, and therefore are completely committed to winning, at any cost. We better know it too and be likewise committed to winning at any cost. Why do I go on at such lengths about the results of losing? Simple. Until we recognize the costs of losing, we cannot unite and really put 100% of our thoughts and efforts into winning. And it is going to take that 100% effort to win So, how can we lose the war? Again, the answer is simple. We can lose the war by "imploding." That is, defeating ourselves by refusing to recognize the enemy and their purpose, and really digging in and lending full support to the war effort. If we are united, there is no way that we can lose. If we continue to be divided, there is no way that we can win! (Emphasis added.) Let me give you a few examples of how we simply don't comprehend the life and death seriousness of this situation. President Bush selects Norman Mineta as Secretary of Transportation. Although all of the terrorist attacks were committed by Muslim men between 17 and 40 years of age, Secretary Mineta refuses to allow profiling. Does that sound like we are taking this thing seriously? This is war! For the duration, we are going to have to give up some of the civil rights we have become accustomed to. We had better be prepared to lose some of our civil rights temporarily or we will most certainly lose all of them permanently. And don't worry that it is a slippery slope. We gave up plenty of civil rights during WWII, and immediately restored them after the victory and in fact added many more since then. Do I blame President Bush or President Clinton before him? No, I blame us for blithely assuming we can maintain all of our Political Correctness and all of our civil rights during this conflict and have a clean, lawful, honorable war. None of those words apply to war. Get them out of your head. Some have gone so far in their criticism of the war and/or the Administration that it almost seems they would literally like to see us lose. I hasten to add that this isn't because they are disloyal. It is because they just don't recognize what losing means. Nevertheless, that conduct gives the impression to the enemy that we are divided and weakening. It concerns our friends, and it does great damage to our cause. Of more recent vintage, the uproar fueled by the politicians and media regarding the treatment of some prisoners of war, perhaps exemplifies best what I am saying. We have recently had an issue, involving the treatment of a few Muslim prisoners of war, by a small group of our military police. These are the type prisoners who just a few months ago were throwing their own people off buildings, cutting off their hands, cutting out their tongues and otherwise murdering their own people just for disagreeing with Saddam Hussein. And just a few years ago these same type prisoners chemically killed 400,000 of their own people for the same reason. They are also the same type enemy fighters, who recently were burning Americans, and dragging their charred corpses through the streets of Iraq. And still more recently, the same type enemy that was and is providing videos to all news sources internationally, of the beheading of American prisoners they held. Compare this with some of our press and politicians, who for several days have thought and talked about nothing else but the "humiliating" of some Muslim prisoners -- not burning them, not dragging their charred corpses through the streets, not beheading them, but "humiliating" them. Can this be for real? To bring our country to a virtual political standstill over this prisoner issue makes us look like Nero playing his fiddle as Rome burned -- totally oblivious to what is going on in the real world. Neither we, nor any other country, can survive this internal strife. Again I say, this does not mean that some of our politicians or media people are disloyal. It simply means that they are absolutely oblivious to the magnitude, of the situation we are in and into which the Muslim terrorists have been pushing us, for many years. Remember, the Muslim terrorists stated goal is to kill all infidels! That translates into ALL non-Muslims -- not just in the United States , but throughout the world. We are the last bastion of defense. We have been criticized for many years as being 'arrogant. ' That charge is valid in at least one respect. We are arrogant in that we believe that we are so good, powerful and smart, that we can win the hearts and minds of all those who attack us, and that with both hands tied behind our back, we can defeat anything bad in the world! We can't! If we don't recognize this, our nation as we know it will not survive, and no other free country in the world will survive if we are defeated. And finally, name any Muslim countries throughout the world that allow freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, equal rights for anyone -- let alone everyone, equal status or any status for women, or that have been productive in one single way that contributes to the good of the world?. If we don't win this war right now, keep a close eye on how the Muslims take over France in the next 5 years or less. They will continue to increase the Muslim population of France and continue to encroach little by little, on the established French traditions. Doesn't that sound eerily familiar? Democracies don't have their freedoms taken away from them by some external military force. Instead, they give their freedoms away, politically correct piece by politically correct piece. And they are giving those freedoms away to those who have shown, worldwide, that they abhor freedom and will not apply it to you or even to themselves, once they are in power. They have universally shown that when they have taken over, they then start brutally killing each other over who will be the few who control the masses. Will we ever stop hearing from the politically correct, about the "peaceful Muslims"? ? Patrick Henry --"Those that beat their swords into plowshares will do the plowing for those that don't"!! Ken Heller is a pro-Israel activist and a member of the Philadelphia Chapter of Americans For A Safe Israel. He can be reached at kayjayphilly@yahoo.com |
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DOES NO ONE CARE?
Posted by Naomi Ragen, November 30, 2005. |
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Friends, This e-mail pains me deeply to write, as I know it will pain all of you to read. Not only are the refugees from Gaza not being helped by the authorities , they are being tortured. Outlandish red tape (produce 29 years of electric bills!, prove your son actually grew up in your home!) is keeping many of them from receiving any compensation. The majority are unemployed. These people went from large, flourishing families in beautiful homes with thriving businesses to unemployed, homeless refugees. Families are being destroyed. Children are turning to drugs, parents are having heart attacks. And some teenagers have even been hospitalized in closed mental institutions. You won't believe your eyes when you read the memo below, compiled by volunteers of All4Israel, a little, all-volunteer group that is working hard to allieviate some of the misery, work that should have been borne by our government and our major Jewish organizations and their well-paid directors. SELA, with Mr. Yonatan Bassie at its head, who has personally profited by the disengagement (he owns farms that are now selling vegetables once exclusively grown in Gush Katif, he sold land to the government to house the refugees...) has been largely responsible all of this needless suffering. Every single one of those incompetents should be fired. For shame, for shame for shame, for shame. I can't believe my government has turned its own people out of their homes and has made no provision for them. People who were the bravest of us all, who suffered the most during the Intifada. Who lost so many parents, children, rabbis. These beautiful, brave families, that no Arab terrorist onslaught could destroy, are being destroyed by their own callous government. And no one cares. If you are a donor to any Jewish organization, please call them and ask why no emergency funds have been set up to help the Gaza refugees. Where are our priorities? Zalman Indig (who kindly helped me take online donations for Rachel S., every penny of which he wired directly to Israel) is the head of All4Israel. Below, he shares information gathered by his volunteers in Israel. Every blessing, Naomi Hi Zalman We had a meeting last night, We made calls to the head organizers of the Yishuvim to find out what is going on online. They spoke on the speaker phone and it was very sad for all of us. The lists are pilling up, the stories are unbelievable. None of the large organizations we know of have helped them out. They received from them sweaters and sweats, food packages or stoves but not real money. They are offered short term loans, but they are afraid to take them because they don't know when they'll be getting their compensation. Here is a story you will love. One family has lived there for 29 years. They have asked them to produce 29 years back electricity bills. Who keeps such records? The family replied that the first few years they had generators anyway and the Electrical company doesn't keep such records. SO for now their compensation is tied up. One family has a soldier in the army. They had to supply proof that he was still living at home even though he was a soldier or he would not be included in the family compensation, so they had to bring photos of him with the family, in the house in uniform!!! Should I go on? Any way I received this list, I thought maybe you can do something, be discreet with the list of course. Regards Some bios: Family 1 - 6 children - husband died less than two months ago of sudden unpredicted heart attack. Two children elementary school age + soldier son-IDF service, others older recently began work very part time. Family faces many difficulties related to what happened Family 2 -7 children - two in Yeshiva high school, one in Midrasha, two married. unemployed Family 3 -11 children -one in Yeshiva HS + four in higher education institutes. Wife very recently began teaching part-time Family 4 -7 children - one in elementary school, one in Yeshiva H.S., Four in universities, one in IDF service/ Husband is blind and wife very ill with Lupus disease. Family 5 -6 children -two in elementary school, one in yeshiva H.S., one in Midrasha , one in college , one in national service.- recently began working part-time Family 6 - 3 children in kindergarten and nurseries. Unemployed - seeking opportunity to rebuild farm business, organized temporary morning Kollel for unemployed men. Family 7 - 3 children - one in elementary school, one in yeshiva H.S., one in IDF service. Husband suffers from limiting heart disease, wife from other health problems Family 8 - 3 children - serious health problems -unemployed Family 9 - one parent family - two in IDF service - -three in Universities, God willing will have expense of wedding for daughter in month of Adar. Unemployed. Family 10 - one-parent family -two young children -- mother studying in Higher education. unemployed. Family 11 - 6 children - two in elementary school--one in high school.. unemployed (wife may start working next week part-time). Family 12 + 5 children - one in Kindergarten, one in elementary school, one in Yeshiva High school , two in IDF service, unemployed Family 13 - one parent family - + 8 children - one in Yeshiva H.S. - one in Yeshiva Gevoha, 5 in universities.- unemployed To help these families, please visit & put "For families of Gush Katif" in the comments field. http://www.all4israel.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Category&catId=54>
Or mail your checks to:
Naomi Ragen is an American-born novelist and journalist who lives in Jerusalem. She can be contacted at www.naomiragen.com, where you can subscribe to her newsletter. |
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THE ECONOMIST RANKS MIDDLE EAST COUNTRIES ON FREEDOM
Posted by Max Yas, November 30, 2005. |
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The Economist Intelligence Unit is the world's foremost provider of country, industry and management analysis. Founded in 1946 when a director of intelligence was appointed to serve The Economist, the Economist Intelligence Unit is now a leading research and advisory firm with more than 40 offices worldwide. For nearly 60 years, the Economist Intelligence Unit has delivered vital business intelligence to influential decision-makers around the globe. (source Google) If you are tired of the tsunami of anti-Israel resolution at the United Nations to the neglect of the real issues that deserve priority attention, such as genocide in Darfur, the occupation of Tibet and the 25 ungoing insurgencies on this planet, please read this letter and forward it to your friends. Shalom from Max Democracy is making inroads in the Middle-East. A survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) ranked 19 Middle-East states plus the Palestinian Authority, based on the following criteria: Election of head of government
Surprise! Surprise! The "apartheid" State of Israel, MADE IT TO THE TOP OF THE LIST! Scored on a ten-point scale, 10 being the highest, these were the results. Israel: 8.20
This was reported by the BBC, despite their long established pro-Palestinian bias. Unbelievably Libya, at the bottom of the scale, was named the head of the UN Human Right Commission! Why so much negative concentration on Israel? Why are some Protestant churches divesting from Israel? Why is the Green Party in Great Britain following their example? The only plausible answer is: Zionism does not lead to antisemitism -- antisemitism leads to anti-Zionism. Open-minded people need not be overly concerned about divestment.
Israel's annual GDP has grown in the past 58 years from under US$ nine
million to over US$ 21 billion and investments in Israel are growing
by leaps and bounds!.
Sitting at the bottom of the table, Libya has long had a reputation as one of the world's worst violators of human rights. Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's government has also long restricted freedom of expression and independent political activity. Saudi Arabia held its first ever exercise in democracy in February 2005 when it held municipal elections, but remains an absolute monarchy that has resisted pressure for reform. Syria, meanwhile, is renowned for its authoritarian rule even though there has been a degree of liberalisation under President Bashar al-Assad. Progress Though there are few surprises at the bottom of the table, the top five may raise eyebrows. It contains three of the most volatile parts of the region: Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories and Iraq. BBC Middle East analyst Roger Hardy says there is certainly a new mood in the region, but progress has been uneven. Information just received One example of how the well oiled multi-billion dollar P.R. Machine creates "facts" and sympathy for the Palestinian cause. Sadly some naive innocents fall for it: In December, "Spotlight on the Middle East" will air a program devoted to "Pallywood" (the Palestinian Authority version of Hollywood), where pure fiction and professional actors combine to create faux-news that the western world thinks is real. Israel is accused, demonised, condemned in every "Pallywood" scene. Israeli soldiers (actually PA actors in Israeli uniforms) are "caught" on film by French and PA cameramen as they perpetrate "horrific human rights violations" against poor Palestinians, and western viewers think that the staged events are real news because our western journalists, photojournalists, and editors never bother (or care?) to check the sources. Contact Max Yas at maxyas@victoria.tc.ca |
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A SECULARIST IRAN AGAINST MULLAHS' TERROR
Posted by Student Movement for Democracy in Iran (SMCCDI), November 30, 2005. |
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This is an English translation of an article that appeared in the Italian "L'Opinione" today. It is called "A secularist Iran against Mullahs' terror," and is an interview by Stefania Lapenna with Aryo Pirouznia, Coordinator of the Student Movement for Democracy in Iran. The echo of Ahmadinejad's anti-Semitic statements still resounds in the international arena. And of course they have to. The new in this entire scenario, however, is the Mullahs' new target: Italy. Indeed, 15 thousand people demonstrating in front of the Islamic Republic's embassy in Rome, for the right of Israel to exist and for the freedom of the Iranian people, sufficed to provoke the Mullahs' angry reaction, who mobilized its usual professionals in front of the Italian embassy, carrying out banners with the face of the late Edoardo Agnelli. Even that effort to bring in as many fanatics as possible, resulted into a fiasco, for only about 80 or less people participated. What about the rest of the population? To know more, we asked Aryo Pirouznia, coordinator of the "Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran" (SMCCDI) and chairman of the newly-founded "Iran National Secular Party" (INSP) Aryo, welcome again. First of all, tell us shortly about the new movement, the Iran National Secular Party. Firstly, I thank you for this opportunity and the possibility to be able to bring some clarifications on what's the Iranian situation and what might be some of the future's perspective. Secondly, The INSP is a new born foundation in exile and has been founded on what SMCCDI brought in Iran's political debate and all its rich experiences. The pillars of the INSP are Secular-Democracy and the Iranism thought, which SMCCDI has promoted for several years and are now rallying millions of Iranians, especially students, the Iranian youth and women. Everyday there are more Iranians who are rallying around such positive, progressist and humanistic foundation which is the best anti-dote to the Islamist ideology and its backwardism, intolerance, believe and gender discrimination, fascism, fanatism and wage of hate and terror. INSP is an entity which should be able, as a political party, to help implementing the well known Secular-Democracy and the Iranism aspirations of millions of Iranians in the years and decades to come. Is it tied to any political ideology or orientation or is it independent? The INSP is based on Iranians popular aspirations and it is totally independent from any ideological or foreign source. The Movement has been founded to help Iran's journey in our alas very late but so needed enlightment period and to contribute in building an Iran for all Iranians, no matter of their believe, race or gender, want to live in a free country and to renew with the civilized world and to contribute to the mankind's peace and prosperity. Some other main goals of the Movement, which were introduced by SMCCDI, are the Separation of State and Religion, Separation of Power, Equality in Law, Right of Property, Meritocracy, Representative Government and Free Market. What is your approach with Islam? We should know that the Iranians of today are one of the most secularist and democracy thirsty people of the planet. They are renewing with Iranism principles instead of Islamism. They're valuing more historic figures like Cyrus the Great than Mahomet the Islamic prophet. The digital technology and the spread of satellite TVs and radio networks that broadcast to the millions of Iranians in Iran, contribute to most of the changes. What's your opinion about the recent demonstration held in Rome in front of the Islamic Republic's embassy, to protest Ahmadinejad's statements? That was an unprecedented and positive move. It took everybody including the Islamic republic's leadership in a total surprise. Many including the clerics and their Islamist technocrats, portrayed as "reformers" were believing that a country such as Italy (which has the best commercial relations with Iran) will never react and will always keep the silence in front of Islamic regime's mis-deeds. This was without understanding the change of parameters in geopolicy and especially the fed up of Italian people who still remember the dark record of fascism and intolerance. Have the Iranians inside Iran learned about this rally? And if so, what have been their reactions? My countrymen learned about this unprecedented rally mainly via a special live program of the abroad based Satellite TV network named NITV. We contacted the management of this network and gave the necessary elements while coordinating the internet download of the live program broadcasted by RAI 2. NITV was able to offer a very informative program from an Iranian opposition -- to the Islamic regime -- point of view and analysis while re-transmitting live footages shown by RAI and analysis made by Italian commentators, journalists, activists and politicians who were translated simultaneously by an NITV translator. The result was an overwhelming welcoming by millions of Iranians especially by understanding that the majority of slogans were in favor of freedom of Iranians and in condemnation of the Islamic regime for its human rights abuses and illegitimacy. The regime has protested against the rally and even summoned the Italian ambassador in Tehran. How do you think the Italian government should behave in these cases? I think that the Italian Government should maintain its new policy of firmty and while praising this unprecedented stand I would like also to thank the Italian Ambassador in Tehran for his courage. The Islamic regime should understand that Italy is no more the silent witness of the clerics crimes, some made on Italian soil, or its wage of hate. The unpopular Iranian regime must understand that Italy is a Democracy respectuous of its people's will and right of expression and it should not try to prescribe its dictatorial methods for Italy. Do you think the U.N. will finally impose sanctions against the Islamic Republic for its nuclear program and human rights record? I only hope so as I prefer to watch at this time. The UN, due to its structures, has not been a real help to Iranians so far. There are UN members that are the closest collaborators of the Islamic regime and other that fear that sanctions against the Islamic regime can create precedents for their own inculpation late on the very same grounds. The problem of the UN is very deep and it goes to the way of its composition and administration. Just to remind you that Iran was in 1948 the signatory of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and many other conventions. In our days everybody know that thousands have been executed, tortured, imprisoned, stoned or lashed in Iran under various false labels and hence, the Islamic republic is still usurping Iranian Nation's Chair at the UN and is continuing its barbarian rule in total impunity. What's your take about the U.N.'s policy? Shouldn't a real United Nations -- Not a United Regimes' Structure - expel the Islamic regime's envoy from such administration and to keep the Iranian Nation's chair vacant till the nomination of a real Iranian People's Ambassador after the downfall of the current regime? Shouldn't the countries which are at each time abstaining from voting against the Islamic regime or worst those who vote contrary to condemnation of the regime think "what about Iranians?" "Why not backing Iranians in their aspiration of a total change and to bet on them for any long lasting business opportunity?" I let your readers to be judge. I let the conscience of the Mankind to judge about my countrymen's outcry. To help itself, the World should help Iranians to reach their goal and to speed up the implosion of the regime by clear messages of support for Iranians. I thank you and L' Opinione's management for such opportunity. I thank Italy's deep conscience. Contact the Student Movement for Democracy in Iran at peyk@daneshjoo.org |
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POLICE STATE, BUSINESS AS USUAL
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, November 30, 2005. |
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This is from today's Arutz-Sheva - www.IsraelNN.com. (www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=93984) "Police Still Ignoring Court Appeal to Free Youth from Jail" (IsraelNN.com) Youth jailed for anti-expulsion protests still are in jail despite recommendations from a court judge three weeks ago that they be freed. One of the youths, a 16-year-old boy from Samaria, was arrested five months ago on suspicion of blocking traffic on the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv during an anti-expulsion protest. He also was charged with attacking a policeman and interfering with police duties. No witnesses were brought at a court hearing and the main evidence against him was that he sat on the side of the highway. President of Juvenile Court Abraham Sheinfeld asked the police department to drop charges that the youth attacked and interfered with police. Lawyers for the youth said police have ignored the judge's requests and have not answered letters and phone calls. Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. Contact him at zelasko@actcom.co.il |
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JUST WONDERING
Posted by Batya Medad, November 30, 2005. |
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I'm just wondering. Does anyone know if Arik Sharon is a card player? We know that Sharansky plays chess, which is a very different type of game. What do the other politicians do to keep their minds sharp or entertain themselves? And please don't say the obvious that they don't have any minds to sharpen. Seriously. Sharon is like one those circus entertainers, talking fast while shuffling the deck accordion-style, pocketing cards and pulling them out from his sleeves while our eyes are being distracted by his three ring circus. Does anyone really know what's going on? There are some really amazing things happening in the political spheres here in Israel. Some of it is actually "Moshiach-like." At least from how I see it. I've never voted for a religious party, because I don't believe that they should exist. I think that religious needs show be guarded by all. Religious and Chareidi education shouldn't be dominated by politicians of special-interest parties. And if there was an "Anglo" party of English-speaking Israelis, I wouldn't vote for it either. Immigrant needs should be the concern of all. And ditto for a party claiming to represent the yishuvim. I'm an Israeli and I expect, demand that the entire country, the entire population support settlement. All this separation, special interest groups as political parties is bad for Israeli society. So now since Sharon has decided to establish a brand new party, suddenly there's more change in the Israeli political scene than most countries see in fifty years. One of the greatest things is that the religious parties are starting to re-evaluate. Not only is the NRP, National Religious Party, (Mafdal), negotiating with the NU, National Union, but even some of the Chareidim are waking up and talking about a united block with the right wing parties. We mustn't be afraid of change. Haven't we been complaining about Israeli politics for years? Hasn't it gotten harder and harder to decide for whom to vote? The previous situation was horrendous, right? That's why they were able to implement Disengagement. Everyone agrees. So change is necessary, and apparently Sharon is our tool. Nobody would have the guts for all this, if Sharon hadn't messed up the deck and thrown the cards all over the floor. Now we have no choice. In my house we have lots of books, so the idea of painting the livingroom is overwhelming, so when just after our daughter go engaged a wall of shelves tumbled, books and all, we had no choice. And not only did we have the room painted, I bought a gorgeous new wall unit. Honestly, I should have redecorated that room years before, but it took those falling shelves and books to make me do it. Ariel Sharon has done some terrible things to our country since becoming Prime Minister. Each of his "successes" has made him more confident to do worse and worse. I think it's wonderful that he has created Kadima, his new political party. It has forced us all to look at Israeli politics and government differently. We now have a real opportunity to change, to make things better. This is our chance to deal a new hand, a winning one. Batya Medad lives in Shiloh. She can be reached by email at Shilohmuse@yahoo.com or visit her website http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/ or go to http://www.shilo.org.il This article is archived at http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2005/11/just-wondering.html |
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ADOPTING A GUSH KATIF FAMILY
Posted by Naomi Ragen, November 30, 2005. |
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Dear Friends, I woke up this morning with the following idea on how to help the precious families of Gush Katif. I would like to discuss it with all of you. What if synagogue congregations, and(why not?) pro-Israel Christian congregations all over the world adopt one family from Gush Katif and become responsible for their needs until they are back on their feet. This would include writing and speaking to family members either personally, or through a volunteer interpreter. It would include having the entire congregation write letters on behalf of the family to the Israeli bureaucrats. It would include being active in pursuing the Israeli politicians overseeing this (remember, this is an election year. Politicians are fundraising among the Jews of the world. You have leverage). It would involve sending care packages of clothing. And yes, cash. But it wouldn't be overwhelming, because it would be one family helped by hundreds of families. I would prepare an application and put it on my website for any congregation interested in participating. You could fill it out and e-mail it to me, and I would then ask local volunteers to find suitable families interested in participating. If we can make a "shidduch" between the congregations and the families that will lead to each congregation (and thousands and thousands of people all over the world) being intimately involved with the difficulties each family faces materially, politically and bureacratically, so that the powers that be will not be able to claim that all is well, that alone will be worthwhile. This is a way to give immediate help, to personalize and publicize the plight of families. If you think your congregation would participate, please let me know. Naomi Naomi Ragen is an American-born novelist and journalist who lives in Jerusalem. She can be contacted at www.naomiragen.com, where you can subscribe to her newsletter. |
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MUSSOLINI DESCENDANTS SUE MK PORUSH FOR DICTATOR DEFAMATION
Posted by Marlene Young, November 30, 2005. |
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[Editor's note: This is related to the next blog-ed down.]
Rome, Italy,
The Benito Mussolini Fammily Association has announced that they are dispatching their lawyers to the Rabbinic court of Fredonia to issue an injunction against MK Meir Porush for "degrading the name of Benito Mussolini by comparing the legacy of our beloved leader to that of Ariel Sharon". Contact Marlene Young at marleneyoung1@yahoo.com |
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MK MEIR PORUSH: SHARON REMINDS ME OF ITALIAN DICTATOR MUSSOLINI
Posted by Marlene Young, November 30, 2005. |
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Sharon is a dictator. Why is MK Porush the only one saying it out loud? Sharon just left Likud in the dust like so much trash, that just a few months ago he was insisting everyone must bow to and not challenge so that the Expulsion could go through, and everyone bowed, so as not to break the Likud. Now, he left to form his own party that is based on deals to give Sharon absolute power with only serfs and sycophants he rewards with jobs, appointments and threats. The new party Kadima is a mix of Labor, Meretz, and other Radical Leftists and Likud turncoats. And for a real final stab at Democracy he left a whole bunch of loyalists in Likud as spies and spoilers! And not even so much as a peep from those who know better? This is by Zvi Zrahiya (zviz@haaretz.co.il) and it appeared in Haaretz (www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/652144.html). MK Meir Porush (United Torah Judaism) compared Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Wednesday to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. In a Knesset hearing regarding the state of Israel's religious councils, Porush criticized the prime minister and his son, Omri, whom he claims interfered in appointments to the councils. During his speech, Porush said, "Sharon greatly reminds me of the Italian Benito Mussolini. Mussolini also left one party and established his own. He also served as prime minister until he founded a dictatorship and became a duce. Sharon is already talking about a presidential regime in order to do whatever he feels like with the state. Duce Sharon." Deputy defense minister Ze'ev Boim (Kadima), who represented the government in the hearing, hastened to request that Porush rescind his comments. "I think that these are inappropriate things to say in the Knesset," said Boim, to which Porush responded, "You should be ashamed that so many call the state of Israel 'Corruptistan.' This is much more grave." Boim responded that, considering Mussolini was an "ally of Hitler, this is unacceptable. I think you should retract your statement. It is shameful for an MK to compare any Israeli prime minister or leader with Mussolini." However, Porush would not capitulate, and repeated his claim.
Contact Marlene Young at marleneyoung1@yahoo.com
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NO DNA TESTS FOR HOLOCAUST VICTIM REMAINS IN STUTTGART
Posted by ZAKA, November 30, 2005. |
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Genetic tissues and DNA tests will not be held from the remains of Holocaust victims, recently discovered in a mass grave in the southern German city of Stuttgart. This decision was made by Ulrich Goll, justice minister of the German province of Baden-Wurtemmberg, where the mass grave was discovered. The German decision was made following a request by Rabbi Yehuda Meshi Zahav, director of ZAKA. Rabbi Meshi Zahav stated that the organization is against taking DNA samples from skeletons as this would constitute a violation of the honor of the dead, Taking DNA samples from the skeletons involves crumbling bones onto dust. Meshi Zahav Said, ZAKA appealed to the Rabbinical Center of Europe and the Stuttgart chief rabbi, as well as the German president's office.
You can donate to ZAKA -- which has been right there in Israel to
help, rescue and clean up at every terrorist attack -- at ZAKA Rescue
and Recovery, 5023-16th Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11204, www.zakausa.org,
1-877-ZAKA-911. They also assisted after the flood in New Orleans. |
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JUST RELEASED: HUMAN RIGHTS OF CHRISTIANS IN PALESTINIAN SOCIETY
Posted by JCPA, November 30, 2005. |
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Announcing the publication of Justus Reid Weiner's Human Rights of Christians in Palestinian Society. On the heels of the Gaza disengagement, which was intended to enable the Palestinian Authority to improve the lives of its people, few journalists have reported on the acutely trying times facing the Christians residing in areas "governed" by the Palestinian Authority. In his book, Professor Weiner, Scholar-in-Residence at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, provides an in-depth look at the nearly uninterrupted persecution of Christians throughout the decade since the Oslo peace process began. Living amidst a xenophobic Muslim population plagued by endemic violence bordering on anarchy, the Christians have shrunk to less than 1.7 percent of the population in the Palestinian areas. "Tens of thousands have abandoned their holy sites and ancestral properties to live abroad, while those who remain do so as a beleaguered and dwindling minority," Weiner writes. "Their plight is, in part, attributable to the adoption of Muslim religious law (Sharia) in the Constitution of the Palestinian Authority. Moreover, the Christians have been abandoned by their religious leaders who, instead of protecting them, have chosen to curry favor with the Palestinian leadership." Professor Weiner's book reveals and analyzes why this persecution - largely ignored by the international community, the media, and even prominent human rights organizations - has metastasized to the extent that it threatens the very existence of this 2000-year-old community. Human Rights of Christians in Palestinian Society is available online without charge at: http://www.jcpa.org/text/Christian-Persecution-Weiner.pdf (1.4M PDF file). This 55-page monograph is also available from www.amazon.com ($15). In Israel, it is available from the Jerusalem Center (NIS 45 + NIS 15 shipping and handling) and may be ordered by fax or email. Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, 13 Tel-Hai St., Jerusalem, Israel; Tel. 972-2-561-9281, Fax. 972-2-561-9112, Email: jcpa@netvision.net.il. Website: www.jcpa.org. |
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CHANGE THE SYSTEMS? MAYBE?
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, November 30, 2005. |
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On the surface this seems like a sincere attempt to come to grips with the chaos in Israeli politics. On the surface. However a look below the surface turns up an interesting fact. All those involved in this effort to restructure Israel are members of the ruling elite. (See the membership list of the CECI to appreciate what direction their new constitution might take. http://www.ceci.org.il/eng/we_members.asp ) We can safely assume that whatever system they come to will be geared to guarantee their continued control over the political and economic system of Israel. What we really have here is something more along the lines of a corporate shakeup than a serious reform movement. The powers that be are just too nervous about loosing control. With all the chaos there might accidentally be real change. The only one that I have come across that has a reasonable, consistent and practical solution to the present Israeli political structure is Professor Eidelberg. Let's hope that he will soon be in a position to initiate the fundamental changes we need to avoid total anarchy in Israel. This is called "Winds of political change in Israel" and was written by Adi Sterenberg, who is the director of the Citizens' Empowerment Center in Israel (CECI). It appeared as an Opinion piece in Arutz-Sheva, November 27, 2005 (www.israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?enDispWho=Views%5El215& enPage=BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat= object&enVersion=0&enZone=Views). Statistics don't lie. In 57 years of existence, there have been 30 governments in Israel, an average of about a new government every two years. That says everything. What we learn from this is that no matter who the next prime minister is - Ariel Sharon, Amir Peretz, Bibi Netanyahu - and no matter what type of coalition is formed, it's not likely to survive more than two years. Why? Because the parliamentary system in Israel is unworkable. It was established 100 years for a population of 600,000. Now there are more than ten times that number of citizens, and it simply doesn't work any more. To provide an analogy, if you have a hundred-year-old car, maybe it's time to look at the engine to see if it needs changing. As director of the Citizens' Empowerment Center in Israel (CECI), we recognized that the Israeli political system is broken, and needs to be urgently fixed. To that mind, we have spearheaded the formation of the Presidential Commission for Examination of the Structure of the Government In September, President Moshe Katsav convened 70 leading Israelis in the academic, political and judicial fields to examine alternatives to Israel's government structure and system of elections. With Hebrew University President Menachem Magidor as its chairperson, the committee - whose members read like a who's who of Israeli politics and academia - has pledged to conduct its research within a year, and present its finding to Katsav. The committee - split into several sub-groups - is currently studying and researching the different structures of governments and electoral systems in democratic countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States. According to CECI's founder Isaac Parviz Nazarian, "Our goal is to come up with a system to fit the character of the Israeli citizen." Why is this initiative so timely and so urgent? Because due to the current instability brought on by the political system, Israeli society is suffering and slowly eroding. Recently, I recently attended the General Assembly in Toronto and told the people that came to the CECI booth that Jerusalem is a perfect example of this erosion. Israel's capital is totally different today than it was 20 years ago under Teddy Kollek. Jerusalem is the poorest city in Israel, its facilities are falling apart, and there are problems between the religious and the secular as well as between Jews and Arabs. Why? A great deal of the problem has to do with the fact that the government ministers in charge of the city who could implement changes and improvements are replaced before they can get anything done. The presidential committee has some supporters in high places. After announcing his decision to leave the Likud last week, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told reporters, "there needs to be a change in the system of government. I recommend that you pay attention to the work that being done under the initiative of President Katsav who appointed a group of serious people to examine way to change the system in Israel. I've discussed this with the president and I absolutely think there needs to be change. "As you can see, there's no possibility to lead, you're always running into difficulties that are unsolvable and I think that it absolutely requires taking care of... If we want to accomplish things, then the system has to change." What the prime minister was proposing is not switching the current governing system for a specific alternative - but to look at all the options - the presidential system, the half-presidential system like in France, the parliamentary system - and choosing what is best for us. What Sharon is saying is that there needs to be some stability - you can't start the day with 81 coalition members and find yourself at the end of the day with 61. In the United States, there are plenty of problems with the political system, but whether or not you like President Bush, you know that he will be in charge for the next four years, barring disaster. Most of our sub-committees have met a number of times and are preparing their examination results. In a few months, we'll be giving our report to the president with our recommendations, options and alternatives, and he has pledged to pass the results on to the Knesset. Leading up to election day on March 28th, we're going to approach each party and ask them to include a plank in their party platform that pledges to take an examination of the Israeli political structure seriously. During an election period, the general public will be more open to listen to politicians calling for change. With new elections being called, it only means that the results of the committee are more urgently needed than ever. Our system of 30 governments in 57 years cannot continue unabated. A stronger Israeli political system will mean a stronger, and more stable Israel. Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. Contact him at zelasko@actcom.co.il |
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UK CHARITY FUNDING DIVERTED TO HAMAS
Posted by NGO Monitor, November 30, 2005. |
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SUMMARY: The arrest of convicted Hamas activist and alleged fundraiser Ahmad Saltana (a.k.a. Abu Asama) has focused attention on several organizations in Europe that allegedly pose as charities in order to bankroll terrorist activities. The organizations reportedly implicated in this illegal activity include the UK-based charities Human Appeal International and Interpal. The arrest of convicted Hamas activist and alleged fundraiser Ahmad Saltana (a.k.a. Abu Asama) (see Eric Silver, "Charity cash for Palestinian poor was siphoned to suicide bombers," The Independent, November 28, 2005) has focused attention on several organizations in Europe that allegedly pose as charities in order to bankroll terrorist activities. The organizations reportedly implicated in this illegal activity include the UK-based charities Human Appeal International and Interpal, as well as the Charitable Committee for Supporting Palestine (CBSP) in France, the Charitable Association for Supporting Palestinian People (ABSPP) in Italy and the Al-Aqsa Foundation in various parts of Europe. All form part of the Charity Coalition which allegedly funnels monies raised to Saltana, who in turn distributes the funds to terrorist organizations. Human Appeal International (HAI) is a UK-registered charity established in 1991, and is currently involved in providing relief for the victims of the earthquake in Pakistan. HAI operates in 17 regions (including such terrorist "hot-spots" as Afghanistan, Chechnya, Iraq, Kashmir, Lebanon, and the Palestinian Authority), with a stated mission "to promote human co-operation through programmes aimed at aiding and relieving the suffering of victims of poverty, social injustice and natural disasters." Unlike other organizations, the language in the HAI website section on "Palestine" is devoid of incitement. The appeal claims that donations are applied towards providing nourishment, scarcely hinting at any association with terrorist groups, only stating as part of their mandate to "Co-operate and co-ordinate with other relief organisations working in the same field to increase the benefits for the recipients of our help." The second UK-based charity allegedly diverting funds to terrorist cells is Interpal (also known as the Palestinian Relief & Development Fund), which justifies itself as "a non-political, non-profit making British charity that focuses solely on the provision of relief and development aid to the poor and needy of Palestine". The Interpal logo features the entire map of Israel, symbolically delegitimizing Israel's existence and claiming the entire territory for the Palestinians, thereby indicating the goal of destroying Israel. Much like Human Appeal International, Interpal texts refer to a conflict resulting in a humanitarian crisis, but stop short of attributing culpability to any party (Israel, the Palestinian Authority, or terrorist factions). Also like HAI, "INTERPAL's stated official policy is to deal with like-minded charities both in Britain and abroad in order to further its aims and objectives to provide relief and development aid to the people of Palestine." The organization claims "that it only deals with bona fide organizations -- to ensure the proper charitable use of funds as specified." Interpal also claims to be "bound by a moral obligation to ensure that the funds are used for charitable purposes", and while the organization asserts that all partner agencies receiving funding from Interpal are required to submit comprehensive documentation, including receipts and reports, no such evidence is presented on its website. The only indication that Interpal's activities might extend beyond relief work is the following statement: "Although the humanitarian needs of the refugee population is at the forefront of the Palestinian problem, the work of international NGOs is not confined to providing services and opportunities for refugees." However, Interpal's reported direct involvement in terror has been thoroughly demonstrated. Three days after the August 19, 2003 bombing of the No.2 Egged bus in Jerusalem, the United States government froze Interpal's US assets and classified the organization as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT), together with several other Hamas front organizations and senior Hamas officials (including Yassin and Rantisi). The following summary was provided by the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence of the US Treasury Department: Interpal, headquartered in the UK, has been a principal charity utilized to hide the flow of money to HAMAS. Reporting indicates it is the conduit through which money flows to HAMAS from other charities, e.g., the Al Aqsa Foundation, and that it oversees the activities of other charities. For example, the Sanabil Association for Relief and Development represents Interpal in Lebanon. Reporting also indicates that Interpal is the fundraising coordinator of HAMAS, a coordination point for other HAMAS-affiliated charities. This role is of the type that includes supervising activities of charities, developing new charities in targeted areas, instructing how funds should be transferred from one charity to another, and even determining public relations policy. The British authorities, conversely, have neither frozen the assets of Interpal and HAI, nor in any way impeded their fundraising activities. Instead they were invited to a seminar in March 2005 hosted by the Department for International Development (DFID) for Islamic charities, which, according to International Development Minister Gareth Thomas, served as "a constructive and valuable part in building on and improving our partnership with these organisations". Meanwhile, the UK Charity Commission ceased its latest investigation of Interpal, citing a lack of evidence: "The American authorities were unable to provide evidence to support their allegations so the Commission has unfrozen the charity's bank accounts and closed its inquiry." (Dominic Casciani, "Islamic charity cleared of Hamas link", BBC News, September 24, 2005) In other cases, the Charity Commission has also failed to act, despite clear evidence of incitement and NGO violation of mission statements. Interpal launched a lawsuit in March 2004 against the Board of Deputies of British Jews over a report, released following the US executive decree, which highlighted the organization's involvement with terrorist groups. Bound by the findings of the Charity Commission, the Board of Deputies was forced to retract its statements. These activities form a part of a wider pattern, and, as noted in documents on the NGO Monitor website, the Charity Commission has consistently failed to take action in the face of evidence that NGOs are violating their mandates by contributing to incitement and violence. As NGO Monitor noted in its submission to the European Commission's committee considering guidelines for funding non-profits, "there is considerable evidence that 'non-profit organisations have been exploited for the financing of terrorism and for other kind of criminal abuse'." This case provides additional evidence of the abuse of their humanitarian status. NGO Monitor is published by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs/ Institute for Contemporary Affairs founded jointly with the Wechsler Family Foundation The original at http://www.ngo-monitor.org/ has live links to additional material. Gerald M. Steinberg is editor of NGO Monitor and director of the Program on Conflict Management at Bar-Ilan University. Gerald M. Steinberg is editor of NGO Monitor and director of the Program on Conflict Management at Bar-Ilan University. |
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INTEL, YORK CAPITAL, KODAK AND OTHER GIANTS EXPRESS CONFIDENCE IN ISRAEL
Posted by Yoram Ettinger, November 30, 2005. |
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This is "Straight >From The Jerusalem Boardroom #99." Israel's economy has grown in the last 58 years from a $50MN annual GDP to a $120BN high-tech driven annual GDP. Israel's economy is dominated, increasingly, by knowhow and export (rather than labor and domestic) intensive industries, which has made the economy less vulnerable to security and political predicaments and much more Wall Street -- rather than Gaza Strip -- impacted. Should you wish to examine previous issues, please visit http://yoramettinger.newsnet.co.il. Enjoy it, Yoram 1. The Knesset approved a $525MN grant to INTEL for its $4.5BN new (7th) plant in Israel. Intel expands its existing plant in Kiryat Gat via a $600MN investment. Intel employs in Israel as many persons as it does in the Silicon Valley - about 7,000 (Globes, Nov. 29). 2. The NY-based $7BN YORK CAPITAL hedge fund has acquired Bank Leumi's "Psagot" (investment fund management company, which manages $6.5BN in assets) for $290MN. In June 2005, York acquired a controlling interest in Israel's Gilat Satellites for $80MN (The Marker, Nov. 28). 3. MARKSTON investment fund has acquired Bank Leumi's pension funds for $100MN, as a follow up to its October, 2005 acquisition of Bank Hapoalim's investment fund management company for $200MN, and simultaneously with its current negotiation for the acquisition of Bank Hapoalim's pension fund, estimated at $150MN (The Marker, Nov. 27-28. 4. KODAK is hiring 100 more R&D and manufacturing persons to its Israel plant (in addition to the current 1,000 employees), expecting a 6% growth there. $45MN were invested in its Israel plant (acquired for $980MN in 2005), which has been responsible fro 50% of Kodak's global growth (Globes, Nov. 23). 5. SIGMA BIOTECHNOLOGY and NDS have announced a $30MN investment EACH in the expansion of their Jerusalem plant, which will require 200 additional employees (Yedioth Achronot, Nov. 23). 6. AUSTRIA's 4BN Euro WIENER INSURANCE has acquired 40% of Israel's Carden Investment for 113 Euro (Globes, Nov. 17). 5. "The London Economist": Israel's annual GDP is expected to reach $132BN ($18,200 per capita) in 2006, compared with $105BN ($15,600 per capita) in 2003. While Israel's per capita GDP is substantially lower than Norway's ($70,400), Switzerland ($53,400), the US ($44,200), England ($38,900) and New Zealand ($26,000), one should note that the number of children per woman is substantially higher in Israel (4 per Moslem and 2.8 per Jewish women) than in most developed countries (2 and less than two per woman). (Globes Nov. 24). 6. Israel's industrial exports to the US (excluding diamonds) has risen by 13% - to $5.5BN - during Jan.-Sept. 2005. High tech and pharmaceuticals exports rose by 18% and 59% respectively (Globes Nov. 28). 7. MOTOROLA VENTURES is investing $2.5MN in CopperGate's round of $14.5MN (Globes, Nov. 24). Britain's ALTA BARKLEY joined a $10.5MN 3rd round of private placement by Israel's Mempile (Globes 16). MOTOROLA VENTURES led ($5MN) a $10MN 4th round by Israel's BroadLight (Nov. 18). CHARLES RIVER VENTURES (8th investment in Israel ) and SEQUOIA PARTNERS invested $7MN in a first round by Israel's C-Right (Globes, Nov. 21). 8. Israel's Nice has acquired the Swiss FAST VIDEO SECURITY for $21MN (Globes Nov. 18). Ambassador Yoram Ettinger is a consultant on US-Israel relations as well as the Chairman of Special Projects at the Ariel Center for Policy Research. Formerly the Minister for Congressional Affairs to Israel's Embassy in Washington, DC, Ettinger also served as Consul General of Israel to the Southwestern US. He is a former editor of Contemporary Mideast Backgrounder, and is the author of the Jerusalem Cloakroom series of reports. Contact him at yoramtex@netvision.net.il |
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MAZEL TOV, NITZANA! PLO LOSES LAST APPEAL
Posted by Naomi Ragen, November 30, 2005. |
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Friends, Many of you may know the name Nitsana Darshan-Leitner from my columns. The activist lawyer (who just had triplets!) doesn't do anything in a small way. When she represented the Ungar family, she managed together with her American co-counsel to get a $116 million dollar judgement against the PLO for the murder of this lovely young couple, which left their toddler and little baby orphans. Only miraculously did the children themselves survive the attack. The lawyer for the Hamas and PLO was none other than Ramsey Clark (good luck Saddam, now that he's taken on your case!) Recently, Clark went to the U.S. Supreme court trying to get this overturned. Today, he lost. The Supreme Court refused to hear this case. The money will go to the two little orphans, being raised by their grandparents. Now, if Nitsana can just sue the PLO for every single murder it's committed, Suha will have to move out of the Ritz. And maybe, just maybe, they won't be able to afford more terror attacks against young parents and their babies. Below, articles about the case. Efrat and Yaron Ungar were 25 years old when they were killed in June 1996 while driving home from a wedding. In the drive-by shooting near Beit Shemesh, their car was splayed with bullets which hit the car seat, but miraculously missed their baby. Blond-haired Yishai and his brother are being raised by their grandparents. Three Hamas militants were convicted in the double murder, but the family decided to sue for damages. "This was my first anti-terror case," said Darshan-Leitner. The family of Yaron Ungar, U.S. citizens, sought $250 million in damages. The case was tried in a Rhode Island Court with a co-counsel from the United States. The court's legal jurisdiction for the U.S. trial is based on the U.S. Anti-Terrorist Act passed in 1991, which grants American citizens the right to sue in district courts for acts of international terrorism. Another act, passed in 1996, allows for suits against sponsors of terrorism. Both acts were partly triggered by the murder of wheelchair-bound Leon Klinghoffer, who was shot and thrown overboard the Achille Lauro in 1985. (That case was settled out of court after 12 years.) Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General, tried to get his clients - Hamas, the PLO and the Palestinian Authority - off the hook on a plea of sovereign immunity. In a landmark ruling, in November 2002, the Rhode Island judge rejected their claim. "It was decided that the defendants have to answer under oath in court," said Darshan-Leitner. The activist lawyer is also going after the European Union, which has been handing more than $10 million a month to the PA; more than $1.5 billion since 1994. Many in Israel accuse the PA of using the money to support the PLO's Fatah Tanzim and al-Aqsa Martyr Brigade terrorist groups. Contact the Shurat HaDin-Israel Law Center at info@insraellawcenter.org "Supreme Court Passes Up PLO Case," by The Associated Press, http://www.nytimes.com/, November 28, 2005. WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court refused Monday to overturn a $116 million judgment against the Palestine Liberation Organization in the deaths of a Jewish couple near the West Bank. The PLO, and its governmental entity, had been sued in federal court in Rhode Island over the 1996 drive-by shooting of Yaron Ungar, an American citizen, and his Israeli wife, Efrat, as the couple returned home from a wedding. The family's relatives argued that the PLO and Palestinian Authority provided a safe haven and operational base for the Islamic militant group Hamas, which was responsible for the attack. A judge issued a default judgment after the PLO did not respond to requests for depositions from Yasser Arafat and others. Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, the lawyer for the PLO, told justices in the appeal last month that Ungar relatives have "commenced sweeping national and international efforts" to collect the millions of dollars, including an attempt to seize Palestine's U.N. Mission building in New York. Clark said U.S. courts "'are marching off to the conflicts of the Middle East and elsewhere carrying with them the integrity of the U.S. judiciary and risking the foreign perception that U.S. courts will extend their jurisdiction globally deciding the most sensitive political questions affecting the foreign policies of the U.S. and other nations as they go." The case is Palestine Liberation Organization v. Ungar, 05-510. Naomi Ragen is an American-born novelist and journalist who lives in Jerusalem. She can be contacted at www.naomiragen.com, where you can subscribe to her newsletter. |
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REFORMS SEEK TO CULL 'DIET OF HATE' FROM ISLAMIC SCHOOL BOOKS
Posted by David Meir-Levi, November 30, 2005. |
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Some of you may recall the emails of a few years ago about the Palestinian Authority curriculum as a repository for Jew-hatred and Israel-hatred. For those who believed (or still believe) Nathan Brown's misleading monograph that the PA curricula were just an expression of "Palestinian Nationalism", normal for an emerging country, please read the article below. This is an Associated Press article, reviewing briefly the curricula of Moslem schools in many parts of the Moslem world. PA anti-Israel and pro-Jihad/pro-martyrdom material pervasive in its curricula is of a piece with the broad Arab and non-Arab textbooks in much of the Moslem world where critics find "a diet of hate" with textbook and curricular emphases on: Islam is superior to all other religions and is destined to replace all other religions in the world (an assertion found in the Qur'an and later Moslem religious sources - such replacement being brought about via Jihad) Other faiths threaten islam (ironic considering that almost all terrorists in the world today are Moslem, and considering that in the non-Moslem world Islam and Moslems practice their faith unobstructed, while in much of the Moslem world non-Moslems pratice their faith at the risk of their lives. But the assertion that Islam is under attack is very important because such threat to Islam justifies the most virulent and lethal type of jihad -- and defense of Islam justifies the murder of non-combatants per Qur'anic verses, making Moslem terrorism OK as long as Islam is "under attack") The need for jihad (per above: the terror war against the West and against all other religions must be portrayed as really a defensive war since these other religions and civilizations threaten Islam, and being a 'defensive war' the murder of non-combatants is OK -- not OK in an offensive war per Qur'an) Stereotypes about Israel and Israelis ranging from negative to outright baleful hatred (thus justifying the long-standing Arab/Moslem commitment to the eradication of Israel and its Jews) Note too the paragraph on Israeli curricula and some stereotyping of Arabs in negative terms. The assertion that Israeli textbooks indicate that Palestinians show no willingness to respond to Israel's offers of peace is of special interest, since it is included as part of the critique of Israeli textbooks....but the critics fail to note that the assertion is historically correct. The critics also fail to note that even the most extreme negative representations of Arabs or Palestinians in Israeli texts are in no way comparable to the hate-filled rhetoric and the diatribe of genocide that pervades some of the Arab texts re Israel and its Jews. On the brighter side, there is clearly some movement in parts of the Arab/Moslem world to bring about textbook reform. I wonder why they waited 1,350 years to do so. David ml PS. to my knowledge, this article has not yet appeared in mainstream press. Let me know if you find it anywhere where most people are likely to read it. It's called "Reforms seek to cull 'diet of hate' from Islamic school books," and is by Brian Murphy of the Associated Press. It appeared yesterday. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Page after page, the self-appointed hate hunters underline passages in Pakistani schoolbooks. They flag hard-edged Muslim views toward other faiths, such as those describing past efforts by Hindus and Christians to "erase" Muslims. They note sections that speak of martyrdom, and the duty to battle perceived religious enemies. "We are fighting for the future of Islam. Children are sometimes being force-fed a diet of hate, anger and intolerance," said Ahmad Salim, leader of a campaign to push Pakistan's education establishment to remove what activists consider extreme language and images from the curriculum. Salim's group, the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, issued a report two years ago calling for broad revisions. Next month, it plans to release an updated review of all Pakistan's textbooks that reprimands authorities for failing to make serious changes. It will be the latest example of widening appeals for textbook reform across the Islamic world. Barely a whisper just a few years ago, the demands have begun to draw attention at the highest levels. Educators and activists argue that current battles against Islamic extremism are only superficial without deep revisions of schoolbooks -- similar to efforts to purge Balkan lessons of ethnic slurs following the wars of the 1990s. In Jordan -- the target of triple suicide blasts Nov. 9 claimed by al-Qaida -- another overhaul is expected in next year's textbooks; part of a process that includes making clear distinctions between terrorism and what that nation sees as legitimate struggles, such as the Palestinian intifada, or uprising. Even Saudi Arabia has started to rewrite its highly conservative lessons after worries they were encouraging homegrown radicals. Much of the concern among reformers is how students learn about jihad, or holy war -- a concept that encompasses all acts on behalf of Islam. It's clear the phrases in some textbooks pay homage -- directly or indirectly -- to violent actions. "Recognize the importance of jihad in every sphere of life," say the curriculum guidelines for Pakistan's elementary schools. Critics claim the message is often interpreted in malignant ways: strong denunciations of Pakistan's historical Hindu rivals in India or sympathy for Islamic guerrillas in Kashmir and elsewhere. In the Palestinian seventh grade Arabic language book, a 1930s protest poem called "The Martyr" includes the lines: "And the flow of blood gladdens my soul.... And who asks for a noble death, here it is." The Palestinian's 11th grade "Islamic Culture" book has dozens of appeals for Islamic solidarity to confront "enemies" such as Israel, its allies and Western culture. "The Islamic nation needs to spread the spirit of jihad and the love of self-sacrifice (martyrdom) among its sons," reads one passage. Fifth graders read: "The martyrs kiss it (the Palestinian flag) with their blood." Nearly every section of the Palestinian textbooks touches on the intifada. "Peace with Israel is not mentioned at all," according to a report by the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace, an Israeli-American group that examines school books throughout the Middle East. "There is an incredible glorification of jihad (as holy war) throughout the entire Palestinian school curriculum," said Itamar Marcus, director of Palestinian Media Watch, a Jerusalem-based group that monitors Palestinian broadcasts and publications. Israeli textbooks have undergone extensive reforms in the past decade to remove the most overt anti-Arab bias, but Arabs are still widely portrayed as opposed to gestures for peace. Meanwhile, books used by Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jews often give negative impressions of Arabs as shifty and violent. In Saudi Arabia -- the guardian of Islam's holiest sites -- textbooks reflect the kingdom's two main pillars: commitment to spread Islam and to follow its austere interpretation of the faith, known as Wahhabism. This puritanical brand of Islam has provided theological footing for the faith's most extreme edges, including al-Qaida and other terrorist cells. The Saudi lessons also spill far beyond its borders since the government funds hundreds of schools around the world. The Saudi schoolbooks have been modified in the past two years to soften the descriptions of non-Muslims, other cultures and different branches of Islam, though critics say it still has a way to go. Pressure for change came from two directions. The West, led by the United States, began serious demands for textbook reforms after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudis. But the overseers of Saudi education -- heavily influenced by Wahhabi clerics and scholars -- got serious about changes only after the nation's royal leaders stepped in. Muslim militants, apparently inspired by Saudi-born Osama bin Laden, launched attacks on Saudi soil in May 2003 and rattled the kingdom's pro-Western leaders. In a speech last year, then-Saudi education minister Mohammed al-Rasheed told teachers and administrators to "stay away from extremism and fanaticism." A recent U.S. State Department report on global religious freedom noted Saudi Arabia has "removed some disparaging references to other religious traditions" from schoolbooks, but the kingdom was still listed among the most restrictive religious settings. The Saudi curriculum frames the world along rigid lines. Religious studies note Islam's historical bonds with Christianity and Judaism, but declare that only Muslims practice the true faith and "other religions destroy their followers." Saudi seventh graders also read that Judaism is a "corrupted religion." Lessons portray the Muslim world as under constant threat. In ninth grade, geography studies describe centuries of "malice and hatred" toward Muslims, from the Crusades to contemporary conflicts in Kashmir, Chechnya and the intifada. Such phrases were taught in Saudi classes as recently as the 2003-04 school year, according to international monitors. It's unclear whether they will be removed in the ongoing revisions. "The recent changes in the Saudi textbooks do not offer any real improvement in the level of hatred that the schoolchildren are taught," said Logan Barclift, an analyst at the Institute for Gulf Affairs, a Washington-based group that monitors politics and education in the Gulf. "As long as this continues, it will be much harder for a more tolerant view of Islam to take hold in the Arab world." Right now, Saudi education is directed by some of the most conservative forces in the kingdom. One petition, signed by some judges and clerics last year, denounced the reforms as American pressure and aimed to take "the kingdom along the path of infidels." Jordan has conducted one of the most sweeping revisions of its schoolbooks, which were also used by Palestinian children until the 1990s and had contained some of the most direct praise for martyrdom on behalf of Islam. "We want to instill in (students) positive values of accepting the 'other' and coexisting with other societies," said Jordan's education minister, Khaled Touqan. "It's true that in today's world, the reality may be far off." A look at textbooks in Islamic countries and elsewhere PAKISTAN: A 2003 study by an independent watchdog group listed dozens of examples in textbooks that it said denigrated non-Muslims -- particularly Hindus in neighboring India -- and left students receptive to "sectarianism and religious intolerance." Pakistani officials have since streamlined portions of the Islamic education material and removed some of harshest phrases, but reforms have been limited, activists claim. An updated report by the monitoring group is expected in December. EGYPT: Education minister Kamel Bahaeddin promised last year to remove textbook phrases deemed intolerant or militant. He also pledged to dismiss any teacher encouraging extremist views. Critics say the curriculum has seen few significant changes, including continued use of Quranic references to justify violence against "infidels." But the books also point out the historic bonds between Islam, Christianity and Judaism and pay special attention to Coptic Christians, who comprise about 10 percent of the population. All proposed reforms must be cleared by clerics at Al-Azhar University, the center of Sunni Muslim scholarship, which greatly influences Egyptian education. IRAQ: The new textbooks stress democracy as the foundation of civil society and remove the Saddam Hussein-era glorification of Iraq as the leading light of pan-Arab nationalism. Also presented is a more balanced view of the 1980-88 war with Iran and the later confrontations, including Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, that led to military showdowns with the West and Arab allies, according to the pan-Arab newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat. GULF STATES: The Gulf Cooperation Council, a six-nation group led by heavyweight Saudi Arabia, has been gradually cutting references that could be considered as slurs against non-Muslims or encouraging extremism. Some members, such as Kuwait, have moved faster with the reforms than other GCC states. The Saudi Education Ministry quoted Abdulilah Al-Mosarraf, director of planning and evaluation at the Arab Bureau of Education for the Gulf States, as saying the revisions are "intended to meet the challenges of the new world order and (are) unrelated to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks." SYRIA: Christians and Jews are often described as sharing religious foundations with Islam. Israel and Israeli Jews, however, are dealt with harshly in the lessons. Israel is described as a country run by "Zionist gangs which threaten our very existence" by occupying the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in 1967. "It is therefore the duty of every Muslim to unite in one rank to take back his land and honor by every means possible," said a ninth-grade text, according to a report by Joshua Landis, a University of Oklahoma history professor who has conducted extensive studies of Syrian education. ISRAEL: Israeli schoolbooks have undergone sweeping revisions since the 1990s to remove anti-Arab bias and present a more balanced view of Palestinian views and aspirations. But Palestinians are still generally portrayed as unwilling to make the concessions needed for peace. Palestinians also claim that Israeli curriculum ignores Palestinian history before the arrival of the first Jewish immigrants in present-day Israel. Schoolbooks used by ultra-Orthodox groups often reinforce negative stereotypes about Arabs, according to independent monitors. One story tells of God offering the Commandments to Arabs, but they reject them because of the injunction against stealing. "We do not want the Torah," the story goes. "We are used to stealing things from other people." UNITED STATES: American Muslims started building Islamic schools in the 1970s to preserve religious practices and cultural identity. Several of the estimated 400 full-time Muslims schools have been led by teachers from other countries. Some liberal parents have expressed concern that schools could promote traditions that clash with a democratic society, such as relegating women to subordinate roles. The debate has taken on additional urgency as major U.S. Muslim organizations seek to protect young Muslims from any radical interpretations of their faith. Associated Press writers Munir Ahmad in Islamabad, Diana Elias in Kuwait City and Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report. David Meir-Levi is an American-born Israeli, currently living in Palo Alto. He lectures in English, Hebrew, and Spanish; his expertise is in Near Eastern studies and the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. He is Director of Peace and Education at Israel Peace Initiative (www.ipi-usa.org). Contact David Meir-Levi at david_meirlevi@hotmail.com |
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CONFRONTING SPAIN'S BURIED JEWISH PAST
Posted by Michael Freund, November 30, 2005. |
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Following is an article of mine from the Jerusalem Post (www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1132475651929&pagename= JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull) about the rich Jewish history of Palma de Majorca off the coast of Spain, and the failure of Spanish and Majorcan society to come to terms with what they did to the Jewish people during the time of the Inquisition. Comments may be sent to: letters@jpost.com or to me directly at msfreund@netvision.net.il Nestled along the water, bordered by tree-lined avenues and trendy shops, the old city of Palma de Majorca seems an unlikely place to discover an ongoing affront to Jewish history and faith. The popular resort town, located in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Spain, has a number of architectural and historical treasures, which dot the landscape and serve as reminders of its vibrant past. Signs and information abound regarding the charming museums and courtyards, ancient churches, Roman ruins and arcades that offer visitors an alluring array of sights to see and experiences to enjoy. With over 20 million people per year passing through the city's international airport, local authorities are keen to preserve and even flaunt the various sites which the town has to offer, no doubt aware of their value in attracting globe-trotting tourists. There is, however, one glaring exception to this rule. In what seems like an almost willful attempt to overlook the past, hardly any effort is made to recall the city's once-thriving Jewish life, which is believed to date back as far as the 5th century CE. One could easily spend hours wandering through the narrow medieval streets, where everything from the Roman era to the Arab conquest to the Spanish monarchy enjoys its rightful place on the map, and still not encounter a single reference to the Jewish presence that once existed here. There are no signs to indicate where the town's ancient synagogues once stood, no markers to show where the Jews here once lived, nor any memorials to recall how they were victimized and killed. It is difficult not to escape the conclusion that this "oversight" is no mere coincidence. Given the manner in which Majorca's Jews were so cruelly persecuted over the centuries, it is hardly surprising that the city would prefer not to draw attention to this dark chapter in its history. As far back as 1305, anti-Jewish riots took place in Palma, and four years later, the island's first blood-libel occurred when several Jews were falsely accused of murdering a Christian child. In July 1391, a pogrom targeted Palma's Jews, hundreds of whom were massacred, and in 1435, nearly sixty years before the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, the city's entire Jewish community was forced to convert to Catholicism. The Jewish converts, however, were never accepted by their Christian neighbors, who looked down on them and referred to them as Chuetas or as "New Christians", a practice that continues even today. The Spanish Inquisition was especially active in Majorca, hunting down the Chuetas and their descendants for centuries. In 1675 and 1691, hundreds of years after their ancestors had been forced to convert, large numbers of Chuetas were executed by the Inquisition for secretly practicing Judaism. In one instance, in January 1675, a 17-year old boy who refused to renounce his belief in the G-d of Israel was burned alive in Palma by church authorities in front of a cheering crowd of 30,000 spectators. And, as late as 1856, riots erupted in Palma when several Chuetas sought to join an exclusive private club, which outraged local residents. But Palma's old city, and the site of its ancient Jewish quarter, contain not a clue, nor even a hint, regarding any of this, as though the locals prefer to live in denial rather than confront their past. A visit to the English-language website of the Palma municipality would seem to confirm this, where a search results in a brief, solitary mention of the city's Jewish quarter. Ironically enough, the only visible ancient Jewish artifact remaining in Palma can be found in a church. At the entrance to the towering La Seu cathedral stands a small glass enclosure containing two Rimonim, the decorative silver ornaments known as finials that are placed on the wooden staves of a Torah scroll. The Hebrew lettering on them is clearly visible, and the sign next to the glass says "Rimonim" in Latin letters. After gazing at them briefly, I approach two church workers and ask why the Rimonim have not been returned to Palma's Jewish community. After all, there is no doubt that they are Jewish ritual objects, and they have no place sitting behind a glass case in a church. My question is greeted with derision, which is then further compounded by the smug answer that, "we will be happy to trade them with you for something of value", as though the very idea of making a gesture of reconciliation to the island's Jews is somehow unacceptable. The church, it seems, would prefer to keep the Rimonim on display, as a type of morbid trophy to celebrate its destruction of Palma's Jews centuries ago, rather than to try to heal the wounds of the past. But what local church and city officials in Palma fail to realize is that those wounds can not be swept under the carpet or ignored. It is time for Majorca in particular, and for Spain in general, to come to terms more openly and honestly with what they did to the Jewish people. To be fair, there are Spanish cities, such as Girona, where the Jewish past is celebrated and preserved. But the fact remains that Spain does not have a national memorial to the victims of the Inquisition or the expulsion, and in places such as Palma, the Jewish presence is entirely overlooked. Indeed, Spanish schoolchildren barely learn more than the sketchiest of details about the darkest chapters in their nation's history, when the oppression of Jews was state policy. In Palma, a local group, called Llegat Jueu, and comprised largely of Chuetas, is trying to change this, working tirelessly to preserve the city's ancient Jewish legacy. They have even launched a new scholarly journal, Segell, to generate greater interest in the area's Jewish history and roots. A prominent Majorcan journalist, Miguel Segura, has bravely written articles and books highlighting his Chueta Jewish identity and challenging society to do away with lingering feelings of bigotry and intolerance against Jews and their descendants. But Spanish society itself needs to do more, much more, to confront these issues head on. Centuries may have passed since Spain's Jews were driven into exile or forced to convert, but when it comes to matters of historical truth and justice, there can be no such thing as a statute of limitations. Michael Freund is founder and Chairman of Shavei Israel (www.shavei.org), a Jerusalem-based group that reaches out and assists "lost Jews" seeking to return to the Jewish people. |
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PRIORITIES OF THE USA
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, November 30, 2005. |
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Interesting how the humanitarians in the US State Department are so concerned about the persecution (?) of sexual degenerates in an Arab country but so unconcerned by the persecution (and on occasion execution) of religious minorities, open slavery, the treatment of women as chattel, the suppression of basic civil and political right and so much more. I guess it is just human nature to feel more sympathy for your own kind. This comes from BBC NEWS: (http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/ middle_east/4482892.stm) It's called "US condemns UAE gay men arrests." The US has condemned the arrests of 26 gay men during a raid on a party at a hotel in the United Arab Emirates earlier this month. Washington also warned the UAE that any attempt to administer hormone or psychological treatment would break international law. Police launched on Tuesday disciplinary proceedings against an officer who published photos taken during the raid, but did not respond to the criticism. Homosexuality is illegal in the UAE. Police arrested 22 UAE men, one Indian, and three Arabs from neighbouring states at a hotel in Ghantut in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, the Interior Ministry said on Saturday. The authorities said 12 of the men had been dressed in women's clothes and make-up in preparation for a gay wedding. Hormone therapy A police spokesman said the foreigners were likely to be deported, while the Emirati men could be given hormone therapy if they consent. The BBC's Gulf correspondent, Julia Wheeler, says there is a suggestion that agreeing to such treatment could be used as a bargaining tool for a reduction in an individual's sentence. US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said his government condemned both the arrests and government-ordered hormone and psychological treatment. "We call on the government of the United Arab Emirates to immediately stop any ordered hormone and psychological treatment and to comply with the standards of international law," he said. In the UAE there have been a number of cases of arrests of homosexuals in recent years, and a nightclub in Dubai was closed down for allowing an openly gay night to be held on its premises, our correspondent says. One religious scholar has now called on parents to be vigilant of what he called "deviant" behaviour in their children. Policeman disciplined Images of the suspects taken by a policeman on his mobile phone appeared in local newspapers shortly after the arrests. Lt Col Najm Abdullah al-Sayar said the police had launched disciplinary proceedings against the policeman. "[The officer] photographed the young men with his mobile phone while they were being arrested and distributed the pictures," he said. "He has infringed on the privacy of the people involved in the case and this is something that goes against the proper conduct of the police force. He is under investigation and may ultimately be expelled from the force." Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. Contact him at zelasko@actcom.co.il |
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THE ISRAEL ACADEMIA MONITOR
Posted by Mordechai Ben-Menachem, November 29, 2005. |
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In recent years the activities of Israeli academic extremists have drawn increasing attention and are the subject of increasing public concern. Scores of Israeli academic radicals are today active in abetting anti-Israel activities around the world, such as the recent campaign to impose an academic boycott on Israel. They are frequently the initiators of anti-Israel petition drives, "divestment" campaigns, and they turn out large numbers of anti-Israel propaganda articles in magazines and web sites, including some that are openly anti-Semitic. The critical role of Israeli academic extremists in the recent boycott attempts by professors in the U.K. and by several church groups has served to raise alarms in Israel and in the overseas Jewish communities about the activities of these people. Israeli mainstream media are increasingly taking a journalistic interest in what these people do and in the enormous damages they cause. At Israel Academia Monitor our purpose is to expose and monitor the political activities of Israeli academic extremists. We seek to bring information to light, mainly from the articles and statements of the extremists themselves, on and off Israeli campuses. Anti-Israel and occasionally anti-Jewish articles by these people appear in numerous publications around the world, including on the Internet. We archive and report about these. Some of these articles openly endorse and promote international boycotts of Israel in general and boycotts of Israeli universities in particular. Others include open endorsements of anti-Israel violence, terrorism, and recruitment of support for Israelis collaborating with anti-Israel organizations. Still others promote insurrection and mutiny by Israeli soldiers. We at Israel Academia Monitor believe in free speech and academic freedom. We also believe in the right of donors, alumni, students, journalists, taxpayers, and others to know about the political activities of Israel's tenured radicals, people whose salaries come from the public fiscal trough. Israeli universities are public taxpayer-financed institutions and owe the members of the public accountability. By publishing this information, we are aware that some, including donors to Israeli universities, will find this information disturbing, possibly shocking. We want to make it clear that we are not calling for an end to support of and donations to Israeli academic institutions. We do think that donors should be aware of how their funds are spent and how their generosity is used and sometimes misused. As part of our work, we monitor and publicize abuses and misbehavior, taken from each Israeli campus. We invite our readers to read for themselves the statements of Israeli academic extremists in their original form and to draw their own conclusions. We seek to serve as a data base and media resource for journalists and others interested in these matters. Mr. Mordechai Ben-Menachem
Mordechai Ben-Menachem is a Ben-Gurion University in Beer-Sheva. Contact him at quality@acm.org |
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AN ARAB'S INSIGHT INTO THE ARAB WORLD
Posted by David Meir-Levi, November 29, 2005. |
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For those who cringe and wring their hands in embarrassed frustration over the horrible things that our people are doing to their people at Guantanamo and in Iraq: We are the object of calumny, threats, and massive ferocious demonstrations (where dozens are trampled to death) all over the Moslem world because there is a report (unsubstantiated as yet) that a soldier at Guantanamo mis-handled a Qur'an. They blow up their own mosques even as these are full of their own people worshipping, and copies of the Qur'an.....and no one objects. We are the object of calumny, threats, and demonstrations, accusations that we are the worst of mankind, worse than the NAZIs, because we used intimidation techniques involving humiliation and threats of torture and intimidation via large dogs (some wearing muzzles)....at Abu Ghuraib. They have a 1,000 year old tradition of bona fide torture and beheading and throat-cutting and mutilating and descrating corpses, including impalement and acid baths, with documented victims of Saddam Hussein numbering in the thousands (not to mention the well known Syrian torture technique known as "el-'Abd el-Aswad" = the black slave -- let me know if you want details of that one, not fit for a general email, or the treatment of black slaves in Sudan and Mauritania)...and narry a peep is heard from any human rights spokesperson. Per Brigitte Gabriel's comments below, we are setting ourselves up for defeat when we buy into the Islamofascist industry of propaganda that seeks to demonize us for defending ourselves against their onslaught. But this is not a new problem. "Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged" (Abraham Lincoln) David Meir-Levi PS. this does not mean that it is ok to be like them. Rather, it is incumbent upon us to see: a.) the difference between what they are saying about us and the reality of what we are doing compared to what they are doing b.) the goal of their propaganda about us, which is to justify their assault on us with lies and decontextualizations and disinformation. This article is something that everyone who ever criticizes our handling of enemy combatants at Gitmo should read. However, DO NOT watch the torture link if you are easily offended or have a weak stomach. Time Magazine is publishing a shocking interview with an Iraqi suicide bomber. It's mind-boggling to understand, but just like WWII when America came to understand and accept the barbarism of the Nazis and Japs, so must Americans come to grips with our current enemy, the Islamic militants and how they view America. To help explain this, consider Brigitte Gabriel, a native of the Arab world, and the former news anchor of World News for Middle East Television. Now a Contributing Editor for FamilySecurityMatters.com, Gabriel wants viewers and listeners to know the truth about what the Arab World thinks of Senator Durbin's remarks, the alleged so-called "abuses" at Gitmo (a joke she calls it). As a child, Gabriel's own home was destroyed by radical Islamists because she was a Christian. She spent 2 1/2 months in the hospital and then lived under-ground for 7 years with no electricity and little food. THEN she rose to become a news anchor, and later moved to the US where she's a true American success story - own business, husband, two kids, etc. This excellent OpEd by Brigitte is called "What The Arab World Thinks." Torture is accepted and even expected in the Arab world. Yes, I know what you're thinking-that's not politically correct in most mainstream media. And you know some nice Arabs who have immigrated to America. But it's the truth in the Arab world. Might makes right. Real men don't eat quiche. They prove their manhood by the way they treat their enemy. After all it's what Muhammad did to the unbelievers - Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians in the Quoran - the 'holy book' allegedly mishandled in Guantanamo prison. Arab Muslim men gain honor by shaming, belittling, abusing and torturing their enemy in the most horrific ways. Just look at how the Palestinians treat so-called collaborators by disemboweling them and hanging them upside down in Manger Square in Bethlehem. Look at the terrorist torture chambers that the coalition forces recently uncovered in Iraq. When people refer to the prisons of Saddam Hussein and his regime
they think he is the extreme exception. Not so! The truth is his
torture tactics are quite the norm in the Arab world. If you want to
see torture that is beyond what any Westerner can ever imagine please
go to ( http://www.masada2000.org/impalement.asx
They smirk because they believe that Americans have demonstrated
how stupid and weak they are by caving in to stories about
maltreatment of Guantanamo detainees. They are watching our critics in
this country and counting on them to embolden the radical Islamic
cause and weaken our resolve.
Actually, Gitmo is a joke as far as the Arabs are concerned. Prison?
You call that a prison? Let me tell you what some of the prisoners
call Guantanamo, "Al muntazah al-dini lilmujaheden al Muslimin,"
The Religious Resort for Islamic Militants.
[Note: It strikes me as tragically ironic that when my friends and
colleagues were imprisoned and tortured in North Vietnam's horrific
confinement facilities (some for over 7 years), no one in America
except their families complained. Where was the "Oh my God look what
is happening to our prisoners" crowd then? Certainly not the press,
who believed Jane Fonda when she said they were well treated;
certainly not the Johnson administration, who directly told the
families of our prisoners to 'be quiet' and not raise the awareness
of their husbands, fathers, and sons, and certainly not the GD
ACLU!). ~~ JCM]
They are given three halal meals a day in accordance to their
religious dictates. How many kosher prisons are there in the Arabic
world? None. Jews captured in the Arab world are butchered like those
obscene pictures taken in Ramallah during the frenzied slaughter of
two Israeli reservists who got lost. Remember the Palestinian man
holding his red, Jewish blood dripping hands, high above his head in
victory?
Remember Nick Berg's head being held high also?
Most of these detainees never had three meals a day in their
entire life. They are gaining weight, and are living in what they
refer to in Arabic as "Al-Jannah," paradise. They have radio,
television, soccer games, air-conditioning, clean clothes, servants,
meaning American GIs, who wait on them hand and foot. They have
Islamic chaplains and handed Qu'rans, the social hate guide against
Infidels, by people so concerned as not to offend that they wear latex
gloves and carry the book with two hands.
Many Muslims in the Middle East would gladly give up their
poverty, dictatorial governments, corrupt leaders and social bondage
to enjoy the relative luxuries Guantanamo offers. They have free
medical care, better than millions of uninsured Americans and our
military men and women serving on the jihadists' battlefield. Some of
them who couldn't afford to see an optometrist now have glasses and
can see and read their Qu'ran. Others who never had the opportunity to
see a dentist now have a free dental plan. It has become such a joke;
we even stop interrogations to let them take prayer breaks demanded by
their religion.
As an Arab, I can tell you that Illinois Democratic Senator Richard Durbin is aiding and abetting the goals and strategy of Islamic jihadists who have declared war on the United States. Where was Durbin's comparison to the Nazis when we found the torture chambers in Iraq? Where was Durbin's comparison to Soviet gulags when we found the hundreds of thousands of bodies in Saddam's mass graves?
Where was Durbin's head when he compared prisoners captured on the field of battle to the internment of Japanese American civilians during WWII? OK, apologize to unarmed citizens, not fighters with weapons in their hands. Where was Durbin when he compared Gitmo and Abu Ghraib to the industry of death that murdered 6 million Jewish men, women and children during WWII? If anything his heart and mind were in the jihadists terrorists' camp. If you see what story is being downloaded and shared by viewers of the al Jazeera web site you will find the story on Durbin's comments the winner.
If I were an Islamic terrorist I would be thanking Durbin and forwarding his views to all my fellow fanatics. His reckless comments fuel the fanatic frenzied jihadists, motivating them to blow themselves up in the midst of innocent civilians, savagely cut the heads of helpless hostages and devote themselves to killing the infidel who could be your neighbor stationed in Iraq. Just like the Quran says they should.
Dick Durbin is an unwitting champion of Islamic radical
fundamentalists. His comments should be known from this day forward
as a " Durbinization" of the facts. To demonize something grossly out
of proportion to what the enemy is doing is to Durbinize. Gitmo and
Abu Ghraib have been Durbinized and the Arab world loves it. They
laugh at Durbin because he's supporting their belief in the
destruction of our country and civilization.
The shame is Durbin doesn't have a clue as to what he's done. As far
as he's concerned, he did the right thing for the Islamic radical
detainees living high on the proverbial hog in Gitmo. What he really
did was made them laugh; laugh at us for being fools and not real
men. Now it's time to see if the voters in Illinois and his fellow
members of Congress are men and women enough to tell the Moslem world
Durbin isn't our real man.
David Meir-Levi is an American-born Israeli, currently living in Palo Alto. He lectures in English, Hebrew, and Spanish; his expertise is in Near Eastern studies and the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. He is Director of Peace and Education at Israel Peace Initiative (www.ipi-usa.org). Contact David Meir-Levi at david_meirlevi@hotmail.com |
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CHALABI, AUTHENTIC IRAQI?; ARABS FIGHTING OVER JEWS' LAND; PREDICTED & UNPREDICTED
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, November 29, 2005. |
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THE MORE IMRA ANALYSES THE AGREEMENT IMRA continues to analyze the Gaza border agreement. One provision specifies how many trucks the inspection system can handle. When a new scanner is installed, more trucks would be let through. Nullifying serious inspection, however, is a provision for Israel to expedite the whole P.A. crop. More trucks than can be inspected, would pass. Worse, this arrangement is stated as the model for Judea-Samaria. Incidentally, when Israel introduced scanners that would enable people to pass more swiftly and conveniently, the P.A. objected. The P.A. called the scanners carcinogens. Actually, the scanners emit less radiation than cellular telephones. Such scanners are in use all over the world, but Israel's proposal to use them was called a plot (11/20). CHALABI OF IRAQ Before the Iraq war, Chalabi returned to Iraq to help prepare it for the freedom he saw coming. He fell out of favor with the US Administration, when he opposed it by demanding immediate sovereignty and democratic elections leading to self-rule and by defending de-Baathification against US efforts to scuttle it. When his commission investigated oil-for-food, he opposed US efforts to internationalize responsibility for Iraq. National Security Advisor Rice called his opposition to the US-sponsored Fallujah Brigade "unhelpful" (but the Brigade collapsed and largely joined the jihadists.) "Soon afterward, she directed her staff to outline ways to "marginalize" Chalabi. There followed espionage and counterfeiting charges -- the former never seriously pursued by the FBI and the latter thrown out of an Iraqi court." The US thought his contacts in Iraq were meager and unreliable. It expected him to fade away without its patronage. The US view was confirmed by the polls it took. Iraqis, however, react to polls differently from Americans, who were misled. Iraqis like his nationalism and independence. Being authentic, and with deep roots in Iraq, Chalabi rose to become deputy Prime Minister, without US patronage. Family history and prestige matters much to Iraqis. Chalabi's grandfather built a town later incorporated into Baghdad. His father was President of the monarchial Senate and revitalized a shrine. The State Dept. turned against him because of his independent opposition to it. The CIA analysts misunderstood and under-estimated him, because they are youths hired directly from college, without experience and unfamiliar with the cultures with which they deal. They were suspicious of him because he had so many contacts! They also mistrusted him for spending time in Iran (MEFNews, 11/20 from Michael Rubin of National Review, 11/29). Ridiculous charges were brought against him in Jordan. Note the imperious US manner: "marginalize him!" He was right on those matters. He also is accused of giving the US poor intelligence, but Mr. Rubin did not comment about that. (Nevertheless, we do not really know what apparently pro-Western natives might do.) WHAT'S HAPPENING TO THE EXPELLEE'S LAND? The P.A. promised to build extensive public housing in the formerly Jewish area of Gaza, but Arab squatters are moving in. Arab clans clash with P.A. police, as different groups vie to claim land. People are arrested over this. In one clash, a bystander youth was killed. His family then attacked the police station, as do armed gangs. At the funeral, mourners broke the law by firing rifles into the air. Violence is increasing (Arutz-7, 11/20). Hamas may pose as the party best able to end the anarchy. On that basis, it may win the election. ISRAEL DEVELOPED A LIE DETECTOR For use in airports, an Israeli has developed a lie detector that requires no physical contact. It listens to people's voices and detects emotions. The developer claims a 12% sensitivity, but an American test claims a 90% reliability. Of course, the emotion of fear need not be for plans to commit a crime at the airport (Arutz-7, 11/20). Try it on PM Sharon and Sec. Rice. POLLARD SUGGESTS A SPY SWAP Jonathan Pollard's attorneys are suing the government of Israel to arrest Angie Kielcienski, an Israeli, for spying on Israel in behalf of the US. Kielcienski's crime came to light when he sued the CIA for denying him a pension although his spying led to the exposure of Pollard. Thus he admitted having spied. His ability to do so was due to Sharon's having appointed him to a security position in the Likud, gaining him access to State secrets. Pollard wants Israel to swap Kielcinski for him (IMRA, 11/21). Does the US care what happens to Kielcienski? SHARON DENIES SUPPOSED RFEASON FOR NEW PARTY The popular assumption is that Ariel Sharon is forming a new political party because he plans more withdrawals and no longer can get away with it in the Likud Party. Sharon, however, denies that he plans any more retreats (IMRA, 11/2 ). There is no other rationale for him leaving his party. His officials have been discussing another retreat, planning to offer settlers money to abandon their homes, and are drawing the security fence so as to leave settlements outside unprotected and the ones inside subject to snipers from higher ground outside. ONE DEMOCRATIC ADVANTAGE FOR ISRAEL OVER U.S. It is almost impossible to use libel suits to punish the US media. The judicial standard for convicting is to prove malice. The US media is not likely to admit publicly that it defamed Israel with malice aforethought. The judicial standard for conviction in Israel is less rigorous. The Israeli media can get away with factual errors but less so with smearing individuals (Pipes #618, 11/21). Nevertheless, it is difficult to bring lawsuits. Sometimes a rich person uses the courts to force innocent but poorer people to apologize publicly to the guilty ones. In this way, Prof. Plaut was sued for slander by a professor he had denounced truthfully. A PREDICTION COME TRUE When thousands of terrorists rushed from Gaza through the unguarded exit to Sinai, it was predicted that they would circle around Gaza to the unfenced Egyptian-Israel border and enter the Negev. Sure enough, three of them, in the company of an Egyptian arms smuggler, were caught in the Negev (IMRA). ANARCHISTS FLOCK TO HEBRON To assist Israeli Far Leftists help the Arabs of Hebron against the Israeli Army, anarchists have been coming in from all over the world. At first, the Arabs received them with hospitality. Then they became disgusted with them, as are the local Jews. These anarchists not only attack Israeli troops, they bring in drugs and teach local Arab youths sexual depravity and otherwise violate the local moral code. As a result, local Arabs and Jews formed joint street patrols against the anarchists (IMRA, 11/22). This is the first time in about 80 years that Arabs and Jews there had good relations. Local Jews are religious and conservative about sex and drugs. Only a few years ago, the Arabs used to riot against the Jews and terrorists tried to murder them. I don't think this cooperation will last. When the anarchists leave, jihadists will return. SOURCE OF ANTI-ZIONISM & ANTI-AMERICANISM Before the Iraq war, Mideastern dictators focused their people's discontent upon Israel and America. Then came the war and the American call for freedom and democracy. As a result, Mideastern peoples are beginning to focus their discontent upon their own dictatorial and corrupt regimes (Michael Barone, NY Sun, 11/21, Op. Ed.). Perhaps to some extent, but don't expect too much too soon. ONE DEMOCRATIC ADVANTAGE FOR ISRAEL OVER U.S. It is almost impossible to use libel suits to punish the US media. The judicial standard for convicting is to prove malice. The US media is not likely to admit publicly that it defamed Israel with malice aforethought. The judicial standard for conviction in Israel is less rigorous. The Israeli media can get away with factual errors but less so with smearing individuals (Pipes #618, 11/21). Nevertheless, it is difficult to bring lawsuits. Sometimes a rich person uses the courts to force innocent but poorer people to apologize publicly to the guilty ones. In this way, Prof. Plaut was sued for slander by a professor he had denounced truthfully. A PREDICTION COME TRUE When thousands of terrorists rushed from Gaza through the unguarded exit to Sinai, it was predicted that they would circle around Gaza to the unfenced Egyptian-Israel border and enter the Negev. Sure enough, three of them, in the company of an Egyptian arms smuggler, were caught in the Negev (IMRA). ANARCHISTS FLOCK TO HEBRON To assist Israeli Far Leftists help the Arabs of Hebron against the Israeli Army, anarchists have been coming in from all over the world. At first, the Arabs received them with hospitality. Then they became disgusted with them, as are the local Jews. These anarchists not only attack Israeli troops, they bring in drugs and teach local Arab youths sexual depravity and otherwise violate the local moral code. As a result, local Arabs and Jews formed joint street patrols against the anarchists (IMRA, 11/22). This is the first time in about 80 years that Arabs and Jews there had good relations. Local Jews are religious and conservative about sex and drugs. Only a few years ago, the Arabs used to riot against the Jews and terrorists tried to murder them. I don't think this cooperation will last. When the anarchists leave, jihadists will return. SOURCE OF ANTI-ZIONISM & ANTI-AMERICANISM Before the Iraq war, Mideastern dictators focused their people's discontent upon Israel and America. Then came the war and the American call for freedom and democracy. As a result, Mideastern peoples are beginning to focus their discontent upon their own dictatorial and corrupt regimes (Michael Barone, NY Sun, 11/21, Op. Ed.). Perhaps to some extent, but don't expect too much too soon. MISLABELING, AGAIN When Sharon forms a new party, "That would leave Likud as a bastion of hard-line opponents to compromise with the Palestinian Arabs." (Mark Lavie, NY Sun, 11/21, p.6 from Associated Press.) Three labels are casually tossed into that sentence: "hard-line," "compromise," and "opponents of compromise." (I corrected the preposition from "to" to "of." Israelis have difficulty with English prepositions. This can make for awkward sentences.) Those labels are misleading. That has become the function of labels in these times of advocacy journalism. The purpose of advocacy journalism is to imbue readers with the journal's point of view, without much scruple. "Hard-line" is used to make principled people appear extremist. If the principle is to preserve defensible borders against terrorists and to retain one's national patrimony against imperialist usurpers, the principle is not extremist. Its journalistic critics are. Unfortunately, Likudniks are not hardliners. They vary. Many are appeasement-minded. Others don't care about the issues but only about their political careers. Mr. Lavie both uses the term "hard-line" incorrectly and misapplies it to Likud. They rarely apply the term to the Arab side, which would be correct because the Arabs want all of Israel. "Compromise" generally means two sides each conceding some ground, in order to reach agreement somewhere in the middle. That is not what is expected in the Arab-Israel compromise. The term "compromise" is used deceitfully. It suggests that both sides are conceding. The Muslim Arabs, being religious fanatics, however, concede nothing and break their commitment, without the great powers that urge "compromise" taking steps to ensure Arab compliance. The great powers may ask the Arabs to comply, and ask and they ask, but they don't take steps. Their requests are lip service to the uninformed and the naïve. Which major journalist will admit that the Arabs don't compromise? There is a secondary, non-complimentary meaning to "compromise." One compromises one's beliefs. This is what Israel is asked to do. The Arabs are not asked to do that. In mistakenly calling Likudniks hardliners, Mr. Lavie is equally mistaken in calling them "opponents of compromise." He means they would not make any concessions. What those among them who do stand up for nationalist needs and reasonable defense oppose are one-sided concessions that endanger Israeli survival. Those who criticism them for this are "extremists." There I am using a label, but I believe correctly so. People such as Pres. Bush, Sec. Rice, and PM Sharon, who get Israel to stop barring terrorists from entering Gaza or from freely traveling on the roads to Jewish communities, although they know that the Arabs are at war with Israel and by war crimes, surely are extremists. The NY Times and the Left misuse the term to mean opponents of theirs. It is argument by smear. THE "JEWISH SICKNESS" DEEPENS A Europe willingly ignorant about the Arab-Israel conflict has made Israel the scapegoat for it. Its indignation against Israel serves as an excuse to chastise Jews instead of themselves for moral turpitude. This think that their prejudice is confirmed by the "new historians," whose rendering of history is false and tendentious. (Some of the main new historians are Communists.) The European theory parallels the Arab one that the Arabs are the victims of Zionism, rather than the reverse. Having abandoned nationalism themselves, the European elite condemn Jewish nationalism (which parallels the Israeli leftist animosity towards national power, expressed in early anti-Zionism at Hebrew U.). Somehow, Europeans conflate nationalism with fascism (though some nationalisms opposed fascism). They are not consistent about this, however, refusing to condemn Arab nationalism. These Europeans deny their anti-Zionism is antisemitic, but they seek to deny national rights only to the Jewish people. They advise Israel to dissolved itself. How much justice this would lead to, under rule by the genocidal, fascistic Arabs, is not discussed by those we're-not-antisemitic Europeans. The Europeans have revived their old, anti-Jewish policy of demanding that the Jews give up their national identity. They urge Diaspora Jews, like Communists confessing to non-existent crimes under the Stalin purge trials, to denounce Israel. Some European Jews are doing just that. They think this will gain them acceptance. They are aided by far leftist Israelis, who ought to know better (Emmanuele Ottolenghi, Commentary, 12/2005, p.42). My fellow Jews acceptance of antisemites' accusations I call the "Jewish neurosis"). SWEET TALK BETWEEN SHARON & MUBARAK Mubarak wished Sharon luck. Sharon said he hoped to continue to work together with Mubarak for peace (IMRA, 11/22). They work together this way: (1) Sharon opens the gates; and (2) Mubarak lets terrorists and arms through. Politicians and diplomats seem to talk baby talk. THE TRIBULATIONS OF ARAB INTELLECTUALS Oppressive Arab regimes have long impeded Arab intellectuals who discuss reform. It is illegal to criticize the Koran. Now those intellectuals receive death threats from Islamists. Some intellectuals have fled abroad (IMRA, 11/22). $ID |
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"CULTURE" MAG QUESTIONS ISRAEL'S RIGHT TO EXIST
Posted by Honest Reporting, November 29, 2005. |
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Dear HonestReporting Subscriber, Why is The Dubliner, which claims to be "widely regarded as the definitive guide to Irish culture", publishing an op-ed piece (http://www.honestreporting.com/a/dublinerarticle.htm) that not only disputes Israel's right to exist but also denigrates Jewish history and culture at the same time? In the immediate aftermath of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's call to 'wipe Israel from the face of the map', this magazine's November issue publishes an opinion piece alluding to the same idea by former Irish Labor Minister Justin Keating. While couched in less violent terms than Ahmadinejad, Keating claims: the Zionists have absolutely no right in what they call Israel, that they have built their state not beside but on top of the Palestinian people, and that there can be no peace as long as contemporary Israel retains its present form. Keating not only takes issue with Israel's right to exist but, unlike any serious historian, also questions the entire Jewish historical and religious connection to the land, asking: Did the Jews of the Old Testament come from what is now Israel? The answer is No. Quoting Israel's Declaration of Independence - "The land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people" - Keating calls this a "self-serving and untruthful Zionist myth", ignoring more than 3700 years of Jewish ties to their historical homeland. Also ignoring the fact that Jews have lived there throughout this period, Keating portrays the Jews as "people who occupied some land two thousand years ago for a historically brief period, to the detriment of those who have been there since." Continuing his historical revisionism into the 20th century, Keating claims that the Balfour Declaration did not give "the Zionists the right to establish a state in Israel." This, despite the fact that the 1917 document was included as part of the British Mandate for Palestine and specifically referred to "the historical connections of the Jewish people with Palestine" and to the moral validity of "reconstituting their National Home in that country." In addition, the Mandate was backed by the members of the League of Nations in 1922, the forerunner of today's UN. Keating even states that the UN Resolution of 1947 did not give Israel the right to exist as a sovereign state, claiming: they [the Zionists] have continuously and relentlessly violated that resolution for more than half a century, so that any tatters that now remain are void, by their action. This, despite the fact that the Resolution did indeed legitimately give birth to the modern State of Israel, a recognized member of the UN with the same legal rights as other member states including the Republic of Ireland, in whose government Keating once served. In addition, while the Zionist movement accepted the Resolution for partition, Keating completely ignores its rejection by the Arab states that proceeded to invade the newborn Jewish state in an attempt to annihilate its people. Referring to the Jewish contribution to civilization, Keating concludes by claiming: Zionists have betrayed all of this, and that is a tragedy not just for Jews, but for all of us. Does Keating's vitriolic attack on Jewish history and Israel's right to exist have any place in the pages of an Irish cultural magazine? Comments to The Dubliner: editor@thedubliner.ie For more detailed historical information on the myths raised by Justin Keating, see Myths and Facts Online: Israel's Roots by Mitchell G. Bard. BBC UPHOLDS COMPLAINT AGAINST PLETT'S TEARS FOR ARAFAT At the end of October 2004, HonestReporting highlighted BBC Mideast correspondent Barbara Plett's emotional attachment to Yasser Arafat following her public revelation that: when the helicopter carrying the frail old man rose above his ruined compound, I started to cry... without warning. Despite a flood of complaints from HonestReporting subscribers, the BBC initially cleared Plett of any wrongdoing. Following an appeal, however, the BBC Board of Governors has upheld part of the complaint, stating that Plett's comments "breached the requirements of due impartiality". According to the BBC website, the BBC's director of news, Helen Boaden has apologized for what she described as an "editorial misjudgment". She said it appeared Plett "unintentionally gave the impression of over-identifying with Yasser Arafat and his cause". While this begrudging apology certainly does not go far enough in addressing the BBC's Mideast coverage, which is the subject of the majority of complaints received by the corporation, congratulations to those who kept up the pressure on the BBC and also contributed to its Israeli-Palestinian Impartiality Review. Following the recent deadline for submissions on 25 November, HonestReporting awaits with interest the publication of the report in the spring. CHANGES TO BBC COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE Staying with the BBC, a number of HonestReporting readers inform us that complaints to the BBC are no longer accepted by direct e-mail. Instead, the complainant is now directed to a web-based procedure at http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints. We hope that you will not be discouraged from making your feelings known to the BBC in the future. Thank you for your ongoing involvement in the battle against media bias.
Honest Reporting monitors the media for inaccuracy and unfairness
in how they report the news about Israel. Ther website address is
http://www.honestreporting.com. You can help support their research
online or by sending contributions to: HonestReporting, 400 South Lake
Drive, Lakewood, NJ 08701-3167.
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SIMPLETON SHELI AND A FATAH 'HITLER'
Posted by Steven Plaut, November 29, 2005. |
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1. Simpleton Sheli Well, Amir Peretz is picking up political rejects and jetsam even while many of the establishment Labor Party people are making moves to leave. The latest recruit is none other than communist TV-radio hostess Sheli Yachimovich. Why communist? Well, in recent elections she endorsed the Stalinist pro-terror HADASH party, which has never gotten around to renouncing Stalin's terror. Sheli is the main target of ridicule on Israele's leading humor TV show these days -- Eretz Nehederet. She says she is joining the Peretzites because she thinks they represent "social democrats," and if you think that Stalin was a social democrat then you should be joining Simpleton Sheli. The feminizts were upset when the TV comedians made funny of Sheli, using a character to represent her as - well, coyote ugly. Sheli is 45 and is a flaming feminizt. She used to write for the Marxist Al-Hamishmar newspaper before it went bankrupt (it had gone into mourning when Stalin died, running as its banner headline: "The Sun of the Nations has Set"). She pretends to be an intellectual and writes book reviews in the press. 2. "'Hitler' wins Palestinian primary elections -- Terrorist known for 'brutal policies' one of many militants victorious," by Aaron Klein, World Net Daily (http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47615) JERUSALEM: A terrorist known in his hometown as "Hitler" -- both for his physical resemblance to the German dictator and for his policies -- has swept local primaries and will represent his district for the ruling Fatah party in upcoming Palestinian legislative elections, according to Palestinian sources. Jamal Abu Al-Rub, a leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, won the Fatah primaries in the northern Samarian village of Qabatya, just outside Jenin, election officials say. He was one of dozens of terrorists and militant leaders to dominate the local elections. The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, founded in 2000, is a terrorist group responsible for dozens of deadly suicide bombings and hundreds of shooting attacks against Israeli civilians. Al-Rub has publicly executed Palestinians his group suspected of collaborating with Israel and is accused by the Jewish state of planning several terror attacks. A source close to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, speaking on condition of anonymity, told WND, "If you ask around in the West Bank who is Abu Al-Rub, most people won't know. But when you ask them about the guy nicknamed Hitler, everyone knows exactly who he is." Continued the source: "While the nickname came because of his looks, he is known more as Hitler because of his policies. He runs a tight ship in his town through fear and intimidation. And he not only calls for executions but personally carries them out in public so everyone can see what happens when 'Hitler' thinks you collaborated with Israel." Also yesterday, Palestinian election officials certified the landslide primary win of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades Founder Marwan Barghouti, who is serving multiple life terms in Israeli prison for planning suicide bombings and shooting attacks. Israel accuses Barghouti of orchestrating the Intifada, the terror war launched by the Palestinians in 2000. Barghouti took 96 percent of the votes to head Fatah's roster in Ramallah, spurring calls from Palestinians and some Israeli ministers for his immediate release. Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erekat told WND, "He should be freed, period. Israel should not have arrested a Palestinian official in the first place." Yossi Beilin, leader of the far left Meretz party and an architect of the 1993 Oslo Accords, said, "I think today there is no doubt that he is one of the top leaders in the Palestinian street. Barghouti heads one of the Palestinian camps that do want peace and so this is the moment to end his sentence... in preparation for an historical peace agreement with Israel." Meanwhile, the primary elections scheduled to be held yesterday in Gaza were postponed after Fatah gunmen stormed Gaza City polling stations and complained about irregularities in voter lists. According to witnesses, the gunmen fired into the air and burned tires in the streets. No injuries were reported. Earlier, gunmen had ransacked the office of an online newspaper in Gaza City, destroying furniture and equipment and threatening to kill the editor-in-chief reportedly because the media outlet published a report critical of a Palestinian Authority official running in the primaries. Steven Plaut is an American-trained economist, a professor of business administration at Haifa University and author of "The Scout." He frequently comments - both seriously and satirically - on Israeli politics and the left wing academic community. His website address is http://www.stevenplaut.blogspot.com or write him at splaut@econ.haifa.ac.il. |
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URGENT CALL TO THE LEADERS OF THE NATIONAL CAMP
Posted by Ron Breiman, November 29, 2005. |
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Professors for a Strong Israel (PSI) urges the leadership of the National Union and of the National Religious Party to create a joint list of candidates and to include, in places likely to be elected, the names of candidates who do not wear kippot. It is essential that the list represent the entire Zionist camp, not only religious Zionism, both in its message and in its makeup. We also call on the candidates for the leadership of the Likud to declare, before the primaries, that they will work to create a joint home for the entire nationalist public, a true alternative to the Sharon-Peretz-Meretz bloc. Dr. Ron Breiman, is Chairman of Professors for A Strong Israel (PSI). He can be reached by telephone at 050-5-518 940 in Israel. |
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UNITE!
Posted by Batya Medad, November 29, 2005. |
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Unite! The Israeli political system has been evolving over the years, and just as I'm writing this I realize that I've been a "participant" for a majority of those years. We have been here since 1970. First of all, the Knesset is divided by "proportional representation." That means that you vote for a party/ideology/platform and the 120 seats are divided in proportion to the votes. But it's not that simple, because the minimum percent for a party to be in the Knesset has gone up a lot. It used to be possible for one person to get in as a sole, solitary one-person political party. But now it has gone up and one needs enough percentage points for at least three, or has it been raised since? Sorry, I can't remember. But this is important. It is now much more difficult for a new party to make a successful showing. That's why massive pressure must be put on Baruch Marzel and Paul Eidelberg to cease their attempts to run for the Knesset as a separate party. They have already run and lost, and it's not just whatever money was wasted. The votes they got would have gone to other patriotic or religious or chareidi parties giving a total of 4-6 extra seats to the block if not more. Instead those seats went to the Likud and Labor. Yes, it's complicated. B'ezrat Hashem, with G-d's help, the National Religious Party, Mafdal, will join with the Ichud Le'umi, National Union. Former NRP members joined before the last elections. The NU reminds me of what was the best of the T'chiya Party, which just missed getting back in the Knesset the year that Rabbi Levinger and Daniella Weiss ran for Knesset as a new party. They didn't get in either, causing a massive waste of votes and potential religious & patriotic Knesset Members. T'chiya included Geula Cohen, Moshe Shamir, Yuval Ne'eman and Channan Porat. It was a wonderful coalition of Jews. I remember once at a T'chiya "chug bayit," "parlour meeting," someone asked Geula if T'chiya was a religious party. Her answer was: "No, it's a Jewish Party." And that's what we need again. And we need a Jewish Government with Jewish Values. And most of all we need UNITY. And in order to unify, sometimes you have to compromise on details. We all need to vote for and support a political party with a clear vision. This vision must be of Jewish settlement in all of the Land of Israel. We must take responsibility for our own security and not rely on any other country or international body. It is better to develop our own industry, rather than accepting coupons (foreign aid.) By becoming economically independent, we will reduce unemployment, thereby getting fiscally stronger at the same time. Jewish and World History has proven over and over that we cannot count on any other country, people or international organization to save ourselves. Not only Ariel Sharon and other left-wing politicians have been saying they want to, or are willing to, give our Land, most of what remains of Judea and Samaria to the Arabs. Almost all of the Likud politicians, including Bibi, Uzi and Sharansky, will give Land away "when the Arabs agree to..." and some, even if they don't. Remember who supported Disengagement or sat by passively as Jewish homes, schools, businesses and lives were destroyed. Yes, lives, because today the vast majority of Disengagement victims are homeless and jobless. Family dynamics have changed for the worse. The results will take their time to fully show. G-d forbid. We need strong leaders who are ready to contribute to our country without being "party head" or even members of Knesset. This isn't the time for egos. It's the time to contribute whatever we can. Let's focus on what's really important. Let's save our country, our Land and our People! UNITE!! Batya Medad lives in Shiloh. She can be reached by email at Shilohmuse@yahoo.com or visit her website http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/ or go to http://www.shilo.org.il This article is archived at http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2005/11/unite.html |
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I DON'T KNOW WHETHER WE SHOULD LAUGH OR CRY AT THIS ONE
Posted by Mordechai Ben-Menachem, November 29, 2005. |
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These are excerpts from "Robots of Arabia", from Wired (11/05) Vol. 13, No. 11, P. 188; by Jim Lewis. The complete article is at http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.11/camel.html The ideal camel jockey is the size and weight of a starving 4-year-old boy. Ancient tradition collides with new technology, atop a beast racing at 25 miles per hour in 112-degree heat. ... however modern the Qataris may be, some traditions linger. For thousands of years, camel racing has been the sport of kings throughout the Arab peninsula - Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, and United Arab Emirates. A fast camel can cost several hundred thousand dollars, and an owner may house and feed scores of them. ... A camel will not run without someone riding it and egging it on. The lighter the jockey, the faster the camel. For as long as anyone can remember, the solution was to use child jockeys - not adolescents, but little boys as young as 4, hustled in from poorer countries like Sudan and kept in hovels in the desert where they did nothing but ride camels. They were denied even rudimentary schooling, they were starved to keep their weight down, and their injuries were often left untreated. In Qatar there were a few hundred such children; in neighboring UAE, which used Pakistani and Bangladeshi boys as well as Sudanese, there were as many as 3,000. Trainers would choose whoever was handy and ready, stick him up on a saddle behind the camel's hump, and when the race started, bark orders through walkie-talkies the boys wore strapped to their chests. ... By the end of 2003, the practice had become a public relations disaster of exactly the sort that Qatar, gazing westward, wanted very much to avoid. The creation of robot camel jockeys is seen as a significant achievement from both a technical and social perspective. The machines were developed in an attempt by Qatar's emir, Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, to win the respect of the developed world by eliminating the practice of using children, imported from poor nations and trained and housed under less than humanitarian conditions, as jockeys. The 35-pound prototypes were developed by Swiss company K-Team under the guidance of project and services manager Alexandre Colot. The remote-controlled devices fit into specially designed saddles and feature two hands--one to pull the reins and one to bear the whip. The robots were also designed with a ruggedized aluminum frame and shock absorbers; a GPS-enabled monitor that tracks the camel's heart rate; and a 400 MHz processor running Linux and communicating at 2.4 GHz. A plastic head adds an anthropomorphic touch that makes the camels more accepting of the robots, but this feature is frowned upon by Arabic culture, which considers representations of the human form taboo. Qatar's prime minister has mandated that the heads must be removed before the commencement of the racing season. The Qatari government will buy the robots for as much as $10,000 each and rent them to the camel owners for an undisclosed amount. But Colot says that the owners themselves will soon begin purchasing the robots. There are now 20 or 25 robots ready to ride, with 100 or so ore expected to be in service by the end of 2005. Mordechai Ben-Menachem is a Ben-Gurion University in Beer-Sheva. Contact him at quality@acm.org |
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ISLAMIST RADICALS CARRY OUT NEW OPERATIONS IN BANGLADESH
Posted by Salah Choudhury, November 29, 2005. |
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Suicide Squads belonging to ISLAMIST Radical groups exploded two powerful bombs in Gazipur (a suburb in Dhaka city) and Chittagong (port city) this morning at court premises killing more that 15 people and leaving hundred injured. Terrorists entered the court premises with the camaflage of lawyers wearing gowns and exploded the bombs inside the court rooms. In both the incidents, attackers, belong to suicide squads were also killed. Right after the incident, lawyers came on streets in Dhaka and Chittagong chanting anti Islamist radical slogans. They demanded an immediate ban on religion based politics and arrest of Jamaat-e-Islami leaders, who are, according to them, behind such notorious activities. Earlier, last evening, Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia warned people to refrain from using Islam for terrorism. She said, Islamist radicals will be given strict punishment for their notorious activities within the country. Lawyers and judges in the lower judiciary of the country immediately started boycotting courts. Lawyers in the High Court Division also are protesting on road demanding immediate ban on religion based politics. The protestors demanded forthwith the resignation of the State Minister for Home Affairs, Lutfozzaman Babar, who left Dhaka Sunday night for treatment in Singapore. The writer is a journalist, columnist, author, and editor of "Weekly Blitz" in Bangladesh. Email him at salahuddinshoaibchoudhury@yahoo.com |
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ABAYUDAYA JEWS
Posted by Sandy Rosen-Hazen, November 28, 2005. | ||||||||
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Pictures and words are by Anna Borzello. Abayudaya, from the Luganda word for Jews: Welcome, The eastern Ugandan town of Mbale is home to a small Jewish community, known as Abayudaya, from the Luganda word for Jews.
The writer can be reached at Sandy@israel.net. |
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WHAT THE JEWS HAVE, THE WORLD WANTS
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, November 28, 2005. |
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It all seems to be starting again - although it never really stopped. What the Jews have, the world wants. So, what is it they want and now how will they get it? First, they want our religion (with modifications) but, without the Jews, namely the transfer of title to the Covenant. They have already borrowed a Jew and formed him into what they want to believe. The Muslims also want something from the Jews: legitimacy - namely through Jewish acceptance of their god Allah! We are told by today's radical Islamists that Avraham was, of course, a Muslim - as were all the Hebrew prophets. The claims of two violently conflicting religions, Christianity and Islam could go on for centuries - perhaps never-ending. But, for both, there was always the one thing on that very narrow bridge to G-d's Courtyards, an impediment to final claims...the Jews! In their view, somehow, the Jew stood in their way, not because he choose to, but merely because he was there. The Jew was G-d's selected instrument, not unlike a well-tuned violin or even as G-d's tuning fork which vibrates to perfect pitch. The Jews were an instrument of what was to be a perfect pitch to the ears of mankind. Others believed G-d's Judgement was flawed in choosing Avraham and the Jews and that He made a mistake. Regrettably, the Jews were not always in harmony with their obligations but, of course, G-d with His infinite vision, knew there would be ups and downs with His Jews. While the Jews were considered an insignificant impediment, the fact was that these two major religions, Christianity and Islam actually owed their existence to the bedrock of Judaism even to advance their claim of being heirs to G-d's earthly work. But, Greed, Avarice and Hubris drives men to reach for more than they are entitled to. Today, they grasp at Jerusalem, the spiritual core of the Jewish people. The Church after years of unremitting pursuit and attempting to kill the whole family of the Jew they call Lord now says they wish to internationalize the city of Jerusalem as a peaceful gesture. The Muslims never claimed Jerusalem as its soul center, although wooed by Mohammed for a short time. Of all people to float the idea that Jerusalem was to be the capital of an Arab Muslim Palestinian State, it was Yassir Arafat who floated this idea. It caught on with the Muslims and the always hostile anti-Jewish Europeans. It expanded to include all of Jerusalem with a narrow path left for Jews to reach the "wailing wall" - Kotel Ha'Ma'arivi. Arafat had maps on his walls, uniforms, school books, TV stages, stationary, etc, showing his new Muslim state of Islam over the Jewish State of Israel with the narrow path for Jews which was always controlled by the Muslims. Now, more energy is being poured into the Muslim mission to divide Jerusalem and then take it all. Strangely, Jerusalem was always treated as a closed city, religiously speaking to whichever religion conquered it, be it Christianity or Islam. Each denied the other access, until the Jews took back the city of their patrimony. Only then were Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Bahais and/or any other religion allowed to worship as they pleased. But, this wasn't satisfactory because the Jews were the authority and their generosity was galling to those Christians and Muslims who wanted it all back and only for themselves. Ask any Christian cleric or any denomination who has visited Jerusalem while the Jews had control about the free access to Shrines, Churches and Mosques. They will tell you of being cordially received and accommodated. Under Israeli law, it is codified that unimpeded access is available to all religions, including Muslims and Christians. Only when Islamists wish to cause their familiar violent riots are there any restrictions. Jerusalem has been invaded and conquered by foreign armies numerous times through the centuries. Each hoped to capture the spirit of G-d and add it to their gods, thereby hoping to become all powerful. In the end, all they got were the bricks and mortars of the City. Granted, the Romans looted the Jewish Temple of its Holy serving pieces but Rome eventually fell - as did all Jerusalem's conquerors. So, go and corner G-d in His Throne Room. Speak to Him as He spoke in His Word to the Jews and demand your rights as the correct heirs to His Covenant. Hand Him your petitions and inform Him that the rest of the world thinks He made a mistake in choosing the Jews as His messengers. Please tell Him that you are the replacements and are ready to take over this responsibility. We Jews will not stand in your way. Look for Him in Jerusalem or Rome or Mecca - wherever He may be hidden. Present your demands when you find Him. And when you find Him, tell Him you have massacred His Jewish messengers in His Name, as well as stealing their treasures, their Land, their women and enslaved their children. I am sure He will be grateful for your zeal and will award you appropriately. I have attached a recent report which speaks about the gathering of the nations and also the apostate Jews who wish to divide Jerusalem and de-Judaize Israel. ### EU (PEACE NOW,LABOR/KADIMA/MERETZ PARTIES) Wants Israel to Divide Jerusalem IsraelNationalNews.com - November 27, 2005 / 25 Cheshvan 5766 The EU has accused Israel of a de facto annexation of East Jerusalem. Senior Israeli officials will be absent from an EU conference Sunday, when the PA will echo the call for dividing the capital. A European Union (EU) document, reported in the New York Times and The Guardian, urges member countries to prevent the security fence from "sealing off most of East Jerusalem" and allowing Israel a "de facto annexation" of the city, which was re-united after the 1967 Six Day War. The report charges that "Israeli activities in Jerusalem are in violation of both its roadmap obligations and international law." Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and virtually every previous prime minister and leader of major parties have declared that Jerusalem will remain united. The Palestinian Authority (PA) has insisted that its proposed new Arab state will include Jerusalem as its capital. The EU report, prepared by its diplomats in East Jerusalem and Ramallah and written by British consulate officials, was sent to foreign ministers of the 25 countries in the group. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said he hoped the document would not lead to a "regression to the one-sided (European) position of the past." The report is to be published in December, but was leaked as the EU increased its involvement in the PA-Israel relations by placing European observers at the re-opened Rafiah border between Gaza and Egypt. The report, along with an EU conference in Barcelona on Sunday, may put the status of Jerusalem in the forefront in the current Israeli election campaign. PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas is to attend the Barcelona meeting, but both Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom have absented themselves to continue their campaign in the upcoming elections in Israel. Abbas is expected to exploit the opportunity to demand that Israel tear down the security fence. The EU implicitly has sided with the Palestinian Authority (PA) against Israel on the status of Jerusalem. Its official policy states, "The EU opposes...actions aimed at changing the Palestinian character of East Jerusalem." The EU has blamed Israel for policies that it says "are reducing the possibility of reaching a final-status agreement on Jerusalem that any Palestinian could accept" because the security fence separates 230,000 Arabs from Judea and Samaria. The result is a "de facto annexation of Palestinian land," according to the report, which the Times said was leaked "from someone who wanted to publicize it." Diplomats also accused Israel of "radicalizing the hitherto relatively quiescent Palestinian population of East Jerusalem" by what it called discrimination against Jerusalem on matters of work and building permits, house demolitions and taxation. The Barcelona conference will also be a test of whether EU countries can overcome Arab opposition to its proposed agreement to fight terrorism, which Arab countries want to be defined as excluding attacks in the name of agreement to fight terrorism, which Arab countries want to be defined as excluding attacks in the name of "resistance." Emanuel Winston is a commentator and Middle East analyst. His articles appear often on Think-Israel and Gamla. He is a member of the Board of Directors and a research associate of the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies (http://www.freeman.org/online.htm). |
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ISRAEL SUDDENLY WITH CLEAR-CUT ELECTION CHOICES
Posted by Jerome S. Kaufman, November 28, 2005. |
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This was written by Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis), November 24, 2005. His website is http://www.imra.org.il If all goes well and the survival instincts of the post-Sharon Likud Party brings it to the realization that their only possible chance to beat Sharon is by "product differentiation" then the Israeli electorate may very well have a genuine opportunity to set the Jewish State a new path at the ballot box. Labor, Sharon and Likud can offer the public distinctly different paths, each with its own distinct logic. The Labor Party, headed by Amir Peretz, is genuinely convinced that withdrawal to the '67 lines will bring peace. Period. The heavy investment they plan to make in quick final status talks is not because they think such paperwork is really needed for peace but instead in order to come up with wording that will satisfy enough Israelis who don't share their faith to join in supporting the final status withdrawals. And since, according to this faith, Arab violence will end the moment the last Israeli leaves the West Bank (and possibly the Golan), Palestinian security non-compliance before the actual withdrawal is irrelevant. The Sharon "Kadima" Party, or rather Ariel Sharon (the rest of the ticket is profoundly irrelevant) is genuinely convinced that Israel can unilaterally impose final status arrangements if it unilaterally withdraws to ostensibly final status borders. The United States and even the European Union will give Sharon carte blanche, the argument goes, as long as he bulldozes enough Jewish communities in the West Bank. The Likud is genuinely convinced that Israel is better off managing the stalemate and insisting on Palestinian compliance before final status talks can be expected to continue. By the same token, should conditions warrant Israel's engagement in final status talks Israel will enter those talks confident that the Jewish State's interests would be better served if the talks stalemate over final status terms rather than compromise on what it sees as vital Israeli interests and requirements. National Union and NRP also fit into this line of thought but with a more demanding perception of what are vital Israelininterests and requirements. In many respects, the Labor-Peretz approach, being faith-based, has both the advantage and disadvantage of simplicity. Accept the premise that withdrawal to the '67 lines will bring peace as axiomatic and the rest falls into place. Reject that article of faith and the logic falls apart. The debate between the Sharon and Likud approaches is considerably more complicated as it requires not only deliberating Israel's vital interests but also assessing the limits Israel faces as it endeavors to pursue these interests under the two scenarios. Both camps can be expected to try to bolster their position by referring to the Gaza experience: Supporters of the Sharon approach can point to the praise Israel earned for withdrawing while advocates of the Likud approach can point out that the Gaza model was based on 100% withdrawal and that that foreign praise did not translate into support for Israel's stand on security interests. The security fiasco known as "Agreement on Movement and Access" and "Agreed Principles For Rafah Crossing" that Israel was pressured by the Bush team to accept to fill the vacuum created by the retreat from Gaza serves as a stark reminder of just how fleeting the rewards are for retreating. On the other hand, with elections coming up in just a few months, retreat advocates can hope that the security consequences of the Gaza retreat won't play out before the votes are cast. It is hard to predict how the vote will ultimately be split between the three views. But at least this election may offer the opportunity for the public to consider and choose between them. Jerome S. Kaufman is National Secretary of the Zionist Organization of America. and host the Israel Commentary website (http://www.israel-commentary.org). |
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WHY SHOULD I CARE THAT SHARON PLANS TO DESTROY EVERYTHING BUILT IN THE STATE OF ISRAEL?
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, November 28, 2005. |
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We, the followers of Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, are not ashamed of what he has done or the way he has done it. We just don't care! I don't care if Sharon doesn't believe that Jews have a right to their Land based on the Gift of a G-d he does not believe in. I don't care if Sharon doesn't believe in G-d and denies having a soul from G-d. I don't care that Sharon, as a young man, went out with gangs to beat up the political opposition. After all, he had that right, didn't he? I don't care if Sharon is now compared to Franklin Delano Roosevelt at Yalta, as an old confused man, sick of spirit and sick of the world, giving away half of Europe. I don't care (much) if Sharon gives up half of Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, the Jordan Valley, the rest of Judea and Samaria.....in a blood pact with the Bush family. He has earned that right to do what he wants. I don't care that Sharon is an Evil Person (a Rasha) because Evil is stronger than a Good. Will I vote for a leader who shows no mercy to friends or enemies - like a Jewish Junk Yard Dog? Why should I care - as long as he doesn't bite me? Why should I care if Sharon lied to the Likud and was already rasing money for his departure...he wouldn't lie to us from his new Party, 'Kadima'...would he? I don't care if Sharon used his own sons as illegal fronts to cut deals. So what if he was willing to sacrifice his sons for himself - he wouldn't do that to me - would he? Why should I care if Sharon made secret deals with the Bush family for their political oil gains - after all, Shimon Peres made secret deals in Oslo and noone seemed to care? Why should I care about lying to the pioneering settlers when now we Jews and Israelis are all so well-liked in France, Germany, at the State Department, the U.N., the E.U. for abandoning Gaza' They do like us, right? What does it matter to me if Sharon, Dov Weisglass, Ehud Olmert, cut a deal to build casinos and resorts on the evacuated, demolished Lands of Gush Katif' Aren't they entitled to make some money for their efforts to clear the Land of Jews and make it fruitful for some of their Palestinian partners? Why should I worry about Sharon bringing the armed Egyptians back into the demilitarized Sinai Desert and up to our borders' They (the Egyptians) promised Sharon not to bring in too many tanks, missiles and Intelligence personnel. We have their word on it....don't we? What does it matter to me if at the Bush-Rice demands the borders are open to Palestinian trucks - shipping things to Hebron without inspection for weapons' Do you think that they will dare hide explosives and weapons in with the cabbages and carrots? Sharon and Rice told us not to worry, so why should I be worried? What does it matter to me if Sharon emptied Gaza/Gush Katif in the South and Ehud Barak emptied the Israeli Security Zone in Lebanon on Israel's Northern borders? Why should I question the judgement of these good men, even when a few (OK a lot of) missiles hit those towns in the North and the South? Many of us Sharon supporters live in Tel Aviv, far from these areas. Surely, we are safe here, aren't we? As for everyone else - well, that's their problem! What does it matter if Sharon releases another 1,000 or 5,000 convicted and jailed Terrorists. We can always re-capture them after their next Terrorist operation. We have Sharon's assurances. What does it matter to me if Sharon is known to destroy every single thing he has ever built up? Some say this is his psychological problem called "passive/aggressive" (or perhaps something else), but, I say, he has a right to knock over the blocks he stacked up as a child might. They're his blocks, aren't they? Why should we care if Sharon does not make any effort to release Jonathan Pollard? After all, Sharon was one of the small circle of those who both tasked Pollard and received his intelligence. It's perfectly understandable why he doesn't want Pollard out of prison. Why condemn Sharon for wanting to keep his role secret and Pollard in jail, now going into his 21st year? If President Bush understands this and does a favor for Sharon, why shouldn't we agree - so we don't embarrass Sharon? What does it matter if Jerusalem is given over to the Muslim Arab Palestinians by Sharon? Only a few of us go there or even want to go there after Moshe Dayan gave the keys to the Jewish Temple Mount to the Arab Muslim Wakf within days of its recapture in June 1967 by the Jewish IDF (Israel Defense Forces). Most of us don't believe it's important to hold any Jewish shrines or holy sites, including the Temple Mount, the Cave of the Patriarchs (Ma'arat HaMachpelah), Joseph's Tomb, and, if we (Sharon) could, we would get rid of Kever Rachel (Tomb of Rachel). Granted, Sharon, Shimon Peres, Ehud Olmert, Yossi Sarid and Yossi Beilin are scoundrels but, they are our scoundrels....aren't they? "Kadima" (Forward!), Sharon's name for his new "Evacuation Party", urges us to follow him Into the Valley of Death - so we follow. Sharon's followers and all the rest of us followers are all (or soon will be) dead. Choosing to sacrifice our families is our own choice. You do not have to follow us! "Kadima" could mean "advance to the rear!" Who says Sharon does not have the right to give away Land under his 'supreme' authority as elected Prime Minister? He can do whatever he wants and noone can stop him. What business is it of ours if Sharon chooses Yonatan Bassi, Chairman of the Mehadrin Real Estate Company to be both the overseer in displacing the 10,000 Jewish men, women and children of Gush Katif and the Northern Shomron and then sells that Land that he (Mehadrin) owns to the Government for re-settlement of the evacuees, thereby generating millions of NIS (New Israeli Shekels) in profits - mostly for himself. It's none of our business that any money from this deal flows to the Sharon family and his new Party. I repeat that it is unnecessary for the Sharon Government to hold any investigation of wrong-doing or financial malfeasance since, after all, Sharon is entitled to his share of the loot. I regret and resent the assertions that the "beautiful" new "Caravillas" (house trailers with red tiled roofs) which the Government claims are valued at $100,000 U.S. dollars are each nothing more than tissue paper trash, set on mud, creating instant slums. So what if their sewage plumbing leaks into the muddy streets where the children have to play. So what if these shacks are only actually worth $25,000 U.S. dollars and will decay and devalue to scrap prices within the year. It's only fair that Sharon and Company make a fair profit. Don't you think? If Sharon wishes to gift the rest of the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) to the Arab Muslims, this is his business. Who are we to interfere? If Sharon wishes to privately negotiate the abandonment of the Golan Heights (protecting Israel from invasion by Syria) to Syria at the behest of the Bush/Rice Administration, that is also his right as the reigning royalty of Israel. Isn't it? It is no one's business if Sharon wishes to use the Jewish Army and Police in any way he chooses. Isn't that his right? I don't care if Sharon has no interest in Jewish Torah Law. After all, didn't the religious parties accept money for their approval of Sharon's "Disengagement" - withdrawal and uprooting of Jewish Gush Katif and Northern Samaria? Just because Sharon weakened them by taking away all the monies that they needed for their children's food and their schools, putting the most observant Jews into the one-third of the Israeli people who are now living below the poverty level, does that mean they must accept any orders by Sharon in order to keep their children fed and schooled? Didn't Sharon have every right to offer Government money to any Party who would accept it and follow Sharon's orders? People are merely people, while Sharon is effectively the Law! Besides, didn't the Supreme Court Chief Justice Aharon Barak accept whatever Sharon wished to do with and/or to the Jewish people? There is no law that prohibits lying to the people, is there? Who cares that Sharon's evacuation opened up Gaza as a base for Global Terror by Muslims who poured in from all over the world? So what if the Palestinian Authority admits that the now "Judenrein" (Jew-free) Neveh Dekalim in Gaza is now a primary training base for Terrorists, appropriately named: "Martyrs' Training Camp". Why blame Sharon? Why should anyone care if Sharon was raising money months before his intended break-away to his new "Evacuation Party" pledged to mass evacuations of Jews from their homes? If he lied to his fellow Likud members, surely he must have had a good reason. So what if he collaborated with Bush and Rice to push through a follow-on massive evacuation - if not with Likud, then with his new Party - with outside funding? That's his business...not ours? Join Sharon's "Evacuation Party" strangely called "Kadima" (Forward) as he moves the nation back to those days before all the wars which had to be fought for the Jews just to survive. Since Sharon helped to fight the Arabs and gain the Land the Arab Muslims lost in their gamble to eliminate the Jewish nation, Sharon certainly has special rights. Doesn't Sharon have the right to ignore the 25,000 Jews who fought and died to gain and hold the Land? Certainly, he has the right to dig up these fighters and put them wherever he wants to, doesn't he? Doesn't Sharon now have the right to withdraw from the land and force the Jews who followed his orders to build and settle to now roam the land like beggars? Why should anyone care what Sharon does or his broken promises or his lies? Hasn't Sharon earned the right to lie to his former comrades and the people? So, please feel free to join the "Evacuation Party" and you too can lie to the people - with impunity. Emanuel Winston is a commentator and Middle East analyst. His articles appear often on Think-Israel and Gamla. He is a member of the Board of Directors and a research associate of the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies (http://www.freeman.org/online.htm). |
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SHOULD AMERICAN JEWS ALLOW ISRAEL TO COMMIT SUICIDE?
Posted by Michael Anbar, November 28, 2005. |
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In the last few days there has been an uproar about the extensive concession Condoleezza Rice managed to extract from PM Sharon. People called to protest that pressure exerted by the US Secretary of State on Israel, which might have disastrous consequences for the Jewish state in the long run. I have serious a problem with that protest, as I question not only its effectiveness but also its justification. I can understand Condi's position. However, it is hard for to me to understand how and why Israel has recently become a banana republic in the true sense of the word. Clearly the corruption of the Israeli administration allowed Condi to achieve whatever the Arabists in the State Department have been asking for since the establishment of Israel in 1948. However, I see no point in sending protests to the American Administration that follows a policy it believes is the best interest of the United States (with which I strongly disagree). This is purely the US's business and it will be America that will bear the consequences of this policy by losing its international stature in the foreseeable future. Caving in to demands of the Muslims today is not different than trying to appease the Communists during the Cold War. Consequently, it is not impossible that the US will be ready at some point in time to sacrifice the Jewish state for political gain, as GB did to Czechoslovakia in 1938. In any case, it is not for the US to safeguard the national interests of the Jewish state -- this is up to the Jewish people. If the Israelis do not revolt against the disastrous policies of their own government, why should I, here in the US, act against their collective will? Why should I object if they prefer to accept the dictates of the pro-Arab US Department of State? Israeli polls indicate that Sharon will be reelected as PM in his new party. This means that the majority of Israelis endorse his suicidal policy, which contradicts everything Israel was standing for in the past in the political arena. The Condi episode is not an outrage to be condemned, but a direct consequence of Israeli policy in the last few years. It boils down to an ethical question: Does one have the right to prevent an individual with full mental capacity from willfully committing suicide? Essentially, it is a conflict between traditional ethics based on Jewish religious premises, and the "modern" secular principle of promoting the rights of the individual above those of society. "Liberal universalists," including the majority of liberal Jews, disavow traditional ethics in favor of individual rights (see their support of arbitrary abortion, euthanasia and other self-destructive modes of individual and social behavior). Why then should one wonder about their indifference witnessing the suicide of the Jewish nation? Certainly, they are not going to prevent it. What is truly surprising is the Israelis' behavior, which is strikingly reminiscent of the behavior of European Jewry during the Holocaust -- following a cowardly, self-serving leadership that cowed to the intimidation of their mortal enemies (those leaders seemingly started to believe that Jews are truly subhuman and therefore have no civil rights, just as many Israelis seem to believe today that the State of Israel has no sovereign rights). No Israeli PM before Sharon was ready to capitulate, virtually unconditionally; to give up without anything tangible in return vital political and territorial positions, one after the other, under diplomatic and/or economic pressure. We must learn form history. Like the Muslims today, Hitler did not hide his intent to eradicate the Jews, and he was fairly successful -- he eradicated a third of the world's Jewry. Most Israelis and many American Jews (at least those who continue to support Sharon or his anti-national, i.e., anti-Zionist, socialist allies) seem to utterly ignore the explicit Islamic mortal threats against Israel and the Jews (just because they are Jews, very much like Hitler did). They seem to have lost not only their traditional national-religious values and their political compass (giving up Zionism amounts to giving up Jewish national identity -- please open up the Bible or the Siddur), but also a basic biological imperative -- the instinct of survival, both at the national and individual levels. Michael Anbar, Ph.D., is a Professor of Biophysics and Chairman of Dept. of Biophysical Sciences at the School of Medicine, University of Buffalo (1977-2002, now retired). Previously, he was Director of Technical Program Development, at the Stanford Research Institute. He is the author of Israel and its Future, published by iUniverse. amara@adelphia.net |
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US BROKERS GAZA AGREEMENT
Posted by Jerusalem Prayer Team, November 28, 2005. |
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The opening of the Rafah Crossing on November 25 was another blow to the tiny nation of Israel. It seems that every time the U.S. is feeling the squeeze from oil-rich O.P.E.C. bigots, the Secretary of State rushes off to Israel for another full-court press demanding that Israel give up something. Israel made a huge sacrifice in 1990 when it was the target of 42 of Saddam Hussein's SCUDS. Hussein even threatened to launch chemical and biological weapons on the SCUDS. The Jews were terrified because of what they had endured during the Holocaust. I remember the SCUD attacks well; I had gone to Israel to comfort the Jewish people and saw the brilliant night-time sky as Patriot missiles intercepted and destroyed the SCUDS. What was Israel's reward for accommodating Arab bigots and not retaliating? A $10 million loan guarantee was frozen, causing Russian emigrants to be stuck in tents and tiny rooms. The U.S. was using their crisis as an economic noose around Israel's neck. It did not escape my notice that for at least some part of Secretary of State Rice's trip to Israel before Thanksgiving, she was in the company of former Secretary of State James Baker (a member of President George H.W. Bush's cabinet.) They attended the ceremonies surrounding the anniversary of the assassination of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Following Operation Desert Storm, Israel was forced to the peace table at the Royal Palace in Madrid. I was in Madrid for virtually every session of the conference. The Syrian Foreign Minister arrogantly told me that he planned to accuse Israel and Prime Minister Shamir of being terrorists. I spoke up that week for the Jewish people at world press conferences, and was the first to confront James Baker. I asked Mr. Baker, "Why can't America recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital" Secondly, we are moving a military presence into the Arab world for security. Why can?t we have a military presence in Israel to help its security? It has suffered so greatly, and has especially paid a dear price during the Persian Gulf War.? Baker was upset by my remarks and said he refused to be entangled in a fruitless debate and that the status of Jerusalem should be determined by negotiations. I was at the White House ceremony in 1993 when the U.S. pressured Yitzhak Rabin to sign a peace accord with the infamous terrorist, Yassir Arafat. I was sickened to see Senators standing in line to get Arafat's autograph. A former Speaker of the House said to me, "I used not to like that fellow, but after his charming speech I find him very delightful." Jesse Jackson smugly said, "The Jews need to follow the Golden Rule, and give the Palestinians their state." Yassir Arafat had no intention of ever making peace with Israel. It was never about having a state; it was about destroying a state: Israel. I had the rare privilege of being at the state funeral of Prime Minister Rabin ten years ago. I was totally shocked when the three American presidents that attended the funeral met at the King David Hotel to talk about how they could push the Oslo Accords forward. This document included the division of Jerusalem. And now, Israel has yet again been forced to make concessions that endanger its very existence. The newly-opened Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt will provide an open pipeline for terrorists to import the materials needed to launch new, and perhaps deadlier, attacks against Israel. Please sign the petition to President Bush today. Ask him not to continue the policies that allow terrorist attacks against our staunchest Middle East ally, Israel. Your ambassador to Jerusalem,
Michael Evans is the author of "Beyond Iraq: The Next Move," and founder of Jerusalem Prayer Team, America's largest Christian coalition praying for the peace of Jerusalem. Contact them at www.JerusalemPrayerTeam.org |
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TOMORROW NEVER COMES
Posted by Walter Bingham, November 28, 2005. |
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In almost every speech that Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has delivered since the implementation of his order to expel 10,000 of his Jewish fellow citizens from their legally owned homes in a legitimate part of Israel, he has referred to it as a "painful decision". Painful? It was indeed a ruling that caused immeasurable pain, mental and physical, to the victims of his ruthless decision. But observing Sharon since then, I have not been able to detect any manifestation of the pain he flaunts on every possible occasion. On the contrary, he is cheerfully and obediently carrying out every instruction he receives from Condoleezza Rice, whose false smile betrays her real intention of reducing Israel to a size that will hardly be able to sustain itself economically, politically, militarily and even demographically. Rice's allies, the EU and the Quartet, are already seeing to it that the Palestinian Authority shall be neither short of money nor weapons. Dr. Rice is a smart cookie and it is my belief that she will be a Republican contender for the presidency of the United States. If she were to succeed to that position, she would quickly and efficiently finish the task she set herself for this region of the Middle East. There is, of course, still time left to remedy the situation, but not a lot. Now that Sharon has resigned from the Likud and the 16th Israeli parliament will be dissolved, the chance for the nation to speak has arisen earlier than anticipated. It is hoped that the inevitable wheeling and dealing of the smaller right-wing political parties will bring about a united front, and that their leaders will for once put aside any thoughts for their personal gain and prestige, and act in the interests of the electorate and the country. That would make it possible for the votes of their supporters to actually carry weight and prevent the emergence of either Ariel Sharon or the new radical left-wing leader of the Labour party, Amir Peretz, to become the new prime minister. The State of Israel, under the leadership of either of these two intellectual dwarfs, would be manoeuvring herself into such a tight corner that she would find it difficult to extricate herself. Unfortunately, it is too much to hope that MK Uzi Landau and Moshe Feiglin would withdraw as contenders for the leadership of the Likud and instead join the united front, which would then have a more-than-excellent chance to emerge the victors at the ballot box. I have to confess that the third alternative is also not ideal, because, human nature being what it is, even in victory there would not be unity. Changing coalitions within the 'united' front would inevitably stifle many good policy proposals. So, I go for the fourth alternative and the only sensible solution, the party that will treat the cause and not the symptoms: Hazit, the Jewish National Front. Here is a part of its manifesto:
In addition, Hazit advocates electoral reform, so that the members of Knesset and local councils will be accountable to the constituents who vote them into power. The lack of accountability is the cause of the corruption that is rampant in Israel. With those points in mind, after the next general election, which is expected to take place in March of next year, Israel needs to quickly reestablish herself as the nation she once was: proud, asserting her independence as a sovereign state, and defending herself as she thinks fit, resolutely and without fear. Sadly, fear seems to have overcome her. Fear of the displeasure of George Bush and Rice, for whom the continuing supply of Arab oil is paramount and supersedes everything; fear of disobeying what was after-all only an advisory ruling of the International Court of Justice at the Hague about the route of the security fence; fear of hurting Arab civilians from behind whom the terrorists are operating, in their houses and their fields. Judging by the tactics of US forces in Iraq, the dictate to Israel is "do as we say not as we do." This attitude has now reached intolerable proportions, to the extent that the government would rather put Jews at risk than mount an attack against an enemy who is gaining not only strength, but also confidence, by the day. The proposal to reinforce the roofs of schools and other vulnerable buildings in towns and cities that are within range of Palestinian rockets is the most wasteful and inefficient strategy that could have been devised. Soon, Israel will no longer be in a position to prevent delivery of more powerful weapons to the Palestinians, so that in the not-too-distant future, the whole country will be within range. Is it proposed to progressively strengthen roofs everywhere? That is the same as just giving painkillers to a patient with stomach ulcers, instead of cutting them out before the body stops functioning. Regrettably, Israel's leaders, many of whom come from the ranks of the military, are excellent tacticians, but poor strategists. In other words, solve the problem of today - tomorrow never comes. Sustained terrorism has scored one important success. It is the effect on a large part of the Israeli population, who have grown tired of wars and terrorism. They fall easy prey to the left-wing rhetoric that land-for-peace will bring peace after the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian State. The vociferous left-wing lobby, in this instance led by Shimon Peres, also disseminates the belief that if Israel facilitates a strong Palestinian Arab economy, their population would be content and desist from supporting aggression against Israel. That sounds absolutely plausible, because generally, you wouldn't bite the hand that feeds you. However, these well-meaning people are overlooking one very important fact. In negotiations with today's Arab leaders, we cannot apply Western logic. It is said that "clothes make the man." True enough in appearance, but not in the Arab leaders' hearts. Their hatred of anything Jewish will no more dissipate under a collar and tie as it did under a kaffiyeh. In the London, and probably also the New York and Tel Aviv diamond exchange, a handshake and a few Hebrew words suffice to seal the deal; it's cast iron. Not so with our so-called 'peace partners', who have up to now dishonoured every agreement; not made with a handshake, but written, signed and sealed. That, I suggest, is what Messrs. Bush, Rice, Wolfensohn and the rest have to learn quickly. Walter Bingham is a veteran journalist and broadcaster from London who made aliyah and now lives in Jerusalem. His weekly radio programme, Walter's World, can be heard on Israel National Radio.com. Contact him by email at walter@IsraelNationalNews.com |
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GIRLS STILL IN PRISON, DESPITE SUPREME COURT ORDER
Posted by Hillel Fendel, November 28, 2005. |
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Contrary to the best efforts - and orders - of Supreme Court Justice E. Rubenstein to free six girls from prison after two weeks, they have not yet been released. The girls, aged 14-16, are accused of ripping open bags of olives harvested by Arabs from Sinjil, near Shilo, and with fighting with policemen who came to arrest them. Officials of the Honenu legal rights organization, which is representing them, say the evidence against them is flimsy at best - but that in any event, their place is not in prison. Honenu founder and chairman Shmuel Medad told Arutz-7, "No one saw these girls during the incident, and everything is based on the testimony of one or two Arabs... In addition, the court already ordered them released, and even then, they were re-arrested a day later once again." After they were first arrested on Nov. 13, at least two judges ordered them released, but the police and State Prosecution, using various legal devices, continued to keep them in prison until Nov. 17. The next day, they were brought once again to court, where the judge acceded to a police request to keep them in prison until the end of the proceedings. Despite the above, an earlier ruling by Jerusalem District Court Judge Yosef Shapira ordered the consideration of a form of house arrest for the six - but he set the date for the hearing only for Dec. 5. The girls therefore remained in prison. At this point, Supreme Court Elyakim Justice Rubenstein [pictured] came to the rescue - or tried to. Atty. Naftali Wurtzberger of Honenu said that Rubenstein, in yesterday's hearing, decided to put aside the legal argumentation and concentrate on the "human problem" of the girls who "are sitting in jail while waiting for a report of alternatives." Rubenstein set facts on the ground by ordering the girls freed to their home communities - though not their own homes. He said that they should be released that very evening, even before all the paperwork, including payment of guarantees and the like, was completed. He also asked the relevant authorities to "hurry" their report on an alternative form of restriction of the girls' movement, such as house arrest. In the event, however, once again the legal system got the better of the judges, and the girls had still not been released as of this afternoon (Monday). The mother of one of the girls said, "I called the prison, and they said that they knew nothing of a release, and had heard nothing from any court. I feel that they are simply toying with me." She later called and found out that three of the girls had been kept in isolation until this morning. The 16-year-old sister of one of the six is also in prison. She has been incarcerated for two months, charged with offenses related to protesting withdrawals from the Land of Israel. She refuses to agree to restrictions placed on her by a court that does not employ Jewish Law. Another of her sisters is to be married tomorrow night, and it is not clear whether she will be allowed to go to the wedding. Another immediate problem she faces is that as of Saturday night, she has been in isolation - without even a mattress to sleep on. Her mother said, "Some girls stood outside the prison on Saturday night and called out to her and tried to encourage her, as they have been doing for several weeks. My daughter apparently called out her thanks and said she heard them - and then the jailers put her in isolation. From what the other girls report, it means that she doesn't even get a mattress. In addition, she hasn't called me, which to me is the clearest sign that she's in isolation." Knesset Member Gila Finkelstein, who has helped out in similar situations before, has been approached regarding this problem. Hillel Fendel is senior editor at Arutz-Sheva. |
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DEFUSING "TENSIONS"; PA ALREADY RENEGING ON BORDER MONITORING; ISRAEL STILL SUPPLYING GAZA WATER
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, November 28, 2005. |
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OUR INCURIOUS MEDIA Every day, IMRA and David Bedein ask insightful questions about apparent contradictions between politicians' assertions and actual conditions. I, too, question policy and misconceptions. Why don't the major media? Is it just their bias? ACCUSE U.S. OF PRESSURE WITHOUT EXAMPLES My sources frequently refer to US demands of Israel as "pressure." They do not cite threats. Some disagreements result in the US drawing back from agreements, to punish Israel for not following US wishes on other matters. That is pressure and violation. PENCHANT FOR SELF-DECEPTION There were a couple of steps towards democracy in and near the Mideast: elections in Afghanistan and Iraq. That may or may not lead to democracy. Other reforms are needed for democracy to develop and thrive. Meanwhile, commentators not only exaggerate these minor and preliminary steps. They also hail the phony elections in dictatorial Egypt and the anarchical P.A., where the rivals all are terrorists. These commentators are deceiving themselves. The same may be true of conclusions stated about Libya. Libyan renunciation of nuclear arms development is in the litany of alleged, salutary effects of our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The renunciation may be sincere, but Ghadaffi never was before. He has before him the examples of N. Korea, Pakistan, and Iran that have been deceiving the world for years, until the first two developed nuclear weapons and the third is close to having them. He had built under the Atlas Mountains miles of wide tunnels for some secret purpose. The tunnels' use remains hidden. What evidence have we that Libya is keeping its word? If we have any, it seldom is discussed. DEFUSING TENSIONS The world devises various ways of making demands upon Israel as if reasonable. If one starts out with the fact that the Arabs are the aggressors and the Israelis their victims, then Arab demands are not reasonable. If one adds in the fact that the Arabs are jihadists working to conquer the world, then even if a particular demand might be reasonable, it, like anything that helps the Arabs, injures the rest of the world, and should be resisted Lebanon currently demands that Israel immediately return the bodies of Hizbullah gunmen killed attacking an Israeli post, in order to "defuse tensions." A Lebanese arrest of Hizbullah men and a Hizbullah apology might defuse tensions caused by the Arabs. But the Jews are urged to be good little boys and defuse the Arabs' tensions. Can't do. The Arabs are fanatics striving for conquest. Their faith imbues them with tension. ISRAELI GOVERNMENT PERSECUTES DISSIDENT AGAIN Over the years, the government has harassed Noam Federman with a series of false charges. He defeated dozens of them, though he lost time and income waiting in jail for the disposition of some. In one case, the court awarded him damages for false arrest. There were a couple of convictions on minor issues. Despite the harassment, Mr. Federman completed his studies for the bar and began an apprenticeship in a law firm. Prosecutors tried to prevent that apprenticeship, by showing a court a dossier of all the charges. When Federman proved that almost all of the charges were false, and that some were mere allegations without indictment, the court turned on the prosecutors for trying to mislead it. Whom does the State allow to become lawyers? One planned the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers. Another was convicted of spying for Syria. The question of who becomes a lawyer is political (Arutz-7, 11/17). And Israeli politics are rotten. Patriotic Jews are discriminated against and hounded. CHRISTIANITY MAY NOT SURVIVE IN P.A. The western Palestinian Arabs have driven most of the Christians out. The rest are persecuted. Their numbers continue to dwindle. Instead of defending their co-religionists under siege, however, Christian organizations abroad curry favor with the Muslim Arabs (IMRA, 11/17 from www.jcpa.org/christian-persecution.htm, a monograph by Prof. Justus Reid Weiner of the Jer. Center for Public Affairs.). I found a previous monograph by Prof. Weiner thorough, definitive, and readable. If a religion sacrifices innocent faithful to what it considers expediency, why should its adherents take risks in behalf of that religion? P.A. RENEGING ON BORDER MONITORING The agreement between the P.A. and Israel called for live monitoring of video cameras at the Gaza border-crossing. Now the P.A. official in charge there declares that Israel will not view live screenings ((IMRA, 11/17). Live screening is not of much use, without personnel on hand to bar or arrest wanted terrorists. Delayed and doctored, it fails even to alert Israel whom to watch out for. The P.A. Arabs have again, as they always do, violated their agreements. A self-respecting Israeli government would point out how futile it is to make agreements with them and that foreign friends who urge them to are not demonstrating friendship. It is time for Israel to get down to countering the jihad against them, instead of either cooperating with it or putting itself into a position of dependency upon non-existent enemy goodwill. ARABS IGNORE IRAQI TERRORISM Most Arab countries ignore terrorism in Iraq. They claim that the Iraqi Constitution, which reflects US liberation of Kurds and Shiites, is not legitimate, perhaps because of that liberation. What legitimacy have their non-elected governments? Egypt claims leadership of the Arabs, but whom does its undemocratic government represent? Jordan officially is moderate, but its society is Islamist and anti-American (Fouad Ajami, Jewish Political Chronicle, 9/2005, p.64 from Wall St. J., 9/28). Jordanians already are losing animus against Zarqawi for the bombing in Amman. They argue that they don't know that he really ordered it (IMRA, 11/18). This is their usual excuse for terrorism. PALESTINIAN CENTER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS (PCHR) The IDF has slain a number of Arab terrorists, because, it claims, they refused to stop and show I.D. or to surrender. Contrary to witnesses the IDF finds, PCHR always claims that its investigations find that the IDF did not try to capture the wanted men but opened fire without warning. Another such incident occurred recently (IMRA, 11/17). Terrorists often fight rather than surrender. They have the advantage in that IDF rules of combat prevent the Israeli troops from opening fire as soon as they might. Arabs also try to race through roadblocks. I believe the IDF, which emphasizes human rights more than combat, rather than the Arabs, who emphasize deception more than human rights. SHARON IS TO THE LEFT OF LABOR IMRA has discovered a big loophole in the Gaza border agreement. The agreement obligates the P.A. to prevent importation of weapons. It does not have a similar provision to prevent importation of terrorists (IMRA, 11/19). PM Sharon has opened up the Gaza border to a free flow of terrorists and weapons. He indicated he would do the same with a Gaza seaport. This is a radical position that even the Labor Party would not have taken (Dr. Aaron Lerner, IMRA, 11/17). Since the Arabs don't keep agreements, however, it hardly matters what the agreements specify. What matters is the disposition of Israeli and Arab forces. ISRAEL STILL SUPPLYING GAZA WITH WATER It is giving the P.A. same water it did for Jews in Gaza (IMRA, 11/20). Arabs complain that Israel takes their water. Arab complaints are war propaganda. Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at richardshulman5@aol.com. |
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SURPRISE?
Posted by Batya Medad, November 28, 2005. |
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Now, I must say that nothing really surprises me about Ariel Sharon any more. I was surprised and upset by his original Disengagement announcement. And I was surprised, upset and disgusted by his dictatorial totalitarian means of enforcing Disengagement. But now, these latest announcements, already in the stage after "leaks," that he wants to give, G-d forbid, the Arab terrorists over 90% of what remains in our hands of YESHA, get a "so, who's surprised?" And who and what is Ariel Sharon? He's the person who visited Shiloh in early 1981 and told the few families there that they "weren't thinking large enough." He pointed to the mountain above the ancient Tel of Shiloh, a kilometer from where the first permanent houses were being built, and announced that Shiloh's new neighborhood would be up there. That's where we live, having moved here the summer of 1981. Every veteran yishuv has stories like that about how Ariel Sharon encouraged their existence and expansion. We really do feel betrayed. We're being tortured and murdered by the man who was our "father figure." And I guess we didn't know him at all. Yes, we should have suspected something when he worked so efficiently at destroying Yamit and the other Jewish communities in the Sinai. But, honestly, Menachem Begin was also involved in that. Could it have been that Sharon was more instrumental in the entire Camp David--Sadat "agreement?" Many of us have been blaming Moshe Dayan, who had been drafted by Begin (or was it already Sharon's influence?) to make him (Begin) "more attractive" to the world's diplomatic community. When will the truth come out? Will it? Who really knows, other than Sharon himself? Another peculiar figure is Israel's very own Dorian Gray, Shimon Peres. He is one of the latest to join Kadima, Sharon's new political party. Just a few short months ago, when we were campaigning against Disengagement, I predicted that if we G-d forbid lose and Disengagement is implemented, my home would be next. Unfortunately I'm right. The case against Disengagement should have focused on the big picture, and it didn't. Now after the horrendous and dangerous precedent of Disengagement, we have a much more difficult job ahead. Sharon has taken off his mask and so has Olmert, Mofaz, Sylvan Shalom, Limor, Tzachi, Bibi, Sharansky ad nauseum. We've seen their performances under fire, and we know what they're really made of. This next, March 28th, election is the most important in the entire history of the State of Israel. We must unify to save the country. We must also reject the corrupt. I only see one party to vote for, The National Union. Batya Medad lives in Shiloh. She can be reached by email at Shilohmuse@yahoo.com or visit her website http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/ or go to http://www.shilo.org.il This article is archived at http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2005/11/surprise.html |
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WHEN SEYMOUR MET CONDI - AMERICAN JEWS LOBBY AGAINST ISRAELI SECURITY INTERESTS
Posted by Evelyn Hayes, November 27, 2005. |
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This article was written by Isi Leibler and appeared November 23, 2005
in the Jerusalem Post
(www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1132475610276&pagename=JPost%
2FJPArticle%2FShowFull).
Isi Leibler chairs the Diaspora-Israel relations committee of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, and is a veteran Jewish international leader. Contact him at ileibler@netvision.net.il Until recently, Diaspora leaders all agreed that on matters relating to security, Israel and the Diaspora are not equal partners. It is Israeli citizens who will face the consequences of decisions made by their elected government, whereas Diaspora Jews will not be called to make sacrifices on these issues. Simple morality should therefore presuppose humility and restraint, especially at a time when Israelis face a resurgence of terror and when most of the world is critical of Israel for seeking to protect itself from neighbors who shamelessly orchestrate suicide bombings and rocket attacks. I was therefore astonished to learn that when Mr. Seymour Reich, President of the left wing Israel Policy Forum, and his associates met with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, they had actually urged her to pressure Israel to make concessions over the Gaza border crossing and other issues. They told her that by adopting a tough policy against Israel, "she would gain the support of Jewish Americans on both sides of the aisle". Reich shamelessly told the media that "I have no doubt that we bolstered the Secretary of State's instincts and strengthened her opinion that aggressive American involvement was needed to achieve practical results." Of course Reich's group also added the mantra that the Palestinian Authority should be pressured to meet its commitment to fight terror. Mr. Reich must surely be aware that Mahmoud Abbas has already reiterated his determination not to disarm Hamas, stating instead that at a later stage, he may even co-opt Hamas to the Palestinian security organization so that the terrorists would then also receive salaries from international funds set aside to promote the Palestinian economy. We know that Condoleezza Rice and James Wolfensohn subsequently bludgeoned a pliable Dov Weissglass into conceding ground on security issues, despite appeals from Israeli top military echelons not to submit to such "hazardous" demands. The defense experts had warned that under the new arrangements, Palestinians would be able to smuggle heavy weaponry, including anti aircraft missiles into Gaza and the entire area could also be infiltrated by international terrorists. The Sharon government's submission to these pressures is unprecedented and may exact a heavy price in Israeli blood in the future. Yet a former American head of the Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations who considers himself a Zionist, has the unmitigated gall to boast that he and his group helped to convince the Secretary of State to take aggressive action to bring Israel into line and that he had assured Condoleezza Rice that exerting such pressure on Israel would result in strong support from American Jews. This is truly a sad day for Israeli-Diaspora relations, especially so at a time when in the absence of any meaningful concessions by the Palestinians, the government of Israel should have been able to rely on the support of American Jewry in their efforts to ensure the security and welfare of her citizens. Two and half years ago, I publicly reprimanded Edgar Bronfman, the President of the World Jewish Congress, when on the eve of a meeting between President Bush and Prime Minister Sharon, he co-signed a letter with former Secretary of State, Lawrence Eagleburger, calling on the President to reject Israel's intention to build a "separation wall". Without consulting any of his WJC colleagues, Mr. Bronfman also took it upon himself to urge the President to exert pressure on Israel and apply "the same straightforwardness in his meeting with Prime Minister Sharon" as he had with the Palestinian Prime Minister. A few days later, Bronfman went further and stated that if the Palestinians would have concentrated exclusively on killing Jews over the Green Line and avoided attacking Jews in Israel itself, today they would have a Palestinian state and enjoy the support of the entire world. Public Jewish outrage forced him to apologize. This behavior is reminiscent of the exploitation of politically naive liberals by communists during the Cold War. Like their present day counterparts, they were flattered, manipulated, and duped into adopting public profiles designed to influence public opinion in the interests of the Evil Empire. There is obviously something sick in the state of World Jewry when purportedly mainstream Jewish leaders feel that they can lobby freely against the security policies of the democratically elected government of Israel. If this sort of behavior is to be tolerated we may as well write off our one remaining ally - Diaspora Jewry. Hopefully, American Jews will vent their anger at the chutzpa and perfidy of those purporting to represent the Jewish community who lobby their Administration to pressure Israel on security issues. But the ultimate responsibility for this sorry state of affairs rests with successive Israeli governments and the Foreign Ministry who, for over a decade, abdicated their traditional role of liaising and guiding Jewish communities in relation to Israeli affairs. Today that no longer prevails and, setting aside the fact that Ambassadors are now usually selected on the basis of cronyism and seniority rather than merit, most Jewish community leaders no longer retain the close liaison with Ambassadors that was formerly taken for granted. The rot had its genesis with the Oslo Accords when Israeli leaders told Diaspora Jewish activists that in view of the "irreversible peace process", their lobbying was superfluous and even counter productive. This void paved the way for both right and left wing groups to indulge in politics on the American scene. But now, in the midst of a new election season, it seems to have reached its climax when an organization like the Israel Policy Forum unashamedly lobbies the State Department to exert pressure to bring Israel to heel even if that entails riding roughshod over her security requirements. This can still easily be reversed. The reality is that despite the enormous erosion and chaos which has occurred in Israel Diaspora relations over the past decade, a mainstream Jewish leader is still required by his constituents to be a supporter of Israel - at least on matters relating to its security - and to behave accordingly. If the Government and Foreign Ministry were to vigorously take action to restore its relationship with Diaspora Jewish leaders, it would still find highly enthusiastic partners. And leaders like Mr. Reich who cross red lines would rapidly discover that most Jews, irrespective of political affiliation, will not tolerate such irresponsible behavior. There is absolutely no room in the Jewish mainstream for actively canvassing against the security related policies determined by the democratically elected government of Israel. Evelyn Hayes is author of "The Eleventh Plague, Twins, because their hearts were softened to accept the unacceptable" and "The Twelfth Plague, Generations, because the lion wears stripes." Contact her at haze@rcn.com. |
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HARASSMENT BY MAIL
Posted by Rachel Saperstein, November 27, 2005. |
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Telephone Company. We will have to pay a penalty of IS 280, the letter stated, for breaking our one-year contract for internet use. "The government threw us out in August," we countered. "They destroyed our phone lines. Sue the government for breach of contract." We are awaiting their reply. Twenty-three Neve Dekalim families received a letter from SELAH -- The Expulsion Authority. "We don't deny you lived in Neve Dekalim. But you rented privately rather than through the local council. So you are not entitled to housing in Nitzan, or compensation of any kind. You have six days to vacate your hotel!" Five other families received letters saying "Though you rented privately we will allow you to rent a 'caravilla' of 60 square meters. But it must be in an area 'everyone has turned down'." We all signed a petition today -- Everyone goes or no one goes to Nitzan. And we all will live in the same neighborhood. Slowly, very slowly, the families are moving out of the hotels and into the prized, paper-thin fiberglass trailers. "Congratulations you have received a prized key!" says their letter. Like many others Moshe and I have received neither letter nor key nor compensation of any kind, and are simply left in limbo. Ship containers packed, stored and guarded by the IDF are now reaching the Nitzan Displaced Persons camp. Many have been broken into. Furniture, appliances and clothing were stolen or vandalized. Half-eaten food strewn about by the packers lay moldering in the containers, giving off a stench. Rats left their mark. But there are those who make a difference. The Band-Aid Fund has sent seed money to each family as it moves into its trailer. But the needs, the replacements, the small items, cost so much. Paying off the mortgage of the destroyed homes, food, electricity, water, payments for the container rental eats away at the small government advance. Avery Harris of Petach Tikva moves peripatetically among the hotels, tent cities and trailers looking for leaders and encourages their endeavors. Mark Launer of Jerusalem helped establish the Student Loan Fund. Unemployment among our people is nearly 80%. Rabbi Yosef Rimon of Alon Shvut, a volunteer, has opened an employment agency in Nitzan using the internet as his tool. "Job Katif" is bringing in the data to place our people in jobs. College volunteers help write CVs and prepare for interviews. Rav Rimon has managed to place people in satisfying jobs and this has made all the difference. And so we see light, a small light barely flickering. Despite government pronouncements of "a solution for all" there is no help, only the harassment of the authorities. But the decency of private individuals who have come to help, people like yourselves, is making all the difference. The BAND-AID FUND is now collecting money to give each family 1,000 shekels (approximately $240) as seed money as it prepares to start a new life in Nitzan. You can help a family. Send your contribution to: Central Fund for Israel
OR Central Fund for Israel
Moshe and Rachel Saperstein lived in Neve Dekalim, Gush Katif,
Gaza, Israel. They are now homeless refugees, living in temporary
quarters at Jerusalem Gold Hotel.
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IDEAS TO REACH THE BELIEVING COMMUNITY - FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Posted by Renalee Colon, November 27, 2005. |
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This comes from Faige Rayzel, who can be reached at FaigeRayzel@aol.com Letter to the Rabbi Simon Jacobson and Rabbi YY Jacobson Dear Rabbi Jacobsons, amv"sh Back to the Root. G-d in his Covenant with Avraham Yitzchok and Yaakov says that the Land is for the people of Israel exclusively. Am Yisroel in turn is obligated in the Mitzvot. Tachlis. Can you and your family get the Rabbanim, (Chareidi, Orthodox, Conservative etc). to support such a statement and publicize it in the Algemeiner? Interesting Proofs for those of you who enjoy Geometry: Hypotheses: The Roadmap Plan and the Covenant are mutually exclusive. 1. Given: The Covenant says that G-d gives the Land of Israel to the Nation of Israel as an eternal inheritance exclusively.
Either the Roadmap is the way to go or the Covenant is the way to go. If we choose the Covenant we must oppose the Roadmap. If we choose the Roadmap then by extension we oppose the Covenant. What do our Rabbis or Jewish Leaders choose? I would first ask Rav Shteinman and Rav Eliashiv. I would also ask the Rebbe of Belz, the Gerrer Rebbe, the Vishnitz Rebbe and all the Chasidic Rebbes. No protest to the Roadmap is implicit agreement with the Roadmap or interpreted by the hundreds of thousands of followers as such. Another Hypothesis: The Blessings on the world can only come about when Israel has rights to the Land. Given A: The Land of Israel is promised in a Covenant between G-d and Avraham Yitzchok and Yakov as an eternal inheritance of their seed.
1. Only Am Yisroel are obligated to keep these Mitzvoth. (given D)
Once we have the Land of Israel then potentially we can bring Blessings to the world. Once we have the Land of Israel and keep the Mitzvoth then the world will be blessed. The next question is: When we owned the Land how do we keep the Mitzvoth that are pertaining to the Land as prescribed by the Torah. How do we follow the Mitzvoth pertaining to the 7 year Shmita cycle as best as possible? Bikurim - What do we do when there is no Beis Hamikdash and the Kohanim are dispersed? I am in the middle of reading Worldstorm by Roy S. Neuberger. I am finding it fascinating. In this book he says, that it is G-d that makes the rules. When
man chooses to make up his own rules that circumvent or defy G-d's
rules he gets into deep trouble.
Contact Renalee Colon at renalees@yahoo.com
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FROM GOOD MORNING AMERICA TO THE TEFILLIN CHALLENGE
Posted by Deb Kotz, November 27, 2005. |
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Very interesting and inspiring story. I wonder if he had to give up his job at GMA after he became Orthodox. I've recently been inspired by several people who "found" Orthodox Judaism. Rachel (formerly Christine) Factor told a fabulous story of her conversion to Judaism and her subsequent transformation into an observant Jew. This former Broadway singer and dancer recently did her one-woman show in the D.C. area, coincidentally at Rabbi Herzfeld's shul. (Rachel and her Jewish husband became observant together.) I also recently met another woman from Spain who told me she had an Orthodox conversion in her 40s, strangely enough, after divorcing her Jewish husband. She and Rachel both said that they had felt like something nameless was missing from their lives, that their identity was somehow incomplete. They also said they felt like outsiders among their own people, and it wasn't until they became Jews that they felt like they belonged. This was written by Richard Pollock, a former television producer, who is the president of Next Generation Advertising, LLC, in Washington, D.C., which produces video, audio and animation for use on the Internet. It was in the the Orthodox Union Shabbat Shalom, November 17, 2005. How does one journey as a secular Jew and a producer for ABC's "Good Morning America" -- from attending White House Christmas parties and walking the sands of Saudi Arabia, to attending morning minyans (prayer services) at an Orthodox shul (synagogue) in Washington, D.C.? The short answer is, with a great deal of difficulty and many unforeseen pit stops along the way. I was a secular Jew who was a liberal activist during the days of Bob Dylan and anti-war rallies. We called it the "Age of Aquarius." We were about to re-make mankind. My generation trashed institutions. We rejected rules and laws. We believed we could re-write history. We could revise the history of civilization itself. Among the casualties was religion. We were particularly strident in our condemnation of organized religion. It felt good to be "liberated;" which meant we thought we could flee from our past. I joined this traveling band with great gusto. I was an anti-war activist, worked for Ralph Nader and founded a public relations firm in Washington, DC. My friends in the media shared my values and world outlook too. In 1988 I was invited to be the Washington producer for ABC's "Good Morning America." It was a pretty thrilling life. I was invited to private Washington dinners, rubbed elbows with the powerful and famous. I personally met every President from Gerald Ford to Bill Clinton and was able to discuss issues with world leaders like Margaret Thatcher and Ariel Sharon. As the White House and Pentagon producer, I had a front row on history. I traveled on Presidential trips and covered civil unrest and armed conflict. I was held at gun point during an attempted coup in Panama, arrived at the scene of airplane crashes, reported on space flights from Cape Canaveral, covered a G-7 Summit in Tokyo and produced a special from an anti-terrorism summit in Sharme El Sheik, Egypt. I was in Nicaragua when the Sandinistas fell and lived in Hong Kong prior to the handover to China. One of my proudest moments was to produce a live, five hour ABC special from Normandy, France commemorating the 50th anniversary of D-Day. I conducted nearly a hundred interviews with World War II military leaders and D-Day veterans, including a Nazi General who headed the Panzer tank division closest to the Allied landing in Normandy. The two of us sat, feet apart, as we quietly discussed the war and the invasion, as if we were simply colleagues. A half a century earlier, he would have executed me. I remember standing on a beach in Normandy at the American Cemetery on June 6, 1994. I remember being struck by the tombstones especially that had the Star of David on them. Many were teenagers 18 to 20 years old. Throughout this period, however, I kept my Jewish identity pretty well under wraps. I received Christmas cards from friends, was invited to holiday parties in December and even attended a few White House Christmas parties. I married a woman who was Episcopalian. Her father was a Deacon in a small church in Danville, Virginia. My Judaism was in the closet, and the door was firmly shut. Nevertheless, there was this tug of the arm. Despite a fulfilling job, a successful career, many friends and a comfortable life, I felt something was missing. I and a few friends began a clumsy, somewhat counter culture search for what we called "spirituality." Spirituality does not have a Jewish face in America. In fact, it isn't associated with any established Western religion. A few of my friends joined Buddhist temples. Others dabbled in New Age stuff. I once held a retreat for New Age leaders at my home. Still others sought out what they called "ancient voices" and bonded with Native American Indians. For all, the journey seemed to be one part Kumbaya, one part self-indulgence and one part mystery. While on this journey I found myself one evening on an upstate New York estate owned by a wealthy businessman who said he had discovered the "spirits" of Native American Indians. I was invited through a friend. It was a sprawling estate. On it, the owner had erected two giant Indian teepees. In the evening a bonfire was lit and we chanted obscure Indian songs, holding hands under the starlit skies. It may have worked for others. But it left me cold. The evening seemed contrived. After all, none of us were of Indian heritage. It was a total disconnect. It was there, on that estate that I finally stated the obvious. "Hey, I'm Jewish, not a Cherokee, Lakota or Hupa Indian." My tribes weren't on the North American plain. They were in Jerusalem, near the Jordan River. And as I began to reflect on it, I realized that my religion had its own "ancient voices," among the most ancient and wisest of all time. They had names like Abraham and Isaac, Ruth and Esther, Moses and David. In terms of modern marketing, these spiritual leaders could be considered a bust. They didn't exude the exoticism of the East or the newness of Shamans or channeling. They were part of our "ugly" Western history. They were part of a past I and my colleagues were supposed to be fleeing. I had ignored Judaism since my Bar Mitzvah. Nevertheless, now it seemed to intrigue me. Maybe the distance of time allowed me to re-discover my own roots. About the same time, I was asked to be a producer for a "Good Morning America" special in Saudi Arabia. It was the beginning of the First Gulf War. I would lead a crew of 15 people, including GMA host Charlie Gibson. Getting the visas was not easy. At the time, Western media had never been permitted inside the Saudi Kingdom. To secure the visas I had to socialize with senior Saudi officials. We became friends. I was invited to request a visa. As I reviewed the Saudi application I found there was a line for religion. In my life, I had never been asked to identify my religion. Something rattled inside this closet Jew. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if I revealed my religion, I would be barred form entering the country. What was I to do? I consulted with Jack Reilly, my executive producer in New York, and we agreed that the entire team should leave the religion line blank. Just to make sure, he consulted ABC News President Roone Arledge. He too supported the move. I returned to the Embassy with the visa applications, sans any religious identification. It was the first time in my life that I had to think about my place in the world as a Jew. My cage rattled a bit more. The Saudis were not very pleased with our incomplete application. There was discussion, tension and debate, but after numerous meetings, the Embassy approved our visas. Practicality had won out. The Saudis needed American television coverage more than the knowledge of our religion. Since I was going to the Middle East, I decided I would visit Israel. However, this wasn't easy. I was privately counseled by ABC News that if I wished to travel there I needed to obtain a second American passport. An Israeli entry visa would bar me from travel throughout much of the world and virtually all of the Middle East. Again, it was a reminder of my place in the world as a Jew. More rattling. I obtained a "sanitized" American passport exclusively for travel to Israel. I left for Saudi Arabia where I spent several months covering Operation Desert Shield. Let me assure you, it was not a picnic. We were in a war zone. We were in a Muslim country. And now I was living there secretly as a Jew. The closet door closed tighter. But there were also some surprises. During my stay I was able -- as an ABC producer, not as a Jew -- to discuss Middle East politics with Arabs. It was then that I learned that most Arab elites privately despise the Palestinians. I will put it as politely as I can: they considered them shiftless, lazy, corrupt and hopelessly, always on the wrong side of history. (At the time the Palestinians supported Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait.) Curiously, many of them also expressed private admiration for Israel. When I went to Israel, gas masks and sealed rooms were the order of the day. U.S. Patriot missiles protected the skies from incoming missiles. Yet the majesty and spiritual pull of Israel was overwhelming. It was as if I had returned home. A few years ago I got another glimpse of what it means to be a Jew in today's world. I was in Caracas, Venezuela, working for an employer. As it turned out, I had to stay in the country during High Holidays. A colleague introduced me to a Jewish family who welcomed me into their home and secured a ticket for High Holidays at Union Synagogue, an Orthodox synagogue in Caracas. Because I was an American, I was invited to a number of Jewish homes for dinners. During each dinner, the same conversation came up. Gen. Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's President had made numerous veiled threats to the Jewish community during his last election campaign. The conversations among the Venezuelans at these dinners were all the same and went something like this, usually in hushed tones: Have you gotten your children out of the country? Where are you going to live? Which country looks good to you? Are you moving your money to the United States? When will you put your home up for sale? The conversation could have been the conversations that might have taken place around German Jewish dinner tables in the early Thirties. You could see the fear and concern in the faces and eyes of these Venezuelan Jews. Hell had not yet arrived, but you could see it from here. I needed to find my own place as a Jew. Who was I? What was my past? So in 2002 I began to go shul shopping. I had divorced my Episcopalian wife and was now married to a Jewish woman. Well Shul shopping isn't what it's cracked up to be. It isn't an easy journey, especially if you want to find commitment. There is a confusing array of Jewish flavors out there. Among other things, my Age of Aquarius brethren have re-shaped a good deal of organized Judaism with a lot of politically correct stuff that has watered it down. I remember once attending an open house at a reform temple. The shul's president was very pleased to announce that men did not have to wear a Kippa (skullcap) or Tallis (prayer shawl) at Sabbath services. He considered this a very strong selling point. Perhaps. But for me it sent a clear message that even the simplest rules were too much of a burden for this congregation. Commitment phobia was no longer my problem. I finally joined a Conservative synagogue and asked the Rabbi if he would take the time to show me how to wear Tefillin. His response was somewhat disappointing. He recommended I buy a book, and if I had any other questions to call him. He might as well have said, "Take two aspirin and call me in the morning." Still, lives in contemporary Jewish shuls don't exude much spirituality. It is a sanitized service that wishes to neither excite nor offend. Then I stumbled upon a modern Orthodox synagogue, Ohev Shalom Talmud Torah or OSTT in Washington, DC. The Rabbi there, Shmuel Herzfeld says there are few coincidences in life. He may be right. I had been rebuffed by a Rabbi on the question of Tefillin. And at my first OSTT Kiddush, the Rabbi asked me if I would like to enter the Tefillin Challenge. The gist of the challenge was that if I attended 30 out of 60 morning services, I would receive a free Tefillin. Oh yes, and "instructions were included." The Rabbi and many members of the congregation warmly helped me get it right. In some ways, I agreed to do it, as it was a challenge. And I did learn more about the morning services and how to wear the Tefillin. But as I Davaned (prayed) each morning, I found a subtle change came over me. Now I started each day differently. I was no longer thinking about the bills, or work, or the latest sports scores. Instead, I found myself beginning every day in a beautiful way. Instead of the mundane, every morning I focus on the important things in life. And shorn of political correctness, modern Orthodoxy touches on the miracle of life, from the miracle of our Torah to daily prayers. Now every morning I remind myself of eternity: "Master of the universe, Who reigned before any form was created." I ask Hashem for wisdom and insight: "For Your wisdom, O supreme God, may You imbue me; from Your understanding gives me understanding..." I am reminded every morning of the spirit of our soul: "My God, the soul You placed within me is pure. You created it. You fashioned it. You breathed it into me...As long as the soul is within me, I am grateful to You, Hashem, my God and the God of my forefathers, Master of all works, Lord of all souls." I am in awe of the miracle of each dawn: "Blessed are You, Hashem, our God, King of the universe, Who gave the heart understanding to distinguish between day and night." And every morning, I am reminded of the miracle of life itself: "We shall thank You...for Your miracles that are with us every day; and for your wonders and favors in every season - evening, morning and afternoon." For me, each morning -- each day -- has become a miracle unto itself. I met the Tefillin Challenge and got a new pair of Tefillin and I'm a member of a new shul. But a committed Jewish experience has given me something much more vital: the meaning of life itself. |
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THE OPENING OF JIHAD ON US SOIL
Posted by Mordechai Ben-Menachem, November 27, 2005. |
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This was written by Adina Kutnicki and appeared in Arutz-Sheva - www.IsraelNN.com. It is archived at http://www.israelnn.com/article.php3?id=5798 Adina Kutnicki operates a CPA tax practice with her husband. She is involved in Israel activism and investigates ISM terror front groups. Ever since the horrific public assassination of Rabbi Meir Kahane at the Marriott Hotel in New York City in 1990, there has been a small, yet vocal group of individuals trying to get certain US authorities - both state and federal - to pay attention to his murder. Their many entreaties both for personal justice and for a wider investigation fell on deaf ears. Nonetheless, the ramifications from the inaction of these US authorities can no longer be ignored. This small group's personal pain at the rabbi's cold-blooded assassination fueled their initial anguished pleas. However, there was much more underlying their silenced screams. Just as surely as night follows day, they were convinced about one glaring aspect of Rabbi Kahane's murder: it was the opening salvo by Islamic terrorists in their ongoing war against the US, perpetrated on US soil. Previously, during the 1970s and the 1980s, the Islamists shot several devastating hits aimed at US interests overseas. Not this time. The logical conclusion that Rabbi Kahane's supporters drew from his murder was crystal clear. Strangely, it coincided with the assessment of the Islamic jihad: if they can eliminate a problematic "radical" rabbi (their first victim of choice) on US soil and get away with it, then the hitherto invincible and impenetrable US would become open for their jihad. The Islamists counted on the US authorities turning a blind eye to their intentions; and their assumptions proved demonstrably and deadly accurate. Rabbi Kahane's assassin was an Egyptian named El-Said Nosair. Soon after the murder, the investigating authorities found among Nosair's belongings many boxes of Arabic writings, which for years were inexplicably not translated. Unbelievably, they included detailed plans for the upcoming 1993 World Trade Center bombings. In addition, Nosair was also a protege of Sheikh Abd Al-Rahman, the internationally infamous "blind sheikh" from a Jersey City mosque, convicted of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Furthermore, the gun used to kill Rabbi Kahane was given to him by Wadith El-Hage, a member of Al- Qaeda, who was convicted for the 1998 US embassy bombings. Significantly, in March 1997, an Egyptian Muslim opened fire at more than a dozen people who were congregated on the rooftop of the Empire State Building for a sightseeing visit. Three years later, in the fall of 2000, the USS Cole was attacked, albeit overseas. The nexus to this Islamic hydra was growing exponentially (the above are only some examples of their lethal attacks on US soil and US interests overseas), yet US investigative authorities kept undeniably missing the links. The catastrophic attacks of September 11, 2001, on the World Trade Center and the US Pentagon were a direct culmination of their blindness. However, from day one after Rabbi Kahane's murder, his supporters besieged US authorities to view it as an Islamic act of jihad. But to no avail. Coincidentally, Rabbi Kahane's personal lawyer, Mr. Shannon Taylor, was also at his side when he was gunned down. In fact, he collapsed at Mr. Taylor's feet. He never imagined that the camera he brought along to take pictures of the gathering at the Marriott Hotel would later be used to take photos of a dying Rabbi Kahane. These pictures were taken to compile evidence for eventual prosecutorial purposes. In fact, these same images were the ones which circulated all over the world right after the murder. Immediately, Mr. Taylor approached the local New York office of the FBI and the US Attorney General's office with sources of information. Acclaimed terror investigator Steve Emerson produced a documentary, Jihad in America, that exposed that the FBI had buried moles and spies deep within some of the Islamic terror cells. However, no tangible results on Rabbi Kahane's murder were forthcoming from the FBI. Coincidentally, Mr. Taylor had the occasion to speak with the newly retired CIA head, William Sessions. Mr. Taylor was flabbergasted to learn that Mr. Sessions never saw the crime scene pictures taken of Rabbi Kahane's murder. This should have been the first order of business, to hand over the pictures to the head of the CIA. After all, that was a logical conclusion to make when Islamic terrorists were being pursued. What was later revealed, though, managed to fill in the blanks as to why no results were forthcoming in Rabbi Kahane's assassination investigation. In a nutshell, the FBI was not only taken off Rabbi Kahane's case, but all Islamic "infiltrating" was halted. President Clinton ordered the CIA, and the CIA then demanded that the FBI cease and desist. The Congress also put the squeeze on the FBI. Why? The true motives are anyone's guess. However, from 1990 until the 1993 first World Trade Center bombing, these groups were not monitored. Fifteen years after Rabbi Kahane's murder, National Geographic, much to their credit, finally connected the most undeniable and intrinsic dot in their very well-documented four-part series entitled Inside 9/11. The focus of their documentary was on a timeline of the Islamic jihad against the US. Lo and behold, they concluded, much like Kahane's supporters, that Rabbi Kahane's assassination was the opening of jihad on US soil. This documentary was deemed so important and so relevant that it was made available free of charge to those areas that do not have access to the National Geographic cable channel. One needn't be a cynic or a conspiracy theorist to make one salient observation: Kahane's murder (that of an often-maligned rabbi, deemed a "radical" and a "racist"), and the lack of a proper investigation into its cause, was of very little import to most. This was especially the case in the non-Jewish communities, and, to a certain extent, in the Jewish communities both in the US and in Israel. Imagine that. It took fifteen years, and thousands of deaths, to finally point out what should have been obvious to all. That is, that the opening shot fired by the Islamic jihadis on US soil was Rabbi Kahane's assassination, and that the jihad is ongoing - with no end in sight. Countless lives could have been spared if the investigation into Rabbi Kahane's murder had been given the priority and attention it deserved. It most assuredly would have led investigators to an overarching Islamic jihad plot against the US. Now that the politically incorrect blinders have been taken off, we can only hope and pray that the US authorities will pursue in earnest the Islamic jihadis, regardless of who is killed, and despite where the investigation leads them. May Rabbi Kahane's memory be for a blessing. |
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CHAYE SARAH IN HEBRON AND DVAR HEBRON BY RABBI DOV LIOR
Posted by David Wilder, November 27, 2005. |
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1. Chaye Sarah in Hebron Yesterday Hebron celebrated the purchase of Ma'arat HaMachpela, bought almost 4,000 years ago by the Patriarch Abraham, to bury his wife, Sarah. Annually, as this Torah portion is read, thousands of people arrive in Hebron for Shabbat to hear these verses recited at the very site Abraham purchased. This Shabbat, over 25,000 people from Israel and around the world, arrived in Hebron to participate in this special event. Hundreds traveled from the United States especially for this Shabbat, via Hebron 's New York office, the Hebron Fund, and through AFSI. In addition, thousands of Israeli couples and youth were hosted by Hebron and Kiryat Arba families. Youth slept in public buildings, prepared especially for Shabbat. Due to the warm weather, many also pitched tents in Hebron and Kiryat Arba. Shabbat meals were provided for those who made prior reservations. Families in Hebron and Kiryat Arba hosted dozens of people in their homes, with guests sleeping on any available floor space. Friday night, the multitudes gathered at Ma'arat HaMachpela, the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, for evening worship. The entire building was open to Jewish worshipers, including Ohel Yitzhak, the Isaac Hall, open to Jews only 11 days during the year. Huge prayer services were held both inside and outside, in the Ma'ara courtyard. Thousands joyously sang and danced the traditional Kabbalat Shabbat service. Following the evening meal, many of the guests attended classes and lectures in Hebron and Kiryat Arba. People could be seen roaming the streets of Hebron through the early hours of the morning. At five thirty in the morning, thousands gathered for early morning prayers at Ma'arat HaMachpela. A 'central service' began at eight o'clock in Ohel Yitzhak, with thousands crowding in and participating. Hearing the ancient words chanted, written by a scribe on parchment, describing the lengthy negotiations leading to Abraham's purchase of the caves and field, almost four millennium ago, at that very site, left everyone in awe. Following the services and afternoon meal, throngs toured Hebron's Jewish neighborhoods, with tours given in Hebrew, English, French and Russian. A festive 'third meal' was attended by hundreds of guests from the United States in the Gutnick Center. Hebron leaders, extremely happy with the huge turnout, said that this was the largest "Chaye Sarah" Shabbat gathering ever. They expressed hope that Israeli politicians and world leaders would take note of the tremendous international support for Hebron's Jewish community. They also commented that such a strong show of support should assist in efforts to prevent the possible expulsion of Jewish families from the 'Mitzpe Shalhevet' neighborhood, which was ordered to be implemented before the end of 2005. 2. A Second Celebration -- Publication of 'Dvar Hebron' by Rabbi Dov Lior Friday afternoon Rabbi Yitzhak Rodrig, dean of the Institute for Settlement Rabbis, arrived at the home of Hebron-Kiryat Arba Chief Rabbi, Rav Dov Lior, with a special book in his possession. He presented Rav Lior with the first copy of "Dvar Hebron' -- 'The Words of Hebron,' the first publication of Rav Lior's extensive writings. The 270 page book is a collection of Questions and Answers dealing with various aspects of Jewish law (Even HaEzer and Hoshen Mishpat). In the book's introduction, Rav Lior writes: "I want to give thanks to the L-rd, who gave me the privilege of come to Eretz Yisrael and to save me from the days of holocaust, from 1940-1945 in Europe, years of bloodshed. I arrived at the doors of Torah in Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav in Jerusalem, where I studied under my teacher, Rav Tzvi Yehuda HaCohen Kook, zt"l, who not only taught me the legal aspects of Judaism for Rabbis and Judges, but also formed my spiritual essence, concerning my outlook on the acts of G-d, who saw the future at the beginning, who returned the exiled to Israel and who raised the ruins of our land. His viewing of faith saw in every act which accompanied the path of the redemption of Israel, the light of redemption, even when the path was filled with difficult complexities." Rav Dov Lior, is known to be one of the 'Gedolie HaDor' -- a Torah Giant. His has an extensive knowledge of all fields of Torah, and many have waited breathlessly for the publication of the first volume of his writings. The book is available via the Institute of Settlement Rabbis (in Hebrew) and can be ordered at: mahevron@zahav.net.il David Wilder is spokesman of The Jewish Community of Hebron. You can contribute directly to The Jewish Community of Hebron, POB10, Kiryat Arba-Hebron 90100, hebron@hebron.org.il, 972-2-9965333 or write to The Hebron Fund, 1760 Ocean Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11230, hebronfund@aol.com |
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MODIFIED BRAVE NEW WORLD
Posted by Lawrence Ungelicht, November 27, 2005. |
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We live in a Depraved New World brought to us by "All those Hucksters". The mind dulling soma ration or drug of choice, especially among many Europeans, is anti-Zionism, which in truth is anti-Semitism. Such addicts are seduced by the illusion of Palestinian occupation, when in reality the democratic state of Israel is besieged by totalitarian Arab regimes intent on using the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a diversion to vent the seething rancor and frustration of their exploited subjects. In this world, intelligence has effectively been eliminated. The mindless intellects that censure Israel wallow in their incestuous self-righteous states of pseudo-happiness fully confident that an aggressive Israel must ever be chastised and tethered if there is to be peace in the Middle East. This manipulated mindset diverts focus from a totalitarian cadre of fossil fuel magnates, many of which wear Muslim attire and live in disgustingly ostentatious palaces. Yet, in this deluded Jew bashing world, sanguine indulgence in one's own petard cannot be sustained for the sanguinary savages bent on obliterating their perceived infidels. Freedom from the pain generated by horrific acts of homicidal hostility is no longer assured to these apologists. Misplaced sympathy for the Palestinian pawns in this charade, as well as sycophantic behavior toward Saudi potentates and similar ilk financing such human hatred, only supports the sterilization of goodness from earth's soul. Surely, morals on our planet are not now determined by God or reason, but by the controllers and contrivers of agendas antagonistic to Israel. Still, we must hope that in the end depravity shall be vanquished, truth shall prevail, and Israel shall overcome. Contact Lawrence Uniglicht at luniglicht@snip.net |
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A FEW POINTS WHAT IS WRONG WITH VICIOUS BBC (BIASEDBsCRAP, PUTTING VIEWS FIRST!)
Posted by American Chin High, November 27, 2005. |
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Now is the time to write and have your say about BBC. Write these people: haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk, info@bbc.co.uk, talkingpoint@bbc.co.uk, israelipalestinian.review@bbc.co.uk BBC is receiving emails especially about the ME at this email address: israelipalestinian.review@bbc.co.uk 1) No matter what the story is, no matter what the situation is, it will only cover the discomfort the Arab Palestinians MIGHT have, that side is ever the 'major overall issue'. 2) Never any feelings for the Israeli victims, actually there is no such a thing as Israeli victims under BBC, Is it just plain out right racism that only Arabs could be considered as victims? Since when do Arab 'Palestinians' mainly attack the armed Israelis that BBC loves so much to show again & again? Do Israeli kids have a place on racist BBC? 3) I do not remember ever the BBC showing one tiny fractor of the beautiful, humane & kind Israeli daily lives for all, Israel appears on BBC only on the context of "poor" Arab Palestinian complaints. Would it kill the BBC to quote one 'other' thing in all areas of major achievement, medicine, technology http://israel21c.org ), major aid (http://israaid.org etc. or Israeli official "MASHAV") 4) Amazing how the BBC still endulges in the most lying picture of our time: Tank VS Kid', as if the cool good Israeli defenders are against the kids (and not against the shooters behind them). How silly could be the BBC to fall for the stomes-for-cameras cheap shots? 5) Does the BBC documentary industry plan to have any to research on Arab Palestinian official (Mahmoud Abbas too) Fatah terrorists organization on innocent unarmed civilians, or does the BBC prefer to keep that myth of 'only radical terror groups'? 6) When was the last time we saw the BBC reporting on Israeli security catching again & again children human bombs sent by their parents or by other Arab Muslim adults? 7) The first thing that the BBC should do is 'saying it' out loud, the overall picture, it is about security VS terror, Remember, Terrorism came before the so called "occupation". 8) Would it kill the BBC to utter the word terrorists or murderers or criminals on the Arab Muslims that deliberately target the unarmeed innocent? Contact the poster at americanchinhigh@yahoo.com |
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SHARON PLANS MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL. WHAT ABOUT YOU?
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, November 27, 2005. |
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This is from today's Arutz-Sheva (www.IsraelNN.com) and is called "Sharon Plans Massive Withdrawal", www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=93725 OK everybody. This is what Sharon plans to do. So what are you planning to do? Reports are increasing that Prime Minister Sharon has drafted a plan for Israel's withdrawal from almost all of Judea and Samaria by 2008. Middle East Newsline (MENL) reports in the name of "political sources" that Sharon has begun briefing senior U.S. officials of his intention to withdraw unilaterally from more than 95% of Judea and Samaria. Sharon is hoping to be elected Prime Minister for a third time - this time not in the Likud, however, but as head of his new Kadima Party. One of the most valuable "acquisitions" of the Kadima Party, MK Chaim Ramon, formerly of Labor, said openly last week that Sharon will unilaterally withdraw to final borders in Judea and Samaria if Palestinian terror continues. IMRA reported that Ramon said this on a live interview on Channel 10's "London and Kirschenbaum" news program just hours after he announced his decision to join Sharon's Kadima. Ramon explained that Sharon will keep his plans secret until the elections because he wants to give the Road Map a chance. Many public figures said, both immediately before and after Sharon's decision to quit the Likud, that this decision stems from his desire to carry out dramatic diplomatic moves that he knows the Likud would not approve. Among those who have said this are Binyamin Netanyahu, former Ashkelon Mayor and long-time Sharon confidante Eli Landau, Likud ministers, and others. The MENL report indicates that Sharon would seek a U.S. and international security presence in Judea and Samaria, as well as yet another commitment for the dismantling of Palestinian terrorist groups. Sharon's reported plan is to order a unilateral withdrawal, at first, from more than 90% of Judea and Samaria, while retaining control over air space. The pullout would be accompanied by a pledge of an additional withdrawal, as well as full Palestinian independence, once the PA dismantles terrorist groups and maintains security cooperation with Israel. The MENL sources said a version of the plan has already been drafted by Israel's National Security Council. Though Sharon has denied that he plans any further disengagements, he pledged last week to "lay the foundation for a peace in which we set the permanent borders of the state, while insisting on the dismantling of the terror organizations." Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. Contact him at zelasko@actcom.co.il |
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UNSETTLED SETTLERS
Posted by Moshe and Rachel Saperstein, November 27, 2005. |
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Read it and weep, like we do. This and comes from yesterday's Jerusalem Post (www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1132475628906&pagename= JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull) On the eve of disengagement, a massive government public relations campaign maintained that "there is a solution for each evacuee." Today, more than 100 days after nearly 9,000 Israelis were uprooted, it emerges that there is no solution for many of the evacuees, and indeed there never was. Many Israelis are indifferent, if not downright hostile to the plight of these fellow citizens. The daily Hatzofeh newspaper recently found a novel way of gauging sentiment by launching a fictional initiative to house evacuees in Tel Aviv. Its make-believe real-estate office, it reported, was inundated with antagonistic responses, hotly opposing the introduction of personas-non-grata into the city. Families whose world literally came crashing down must somehow cope in this atmosphere of apathy and worse. It need hardly be stressed that officialdom's failure does not distinguish between those who pulled up stakes prior to the deadline and those who stayed put to the last minute. According to the Government Employment Service, 1,990 of Gush Katif's former residents - 75 percent of the income-earners - are unemployed to date. There's no unemployment office at any of the large evacuee concentrations, including at the fiberglass mobile-home camp in Nitzan. Job offers are scant and the few available are often at minimum wage. None of the evacuated farmers has yet been compensated and none has received land to cultivate. There hasn't even been remuneration for the hothouses purchased via the World Bank to offer employment to local Palestinians. The World Bank argues that since these hothouses were looted (by Palestinians) there's no obligation to reimburse Israeli farmers who kept their part of the bargain. In the meantime families eat up the advances on their overall compensation packages, providing such advances were paid. Many families now realize that at this rate they won't have enough money to replace lost homes even with much smaller and inferior accommodations. Besides having nothing to live on, they must also pay rent for temporary housing, which means further deductions from the compensation package. If that weren't enough, the mortgages for their demolished homes, as well as insurance premiums for razed structures, are deducted regularly from the compensation each family is due. Thus families - whether or not they cooperated with the disengagement authorities - are forced to continue making payments on houses the government demolished. The least the government can do is pick up the tab or amend the relevant legal regulations. As things stand now, over 35% of the evacuees are still without even interim housing. They reside in hotels (from which they are also sometimes threatened with eviction), tents or youth hostels. The Education Ministry does not finance kindergartens for those evacuees still in hotels, hostels and tents. Many school-aged youngsters in these sites still aren't in regular classroom frameworks either. Presumably the government is not deliberately trying to punish these children, or to punish their parents through them. But the reality is bitter. An immediate concern is the inability of the families to reach their possessions, still locked up in containers. They cannot recover these containers (for which they must also pay rent) until they have a home for all their belongings. This means they are unable to merely unpack some of the items therein and many do not have any of their own winter clothing. The withdrawal left the lives of many families in shambles. Some youths even ended up in closed psychiatric wards as a result of emotional trauma. They didn't have it coming. Our society can ill afford to look upon such tragedies with equanimity. This was not how disengagement was supposed to turn out. The lot of these citizens, who bore the brunt of years of terrorism before they lost everything this summer, should appall everyone, opponents and supporters of disengagement alike. This is not a matter of political orientation but one of plain decency. Only in a heartless society would such governmental incompetence or indifference, and the plight it spawns, be allowed to persist. Moshe and Rachel Saperstein lived in Neve Dekalim, Gush Katif, Gaza, Israel. They are now homeless refugees, living in temporary quarters. She was a teacher at the Neve Dekalim ulpana and a spokeswoman for the Katif Regional Council. Her recent book, "Eviction: A Gush Katif Viewpoint", with photos by Moti Sender can be ordered from www.pavilionpress.com. He is a Jerusalem Diarist, one of the group of Israelis who are recording their experiences living in Israel. He lost an arm while fighting in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. He was again wounded in a February 2002 incident when he drove his car into a terrorist who had just shot and killed a young mother traveling in the car in front of him. He writes frequently of his physical and emotional struggles. |
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KADIMA
Posted by Paula R. Stern, November 27, 2005. |
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Ariel Sharon's Kadima Party, meaning forward or onward, is aptly named. I can imagine that Ariel Sharon and his spin doctors thought they could bilk a new group of supporters into believing that his new party would move the nation forward to some rosy future of peace and security, just as easily as he fooled his last group of supporters into trusting the bulldozer and father of the settlements would not betray the cause he championed above all others. Kadima can mean moving forward, progress and forethought, but in Sharon's case, it reminds me of when my children were young and wanted to charge off in some direction, unaware of what lay ahead. Kadima was the charge they yelled as they went running down a hill, usually to end in a fallen heap, crying at the bottom. Kadima is the reckless charge of a young child who does not have to take responsibility for unseen dangers that are hiding just beyond the bend. A child falling down a hill is nothing compared to a nation losing its way, a leader betraying its own people by sacrificing its safety and entrusting its security to others. Kadima is the blind cry of innocence and a nation cannot afford to have blind, innocent leaders. Kadima is the dare one teenager gives to another as they dive head first into a pool of water before checking the depths of the water below. Their youth can lead to serious injury, but the cry of Kadima runs through them and so they dare. Yes, Kadima is perfect for the likes of Ariel Sharon and his would-be supporters because only the foolish and reckless would believe a man who has proven he will not heed the promises he makes, the wishes of his supporters, the suffering of his people. When my brother first got his driving permit almost 30 years ago, anyone with a current driver's license was allowed to teach him to drive. With all of my 3 years of driving behind me, I drove my brother to a large, empty, parking lot in my parent's old station wagon. We switched seats and I suddenly realized the responsibility I had in my hands. A car is an amazing invention, if handled carefully and responsibly. Otherwise, it can be an instrument of great damage and even death. In the first moments, as I taught my brother how to start the car, I realized that before you learn to go, you must learn to stop, to evaluate, to understand the strength and responsibility you have in your hands. Kadima is easy. Press the gas and see how far you can go. Kadima into madness and death. Kadima into irresponsibility, betrayal and corruption. I told my brother to gently release the car brake and the car began to roll. He asked if he should give the car some gas. "No," I said quickly, understanding something that he had yet to learn. Before you can go, you must learn to stop. You must respect the machine, the power you have behind you. "Gently, slowly, hit the brake," I told him. He did so and despite the fact that I was bracing myself, I nearly went through the front window. The car stopped abruptly. "I just touched it," he said in surprise. He was beginning to understand the power he had. For the next few minutes, my brother simply practiced releasing the brake and applying it. A lesson learned. Learn to stop, learn to evaluate. Kadima can bring danger to yourself and those around you. Ariel Sharon has had the power of the nation and the army at his disposal for years now and yet he has not learned to correctly wield that power. He abused the army, turning it against his own people in order to accomplish what he thought was best. He has earned a reputation of corruption beyond any Israel has known in the past. Like a mindless teenager filled with the challenge of Kadima, Sharon careened down the hillside into madness, leaving a nation crumpled and broken behind him. Sharon abused the faith of his supporters by using their votes to implement a plan they did not support. And, when they told him in no uncertain terms that they opposed his new direction, he ignored them. He manipulated, he cheated, he betrayed and he lied. All to do what he thought was best. Kadima, demanded Sharon. Kadima without checking the depths of the water. Kadima and terrorists have taken advantage of our weakness, foreign governments have forced their vision upon us, and we meekly accept rockets fired from the north and from the south. The nation is less secure today than it was when Ariel Sharon took office. People are poorer. Cities are dirtier. Corruption is rampant. The country is more vulnerable, divided and distrustful. Kadima has destroyed the spirit of a generation of youth, who look to the soldiers as betrayers of the land and faith they love. Kadima has led to 9000 people being homeless and robbed of their possessions and communities. Kadima has broken the determination of countless soldiers who don't understand why they were used to fight a battle against the people they swore to protect. They see the disdain in our eyes, the anger we feel, the hurt. Kadima brought only madness. Ariel Sharon may ask for more supporters, but it is to those that he betrayed that he must first answer. In leaving the Likud Party, Sharon has offered many of us a welcome gift. He has confirmed that it was he who led the nation to betray its people, not the Likud ideology. He has returned the vote he stole from us, recognizing that you can only fool someone once. He leaves behind a Likud party stronger for having been cleansed of the dirt and filth that often comes with lies and corruption. Very soon, Likud members will proudly tell Sharon what we thought of his betrayal. Before the next election, the Israeli public must learn to stop and evaluate where we are, what we have done to ourselves, our youth, our army. We must stop this reckless, mindless rush towards surrendering everything before even reaching a negotiating table. Sharon's Kadima into madness must end and he must be defeated. Rushing off into the unknown can be exciting and fun, but it is not the cry of a responsible adult or party that asks for the nation's trust. Kadima is a cry for the young, the blind, and those who have faith. Ariel Sharon's party is indeed young, certainly it is blind to the suffering created by Ariel Sharon, and while it may have faith in itself, Israeli voters need only heed what Sharon did to the last group of people who had faith in him. Before giving Sharon support, look to those who supported him last time around. They are easy to find. Many live in tents and hotels still waiting for his disengagement plan to offer them the security and safety he promised in his last campaign. Paula R. Stern is a freelance journlist living in Maaleh Adumim. She is the Founder and Director of WritePoint Ltd., a technical writing company in Israel. Her personal website is: www.paulasays.com. |
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WINSTON CHURCHILL ON ISLAM -- SPEECH IN 1899!
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, November 27, 2005. |
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"How dreadful are the curses, which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome." -Sir Winston Churchill (The River War, first edition, Vol. II, pages 248-50 (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1899). |
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"PROFESSOR" BRAVERMAN
Posted by Steven Plaut, November 27, 2005. |
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Amir Peretz's new sidekick is "Professor" Avishay Braverman, president of Ben Gurion University for almost as long as Kaddafi has been president of Libya. Peretz is already boasting that his anti-productivity quasi-bolshevik "ideas" have the backing of an academic heavyweight - Braverman. Academic heavyweight? I did a literature search to see what "academic" work Avishay Braverman has ever done. What I found was that he co-edited a book on agricultural economics with Joseph Stiglitz (this would not count as an academic publication at any serious research university -- it is an anthology that contains one paper co-authored by Braverman), he did a few reports for the World Bank in agricultural economics (neither would these), has one contribution to a volume of proceedings from a conference on agriculture (neither would that), and he published a paper in a Brazilian journal in Portuguese: TI: Custos e beneficios da estabilizacao de precos agricolas no Brasil. (With English summary.)
According to the computerized bibliography Econlit, the authoritative data base for research in economics, this last one is the only publication in a "refereed" journal that he has and IT is in Portuguese (and so does not count). In research universities, only refereed journal publications in English form the basis for academic achievement (at least in economics). In short, Braverman's academic record is essentially a blank slate. What wonder then that academic standards at Ben Gurion University have been trashed, at least for far leftist anti-Zionists, while Braverman ran the show! |
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JERUSALEM IS THE CAPITAL OF ISRAEL!
Posted by Lawrence Uniglicht, November 26, 2005. |
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The litmus test for any true buddy of the beleaguered Jewish State must result in positive recognition of all Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Hmmm! Is such a line of buddies now forming outside the Knesset? Has that line lost its way, somehow misdirected towards Tel Aviv? Historically, conquered regions are annexed to victorious nations. The U.S.A.'s southwest, for one, was so annexed at the expense of Mexico in the 19th century. I hear no hand-wringing pundits worldwide suggesting a give back. Indeed, are there many if any nation's born to this dysfunctional planet that have not shaped boundaries in a like manner? In 1967 Israel survived an intended war of annihilation instituted by its neighbors; annexing Gaza, Judea, Samaria, the Golan Heights, and east Jerusalem to its relatively diminutive recognized landmass, dwarfed 100 fold by many Middle Eastern belligerent regimes, most of which will not tolerate habitation by "The Jew". No doubt, Jerusalem is a city sacred to many cultures, and indeed should be accessible to all cultures. Democratic Israel, unlike its much larger yet intolerant autocratic neighbors, allows all ethnicities to dwell within the confines of its borders, even allowing Arab Muslims to wield power within its parliamentary Knesset. No Jew or indeed any so-called "infidel", however, might expect power wielding reciprocation within any extreme Muslim sovereignty any time soon. Hence, it is good for the civilized world to encourage Jewish sovereignty over all Jerusalem, in effect guaranteeing non-discriminatory safe access to all parts of that city. Would a non-Muslim even consider meandering along narrow passageways through the Old City or visit holy sites located in east Jerusalem with a weak Palestinian Authority or more likely Jew/infidel despising Hamas fanatics in charge? Human history sets the rules of boundary formation, thus the entire city of Jerusalem belongs to and in fact is the capital of Israel. End of that conversation! If any nation agrees to become Israel's true buddy, it will unequivocally support that assertion. Contact Lawrence Uniglicht at luniglicht@snip.net |
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PA ADMITS JEWISH TOWNS TURNED INTO 'TRAINING CAMPS'
Posted by Evelyn Hayes, November 26, 2005. |
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Plowshares have been turned to terrorist camps endangering democracy, human rights, and human life in the Middle East. This article appeared yesterday in World Net Daily and is archived
at www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47587
JERUSALEM - The Palestinian Authority admitted in an official
document published that today parts of Gush Katif, the former Jewish
communities of Gaza, are now "training camps" for terror groups.
In an exclusive story last week, WND reported Hamas has turned Neve
Dekalim, the former capital of Gush Katif, into a "martyrs training
camp," and has used the territory to fire rockets into Israel.
Palestinian Interior Minister Nasser Yousef yesterday toured Gaza's
former Jewish communities and detailed a PA plan to bring security to
the area. Since Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in August, the land that
comprised Gush Katif has been the scene of regular internal
Palestinian clashes.
An official dossier of Yousef's schedule released today by the
Interior Ministry states, "The Minister Nasser Yousef toured the newly
liberated areas of Gaza, parts of which are used by the Palestinian
groups as training camps."
As WND reported, in what some expelled Jewish residents of the area called the "ultimate insult," Hamas leaders said they turned Neve Dekalim into a "martyr training camp" and have used the territory to launch rockets into Israel.
Earlier this month officials placed barbed wire around Neve Dekalim, as well as signs posted in Arabic which describe the neighborhood as a "closed military zone."
Senior Hamas sources told WND the group transformed Dekalim into a "military training camp for martyrs," boasting that several Qassam rockets have been fired from the former Jewish capital into nearby Israeli Negev towns.
Hamas has taken credit for Israel's Gaza withdrawal and has become a formidable force in the area. It swept local municipal elections, and analysts expect the terror group to do well in upcoming Palestinian parliamentary elections.
Mahmoud al-Zahar, Hamas chief in Gaza, told WND in an exclusive
interview last month "that our martyr operations caused Israel to
withdraw from Gaza is the truth and the reality.... [Martyr
operations] are the option that the great majority of our people,
except a minority of opportunistic people, is deeply convinced is the
best choice because any negotiation with the occupiers will be
helpless and will not bring back to the Palestinians any of their
rights and it will not free their lands."
Al-Zahar warned Hamas would launch terror attacks to drive Israel
from the West Bank and ultimately from the entire Jewish state.
Since the Gaza withdrawal, more than 100 rockets have been fired
from Gaza into Israeli Negev towns. Israel says Palestinian groups are
transferring rocket technology and heavy weaponry to Judea and
Samaria.
Neve Dekalim was the largest town in Gaza's Gush Katif slate of
Jewish communities. Prior to Israel's withdrawal, the neighborhood
regularly was bustling with Jewish residents dining, shopping and
going to work. It contained Katif's industrial zone, government
buildings and some of the largest synagogues and stores in the area.
Housing was tight, with a total of 467 units in the neighborhood
filled by Jewish families who moved in from throughout Israel and
across the world.
WND's story last week of a Hamas terror camp in their former city
saddened Jewish residents who had been expelled from the area.
Dror Venunu, former director of the Gush Katif Development Fund and a Dekalim resident, told WND, "This is the ultimate insult. I didn't have one illusion the Palestinians would use our town to build something good. We warned about this to the Israeli population, that giving Gush Katif will reward all the terror organizations. Still, to hear where my home once stood is now a Hamas terror camp is very difficult and sickening. This is like making a holy place into total filth."
Rachel Sapperstein, a former Dekalim community leader, told WND, "I had not expected anything less from the Palestinians. I would have assumed they would take our beautiful homes, synagogues and schools and turn them into centers for terror."
Sapperstein said prior to Israel's withdrawal from Gaza she was in
the planning stages for a new girls' dormitory to be constructed in
Neve Dekalim in the memory of the first Gush Katif resident killed in
a terror attack.
"I thank God I didn't build that dormitory," Sapperstein said, "because my heart would shatter if I knew that from it would come a Hamas training camp."
Evelyn Hayes is author of "The Eleventh Plague, Twins, because
their hearts were softened to accept the unacceptable" and "The
Twelfth Plague, Generations, because the lion wears stripes." Contact
her at haze@rcn.com.
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NAMING SHARON'S NEW PARTY
Posted by Michael Gale, November 26, 2005. |
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I have a few names for Sharon's new party... How about the Backward Party? Or the We Surrender Party? Or the Irresponsible Party? What's next? Is his party going to rewrite Hatikva and remove the word Jerusalem? Michael Gale
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OLEG CARTOON: KNESSET APPROVES OF EGYPTIAN PATROL OF GAZA BORDER
Posted by Women in Green, November 26, 2005. |
Ruth and Nadia Matar established Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green), an activist group of women based in Jerusalem. Their website address is http://www.womeningreen.org |
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DID CONDI GO ON A RAMPAGE?
Posted by Israel Resource News Agency, November 26, 2005. |
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This was written by Dr. Joel Fishman, a Fellow of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA) and of the Centre for Strategic and Military Studies at the University of Calgary. He is the co-author (with Efraim Karsh) of La Guerre d'Oslo (The Oslo War) (Paris: Editions de Passy, 2005). Emanuel A. Winston said of Condileeza Rice: Hysterical anger by America's Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice tells us more about the sinking of the Bush Administration then merely a black lady of stature following in the footsteps of Andrew Young, Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan, Idi Amin - among others - who viscerally hate the Jews. That Rice sat on the Board of Directors of the Chevron Oil Corporation, who themselves saw Israel through the eyes and minds of the Saudis tells only part of the story of her screaming fit as described in the following. Last week, the local press announced that after weeks of inconclusive negotiations an agreement was reached within the framework of the Roadmap regulating the border crossings in and out of Gaza. At the same time, it became clear that this agreement deprived Israel of means of preventing the passage of terrorists and arms into Gaza. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice came to Jerusalem in order to move these negotiations forward, and the newspapers reported that she brutally forced Israel to accept the terms of this agreement. It seems that the staff at the hotel where the negotiations took place heard Condoleezza Rice screaming at Israel's Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz upon whom she vented her anger on a previous visit. The media have devoted attention to two main facts: a confrontation took place and Israel's sovereignty and its ability to defend itself have been compromised. Although, the United States has continuously applied pressure on Israel for various reasons, last week's drama reflected unusual brutality and forcefulness. It was shocking and unforeseen, because no state would have knowingly placed itself in the situation Israel faced last week. While we will have to wait for further details, we may learn something by examining the long-term lines of American-Israeli bilateral relations as understood by the Sharon government. While one should not generalize on the basis of a single event, what happened is of such importance that we must try to understand it. This brutal confrontation took place despite the fact that one of the priorities of Israeli foreign policy has been to build cordial relations with the American administration. At the same time, some Israeli policy-makers understood that with Yasir Arafat's proven unsuitability as a negotiating partner, the Americans would appreciate the need for a measure of initiative regarding the establishment of borders and keeping settlement blocs. It followed that the Sharon government hoped that disengagement from Gaza would earn special consideration for Israel, in view of the fact that the Palestinian Authority failed to demonstrate positive cooperation in fighting terror and ending incitement. On several occasions, the Americans denied the existence of this type of understanding, but the Sharon government has persistently maintained that indeed there is a special American appreciation for Israel's needs. The formulation of this policy dates back to Sharon's address to the Herzliya Conference of December 4, 2002 and more recently to the famous interview of his advisor, Dov Weisglass, which ran in Ha'aretz of October 8, 2004. Here, Weisglass with great confidence and buoyant optimism explained that after Israel's seizure on 4 January 2002 of the Karin A (a ship smuggling illegal weapons to the PA), and the documentation of Arafat's financial links to terrorist organizations, the Americans no longer wanted to have anything to do with the Rais. "From that moment he was as good as dead." He further declared that Israel had adopted the principle that the eradication of terrorism would have to precede the start of a political process, and that in the meantime the peace process would be stopped in place, as if it were preserved in formaldehyde. "We received a no-one-to-talk-to certificate. That certificate says: (1) There is no one to talk to. (2)As long as there is no one to talk to, the geographic status quo remains intact. (3)The certificate will be revoked only when this-and-this happens when Palestine becomes Finland. (4) See you then, and Shalom." There is every reason to believe that the Sharon government endeavored in good faith to protect Israel's interests according to its best understanding of the situation, but evidently something went wrong. There could have been a change of American policy, or Prime Minister Sharon may have overestimated the friendship of the American administration. What is clear from last week's ugly and heavy-handed episode is that the U.S. Secretary of State did not show much special appreciation for Israel's critical needs or respect for its sovereignty. Like a broom sweeping away cobwebs, Condoleeza Rice challenged the basic assumptions which in recent years have guided Israeli foreign policy. |
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GERMAN GOVERNMENT PROVIDES INDIRECT SUPPORT FOR ARAB "RIGHT OF RETURN"
Posted by David Bedein, November 25, 2005. |
One consistent aspect of cultural life in the United Nations-run Palestinian Arab refugee camps: the film screenings in the camps which motivate the refugees longing for a Palestinian "right to return" to villages that they left in 1948, even though these villages were turned into Israeli communities after that war. These films are organized through the Cine Club, a project of the Palestinian Diaspora and Refugee Center, orchestrated under the framework of a Palestinian advocacy group known as Shaml and registered with the Palestinian Authority. What is not generally known is that the agency that sponsors the Shaml organization is not an Arab entity, but rather the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, funded by the German Social Democratic Party, which in turn receives direct funding from the German government. According to the Ebert Foundation's website, its primary mission is "promoting peace and understanding between peoples". Yet UN article 194 is touted by the German sponsored Shaml as proof for an absolute "right of refugee" return. That article states that: "Refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible." Besides Shaml, the Ebert Foundation also aids PASSIA: the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs. In 2004, PASSIA published a multicolored bulletin still in circulation titled "Palestinian Refugees", offering facts and proofs for the so called "right of return". This publication highlights the Friedrich Ebert Foundation as the sole sponsor of this brochure. Cohre, the Geneva based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions is yet an other Palestinian entity which campaigns for the "right of return" Scott Leckie, Cohre's director, was a member of the PLO's Palestinian Negotiations Support Unit on Housing and Property Restitution for Refugees. Cohre has teamed up with Badil, The Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, another leading Palestinian advocate for the "right of return". In the Cohre Activity Report of 2000 - 2002 it says, "Cohre and Badil are planning to jointly hire a lobbyist to co-ordinate a campaign to change policies within various UN agencies and States with regard to the right of Palestinian refugees to repossess the properties confiscated by Israel since 1947". On page 72 of that report, the Cohre Activity Report praises support provided for the "right of return" campaign by The Friedrich Ebert Foundation. Badil, for its part, was recently deferred from membership to the UN Social and Economic Council. According to NGO Watch, Badil's "extremist anti-Israel political agenda is incompatible with universal human rights norms". This is evidenced by their 23rd Occasional Bulletin of December 2004, where they candidly reveal the scope of a Palestinian "right of return" : "The real Zionist opposition to return is that return would alter the demographic balance in Israel so much that it would destroy Israel's Zionist, exclusionist character. This, of course, is true. But the preservation of this character of Israel is neither an international responsibility nor a moral-juridical-political fact that outweighs in importance the restoration of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people." When the President of Germany, Horst Kohler visited the Israeli Knesset in January, 2005, Israel Member of the Knesset Gila Finkelstein waved the Ebert Foundation funded PASSIA "right of return" brochure at President Kohler and walked out of the Knesset in protest. Finkelstein requested and received an appointment with German President Kohler, to personally d express her outrage that Germany would ever fund an effort that supported the "right of return", which is a code name for dismembering the state of Israel. Kohler promised to look into the matter. In April, German President Kohler wrote to MK Finkelstein that he relied on the professional judgment of the Fredrich Ebert Foundation and rejected MK Finkelstein's protests. However, in contrast to the lofty goals of peace and reconciliation advocated by the Ebert Foundation website and by the President of Germany, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in practice has clearly aligned itself with the most virulent proponents of the Palestinian "right of return", all of whom operate with funds traced directly to the German government, with programs designed to dismember the state of Israel. A generation after a previous German government sponsored a JudenRein campaign in Europe, a new German government now sponsors a JudenRein campaign -- in parts of the land of Israel. David Bedein is an investigative reporter and Bureau Chief, Israel Resource News Agency. (http://Israelbehindthenews.com). |
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IS U.S.A CHIPPING AWAY AT ISRAEL'S NUCLEAR ADVANTAGE?
Posted by Warren Manison, November 25, 2005. |
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PENTAGON-COMMISSIONED REPORT CALLS ON ISRAEL TO INITIATE NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT IN REGION... According to a report commissioned and paid for by the Pentagon that deals with issues stemming from Iran completing its nuclear program, the way to bring about stability in the Middle East is to encourage "Israel to set the pace of nuclear restraint in the region by freezing its large reactor at Dimona, and calling on all other states that have large nuclear reactors to follow suit." The report, entitled "Getting Ready for a Nuclear Iran" was prepared by the U.S. Army War College and edited by a nuclear nonproliferation expert and an expert on Iran. Their conclusion is that Iran has all of the technology, know-how and materials necessary to complete its nuclear program and create a nuclear bomb within twelve to forty-eight months. They dismiss the possibility that any of the military or diplomatic options currently being discussed to derail the Iranian nuclear program are viable and argue that the best alternative is an Israeli-led regional disarmament. |
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FIRST LAW OF GENETICS
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, November 25, 2005. |
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The first law of genetics is that if your parents never had children, neither will you. Marriage, birth, children and all that go with it are a very, very difficult and time consuming businesses. In order to convince the ordinary, self centered hedonist to undertake such an enterprise, there must be extremely compelling arguments. Historically, the most powerful reason was that there was really no choice in the mater. With the introduction of effective, cheap and easily available contraceptives, all that changed. In the First, Second and even Third world most people who do not want children can avoid the issue. The corollary to that is that people who have children, especially if they have a lot of them, want them for a reason. In the end it is the culture that can give its people a reason to live that will survive. This comes from yesterday's The Washington Times. It was written by David R. Sands and is called "Europe's 'baby bust' signals major change." In the cradle of Western civilization, the cradles are empty. From the Atlantic to the Urals, in good and bad economies, in Protestant and Catholic societies, the countries of Europe are witnessing an unprecedented decline in birthrates. This "baby bust," analysts warn, will affect economic growth, social-welfare programs, patterns of immigration and Europe's ability to pull its weight diplomatically, culturally and militarily in the 21st century. In 1900, according to U.N. estimates, one out of four human beings on the planet -- 24.7 percent -- lived in Europe. Today, the European population share is a little more than 10 percent. By 2025 -- with the average woman in the European Union bearing just 1.48 children in her lifetime -- the ratio of Europeans to everyone else is projected to be less than one in 14 -- 7 percent. The dearth of babies, coupled with longer life spans for today's elderly, "have major implications for our prosperity, living standards and relations between the generations," according to a "green paper" on demographic change issued by the European Commission earlier this year. With fewer younger workers in Europe supporting more older pensioners, the immediate worry has been the fate of generous welfare and social protection systems across the continent. But "the issues are much broader than older workers and pension reform," said Vladimir Spidla, EU social affairs commissioner. "This development will affect almost every aspect of our lives, for example the way businesses operate and work is being organized, our urban planning, the design of [apartments], public transport, voting behavior and the infrastructure of shopping possibilities in our cities. "All age groups will be affected as people live longer and enjoy better health, the birthrate falls and our work force shrinks. It is time to act now," he said. Outside threat One direct fallout from the demographic slump was on vivid display during the riots that rocked the suburbs of Paris and a string of French cities this month. The rioters were overwhelmingly drawn from the ranks of young, unemployed sons of immigrant families from North and West Africa. As in countries across Europe, the largely Muslim immigrants were drawn to France to take low-end jobs that the native population could not or would not do. With large-scale immigration from former colonies such as Algeria, France's estimated 6 million Muslims represent 10 percent of the nation's overall population. Michael Vlahos, a former State Department analyst now with the Joint Warfare Analysis Department at Johns Hopkins' Applied Physics Laboratory, argues that the "Arab boomer" generation now in its teens and early twenties will have an outsized impact on European society. With native European populations not producing enough children to maintain current population levels, "the bow-wave of the Arab 'boomer' generation, buoyed by aggressive illegal immigration, could still push the proportion of Muslims in France, Italy and Spain up to a quarter or even a third of their population," Mr. Vlahos wrote in a recent analysis. In the coming 40-year period beginning in 2010, "even if Muslims in Roman Europe still only represent 20 to 25 percent of the total population, working adults may reach 40 percent or more," he wrote. "That era -- from 2010 to 2050 -- could alter the nature of European civilization." The motives of the French rioters -- economic, social, religious -- remain a subject of hot dispute. Few think that Islamic fanaticism triggered the riots. But the threat of al Qaeda attacks, such as those against rush-hour commuters in London and Madrid, continues to shadow France and other Western European nations. In one well-known case, a disaffected Islamic terrorist cited the demographic imbalance in France as one source of his frustration. Engineering student Kemal Daoudi, the son of Algerian immigrants to France who lived in the isolated Parisian suburbs cut off from mainstream French life, joined Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda and was arrested just after the September 11 attacks in 2001 for plotting to attack the U.S. Embassy in Paris. He told French investigators that he first was motivated to join al Qaeda by the "abominable treatment" he and fellow immigrants received as "subcitizens good only to keep working to pay for the retirement of the 'real' French when the French age pyramid gets thin at the base." When in Rome The first wave of Muslim immigrants to France had a birthrate three times that of the native French, a pattern replicated in other EU countries with heavy immigrant populations drawn from Africa and the Middle East. "With current trends," Bernard Lewis, a leading U.S. scholar of Islam, has said, "Europe will have Muslim majorities in the population by the end of the 21st century." But other analysts say demographic history suggests that "present trends" are unlikely to continue. Birthrates in the Muslim world are already falling sharply as well. American Enterprise Institute scholar Ben Wattenberg, author of "Few," a study of declining birthrates worldwide, said the average family size of immigrants in Europe quickly matches that of longtime natives. The embrace of radical, even violent Islam by disaffected European Muslims is a danger, he said, "but it is not principally a problem of demographics." Asked whether Europe faced a Muslim "population bomb," Mr. Wattenberg said, "The answer to that, in my judgment, is a flat 'no.'" On the flip side, the idea that large-scale immigration will reverse Europe's chronic fertility rate decline is also unlikely, said Demetrios Papademetriou, director of the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute and a leading authority of global population shifts. "Immigration, as it is currently conceived, will not provide a solution [to white, Christian Europe's declining birthrate] because the birthrates of permanent immigrants quickly drop to those comparable to natives," he said. Out with 'Old' -- and 'New' Even putting aside the question of assimilating Europe's immigrant communities, the population statistics for both "Old" and "New" Europe are sobering. According to the European Commission Green Paper, population is already falling in the EU states of Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Of the six most populous EU states, only France and Britain are projected to see population increases by 2050. Italy, Spain and Germany all have fertility rates of less than 1.3 children per woman -- compared with the classic "replacement rate" for a population of 2.1 children. Despite generous social benefits and numerous pro-family policies (including baby "bounties") in individual EU states, overall birthrates have been falling for three decades. Overall EU population, now at 458 million, is expected to peak in 2025 at about 470 million and then start declining. The situation in Russia is even grimmer. By midcentury, demographic trends suggest that the population of the country could decline by a fifth. Joseph Chamie, former director of the U.N. Population Division, noted that greater educational and employment opportunities for European women have contributed to a situation in which nearly one in five women in Finland, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands in her early 40s is childless. "The decline of Europe's population is being brought on voluntarily, the result of hundreds of millions of men and women choosing to have fewer children than is needed to ensure population replacement," he wrote in a recent analysis for the Washington-based journal the Globalist. Complicating the picture is the historical baggage that comes from past European efforts to boost birthrates. France and Estonia have had limited success with "pro-natalism" programs, but an Italian proposal to pay a 1,000-euro baby bounty to couples who have more than one child raised unfortunate echoes of past racial purity measures proposed by Benito Mussolini's Fascists. French Employment Minister Gerard Larcher said last week that the government does not track ethnic and religious classifications in the national census because the country was "traumatized" by the experience of the World War II collaborationist Vichy government's role in expelling French Jews to Nazi concentration camps. But the question of Europe's declining population has moved in recent years beyond fringe political movements often linked to anti-immigration and even eugenicist groups.
The United Nations, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and even the CIA have published major studies on the economic and social consequences of Europe's baby bust.
The CIA analysis generated headlines across the continent with apocalyptic warnings that Europe's social safety structures face collapse in a little more than a decade if the demographic meltdown is not addressed.
"The current EU welfare state is unsustainable and the lack of economic revitalization could lead to the splintering or, at worst, disintegration of the EU, undermining its ambitions to play a heavyweight international role," according to the forecast released in January.
Even Pope Benedict XVI has weighed in on the population drain in an August address, saying the decline in birthrates in Europe "has deprived some nations of the freshness, the energy, the future embodied in children."
Demographers admit that they have failed to identify a single controlling factor that has produced plunging birthrates across the continent.
Sweden, renowned for its generous paternal benefits and employment supports, saw birthrates climb from 1.6 children per woman in the 1970s to the replacement rate of 2.1 percent a decade later. By 1989, combined maternity and paternity leave stood at a full year at 90 percent of the regular salary.
But economic hard times and welfare cutbacks in the 1990s left Sweden quickly reverting to the European norm. The Swedish birth rate fell to 1.5 children by 2000 and now stands at 1.66.
The numbers are just as stark a continent away in Catholic Spain: The Spanish birthrate fell from 2.86 children in 1970 to 2.21 in 1980 to 1.28 today -- one of the 10 lowest birthrates in the world.
Economic uncertainty and a tight job market are considered factors, but the birthrate in the impoverished former East Germany is actually higher than the rate in the wealthier western part of the country.
A German survey released earlier this year found that 15 percent of women and 26 percent of men between 20 and 39 do not want to have children, up from 10 percent for women and 12 percent for men just a decade ago.
Reviewing the findings, the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle concluded, "The natural and somewhat obscure longing to have a child has little to do with state subsidies and labor market structures."
Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. Contact him at zelasko@actcom.co.il |
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P.A. BARBARISM BOOMERANGS; GAZA PASS-THRU AGREEMENT; ISRAEL CIVIL LIBERTY GAIN
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, November 25, 2005. |
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WE ARE BOUND TO IRAQ, NOW We put our credibility and prestige on the line, in Iraq. If we fled without having given freedom sufficient time, nobody would go out on a limb for us, again. (We have betrayed nations several times, including Hungarians, Kurds, Israelis, and probably Taiwanese, whom we are about to let down, again, when China builds up its forces more.) People would feel it is safe to join the Islamists and share in their expected string of victories. Peace would not replace our forces. (Only the Israelis remain unaware of US perfidy.) Therefore, we are wedded to our exit strategy -- a legitimate government and native security forces built to replace ours. Meanwhile, we have killed and jailed tens of thousands of terrorists. If we keep this up, their cause will be discredited (Victor Davis Hanson, Jewish Political Chronicle, 9/2005, p.54 from Washington Post, 9/4). Can we choke the enemy without choking off enemy supplies and reinforcements? Why don't we stop the invaders? Can't? Failed to plan for it? Have no reserves to deal with this contingency? And still we don't support Iranian opponents of the regime, around whom the masses might rally? Bush afraid to learn, lest he have to admit mistakes? Can native Iraqi forces can be built up to defend their country? Some columnists claim that they are being built up. What combat have they engaged in? Did they hold their ground? Not substantiated in the media. If US policy is succeeding, why doesn't the Administration and its supporters cite specifics? PALESTINIAN ARABS' BARBARISM BOOMERANGS The al-Qaeda bombings in Jordan slew many Palestinian Arabs. The hypocrites did not like it. The Queen complained that this time, the victims were innocents, as if their attacks against Americans and Israelis did not target innocents. What kind of people are these Palestinian Arabs? "No other press and school system indoctrinates children to become suicide murderers. No other people holds joyous wakes for dead suicide bombers. No other parents hope their children will blow themselves up. None other receives lavish endorsement and funding for terrorism from the authorities. Nor has another people produced a leader so inextricably tied to terrorism as was Yasser Arafat, nor so bountifully devoted its allegiance to him." "To change Palestinian Arab behavior requires that civilized people finally get tough on suicide terrorism. That means rejecting Hamas as a political organization and excluding dialogue with it. It means shunning propagandistic movies such as Paradise Now, a film that whitewashes Palestinian suicide bombing. And it means convicting Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives Sami Al-Arian and his Florida cohorts." The answer is for all who consider themselves civilized to consistently oppose random bombing of civilians as terrorism, regardless of the nationality targeted (Daniel Pipes #617, 11/15). Mr. Pipes does not exempt Fatah as an organization to ban, he informed me that he just cited the most prominent example. He missed an opportunity to correct the widespread misimpression that ignores Fatah terrorism and thinks the P.A. is not terrorist and that one can make solid peace deals with it. P.A. LIBEL EXPANDING For six years, the P.A. has been libeling Israel as striving to weaken P.A. youth by turning them into drug addicts. The official P.A. daily lately alleged that Israeli intelligence has a special unit for this purpose. It claims that some Israelis confessed to furnishing perfumes that produced drug addiction. (Those Israelis were not displayed, in confirmation, though the news would be sensational.) Israelis also were said to pay youths to take drugs. Abbas is keeping his people hateful of Israel (IMRA, 11/15). Drugs are a problem in Israel. Arabs are among the suppliers, mainly for the money. THE P.A.-ISRAEL AGREEMENTS FOR PASS-THROUGH IMRA furnished the text (11/15). I saw no reason to believe that the third party would report honestly on P.A. compliance, no means of enforcement, and no recourse by Israel in the event of the usual Arab non-compliance. There were attachments not publicized. Generally, attachments make more Israeli concessions. This is the Oslo way. If the Israeli people knew how their leaders endanger them, they'd string them up. Emanuel Winston informs us that the agreements, made under US pressure, do not permit of inspection of trucks entering Judea-Samaria. The US inspects at its own ports of entry. Based on customary practice, the trucks would contain weaponry. This is a recipe for murder. It is a US reward to Islamism at Israel's expense, to appease S. Arabia. After the resulting terrorist attacks, the government of Israel would want to defend its country, but the US would insist that this defense be only temporary and only in proportion to the terrorism, not enough to defeat the terrorists (Winston Mid East Analysis, 11/16). Such is the US modus operandi. IMRA finds that the third party merely may recommend that some terrorist not be permitted to enter, but the P.A. makes the final decision. Israelis can monitor the screens showing who is entering, but cannot bar anyone. Israel has ceded control over the border. That means terrorists and arms will enter. The same conditions pertain to the seaport. Worse, Israel promises not to interfere with operations of the port, meaning it will not mount inspections at sea, either. For Judea-Samaria, Israel agrees to work out with the US which road barriers to take down. Of course, the US will press Israel to take down as many as possible. The agreement has no provision for Israel to erect new ones, should Arab aggression warrant. Israel thus is giving up most of its security control in Judea-Samaria (11/16). Why the elaborate charade? To lull suspicion. That means the US knows how bloody the war will become! Do the Israeli leaders not know it, too? ERRORS IN HAARETZ Haaretz correspondent Amira Hass mentioned "Jewish-only" roads in Judea-Samaria. Those roads are open to all citizens of Israel, including Arabs. They are Israeli-only, not "Jewish-only." The newspaper implied that Israel had a racist road policy. Having opened an office in Israel to monitor the media there, CAMERA informed Haaretz of the error and asked for a retraction. By mistake, Haaretz sent CAMERA a Haaretz memo to staff advising them to ignore CAMERA. Another error in that paper was a statement by Gideon Levy that PM Meir once said that "after what the Nazis did to us, we can do whatever we want." CAMERA asked the source. Mr. Levy admitted he had none, but the Editors refused to issue a correction. An Op.-Ed. claimed that the P.A. provided a four-year period of almost absolute "quiet." CAMEA provided the newspaper with a considerable list of the attacks during that period. Nevertheless, the Newspaper made no retraction. Haaretz is acting contrary to Israel's code of journalism, which calls for prompt correction of errors (IMRA, 11/16). Some of the media consider themselves too prestigious to have to admit mistakes. Such a policy forfeits prestige. It breeds complacency towards error (which I believe certain newspapers deliberately foist upon audiences). The supposed mission to inform has been replaced by a mission to mould (and to make money). SMALL VICTORY FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES IN ISRAEL Young Shimshon Cytryn was released from prison to house arrest. He is accused of the attempted murder of an Arab in a rock fight. The lower court wanted to keep him in prison until his trial, but a Supreme Court judge thought that unnecessary, and remanded him to house arrest in a yeshiva and to payment of a large bond (Arutz-7, 11/16). This is a small victory for civil liberties. Israel tries to deny any bail. The new ruling still deprives someone not proved guilty of much of his freedom, including the freedom to earn a living. In this case, the police state practice converged, for the evidence is of his innocence and of his arrest being farcical, part of Sharon's punishment of dissidence. LEGALITY OF ABANDONMENT VS. RESISTERS The abandonment law barred giving assets to terrorists. The Sharon regime turned 40 public buildings over to the P.A., after the P.A. admitted planning to give some to terrorists. The Supreme Court admitted that the law breaks Israel's civil liberties law. People excuse false arrests of settlers on the grounds they refused to leave! The settlers offered to negotiate years earlier, but the regime refused. The government broke its promises on compensation, who have had to sue for basic justice (Media@actcom.co.il). aRichard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at richardshulman5@aol.com. |
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A VERITY CHECK ON "CHECKPOINT"
Posted by Max Yas, November 25, 2005. |
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The documentary "CHECKPOINT" was produced in Israel over a three - year period between 2001 - 2003, during Arafat's 'armed intifada', with full cooperation of the Israel Defence Force (IDF). Why then does this work demonstrate such willful one-sidedness, never presenting the factual reasons for roadblocks and barriers, never acknowledging that such are the last recourse Israel has to defend itself against the insane hatred of Palestinians? Road blocks are established for the same reason we lock our doors and install security systems - to keep the bad guys out! The documentary dwells on armed Israelis harassing and humiliating unarmed Palestinians. There is no voice - over to explain the reason for these roadblocks The facts are that during this three - year period, over 800 Israelis were murdered and thousands wounded by Palestinian terrorists. Over a 100 suicide attacks and other atrocities took place. The checkpoints succeeded in preventing many more terror attacks, which could have doubled or tripled the number of Israeli victims. Fortunately Israel's defence barrier has now reduced terrorist activity against Israel to a mere fraction. Yet Israel is subjected still to new terror tactics: rocket fire and artillery. The large majority of checkpoints function smoothly and efficiently. The documentary focuses only on the small number of ugly scenes at some checkpoints. I am posting letters written to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) a tax-funded entity whose mandate is to present the news without favour or bias. I submit it has failed in this instance, and therefore protest in the strongest terms this unmandated spending of my tax dollars. My second letter was addressed to the British Broadcasting Corporation, that has been compelled to establish an "Israel Palestinian Review Process" due its demonstrated anti - Israel bias. This Process is either ineffective or lacks credibility - The BBC reporting on the Middle - East remaines biased and promotes racism. This is my letter to CBC - national@cbc.ca "Zionism does not lead to antisemitism - antisemitism leads to anti-Zionism." Contact Max Yas at maxyas@victoria.tc.ca |
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FORMER MUSLIM TERRORIST SPEAKS OUT ON ISRAEL'S BEHALF
Posted by Evelyn Hayes, November 25, 2005. |
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Zachariah Anani, an Ex-Muslim militant who grew up in Lebanon hating the state of Israel, has since become one of Israel's most staunch supporters. Anani, along with two other former Muslims, plans to address an audience at Princeton University next month to voice his controversial views. [Editor's note: 7:30pm, December 8, 2005: at McCosh 50 Lecture Theater on the campus of Princeton University. Parking for the public is available in Lot 10 near the theater. For more information, contact Keith Davies at: 720-935-2826 or lalric@verizon.net ] "I was brought up to hate Jews and Israel. That was my first raising, my first attitude," Zachariah Anani told Israel National Radio's Tovia Singer. Anani describes the circumstances that prompted him to make the decision to turn his life around. "In the 70's I became a Christian, but even as a Christian, Jews didn't mean anything to me. One day someone asked me a question regarding Jews, and I really didn't know the answer. I started studying Jewish history. I was shocked and amazed at how much the Jews had suffered, how much they had endured. That's what made me have a change of heart," he explained. "Thank G-d, I spent most of my short militant life fighting against my own kind. Fate never put me against the Israeli army," Anani added. Anani says that a quick look at modern Zionist history makes it clear that Israel has enjoyed divine protection and assistance. "G-d is with Israel. If every Arab country were to send a million soldiers to surround Israel, which would be 23 million soldiers, Israel would be doomed. How did they win five wars in the past? Because G-d was there," he said. In addition, Anani shared his opposition to the recent withdrawal from Gaza and his belief that future efforts to give up land for peace would be disastrous for Israel. "I have no clue why Israel left Gaza, why the righteous owner of a land would give up part of their inheritance and freedom. It would be another big blow if Israel gave up the West Bank." he affirmed. "A long time ago when Sadat signed a peace treaty with Israel, I believed at best this treaty gave the Jews one hundred years to pack up and leave," Anani said. Anani expressed his strong views regarding the current tension between Israel and the Hezbollah, stating that he thought Israel should have completed the task of eradicating the Hezbollah terrorist forces that control Southern Lebanon before they withdrew their forces from the region in May, 2000. "I don't know how the intelligence of the Israeli military did not finish the job. This is the only way, "he said. Anani's radical viewpoint has made him a continued target for terrorists seeking to silence him. "In twenty years there have been twenty attempts on my life. I was forced to escape to Canada. I am now a Canadian citizen, but I am still not free from unfortunate incidents. Recently someone tried to set fire to my car and my house," Anani stated. Anani is slated to be part of a panel discussion at Princeton University on December 8th where he will speak about Israel, Lebanon, the Hezbollah, and peace in the Middle East. Additional former Muslim terrorists who became Israel supporters, Walid Shoebat and Ibraham Abdullah, will join Anani in the panel at the Princeton event. Anani ended his radio interview with an inspiring message to Israelis: "Hold on and keep the fight till the end. Don't give up. Stop giving up." Evelyn Hayes is author of "The Eleventh Plague, Twins, because their hearts were softened to accept the unacceptable" and "The Twelfth Plague, Generations, because the lion wears stripes." Contact her at haze@rcn.com. |
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ISRAEL: WE HAVE NO RIGHT TO SURVIVE
Posted by Marcel Cousineau, November 25, 2005. |
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This was written in response to Hezbollah's Terrorist Chief Nasrallah's statement that they have a right to attack, kill and kidnap Jews. The many enemies of Israel are rather bold in their actions while Israel has become very weak, insane and docile in its attempts to appease the world and the Islamic forces arrayed against it. Israel, by it's continual show of weakness only invites more attacks, terror and calamity. This is what Israel is saying by her actions. We are weak and rely on the will of the nations, their permission to live and breathe. They gladly support the terrorist jihad majority against us, so we bow to their will and we surrender when they tell us to. We even throw our brothers and sisters out of their homes for our foreign masters. Contact Marcel Cousineau at up2zionsg8@yahoo.com or go to his blogsite -- http://aaveryheavystone.blogspot.com |
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SHARING BRIT AM ISRAEL'S KNOWLEDGE
Posted by David Ben-Ariel, November 25, 2005. |
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This article was written by Yair Davidiy, an Orthodox Israeli Jew, and the founder of Brit Am Israel, an organization of Jews, Israelites and Gentiles dedicated to identifying the so-called "Lost Ten Tribes." Brit Am Israel works toward the restoration and reconciliation of Joseph and Judah. This appeared in Truth Seekers Online Magazine and is archived at www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=94206 The original article is at http://britam.org/manasseh.html The nickname "Yank" applied to someone from the U.S.A. is derivable from a possible pronunciation of the Hebrew name Yaacov or Jacob rendered as "Yankel" in Yiddish. THE NAME "MENASSEH" IN HEBREW ENCAPSULATES THE MEANING OF NORTH AMERICAN DEMOCRACY! The Patriarch Joseph son of Israel had two sons, Ephraim and Menasseh, whose names testified to aspects of their national destiny: "And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Potiphera priest of On bare unto him. "And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God has caused me to forget [Hebrew: `Nashani'] all my troubles and my father's family (Genesis 41;50-51). The Hebrew word translated above as "forget" is derived from a root, "NOSHE", connoting "movement from its proper place": One forgets when something "slips one's mind", as if to say that whatever has been forgotten has moved from its proper place in the brain's retrieval system. Similarly, "And Jacob was left alone and there wrestled a man with him....... "And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him........ "Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the displaced nerve [Hebrew: "Gid HaNosheh")... (Genesis 32;24,25,32). The sciatic nerve is called "Gid HaNoSHeh" meaning "the sinew that was displaced" (Genesis 32;33) when Jacob wrestled with the angel, and consequently (though victorious) limped away..By the same principle a creditor in Hebrew is called a "Nosheh" since what is rightfully his he has moved out of his domain and placed in charge of another and may demand an accounting of his own. Women collectively are called in the Plural "NoSHim" [and not "Ishoth" as they should logically be] since communally their collective rights are delegated elsewhere, i.e. in their husbands upon whom they have a claim to be represented by them. It follows that any name derived from this root "NoSHeH" has several possible connotations including "forget", "move, or slip", "credit or oblige an accounting" (i.e. hold responsible), or be responsible to and "represent". It seems that the name Menasseh (derived from the root "NaSHeH") may be understood to mean "responsible representation" which is the type of Democratic Government the U.S.A. sometimes seems to base its whole being upon. A linguistic analysis (freely translated) of the name "Manasseh" by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888) extracted from his Commentary on the Book of Genesis serves as background to the above interpretation: [Genesis 41;51:..."Forget" is not the only meaning of "Nosheh". "Nosheh" also means: to be the bearer of a claim, to be a creditor. [Genesis 32;33:]` "Nosheh"...to have body or property in anothers trust. Thus the "NoSHeH" (Creditor) has passed to another person part of his property and as a result he demands something from him...a woman in the singular [Hebrew: "Ishah"]...complements (her husband) and stands by his side as an equal. In the plural [i.e. in the plural name for women, "NoSHim"], however, is revealed the communal status of woman, who surrenders some of her rights to the man and these rights are represented by him. Only in the mass, in the life of the general whole group, do women reveal themselves as weak and lacking resourcefulness. - Women, however, are "Noshim" (i.e. "creditors") with a claim [to be represented] on the husband who owes it to them' (S.R. Hirsch on Genesis 32;33). The relevant verse regarding the name MENASSEH, Genesis 41;51, says: "And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God has caused me to forget [Hebrew: `Nashani'] all my troubles and my father's family (Genesis 41;50-51). S.R. Hirsch on the above states that "nashani" does not mean "forget" in case of the name "Menasseh" (Genesis 41;51 continued) but rather delegated representation: `The correct interpretation therefore of "Nashani" [from which the name "Menasseh is derived] is that God has made my tragedy and my [loss of] family credit claims. From that which till now appeared to be tragedy and torment God has made a tool to form my happiness. I am greatly obligated to my tragedy and [loss of] family'. In the light of the above observations and the Commentary of Rabbi S.R. Hirsch, the verse (Genesis 41;512) may be re-formulated and understood as saying: "And he called the name of the firstborn Menasseh: for of all my troubles and [loss of] my father's family, God has made representative agents [Hebrew: "nashani"=] acting on my behalf and to whom I am obliged". The name MENASSEH is therefore derivable from the root "Nosheh" as demonstrated in the above verse. A Creditor is a "nosheh" because he has a claim on somebody else; women are "noshim" ["nosh-im" = plural of "noshe"!] because as a group they have a claim on their husbands to represent their interests. Joseph named his firstborn "Menasseh" because (through God's agency) he "owed" his success to his personal troubles and loss which had become both his creditors and agents on his behalf. "MENASSEH" according to the above study actually means: "RESPONSIBLE REPRESENTATION OBLIGATING THE REPRESENTED"! The U.S.A. was founded and dominated by descendants of Menasseh. Before the foundation of the U.S.A. North America was settled by migrants mainly from the British Isles. Friction developed between the British Government and the settlers who adopted the slogan: "No Taxation Without Representation". In other words they demanded the application of those very principles embodied in the name "Menasseh" according to the above explanation!! When these demands were not met, Revolution resulted and all those ("Loyalists") who were not prepared to fight against the "mother country" were driven out and moved to Canada. The Americans were prepared to kill or be killed and to engage in fratricidal strife all for the sake of an ideal which in Hebrew could be termed "MENASSEH"! After the War of Independence 13 colonies (representing 13 Tribes of Israel?) formed the U.S.A. It was proposed and seriously considered to adopt Hebrew as the national language and the Mosaic Code as obligatory Constitutional Law. A picture of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea was suggested as the National emblem. The Constitution of the United States of America laid the basis for Responsible Representative Government. Foreign observers are constantly surprised by the importance attached by Americans to their Constitution. Whether something is right or wrong or whether or not it is "Constitutional" appear to be synonymous considerations to the American mind, as if the principle embodied in the name "Menasseh" is part of their very personal being!! Much of the U.S.A.'s foreign policy often seems dedicated ideally to encouraging forms of representative responsible government (resembling that of the U.S.A.) being adopted by others. Other countries are Democratic but only the U.S.A. makes Republican Democracy an expression of itself. Only the U.S.A. is Menasseh! The American Civil War was brought on by several factors including the issue of slavery but the immediate cause was over the Constitutional right claimed by some States to secede from the UNION. Regardless of which side was or was not in the right, the victorious "Yankee" northern "Union" side believed it was fighting for the principle enunciated by Abraham Lincoln of: "Government of the people, by the people, and for the people". Another aspect of the name "Menasseh" according to the explanation of S.R.Hirsch was that through representation (in this case before God) Joseph had been enabled to turn his failure and deprived status into the basis of his later success: The American belief in equality of opportunity reflects this same principle. David Ben-Ariel's website is http://beyondbabylon.blogspot.com |
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MUSLIM RIOTS IN FRANCE -- AND SUICIDE IS PAINLESS
Posted by Don Feder, November 25, 2005. |
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Wasn't it only yesterday the media were telling us that the French are so wise in choosing diplomacy over the use of force, and so clever at handling relations with Third World people - in other words, so unlike the trigger-happy unilateralists on this side of the Atlantic? Well, guess what? After three weeks of rioting in Parisian suburbs, those sophisticated, worldly French have been transformed into a nation of repressive, racist pigs, in the eyes of the U.S. press. All it took was a few thousand burning Citroens to illuminate the situation. For the mainstream media (inveterate root-causers), riots invariably are the result of injustice, discrimination, hopelessness, poverty, lack of economic opportunity and unemployment. I don't know about you, but whenever I'm out of work, I firebomb a few cars. "Rage of French Youth Is a Fight for Recognition," read the headline in a Washington Post story. The New York Times' Craig Smith informed readers that in France "a significant portion of the population has yet to accept the increasingly multiethnic makeup of the nation. Put simply, being French, for many people, remains a baguette-and-beret affair." No, don't tell me the French actually expect these immigrant families to assimilate? Incroyable! Smith argues that le rampage is rooted in "growing inequalities," "discrimination" and an "overly aggressive police presence in the country's immigrant-heavy housing projects" -- which, of course, is why immigrant rioters have torched those symbols of inequality and discrimination, synagogues and churches, to shouts of "Allahu akbar!" (God is great). We are told the rioting was sparked by the deaths of two immigrant teens, who were electrocuted in a power station while eluding the gendarmes. In a hilarious malapropism, CNN's Carol Lin referred to the deceased as "African-American teenagers." While the lads were of African origin (namely, Tunisian), I don't believe Parisian suburbs have been annexed by the United States. Or - perhaps Lin was making the youth honorary African-Americans, in tribute to their victim-hood. But it was a USA Today story ("La belle France: A Country of equality and exclusion") that scaled the heights of political correctness. Writers Steven Komarow and Rick Hampson began by wondering if the mayhem would "mark the beginning of social change, as the U.S. urban riots did four decades ago?" Read: Things began getting better for black Americans when they started burning down their neighborhoods. The article approvingly quotes the assistant mayor of a town north of Paris, who insists the vandals "are asking for dignity. They don't want make-work jobs. They want real opportunities - jobs, education and respect." The riots are a proverbial cry for help. By firebombing 40 schools, the disenfranchised were pleading for better educational opportunities. And how can one not respect thugs who emulate storm troopers in going after synagogues? A lady who runs a community playhouse (probably not a National Front-voter) says the current turmoil "is just the beginning. I work with people who don't even have socks and live 10 people in a room." But they do have petrol for Molotov cocktails, not to mention the cell phones and computers used to coordinate attacks. In case you missed the point, after being bludgeoned with it for several hundred words, USA Today summarized its case: "The same complaints that fueled the fires in inner-city Detroit and Los Angeles - unemployment, discrimination, despair - are behind the arson and rioting in suburban France." The media's it's-South Central-on-the-Seine analysis helps them avoid certain unpleasant realities. On those rare occasions when they managed to use the I-word, it was to assure us that Islam played no role (absolutely, positively none) in the violence. Just as it played no part in the murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, the 2004 Madrid train-bombing, the July bus and train-bombings in London (52 dead), or the wave of anti-Semitism that's swept the Continent in recent years. Columnist Mark Steyn ("Wake Up, Europe, You've A War On Your Hands") calls it the "Eurabian civil war." Steyn notes, "For half a decade, French Arabs have been carrying on a low-level intifada against synagogues, kosher butchers, Jewish day schools, etc." The rioters in Clichy-sous-Bois are immigrants alright, immigrants (or the children of immigrants) from North Africa - Moslem immigrants driven by the same burning hatred of the West (democracy, tolerance, sanitation, in-door plumbing) seen in the streets of Tehran, Ramallah, Jakarta and Islamabad. In the past 50 years, the Muslim population of Western Europe has gone from less than 250,000 to upwards of 20 million (10 percent of France is Muslim). This is the result of a deadly troika - demographic winter (European secularists have chosen extinction by childlessness), lax immigration policies and brain-dead multiculturalism. The Center for Security Policy warns that by 2050, Europe will lose one-third of its native population. Enter the Muslims, whose high birthrates are subsidized by European welfarism. Some doubtless want to assimilate into their host societies. More want to live in Europe while identifying with a culture that's warred with the West for more than a millennium. The Madrid train bombers (body count, 191), mentioned the loss of Grenada in 1492 among their grievances. Perhaps the immigrant youth of Stains are protesting the defeat of the Moorish army at Tours in 732 AD. One of the few journalists who gets it is Olso-based Bruce Bawer. Writing in The Christian Science Monitor on November 17 ("Not all Muslims want to integrate"), Bawer observes: "Europe's Muslim communities are powder kegs, brimming with an alienation born both of assiduously inculcated antagonism toward infidel society and an infidel society whose integration policies - which should actually be called segregation policies - have perversely encouraged this ire." "Naively, they imagined they could preserve their nations' cultural homogeneity while letting in millions of foreigners and smiling on their preservation and perpetuation of values drastically different from their own." Bawer cautions: "What they've reaped, alas, is a generation of Muslims, many of whom view their neighborhoods as colonies amid enemy territory - and who demand this autonomy be recognized. In Britain, imams have pressed the government to designate part of Bradford as being under Muslim law. In Belgium, Muslims in the Brussels neighborhood of Sint-Jans-Molenbeek consider it under Islamic jurisdiction. In Denmark, Muslim leaders have sought similar control over parts of Copenhagen." The French problem began, Bawer maintains, not when the youth were accidentally electrocuted, but when police "invaded" Dar al-Islam (the house of Islam) - heavily Muslim suburban towns. Muslims have always operated on the premise: "What's mine is mine. And what's yours will eventually be mine." Thus, wherever they settle, the delightful civilization they've created in the Middle East follows them. In her insightful book "The Rage And The Pride," journalist Oriana Fallaci wonders if Muslim immigration to Europe might be part of a grand design: "Something else, then, I don't understand: if they (Muslim immigrants) are as poor as their abettors and protectors claim, who gives them the money to come? Where do they find the five or ten thousand dollars per head that pay for the trip? Might it be that this money is supplied by some Osama bin Laden for the mere purpose of establishing the Reverse Crusade's settlements and better organizing Islamic terrorism?" But - not to worry, New York Times -- among the European elite, such views are shunned. It appears that France will answer the latest outbreak of immigrant violence with hope and handouts. Last week, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin announced a $35 billion program to provide employment, scholarships and other unspecified "opportunities" for the rioters and their kin, along with the creation of an agency for "social cohesion" to address all of the oppression and discrimination in the land of Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite. Even Nicholas Sarkozy, the French interior minister who calls the rioters "scum," favors a Gallic form of affirmative action. In the face of this appeasement, the immigrants will keep coming and keep procreating. The have-nots (who have not a work ethic or a desire to live peaceably with others) will continue to resent the haves. Their imams will continue to preach hatred of the infidels. Al-Qaeda and its clones will continue to recruit. And French families will continue to have fewer children, or no children, aiding the process of Islama-cide. In place of La Marseillaise, perhaps the French will adopt as their new national anthem the theme song from "M.A.S.H." - "That suicide is painless (well, almost). It brings on many changes and I can take or leave it if I please..." Don Feder was an opinion writer for the Boston Herald and a syndicated columnist. He is currently a political/media consultant. Contact him at coldsteel@rcn.com or at his website www.donfeder.com This article was originally published in Front Page Magazine. |
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REVAVA OLAMI BANNED FROM THE ELECTIONS! WE'RE NOT GIVING UP
Posted by Matthew S. Finberg, November 25, 2005. |
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Sadly, The American Zionist Movement in its infinite wisdom decided to ban us from the World Zionist Congress election despite our qualification as a legitimate party according to the Rules for the Election of Delegates to the Zionist Congress adopted by the World Zionist Organization and the administrative requirements of the American Zionist Movement as Area Election Committee for the WZO in the United States. We requested that the AZM reconsider its undemocratic decision (based on perceived ideological problems) and awaited better news. The AZM requested a declaratory judgment from the Supreme Court of the WZO upholding their decision to ban Revava Olami. This call for help from the big guns back in Jerusalem was a result of our promise to challenge the balloting in international forums as well as U.S. courts if we were not given an opportunity to run a slate of delegates. The WZO Supreme Court summarily turned down the AZM request for declaratory judgment, so we expected that Revava Olami would be included in the balloting. When we learned that AZM excluded our party from the ballots which were sent last week, we immediately filed a request for declaratory judgment with the WZO Supreme Court in Jerusalem asking that the ballots be declared invalid and that the voting commence anew with Revava Olami given equal treatment with the other parties. We have not yet received a decision from the Court. In the meantime, we request that our supporters and those just interested in seeing Jewish elections conducted with integrity and fairness register with AZM and continue to send us endorsements on our form which is printable from our website (www.revava.org/olami), despite the apparent September 30 deadline. We request this action in order to further demonstrate our bona fides and support in the U.S., and to show the moral mice who desperately cling to their seats of "leadership" by excluding groups such as Revava Olami which challenge the current paradigm that the good old days are numbered. This will make a big difference. Until new ballots are printed listing Revava Olami with all votes cast under the first ballots cancelled, we urge you to consider voting for the Herut party. AZM Chairman Mel Salberg and his committee of the elite American "Jew-ish" Zionist leaders concluded that Revava Olami failed to respect democratic principles because we call for unrestricted Jewish access to and control of all Jewish holy sites (including the right to pray at them), and a Jewish government over all of Greater Eretz Yisrael. The pathetic treatment of our party by fellow American Jews who have succeeded in this country because, in large part, of the democratic principles accorded them over the past 200 years (which they are now ignoring when it is convenient for them) is indicative of the discriminatory elitism practiced by many Jews who seem to have a pathological hatred of proud nationalist and religious Zionists here and in the Land of Israel. We will continue to the fight for a voice in the upcoming 35th World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem next June, and we need our supporters to write to AZM and WZO as well as help us reveal the hypocrisy and discrimination of the AZM. We hope that the Forward, The Jewish Press, and like media will be interested in helping to reveal this sham. AZM and its attorney asked us not to do our "dirty laundry" in public where Gentiles might see our warts. We responded that we Jews have been afraid of what the Gentiles think far too long, and that this fear is responsible for entrenched dirty laundry beginning to rot and stink. We will not whisper our grievance nor hide the poor behavior of fellow Jews to protect the American elitist leaders of the assimilated Jew precariously perched on thrones of Gentile recognition and acceptance. Your continued support is greatly appreciated. Contact Matthew Finberg by email at matt@finberglaw.com or at his website -- www.finberglaw.com -- or at his law firm: 1871 Folsom Street, Boulder, CO 80302, Phone: 303.442.1276, Fax: 303.442.1294. |
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SPY SWAP FOR POLLARD
Posted by Naomi Ragen, November 25, 2005. |
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Friends, Jonathan Pollard has been sitting in American jails under the absolute worst of conditions for the last twenty years, his only crime a desire to warn the State of Israel of murderous plans by Saddam Hussein, information that Israel's ally, the United States, deliberately withheld. Abandoned by all by a few American and Israeli Jews, and by successive Israeli governments, he is now suing the government of Israel to take a few obvious and simple steps to end his long nightmare. I have often sent you e-mail about the marvelous work of attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner of Shurat Hadin. Now Shurat HaDin has taken on the case of Jonathan Pollard, suing the Israeli government to fulfill its basic responsibility toward Jonathan : to swap him for an Israeli who spied for the U.S. Join the Shurat HaDin -- the Israel Law Center -- (http://www.israellawcenter.org/mission.shtml) on an Israel adventure of a lifetime: Experience a dynamic and intensive exploration of Israel's struggle for survival and security It is day 7302 that Jonathan Pollard remains in an American prison following his arrest on November 21, 1985. Shurat HaDin - Israel Law Center is a long overdue Jewish legal rights institute based in Israel. Staffed by some of the country's leading activist attorneys, we are dedicated to providing legal representation and resources for the numerous courtroom struggles, which are being waged in the Israeli, American and European courts on behalf of the Jewish State. We serve as a central clearinghouse and litigation base for the multifarious legal battles that have been thrust upon Israel's citizens during these dark days. Information below,
"On 20th Anniversary Of His Arrest Pollard Sues Israeli Govt To Force Spy Swap" Pollard: "Israeli who spied against Jewish State for U.S. must be arrested, interrogated and traded for my freedom." Shurat HaDin - Israel Law Center has filed a suit on behalf of Imprisoned Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard in Israel's High Court of Justice, on November 21, 2005, the 20th anniversary of his arrest. Pollard's petition asks the Supreme Court to compel the Government of Israel to arrest Angie Kilciensky -- a self-confessed Israeli traitor who spied for the US and exposed Pollard -- to interrogate him, and then initiate a spy swap to return Kielcynski to the US and Pollard to Israel. Angie Kielcynski, (aka Josef Barak) an Israeli Likud party activist (not an MK) was appointed by Arik Sharon to the Likud Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in 1985. He took advantage of his appointment to this Committee and his access to classified information to spy for the US. Kielcynski was exposed in 2001 when the New York Law Journal reported on his lawsuit against the CIA to collect pension and benfits for his services from 1985 to 1991. His lawsuit stated that he had provided the CIA with valuable information, including the information about Jonathan Pollard which led to the Israeli agent's arrest and incarceration. The US Court did not question the validity of Kielcynsk's claims but declined to hear the suit for fear that classified information might be compromised in the process. Despite his open admission in the media that he spied for the US, Kielcynski was neither detained nor interrogated by Israeli security services when returned to live in Israel in 2001. Jonathan Pollard summed up his 20 year experience of dealing with the Israeli Government as follows: "Let me paraphrase an old quote, from Abba Eban: The Government of Israel has never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity to free me. How else is it possible for successive governments to be "toiling" for 20 years to secure my release, without making even a single centimeter of progress? No one can be that incompetent." The High Court of Justice has ordered the government to respond to the petition within 30 days. Naomi Ragen is an American-born novelist and journalist who lives in Jerusalem. She can be contacted at www.naomiragen.com, where you can subscribe to her newsletter. |
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2,000-YEAR-OLD SEED SPROUTS, SAPLING IS THRIVING
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, November 25, 2005. |
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This was written by John Roach for National Geographic News. It appeared November 22, 2005 (news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/11/1122_051122_old_seed.html) A sapling germinated earlier this year from a 2,000-year-old date palm seed is thriving, according to Israeli researchers who are cultivating the historic plant. "It's 80 centimeters [3 feet] high with nine leaves, and it looks great," said Sarah Sallon, director of the Hadassah Medical Organization's Louis L. Borick Natural Medicine Research Center (NMRC) in Jerusalem. Sallon's program is dedicated to the study of complementary and alternative medicines. The center is also interested in conserving the heritage of Middle Eastern plants that have been used for thousands of years. Sallon wants to see if the ancient tree, nicknamed Methuselah after the oldest person named in the Old Testament of the Bible, has any unique medicinal properties no longer found in today's date palm varieties. "Dates were famous in antiquity for medicinal value," she said. "They were widely used for different kinds of diseases -- cancers, TB [tuberculosis] -- all kinds of problems." She and her colleagues are currently comparing the structure of the sapling to modern date palms and examining DNA from one of the sapling's leaves. The team plans to publish preliminary results in a peer-reviewed journal early next year. Ancient Seed Several ancient date seeds were taken from an excavation at Masada, a historic mountainside fortress, in 1973. In A.D. 73 Jewish Zealots took their own lives at the fortress rather than surrender to the Romans at the end of a two-year siege. Carbon dating indicates the seeds are about 2,000 years old. Hebrew University archaeologist Ehud Netzer found the seeds and gave them to botanical archaeologist Mordechai Kislev at Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv. The seeds sat untouched in a drawer in Kislev's office until last November, when Sallon asked if she could have a few to pass on to desert agriculture expert Elaine Solowey. "I said, Thank you. What do you want me to do?" Solowey recalls. Told to germinate them, she said, "You want me to do what?" Solowey, director of the experimental orchard and the NMRC cultivation site at Kibbutz Ketura in Israel, focuses primarily on finding new crops that grow well in the arid Middle East climate. By January Solowey had done enough research on revitalizing the seeds to get the project off the ground. First she soaked the seeds in hot water to make them once again able to absorb liquids. Then she soaked them in a solution of nutrients followed by an enzymatic fertilizer made from seaweed. "I assumed the food in the seed would be no good after all that time. How could it be?" she said. Tu B'shevat, a Jewish holiday known as the New Year for Trees, fell this year on January 25. Solowey chose that day to plant the seeds in new potting soil, hook them up to a drip irrigation system, and leave them locked up. She occasionally checked on the plants for a few months, and in March she noticed cracked soil in one of the pots -- a sure sign of sprouts. "I couldn't believe it," she said. "I did everything to avoid contamination, so it had to be that seed. And by March 18 I could see it was a date shoot." The first leaves were almost white with gray lines. They looked like corduroy but felt totally flat, Solowey said. She thought the plant would never survive. But by June healthier-looking leaves were growing on the young sapling. As time progresses, she said, the leaves continue to look even healthier. The researchers are now repeating the experiment with another batch of the ancient seeds to see if their success was a "one in a million" stroke of luck or if their technique can more readily bring ancient seeds to life, Sallon said. Slow Grow Date palms are either male or female. The sex of the sapling is unknown, but the researchers are hoping for a female, which would bear fruit. If a modern date with similar DNA is found, the researchers may be able to tell the sex of their sapling soon. Otherwise they'll have to wait about four years, when female dates usually begin to bear fruit. In ancient times the Judean date palm was a staple source of food, shelter, and shade. References to it are made in the Bible, the Koran, and other ancient literature. Judean date palms were wiped out by about A.D. 500. Today's date trees in Israel were imported during the 1950s and '60s from modern cultivated Iraqi, Moroccan, and Egyptian varieties, Sallon said. Solowey, who also works for Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, said it already appears the ancient plant has some interesting differences from modern dates. If Methuselah bears fruit, Sallon and her colleagues will study its medicinal properties in hopes of better understanding what made the Judean date so famous in antiquity. If funds can be found, the researchers hope to apply any novel properties to modern medicines. "Maybe there are genes there that have actually died out or become extinct [in modern dates], in which case [the sapling] has very exciting possibilities for date cultivation as well," Sallon said. Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. Contact him at zelasko@actcom.co.il |
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COMING SOON, JIHAD IN ITALY
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, November 25, 2005. |
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This article appeared yesterday in Adnkronos International (www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Politics&loid=8.0.232920506&par=0) It is called "Italy: Media Spurs Italian Left's Soul-Search Over Israel" I wonder how the Jihad in France is affecting their thinking today? It is one thing to be an overfed, over privileged, decadent leftist in the comfort of your safe, democratic society. It is another thing to have the WOGs breathing down your neck and burning your cities. Italy's Arab and Moslem problem is as bad as any in Europe. Anyone with even minimal intelligence (and I suppose that includes Leftists) can see that it is only a matter of time before Italy follows France into Jihad. Rome, 24 Nov. (AKI) - The Italian political left -- long accused by its critics of at best, lacking objectivity by espousing the Palestinian cause against Israel, or, at worst, being blatantly anti-Semitic -- is in the throes of revaluating its stance on the Jewish state. For many a demonstration earlier this month at the Iranian embassy in Rome organised by the right-wing Rome daily, Il Foglio, signalled a turning point. The protest came in the wake of remarks made by Iran's new president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who, speaking at a anti-Zionism coneference in Tehran, called for Israel to be wiped off the map. In what some commentators saw as a cunning move to force the Italian left to show its true colours, Il Foglio's director, Giuliano Ferrara, a former Communist who is one of conservative premier Silvio Berlusconi's staunchest supporters, challenged left-wing leaders to join the protest against Tehran as a show of solidarity with Israel's right to exist. The leaders of Italy' main left-wing political parties have enthusiastically turned out for pro-peace demonstration such as those against the war in Iraq, but seldom show up at rallies denouncing terrorism in the Middle East, particularly that aimed against Israeli targets. But Piero Fassino, leader of Italy's largest political party, the Left Democrats - created from the ashes of the Italian Communist party - together with many flag-waving party militants joined other demonstrators at the gates of the Iranian embassy. On Thursday, Fassino participated in a debate "the Left and Israel" held at Adnkronos International's (AKI) headquarters, the Palazzo dell' Informazione, in Rome. The debate was chaired by Antonio Polito, editor of the centre-left daily Il Riformista. Fassino suggested that in the past the left, not just in Italy, but also elsewhere in Europe, may have been guilty of "cultural relativism" when approaching the conflict in the Middle East - an attitude that led to the condemnation of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory, but tolerance of some of the autocractic practices of its Arab neighbours. "The lack of democracy in an Islamic nation, was 'justified' on the basis that that nation was Islamic," Fassino said, adding that the "It is time that certain universal rights are accepted as being absolute." While remaining opposed to the concept of exporting democracy by force as espoused by US President George W. Bush and his allies including Berlusconi, Fassino said the left should forge a stronger policy on promoting international democracy and secularism, which he argued, is a pre-requisite for a democratic culture to flourish. He reiterated his praise for Israeli Ariel Sharon's decision to withdraw from Gaza and several West Bank settlements, but said he felt more in tune with the new leader of Israel's Labour Party, Amir Peretz, who he described as a "peace activist". "I hope Peretz will win the Israeli elections [set for 28 March] and that a government that believes in peace and restarts the peace process is formed," Fassino said. Another speaker at Thursday's debate was Fausto Bertinotti, the leader of the more hard-line leftist Communist Refoundation party, who did not participate in the demonstration organised by Il Foglio, but who together with the members of another left-wing party, the Greens, staged separate protest in front of the Iranian embassy. Disagreeing with Fassino's analysis of the left's stance on Israel, Bertinotti, said he believed it has largely "assumed a fair position but has shown an inability to implement it." While rejecting any charge of anti-Semitism that may have been levelled against his movement, Bertinotti admitted that there is a need for his party to clarify its stance on Israel, especially through dialogue with Italy' Jewish community. His party, he said, was, together with Milan's Jewish community, organising a seminar on this topic to be held early next year. While welcoming Bertinotti's recognition for such dialogue, another debate participant, Federico Steinhaus, an historian and president of the Jewish community in the northern city of Merano, argued that the left, and much of its media and newspapers, despite advocating secularism, continued to display typical historical anti-Jewish "prejudices" akin to those adopted by Israel's Islamist enemies. A further irony was that many of these images were rooted in the anti-Semitism present in a part of Christian culture, that portrayed Jews as the killers of Jesus Christ and now the oppressors of the Palestinians. Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. Contact him at zelasko@actcom.co.il |
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GERMAN REPORT: SCHLAFF TRIED TO BRIBE ARIEL SHARON
Posted by Hillel Fendel, November 25, 2005. |
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The German weekly "Focus" reports that Austrian businessman and Jericho casino-owner Martin Schlaff tried to bribe PM Sharon into opening the casino earlier than planned. The German magazine embellished on similar reports in Austria that emerged last week by stating that the sums involved totaled $4.5 million. Schlaff allegedly funneled the money into Sharon family bank accounts in exchange for a decision to re-open the Jericho casino. The Oasis Casino in Jericho is partly owned by Casino Austria, a partially Austrian government-owned company that is controlled by Schlaff and Arafat-crony Mohammed Rashid. The casino shut down in late 2000, a month after the PA started the Oslo War, and it has remained closed ever since. It was heavily damaged by Israeli military strength in retaliation for terrorist fire shot at Israeli forces from its roof shortly after it was closed. Schlaff funneled the money to the Sharons, the reports state, in February 2002, 16 months after the casino was closed. The Jericho casino depends on Israeli customers to turn a profit. An average of close to 2,900 people visited the casino daily before it closed -- 99% of them Israelis. In 1999, it made a profit of $54 million. It was earlier reported that Schlaff availed himself of a South African businessman - probably another friend of Sharon's, Cyril Kern - to transfer the money. Though Focus reported that Schlaff "tried to" bribe Sharon, the Austrian reports had a slightly different version. Senior Austrian prosecutor Gerhard Yarush said that based on the evidence he has seen, "my conclusion is that it's almost certain that Ariel Sharon took a bribe." Though the story has now been publicized in Austria and Germany, the Israeli media have been shy about it. A computerized review of Hebrew internet news sites of the past week show only two headlines on the story - Arutz-7, and NFC quoting The Jerusalem Post. Haaretz, Maariv, Yediot Acharonot, Army Radio and Israel Radio do not appear. Hillel Fendel is senior editor at Arutz-Sheva (www.IsraelNN.com). |
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THOUSANDS OF GAZA ARABS POISED TO ENTER ISRAEL FROM SINAI
Posted by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu, November 25, 2005. |
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More than 15,000 Arabs from Gaza have moved into the Sinai Peninsula, and many plan to infiltrate the 200-kilometer (124-mile)-long Egyptian-Israeli border. Israel may build a new security system. The massive unregulated entry to the Sinai came immediately after Israel surrendered the Gaza region to the Palestinian Authority (PA). The potential terrorist infiltration has forced the government to consider a plan for a $900 million security system along the border, according to the Middle East News Line report. "We're going to require a serious security system," Deputy Defense Minister Zev Boim said. Intelligence officials have warned Israelis not to travel to Sinai because of concrete evidence of terrorists in the region. Infiltration from Sinai, where the lengthy border is not hermetically sealed, would give terrorists free access to urban centers without having to pass border checkpoints. Security officials also have reported an increase in cooperation between terrorists and Negev Bedouin. The Bedouin, many of whom serve in the IDF, have in the past limited most of their smuggling to drugs but recently have turned to weapons and ammunition. Several Bedouin were arrested in the past few months for planning attacks against Israeli targets. The Negev Arabs also have taken advantage of leniency in Israeli laws which granted free entry to Israel for Arabs from Judea, Samaria and Gaza who married Israeli Bedouin. The government recently placed severe restrictions on the practice. Israeli officials have recognized the Bedouin claim that bigamy is a religious right, and many Bedouin have several wives, including non-Israeli spouses. This article appeared in today's Arutz-Sheva (www.IsraelNN.com). |
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THE PALESTINIAN ARABS IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Posted by Avodah 15, November 25, 2005. |
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The series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) www.iris.org.il On the desecration of synagogues in Gaza:
Under-Secretary of the PA Foreign Ministry Abdullah Abudllah.
Mahmoud Abbas, Chairman of the Palestinian Authority.
Ismail Haniyeh, a senior Hamas official in Gaza.
A Palestinian police officer who watched crowds set fire to the Netzarim synagogue.
Palestinian cabinet minister Ghassan al-Khatib.
On 13 October 2000, the official Palestinian Authority television station broadcast live a Friday sermon in the Zayed bin Sultan Aal Nahyan mosque in Gaza. Below are excerpts from the sermon, as transcribed by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). The speaker is Dr. Ahmad Abu Halabiya, Member of the Palestinian Authority-appointed "Fatwa Council" and former acting Rector of the Islamic University in Gaza. On killing Jews and Americans: "O brother believers, the criminals, the terrorists - are the Jews, who have butchered our children, orphaned them, widowed our women and desecrated our holy places and sacred sites. They are the terrorists. They are the ones who must be butchered and killed, as Allah the Almighty said: 'Fight them: Allah will torture them at your hands, and will humiliate them and will help you to overcome them, and will relieve the minds of the believers'..." "Have no mercy on the Jews, no matter where they are, in any country. Fight them, wherever you are. Wherever you meet them, kill them. Wherever you are, kill those Jews and those Americans who are like them - and those who stand by them - they are all in one trench, against the Arabs and the Muslims because they established Israel here, in the beating heart of the Arab world, in Palestine. They created it to be the outpost of their civilization and the vanguard of their army, and to be the sword of the West and the crusaders, hanging over the necks of the monotheists, the Muslims in these lands. They wanted the Jews to be their spearhead..." On making peace with Israel: "Even if an agreement of Gaza is signed - we shall not forget Haifa, and Acre, and the Galilee, and Jaffa, and the Triangle and the Negev, and the rest of our cities and villages. It is only a matter of time. The weak will not remain forever weak, and the strong will not remain forever strong... If we are weak today... and we are not able to regain our rights, then at least we have to pass on the banner - waving high - to our children and grandchildren..."
On divine rewards for warfare: "O brothers in belief, the beautiful bride has a costly price and dowry... Our bride is paradise, O brothers in belief... The cost and the dowry of this bride, the dowry of this paradise, is that we fight in the path of Allah, and kill and be killed." "Allah has purchased from the believers their persons and their property in return for the promise that they shall have paradise, for they fight in the cause of Allah, and they slay the enemy and are slain." On peace, war and armed struggle against Israel: "The failed attempt to achieve peace made us realize that the only way to solve the Palestinian problem in a just and comprehensive manner is to implement the PLO's covenant... meaning a return to the armed struggle, which is the only language the Israelis understand... "The Fatah movement will not allow the continuation of a situation which is neither war nor peace, imposed on the region by the Israeli and American governments... The Palestinian people are ready for war. As much as they are experienced in peace, the Palestinian people are experienced in war, where they have yet to fail." Ruhi Fatuh, Secretary General of the Palestinian Legislative Council and member of the Revolutionary Council of Fatah, Yasser Arafat's mainstream faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Fatuh said the return to armed struggle should take place if a Palestinian state is not established by 5 May 1999, when the Israel-PLO accords expire.
"We will turn the territories of the [Palestinian] Autonomy into [the Israelis'] graveyard. This will be the beginning of the end and a regression to a state of overall explosion, for which Israel will be held responsible, as it is responsible for the failure of the peace process today." - Chief Palestinian negotiator Sa'eb Ariqat, saying that if the Israelis try to re-enter areas under the Palestinian Authority they would not get out alive.
"Defining the situation with Israel today as peace is a mistake. There is no peace with Israel, which is an imperialistic state by nature... Rather, it is a truce, mainly because Israel wants to dominate the region and shuns peace with its neighbors. Such was revealed when the idea of a Middle East [economic] market was raised [by Israel]." Senior advisor to the PLO Executive Committee Jamal Al-Sorani. (Al-Bayader Al-Siasi, 13 June 1998. Translation courtesy of MEMRI.) On the Palestinian Covenant: "...The [Palestinian] National Council did not vote to annul the [Palestinian] Covenant, but rather announced its readiness to change the Covenant under certain terms. If the terms are met, it will be amended. Otherwise, the Covenant will remain as is. The Covenant has yet to be changed, and this is better understood by the enemy than by our own people..."
On Jewish rights to the Western Wall in Jerusalem: "The Al-Buraq [Wailing] Wall is part of the Al-Aqsa [Mosque]. I tell this to foreign reporters who refer to the Al-Buraq Wall as Jewish [property] because Jews call it the 'Wailing Wall'. We stress that the Al-Buraq Wall belongs to the Muslims alone. This is not my personal view, but rather, that of Islam."
The following recent quotations from leading figures in the Palestinian Authority were distributed by the Israel Government Press Office. Israel's agreements with the Palestinians obligate both sides "to foster mutual understanding and tolerance and shall accordingly abstain from incitement, including hostile propaganda, against each other." The Oslo Accords as a temporary truce: "Question: Do you feel sometimes that you made a mistake in agreeing to Oslo? Arafat: No... no. Allah's messenger Mohammad accepted the
al-Khudaibiya peace treaty and Salah a-Din accepted the peace
agreement with Richard the Lion-Hearted."
Israel's "racist Zionist colonialist" plot: "The Palestinian people were and remain a victim of the international colonialist Zionist plot which began with the Balfour Declaration of 1917. Israel has not halted its implementation of the racist Zionist colonialist policies which are responsible for the calamities that have befallen our people."
Holy war and the military option: "Whomever has occupied part of Palestine or Jerusalem faces jihad [holy war] until Judgment Day. Our destiny is jihad."
"Our choice is the military option. We must put an end to the despicable negotiations. The time has come for jihad [holy war] and martyrdom."
"Peace is a strategic choice, but it is not a sacred choice if the occupation and the Judaization continue."
On the PLO's military option: "All options are open to the Palestinian people... The Fatah movement did not and will not forfeit the military option, until all national lands are liberated, and the Palestinian independent state is established with Jerusalem as its capital."
"If [Palestinians] do not regain their full rights and an independent state, we will not let any one in the region live in peace and security."
"We must always be prepared to sacrifice our blood, as in the beginning - January '65 - as we continued, and as we will continue [to sacrifice]. Fatah is a movement of blood sacrifice... Our people gave the world a chance, and unless the world takes this opportunity, violence and havoc will come."
"The future is full of options... The Palestinian people expect a long and bloody phase of an overall struggle, in order to fulfill what has been agreed upon in Oslo. Israel is a state that cannot make peace, a state whose function is war." Palestinian Authority Cabinet Secretary Ahmad Abd Al-Rahman (Al-Ayyam, 4 May 1998. Translation courtesy of MEMRI.) On the function of Israeli redeployments: "[The planned third phase of Israeli troop redeployment in the West Bank is] a matter of principle that would enable the [Palestinian] Authority to accumulate liberated lands... which would allow it to double its ability to confront [Israel] without harming the signed agreements or holding [renewed] negotiations over matters already agreed upon."
Calls to war: "Gather together, O fighters of Karameh, Litani and Beirut, raise your voices aloud: we shall die, we shall die, so that Palestine shall live. Our blood is your atonement, O Jerusalem, and our souls are your defenders, O Palestine. We swear unto the holy martyrs: until victory!"
statement issued by the student branch of Fatah, Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's faction of the PLO, in Nablus to commemorate Land Day. Karameh, Litani and Beirut were the sites of major battles between terrorists of the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israeli forces.
"We are ready for a military confrontation The bullets of the Black Panthers will strike at Netanyahu's soldiers."
from a statement issued by Fatah in Jenin announcing the reestablishment of the Black Panther military units
Contact Avodah 15 at avodah15@aol.com
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U.S. HOUSE SUPPORTS ISRAEL!
Posted by Lawrence Uniglicht, November 24, 2005. |
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U.S. House of Representatives Resolution 575, a bipartisan proposal, and a similar letter circulating in the U.S. Senate assert terrorist groups such as Hamas should not be allowed to participate in upcoming Palestinian elections. Furthermore, the resolution states that Mahmoud Abbas must declare, prior to the elections, his intention to dismantle the terrorist groups in the territories. Indeed, he could lose U.S. financial support, per the bill, if he allows Hamas to participate without being disarmed and recognizing Israel's right to exist. Alas, such a resolution if passed would lack the sharpest of teeth, as the White House determines foreign policy. However, Congress must still approve significant foreign aid authorizations. Hmmm! Wait a minute! What is this? The beleaguered Jewish State's presumed staunchest ally, the swaggering Texan G.W. Bush, has (perhaps) reluctantly agreed to allow the two-name double-game erstwhile holocaust trivializing Abbas/Mazen to break election bread with the Jew-despising Islamic fanatics even though they wish to sever the Israeli jugular. Say it isn't so G.W.! A prescient Knesset should also note that the current U.S. President's approval ratings are lower than the New Orleans basin. Let's analyze this. The U.S. Congress, both democrats and republicans, may pass a bill telling the Palestinian President to confront and dismantle a terrorist organization or else. The U.S. President, a man whose presidency is defined by his "war on terrorism", hypocritically backs down when confronted with what should be a "no brainer", and cedes ground to a terrorist organization whose mantra is "annihilate Israel". Facts on the ground must not be spun. Israel's brain trust must take off their Rose Garden-colored spectacles and grasp the significance of recent American events. It is imperative Sharon and company forthwith reverse their contemptibly feckless position and emphatically declare "the State of Israel will never recognize a sovereign entity governed by its sworn enemy." PERIOD!!! There can be no compromise on this issue. It is national suicide to allow such a rabid salivating aggressor to emerge next door. Are you listening President Bush! Contact Lawrence Uniglicht at luniglicht@snip.net |
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V'SHAVU BANIM L'GVULAM -- OUR CHILDREN HAVE RETURNED TO THEIR BORDERS
Posted by David Wilder, November 24, 2005. |
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This morning, while eating breakfast, my eye caught an article in a local paper. Submitted by Kiryat Arba resident Yeshovev Friedberg, it relates a true story which I don't recall having heard before. By the time I'd finished reading, it had caught not only my eye, but also my heart. I like to relate it to you. This coming Shabbat, as we read "Parshat Chaye Sarah,", reading how Abraham purchased a small cave and the field around, here in Hebron, almost 4,000 years ago, you might want to keep this story in mind. Thank G-d, we have been privileged to fulfill the prophecy: V'Shavu Banim l'Gvulam. Dr. Max Nordau, one of the founders of the World Zionist Organization, was named at birth Meir-Simcha. However, he was known as Max, a children's doctor in Paris. The following story was told by Avraham Shmuel Yehuda, a Jerusalem Orientalist professor, in his book, "Ezer HaRav," describing how Nordau became interested in Zionism. On the second night of First Zionist Congress in Basel, Nordau spoke in German, giving a long speech. He mentioned several times, as a motto, three words from Jeremiah, in Hebrew, v'Shavu Banim l'Gvulam, -- "Our Children Have Returned to their Borders." When asked by a young representative at the congress how he found this verse, and especially in Hebrew, for this did not fit Nordau's educational background, Nordau replied: "I know these words from the person to whom I am obliged all my Judaism and Zionism. A person whose name I don't even know. A person who was, in essence, only a little boy of eight or ten. And this is what happened: "I have a children's clinic in Paris. A woman, an immigrant from Poland, her hair covered with a scarf, came in with a pale boy, 8 or 10, sick for three weeks. Someone recommended that she bring him to me. I took out a form for a new patient and tried to speak to him in our local language, but he could hardly understand French. I asked his mother, who was also very poor at French, and she said, 'no he doesn't go to a regular school, he goes to a "Heder," a Jewish religious school.' I scolded her harshly. 'This only causes anti-Semitism. We have opened the door for you, the gates to the country, to refugees from Poland. Why doesn't your child learn the national language here?' She apologized and said that he is still young and that her husband is from the 'old generation,' but that he will grow and study in the 'gymnasium' (modern school), and will learn the language. In anger I asked the child, 'in Heder, what did you learn?' His eyes lit up, and in Yiddish, which I understood because of my German, told me what he had last studied in Heder. "Ya'akov," he said, "was dying and he invited Yosef and commanded him, swearing him, pleaded before him, please, don't bury me in Egypt. There is Ma'arat HaMachpela, Avraham, Yitzhak, Ya'akov, Sarah, Rivka, and there I buried Lea. Take me from Egypt and bury me with them. And when I came from Padan, Rachel died in Eretz Canaan, on the way to Efrat, and I buried her there, on the way, in Beit Lechem. "Why, in the middle of Ya'akov's request, does he tell the story of Kever Rachel?" Rashi says," -- and this is all the child talks about, 8 or 10 years old, speaking about the 'Sages' -- that Ya'akov felt a necessity to apologize to Yosef and say, I bother you like this, to take me from Egypt to Hebron, and I, mysef, didn't bother to take your mother Rachel. And despite that I was very close. Next to Beit Lechem, Even into the city I didn't take her, I buried her on the way. But I'm not guilty and didn't act wrongly. G-d wanted it this way. He knew: the murderer Nebuchadnezzar would, in the future, exile the sons of Rachel, her sons, during the first destruction, and then she would leave her grave and weep and wail and her voice would be heard: Rachel weeps for her children. But the L-rd responds to her: "Stop your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, because there is a reward for you actions, and a hope for the future, and the children will return to their borders -- v'Shavu Banim l'Gvulam." "And I," says Dr. Max Nordau, "I didn't know what to do with myself. I turned to the window so that the mother and child wouldn't see the tears rolling down my cheeks, and I said to myself, 'Max, aren't you ashamed of yourself? You are an educated man, known as an intellectual, with a Doctor's degree, but you don't know anything about the history of your people. From all of the holy scriptures, nothing? And here, this sick child, weak, an immigrant, a refugee. And he speaks of Ya'akov and Yosef and Jeremiah, and Rachel, as if it was yesterday, it all lives in front of his eyes?'" "I wiped the tears from my cheeks and turned to them and said, in my heart, 'a people, with children like this, that actually live their past, they will have a sparkling future." "In the weekend newspaper I saw an advertisement, "Whoever believes that the fate of the Jewish people is important to them, please call to help find an answer. Dr. Theodore Hertzl." I called immediately. When we founded the Zionist Congress, at the first one, when I was honored to speak and give a speech, the figure of that little boy, whose name I don't even remember, stood in front of my eyes. But those words I will never forget, because they are the foundation of Zionism, they are the pillars of Judaism, V'Shavu Banim l'Gvulam -- and the children will return to their borders." David Wilder is spokesman of The Jewish Community of Hebron. You can contribute directly to The Jewish Community of Hebron, POB10, Kiryat Arba-Hebron 90100, hebron@hebron.org.il, 972-2-9965333 or write to The Hebron Fund, 1760 Ocean Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11230, hebronfund@aol.com You can comment on this article at: www.davidwilder.blogspot.com |
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MORAL EQUIVALENCY, A PERILOUSLY NAIVE NOTION
Posted by Lawrence Uniglicht, November 24, 2005. |
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Should scientific and social philosophies be congruent? Consider the Theory of Relativity. Einstein espoused the notion that observers of motion exist within independent reference frames, all of which are equivalent. If we apply this theory to social perspectives, might we then say that all viewpoints are relative as well as of equivalent value, including moral viewpoints? An extreme example arising from this nexus could be the acceptance of a philosophy that homicide bombing is a relative and morally justifiable form of behavior. However, rational thought tells us that only a terribly misguided individual might ever condone such a socially perilous practice by asserting its moral equivalency to say militarily defensible initiatives and vindicating it on that basis. Perhaps Relativity Theory within the context of motion should be reassessed. Certainly, the idea of equivalent reference frames ought not be applied to social behavior. Clearly, there are objective standards that all people must adhere to for civilized societies to remain secure and viable. If a morally honorable world body existed, it could forthwith issue and enforce a resolution stating that nations directly or indirectly assisting groups or individuals in committing horrendous acts such as homicide bombing shall be sanctioned in the strongest possible ways, both economically and perhaps militarily. Such condemnation should then be visibly supported by every civil nation and culture on our planet. To presume that such apologists of despicable acts are at all influenced by esoteric scientific theories might seem a stretch. However, there are parallels in all human thinking. If brilliant minds can deduce concepts conferring equal value to all physical frames of reference, might less lucid minds be so inclined to suggest analogous inferences regarding behavior? Alas, those not so infected by perilous naivety necessarily tolerate those who tolerate the intolerable. Furthermore, Israel must evermore follow an ethical course clearly evolved from rational objective analysis, waiting for an awakened mankind to the same. Contact Lawrence Uniglicht at luniglicht@snip.net |
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AMERICAN NEAR EAST REFUGEE AID (ANERA): AID ACTIVITY TARNISHED BY POLITICAL AGENDA
Posted by NGO Monitor, November 24, 2005. |
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SUMMARY: American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA) is a major NGO that claims to provide "direct financial assistance and/or gifts in kind to Palestinian-Arab refugees and other needy individuals in the Middle East." With a budget of over $24 million (2005) provided by the US government and a range of private donors and organizations, most of ANERA's focus is on development assistance and emergency relief, and the quality of these programs is considered to be very high. However, as the following report demonstrates, this NGO also engages in biased anti-Israeli political activities, and its publications erase the context of terrorism and promote the Palestinian narrative while falsely claiming to work with "all people living in impoverished communities". Such activity contributes to incitement and the resulting violence, and is inconsistent with ANERA's proclaimed objectives. American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA) was founded in 1968 as a "non-profit corporation organized for the purposes of extending direct financial assistance and/or gifts in kind to Palestinian-Arab refugees and other needy individuals in the Middle East." It operates in the Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon and Jordan to "create opportunity and hope by improving health care and education and stimulating job creation." In the fiscal year 2005 ANERA distributed $24 million for development assistance and emergency relief. Funding for ANERA includes over $9m from the US government (via USAID) in 2005, which was designated for use towards a variety of projects in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jordan. Other sources of funding include the IMF, the UN World Food Program and a variety of NGOs, private companies and individuals. ANERA also lists Adalah - an Israeli NGO that uses human rights claims to pursue a pro-Palestinian political agenda - as one of its donor partners. ANERA has been led by its Chairman, Les Janka and President, Dr. Peter Gubser, since 1977. Prior to joining ANERA, Dr. Gubser worked with the Ford Foundation in Lebanon and Jordan. Dr. Thomas Neu is the ANERA Middle East Representative based in Jerusalem. He has also worked with Save the Children, and the UNRWA in Central Europe, Africa and Latin America. ANERA practices a high degree of transparency, particularly in comparison to other Palestinian NGOs, and the bulk of its resources are used to promote the stated objectives of assisting Palestinians in health, education, job creation and other areas, as detailed below. However, as noted in its financial reports, ANERA also allocates 1.3% of total spending to fundraising and public education. In 2005 this amounted to nearly $300,000, and the resources in this area may be considerably higher. These aspects of its activities are highly political. In particular, ANERA's reports and newsletters present a highly biased view of the conflict, ignoring any Palestinian responsibility for hardship and contributing to the demonization of Israel consistent with the 2001 Durban strategy. The Fall 2005 newsletter describes the Playgrounds for Palestine project as aiming to improve the "heartbreaking life of Palestinian children caught between military occupation and oppressive poverty" by providing a place "where children can find a reprieve from the unforgiving reality of occupation." In this partisan and very misleading statement, there is no mention of the Palestinian corruption that has misappropriated vast amounts of public money. Once again Israel is portrayed as the single cause of poverty among the Palestinians. Furthermore, ANERA draws an immoral equivalence between victims of suicide bombings and the terrorists themselves, when it presents figures for the number of Palestinians or Israelis killed since the start of the intifada, with no explanation of how they died. In field reports to the Board of Directors, written by the ANERA President Peter Gubser, the context of terrorism is erased as Israel is blamed for all Palestinian suffering. The April 2005 report describes how "shelling and missile attacks caused severe damage" during "[I]sraeli military incursions into the Northern Gaza Strip." The report omits any mention of Palestinian rocket attacks against Israeli civilians, implying that Israel's actions are unprovoked: "the preschool has lost a number of its children whose parents opt to keep them at home in fear of the children being harmed during an attack." The security barrier is also described, along with the "700 checkpoints and other physical obstacles blocking travel on roads," while the context of terrorist attacks is entirely absent. Gubser's biannual reports repeat the standard Palestinian political slogans, such as referring to "Gaza [a]s a big prison." Similarly, Thomas Neu makes false medical claims, including "Israel's closure policy is responsible for malnutrition," (see statement ). He also signed a petition that condemned the "daily terror and war that Israel is inflicting with impunity". These radical political contributions to incitement are the primary difficulty in ANERA's activities. As noted, ANERA sponsors a large number of projects for economic, health and educational development in Palestinian areas. It supports a range of charitable and non-political project partners in their work including building community centers, sidewalks, refurbishing hospitals, providing medical supplies; educational scholarship programs and IT training. ANERA's most recent project is a partnership with Intel to build an "Intel IT Center of Excellence" at the Islamic University of Gaza. ANERA's impact and credibility depend not only on these substantive
activities, but also on the dialogue it creates about the causes of
Palestinian suffering. ANERA claims that "[t]hrough community-building
projects and efforts to increase understanding of the region, [it]
strives to promote peace." However, its current approach of demonizing
Israel and erasing any Palestinian responsibility for their condition,
perpetuates misunderstanding and undermines ANERA's attempts to
provide purely humanitarian aid to people in need in the Middle East.
Gerald M. Steinberg is editor of NGO Monitor and director of the
Program on Conflict Management at Bar-Ilan University.
NGO Monitor is published by the Jerusalem Center for Public
Affairs/ Institute for Contemporary Affairs founded jointly with the
Wechsler Family Foundation The original at http://www.ngo-monitor.org/
has live links to additional material. |
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KADIMA
Posted by Batya Medad, November 24, 2005. |
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Kadima means "onwards," or "forward" and that's the name Ariel Sharon and public relations staff chose for the new political party. Somehow it creates an image in my mind of his rather obese figure, clothed in armor, topped with a helmet, tiny holes near his eyes, brandishing a long sword, posed on a skinny horse, which he's whipping enthusiastically as he gaily gallops over a cliff. The crowds, led by the UN's Kofi Anan, US's Bushes and Cheney, Europeans of all languages and colors cheer wildly!! What a great show for them. If I was a Yaakov Kirschen [who draws Dry Bones. See http://drybonesblog.blogspot.com/], I'd draw it, but I'm not. I have to trust that my words create the image in your mind that is prancing around mine, like a psychotic in a manic episode. Being a Gemini, it's pictured more than one way in my active mind. My "youthful, techie side" sees Sharon taking the Likud and punching "save as...Kadima" into his computer, giving him two intrinsically identical parties with two different names. He can then use the Likud template on Kadima, fine-tweaking any changes and adjustments to suit his desires. And of course, in actuality, he still controls the Likud. A new paragraph should give you time to breathe and think about what I just wrote. I have absolutely no doubt that Sharon, and when I write "Sharon" I mean his "political machine," is still in control of the Likud. We saw how he bull-dozed, or hypnotized once "nationalist, pro-Land of Israel" politicians and army officers until they performed, not like trained seals, but like well-oiled robots. Sharon succeeded in implementing Disengagement without the Likud breaking up. Considering how long he must have had been planning his breakaway party, I am certain that he was just putting it together as a backup, to protect and promote himself if and when the Likud fell apart. He is a master tactician, and so is Olmert, who as I've been saying for awhile is poised to take over when Sharon is either dead or incapacitated. Omri (son of Ariel) Sharon's talents and loyalty are in the "back room" of politics, and at least at this time, wouldn't be acceptable as Prime Minister, even to those loyal to the machine. Do you remember the surprises in the last Likud list for the Knesset? Do you remember how totally unknown to the general public figures got safe numbers, while those who had been working their way through the political ranks were left in the cold? These neophyte politicians are the products of the Sharon factory, a machine being too small an image. Remember that they were voted in by the Central Committee, and the Central Committee is still there in the Likud. So are all of the clerks and secretaries, whom we all know are a lot more powerful than their salaries and titles indicate. The "real Likud" of pro-Land of Israel loyalty is dead. It is like a brain dead patient being kept alive by machinery. It's time to pull the plug. If Uzi Landau and Moshe Feiglin really think themselves as national leaders, if they really want to save our country, they should give the Likud the dignity of a natural death. They should join the National Union and unite for the good of our Land, Nation and People! Batya Medad lives in Shiloh. She can be reached by email at Shilohmuse@yahoo.com or visit her website http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/ or go to http://www.shilo.org.il This article is archived at http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2005/11/kadima.html |
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GETTING STONED WITH THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY'S PROFESSOR SHANON
Posted by Steven Plaut, November 23, 2005. |
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The Timothy Leary of the Hebrew University Allow us to introduce you to Professor Benny Shanon, professor of cognitive psychology at the Hebrew University (see http://pluto.huji.ac.il/~bshanon/ ). While having once been a serious psychologist with a distinguished academic record, since 1997 the good professor has spent most of his energy on promoting psychedelic drug use, and doing a bit more than dabble in getting high himself. Haaretz weekend magazine Nov 25, 2005 devotes a long piece to the professor. Seems that he discovered a cousin of LSD used by South American Indians, named Ayahuasca while trekking about Ecuador and Brazil in 1993. He dropped acid, er -- I mean Avahuasca, more than a hundred times. He was chairman of the psychology department at the Hebrew University at the time. He advocates use of psychedelic drugs and insists that their use is simply not well known in the West. I guess he has never been to my high school in Philadelphia nor to the parks near the Berkeley campus. Shanon does not believe in the subconscious and insists that anyone can learn all there is to know about their psyche if they trip out on dope enough. I guess Shanon belongs to the Mikey-Lerner-Tikkun school of psychology. It goes without saying that the good Prof. Shanon is also a far leftist. See http://www.dasbistro.com/pipermail/clarkgreen/2003-April/001218.html and http://www.jerusalemites.org/appeal/7.htm and http://www.emjournal.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/ap03036.html We can understand why Shanon's ideas are so popular among the anti-Zionist Campus Left at the Hebrew University. After all, one really needs to be stoned to believe in ideas of leftists. But why are Hebrew University donors funding this Timothy Leary on Mt. Scopus? Steven Plaut is an American-trained economist, a professor of business administration at Haifa University and author of "The Scout." He frequently comments - both seriously and satirically - on Israeli politics and the left wing academic community. His website address is http://www.stevenplaut.blogspot.com or write him at splaut@econ.haifa.ac.il. |
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COMBAT EXTREMISM WITH WORDS
Posted by Lawrence Uniglicht, November 23, 2005. |
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There is no bigger threat to planetary social stability than extremist policies foisted upon naïve populations by cadres with insidious agendas. The raison d'etre of Islamic fanatical groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, located in the Palestinian enclave and Lebanon respectively, is to annihilate Israel. They bludgeon gullible constituencies with rationalizations steeped in obfuscation and duplicity to justify that despicable goal. The beleaguered Jewish State counters, for one, by dropping Arabic leaflets over Lebanon exposing Hezbollah and stating its case. Such a strategy is a sensible reprogramming response. Further reprogramming ought to be instituted electro-magnetically throughout the Middle East, directed at ever-increasing quantities of satellite dishes dotting the Arab landscape. An Israel Hasbara channel, broadcasting in Arabic and Persian languages, replete with skillfully crafted persuasive arguments is surely more powerful and enduring than military achievements that only breed contempt. No doubt, a militarily attacked State such as Israel must defend itself vigorously, punishing any aggressor without reservation; however such necessary action in itself will not win over the hearts and minds of populations controlled by those aggressive forces. Victory is truly established when the collective mindset of an erstwhile adversarial nation has been persuaded to comprehend and respect the victor. Adroitly iterating the downside of exploitative extremism to a manipulated mesmerized perhaps somnambulistic populace could serve as a beneficial wake-up slap. Israel's century twenty-one robust technologically advanced macro-economy, nurtured within a secular democratic milieu, could not have evolved within the confines of any of the intolerant extreme theocracies sadly endured by so many Middle Eastern Muslims. Fanatical narrow viewpoints stifle creativity and achievement. An ordinary Arab or Persian Muslim, when confronted with such juxtaposed realities, might begin exercising his cerebrum realizing why the hated Jew has it so much better. He might ask if a middle class life style beats groveling in a desert hovel. He might further ask if intolerant Islamic militants, obsessed with an extreme interpretation of the Koran vindicating the annihilation of the infidel and Israel, possess the where-with-all and will to lead their minions along progressive paths worthy of the new millennium or possess only a mindset that encourages ill desert winds to continue blowing over their ill-adapted regimes. A glimmer of light deftly generated by Israeli communicators could penetrate the darkness energizing any rational inquiring collective Arab or Persian soul currently suppressed by a dysfunctional Islam. It is indeed worth the effort! Contact Lawrence Uniglicht at luniglicht@snip.net |
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CHARGE: ISRAEL HAS NOT APPROACHED AIPAC ON POLLARD
Posted by Hillel Fendel, November 23, 2005. |
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Yitzchak Oren, the man responsible for the Pollard file on behalf of Israel's Washington Embassy in the late 1990s, says the key to Pollard's release lies with AIPAC - and that it's not too late. Oren, who was the Israeli liaison to the U.S. Congress in 1997, said, "I tell you with total certainty, as an expert on the matter and as someone who dealt with the subject on behalf of the government for a long period, that he could have been released. Very simple. One word: AIPAC." Oren, who studied all the material on Pollard and visited him in prison seven times, spoke with Ben Caspit of Maariv. AIPAC, the American Israeli Public Affairs Community, has been termed by The New York Times "the most important organization affecting America's relationship with Israel." Oren said that in 1996, then-Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu decided to recognize Pollard as an Israeli agent and work to secure his release. The instructions were relayed to the Embassy in Washington, but the late then-Ambassador Eliyahu Ben-Elissar chose not to deal with it, and instead transferred it to Oren. Oren explained that the long-time efforts by Pollard supporters to pressure the American President were in vain: "Only Congress can force the release. The president [Clinton] tried, and we saw how it ended with [Clinton and Netanyahu] at Wye Plantation - the intelligence community forced the president to change his mind, with [CIA head George] Tenet threatening to resign. But with Congress, it's the opposite. The intelligence establishment receives funding from Congress, and Congress is its supervising body. One word by AIPAC would free up a giant and powerful lobby in this direction. I tell you with full responsibility that if AIPAC would just nod or hint, it would happen. The CIA would give in. That's how the American network works." Oren said that though he and then-Cabinet Secretary Danny Naveh informed AIPAC that it would be desirable to work for Pollard, it didn't happen: "I remember an AIPAC event at which the Ambassador [Ben-Elissar] called openly and publicly upon AIPAC not to intervene in the Pollard affair. They really didn't intervene, and the whole thing hit an iceberg..." "All these years," Oren said, "we wasted energies on the executive branch, the President, but it was hopeless. The President cannot bend the giant intelligence community - but Congress sure can... The CIA head can't threaten Congress that he will quit; Congress can fire him. All that was missing was AIPAC's blessing for the efforts to have him released. Senators like Arlen Specter and Ben Gilman waited for it, but it didn't come." Asked if he can explain why Ben-Elissar objected, Oren said, "No. Perhaps because of reasons of recognition, or because of his past as a Mossad man... I can just say, as someone who worked under him, that this is what happened. He said this on-the-record." Caspit added that the Mossad had no sympathy for Pollard, who was employed by a different government organization. Oren also cannot explain why the American establishment is so vengeful against Pollard: "It is unfathomable. It is, perhaps, an attempt to strong-arm and trample Israel, on Pollard's back. Very strange things happened here. After all, transmitting information to an ally is a relatively light crime. And yet, suddenly, [then-Defense Secretary Caspar] Weinberger gives the judge a 46-page memorandum that led to the unheard-of life sentence... " "I also think it's not too late," Oren said. "Even now, via AIPAC, it can be done. There is a Senator named Chuck Schumer of New York who is willing to lead it. There is no reason that the State [of Israel] should not do this for Pollard - especially in light of all the dirty and strong-arm tricks that were used against Israel and against him in this story." In February 1998, Pollard's wife Esther told IMRA that Israel had several easy options at its disposal in its attempts to secure her husband's release - and one of them was AIPAC. "The State of Israel, in accomplishing any important initiative in the United States, first engages AIPAC," she said. "With the support of AIPAC Israel then gets the necessary meetings on Capitol Hill and the proper exposure. AIPAC also helps Israel to engage the American Jewish leadership. It doesn't matter if we are talking about advancing the peace process or selling any Israeli idea. This is standard practice. In 13 years [since Pollard's arrest], AIPAC has never been engaged by the Israeli Government on the Pollard case. In 13 years, the American Jewish leadership has never once heard from the Israeli Government, 'This is a national priority, we'd like your support on this.'" Another example of an easy initiative, she said, is, "Israel simply had to go to the money people in the Jewish community who fund the Clinton Government. All that Israel had to do was to say to them, 'We could use your support on this.' You don't even have to threaten not to sign the checks. Just remind the President that releasing Pollard is a priority of the Government of Israel that you support.'" Hillel Fendel is senior editor at Arutz-Sheva (www.IsraelNN.com). |
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HAS CANADA'S UN VOTING REALLY CHANGED?
Posted by Laureen Moe, November 23, 2005. |
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Anne Scarrow wrote: Dear Zion Family: Peg Byars has suggested that we stand with Israel and help our government to do this too! Shalom! (see below and respond!) Anne 
"We will continue to press for the kinds of reforms that will eliminate the politicization of the United Nations and its agencies and in particular the annual ritual of politicized anti-Israel resolutions." (Toronto, November 13, 2005) Every year at the UN General Assembly, more than twenty resolutions are passed that deny the historical right of the Jewish people to live in their homeland, ignore the realities on the ground and, in effect, sanction Palestinian terrorism against Israeli civilians. The chart below shows Canada's voting on the first batch of these resolutions, which have so far been passed at the Committee level and will reach the General Assembly shortly for final ratification. Has Canada's UN voting really changed? Examined: Years 2003-2005 RESOLUTION 1. Assistance to Palestine refugees While giving special recognition to "Palestinian refugees", the resolution ignores the historical fact that a Jewish refugee question was created simultaneously when Jews were expelled or fled out of fear from neighboring Arab and Muslim countries, primarily in the post-1948 period. NO CHANGE 2. Persons Displaced as a Result of the June 1967 and Subsequent Hostilities Inherent in the resolution is the suggestion that Israel was the aggressor in the 1967 war. Completely absent is the historical fact that Israel's neighboring Arab states launched the war, forcing Israel to defend itself against the Arab onslaught of invading armies. NO CHANGE 3. Operations of UNRWA By not recognizing Israel's right to self defence -- especially in light of allegations that UNRWA has aided and abetted terrorists -- the resolution effectively delegitimizes the Jewish state and the right of its citizens to live in safe and secure borders. NO CHANGE 4. Palestine Refugees' Properties and their Revenues The resolution reaffirms to the "entitlement" of "Palestinian refugees" to property and income left behind in 1948. The same principle is not being applied to Jewish refugees as a result of the 1948 war. NO CHANGE 5. Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices By its very mandate, the "Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices" adopts an inherently one-sided approach to the conflict. A double standard is employed which examines "Israeli practices" while never examining Palestinian practices. From Abstain to No to No 6. Applicability of the Geneva Conventions The resolution employs a double standard by demanding that Israel adhere to its international obligations, but never once demanding the very same from any other party in the region. NO CHANGE 7. Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the Occupied Syrian Golan This resolution holds Israel solely accountable for signed agreements. There are no similar such requirements on the Palestinians, including their repeated promises to cease their violence and incitement. NO CHANGE 8. Israeli Practices Affecting the Human rights of the Palestinian People The resolution speaks of "the continuing systemic violations of the human rights of the Palestinian people by Israel," without once placing into context current realities in which Israeli civilians continue to be targeted by Palestinian terrorists, thus denying Israel and the Jewish people basic rights to security and freedom. NO CHANGE 9. The Occupied Syrian Golan A double standard is at work which characterizes Israel as the belligerent party, when in fact it was Syria, along with fellow Arab nations, which launched the war in 1967. NO CHANGE We urge concerned Canadians to contact Prime Minister Paul Martin
to demand that Canada lives up to its word: Tel. 613-992-4211/ Fax
613-941-6900
Laureen Moe is a Christian Zionist and lives in Canada. She can be
reached at her website, http://www.laureenmoe.org
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INTEL'S PUBLICITY STUNT
Posted by Batya Medad, November 23, 2005. |
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I'm sure that I wasn't the only one to be extremely impressed when the premier high tech company, Intel, sent out a news report that they were hiring unemployed Gush Katif and Northern Shomron Disengagement victims. Employment is the key to regaining control over their lives, and I've been lobbying best I could for helping the refugees find work. I should have guessed. Former Neve Dekalim resident, Yossi Shomron, now of Nitzan (Carravilla town), tried to get a job. Here is his report: A week ago I read that Intel Kiryat Gat is recruiting former Gush Katif residents for jobs and job training and even led tours of the Kiryat Gat plant and conducted over 30 interviews. From what I can tell this is all a lie. From the Katif.net web site there was an article about the program with Intel. When I called the Meida Katif phone number I was told that someone would contact me from Intel. That was a week ago and no one called. After calling their number again (1700-707765) I received a recording that the number has been disconnected. I called Intel at Kiryat Gat (08 666 7111) and spoke to human resources and was told that they don't know of such a program, don't know of any tours of the plant, and don't know of the 30 interviews conducted with former residents of Gush Katif. I was told I could enter my resume onto their general web site www.intel.co.il/jobs and apply for a job like anyone else in Israel. Human Resources also could not give me a name of the Intel person in charge of helping Gush Katif residents find jobs. By the way, I could not find any place on their web site to enter my resume. Sounds like a publicity stunt by Intel. Batya Medad lives in Shiloh. She can be reached by email at Shilohmuse@yahoo.com or visit her website http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/ or go to http://www.shilo.org.il This article is archived at http://samizdatblogfree.blogspot.com/2005/11/intels-publicity-stunt.html |
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BUSH FOLLOWED SOME KERRY POLICY; SHARON SQUEEZING SAMARIA; PA COMPLAINERS
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, November 23, 2005. |
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BUSH FOLLOWED SOME KERRY POLICY For two years, the Bush Administration followed Sen. Kerry's recommendation to align itself with European diplomacy towards Iran. Results? Iran continued to make and break agreements against nuclear weapons development. Iran made bellicose threats. It murdered peaceful Kurdish protestors. Iran's chief negotiator boasted, "Thanks to the negotiations with Europe, we gained another year in which we completed" Isfahan. He went on to itemize the development of nuclear war capability resulting. Iran also sent weapons into Iraq for use against US forces. The US had toned down its rhetoric against Iran, and did not support internal dissidents. Iran still has a hard line. US restraint only encourages Iran to grow unrestrained (Jewish Political Chronicle, 9/2005, p.52 from Wall St. J., Ed., 8/22). Bush got no credit from Democrats from turning partially their way. Neither did he invoke criticism from Republicans for this foreign policy failure. The parties follow their set courses and debate on the wrong issues or from the wrong perspectives. For example, Social Security should give way to a pre-funded pension plan, so retirees can count on the money being there for them. If this involves privatization, including IRAs, so be it. Bush's mistake was in contending that channeling money away from Social Security into individually controlled accounts would reduce the decline of Social Security funds. Opponents focused on his inability to count and not on his germ of an idea that could be refashioned into a solution. JORDANIAN BOMBING COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE Jordanians are angry with al-Qaeda for bombing their country. Eli Lake thinks this means that they are ready to oppose terrorism and al-Qaeda (NY Sun, 11/17, Op. Ed.). Anger, one can understand. Resolute? I think it is too early to tell. After reverses in popular opinion, Islamists pull in their horns for a while. It does not mean they have turned against terrorism. Islamism has a grip on Jordanian society. I think that al-Qaeda may well stop targeting Sunni Arabs, in order to regain their popularity with them. The Arabs still conceive of murder of innocents as the slaying only of themselves. I OVERSTATED ARGUMENT AGAINST FRENCH MUSLIMS Apparently job discrimination is a factor in the Muslim youths' discontent in France and elsewhere in Europe. But those people largely segregated themselves. Their lawlessness prompted people of French nationality to flee. Job discrimination does not justify violence, especially in a country that allows peaceful protest. France remains in danger of being submerged by Islam. Why did France let the unemployment problem grow by letting unemployables immigrate in large numbers? It would answer that it was multicultural. If so tolerant, why the discrimination? IDF APPROVES 500,000 BULLETS FOR P.A. Israel approved the shipment of 500,000 bullets for the P.A., on condition that only the P.A. police get them. IMRA points out that since the P.A. is bringing terrorists into the P.A. police as integral units, giving the P.A. police bullets means giving those terrorist units bullets (IMRA, 11/17). If Defense Min. Mofaz believes that the P.A. would keep its word on this matter, after violating it on all other matters, he is an idiot. If he knows better, then in giving us this excuse, he is treating us as idiots. ANOTHER FRAME-UP OF SETTLERS Some Arab olive harvesters and six Jewish girls 14-15 years old clashed in Samaria. Police arrested only the Jews. Police claimed that the girls destroyed a day's harvest. The judge interviewed the policeman who brought the complaint. Finding his story without merit, the judge ordered the girls' release. Police appealed. A Supreme Court judge confirmed the lower court finding. Police appealed again. That appeal, lost too. But prosecutors of Jews are relentless, and demanded that the girls be kept in jail until the matter was settled, a matter without merit and for a level of misdemeanor that the government usually doesn't bother with, on the grounds that these girls present a public danger. How so? If attacked again, these girls would defend themselves, police would be called in, and then they would have to shoot. As the girls were being released, the police claimed they couldn't find the forms, and so the girls had to spend the night in jail. The defense attorney remarked that the police are abusing their authority to persecute (Arutz-7, 11/17). They are vindictive, more so under Sharon. In other words, Jews who would defend themselves from marauding Arabs present a public danger, but the marauding Arabs don't. Is it any wonder that the Arabs are bold about taunting and attacking Jews? Such is the Israeli government's level of antisemitic appeasement of the Arabs against the Jews of Samaria? Disgraceful. The Left now stands for prejudice and injustice. SHARON MACHINATIONS AGAINST SAMARIA BEGIN PM Sharon plans for the security fence to slice the Gush Etzion bloc of settlements in half. His officials are talking about offering Jews on the other side money to depart, so the government can demolish their communities. Thus, as long suspected, Sharon, under US pressure, is turning the fence into a political boundary. Actually, it is a "partition wall" generating insecurity, by leaving Arabs in the hills outside it, where they can shoot down on the Jews within, who would have less freedom to sally forth in pursuit. This is a divide-and-conquer policy. It reveals Sharon's intent, an intent he tried to keep quiet during the first expulsion of Jews from Samaria (Arutz-7, 11/17). CAUSES OF TERRORISM To find out the causes of Arab terrorism, Western journalists should study Arab culture and the books that the Arabs read (and write). Instead, the journalists ask the terrorists, who will not admit to them that the cause is religious intolerance. Instead, the terrorists offer secular excuses. These excuses divide the West (Nofit Amir, NY Sun, 11/18, Op. Ed.). One excuse is that Israel is oppressing the Palestinian Arabs. Actually, Palestinian Arabs are oppressing Palestinian Arabs. But the terrorists have persuaded Westerners, who readily accept calumny against a Jewish state, to make Israel a scapegoat. People can work with research, facts, and logic. They are not given the facts and don't know what they are missing. They are too lazy to do research, and some of the research sources are getting biased. But what a pity how little they exercise native logic. They fail to see that most nationalities and religions, oppressed or not, do not turn to terrorism. That means the problem lies within the culture of the Muslim Arabs and increasingly other Muslims. It wouldn't matter how well a country treats Muslims. When they reach a critical mass, they try to take over and impose their ways upon the natives. JORDANIAN ANTI-TERRORISM BILLS The King has proposed a bill outlawing advocacy and support for terrorism (Arutz-7, 11/16). The recent terrorism in Jordan may strengthen the government's hand. However, Jordanian society generally supports terrorism. The Muslim Arabs, however, excuse their terrorism as resistance to occupation. But the definition of terrorism, and the reason for abhorring it, is that it attacks civilians, by definition, innocent non-combatants. ARABS COMPLAIN ABOUT NEW BORDER AGREEMENT The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights claims that the new agreement strengthens Israeli control over Gaza. It gives some rationalization for this claim, but weak ones. It starts out describing the agreement as first of all giving non-Israelis control over the Gaza-Egypt border. It mentions the surveillance films that Israelis and P.A. police would view some distance away. As IMRA points out, that means that Israel has ended its supervision, it can only comment (IMRA, 11/16). In a recent article, I gave IMRA's and my own analysis of the agreement, and how it eliminated Israeli security measures over certain borders, including the Egypt-Gaza one. Instead of celebrating, however, the Arabs prefer to complain. It is their way. Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at richardshulman5@aol.com. |
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"NATIONAL RESPONSIBILITY"? SCORCHED EARTH!
Posted by Dr. Ron Breiman, November 23, 2005. |
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Ariel Sharon's new party is to be called the National Responsibility Party. Professors for a Strong Israel finds the name to be ridiculous and, shall we say, disengaged from reality. After all, Ariel Sharon has been following a policy that is both irresponsible and anti-national. A better name for his party would be "Scorched Earth," since this is what Sharon leaves behind him everywhere he goes. He left scorched earth when he disengaged from the settlers whom he settled in Gaza, when he disengaged from his own son, and when he disengaged from the platform of the party he founded. Dr. Ron Breiman, is Chairman of Professors for A Strong Israel (PSI). He can be reached by telephone at 050-5-518 940 in Israel. |
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TIME TO CLEAN HOUSE
Posted by Gerald A. Honigman, November 23, 2005. |
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The lesson of the Bar Lev Line in 1973 was that a nation dwarfed by its enemies geographically, in manpower, and armaments can't afford to fight wars of attrition. The latter involve allowing your enemies to call the shots...literally and figuratively. Israel was almost destroyed in the Yom Kippur War. Israel's military excels at the offensive, lightning strike. It's enemies know this also. So they do what they do to push just so far, but no further. They expect that Israel will play by their rules, since it is always under pressure by those in the American State Department and elsewhere to not "over react." Syria's main proxy in what it considers to be its Lebanese "province," Hizbullah, recently launched a major assault on Israeli positions and towns in the north. It appears that it was primarily designed to kidnap Israeli soldiers. Luckily, despite Israeli casualties, that attempt failed. But there's that initial problem mentioned above again. Merely sitting and waiting for murderous, rejectionist enemies to make their next move at their own convenience is asking for trouble. This is not the first time Israel has suffered this way. While there have been promising developments in Lebanon lately--most notably Syria's at least partial departure--circumstances cannot stay the way that they are now indefinitely. Indeed, Damascus and its Iranian cohort continue to stoke the flames via Hizbullah, which is now in possession of tens of thousands of rockets and other high tech armaments courtesy of them. On the positive side, there have been some signs lately that Lebanon's own military is more willing to assert itself on issues relating to containment of forces likely to stir up trouble. But Hizbullah has a huge, home grown following in south Lebanon, and it can no longer use Israel's forced occupation of that area as its excuse to attack Jews since the latter have exited the area for some time now. Had there been a Lebanese government earlier that was willing and able to prevent the continuous attacks on Israel by Arafat's boys, there would have been no need for that earlier occupation in the first place. Israel must make clear to all parties concerned that it will not permit the situation to deteriorate further. Right now it's worse than during the days which led to Israel's war to evict the PLO from Lebanon several decades ago. Hizbullah has a more massive following, better arms, and determined, powerful allies with specific goals. This author's Syria...Seriously (http://www.michnews.com/artman/publish/article_10200.shtml) gets into this issue in detail, so it won't be repeated now. So, the bottom line is that it's fast approaching the time for Israel to have to once again clean its neighbor's house. For those who claim that it means that Israel will be meddling in another country's internal affairs--like the critics who accused Israel during its campaign against the PLO in Lebanon previously--the answer, of course, is that if you allow your territory to be used to launch aggression against your neighbor and continuously fail to do anything to prevent this from happening, then you best have no complaints when the victim acts to defend itself. Targeted tit-for-tat helicopter and artillery retaliatory strikes only invite more problems later. They do nothing to solve the long term problem. Not long ago, there was an outpouring of support in Lebanon against Syria and those who support it. True, there were also large pro-Syrian demonstrations. Israel can bolster the former via some renewed house cleaning as well. So, here's the plan... Israel has its "chat" with Lebanese officials. It has ways that this can be done via diplomatic channels. It explains that this déjà vu scenario must fast come to an end and that Lebanon is now being forewarned and placed on notice that further aggression will be handled the way any other nation would to act to defend its own land and people. For those who claim that this is just what Hizbullah wants--to heat up the north--my answer is that better to heat it up now than later when Hizbullah's buddies are nuclear. Israel should then evacuate its northern towns as best as possible and launch a massive offensive against Hizbullah from air, sea, and land...taking out as many major positions as possible all at once a la the June '67 war. As Israel has targeted Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders, Hizbullah's should now meet their seventy-some virgins in Paradise as well...especially the ones with the big mouths. Another Israeli air visit to Syria--especially to Hizbullah's Sheikh Nasrallah--would also be nice. No doubt, Hizbullah will retaliate with massive rocket launches and the like. And these must be met exponentially with the full brunt of Israel's military power to crush them. The time for pussy footing around has long past. Indeed, Hizbullah believes it defeated Israel in Lebanon, leading it to withdraw. While Israel was on Lebanese soil, Jews had misgivings about that war...so withdrew and cut their losses. Hamas learned a lesson here as well. It's a totally different ball game now. Israel is being attacked by an enemy which, like Hamas, rejects its very right to exist. But, unlike how it has handled the latter, it must go after Hizbullah and its thousands of rockets with the same preemption which led it to take out powerful enemy air forces and armored brigades en masse in just six days four decades earlier. If done properly, Hizbullah will be weakened tremendously. True, it will not be totally destroyed, but it must be left with the message that it can expect the same treatment if it starts playing the same game yet again. There is already a clear division in Lebanon between those who support Syria and its proxies and those who don't. Guess who wins out here? If the Syrians make a move, Israel must make it very clear that it will be a move that Damascus will long regret. And huffing and puffing should not be the way this message is conveyed. Too much of that lately has led to Israel not being taken seriously. Israel says one thing then caves in to international (i.e. American) pressure to agree to one-sided concessions detrimental to its very existence. Israel has nothing to lose that it won't later lose anyway if it doesn't take care of business now. And then the stakes will be even higher. Hizbulllah rejectionists have long revealed their true hands. Indeed, they have been increasingly in contact with their Hamas and Islamic Jihad counterparts. With Israel out of Lebanon, Hizbullah and other pro-Syrian Lebanese stooges cannot claim that they're merely acting to defend Lebanon's sovereignty when Israel is targeted. Their lame excuse about the disputed Sheba Farms area is baseless as well, as even a UN frequently hostile to Israel confirms that Israel indeed withdrew to the international border. So, when Israel launches its already overdue war to end the Hizbullah terror (how long would America have waited after its citizens were repeatedly attacked from Canada or Mexico to react if the latter failed to act to stop this themselves?), the new enemies it will have made in the process will not be new at all...just the same ones it already has. And while most will dare not say it, there are many in Lebanon who are waiting for Israel to do this very house cleaning for them. Combined with the Syrian withdrawal (even if its agents are still present), this may pave the way to a real peace between Israel and its ancient Phoenician/modern Lebanese neighbors. Some seventeen centuries before the Arab conquest of the native Semitic but non-Arab Phoenicians/Lebanese, the Hebrew Bible (aka "Old Testament") records in detail how Solomon, King of Israel, requested King Hiram of Tyre to supply cedar wood and to build a temple and a palace in Jerusalem. It is time for those days to return. Gerald A. Honigman, a Florida educator, has created and conducted counter-Arab propaganda programs for college youth, has lectured on numerous campuses and other platforms, and has publicly debated Arab spokesmen. His articles and op-eds have been published in both the print media and on websites. Contact him at honigman6@msn.com or go to his website: http://geraldahonigman.com/blog.php |
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SHARON DID NOT "IGNITE" THE 2ND INTIFADA
Posted by David Meir-Levi, November 22, 2005. |
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To the editor of the New York Times,
Odd that you can never seem to get it right. The myth that Ariel Sharon "...detonated the 2nd intifada" has been deflated by none other than Sheikh Imad Faluji himself. And as a high ranking member of the Palestinian National Council, he ought to know. Faluji has been quoted numerous times, including in your own newspaper, as saying that "...anyone who thinks that the dog Sharon started the blessed intifada is wrong". He goes on to explain that planning for the intifada started immediately after Arafat returned from the Camp David 2 conference (June, 2000), months before Sharon's visit to the Temple Mound. Sharon's visit merely gave the terrorists the excuse they needed to start their long awaited and pre-planned "blessed intifada". Yet, your "Ariel Sharon, as the Centrist" (New York Times editorial of 11/22/05) lends renewed credence to that tired Palestinian lie. Don't you read your own newspaper, or do you just not care that your statements are contradicted by reality? David Meir-Levi David Meir-Levi is an American-born Israeli, currently living in Palo Alto. He lectures in English, Hebrew, and Spanish; his expertise is in Near Eastern studies and the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. He is Director of Peace and Education at Israel Peace Initiative (www.ipi-usa.org). Contact David Meir-Levi at david_meirlevi@hotmail.com |
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ORDINARY COMMERCE OR TERRORIST ENTRY? THE REAL ENEMY; PEACETIME BUDGET IN WARTIME
posted by Richard H. Shulman, November 22, 2005. |
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Israel will consult with the US which checkpoints and roadblocks in Judea-Samaria to take down. The Times (surprisingly) reported Israel's rationale for them. Israel finds them necessary to limit Arab attacks. Not reported is why -- considering there have been many such attacks during the current war, and that when the checkpoints and roadblocks are up, Arabs still can pass through but terrorism is greatly limited, does the US insist on removing the roadblocks in wartime. (Israel has refashioned checkpoints for swifter and more comfortable passage.) The article states some Arab complaints against Israel, but not Jewish complaints against the Arabs. (Patriotic or objective Jewish commentators have complaints, but the government might not. Why not? It is not clever enough to wage diplomatic war and it is appeasement-minded. Why no Israeli rejoinder to the Arab complaints?) The P.A. may resume construction of a seaport in Gaza, although they did not reach agreement about any inspection of incoming cargoes. As for the Gaza entry point from Sinai, No Israelis will be present to (arrest, to bar, or to) tell the P.A. whom to bar. Israel may just advise the P.A. (which already has declared that it will not bar any Palestinian Arab. There will be surveillance cameras, but their film would first be fed to Europeans, then possibly to Israel. (But the terrorist will have gotten in!) From Gaza, there will be vehicular convoys escorted by the IDF through Israel to Judea-Samaria (Greg Myre & Steven R. Weisman, 1/16, A10). The same day's Times editorial remarked that Sec. Rice had extracted a needed agreement, overcoming technical obstacles that really were lethargic obstruction. This is progress, stated the editorial. The pact offers Israel a fig leaf of inspection over its cave-in to US demands that weaken its security. Israel is set up for the same result when the seaport is built. That is how such negotiations, undertaken under US pressure, work out for Israel. The jihadists know that the US takes their side in this, that the their recalcitrance incurs no penalty but instead gets the US and the Times impatient with Israel for not conceding fast enough, that they can count on the Europeans to foil Israel, and that Israel is not tough. GIVING THE JIHADIST SHOTGUN A SECOND BARREL When terrorists bomb another country, commentators attribute it to that country assisting the war on Islamism. False. "Terrorists kill people. It's who they are; it's what they do." First they strike. Then they find pretexts (Jonathan V. Last, "Jewish Political Chronicle", 9/2005). If we give credence to their pretexts, we exert pressure on their enemies. DISTORTING REASON TO FAVOR POLICY "...publication of this year's Annual Report on the military power of the People's Republic of China was delayed while its initial and more alarming conclusions about China's strategic intent were toned down. Senior Administration officials overruled the report's authors, professional analysis, and policy advisers at the Pentagon intent on providing an unvarnished account of China's military. And, contrary to conventional Washington wisdom, this was done not over the heads of the most senor ranks in the Pentagon but with their agreement." (Gary Schmitt & Dan Blumenthal, "Jewish Political Chronicle", 9/2005, p.73 from The Weekly Standard, 8/8). This is just what the Democrats are complaining about. The Bush Administration changes reasonable analysis in order to make it seem as if a genuine study buttresses the Administration's theories. It not only is dishonest but leads to disaster. A President ties his own hands when he fails to assess the situation fairly and then determine what policy would deal with what is revealed. If the public does not want to confront Chinese imperialist plans or our own pollution or P.A. jihad, and does not want to pay for dealing with our problems, let it state that it wishes to enjoy life for a few more years without sacrifice and then risk survival. But don't hide the problem from it and not give it a chance to rise to the occasion. Bush is hiding the problem. THE REAL ENEMY The real enemy is a fascistic Islamic ideology which only a few thousand promulgate, but which the whole Muslim society protects. When the Islamists strike, most Muslims are pleased with the injury to the West, which Muslims envy for its success. For a U.S. initiative, such as a movement for democracy, to gain Muslim support, it must be seen as successful and not as an American affair. One difficulty in liquidating terrorists is finding them, for they hide within Muslim society. Another difficulty is in the will to seek them out, for much of the West is beguiled by multiculturalism and moral equivalence, and thinks that dialogue can resolve conflicts with fanatics. Actually, treating the Muslims as if they think like Westerners is ethno-centric. Nor can the US get much international sympathy when people think the terrorists are the underdog and have the mistaken notion that they should side with underdogs. Summing this up, "Amnesty International claims that Guantanamo-specialized ethnic foods, available Korans, and international observers - is comparable to a Soviet Gulag where millions once perished" (Victor Davis Hanson, Jewish Political Chronicle, 9/2005, p.46 from National Review Online, 6/3). Apparently we Westerners, in our foolishness, are our own worst enemies. The Gulag was far worse, but that does not excuse U.S. use of torture. Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at richardshulman5@aol.com. |
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WITHDRAW OR STAY THE COURSE IN IRAQ? NEITHER.
Posted by Yaron Brook, November 22, 2005. |
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Both the Democrats and Republicans are wrong about what to do now in the Iraq war. The Democrats want to retreat immediately and the Republicans want to "stay the course." Neither proposal will make America safe from Islamic terrorism. As Republicans have noted, withdrawal at this time would be perceived by the Islamic fundamentalists as a major defeat of the West and draw more recruits to their cause. But as the Democrats have noted, staying our current course--which has no standard of victory and no clear connection to protecting America from Islamic terrorism--is a disaster that has already resulted in the death of two thousand Americans. The solution is neither embracing defeat nor staying a losing course; the solution is to pursue victory. We must define war objectives designed solely to protect the American people from Islamic terrorism, and then execute those objectives by any means necessary. Above all, we must make it our objective, not to bring the good life to every corner of the Middle East, but to make the terrorist states of the Middle East non-threatening--which means that we must end state sponsorship of terrorism. In Iraq, we must crush the insurgency immediately--which includes choking its backers, Iran and Syria--and let the Iraqis themselves take on the responsibility of establishing a government that will not threaten America. Once the insurgency is crushed the priority should be on eliminating the regime that is the greatest terrorist and nuclear threat to the United States in the Middle East: Iran. Such a policy would serve as a death blow to bin Laden, al-Zarqawi and the rest of the fundamentalists, who attract their recruits with the hope that America can slowly be defeated. Dr Yaron Brook is Executive Director of the Ayn Rand Institute (http://www.aynrand.org/) in Irvine, CA. The Institute promotes the ideas of Ayn Rand--best-selling author of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead and originator of the philosophy of Objectivism. |
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KURT VONNEGUT: MOONBAT
Posted by Steven Plaut, November 22, 2005. |
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From http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog, November 18, 2005. A formerly great writer goes off the deep end: US author lauds suicide bombers. ONE of the greatest living US writers has praised terrorists as "very brave people" and used drug culture slang to describe the "amazing high" suicide bombers must feel before blowing themselves up. Kurt Vonnegut, author of the 1969 anti-war classic Slaughterhouse Five, made the provocative remarks during an interview in New York for his new book, Man Without a Country, a collection of writings critical of US President George W. Bush. Vonnegut, 83, has been a strong opponent of Mr Bush and the US-led war in Iraq, but until now has stopped short of defending terrorism. But in discussing his views with The Weekend Australian, Vonnegut said it was "sweet and honourable" to die for what you believe in, and rejected the idea that terrorists were motivated by twisted religious beliefs. "They are dying for their own self-respect," he said. "It's a terrible thing to deprive someone of their self-respect. It's like your culture is nothing, your race is nothing, you.re nothing." Asked if he thought of terrorists as soldiers, Vonnegut, a decorated World War II veteran, said: "I regard them as very brave people, yes." He equated the actions of suicide bombers with US president Harry Truman's 1945 decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. On the Iraq war, he said: "What George Bush and his gang did not realise was that people fight back." Vonnegut suggested suicide bombers must feel an "amazing high." He said: "You would know death is going to be painless, so the anticipation - it must be an amazing high." Steven Plaut is an American-trained economist, a professor of business administration at Haifa University and author of "The Scout." He frequently comments - both seriously and satirically - on Israeli politics and the left wing academic community. His website address is http://www.stevenplaut.blogspot.com or write him at splaut@econ.haifa.ac.il. |
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A VIEW FROM GOLDA'S BALCONY
Posted by Rachel Kapen, November 21, 2005. |
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These days a one woman play by author William Gibson is making the rounds in many U.S. cities among them Detroit, MI, Washington, D.C., St. Paul, MN, Houston, TX, and more, culminating in Toronto, Canada. Television star Valerie Harper of the Mary Tyler Moore and Rhoda T.V. series is playing the role of Golda Meir, Israel's only woman Prime Israel and only one of a handful of women prime ministers in the entire world. The play which won high acclaim is telling this remarkable woman's life from her early childhood in a little shtetle in the Ukraine, to the family's new home in Milwaukee, WI, and to her aliyah in 1921 to Palestine, or Eretz-Israel, then under British rule. The rest, as we say, is history, the history of the State of Israel, which Golda Meir was an integral part of. However, what is most striking is that the play puts special emphasis on the Yom Kippur War when Golda Meir was Prime Minister, and it reminds us of the desperate situation Israel faced, to the point that it considered using nuclear weapons as a last resort, what an unspeakably frightening notion. Fortunately, though, this was not necessary when the United States with Kissinger as Secretary of State and Richard Nixon as president came through for the Jewish State which was on the brink of destruction and send the asked for ammunition to fight its enemies. Admittedly, this openness regarding Israel's nuclear capability is worrisome being that for many years Israel refrained from admitting it and we all remember an Israeli by the name of Mordechai Vanunu who disclosed it to a British publication who as a result was abducted and imprisoned for eighteen years. Obviously, Israel's situation is unique among the nations being that it does not want to use it against another country unless faced with extinction, G-d forbid as the play distinctly show still however, talking about it openly is not wise. It is sure to rehash the accusation that Israel enjoys special treatment by the U.S.in regard to its having nuclear capability. We should take our sages counsel that: Silence becomes the wise. Golda's Balcony is Israel's history in a nutshell and should not be missed. It reminds us how significant it is and how very vulnerable. Contact Rachel Kapen at skapen285466mi@comcast.net |
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IN A NUTSHELL
Posted by Batya Medad, November 21, 2005. |
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In a nutshell, ok, nut house Politics here in Israel is like a nut house, and I can't sit here too long, so I'll give you my latest reading of it in a nutshell. The big question is why is Arik Sharon starting another party? He has already castrated the Likud and turned most of the politicians and Central committee into his puppets. What's the point? He's an old man. How much longer does he see himself active? Maybe my mind is just too suspicious, but I can't help forgetting that Sharon and his supporters had thousands join the Likud. Those people are still members. Actually, I've been a member "forever," even though I stopped voting Likud since Menachem Begin gave the Sinai to Egypt and destroyed Yamit and the other communities there. You can be a member of a party without voting for it, or even respecting it. That means that Sharon* can control two parties. One his custom-made new one, and two his customized old one. Besides the members, there are all the employees he has brought in. They're loyal to him. So, the simple thing is that he can control, or strongly influence, the results of the race for Likud Party leader, even though he has left the party. He can get someone elected who either will make a coalition deal with him or will find other ways of completing the destruction of the party. I don't think I need to elaborate further. You're not stupid. * When I mention Sharon I'm referring to his "organization," his sons and those who are involved with his planning and policies. Batya Medad lives in Shiloh. She can be reached by email at Shilohmuse@yahoo.com or visit her website http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/ or go to http://www.shilo.org.il This article is archived at http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2005/11/in-nutshell-ok-nut-house.html |
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NEEDED: PROACTIVE ZIONISM
Posted by David Haimson, November 21, 2005. |
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This article was written by Gil Troy, professor of history at McGill University and the author of "Why I Am A Zionist: Israel, Jewish Identity and the Challenges of Today," as well as "Morning in America: How Ronald Reagan Invented the 1980s." It appeared in the Jewish Week November 18, 2005 (www.thejewishweek.com/top/editletcontent.php3?artid=4630&print=yes) Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's despicable call to destroy Israel, and its hearty endorsement by the Palestinians' Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, triggered a predictable and justifiable torrent of Jewish outrage. Those who consider anti-Semitism the worst sin in their books -- and the community's greatest motivator -- are demanding world leaders repudiate these genocidal calls. But we should challenge ourselves, too. The best response to Tehran's dreaming about "a world without Zionism" is for Jews to dream about how to inject more Zionism into our own worlds. Sadly, too many Jews have internalized the non-Jewish world's disdain for the Z word. In North America, "Zionists" are caricatured as either fanatics or bureaucrats. In Israel, "post-Zionists" pathetically seek European approval by demonizing Zionism, while the Israeli street considers Zionists friers, "suckers." We cannot demand the world respect our movement of Jewish national liberation if we do not even respect it ourselves. This should be a moment of Zionist renewal, not only to defy our immoral enemies, but because in the last five years Zionism, and Israel, emerged triumphant. The Palestinians' futile war forced us to relearn some essential Zionist lessons. We relearned the prime Zionist directive of ein breira, "we have no choice." Just as hundreds of thousands of Jews from Europe, Arab countries, the Soviet Union and Ethiopia left their homes and came to live in the Jewish state because ein breira. Just as Israelis have had to fight, reluctantly, this wave of terrorism because they had no choice. Future historians will compare Israelis, particularly Jerusalem's citizens, to London's citizens during the World War II blitz and Berlin's citizens during the Cold War blockade, for demonstrating an extraordinarily courageous commitment to maintaining ordinary life that has fueled many democratic triumphs over evil. Thanks to Yasir Arafat's evil, we also rediscovered the central Zionist experience of unity in peoplehood. Even in this post-ethnic, hyper-individualistic age, the Jewish people's nerve endings are intertwined. When one of us is cut, we all bleed. Too many Christians yawned as Christian aid workers were slaughtered in Pakistan, Christian children were enslaved in Sudan, Christian girls were raped in the Palestinian territories. But most Jews empathized with Israel's terror victims, and many mobilized to help. Arafat offered negative proof that the Jewish people remain interconnected; we must rally around positive symbols, ideas, actions and initiatives, too. Watching the Israeli center re-emerge, seeing how the separation fence buried the right's maximalist territorial illusions and the left's naive millennialist delusions, we also remembered the pragmatism and big tent centrism that traditionally characterized Zionism. The early Zionists were quarrelsome and fragmented. Still, for most, when faced with historic choices such as the painful 1947 partition plan, hardheaded, realistic problem-solving trumped ideological purity. Israel grew from the center, and it survived this round of violence by staying levelheaded, losing neither democracy nor dignity, balancing civil liberties and civil survival, seeking protection from Palestinian terror, not vengeance, and improvising as the situation demanded. Hidden within these mostly reactive Zionist lessons, two more affirmative values can shape a positive Zionist renewal. Zionism at its best always sought particularism, meaning Jewish nationalism, as a path into universal values, not an escape from broader ideals. We can best advance humanistic values by concentrating communal energies in service of those ideals. Tikkun olam is hot these days, but do-gooding should be more than merely Christian charity with a Jewish inflection. Zionism defined effectively can provide a Jewish national or communal framework for responding to modern challenges, be it the values crisis in our material world, the alienation and individuation of consumer society, or the worldwide epidemic of terror. Fighting poverty in Israel or alleviating misery in Darfur through an Israeli framework focuses and anchors actions that otherwise might dissipate as individual initiatives. By having a "we" not a "me," and a Jewish "us" at that, by taking responsibility for individual, communal and world problems together, you and I can change the world, as the Zionist hymn goes, or at least have a better shot at succeeding. In doing that, we will also uphold the Zionist value of returning to history. In 1990s America there was much cheap talk about ending history until 9-11. We cannot escape history. We might as well be the best actors and activists we can be, broad in our vision, deep in our idealism, united in our purpose. Let us use our lucky accident of birth -- membership in the Jewish people -- as a way to enrich our lives, save our souls, work together, multiply our impact, build a country that we need and improve a world that needs us and our values. Let this, then, become the year we all commit ourselves to developing Israel, not wiping it off the communal agenda because calm seems to be returning. And let this be the year we revitalize and redefine Zionism rather than just defend it when psychopaths attack. To subscribe to David Haimson's emails that provide live links to interesting articles, contact him at DvHaimson@aol.com |
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'ROLL OUT THE BARRELS'
Posted by Lawrence Uniglicht, November 21, 2005. |
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The Arab Gulf 'Texas tea' drenched nations of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, and Qatar will suck in enormous quantities of foreign assets in 2005 and 2006, perhaps about 360 billion petrodollars worth per the Institute for International Finance, indeed fifty percent more than total purchases over the past five years. These are heady times for OPEC inc., an Islamic cartel tightly gripping its spindly talons about fossil fuel faucets dispensing much of the energy-addicted world's life-blood. The aforementioned nations alone will likely reap almost 600 billion total in U.S. erstwhile presidents this year and next, three fold more than average 1990 decade rates of return. Let us usher in the 'Era of the Gusher' with a chorus of 'Roll Out the Barrels', only S.U.V. owners aren't exactly having 'barrels of fun'. Never mind those wild and crazy pick-pocketed Westerners, how about those poor bedraggled so-called Palestinians? Are some of the 'got rocks' Gulf guys gonna splurge and send a few greenback converted riyals and dinars to their needy 'Palestinian' brethren so they can buy dinners for their families? Maybe a few Israel-bashing news rags can reserve a column or two to rag on the 'Arab cheapos', or might they be so 'occupied' busting the Jewish state's hump, little time is left to insult the neo-sultans by suggesting that charity doesn't always begin and stay at home? Westerners, how about those poor bedraggled so-called Palestinians? Are some of the 'got rocks' Gulf guys gonna splurge and send a few greenback converted riyals and dinars to their needy 'Palestinian' brethren so they can buy dinners for their families? Maybe a few Israel-bashing news rags can reserve a column or two to rag on the 'Arab cheapos', or might they be so 'occupied' busting the Jewish state's hump, little time is left to insult the neo-sultans by suggesting that charity doesn't always begin and stay at home? Once perceived a wretched refugee, always perceived a wretched refugee, when dubbed a 'Palestinian'. Besides, it makes 'the Jew' look bad. Of course, if a few Gaza fanatics Once perceived a wretched refugee, always perceived a wretched refugee, when dubbed a 'Palestinian'. Besides, it makes 'the Jew' look bad. Of course, if a few Gaza fanatics might be in the market for 'state of the art' missiles to help launch their new terrorist enclave, I'm sure those chic sheiks could shake a few coins loose to help defray the costs, sports that they are. No doubt, they'll keep 'singing in Bahrain' while average Arab folks remain indefinitely on the other side of the tracks. Contact Lawrence Uniglicht at luniglicht@snip.net |
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ARIEL SHARON'S PARTY: LOYALISTS
Posted by David Bedein, November 21, 2005. |
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Ariel Sharon, who has served as Israel's Prime Minister for almost five years, has suddenly found himself as a man without the very Likud party that he formed in 1973. Likud had a clear platform, which opposed ceding any land to any Arab neighbor without a solid peace treaty, as in the case of Sadat, when Sharon served in the government of PM Menachem Begin, as Agriculture Minister and then as Defence Minister. Unlike the Likud, Labor and Meretz, all of whom favored various forms of the territories for peace, Sharon abandoned the principle of reciprocity in favor of a position of unilateralism when he instigated the demolition of 25 Jewish communities and the handover of their assets to terrorists. Until recently, unilateralism had only been the platform of Israel's Communist Party and Israel's three Arab political parties which represent that position...Ironically, that unilateral position was remarkably similar to the platform of the ShomTzion Party which was led by Sharon in 1977, which indeed advocated unilateral withdrawal from Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Therefore, Sharon found himself without a political party and without a political base.. So Ariel Sharon organized a party based on loyalty to Ariel Sharon.. People whom Sharon has chosen to join his party are members of the Likud faction of the Knesset who remained supportive of his policies. Ariel Sharon does have a following in Israel, which is based on widespread admiration for a man who showed courage in the battlefield and as a man who is always willing to take risks and to carry out policies that he believes in. Likud Ministers such as Ehud Olmert, Shaul Mofaz, Meir Shitrit and Tzipi Livni have tied their political careers to the coatails of Ariel Sharon. Apparently, so has Shimon Peres, the stalwart elder statesman of the Israel Labor Party. The power of incumbency has given Sharon about 30 seats, or 25% of the Knesset, in the initial polls that were taken in the days before Sharon indeed decided to form his own party. However, it is hard to envision the tenacity and strength of a such a political party. Now the Likud will draft a candidate for party leadership who will reflect a more clear and less compromising position that Ariel Sharon, which may marginalize Sharon and his supporters. Ariel Sharon's "Party for National Responsibility" is riddled with contradictions,led by a tough talking leader whose record of capitulation in negotiation has transformed his image in the Israeli public opinion to a somewhat less than heroic figure. Israel's political history in filled with instances when a "centrist" party is formed over night and lasts only one term in office. Such was the case with the Democratic Movement for Change under Yigal Yadin's leadership in 1977, and such was the case with the Center Party in 1999. Will Ariel Sharon fade into Israeli political history, as the greatest political anomaly that Israel has ever produced in its short history? We will know very shortly. David Bedein is an investigative reporter and Bureau Chief, Israel Resource News Agency. (http://Israelbehindthenews.com). |
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WELCOMING BACK MAJORCA'S CRYPTO-JEWS
Posted by Michael Freund, November 21, 2005. |
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This was written by Israel National Staff.
Majorca's Jews are gearing up for a seminar aimed at strengthening the Jewish community on the small island off the coast of Spain, and reaching out to the area's large crypto-Jewish population The event is being organized by Shavei Israel, a Jerusalem-based group that assists "lost Jews" seeking to return to the Jewish people. It will include traditional festive Sabbath services and meals, lectures and study groups on Jewish historical and religious subjects, and a walking tour of Palma de Majorca's ancient Jewish quarter. "Majorca's Jews suffered terrible persecution over the centuries. As far back as the 1300s, the island was the scene of horrific massacres and forced conversions," said Shavei Israel Chairman Michael Freund, noting that the Inquisition was formally abolished in Majorca only after the French conquered it in 1808. Nonetheless, Freund said, many of those forced to convert continued to practice Judaism in secret, at great peril to their lives and well-being. Though outwardly Catholic, Majorca's crypto-Jews were never fully accepted by their Christian neighbors, who referred to them by the derogatory Catalan term Chueta, or pig, and refused to marry them. Historians believe there may be as many as 10-15,000 identifiable Chuetas now living on the island. In recent years, a growing number of Majorca's crypto-Jews have begun seeking to reclaim their Jewish roots. Several have moved to Israel, where they have formally returned to Judaism or are in the process of doing so. "In the two years that I have been here, I feel that a definite change has taken place in terms of people's attitudes towards their Jewish heritage," said Rabbi Shaul Friberg, who serves as Chief Rabbi of Majorca and Shavei Israel's emissary to the area. "What was previously something that was denied and kept in secret, is now more and more coming out into the open. People are showing more and more interest in their Jewish heritage," he said. Rabbi Friberg appears regularly at local and official functions, and is often quoted in the Majorcan press, which he says adds a new measure of acceptance and legitimacy to Jews and Judaism in the eyes of the island's populace. As part of its outreach efforts, Shavei Israel runs a Spanish-language conversion and return institute in Jerusalem, Machon Miriam, where some 85 students, many of them descendants of Spanish and Portuguese crypto-Jews, study annually. The institute is under the ongoing supervision of Israel's Chief Rabbinate. Shavei Israel also maintains a website in the Catalan language, where articles and material on Jewish topics and the Torah portion of the week can be found. "Hundreds of years after their ancestors were compelled to convert, a Jewish awakening is taking place among the Chuetas of Majorca," said Freund. "It is now our responsibility to help them to come home again." For more information, contact: spanish@shavei.org. Michael Freund is chairman of Shavei Israel (www.shavei.org), a Jerusalem-based group that assists "lost Jews" seeking to return to the Jewish people. |
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ABOUT SHARON'S FORMATION OF A CENTRIST PARTY
Posted by Mordechai Ben-Menachem, November 21, 2005. |
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PM Ariel Sharon has announced he is leaving Likud and forming a centrist party. This is my take on Sharon's move. Of course, I could be wrong and of course, things can change. Nothing in the world is as dynamic as Israeli politics, but that does not mean we cannot learn from history. Every Eco-system has to have a way to clear out the brown and stinky. Historically, Israeli politics forms a centrist party about every other election. These are used by the eco-system to fling the junk out of the stables so that business can continue. None of them have ever lasted for any amount of time, and there have been many, all abject failures. I have every confidence that this one will be the same. He is an old and frustrated man. He is advised by his son, who is now a convicted felon and his lawyer whose hands are just as clean (if we are to believe the newspapers). He has made a major mistake -- another one. Early elections are just what we needed. For whatever it may be worth, this is my take on it. If I am proven wrong, you now have what to use against me. Mordechai Ben-Menachem is a Ben-Gurion University in Beer-Sheva. Contact him at quality@acm.org |
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A THANKSGIVING GIFT TO ISRAEL?
Posted by Jerusalem Prayer Team, November 21, 2005. |
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It seems as if every time a U.S. president's approval ratings drops in the polls, a Secretary of State heads to Israel urgently looking for a diplomatic success story at Israel's expense, all in an attempt to bolster those ratings. I am appalled that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice went to Israel in an attempt to force Israel to relinquish control of travel in and out of the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority. Israeli soldiers had controlled the Rafah crossing between the PA territories and Egypt. Ms. Rice achieved her goal: On November 25th, the Rafah terminal will be opened. This will open the door for truck traffic, the building of a seaport in Gaza, and plans for an international airport. Israel regained control of the Rafah crossing following the chaos of the withdrawal of Israeli soldiers in August of this year. Thousands of Palestinians and Egyptians traveled freely between Gaza and Egypt. IDF troops moved back into the area when alarmed Israeli security officials reported that many weapons were being imported into Gaza from Egypt. For Israel, this means that after November 25 Palestinians will be able to travel between Gaza and Egypt without having to pass through stringent Israeli security. Although Israel fought hard to retain some regulation over the border crossing, it is at best a watered-down supervision. What the U.S. government is attempting is heartbreaking! First, nine thousand Jewish settlers were dragged from their homes. They included my dear friend Rabbi Cohen and his precious family. (I visited with him while in Israel earlier this month to offer comfort and financial assistance.) You will recall that three of his children were severely injured in a terrorist attack on their school bus. All of the children lost limbs, including his daughter Tehilla who lost both legs. (The Jerusalem Prayer Team purchased a motorized wheelchair for her.) Now to add insult to injury, the U.S. government has negotiated an agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority that will negate Israel's control over the border crossing and allow free travel between Gaza and Egypt. This is tragic! It will give terrorist organizations the ability to purchase armaments from throughout the world and transport them into Gaza for the sole purpose of attacking the Jewish people. It will give terrorist organizations such as HAMAS an open pipeline for bomb-making supplies. As a matter of fact, HAMAS is one of the terrorist organizations involved in the negotiations, and is, in fact, on the U.S. government's terrorist list. The U.S. government is demanding that they be allowed to be a partner in the peace process, and at the same time, would imprison them in a moment if HAMAS members set foot on American soil. It is, indeed, the theater of the absurd and a festival of hypocrisy! With the building of the security fence along Israel's border, terrorist attacks against innocent Jews had virtually ended. Now, the U.S. government has run to the rescue of terrorist organizations in the PA, including HAMAS, Islamic Jihad and Fatah. A Thanksgiving gift to Israel? How tragic! What kind of signal does this send to the terrorists (commonly called "insurgents") that are killing our troops in Iraq? The Bible says, "I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curses thee." America needs God's blessings now more than ever; this will not bring them. Please sign the petition to President Bush today. Ask him not to continue the policies that allow terrorist attacks against our staunchest Middle East ally, Israel. Thank you,
Michael Evans is the author of "Beyond Iraq: The Next Move," and founder of Jerusalem Prayer Team, America's largest Christian coalition praying for the peace of Jerusalem. Contact them at www.JerusalemPrayerTeam.org |
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SHARON'S EVACUATION PARTY
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, November 21, 2005. |
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It was announced that Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will leave the Likud Party and start a new, Evacuation Party (even if he calls it by another name to hide its true intent). With a little probing one can determine that Sharon had been planning to leave for some time even while he was playing with members of Likud with the idea that he was committed to "His" Party, the Likud. Sharon was never committed to any Party other than himself. But, that is not the greatest cause for concern at this time. Sharon has hitched his wagon to the Greater Bush Middle East Plan, to include but not limited to the Bush "Road Map". The Likud no longer served his (nor the Bush) purpose of Evacuation due to significant resistance within the Likud to a larger Evacuation after his meaningless Evacuation of 10,000 Jewish men, women and children from Gaza/Gush Katif and Northern Samaria. While the Bush Administration may have benefitted politically, Israel gained nothing - although Sharon was now acceptable to the U.N. and the E.U. - even the Left cheered him. Sharon and his U.S. Administration collaborators needed a new Platform and a new Party from which to project a policy of Evacuation. American Intelligence (CIA) and the Arabist State Department are the best in the world at either installing a new government or removing a government. As Sharon inaugurates his "Evacuation Party", simultaneously (and conveniently) Hezb'Allah starts their operations on Mt. Dov in the Golan Heights, causing Sharon to convene a meeting of his Defense Cabinet. Therefore, as Sharon creates his new Party he is able to not only benefit from the excitement of something new but, then suddenly is able to act like the Old General which put him into the Prime Minister's seat. Convening the Defense Cabinet should be followed by moving forces to the Lebanese border. If things go as seemingly planned, it should be quite a show and, of course, the Leftist Media will do their part to elevate Sharon's role as the re-constituted General who turned Far Left. The stink you may be smelling would be a well-planned and coordinated operation by Sharon and his temporary friends in Washington to keep Sharon in power. Presumably, President Bashar Assad of Syria was called upon to release Hezb'Allah to start up a little action. This favor to the Syrian Arabist interests in Washington will, no doubt, relieve him (Bashar) of some of the pressure he has been under for assisting Terrorists into Iraq to kill Americans. As I said: the stink is high and will get higher if my conjecture is correct. In an earlier article I opined that, even if Sharon had stayed in Likud, he would likely have started some military action to re-establish his reputation as the earlier Great General Hero and remind the folks to vote for him. The problem, of course, is that those Israelis (civilians and soldiers) who will be killed and wounded would be considered expendable for the great cause of keeping Sharon in power. Sharon may cast about for an appropriate heroic title for his new Party but, clearly it must simulate something like the "Evacuation Party". Now all we have to do is wait for a small hot war, followed by a planned postponement of elections, followed by a bill in the Knesset giving Sharon elevated War Powers and 'Voila!', Sharon will be back in the Prime Minister's seat, never really having left it. Of course, this is my opinion but, clearly, a Prime Minister, overseeing a war is generally kept in his position by a fearful public. It would be revealing to set up a Knesset money watch committee of forensic accountants to see if Sharon had already started raising legal or illegal money months ago. This would include the exposed money raising affair in New York that Attorney General Menachem Mazuz is supposed to be investigating. Then start to track back to where the new money is coming from, namely, the U.S., E.U., Leftist Organizations, individuals who hold a vested interest, in keeping Sharon in power and in the Authority to build casinos in Gaza... Well, you get the idea! Don't be surprised if you see a back flow of money designated for the Palestinian Authority President Abu Mazen, some of which will fall off the back of the Brinks Money Truck in the vicinity of the Sharon boys. Arik Sharon has become an invaluable asset to George Bush, the Saudis and the Arab Muslim Palestinians in their plans to evacuate all Jews from Judea, Samaria, the Golan Heights, the Jordan Valley, all of Jerusalem that Jordan controlled for the 19 years from 1948 to 1967. They must do everything possible to keep him in office until Sharon's "Evacuation Party" does its work (IF) it will win. So, keep your eye out for a deliberately stirred-up war and the sources of money pumped into Sharon's campaign. Think of it as a 'tsunami' (a Great Wave of Dollars). Emanuel Winston is a commentator and Middle East analyst. His articles appear often on Think-Israel and Gamla. He is a member of the Board of Directors and a research associate of the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies (http://www.freeman.org/online.htm). |
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MUSLIM FANATICS TERRORISE A NATION
Posted by Avodah 15, November 21, 2005. |
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"Islamist murders and threats have transformed the once-tolerant
Netherlands into a place of armed bodyguards and fear," writes Anthony
Browne in The Australian
(www.theaustralian.news.com.au/printpage/
0,5942,17308340,00.html)
And if I haven't mentioned it lately, Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a heroine of the highest magnitude. A FILM about gay rights should hardly raise an eyebrow in The Netherlands, which for centuries has prided itself as a beacon of freedom of expression and was the first country to legalise gay marriage. But when Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali refugee turned Dutch MP, started making a new film about the oppression of homosexuals under Islam, the threat to everyone taking part was deemed so great that she decided there would be no faces shown on screen and no end credits and that the entire production team would remain anonymous. Ali, a "lapsed Muslim" who revealed this week that she had finished the script, lives in a safe house under 24-hour protection. The precaution is as wise as the courage is extraordinary: Theo van Gogh, the director of Ali's previous film, about domestic violence under Islam, was killed -- repeatedly shot and almost decapitated in broad daylight in the streets of Amsterdam by an Islamic extremist. Impaled on a knife in van Gogh's chest was a five-page note declaring holy war on The Netherlands and threatening death to other public figures deemed "enemies of Islam". A year after his murder, The Netherlands is a country transformed. Previously, only the Queen and Prime Minister had police protection, and ministers cycled to their ministries. Now, many politicians, writers and artists are considered to be in such danger that they have permanent armed guards and are driven around in bomb-proof armoured cars. The Interior Ministry has set up a special unit assessing death threats from Islamic extremists and providing protection squads. "In a democracy, strong opinion-leaders must be able to say what they want to say. Therefore, the Government will take the responsibility to protect them," a spokesman from the ministry said, refusing to divulge the number of people receiving protection. In the parliament in The Hague, inside the airport-style security, two besuited bodyguards stand erect outside the office of Geert Wilders, Ali's political rival, checking closely anyone who has permission to enter. "I have been deluged with death threats," said the maverick right-wing MP, who has called for the deportation of Islamic extremists. Across town, police are investigating the shot fired at the window of Rita Verdonk, the Immigration Minister, who has become a hate figure among Muslim communities for introducing some of the strictest immigration laws in Europe, and insisting that Muslims should integrate. Amsterdam councillor Ahmed Aboutaleb, a Dutch-Moroccan who has said that Moroccans who do not like The Netherlands should leave, is also under permanent protection. "He never gives interviews on that issue," a spokeswoman said. Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen has tried to build bridges with the Muslim community but, as the country's highest-profile Jew, he also needs 24-hour protection. At Leiden University law school, professor Afshin Ellian, an Iranian refugee who has called for reform of Islam and even suggested that comedians should make jokes about it, is hustled through the electronically locked doors to his office by two bodyguards. "In The Netherlands, terrorists want to threaten not only the public... they also want to kill public figures, such as artists, academics and politicians," he said. "It is not special in terms of Islam -- in Iran, it is normal to kill people who criticise Islam, as in Egypt and Iraq. It is legitimised by Islamic political theology, which says it is all right to kill someone if they are an enemy of Allah. But this is happening in Europe." Academics and authorities in The Netherlands are trying to understand why, in their country, Islamic extremism has gone down the path of assassination, while in Britain and Spain it has produced bombings. The rise in the death threats started in 2002 when Pim Fortuyn, a flamboyant, gay, right-wing maverick, called for a halt to Islamic immigration. He complained that police did not take the death threats against him seriously. He was killed not by a Muslim, but by a left-wing activist who said he did it "for the Muslims". It was the first political killing in The Netherlands for three centuries and was seen as a one-off. But the murder of van Gogh two years later convinced people that the threat of political killing had become permanent. A study by Frank Bovenkerk of the University of Utrecht confirmed the rise in death threats across the country, and their seriousness. "They are under real threat -- they would be killed without protection," he said. "We have a type of provocateur which is unprecedented in The Netherlands. They claim it is about freedom of speech, but it is about freedom of cursing." Even if the would-be assassins are foiled by the intelligence services and the protection squads, the death threats are already having some success in silencing criticism. "People are very afraid of saying things now," Professor Ellian said. "There is self-censorship." Contact the poster at Avodah15@aol.com |
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THE BBC'S HATRED FOR ISRAEL
Posted by Jock L. Falkson, November 21, 2005. |
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Israeli-Palestinian Impartiality Review
Dear Reviewers, "This is not the first time, of course, that the BBC has taken on Israel in an effort to delegitimate it and, as in its previous efforts, it uses all possible means, including lies and distortions," writes Daniel Doron. These are fighting words from the President of The Israel Center for Social and Economic Progress, an independent pro-market policy think tank. Doron is one of many BBC watchers who've found bias in too many BBC newscasts on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And in most documentaries. Doron makes a compelling and convincing case. I am submitting his article (below) to be considered for your review. I would hope to read your comments on the aspects raised when your Report is published. Respectfully,
Daniel Doron's article apppeared in The Jerusalem Post, Jan. 28, 2004. Those who wonder why Israel was chosen as the state most dangerous to world peace in a recent European poll need only look to the European media. A recent BBC film Israel's Secret Weapons, devoted to exposing Israel as a prime international threat worse than Saddam Hussein, is a prime example of how the European media vilifies Israel. The film was made prior to the American invasion, as part of an effort to delegitimate American efforts by showing that US ally Israel is by far the greater offender, and if anyone should be bombed Israel should be first. Israel's Secret Weapons was shown at the Jerusalem Cinematheque's British film week sponsored by the British Council. This is not the first time, of course, that the BBC has taken on Israel in an effort to delegitimate it and, as in its previous efforts, it uses all possible means, including lies and distortions. From the beginning of the al-Aksa intifada in 2000, the BBC's reports were routinely skewed in favor of Arafat's terrorist regime. The BBC regularly suggested that Israel was the prime instigator of "the cycle of violence." It accused Israel of killing far more Arab children than even exaggerated Palestinian Authority figures. In November 2000 the BBC sank to the nadir of its pathological hatred for Israel, revealing the depth of its anti-Semitic bias. It opened a program about Palestinian children killed in the intifada by presenting as fact, complete with shots of skulls, the ancient anti-Semitic calumny of "Herod's massacre of the innocents." Cutting straight from the skull-stuffed crypt (adult skulls, mind you) -- which the BBC describes as the actual location where an ancient "massacre" of children occurred -- to Manger Square, where a funeral was taking place of an Arab boy "shot through the head" (gangster style) by Israeli troops, the BBC brazenly drew a straight line connecting an alleged attempt to kill the child Christ to Israel's killing of Palestinian children. Throughout the intifada, the BBC repeated -- with no corroborating evidence -- the worst Arab fabrications and calumnies. In its expositions of the background to the conflict, it always endorsed the Palestinian narrative, though it must be aware that it is historically false. The many Arabs present on the BBC's talk shows can spread any calumny about Israel and they will never be challenged by BBC hosts. Nor will the BBC allow a proper rebuttal by Israelis. For "balance," the BBC carefully chooses pro-Arab Israelis or some fumbling official from our pitiful foreign ministry. Anyone who is capable of mounting an effective rebuttal to the BBC's distortions and lies are never be invited to speak. BESIDES ITS news broadcasts, the BBC has been devoting several special programs to the task of delegitimizing Israel. A memorable hatchet job -- also shown at the Cinematheque -- was the Panorama program framing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as the "real" killer in the Christian Lebanese militia massacre of innocent Palestinians at Sabra and Shatilla. The BBC's "case" was woven from a tissue of lies, distortions, significant omissions, allegations lacking any factual basis, and a sickening animus toward Sharon and Israel. The same malevolent spirit animates Israel's Secret Weapon. The film asks "Which state harbors the most dangerous weapons of mass destruction, refusing to let anyone inspect them?" It portrays Israel as a police state that commits atrocities just like Saddam Hussein's Iraq; a state that punished virtuous whisleblower Mordechai Vanunu (whom the program compares to Andrei Sakharov) in the most cruel and illegal manner. Everyone in the film condemns Israel except for Shimon Peres. Director Olenka Frenkiel manipulates Peres by asking him long leading questions and then cutting Peres's responses to the bare minimum. When the dishonest Frenkiel asks Peres why Israel should not be treated like Iraq, the outraged Peres responds with "How could you compare, when Saddam killed so many innocent people and used gas against the Iranians and the Kurds?" Olenka's response is "Some do compare." We soon find out who: The film cuts to two sequences, the first showing the Sabra and Shatilla massacre and suggesting that Sharon is the killer, and the second showing the alleged use by Israel of some mysterious gas against civilians in Gaza. Both sequences are based on falsehoods, but they establish the comparison between Israel and Iraq's Saddam. Israel's Secret Weapon was followed by a panel discussion moderated by the IBA's David Wiztum. It was heartening to hear how even those who generally criticize Israeli policies from the Left were shocked by the BBC animus and bias. The generally cool Wiztum spoke in anger. Even Haaretz's Danny Rubinstein, who is sympathetic to the PA, pointed to the film's gross errors and distortions. Another panelist, author Lynda Grant, a writer for the Guardian, deplored the tendency of journalists to cast themselves as crusaders for a cause rather than report facts. Hebrew University's professor Robert Wistrich, an expert on anti-Semitism, said that "the documentary tries to suggest that Israel is the real rogue regime in the Middle East, an axis of evil, a state more dangerous than Saddam's Iraq. It tells us that Dimona, not Baghdad, should be the target that Mordechai Vanunu was a hero and saint, unjustly prosecuted by a quasi-police state masquerading as a democracy." Israel's precarious position as the only state threatened with extinction was never mentioned in the film. "Such a distorted documentary in the current British climate can only inflame anti-Israel feelings and antipathy to Jews still further," Wistrich concluded. But the BBC representative stonewalled. He thought the film was a "cracking good yarn," like soap opera stuff, and he refused to address any of the distortions and the lies it contained. In the 1947-8 War of Independence, British policemen and soldiers disarmed Hagana members and then left them among Arab crowds to be cut to pieces. The BBC is trying to do the same to Israel. By portraying it as the worst criminal state and by totally whitewashing Arab dictatorships, especially the gangster-ruled Palestinian Authority -- which it casts in the role of the righteous underdog, fighting against oppression -- the BBC tries to disarm Israel morally and politically. As the panel discussion indicated, it is no use pleading with the BBC for fairness, decency, or justice. It is determined in its mission. It is time for Israel to recognize who its enemies are and to protect itself from them. To be put on Jock Falkson's email list, contact him at falkson@barak-online.net |
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A DOUBLE DOUBLE CROSS
Posted by Emanual A. Winston, November 21, 2005. |
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It wasn't bad enough for President George Bush's hostile mouthpiece, that is, Condoleezza Rice, to force a scheme to allow all sorts of Terrorist transport from Gaza through Israel into Hebron. But, leave it to the perfidious Swiss - no doubt, in collaboration with the Arabist U.S. State Department - to insure that future Terror will not stop the Arab Muslim Palestinian trucks from carrying cabbages and explosives to the Muslim Arab Palestinians. The Bush/U.S. State Department game plan is to pre-recognize the fact that Palestinians are invariably dedicated to Terror. Moreover, the Swiss, no doubt, in consultation with Ms. Rice, wished to make all their future Terrorist attacks of no consequence. They are working out another of those infamous draft resolutions which Israel is to sign, stating something like the following: "If there are any future small to medium or even large Terrorist attacks inside of Israel, then Israel agrees NOT (I repeat) NOT to close her borders. Israel will NOT insist on inspecting Palestinians and their trucks at any of the Gaza entry points." The perfidious Swiss, you may recall, were one of the key players in developing Yossi Beilin's Geneva Plan which, as it turned out, was a worse version of the Oslo Accords - most of which Israel's current Prime Minister Ariel Sharon adopted as if it were his own creation. In summation, the Swiss, no doubt, in collaboration with the Osloids, the Arabist U.S. State Department, Condi Rice and the E.U. (European Union) with NATO troops at the ready for 'peace-keeping forces' to protect the border FROM Israelis chasing Terrorists in hot pursuit after their Terror attacks inside Israel. Having accepted the inevitable Terror by Muslim Arab Palestinians, they concocted a plan which will force Israel to ignore all future Terrorist events. All prior agreements will remain in place - no matter what egregious acts of Terror the Arab Muslim Palestinians perform. Sharon, no doubt, will be expected to make another Faustian bargain with the Devil and his disciples. If the Israeli people accept another one of Sharon's surrenders to the Bush Brigade, then clearly they will have little or no intention of maintaining a Jewish State in the future. Just think of what the Swiss, talking for the Bush Administration have concluded and now plan for. They virtually accept unending Palestinian Terror against Israel and expect - or rather - demand that by agreement, Israel will not respond. Is this then the Bush policy on what he calls the fight against Global Terror, namely to accept Terror and call it something else? Is this what Bush plans for Iraq when he withdraws his troops and accepts their on-going Terror? Emanuel Winston is a commentator and Middle East analyst. His articles appear often on Think-Israel and Gamla. He is a member of the Board of Directors and a research associate of the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies (http://www.freeman.org/online.htm). |
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THE BULLDOZER AND HIS BULL WHIP
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, November 21, 2005. |
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Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has already uncoiled his Bull Whip and is lashing anyone in his Cabinet and the Knesset who would dare to oppose him in coming elections. Short term the threats are intended to panic the Likud Committee into begging Sharon to stay in the Likud leadership and it's already working. But, Sharon's agenda requires that he must have full control to drive the Jewish nation with his Whip - and to abandon the Territories to the Terrorists to fulfill his obligation to the Bush "Road Map". The threats are just a beginning but the closer they get to elections the more harsh they will be. Sharon understands the minds of his Party hacks. He knows what's really important to them. First comes their personal well-being which means being paid sumptuously for hanging around and following Sharon's orders. Then comes the perks of cars, trips with all expenses paid, ability to put relatives and friends on the government payroll who also hang around looking important. Of course on occasion, Sharon and party lackeys throw a bone to the people...small gestures suffice, like fractionally lowering the price of gasoline after they had already raised it. Making promises that he, Sharon will feed the poor but, of course, he doesn't keep his promises. In brief, Sharon long ago forgot that he was supposed to be a servant to the nation and NOT her master. Now, Sharon is rolling out his bull whip to lash anyone who defies his orders or acts independently in any way. But, the Likud Central Committee has concerns that the people who once supported Sharon will no longer pour into the streets, shouting: "Arik, King of Israel!" Should Sharon bolt the Likud Party, be assured that the streets will be filled with signs reading "ABS: ANYONE BUT SHARON"! They have seen their hero King turn into a vicious dictator who lies with a certain grim pleasure, certain he can get the populace to again and again accept his lies. I recall Shimon Peres making observations of Yassir Arafat's character and the fact that he had broken every promise he had every made - even to his own people. Needless to say, Sharon has broken every promise made to his Party, his supporters, his friends and, not the least, the Jews of Gaza/Gush Katif whom he has put on the endless road to unemployment, homelessness and poverty. Sharon always uses the military tactics of "Divide and Conquer" - even as he target his own people. Perhaps I should say, especially when he targets his own people. But, those are the marks of a ruthless dictator who has no friends, only slaves to his ambitions. Ask any so-called old friend of Sharon's who has strongly disagreed with his policy on any issue. They were savagely cut off from his Kingly presence because the King brooks no disagreement with his mighty decisions. Now, his next war in formation, is against his own Likud Party, his own Cabinet and the Knesset. This he will do whether from inside Likud or from another Party he creates. He will use every dirty trick at his disposal as Prime Minister. The threats of personal vengeance before and/or after the elections have already been posted. But, if Sharon has actually decided to bolt the Likud Party, start tracking the "money trail". Perhaps it has already begun in New York City at that secret fund-raiser held by. Recall the false fronts established by his son, Omri, to collect illegal monies, no doubt with the full knowledge of Sharon, Sr. Now, follow the "money trail" started much earlier while Sharon was tricking Likud that he would run again. But, more important investigate under the table for dollars funded in through various U.S. governmental pipelines - as happened previously when the U.S. wanted then Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir out and Yitzhak Rabin in. Start to check various Leftist organizations such as "Peace Now" in America who will suddenly become very wealthy with those funds transferred to "Peace Now" (Shalom Achshav) in Israel. Watch for European Euros to make their way into Sharon's political war chest through various Institutes controlled by Shimon Peres. The question will be: "Is Attorney General Menachem Mazuz ready to risk his own indictment from the beginning, like the New York fundraiser. Moreover, a threat is like a two-edged sword. One edge is the threat and the other edge is the bribe which in itself is a threat because he is telling his victims that he has the power to withhold the bribe. The victims of his Cabinet, members of the Likud's Central Committee are already cowering as Sharon's Bull Whip of persuasion is flicked over them as an art form. First, only the tip must reach out with a flick just hard enough to sting. If the message of the sting does not get the desired response, then the whip comes down across their backs with a greater power to draw blood. If Sharon succeeds in maintaining power, all will become merely whipped slaves to his ambition. All will merely become flayed packages of meat with no voice - other than simply taking the orders of their king, ruler and dictator. Just keep in mind that Sharon has long ago abandoned the Jewish State of Israel as his first and only obligation. He belongs to the Bush Administration who themselves must carry forward Saudi demands. IF Israel is to remain in one piece, Sharon must never be returned to full power, Sharon must never be returned to power! ### P.S. In a prior article, I forecast that Sharon would likely stir up a war with the Muslim Arab Terrorists in order to regain his former image as a "fighting General" and not merely a fat old man well past his prime. Wars can be started by any vested interest, so now we hear there is a high alert in the North as Hezb'Allah begins to stir up trouble, possibly at the urging of Syria's President Bashar Assad - who may himself be doing a favor for another nation who wants Sharon's next few months staged so the General could show now brave he is/was. I wonder how long ago Sharon initiated his planned Exodus with foreign powers and kicking off a war on schedule. I wonder if a pre-planned war was designed to call off elections and to have Sharon returned to power in some sort of emergency bill driven through the Knesset as a War Powers Act? If the Bush Administration wants Sharon to remain in power in order to complete the evacuation of YESH (Yehuda & Shomron), be assured that no effort, pressure or money will be spared. Emanuel Winston is a commentator and Middle East analyst. His articles appear often on Think-Israel and Gamla. He is a member of the Board of Directors and a research associate of the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies (http://www.freeman.org/online.htm). |
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PSYCHOLOGISTS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY LAUNCH CAMPAIGN AGAINST ISRAEL
Posted by David Meir-Levi, November 20, 2005. |
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The National Lawyers Guild suddenly pops up with the attempt to re-kindle the hatred launched at Israel in 1975 in the UN when the world, in its insanity, declared that Zionism = Racism. Now the Psychologists for Social Responsibilty want to tell our government that Israel is causing psychological problems to the Palestinians because of the sonic booms emitted by israeli aircraft that fly over gaza to stop the terrorists from bombing israel. this belongs in the 'what insanity will they think of next' category: Please read the email carefully, then follow the suggestion of SPME leaders, and: a. forward this email to as many people as possible b. write a letter (hand written if possible), taking input and language from the letters below, and send it to your congresspersons and to the President. c. if you are a psychiatrist, psychologist, or other member of the health profession with access to Psychologists for Social Responsibility, take the contents of this email to the leaders of that organization, and launch a protest from within against them because they mis-use their status as medical people for political purposes that defy both rational thought and factual reality. and let's all keep in mind the answer to the question: why do they lie? They lie because the truth does not suit their purposes. and why do they lie endlessly, with a constant stream of serial lies, and with an endless series of plants in widespread organizations from local grocery stores to women's shelters to lawyers organizations, and now to psychologists... because they must exert that much effort, and more, in order to kill the truth. the truth threatens them so deeply, so ferociously, that they must keep on peddling their lies from one group to another until they find a sympathetic ear... and then they capitolize upon that group's willingness...to generate more lies. their entire strategy is a strategy of deciet...a tactic of serial lying... and the only weapon that can stop them is the truth. david ml "False Diagnosis" is Phyllis Chesler's response to Psy SR; she is a member of the Board of Directors of SPME. Her article appeared in FrontPageMagazine.com, November 18, 2005 (www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=20236). Dr. Phyllis Chesler is the well known author of classic works, including the bestseller Women and Madness (1972) and The New Anti-Semitism (2003). She has just published The Death of Feminism: What's Next in the Struggle for Women's Freedom (Palgrave Macmillan), as well as an updated and revised edition of Women and Madness. She is an Emerita Professor of psychology and women's studies, the co-founder of the Association for Women in Psychology (1969) and the National Women's Health Network (1974). She is currently on the Board of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East and lives in New York City. Her website is www.phyllis-chesler.com. Yesterday, November 17, the self-declared "social justice" group Psychologists for Social Responsibility (PsySR) hand-delivered an anti-Israel statement to the White House, the leadership of the House of Representatives, and the Senate. In it, they "condemn the Israeli Army's use of psychological warfare against the Gaza population." PsySR declares that Israeli F-16 jet plane-generated "sonic booms" are a "particularly pernicious form of psychological warfare." Moreover, PsySR claims that these soniYesterday, November 17, the self-declared "social justice" group Psyc booms are causing Palestinian children to cry, wet their beds, refuse to go to school and have poor appetites. They even induce premature labor in pregnant women, according to the PsySR. Not until much later in their declaration does PsySR mention the reason for Israel's adoption of this non-lethal "sonic boom" warfare -- namely, the 300-600 Quassam rockets launched from Gaza which have killed, maimed, and terrified Israeli civilians, including children, and the continued Palestinian use of civilians as both shields and targets. Nor do they focus on the pandemic child abuse which is routine among Palestinians as possibly contributing to poor mental health or to "fear" and "restlessness" among Palestinian children. Ignored, too, is the craven greed and terrorist agenda of the Palestinian leadership, which pockets money meant for Palestinian health care. Furthermore, one seeks in vain evidence of the studies that PsySR ostensibly conducted to measure mental health or illness on both sides of this tragic conflict. No mention is made of the effects that anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist propaganda and ceaseless indoctrination into homicidal martyrdom might have on Palestinian civilians, including children. Significantly, when PsySR finally gets around to noting the Quassam rockets fired regularly into Israel, they do not call for an end to the prolonged and terrible Palestinian violence against Israeli civilians. But they do call for an end to Israel's use of non-lethal "sonic booms." Both HonestReporting and Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME) have challenged the PsySR statement as "flawed." HonestReporting notes that both the BBC and the Guardian have quoted Palestinian psychiatrist, Dr. Eyad Sarraj, who, "in a sweeping statement lacking credible scientific or medical evidence" claims that "the sonic booms are having serious effects on children in Gaza, including anxiety, panic, fear, poor concentration and low academic success...as well as an increase in miscarriages." HonestReporting sees such statements as "highjacking Palestinian health for political ends." HonestReporting reminds us of the previous blood-libels unleashed against the Jews, including that "Israel deployed radioactive uranium against Palestinian protestors," "disseminated bubble gum that sterilized Palestinian girls," and "sent AIDS-infected prostitutes to infect Palestinian men." The SPME rebuttal to the PsySR statement, drafted by Dr. Steve Albert, reads as follows: "The PsySR statement injects a political position into a so-called humanitarian effort. Since when are psychologists experts on what a negotiated solution to this conflict should look like? The outrage is selective. Are sonic booms in Gaza the worst form of mental health abuse in the world today?" I think not. Just next door, in the Sudan, ethnic Arab Muslims are perpetrating genocide and what I call gender cleansing against mainly black African Muslims; Iraqi and al-Qaeda terrorists have just blown themselves up in Amman Jordan. Surely that can't be good for Jordanian mental health. The President of SPME, Dr. Ed Beck, writes: "It appears as if PsySR is making sweeping generalizations based on propaganda and not research...Such public statements may violate ethical canons of psychological practice as they border on making reckless claims with questionable methodology and data. SPME would welcome a PsySR condemnation of suicide bombings against innocent civilians...which result in lives lost on both side. That data is very quantifiable and is deserving of condemnation." The eminent psychologist, Dr. Lenore Walker, informs me that prominent members of PSySR co-coordinated a panel at the American Psychological Association convention this past summer which "caused quite a commotion. Everyone on the panel was pro-Palestinian and those in the audience who supported Israeli positions on these issues were shouted down by the panelists when they attempted to give some balance to the discussion." Walker describes the PsySR statement as biased since it "labels the sonic booms (if they did indeed occur as stated) as psychological warfare but not the rockets fired into innocent Israeli civilians." The Vice President of SPME, Dr. Judith Jacobson, suggests that this latest PSySR statement shows "the same blatant anti-Israel bias that has been repeatedly observed in the divestment campaigns promulgated in churches, colleges, and universities in the past couple of years." It is "preposterous to mention "38 years of brutal occupation without mentioning the number of decades that Israel has lived with even more brutal terrorism and threats to its survival." According to PsySR, the "brutal (Israeli) military occupation" justifies or explains suicide killing. In their statement of October 30, 2002, they "recognize that the great disparity of power between people can breed violence. Poverty and deprivation of human rights lead to hopelessness and social alienation." Today, they call upon the American President and government to exert its "moral responsibility" in the matter since America supplies Israel with a "large among of military aid." Their view is a politically and multi-culturally correct analysis of reality. But it is dead wrong. Evil and criminality exist and cannot be entirely attributed to class differences. Al Zarqawi and bin Laden, like the late Yasir Arafat, are wealthy serial killers, not poor, downtrodden victims. Dr. Irwin Mansdorf of the Jerusalem Project for Democracy in the Middle East has noted that various medical journals, including the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, have published anti-Israeli data that is anecdotal, not scholarly. In a letter to the Canadian J of Psychiatry, he states: "Mixing politics with science is a risky proposition, especially without evidence to support the conclusions reached." Certainly that sounds like the PsySR's modus operandi. If its anti-Israel statement is any clue, PsySR is very far from the pro-peace group it purports to be. It is instead a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli group that uses its expertise in mental health to assail Israel's right to self-defense. President Bush as well as leaders in Congress would be well advised to ignore its latest brief. David Meir-Levi is an American-born Israeli, currently living in Palo Alto. He lectures in English, Hebrew, and Spanish; his expertise is in Near Eastern studies and the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. He is Director of Peace and Education at Israel Peace Initiative (www.ipi-usa.org). Contact David Meir-Levi at david_meirlevi@hotmail.com |
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KEY TO NITZAN
Posted by Rachel Saperstein, November 20, 2005. |
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There are no signs on the roads leading to the turnoff to Nitzan, the site of the 'caravilla' [a caravilla is a trailer with a tiled roof, so caravan + villa = caravilla] which we are to call home for the next few years. We were called by the Sela Expulsion Authority office on the site to come and get a key for the caravilla we had chosen in a lottery. To our delight our neighbors were to be good friends, the Lilienthals. Nitzan is a trailer park construction site. Dun-colored trailers with red roofs spread out endlessly before you -- some in rows, some in rectangles of six or eight built around a cul-de-sac, the same trailer, same size, same shape, far into the distance. Arab laborers were putting in cobble stoned streets, square sheets of turf had been piled on each garden-to-be area, open drainage ditches separated each complex. I stared at this treeless landscape and burst into tears. Old friends, already settled, came to hug and comfort me, long lost relatives soon to be reunited. "Yes, we felt this way too when we arrived. Only mud and empty spaces. And loneliness. We can't wait til all of you show up so we can be together again." I went to Becky's house. Becky was our florist in Neve Dekalim and her taste is excellent. "We had to buy new furniture. So many of our things didn't fit in. It will cost lots of money to make your caravilla livable," she said. Nitzan, in the northern Negev on the coast between Ashdod and Ashkelon, is a farming community paid by the government to lease their farmland for the trailer park site. Large sums of money -- reportedly $100,000 per unit, including infrastructure -- were spent. It is rumored that independent assessors have valued each unit as being worth between $20,000 and $25,000. A kitchen, dining and sitting area, four small bedrooms and two bathrooms, totaling 90 square meters, make up each unit. The walls are plasterboard and a thick steel door is installed as thefts are rampant in this area. The medical clinic, for example, was broken into and cleaned out down to the tables and chairs. We waited hours for our turn to fill in forms and receive our keys, only to be told that some paperwork was missing and that technically we did not exist. We would be given no key but were assured our house would be held for us until "things get straightened out". When we asked why they had called and asked us to come and get the keys, they replied "We never called you." Moshe was apoplectic but I was relieved. A reprieve! We returned to our cramped room at the hotel. Home! Families receiving keys were told they had ten days to vacate their hotel room. What to take? What will fit in? What will we have to buy to make life bearable -- to make a home? Soon we will have to take responsibility for ourselves. The hotel catered to our physical needs and we were turned into pliable robots. The government calls the shots. We behave and will get compensation. We behave and we will get our flimsy trailer. And we will be properly grateful. If we go over the "green line", no help and no compensation. In our present state of helplessness and near despair, we obey. When you are homeless and hopeless, you obey. When you have no job and no cash, you obey. We, the people of Gush Katif, are battered. But we will rise once again. We will grow in strength and, one day, be in control of our lives once again. The BAND-AID FUND is now collecting money to give each family 1,000 shekels (approximately $240) as seed money as it prepares to start a new life in Nitzan. You can help a family. Send your contribution to: Central Fund for Israel
OR Central Fund for Israel
Rachel Saperstein and her husband were residents of Neve Dekalim,
Gush Katif, Gaza. They were then homeless refugees, residing at
Jerusalem Gold Hotel. Here they have moved to another temporary home.
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DR. IRVING MOSKOWITZ: A GIANT AMONG THE DWARFS
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, November 20, 2005. |
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I have been watching the trials and travails of Dr. Irving Moskowitz for years. As long as he was a modestly wealthy man and out of public sight, he was not bothered. Then one day his wealth increased as did his contributions to charity. There were those who objected to his choice of charities. Unlike many rich Jews, Dr. Moskowitz admired the Jewish people and gave generously to those who loved the Land and believed the Jewish people had a destiny in the State of Israel. But, there were those who developed a visceral hatred for this quiet, talented doctor. He was a Jew who believed in the Jewish people and a G-d who promised them their Land in perpetuity. For the Political Left, he was the "enemy" because his choice of charities leaned to the Political Right. This was not considered tolerable to the Leftists - particularly a handful of aberrant Rabbis. They attacked him and attacked his business in America but, failed to stop this dedicated man. He continues to support projects in Israel which were offensive to the virulent Left. He actually bought Land from the Arabs and built housing projects for Jews. This was Land that the Left wanted for the Muslim Arabs and Dr. Moskowitz was interfering with their plans to move Israel westward toward the sea. Having failed to put Dr. Moskowitz out of business in America, they moved their offensive to Israel. Having virtual control of the Hebrew Media, the Left floated absurd stories about the so-called "evils" of Dr. Irving Moskowitz. It was never difficult to get the Leftist Hebrew Media to spin biased stories against any champion of the Right and those Nationalists who settled the Land. We have seen rich Jews who mostly believe their future lay with the Left and with their host countries in the Diaspora (the Galut). They gift fortunes to charities which have no Jewishness. They do get a plaque on a wall and hope they will be honored by gentiles long after they pass away. But, we know that there was never any honor for dead Jews who tried to bribe their way into the hearts and minds of a gentile world. Even men like Albert Einstein are remembered for their accomplishments but, only grudgingly remembered as Jews. Dr. Irving Moskowitz and his steadfast wife, Cherna, were not affected with what can only be described as a disease that runs through the genes of apologetic Jews. Dr. Moskowitz is a red flag to the Left as he assists in re-acquiring Jewish Land and funds charities which believe in the Jewish nation. Dr. Moskowitz is an enigma to the corrupt power brokers who run the daily lives of ordinary Israelis. Since he cannot be bribed, nor does he seek honor or power, he does not fit into the usual profile which the Left can maneuver. What can you do with a real man of honor, who is comfortable with his Jewishness and does not believe that Israel must be sold to the Arabs and the West, hoping that they will forgive the Jews for returning to their G-d-given Land? Dr. Irving Moskowitz is truly a giant among dwarfs. (No offense intended to real dwarfs.) But, among our Jews there are more than enough frightened pintele Yids under the mistaken impression that they have no real right to exist in their own country. There are only a few real men like Dr. Irving Moskowitz and women like his wife Cherna, who use their fortunes to dare confirm Jewish title to the Jewish Land and the Jews the rights to live there. Clearly, Dr. Moskowitz deserves Israel's highest medal for dedication to the nation of the Jewish people. However, deserving is not the same as getting deserved honor in a Land where dwarfs rule. Kol HaKovod to Dr. Irving and Cherna Moskowitz! There is actually an organization called "STOP MOSKOWITZ"! This twisted group is interested in eliminating Dr. Irving Moskowitz from running his business named "Hawaiian Garden". They didn't care about the business just as long as Dr. Moskowitz was cut off from earning money that went to charities in Israel on which the Leftists and Arab Muslims couldn't lay their hands. It is said that you are best known by the enemies who rise up to condemn you. So, you have the Leftists with organizations such as Peace Now. Then there were Yassir Arafat's mix of Terrorists bonded with the Leftists. The American contingent is headed by a Reform Rabbi who claimed a following of 600 other Reform Rabbis who appeared dedicated to the Palestinian cause then under Arafat and now under Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (aka Abu Mazen). These birds of a feather claim a certain pleasure in continuing their opposition to Dr. Moskowitz both from America and Israel. This man, of quite superb character is cast as a virtual criminal because he assists Jews in building homes for other Jews in Israel. So far the list of enemies consists of aberrant Leftist Reform Rabbis, Leftist organizations such as Peace now, so let us add the Church contingent A.K.A. CMEP, "Churches for Middle East Peace". They do not want Dr. Moskowitz to change Jerusalem's eastern sector which was once dominated by Jews before the Jews were driven out by King Hussein when he controlled that part of Jerusalem for 19 years. Dr. Moskowitz is buying Land that was once Jewish, and is now building in what is called the Sheik Jarrah quarter. These Jew-haters always march behind a banner of peace even when the Arab Muslim Palestinians among the Arab and Muslim nations have pledged in word, deed and charter to eliminate the Jewish State of Israel from the face of the earth. As I said earlier, one is known by his enemies. As you can see the enemies of Dr. Irving Moskowitz are a collective Mafia of Jew-haters of all stripes. They decorate their organizations with the filagree of "Peace" this and "Peace" that when, in fact, they are a rabid mob of Fascists, be they Jewish Fascists, Muslim Fascists or Multi-national Oil conglomerates acting as thugs for various Arab Muslim Sheiks. They burble about "conflict resolution" when, if fact, they wish Israel to be submerged in a wave of hostile Muslim Arabs who are flooding Israel until the word "Jew" simply disappears. This aberrant Mafia speaks about the violence provoked by the extensive building Dr. Moskowitz enables. Yet the violence invariably comes from Palestinians, Muslims and some of the most violence-prone nations on this planet, namely, Iran, Syria and Iraq at the peak of in its influence under Saddam Hussein and who will likely return to a modified Islamic hostility after the American military leaves and the Terrorists take over control again. This devoted doctor serves to rescue and save both his own people and the poor people who live in the community of Hawaiian Gardens that Dr. Moskowitz has strengthened and uplifted. This excellent doctor faces a driven gang of extreme Jew-haters, reminiscent of other cutthroats who forced the Jews out of Spain in 1492, the villages of Russia during the 18th and 19th centuries and the Europeans acting as Germany's advance guard to evacuate all Jews from the land and end their productive lives. Nothing much has changed as Jews join the Jew-haters. Now we have the Bush Administration telling Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that it would be beneficial in taming Global Terror IF the Jews would simply move off their Land and, like other Quislings in the past, he agreed. The lower this gang of Jew-Haters sink, the higher such men as Dr. Moskowitz rises in the esteem of honest men. That he does not grovel to corrupt Jew-haters makes them furious and vengeful. Jews are supposed to cower and be frightened by threats of so-called authorities. When one Jew stands up to their self-serving demands, they rage and froth at the mouth. While the Leftists spend hundreds of millions of dollars in linkage with both the Arabist U.S. State Department and the E.U. (European Union) who spent billions supporting confirmed, dedicated Palestinian Muslim Arab Terrorists, they go wild when anyone funds the Jews who live on the Land. To bring back the Jews to their Land is anathema to this gang of Jew-haters. They not only hate the real Jews but, the G-d who issued all those restraints on human behavior. The Arab Muslims want to kill all the Jews and claim the Jews? Covenant with G-d. We see so-called Rabbis approving of homosexuality and marriage to each other - against G-d's express orders. We observed the leaders of nations bow to the demands of primitive Muslim Arab nations whose M.O. (Modus Operandi) is killing in the name of the moon god Zin, aka Allah. These unholy people cannot exist in the presence of a man whose honesty is a light, a light which the corrupt cannot bear. This corrupt band has bonded with Palestinians who made it a law to murder any Arab Muslim who sells Land to a Jew. They are "Birds of a the same Feather". As the nations spiral down to the ways of Sodom and Gomorrah, there are a few honest men like Dr. Irving Moskowitz, whose mere presence holds off a destruction of the world's nations. (Recall the Malachim (angels) who said to Abraham that they would spare the corrupt cities of Sodom and Gomorrah if only ten men of good character and high ethics could be found.) The adversaries of Dr. Moskowitz complain that, while America is shutting down Muslim charities who siphon money to Muslim Terror organizations, it is not able to close down Dr. Moskowitz' ability to give charity to Jewish organizations of all sorts. Can you smell the distortion - given that Muslims' so-called charities are closed by American law because they finance Terror in the U.S., the Middle East and Globally? This further defines Dr. Moskowitz's adversaries as fellow travelers of Arab-Muslim Terror organizations. His adversaries declare that any Jews wishing to live in Eastern Jerusalem or Hebron are: "extremists" or "radicals". However, Terrorists are rarely defined as "extremists" but, only "militants". Read any New York Times or other mainstream Media source and you can count the number of times the word "militant" is used. It is bizarrely indicative of skewed world opinion standing against the Jews of the world and Israel. Arab Muslim Terrorists believe wholeheartedly in winning world domination by killing Jews and Christians with suicide/homicide bombs. They are NOT perceived as a threat to the groups who excoriate Dr. Moskowitz for buying Land and building homes in the country G-d gave the Jews for eternity. In all cases, the adversaries of Dr. Moskowitz castigate the Jewish pioneering Settlers as violent while totally ignoring the Palestinian Muslim Arabs who have the clear track record of murder, suicide/homicide bombings, killing Jews hiking in the hills, kidnaping soldiers and civilians - then murdering them in an orgy of frenzied stabbings. This is the profile of those who tell us that Jews are the violence-inspired perpetrators. Once again, Dr. Irving Moskowitz deserves our highest praise for being a stand-up Jew among the dwarfs. Emanuel Winston is a commentator and Middle East analyst. His articles appear often on Think-Israel and Gamla. He is a member of the Board of Directors and a research associate of the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies (http://www.freeman.org/online.htm). |
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JORDANIANS ARE SHOCKED
Posted by Women in Green, November 20, 2005. |
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This article was written by Dennis Prager, who is a radio talk show host, author, and contributing columnist for Townhall.com. Jordanians are shocked that Islamic terrorists would blow up families, including families celebrating a wedding. They are so shocked that for the first time in history, Muslims have taken to publicly demonstrating against Islamic terror. And why are they shocked? Because the terrorists blew up Jordanians. As long as Islamic terrorists blew up men, women and children who are Jewish, Christian, Hindu, American, Australian and black Sudanese, the Arab and larger Muslim worlds were not particularly disturbed. In fact, Palestinians, who comprise the majority of Jordan's population, celebrated when Jews were blown up at Passover seders and at weddings. And they took to the streets and cheered in the Palestinian fashion, handing out candy, when Americans were incinerated in office buildings. For some reason, Palestinians, most other Arabs and many Muslims around the world thought that the credulity-straining evil of targeting the most innocent for death, paralysis, blindness and brain damage would be confined to non-Arabs and non-Muslims. In fact, the idea that this Palestinian-made cancer would target Arab Muslims is so inconceivable to most Arabs that many now believe the terror attack in Amman was orchestrated by Jews (the Israeli Mossad). Of course, Arab Muslim men, women and children are blown up almost weekly in Iraq, but, hey, that's OK because the monsters doing it hate America and seek Israel's annihilation. And in the Arab world -- and in much of the Muslim and leftist worlds -- hatred of America and Israel gets you a moral pass. In the Arab/Muslim worlds (with individual exceptions, of course), as among the world's leftists, an act is almost incapable of being judged evil if it is committed by those who hate America (especially the America of George W. Bush) or Israel. In a previous column, I proposed that supporters of the war in Iraq ask opponents of the war just one question: Without in any way compromising your opposition to the war, would you at least acknowledge that the people we are fighting in Iraq are evil? Virtually every one of the many letters I received from readers opposed to the war was incapable of answering in the positive. By fighting America and George W. Bush, the "insurgents" are essentially inoculated against moral judgment. Likewise it has been nearly impossible for the Arab, Muslim and leftist worlds to morally condemn the blowing up of Israelis. "Palestinians have no Apache helicopters -- what do you expect them to do?" "They are simply resisting occupation." "The Israelis are also terrorists." These arguments of the Left, the Arab world and countless other Muslims have given the Islamic terrorists the moral green light to continue their atrocities. Until, that is, they inflicted one of these atrocities on Arabs in the land of the Palestinians. So, at least for the time being, the sight of charred and dismembered Arab families at a wedding has trumped the anti-Americanism and anti-Zionism of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's killers. Now there is widespread condemnation of Zarqawi's terror in Jordan. There is even a fear that the name of Islam will suffer. Unfortunately, however, it is only because Zarqawi was foolish enough to massacre Jordanian civilians, and not confine his massacres to Iraqis and non-Arabs. What has aroused Arab voices against Zarqawi has nothing to do with the immorality of blowing up people celebrating at a wedding -- it has to do with the immorality of blowing up Muslims celebrating at a wedding. Nevertheless, it is possible that a moral awakening of sorts may be taking place in parts of the Arab world. The London Telegraph reports that "Munder Moomeni, a 38-year-old former soldier who lives next to Zarqawi's house, 13 Ramzi Street, described his former neighbour as 'a bastard.' 'By killing Jordanians here in Jordan, civilian Jordanians going to a wedding, they did something that not even a Jew would do,' he said." That a neighbor and former supporter of Zarqawi publicly acknowledged that Jews would not engage in such terror may be a first step toward the moral awakening that the Arab world needs even more than oil revenues. It may even come to realize the greatest truth regarding terror and evil: People who blow up Israeli weddings and cut Americans' throats are very bad people. And if you don't fight them, they will eventually blow you up, too. Ruth and Nadia Matar established Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green), an activist group of women based in Jerusalem. Their website address is http://www.womeningreen.org |
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ANTI-SEMITISM IN FRANCE -- SURPRISED, ANYONE?
Posted by Marion Dreyfus, November 20, 2005. |
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Not sure who wrote this, but I got it from an empassioned source who seems to send material I find valid and often, urgent. The number one best selling book in France is "September 11: The Frightening Fraud," which argues that no plane ever hit the Pentagon!... what that... This is entitled "I am a Jew." Nowhere have the flames of anti-Semitism burned more furiously than in France: In Lyon, a car was rammed into a synagogue and set on fire. In Montpellier, the Jewish religious center was firebombed; so were synagogues in Strasbourg and Marseilles; so was a Jewish school in Creteil. A Jewish sports club in Toulouse was attacked with Molotov cocktails, and on the statue of Alfred Dreyfus in Paris, the words "Dirty Jew" were painted. In Bondy, 15 men beat up members of a Jewish football team with sticks and metal bars. The bus that takes Jewish children to school in Aubervilliers has been attacked three times in the last 14 months. According to the police, metropolitan Paris has seen 10 to 12 anti- Jewish incidents per day since Easter. Walls in Jewish neighborhoods have been defaced with slogans proclaiming "Jews to the gas chambers" and "Death to the Jews." The weekly journal Le Nouvel Observateur published an appalling libel: It said Israeli soldiers rape Palestinian women, so that their relatives will kill them to preserve "family honor." The French ambassador to Great Britain was not sacked -- and did not apologize -- when it was learned that he had told guests at a London dinner that the world's troubles were the fault of "...that shitty little country, Israel." "At the start of the 21st century," writes Pierre-Andre Taguieff, a well-known social scientist, in a new book, "we are discovering that Jews are once again select targets of violence. ... Hatred of the Jews has returned to France." But of course, it never left. Not France; not Europe. Anti-Semitism, the oldest bigotry known to man, has been a part of European society since time immemorial. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, open Jew-hatred became unfashionable; but fashions change, and Europe is reverting to type. To be sure, some Europeans are shocked by the re-emergence of Jew- hatred all over their continent. But the more common reaction has been complacency. "Stop saying that there is anti-Semitism in France," President Jacques Chirac scolded a Jewish editor in January. "There is no anti-Semitism in France." French Anti-Semitism: Finally and long overdue, your people, oppressed and disgraced by hatred and maliciousness, have achieved justice: now you enjoy full citizen's rights, but you'll remain Jews nonetheless." Franz Grillparzer (1791-1872), Austrian author. A gunman opened fire on a kosher butcher' s shop (and, of course, the butcher) in Toulouse, France; a Jewish couple in their 20s were beaten up by five men in Villeurbanne, France. The woman was pregnant; a Jewish school was broken into and vandalized in Sarcelles, France. This was just in the past week. According to the Anti-Defamation League, from September 9, 2000, at the start of the intifada, through November 20, 2001, there were some 330 acts of anti-Semitism just in and around Paris. In addition to literally scores of firebombing of synagogues, just before Rosh Hashanah, 200 Arabs attacked Jews on the Champs Elysees. The pace has only picked up since then: In December, a French cinema in Paris refused to allow a Hanukah showing of Harry Potter to 800 Jewish children because of French-Palestinian threats (the threats were confirmed by French police who then went on to do nothing, not even giving details). It was one incident in an eventful month when synagogues continued to be firebombed and a Jewish kindergarten was vandalized with anti- Semitic graffiti and set ablaze. We can understand anti-Semitism among the French people. There is nothing the French love like their traditions and, on the question of hating Jews, they certainly have tradition galore. What, however, can explain the sometimes muted, sometimes defensively outraged reaction of French officials? Simple. There are approximately 5,000,000 to 6,000,000 Muslims presently living in France and many more arrive daily. There are only about 600,000 Jews still living in France. Moreover, France is the number one European exporter to Iraq, totaling over two billion dollars per year in exports since 2000. To those who are at a loss to explain why French elected officials seem "helpless" to stem the tide of anti-Semitism, I say that something smells awfully Vichy around here. So I call on you, whether you are a fellow Jew, a friend, or merely a person with the capacity and desire to distinguish decency from depravity, to do, at least, these three simple things: First, care enough to stay informed. Don't ever let yourself become deluded into thinking that this is not your fight. Second, boycott France. Only the Arab countries are more toxically anti-Semitic and, unlike them, France exports more than just oil and hatred. So boycott their wines and their perfumes. Boycott their clothes and their foodstuffs. Boycottt their movies. Definitely boycott their shores. If we are resolved we can exert amazing pressure and, whatever else we may know about the French, we most certainly know that they are as a cobweb in a hurricane in the face of well directed pressure. Third, send this along to your family, your friends, and your co- workers. Think of all of the people of good conscience that you know and let them know that you and the people that you care about need their help. The number one best selling book in France is "September 11: The Frightening Fraud," which argues that no plane ever hit the Pentagon! Our only strength is the strength of our community and there can be no community without communication... So this is what THE EU calls the fruits of freetrade? Contact Marion Dreyfus at dreyfusmarion@hotmail.com |
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LET MY PEOPLE SUE: EVACUEES REGAIN DIGNITY IN COURT
Posted by David Bedein, November 20, 2005. |
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Three months ago, 10,000 people were forcibly evicted by the Israeli Government from their privately owned homes and farms in 25 Jewish communities in GUSH KATIF, NORTHERN GAZA AND Northern Samaria. A few days later, all of their homes were bulldozed into rubble. An estimated 400 public buildings were not destroyed. Even though clause seven of the Disengagement Law forbid Israel from handing over any assets to anyone "involved in terrorist activity", the government of Israel ignored the law and handed over these buildings to the Palestinian Authority, even after the PA had proclaimed that terrorist organizations would be given many of these buildings. Unlike the Yamit evacuation of 5,000 people in 1982, where families were given three years to resettle, these people were given six months to leave, from the time of the Knesset decision on February 20th until their eviction on August 15th, 2005. The final decision of the Israel High Court of Justice, on which the Katif and Samaria communities had pinned their legal hopes, was held on June 6th, 2005, when the Israel High Court of Justice upheld the Disengagement Law, despite the opinion of the court that it violated the human rights and civil liberties basic law of the state of Israel. Despite the publicly accepted notion that the people from Katif and Samaria were not making preparations to leave, the fact is that as early as November 2004, these communities designated the lawyers of the Israel Legal Forum to negotiate for compensation agreements with the Israeli government. However, the government refused to begin negotiating with their duly appointed legal representatives until April, 2005. Meanwhile, Deputy Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres informed the Israeli media on July 7th, 2005 that the US government would provide more than two billion dollars to cover the costs of the disengagement. However, on June 25th, 2005, Israel Resource News Agency had already been informed by top U.S. Congressional Sources that no U.S. money would be forthcoming for the disengagement process, which Israel had declared as a unilateral act. This was two months before Hurricane Katrina hit the lives and pocketbooks of so many Americans Therefore, the government of Israel has been slow to offer compensation to the people who were evicted from their homes. As of November 15th, 2005, 75% of the people evicted had received no compensation whatsoever, at a time when 85% of these people were still unemployed, after having been expelled from communities of full employment. As a result, the people who were evicted need help to go to court to sue for the basics of compensation. The pro-bono lawyers who have helped the evictees do not have the ability to sue on the issues that follow, without basic fees and coverage of court costs. Here are some of the issues which the evacuees must sue for: 1. Mental cruelty, as evidenced by e petty requests for documentation before any compensation would be given: 29-year-old phone bills, old report cards,letters addressed to them to prove that they really lived in the homes that they lived in, while the Israeli government disengagement authority, known as The Sela Authority,gave inaccurate information to the media that "almost all of the evacuees had received the compensation that they had coming to them". A couple in their eightees who had gone through concentration camps who left in July had not received one shekel of compensation, as of November 15th, 2005. 2. Loss of livelihood Many of the self-employed people from these communities were denied employment benefits. Many of those who worked for non profit organizations in the area of health, education and welfare were also denied unemployment benefits.. 3. Business people whose businesses were worth $150,000-200,000 have been offered less than fifteen percent of the worth of their businesses, and they must spend their own savings to go to court to appeal for increased compensation for their businesses. 4. Three months after their eviction, the majority of farmers still do not have appropriate land or arrangements and they stand to lose their export markets abroad. They have already lost several seasons, and the katif people estimate that only 10% of the farmers will be able to return to agriculture. Meanwhile, some produce exporters where offered menial jobs at minimum wage. 5. "Guilty until proven innocent" was one of the reasons used in delaying the compensation, because "maybe" the evacuee did something violent AND/OR was arrested during the expulsion. If a person got into a scuffle while being evicted from his home, why should he lose the value of his home? If a teenager whose behavior was not appropriate, why should that family lose the value of their home? Meanwhile, the vast majority of families who are being denied any compensation have no police files or charges whatsoever against them 7. Loss of investment in homes No compensations was offered for porches, storage rooms, or other improvements they added to their homes. "ADVANCE COMPENSATION" for homes was given to people whose original small homes were purchased 20 years ago, and ONLY 75% OF THAT. 8. Damage to students. Students did not have the opportunity to do matriculation exams properly, or start college properly. Younger students were shuffled from school to school. The government refused to recognize the school and kindergarten in the improvised town of Ir Haemuna, while "Special needs children" in Ir Haemuna had to fight to get PARTIAL treatment, two months after school began. 9. A family whose loved one pass away during this period of temporary housing was forced to pay the government $6,000 for a burial plot, since free burial is only provided to a home town residents of a given municipality. Only after Israel Resource News Agency revealed this, an Israeli Government Minister intervened to return the check to the bereaved family. 10. Families are still forced to pay regular mortgage payments for homes and farms that the government of Israel bulldozed three months ago. Paying out a monthly mortgage for rubble seems highly unusual. 11. Families must invest tens of thousands of shekels for storage in since they will live in mobile homes for two or three years. IN ADDITION, THEY MUST SPEND LARGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY FOR WINTER CLOTHES WHILE THEY CANNOT ACCESS THEIR CONTAINERS. 12. Hundreds of people who were arrested during the expulsion are confined to their homes under house arrest, because of decisions rendered by the Israeli courts that they are "ideological criminals" who are "dangerous to society". In conclusion, many good hearts have opened up to these people who were living proud and productive lives until their expulsion. However, much of the charitable help that has been rendered to the evacuees has caused further trauma to these people, as they are rendered a new status as "charity cases". Indeed, immediately following the expulsion, major organizations allocated hundreds of school bags to the estimated 3,800 children who had no schools to go to, little means of support and no access to their own clothes. These gifts were received with mixed feelings. The highest level of giving to someone in distress is to help that person the chance to stand on their feet once again. The people who were kicked out of their homes need help to go to court to redress their grievances, to regain their dignity. Our news agency would be pleased to refer people to the proper addresses to help these people to sue...indeed, to regain some of their dignity. At a time when efforts are under way in Israel to force thousands more people from their homes, the timing of this litigation could not be more appropriate. *With reporting by Toby Klein Greenwald David Bedein is an investigative reporter and Bureau Chief, Israel Resource News Agency. (http://Israelbehindthenews.com). |
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AMIR PERETZ' MASTER PLAN TO DESTROY ISRAEL
Posted by Steven Plaut, November 20, 2005. |
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This appeared in the Jewish Press November 16, 2005 and was entitled "Moustache Pete: Israel`s New Labor Party Commissar." The victory of Amir Peretz over Shimon Peres in the Nov. 9 Labor Party primaries all but guarantees the victory of the Likud in Israel`s next national election. It also makes it quite likely that the Labor Party will now shrink into insignificance and irrelevance as the Peretz victory will serve as a shot in the arm for the nearly extinct left-wing Meretz Party. The most dramatic ramification of all, of course, is that Peretz's triumph at long last puts an end to the career of Shimon Peres, the holder of Israel's record for political failure. Having lost virtually every political contest he's ever fought, and coming off his shocking and embarrassing defeat at the hands of the unschooled Peretz, Peres is finished politically. (Peres responded to his loss to Peretz with a show of ungraciousness, refusing to call Peretz to congratulate him and threatening to challenge the primary results in court.) The amazing thing is that Shimon Peres managed to impose so many of his ideas on Israel without ever winning an election. The Oslo "peace process" was by and large Peres's initiative. It was imposed on Israel by Yitzhak Rabin, who was willing to follow Peres's lead on statecraft even though he'd been elected on a platform flatly rejecting any Oslo-like strategy. Peres in time managed to use the shock in Israel over the assassination of Rabin to neutralize what had been growing opposition to the Rabin-Peres initiative. Later, the visionless leaders of Likud also followed Peres's line and continued to pursue peace through appeasement and national self-abasement. Enough of Peres; let us turn our attention now to Amir Peretz. The new Labor Party boss is, to put it politely, a cross between Jimmy Hoffa and Cheech. A party hack who built his career mainly by establishing a power base in Israel's corrupt Histadrut trade union federation, Peretz got as far as he has in part through fortuitously pinning his political fortunes to the tailcoats of other politicians, and in part because the establishment politicians in Labor never took him seriously enough to neuter him politically. Born in Morocco, Peretz immigrated with his parents to Israel at the age of four. He first came to national attention in Israel in 1983 upon his election as mayor of the economically distressed working class Negev town of Sderot. This was long before the days when Sderot morphed into Israel's Stalingrad, routinely taking the brunt of rocket attacks by the PLO and its affiliates. (Peretz has been notoriously absent from Sderot during those attacks, and has had almost nothing to say about them). A personal note: The only time I met Peretz face to face was when he invited me to testify before a Knesset committee he was chairing on health policy. Aware of his reputation as an intellectual lightweight, I made my presentation in monosyllables and simple words, but he just stared at me with uncomprehending wide eyes, apparently understanding nothing that I said. Peretz served as a warehouse and maintenance officer in the Israeli military, sustaining a leg injury in the Sinai in 1974 when his personnel carrier was involved in an accident. After recovery he was offered the task of running a gas station, but he refused, claiming he was not "prepared to be anyone's boss on the grounds that it would constitute exploitation." Perhaps he was really afraid of the bookkeeping challenges involved. Instead, he bought a small farm in an agricultural cooperative in the Negev, where he grew rose flowers. Later, after his stint as mayor of Sderot, he was pushed into minor Labor Party visibility as the token Moroccan Jew recruited by Labor leaders concerned with the party's difficulties attracting working class "Mizrachi" or Oriental-Jewish voters. (While styling itself the party of the working man, the Labor Party has long been the bastion of the middle- and upper-middle-class Ashkenazi establishment.) Peretz has always been instantly recognizable in the media thanks to his huge Zapatista moustache. He seems to have been made for caricaturists. "I love the moustache," he once confessed to Dalia Karpel of Haaretz. "A small moustache wouldn't suit me..." 'Laziest Member of Knesset' Peretz was elected to the parliament in 1988. As a member of Knesset, he devoted most of his energies to prohibiting the use of out-sourcing and operation of non-unionized labor exchanges, the result being higher unemployment among low-skilled Israeli workers. Seeing that his prospects for a senior position in Labor were close to nonexistent, he joined the disaffected faction set up by Haim Ramon in the early 1990's. Ramon considered himself a serious contender for the job of prime minister but was certain he was being blocked by the party machine. Ramon and his sidekick Peretz decided to challenge the Labor establishment inside the Histadrut trade union federation with their own dissident slate named "New Haim" (or "New Life," a play on Ramon's first name). In the Histadrut union elections, the Ramon team beat the Labor machine and seized control of the trade union federation, with Peretz as second in command and in charge of strike actions and trade union negotiations. But already by then the Histadrut, once a powerful state within the Israeli state, had lost much of its muscle. It had been a stunning fall for the union behemoth: Histadrut membership cards were a sine qua non for getting a job in pre-1948 Israel and without such membership workers were barred from many jobs even into the 1970's. Histadrut funds were always misused by the Labor Party to fund its own election campaigns. Before statehood, funds donated by Jews around the world had been funneled through the Histadrut into the coffers of MAPAI (forerunner to today's Labor) and used to build the party's power base. After 1948 Israeli taxpayer funds were similarly misappropriated for the same purpose. By the early 1990's the Histadrut was little more than a weak and corrupt anachronism, stripped of its control of Bank Hapoalim, Israel's largest bank, after the "bank share scandal," a large Ponzi scheme that collapsed in 1983. It also lost control of many of its insolvent pension funds, which had long served as slush funds for Histadrut commissars, and of its captive "General Sick Fund," Israel's largest health service provider. After beating the Laborites in the Histadrut elections, Ramon quickly tired of his trade union toy. He resigned from the leadership of the Histadrut in 1995 and turned the job over to Amir Peretz While Ramon made his way back into the Labor Party's upper echelons, Peretz was still seeing his political ambitions stymied by the party machine. In 1999 he decided to use his power base in the Histadrut to challenge the Labor Party and set up his own competing "labor" faction, named Am Echad (One Nation). Using funds appropriated, Jimmy Hoffa style, from trade union accounts, Peretz spent his way into the parliament as a small two-seat (later three-seat) party, though he received just 16 percent of the vote in his home town of Sderot. His victory was, however, large enough to force Labor to co-opt Peretz and his people and offer them a power share within the prty, including reserved Knesset seats in the elections slate. In parliament Peretz only bothered to show up for about 11 percent of the votes and was dubbed the "laziest member of Knesset." His stock reply to critics was, "I am busy with the Histadrut." The single largest item on his expense account, according to a Knesset report of 2001, was NIS 18,720 for private tutoring in English, a language he has never quite mastered. Armchair Revolutionaries' Last, Great Hope Politically, Peretz, who likes to describe himself as a "social democrat," is associated with the Israeli Oslo Left, and was long a board member of Peace Now and the left-wing New Israel Fund. His ideas on economics are little different from those of nineteenth century socialists and syndicalists, and he dreams of turning Israel into some sort of hybrid combination of Sweden and Belarus. He has no patience for and no understanding of market economics. As the major promoter of an ever higher minimum wage in Israel, Peretz bears a major share of responsible for the country's high unemployment rate, caused largely by that minimum wage. Peretz also led the campaign against the employment in Israel of foreign temporary workers, who today are the backbone of Israel's agricultural and construction sectors. Had Peretz gotten his way, both those sectors would have collapsed. While mouthing socialist slogans about the working class, Peretz actually built his power base mainly on the elitist "unions" of highly skilled, lavishly paid professionals -- i.e., feather-bedded workers in government-owned or sponsored monopolies such as the Israel Electric Company, whose "workers," including engineers and technicians, are probably the most grossly overpaid group of people in Israel. Peretz made common cause with the "workers" in this and other sectors -- such as the seaports and airports -- in which market competition is suppressed by the Israeli government. Peretz consistently promoted the interests of the unionized overpaid professionals and semi-professionals at the expense of blue-collar workers -- those hurt most by the frequent strikes called by the Histadrut. He single-handedly shut down Israel's airports so often that foreign businessmen were refusing to come to Israel altogether, not from a fear of terrorism but from a fear of getting stranded when the airports were shut down. In earlier Labor Party primaries, Peretz used union funds to secure more votes than any other candidate. Even so, given Labor's inability to produce a serious contender for leadership after the debacle of Amram Mitzna's 2003 landslide loss to Ariel Sharon, support for Peretz in the primaries was far less a vote for him than it was a protest against the machine leaders. Will Sephardic voters be enticed by a Peretz-led Labor Party? Don't count on it. Labor may have long viewed Peretz as a magical key to opening the door to bring in Sephardic voters, but Oriental Jews in Israel remain far more likely to vote for the Likud and the religious parties, and in any case Moroccan Jewish candidates do not have a very good track record in attracting the votes of non-Moroccan Oriental-Jewish voters. The more likely effect of the Peretz nomination will be to drive away much of Labor's Ashkenazi rank and file -- and some of the leaders as well. A good chunk probably will end up in the semi-Marxist Meretz Party. The parliamentary strength of Meretz has shrunk almost to the endangered-species level, but the abandonment of Labor by the educated Ashkenazi middle class, who will be repulsed by Peretz's lowbrow blue-collar shallowness, will likely revive Meretz as a political force. Peretz already is itching to flex his muscles in a national showdown with Sharon and is threatening to bust up the Labor-Likud National Unity government immediately to force it. And of course the coming wave of political jokes about Peretz-as-ignoramus will make all those Bush, Gore, and Quayle jokes look tame and polite by comparison. Unless the Labor machine now topples Peretz, which it might yet do, the party is on course to losing the next election to the Likud by a much larger landslide than its last loss. But such a prospective landslide will also lower the likelihood that the Likud will abandon its current platform of "Oslo Lite" or take any courageous stand on anything. Already Commerce Minister Ehud Olmert is maneuvering to replace Ariel Sharon as Likud chief on a platform of escalated appeasement. While mouthing the slogans of the Left about Oslo, "disengagement" and the "peace process," Amir Peretz clearly means to make anti-market economics and "social issues" his main banners. One should bear in mind that the Israeli Left does even more damage when it gets all compassionate and concerned about "social issues" than it does when it pursues "peace." The way it invariably pursues "social issues" is through seeking massive tax increases and budget outlays for "social needs" coupled with massive interference in market mechanisms. But Peretz's ambitions go well beyond even that. Should the Israeli public ever be foolish enough to allow Peretz to seize the reins of power, he will quite simply destroy the Israeli economy. He would order massive across-the-board wage increases detached from productivity considerations, which would drive countless businesses into receivership while raising unemployment to astronomical levels. He would promote the interests of state monopolies and seek to nationalize more industry. He would suppress competition and attempt to restore the quasi-Bolshevik system of price controls and rationing that nearly caused Israel to collapse during its first years of independence, controls wisely trashed by the socialist MAPAI leaders of the 1950's when they came to the realization that these could not possibly work. Peretz would also seek to expand the powers of the Histadrut, which all the while would operate under his fiefdom, turning it back into a state within the Israeli state -- an unelected anti-democratic second government, a dictatorship of the unionized middle-class pseudo-proletariat. It is precisely because of his promises to establish a system of socialist command-and-control central planning with trade union tyranny that some of Israel`s most foolish professors and journalists have endorsed him with such enthusiasm. Dreaming of creating a Scandinavian-style welfare state combined with "class warfare" against the big bad "industrialists," and led by a bullying trade union mafia, these armchair revolutionaries see Peretz as the last great hope of leading Israel out of the First World and back into the Third. Steven Plaut is an American-trained economist, a professor of business administration at Haifa University and author of "The Scout." He frequently comments - both seriously and satirically - on Israeli politics and the left wing academic community. His website address is http://www.stevenplaut.blogspot.com or write him at splaut@econ.haifa.ac.il. |
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SO... WHAT'S YOUR PLAN B?
Posted by Gerald A. Honigman, November 19, 2005. |
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As National Security Advisor, Dr. Condoleezza Rice spoke at the U.S. Institute of Peace on August 19, 2004. Some of what she said was morally indefensible -- real politik at its worst. While she was delivering what has increasingly come to be her favorite words of wisdom regarding the necessity of creating a 22nd state for Arabs (and second, not first, in the original borders of the Palestine Mandate as Britain received it on April 25, 1920...Jordan created out of the lion's share in 1922) at the Institute of Peace, she totally shot down questions relating to Kurdish anxieties and national aspirations in Iraq. Keep in mind that before the imperial Arab conquests in the 7th century C. E., the Kurds had lived in Mesopotamia for millennia. Here's some of what Rice had to say, however, about her Arab buddies: The President believes that the Palestinian people deserve not merely their own state, but a just and democratic state that serves their interests and fulfills their decent aspirations. Regardless of the very likely murderous effects that this will have on the sole, miniscule state of the Jews, Condi--now true to State Department form--simply brushes aside the Jews' concerns as she does with the Kurds. Her latest "deal", for example, at the Gaza-Egyptian crossing, after Israel's unilateral withdrawal, typifies this. Her likely next squeeze will be to force the Jews to virtually cut their own microscopic state in half so that Arabs will have contiguity between Gaza terrorists and West Bank jihadists. What this will do to Israel's own contiguity is of no matter. Any Israeli leadership which permits this is a disgrace. Take the cut off in American aid and support that will be threatened instead. Better poor than dead. And that cutoff will backfire tremendously on any American Administration that does this. The American people are fair and not stupid. While Dubya won't be running for office again, his pals will...including a brother with probable presidential aspirations of his own. Back to Iraq and the Kurds... Despite the non-stop bloodshed and turmoil in the Arab areas of Iraq (Arabs continue to blow each other apart by the hundreds); despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of Kurds have been killed, maimed, turned into refugees, and the like by Iraqi and Syrian Arabs over the decades; despite the fact that the Kurds have been marked as traitors because of their close ties to America; despite the fact that the most stable and democratic areas in Iraq are undoubtedly in the Kurdish areas -- indeed, despite all of this and more, Dr. Rice simply brushed off a question regarding a Kurdish referendum on independence (which showed that at least 80% of the Kurds wanted this) with the following disdain: ...It's the role of leadership to convince people that they really ought to stay in the same body. A sickening disgrace. Compare this hypocrisy to her Arab derriere kissing. Did she tell Arabs that they already have the bulk of "Palestine" and that others besides themselves are also entitled to a reasonable share of justice in this multiethnic region? Did she tell them that more than mere lip service is required to obtain and maintain that justice? Did she council a post-Tito Yugoslavia to remain as one? We led the pack in bringing about its dissolution, promoting a jihadist Dar ul-Islam agenda that had been knocking at the Balkans' gates for numerous centuries. The first Battle of Kosovo was fought to prevent this by the Serbs' Stephan Dusan in 1389. We aided the onslaught in the name of Kosova just a while back. That's the other side of the story most haven't heard...But it won us some points when we next bombed other Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq. America can and should do better than this. While it's true that the Kurdish leader, Jalal Talabani, is now the President Of Iraq, and that, since America's recent wars, the no fly zones (created as an afterthought in the wake of the massacre of thousands of Kurds who revolted at Bush the First's call, but were then left holding the bag by him) have permitted the blossoming of Kurdish democracy, autonomy, and such in the north, it's also true that this is all very iffy and tenuous. Right now, the majority Shi'a need the Kurds to help offset determined Sunni opponents and suicide bombers. Truth be told, the only source of stability America can count on over there comes from the Kurds...the very folks our State Department has full intentions to shaft yet again as it has disgracefully done too often before. Condi's words of advice at the Institute of Peace were nothing new. So, here's my question, Dr. Rice...and from someone (me) whose work on this subject can be found on recommended reference lists of leading universities all around the world...including Paris' famed Institut d'Etudes Politiques, where you spoke on February 8, 2005: With more and more pressure coming to bear for an American withdrawal from Iraq sooner rather than later, what will you, your fellow State Department Arabists, and Dubya himself demand as justice for some thirty million truly stateless Kurds? All of you have no qualms about forcing a rejectionist Arafatian/Hamas good cop/bad cop state down Israel's throat even though the alleged moderates have also openly proclaimed their intent to destroy Israel as a Jewish State and have called all dealings with the Jews merely a Trojan Horse. Again, Arabs already have some two dozen states on over six million square miles of territory--lands which they conquered and forcibly Arabized from scores of millions of non-Arabs in the region. While I truly hope your plans for Iraq succeed and have supported the overthrow of Adolph--I mean Saddam--Hussein, the odds of you succeeding in forging an Iraqi nationalism triumphant over an Arab nationalism in Iraq are (I'll be generous) less than good. I'm sure you and your experts are familiar with the history of the previous attempts at doing this...so you know what your odds are--or at least should. After America pulls out and the likely Shi'a Islamic Republic of Iraq is established, what then? We all know where much of the Shi'a's support is coming from...the Ayatollah big brothers to the east. Right now, like with the Kurds, the Shi'a also need us to help contain the Sunni Arabs who blow them up. After we help them further achieve their own goals, however, and we leave, the fun will really start. Shi'a Arabs have voiced the same disdain for the Kurds as Sunni Arabs have. They're just biding their time... If America's ideal of a federalist State--which is a good one, but which Sunni Arabs mostly reject--collapses, what next for the Kurds? They have repeatedly been slaughtered over the decades in the wake of America's games in the region. Kurds have repeatedly been used and abused by the Foggy Folks, the CIA, and others as well. As America now insists on the birth of Arab State #22, if Iraq goes sour, then--at long last--Kurdistan must enter into the realm of nations as well. Iraq was an artificial state to begin with...no more real than Yugoslavia. Its opposing ethnic groups were forced together for others' interests...especially the Arabs and the Brits' after World War I. British petroleum politics colluded with Arab nationalism to shaft the Kurds out of the one best chance they had at independence. Among other things, President Wilson's famed Fourteen Points had earlier addressed the self determination of these folks as well. The fears of the Turks that Kurdish independence will spread to Turkish Kurdistan must be addressed...and can be. The proportion of Kurds to Turks in Turkey is the same as Arabs to Jews in Israel proper...one fifth of the population. Turkey also dwarfs Israel geographically. Yet this doesn't stop the Foggy Folks from insisting that another, hostile, adjacent, independent Arab state emerge right on Israel's doorstep--in close contact with that potential Arab fifth column in Israel. State routinely uses this as a key argument, however, against the birth of a Kurdish state...along with angering its Arab buddies, of course. "Destabilizing" and so forth... Regardless, those fears cannot condemn 30 million people to a perpetually stateless condition. If there's a parallel to the plight of pre-1948 Jews, it is the Kurds...not "Palestinians," most of whom were new arrivals--Arab settlers--themselves into the land as the Records of the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations and other solid documentation show. Again, for all the attention Arabs get on this issue, they already have some two dozen states. They renamed themselves "Palestinians" instead of Arabs late in the game so they could argue the point better. Zuheir Mohsein, official with the PLO's military wing and Executive Council, in his interview with the Dutch newspaper, Trouw, on 3/31/77, stated, "there are no differences between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians, etc...It is only for political reasons that we now carefully underline Palestinian identity... this serves only a tactical purpose...a new tool in the continuing battle against Israel". Using this Arab line of reasoning, then Kurds should rename themselves after geographical regions in Iran, Iraq, Syria, and so forth that they live in and demand multiple states--not just one--as well. And likewise for the Jews...Get the picture? This won't happen, of course...for lots of reasons. But if justice demands yet another Arab state, America must also finally demand a share of it for its strangely loyal Kurdish friends. No matter what we do, we're largely despised in that region. And if you believe the Arabs' manure that it's all Israel's fault, you know nothing about their still pervading Dar ul-Islam versus Dar al-Harb worldview. Israel is just another manifestation of this...a painful one, admittedly. After all, how dare kilab yahud Jew dogs (half of whom in Israel were refugees from so-called "Arab" lands) ask, in one tiny state, for what Arabs demand for themselves in some two dozen of their own! There is no justice besides their own in Arab eyes. And so Kurdish children in Syria are forced to sing songs praising their Arab identity, Kurds in Iraq received similar treatment and worse, and so forth. Unlike elsewhere, American bases will be welcome in Kurdistan. And, with its vast oil deposits, it will be an economically viable, democratic success story...unlike anything over two hundred million Arabs have created to date. In other words...something we can really be proud to be a part of. As we have built up despotic Arab regimes militarily, we must also do no less for Kurds who truly share more of our own values. America's hope for a united Iraq is a noble one. But it will most likely be unattainable given the bloody realities at hand...realities that date back centuries and out of our control. Again...think Yugoslavia...and the Serbs, Croats, Bosnians, Macedonians, Albanians, and so forth who were held together only by the likes of a Tito. How much longer will we be willing to expend American treasure and blood over such an unrealistic goal? Arrangements can be made to share Kurdish oil wealth with Arabs, Turks, and others as well...as conditions permit. The Shi'a have their own oil wealth. The fate of the Kurds, however, must not forcibly be tied--as Condi & Co. insisted back in 2004 and still do now--to Arabs of either stripe to the south. If a civil war breaks out among them, Kurds--who have supported America the most--ought not to suffer. In other words, when America withdraws and all Hell breaks loose among the Arabs, America must then come up with a well thought out Plan B. We must not leave the Kurds at others' mercy as we've done too often before. The roadmap for Kurdistan is long overdue. Gerald A. Honigman, a Florida educator, has created and conducted counter-Arab propaganda programs for college youth, has lectured on numerous campuses and other platforms, and has publicly debated Arab spokesmen. His articles and op-eds have been published in both the print media and on websites. Contact him at honigman6@msn.com or go to his website: http://geraldahonigman.com/blog.php |
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IN CONTRAST TO OSLO AGREEMENTS RAFAH DEAL SILENT ON TERRORISTS
Posted by David Bedein, November 19, 2005. |
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"The PA will act to prevent the movement of weapons and explosives at the Rafah crossing." [Agreed Principles for Rafah Crossing - Security 15 November 2005] http://usinfo.state.gov/mena/Archive/2005/Nov/15-381874.html The text does not obligate the PA to act to prevent the movement of terrorists. Previous agreements specifically cited terrorists as people to be stopped at crossings. For example: THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN INTERIM AGREEMENT - 28 Sep 1995 Annex I
Protocol Concerning Redeployment and Security Arrangements APPENDIX 5
Protocol Rewarding Arrangements with Respect to Passages (as amended)
... SECTION B Entry and Exit through the Palestinian Wing..1. Entry
from Egypt and Jordan...
www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace+Process/Guide+to+the+Peace+Process/ THE+ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN+INTERIM+AGREEMENT+-+Annex+I.htm We have evidence of the intentions of the Palestinian Authority. On November 17, an article about the agreement appeared on the web site of the Palestinian National Authority's International Press Center (www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_new/english/details.asp?name=11835). In part it read: "Meanwhile, the director of borders and crossings, Salim Abu Safiyyeh, asserted that there won't be any live video streams to the Israeli side via the surveillance cameras installed in Rafah terminal, pointing out that even the joint control room will not receive these live feeds, and will be only for the presence of the third party that will monitor the borders." It remains unclear why U.S. Secretary of State Rice decided to press Israel to allow free passage for terrorists. Thanks to Dr. Aaron Lerner of IMRA for assembling this data. David Bedein is an investigative reporter and Bureau Chief, Israel Resource News Agency. (http://Israelbehindthenews.com). |
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OLEG CARTOON: NO MORE DISENGAGEMENT, JUST ROADMAP. SAME DIFFERENCE
Posted by Women in Green, November 19, 2005. |
Ruth and Nadia Matar established Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green), an activist group of women based in Jerusalem. Their website address is http://www.womeningreen.org |
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DAVID'S TOMB -- RECAP AND WRAP-UP FOR NOW. STAY ALERT
Posted by Ellen W. Horowitz, November 19, 2005. |
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THE HISTORIC MOMENT: What was originally heralded as a soon-to-be HISTORIC VISIT followed by International and Catholic press reports of an HISTORIC SWAP, ended up being a "friendly" discussion about tax issues??!! (Don't believe it.) THE SWAP WE CAN LIVE WITH: A swap of sorts did take place between the pope and President Katsav... A copy of a papal paper declaring that not all Jews are responsible for killing Christianity's lord was exchanged for a few books and some photos of an ancient church - located on the grounds of maximum security prison - that sits on the site of biblical Armageddon (talk about high-risk real estate). I can live with those types of gestures. No disappointment here. But there are those who must be broken-hearted... THE DISAPPOINTED ONES... THE VATICAN: They anticipated that the draft would be signed by Katsav on this trip. To view a copy of the draft go to http://isfsp.org/draft.html THE PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM, MICHEL SABBAH: (a Palestinian) who can be heard on an October 12th audio clip on Radio Vatican proclaiming that a draft agreement has been drawn up and that the Vatican awaits Israel's "fine gesture". http://www.oecumene.radiovaticana.org/en1/Articolo.asp?id=52079 THE PRESS: Richard Owen, of the London Times, who reported on the swap deal. The London Times, who confirmed that their sources for the story were in the Vatican. Signor Orazio Petrosillo Vatican correspondent of Il Messaggero, who reported the swap as a fait accompli in "The Room of the Last Supper to Return to the Friars" http://isfsp.org/zion37.html FRANCISCAN FATHER DAVID M. JAEGER: Who told the National Catholic Reporter that: Restitution of the Cenacle "would make the climate a lot more favorable for the rest of the negotiations." and who when asked in a recent interview what he expected from President Katsav's visit replied: That the church in Caesarea will be rebuilt. That the Convent of St. Anthony [a part of Hebrew University] will finally be returned fully to the Franciscan Sisters. Most of all, that the present negotiations will be accelerated with a view to an early conclusion, in accordance with the Fundamental Agreement. Then I will know that the great hopes we had in 1993 were truly justified http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=4603 PAPAL KNIGHT RABBI DAVID ROSEN, interreligious affairs director for the American Jewish Committee (AJC), who endorsed Gary Krupp and Pave the Way Foundation's "efforts to galvanize Israeli compliance with its commitments made in the Fundamental Agreement and to demonstrate gestures of goodwill to the Vatican..." http://66.249.93.104/search?q=cache:3twEJSlX458J:www.pavethewayfoundation.org/My_Homepage_Files/Download/Brochure2005 3.pdf+oded+ben+hur+%2B+gary+krupp&hl=en Director JEWISH PAPAL KNIGHT GARY KRUPP, founder of Pave the Way Foundation who publicly and resonantly announced his intentions "to urge upon the Israelis... the return of the Shrine of the Cenacle" http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/word012005.htm THE FRIARS (as in Franciscan) who have a site, which links directly from Pave the Way Foundation homepage picture of the Cenacle (Last Supper room), espousing replacement theology and declaring: "The jewish temple of Sion had passed away but the new Christian Sion had arisen." (servus.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/pope/10GPen/12/12GPsh05.html) Sorry Friars, but we Jews are very much alive, well, and living in Israel, AND studying Torah on MT. Zion. 1993 FUNDAMENTAL AGREEMENT (which Rabbi Rosen of AJC wants Israel to comply with) is as old, obsolete and problematic as the Oslo agreements: For just a glimpse of some of the problems inherent in that agreement read: "The Vatican's Betrayal of Israel" by Don Kenner in Front Page Magazine, www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=12287 For a look at the full accords see:
www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/holysee.html
US PRESIDENTIAL PRESSURE (what would we do without Uncle Sam?): Bush appeal to Sharon gives impetus to Israel-Vatican negotiations These are excerpts from must-read article in Haaretz (www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/ PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=646778) The foot-dragging ended only after U.S. President George W. Bush broached the subject with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at their last meeting. According to one source, Bush even raised the issue twice... "Why can't you complete the negotiations?" Bush reportedly asked, after which Sharon ordered that the issue be handled urgently...Church leader David Yaeger said... that the Israeli government only wakes up when it comes under pressure from the Americans. CONTINUING EFFORTS: The church will continue their efforts to gain control of Mt. Zion and other areas in Eretz Yisrael, so we must continue our efforts to hold on to and develop the area. AN OPPORTUNITY: VOICES MAGAZINE ORGANIZES TOUR OF MT. ZION: To promote Jewish interest in the area, VOICES Magazine is planning a "King David" tour of Mt. Zion and environs for this Sunday. The tour will include visits to the City of David, Mt. of Olives, the new Maaleh HaZeitim neighborhood, and King David's burial site on Mt. Zion. The cost: 50 shekels. Transportation from Jerusalem at the Haas Promenade at 9 AM Transportation from the Efrat Community Center at 8:30 AM For more information, send email to izzy@actcom.co.il. ----- CONCLUSION: After a full month of research and campaigning on this issue, I can only conclude that Israel and its leaders are indeed under immense pressure from all directions. Activism is an essential component in reminding our leaders and all Jews of who they are and where they are standing. What I find profoundly tragic is the role that certain Diaspora Jews and Jewish organizations play in jeopardizing their people, heritage and eternal inheritance. THANK YOU to all of the many activists who rallied to the cause and protested via articles, radio, cyberspace, email, letter, fax, phone, vigil, and visits to the Diaspora Yeshiva. We're far away from victory on this issue but, as MK Rabbi Benny Elon stated, eliciting a denial from President Katzav's office was, "A major achievement, and was the result of public pressure." I feel especially grateful for having the opportunity to work with the following team of outstanding individuals both in Israel and the Diaspora: Shelomo, Yisrael, Batya, Sharon, Barbara,and Michelle. We will will continue this campaign.
DISCUSSION, INFORMATION AND FUTURE UPDATES: Regular email updates of this type will not be sent out over the next 3 weeks. For updated information go to out situation room at:
To join in a discussion on the situation, join our newly formed Save Mt. Zion Yahoo Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/savezion/ Other inquiries regarding our activities? Contact Shelomo at: email@isfsp.org Contact Ellen W. Horowitz at ellenwrite@bezeqint.net |
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NY LEFTIST JEWISH "LEADERS" PUSHED RICE TO OPEN THE BORDERS TO PA TERRORISTS
Posted by Marlene Young, November 18, 2005. |
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As the vocal Left minority Jewish groups pushed Condoleeza Rice into opening the Borders to PA terrorists and Al Qaeda in Sinai, for the Profit of their Leftist business interests, ECF Fund, New Israel Fund, Portland Trust, etc, all the while the RIGHT U.S. Jewish Groups, the OU, Young Israel, Agudah, never met with Rice to counter their propaganda and goal to give away Jewish land to PA terrorists. Why Is the OU Allowing Left-Wing IPF To push the Left's appeasement agenda to Rice without rebuttal, why are they afraid of Rice, Wolfensohn and the PA Warlords? Their inaction and silence is dangerous to Jews in Israel. Please call the OU and tell them they must meet with Rice. This is called "N.Y. Jewish leaders lobbied Rice on Gaza border deal" and was written by Shlomo Shamir. It appeared in Haaretz (www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/646999.html ) NEW YORK - New York Jewish leaders encouraged U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to intervene aggressively in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute over the Gaza border crossings, telling her this would gain the support of American Jews, according to sources affiliated with the community's liberal wing. In particular, the sources said, they urged her to take a tough line against Israel, especially on issues such as a settlement freeze and dismantling illegal settlement outposts. The sources said several leading New York Jews held talks with Rice recently at which these issues, as well as the impasse over the border crossings, were discussed. However, they also urged her to press the Palestinian Authority to meet its commitment to fight terror. Among others, Rice met in Washington earlier this month with the heads of the left-wing Israel Policy Forum, who expressed their views on various aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Following the meeting, the forum also sent her a policy paper in which it urged the U.S. to take "aggressive" action on three issues. "The U.S. should embark on these steps immediately and vigorously. The three steps are interrelated. The success or failure of one will impact on the success or failure of the others. The program presented will allow the United States to help build and reinforce the first section of the bridge that began with this summer's disengagement and must end with the viable and realistic two-state solution," according to the IPF policy paper entitled "Building a Bridge from Disengagement to Two States." "The three steps that should be implemented in tandem, rather than in sequence, are as follows: Unambiguous and effective efforts by the PA to control terror and prevent attacks on Israelis; an Israeli freeze on extending existing settlements, including roads and other associated infrastructure, and removal of unauthorized settlement outposts; and efforts to help grow the Palestinian economy so the Palestinian Authority can provide jobs and basic services for Palestinians. This effort would help strengthen the PA's position among the various Palestinian factions, including Hamas." IPF President Seymour Reich, who participated in the meeting with Rice, told Haaretz, "We don't presume to say that it was because of our conversation with the secretary of state, or the political paper we sent her, that she acted so aggressively to achieve the border crossing agreement." However, he added, "I have no doubt that we bolstered Rice's instinct and strengthened her opinion that aggressive American involvement was needed to achieve practical results." Abraham Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League, said it was not uncommon for Jewish organizations to lobby the administration to exert pressure on Israel. Foxman himself opposes such activity, but said the IPF, Americans for Peace Now and sometimes the Reform Movement all engage in it. Contact Marlene Young at marleneyoung1@yahoo.com |
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THE RAFAH AGREEMENT AND ARAB COMPLIANCE
Posted by Unity Coalition for Israel, November 18, 2005. |
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This article was written by Arlene Kushner, an investigative reporter
withIsrael Resource News Agency. (http://Israelbehindthenews.com).
I let some days go by during which I focused only on the "Rafah" agreement. Yet, it seems not to matter with regard to several issues. We seem to be in a holding pattern that simply shifts a bit from day to day. After having sort-of indicated that he would stay in Likud, Sharon is now talking again about the possibility of leaving this party and starting another -- this because of his on-going discontent with the "rebels." The gov't hasn't been brought down, but it seems early elections will be set -- by the mutual agreement of Sharon and Peretz -- for late February or early March. The media commentators are still discussing the economic impact of Peretz's leadership. The right wing parties are still discussing, but have not achieved, unity. With regard to the "Rafah" agreements, allowing greater latitude of passage to Palestinians, at a risk to Israel: Isracast reports that "Mofaz concluded that Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas would now face the test on preventing the terrorists from exploiting the new measures that grants the Palestinians greater mobility." Here we have a sterling example of the unrealistic (actually, ludicrous) and dangerous approach of the Israeli gov't with regard to all of this. Mofaz acts as if he is now putting the onus on the PA to conduct itself properly. Fine and good, except past experience has taught us that Abbas is going to flunk the test because he does not clamp down on terrorists. We KNOW that terrorists are going to use this new freedom of passage to evil end. The only logical way to provide Abbas with a test would have been to tell him when he proves himself with regard to control of the terrorists, then we will agree to freer passage. As it is, Abbas flunks and Jews die. According to Isracast, as well, Mofaz also told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that we will be getting live pictures of the passage at Rafah, as if this were reassurance. Is it a joke? According to the agreement, we can see the pictures but not stop those who are known terrorists from coming through if the PA opts to allow them to do so! Significantly, an official Palestinian website (which can be found on IMRA at http://imra.org.il/story.php3?id=27528) today declared: "...the director of borders and crossings, Salim Abu Safiyyeh, asserted that there won't be any live video streams to the Israeli side via the surveillance cameras installed in Rafah terminal, pointing out that even the joint control room will not receive these live feeds, and will be only for the presence of the third party [the EU] that will monitor the borders." This statement represents blatant disregard for the agreement. Doesn't take them long to renege, does it? Perhaps this quote needs to be sent to the State Department and the White House, not to speak of Mofaz. Can we say, per the comments above, that Abbas has already flunked the test? Israeli President Moshe Katzav is in the Vatican and has met with the Pope Benedict XVI; Katsav extended an invitation to him to visit Israel, which has apparently been accepted. This visit was fraught with controversy here in Israel because of rumors that Katsav was going to sign papers giving the Vatican a part of David's Tomb on Mount Zion, recognized as the site of the Last Supper. No papers were signed -- as Katsav's office had assured they would not be -- but this issue is not closed. Rumors on the matter were so strong that investigations are still taking place, along with Jewish protests. In defiance of PA orders forbidding public displays involving weapons (which order went into effect after an accident killed 25 two months ago when Hamas was celebrating with weaponry), members of Al Aksa Brigades and their supports, numbering in total some 1,000 people, marched in Gaza City today brandishing assault rifles and rocket launchers and declaring their right to bear arms against Israel. A considerable controversy is brewing regarding the path of the security fence, which is scheduled to have its more southern section put up shortly. At issue right now is the settlement bloc of Gush Etzion. Seems the fence is supposed to enclose some of the settlements and not all. There is deep and serious concern that this will end up being a de facto border -- in spite of gov't claims that it is only a defensive measure -- and that those left out of the fence will be written off. Some are proposing that the entire bloc of settlements be left out, rather than seeing an action taken selectively to the disadvantage of some. It is -- G-d forbid -- very unlikely that all the settlements of Gush Etzion would be abandoned. In point of fact, NONE, should be abandoned. (This block of settlements was known as the southern gateway to Jerusalem in 1948, when it defended Jerusalem from the south, blocking the invading Jordan legion. The communities were wiped out then -- when Jordan won the area, and over 200 people were killed. After Israel took the region in 1967, the children of those original settlers went back to the area to rebuild. There are now 15 communities with a combined population of 20,000.) FOLLOWUP, November 19, 2005 As information comes available to me on the issue of the agreement Condoleezza Rice coerced Israel into agreeing to, I will share it and ask that it be share widely by you in turn. I urge everyone reading this not to simply murmur some words of distress and then turn to other matters. I urge you to make the noise that is neccesary, both here in Israel and in the States. Getting this information out -- via letters to the editor of various papers and phone calls to the foreign desk editors of those papers -- is critically important. People simply don't know. At the same time, pressure must be applied to those political figures who are involved. Persist. If a fax doesn't go through, try again or use another number. If an e-mail bounces back, send it again or try another method such as calling instead. And I remind you that hard copy letters, written and mailed, are the single most effective way of getting the message out -- the way that will receive the most attention. It now appears that before she embarked on this "negotiation," Sec. Rice received encouragement to apply pressure on Israel to make concessions from members of the left wing Israel Policy Forum, the Reform Movement, and Peace Now. It is imperative that Rice and Bush get the clear message now that these people do not represent the only voice within the Jewish community with regard to Israel -- let it be clear that they are no more than a minority! I remind you again that there is a window of opportunity here with regard to the final signing of this abhorent agreement. ____ These are new points to use when contacting officials or writing letters: 1) The Rafah agreement does not call for the PA to prevent the movement of terrorists. The text only calls for the PA to prevent the movement of weapons. This is contrast to the Oslo agreements, which did make such a call. Whether the PA honored this is another question. Why are they now being provided with an arrangement that doesn't even require it of them at all? (With thanks to Dr. Aaron Lerner of IMRA on this one.) Sec. Rice needs to be asked why she was willing to do this. 2) According to Haaretz, this deal that Israel has agreed to contradicts the Disengagement Law passed by the Knesset, which says that "Israel will oversee and guard the external land envelope." Israeli decision makers must be challenged on this one. PLEASE WRITE President Bush
Sec. of State Rice
Shaul Mofaz
MK Yuval Steinitz
The Unity Coalition for Israel
(http://www.israelunitycoalition.org) is "the largest worldwide
coalition of Jewish and Christian organizations, with more than 200
groups representing millions of people dedicated to Israel. Though we
have many different backgrounds, we have one common goal: A Safe and
Secure Israel."
"Israel is not just a Jewish issue. Millions of Christians
resolutely endorse the principle of peace with security for the state
of Israel. Because we work closely together and speak with a united
voice, our message is being heard!"
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ISRAEL CAN BECOME A 2ND MILLENNIUM ENERGY CZAR
Posted by Lawrence Uniglicht, November 18, 2005. |
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Fossil fuel is the lifeblood of planetary commerce, dominating all substantial political decisions crafted by energy obsessed industrial nations. Israel's interests logically will not trump such need even when dealing with its most formidable ally America. A bride's maid alas will never be a bride unless that second fiddle finds a way to become a Stradivarius in the eyes of the world. Yet Earth's users morphed to abusers of the climate altering vicious viscous substance can wreck havoc to their one home in the universe for but a few more decades before the wells run dry, thus a prescient presently disrespected Jewish democracy can metaphorically become that finely crafted instrument by embarking upon and succeeding in that ever essential quest for the holy grail safe, efficient, and cost effective source of energy worthy of century twenty-one. Forthwith, let a prescient Knesset formulate a plan to subsidize the best and brightest Israeli scientists in this endeavor, indeed a PATENTly propitious undertaking. No doubt other countries are flexing intellectual muscle in this regard. Yet, the tiny but cerebrally powerful Middle Eastern Jewish enclave is not stifled by those progress impeding special interests ever apt to narcotize the competitive zeal of more affluent enclaves reducing flexing minds to mindless flab. Israeli scientists would likely suffer no confusion concerning fusion and not likely be out fishin' when it comes to fission. Darwinian rules of human engagement favor foresight and wit over shortsightedness and brawn, a lesson not lost on an uncanny culture adept at conquering adversity. No doubt, a refreshing taste of the good life would be oh so sweet for this planet's potentially emerging energy czar. Contact Lawrence Uniglicht at luniglicht@snip.net |
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NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD: CONDEMNS ZIONISM AS A FORM OF RACISM
Posted by David Meir-Levi, November 18, 2005. |
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The National Lawyers Guild (NLG-USA) has suddenly decided to condemn Zionism as a form of Racism, Israeli society as Apartheid, the defensive barrier as an apartheid wall, and the very origins of Israel as a racist apartheid war against the indigenous Arab people. I wonder where this initiative originates? Seems to be coming out of nowhere. But note the timing: Bush suffers a humiliating defeat in South America. Rice suffers a humiliating defeat in Bahrain (at the hands of Egypt, by the way, our ally to whom we American tax payers give c. $2,900,000 per year, on average). Needing a political victory in order to not be politically disgraced and eviscerated upon her return home, Rice pressures Israel to accept a domesticaly (i.e. in Israel) eviscerating agreement regarding the ceding of security control of the Gaza Strip entry-ways into Israel...ceding it to the terrorists themselves and to the EU representatives whose leadership has sided with the terrorists since the Oslo war began... and Israel agrees! So the trend is: 1993. Israel offers the Palestinians peace and statehood via negotiations and stages of development, and Arafat launches the Oslo War 2000. Israel offers what Bandar bin Sultan calls the best deal imaginable, peace and statehood if only Arafat will stop the terror war, and Arafat launches the 2nd Intifada terror war. 2004. Israel offers unilateral withdrawal from Gaza as a statement of Israel's intentions to make peace and negotiate the creation of the Palestinian state, and Ahmed Qurei'a (then PM of the PA) rejects the offer declaring that no unilateral offers are acceptable; yet at the same time refusing to stop the terror war. 2005. Israel unilaterally withdraws from Gaza, at great social and policial and personal cost to the nation and to 9000 Israeli individuals, and declares that the ball is in Abbas' court; and Abbas declares that he will not stop terrorism and hamas et al declare that they will continue the terrorism (since it seems to be working quite well - so why should they?). Now Bush agrees that the ball is in Abbas court, Israel has captured the moral high ground with Bush and with Congress, and the next move is for Abbas to stop the terrorism...BUT ...Israel still must make more concessions re Gaza: ...to save Rice's political derriere, ...to support the PA leadership (the moderate leadership that will not stop terrorism) against the immoderate leadership (Hamas et al that will not stop the terrorism), ...and to help stabilize the Gaza Strip politically and economically (this is the Gaza strip that is now home to representatives of every Arab major terror group in the world, and into which heavy weapons and missiles that can bring down 747s and SSTs have been smuggled, and which is run by competing war-lord street gang terror groups, whose leadership declares that their victory is had by force of terrorist arms and since it worked in Lebanon and it worked in Gaza they will make it work again in the West Bank -- obviously, if something works, keep using it!), ...and to strengthen the PA armed forces, per the EU leadership, after all, the PA needs a "credible" armed forces in order to stop the terrorism (and this is to stop the terrorism perpeatrated by the terror groups against which Abbas has vowed never to use force to stop the terrorism!). AND THEN...beyond all rational behavior...Sharon agrees to these demands, and thus hands Rice her victory and saves her PR and political derriere, and saves face for Bush (at the potential expense of unnumberable Israelis killed in the coming terror attacks that will be fueled and armed by the terrorists and weapons brought from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank thanks to the liberal terms forced upon Israel by Rice)... So again Israel has captured the moral high ground and cooperated with Rice and Bush and is recognized as being flexible and supportive and peace-desiring and willing to make concessions for peace... ...and now the ALG decides to mount a PR campaign to condemn Israel as racist. Hmmm... to me it looks like: They are aghast at the sudden interest in some Arab countries to normalize relations with Israel The are aghast at similar stirings in some Moslem non-Arab countries They are loosing the fight to get universities to divest They are loosing the fight to get churches to divest They are even loosing ground in the Arab-bloc-dominated UN (thanks in part to the moral high ground achieved by the unilateral Gaza pullout) which is now suddenly reaching out to Israel They can no longer condemn Israel as war-mongering since it has begged for more than a decade for peace They can no longer condemn it as an occupier since it has unilaterally withdawn from part of what they call 'occupied territory' and has offered to withdraw from more if/when the terrorism stops So...what arena can they now work in to create demonizing PR against Israel ... what western group that has legitimacy and moral clout can they co-opt ...what can they say to condemn Israel...to blackwash Israeli society...to inbue Israeli history with the worst social stain imaginable...to condemn the very cornerstone ideology behind Israel's existence...and thus to justify in the eyes of an all-too-complicit world their intention to destroy Israel and genocide its Jews? ...easy: just resurrect the "Zionism = Racism" canard of the UN in 1975 (rescinded in 1991) and find some high-profile group willing to run with the message, take it public, give it that group's imprimatur, legitimize it... ...And they find that willing, in fact enthusiastic, complicity in the ALG! Why the ALG? I don't know. Can anyone suggest an answer to that question? But wait: who is "They"? my guess: "they" is the group of Arab political thinkers who have been working together since the late 1960s to organize and launch what I call the "Arab war against realitiy". Since their defeat in the 6-day war, some Arab leadership (inter alia, the Saudis, Iraq under Saddam, Palestinians, Egyptians, Libyans and Syrians) have supported propaganda and PR and political efforts to create independent but coordinated assaults on western institutions to gain influence or control over western media, the UN, the EU, western Academia, and even western law enforcement agencies. Hence the hijacking of the UN in 1973. Hence the Arab League's agreements foisted upon an oil-hungry EU in the mid-to-late 1970s to not pressure Arab immigrants to integrate into european society; and this despsite Houari Boummedienne's famous UN speech of 1974 (our women's wombs will defeat you). Hence the western media's complicity documented by Kramer (Complicity) and Kohn (why we cannot trust the NYTIMES) in a whitewash of Arab history, Moslem bellicosity, and Islamofascist terrorism's threats and actions, and a blackwash spin of all things Israeli. Hence MESA's (Middle East Studies Association: international league of mid-east scholars) one-sided support for the teaching and preaching of the "Arab narrative" in college classes, and attempts to re-write textbooks for Middle and High Schools in order to make Arab history look good, and Zionism to look bad. Hence the FBI's unexpected discovery that one of its agents, a Moslem, can refuse to carry out surveilance orders against another Moslem (suspected terrorist), and can then discover that if it tries to fire or discipline that Moslem agent, it is suddenly in hot water politicallly Hence the Department of Defense discovering that on 9/11/01 the Arab translators (all American citizens) handling Arab language media translation burst into wild cheers and celebration at the news of the successful attacks on the Twin Towers and Pentagon...and no counter-measures against these American employees ofthe DoD celebrating the murder of 3000 Americans. Hence the US Border Patrol officers telling rank-and-file patrolmen not to talk to the press about the fact that thousands of Arabic and Farsi speaking illegal immigrants were pouring into the USA illegally via our pourous Mexican border. So...those independent but coordinated assaults worked. But...who is "They"? = I don't know for sure, but among the "they" is most certainly PASSIA (Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs), in Ramallah, funded by the Saudis, producing an endless stream of propaganda for use against Israel and against the USA and against the West. Now, why would the NLG buy into that?
David Meir-Levi is an American-born Israeli, currently living in Palo Alto. He lectures in English, Hebrew, and Spanish; his expertise is in Near Eastern studies and the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. He is Director of Peace and Education at Israel Peace Initiative (www.ipi-usa.org). |
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MP SAYS: BRITAIN SHOULD BAN MUSLIM MARRIAGE OF COUSINS
Posted by Bryna Berch, November 18, 2005. |
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At last, someone is going public with this. Muslim inbreeding has caused lots of genetic problems. And it isn't just in England. Going to Israel a while back I chatted with a nurse who worked at the Hadassah Hospital. She said that the Israeli Arabs consumed a lot of the hospital's resources and budget because they would marry cousins and recessive traits appeared with high frequency in their children -- especially when they had such huge families. I remember she said that taking care of children in the well baby clinic wasn't expensive but dialysis machines and special equipment, etc., for the handicapped Arab children were very expensive. She said they'd tried counselling pre-marriage and the Arabs turned a deaf ear. This was written by Marco Giannangeli and is from The Telegraph UK (www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/11/16/ncous16.xml&sSheet=/news/ 2005/11/16/ixhome.html). Marriages between cousins should be banned after research showed alarming rates in defective births among Asian communities in Britain, a Labour MP said last night. The report, commissioned by Ann Cryer, revealed that the Pakistani community accounted for 30 per cent of all births with recessive disorders, despite representing 3.4 per cent of the birth rate nationwide. "We address problems of smoking, drinking, obesity and we say it's a public health issue, therefore we have to get involved with persuading people to adopt a different lifestyle," the MP for Keighley, Bradford, told BBC2's Newsnight programme last night. "I think this should be applied to the Asian community. They must look outside the family for husbands and wives for their young people." It is estimated that more than 55 per cent of British Pakistanis are married to first cousins, resulting in an increasing rate of genetic defects and high rates of infant mortality. The likelihood of unrelated couples having the same variant genes that cause recessive disorders are estimated to be 100-1. Between first cousins, the odds increase to as much as one in eight. In Bradford, more than three quarters of all Pakistani marriages are believed to be between first cousins. The city's Royal Infirmary Hospital has identified more than 140 different recessive disorders among local children, compared with the usual 20-30. The findings were expected to be condemned by the Asian community, in which many see the tradition of marriages between first cousins as culturally fundamental. "You have an understanding, you have the same family history," said Neila Butt, who has had two children with her husband, Farooq, her first cousin. "It's just a nicer emotional feel." |
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THEY ARE A-F-R-A-I-D OF OUR WONDERFUL YOUTH
Posted by Nadia Matar, November 18, 2005. |
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The forces of evil in the Israeli government, State Attorney's Office, police and "media" are in a state of shock. They don't know what happened to them. They truly thought that with the deportation and the destruction of Gush Katif and northern Samaria they would succeed in finally crushing us. They truly thought that after this terrible summer the Jewish Camp would finally behave as requested: As quiet and docile sheep of the "shepherd" -- the dictator Ariel Sharon ("The Shepherd" is the name of a new biography on the dictator, Ariel Sharon, which just came out in Hebrew). They truly thought that after the destruction of Gush Katif and northern Samaria, that the Jewish Camp would focus exclusively on quiet "Panim el Panim" ("Face to Face" meetings) activity in Afulah and Haderah and slogans like "With Love We Will Be Victorious" -- activities and slogans that don't disturb in the least the dictatorship of Sharon, the dictator, and the gang of deportation criminals that surround him. The forces of evil of Ariel Sharon and Shimon Peres actually expected that after this summer the Jewish Camp would totally despair. The deportation forces could then remove the rest of the Jews of Judea and Samaria, and make the entire area Judenrein (Free of Jews). Their supporters in the Jewish Camp would not dare to protest. But, lo and behold! All of a sudden, it transpires that the Jewish Camp is still alive. And it isn't just alive, it's kicking, breathing, raising its head, and daring to say: I'm here! If you thought that you destroyed us, then you are terribly wrong! If you thought that we had ceased to fight for the Land of Israel -- then you are wrong, big time! To the astonishment of Sharon's corrupt system, a new movement has arisen, with thousands of Youth, who are organized, proud, strong, and not afraid -- not of the Arabs, not of the Leftists and not of the Sharon Government. Yes, those thousands of Youth who struggled for Gush Katif and northern Samaria who have organized anew call themselves the "Land of Israel Youth". Youngsters from the ages of 13 to 25, who are capable of organizing and simultaneously establishing four Jewish Pioneering Community outposts in different places, with two hundred and fifty of them in each place. The slogan of these Youth frightens the entire system -- "WE LOVE YOU THE LAND OF ISRAEL". This slogan is tantamount to incitement and sedition! The regime of the dictators Sharon-Peres cannot tolerate anyone who still dares to express their love for the "Land of Israel". The Sharon-Peres regime is a-f-r-a-i-d of proud Jews who declare that they do not consent to enter ghettos. That they do not want to confine themselves within fences. The Sharon-Peres regime is a-f-r-a-i-d of proud Jews who proclaim that they are sick and tired of being second-class citizens, while all Arabs in Judea and Samaria are treated like first-class citizens. The Sharon-Peres regime is a-f-r-a-i-d of proud Jews who dare to walk about the land, plant, demonstrate a presence, everywhere in the Land of Israel. The Sharon-Peres regime is a-f-r-a-i-d of proud Jews who are not afraid to loudly proclaim: "All the Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish People". The Sharon-Peres regime is a-f-r-a-i-d of proud Jews who say: "Perhaps you succeeded in destroying Gush Katif and northern Samaria, but the next time we will not be so nice and innocent. The next time you will not succeed. And this is not all, with God's help, we will yet return to Gush Katif and northern Samaria!" And because the Sharon-Peres regime is afraid of this new youth movement, it attacks it so strongly and brutally, to try and subdue it before this becomes a mass movement. After what happened recently during the evacuation of the four Jewish Pioneering Community outposts, we can no longer have any doubts that the security forces received a green light, and an explicit order, to break the bones of anyone belonging to or assisting the Land of Israel Youth. The "media" aids the Sharon regime. It spreads blood libels, as if the Youth were "rioting", "going wild" and "attacking" when the opposite is the case. The attackers are the security forces, who break the bones of the "Youth". It is extremely important that the adults in the Jewish Camp not fall into the divide-and-rule trap that the Sharon-Peres dictatorship is setting up for us. It must not begin to denounce these wonderful Youth. For example, after the publication of the photograph of the officer whose face was injured at Elon Moreh, there was no need for the heads of Moetzet Yesha (Council of Jewish Pioneering Communities in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza) to come out with a statement against the Youth. Rather the opposite. A forceful announcement should have been released, saying: "We wonder how many Youths' ribs that officer broke in defending themselves!" There has been no investigation of the facts. That officer might just be lying. He and his soldiers acted brutally against the Youth. He is using this to besmirch the Jewish Pioneering public and de-legitimize them. I call upon the entire public of the Jewish Camp to support the Land of Israel Youth, with both moral and financial support. Additionally, we must organize to file personal civil lawsuits against every policeman or soldier who dares to touch our children. I, too, do not intend to remain silent after the severe mistreatment I suffered at the hands of the three detectives who brutally kidnapped me in broad daylight, without any cause, in Efrat. They verbally and physically attacked me in their car. Those police officers should be made accountable for what police brutality they rendered to me. We, the generation of adults who struggled against the criminal Oslo Accords, are proud to have raised such a marvelous generation of Youth. They are following in the footsteps of Caleb Ben Jephunneh and Joshua Bin Nun who are continuing the struggle for the conquest of the Land of Israel. They are and continue to be faithful to the People, Land and Torah of Israel. Our Youth will undoubtedly succeed. Under the age old admonition, "Go forth and triumph!" Shabbat Shalom from Liberated Efrat,
Ruth and Nadia Matar established Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green), an activist group of women based in Jerusalem. Their website address is http://www.womeningreen.org |
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STORM CLOUDS AHEAD
Posted by Isi Leibler, November 18, 2005. |
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On the surface, the relationship between the United States and Israel has never been better. The Bush Administration is today more understanding of Israel's position than any of its predecessors; the extent of evangelical Christian is unprecedented; and backing for Israel in opinion polls remains solid. Yet having met with a cross section of American Jewish leaders during a recent visit to New York, I fear that there are grounds for serious concern. The deterioration on the campus continues and the demonization of Israel, frequently accompanied by anti-Semitism, now transcends all other campus political issues. Hostile campaigns are frequently spearheaded by anti-Israeli activists of Jewish origin, and the majority of Jewish students avoid involvement either because they are indifferent, or in many cases simply because they are frightened. Moreover, when these youngsters become older, a substantial proportion of them are unlikely to maintain the same level of support for Israel as their parents. It should also be noted that anti-Jewish rhetoric is now rapidly penetrating the political mainstream. The recurring tirades against "Jewish neoconservatives" allegedly controlling the White House; Lewis Libby is already being portrayed in anti-Semitic web sites as "one more Jewish Neocon Traitor"; the outrageous behavior of the liberal Protestant denominations engaging in anti-Israel boycotts via divestment; the growing hostility against Israel being displayed in many of the antiwar demonstrations; and the increasing number of liberals, formerly our best friends, who now distance themselves from Israel - all represent grounds for serious concern. The unprecedented indictments against senior professional AIPAC leaders, Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, must be viewed as manifestations of ominous winds of change. It is highly disconcerting when leaders of the most powerful Jewish lobbying organization are publicly accused of having "conspired" to obtain improper access to classified information with the obvious intention of exploiting Jewish concerns about association with espionage. This is particularly bizarre in view of the fact that the indicted AIPAC officers merely did was what every journalist does every day. And what was the nature of the "secret" information? Not classified American secrets but a sting operation based on a fabricated story about Israelis being endangered by terrorists. Under normal circumstances, if there was a genuine concern that the lobby of an allied power was technically breaching security procedures, a firm reprimand to those involved or their superiors would have been more appropriate than an elaborately engineered trap including wiretaps. It is also disconcerting that the federal prosecutor in this case is a very senior officer and has just been nominated for the post of deputy attorney-general. The manner in which the AIPAC Board abandoned and distanced themselves from these long standing senior employees is also problematic. Those concerns are further reinforced by the fact that at their last major AIPAC gathering even the customary singing of Hatikva at the close of proceedings was aborted. THE OTHER burning issue is the Jonathan Pollard case which understandably remains a highly sensitive matter for most American Jews who regard the episode as a blot on their standing. They usually prefer to avoid discussing the issue despite the fact that the responsibility for the entire mess is exclusively due to Israel's bungling. Pollard is unquestionably guilty of espionage. But even if the accusations about Pollard being his own worst enemy are valid, and even if today he still sounds shrill and hysterical - the fact remains that he has been incarcerated for 20 years for handing over secrets to an ally of the United States. It is now being bandied about that he must serve at least another 10 years before he becomes eligible for parole. Soviet spies, including traitors responsible for the death of allied agents have been treated more humanely. There are many unanswered questions. Why is Pollard still in prison? Why has his sentence not been commuted on humanitarian grounds? Are the authorities making an example of him? If so, why? To intimidate American Jews? Because of anti-Semitism? What other explanation is there? The ongoing confrontations with the US Defense Department over the arms deals with India and China are also problematic. While there may well have been legitimate grounds for American irritation with mistakes or heavy handed Israeli practices in the sale of sensitive defense equipment, the needlessly public stance adopted by the Defense Department in this matter was offensive and not what one would expect from an ally. In conjunction with these negative vibes, there has of late also been a marked erosion in the relationship between Israel and the current administration. Yasser Arafat's successor Mahmoud Abbas is being portrayed by President George W. Bush as a noble partner for peace, despite the fact that to date everything he has said and done points to the contrary. In fact, President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have even begun employing Clintonian language of moral equivalency which fails to distinguish between killers and victims. There is renewed talk of "cycles of violence," of the "need for restraint," and continuous references to the road map without emphasis on the fact that it obligates the Palestinians to first dismantle the terrorist infrastructure. More importantly, Israel is being urged to make further unilateral concessions including the release of more prisoners and providing greater freedom of movement to Palestinians all of which only seem to contribute toward more funerals for Israeli civilians. Sharon's desire to satisfy Bush is understandable. But even under Labor governments, Israel did find it occasionally necessary to adopt independent positions which displeased the US administration. Today, we appear to be in the process of becoming transformed into a US satellite. That was exemplified with Ma'aleh Adumim. Prime Minister Sharon had originally promoted disengagement to Israelis largely on the basis that as a quid pro quo Bush would support Israel's retention of the major settlement blocs. But now he has apparently capitulated to all American demands and aborted all building activity, including the construction of the road link from Ma'aleh Adumim to the capital. This suggests that Sharon is becoming totally subservient to the administration. There is of course no disputing that the US as a friendly superpower remains crucial to Israel's security. But it becomes an untenable relationship if Israel is now going to blindly acquiesce to every American request, including matters directly affecting the security of our civilians. Isi Leibler chairs the Diaspora-Israel relations committee of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, and is a veteran Jewish international leader. This appeared in the Jerusalem Post November 7, 2005. Contact the author at ileibler@netvision.net.il |
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GOEBBELS REDUX
Posted by David Bedein, November 17, 2005. |
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This appeared in Front Page Magazine today and is archived at www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=20208 A generation after Nazi Germany launched a campaign to exterminate the Jews, a new German government is underwriting a campaign to create Judenrein (Jewish-free territory) in parts of Israel. Consider that one worrying aspect of cultural life in the Palestinian refugee camps is film screenings that motivate the Palestinian "refugees" to long for a so-called "right of return" to villages that most of their ancestors left in 1948, even though those villages were turned into Israeli communities after that war. These films are organized through the Cine Club, a project of the Palestinian Diaspora and Refugee Center, also known as the Palestinian advocacy group, Shaml. Shaml is registered with the Palestinian Authority's Organizational Registrar and the Cine Club is but one initiative in their systematic effort to build a powerful Palestinian movement that will possess Israel in its entirety by implementing the "right of return," that is, a policy that envisions Israel's destruction as the ultimate end of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That much is public knowledge. What is generally unknown is that the agency that sponsors the Shaml organization is not an Arab entity. Rather, it is the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, funded by the German Social Democratic Party, which receives direct funding from the German government. According to the Ebert Foundation's website, its primary mission is "promoting peace and understanding between peoples." The German sponsored Shaml touts UN resolution 194 as proof that an absolute "right of refugee" return exists. That article states that:Refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible.The resolution also applied to the 650,000 Jews who fled Arab countries for Israel in 1948, though this never seems to be part of the equation for Arabs seeking a peace settlement. But Resolution 194 does not guarantee return as a right. Instead -- and the distinction is key -- it makes any possible return conditional on the agreement of two equal governments providing peace for their citizens.Such inconvenient details have not kept Palestinian organizations from proclaiming the "right of return" a codified fact. Besides Shaml, the Ebert Foundation also aids the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs (PASSIA). In 2004, PASSIA published a bulletin, still in circulation, titled "Palestinian Refugees." In it, PASSIA purports to offer "facts" and "proof" establishing the "right of return," though in fact neither are to be found in the bulletin. (The publication does highlight the role that the Friedrich Ebert Foundation's support played in its production.) Cohre, the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, is yet another Palestinian entity that campaigns for the "right of return." Scott Leckie, Cohre's director, was a member of the PLO's Palestinian Negotiations Support Unit on Housing and Property Restitution for Refugees, a less-than-impartial position. Today, Cohre has teamed up with Badil, The Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, another leading Palestinian advocate for the "right of return." The Cohre Activity Report of 2000 -- 2002 reveals their joint intention to shape international law to satisfy their demand for Israeli land. It notes that "Cohre and Badil are planning to jointly hire a lobbyist to co-ordinate a campaign to change policies within various UN agencies and States with regard to the right of Palestinian refugees to repossess the properties confiscated by Israel since 1947.? On page 72 of the Cohre Activity Report, it praises the support provided for the "right of return" campaign by The Friedrich Ebert Foundation.Badil, for its part, was recently denied membership to the U.N. Social and Economic Council. The reason, according to NGO Watch, was that Badil's "extremist anti-Israel political agenda is incompatible with universal human rights norms." This is evidenced by their 23rd Occasional Bulletin of December 2004. In it, Badil candidly reveals that the scope of the Palestinian "right of return" entails nothing less that the destruction of the Jewish state. It states: "The real Zionist opposition to return is that that return would alter the demographic balance in Israel so much that it would destroy Israel's Zionist, exclusionist character. This, of course, is true. But the preservation of this character of Israel is neither an international responsibility nor a moral-juridical-political fact that outweighs in importance the restoration of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people." When the president of Germany, Horst Kohler, visited the Israeli Knesset in January, 2005, Gila Finkelstein, Israeli Member of the Knesset, made sure to note the Ebert Foundation's funding of an extremist Palestinian agenda. Waving PASSIA's bulletin at Kohler, she walked out of the Knesset. Finkelstein then requested and received an appointment with German President Kohler. She used the opportunity to express her outrage that Germany would ever fund an effort that supported the "right of return," which, she pointed out, was a code name for dismembering the state of Israel. Kohler expressed his concern and promised to look into the matter. He didn't look very hard. In April, Kohler wrote to Finkelstein that he relied on the professional judgment of the Fredrich Ebert Foundation. In contrast to the lofty goals of peace and reconciliation advocated by the German government publicly, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation has aligned itself with the most virulent proponents of the Palestinian "right of return." It is operating with funds traced directly to the German government, and is openly subsidizing groups that seek to dismember the state of Israel. How dispiriting to behold that sixty years after the Holocaust, the German government is once again sponsoring the annihilation of the Jews. David Bedein is an investigative reporter and Bureau Chief, Israel Resource News Agency. (http://Israelbehindthenews.com). |
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PICTURES SAY SO MUCH
Posted by Batya Medad, November 17, 2005. |
This picture of Israel's President Moshe Katzav is bothering a lot of people. Its composition says more than the greatest writer ever could. Height is power. The Vatican guards stand proud and tall, and what could be said about our president? Dwarfed, submissive? Our Judaism and our Jewish People existed long before Christianity, which is best described as an old off-shoot of Judaism. The Vatican has precious Temple artifacts stored away. Over the years, on very rare occasions, some people have been given a tease of a look. At the same time, the Vatican has been trying, scheming, to take over Jerusalem, and the recent attempt to occupy Mount Zion is only the latest of a long series, centuries long. Investigative reporters discovered that the "leaks" about Katzav signing an agreement were from the Vatican, hoping to create facts. Many people are crediting Internet, email and bloggers with bringing it to pu! blic and political knowledge. Bli eyin haraa, (don't tempt fate), we stopped them this time, but they are not giving up, and they have lots of money and staff to keep on trying. We must stay vigilant. Our president may be bowed, but we're not at all!
Batya Medad lives in Shiloh. She can be
reached by email at Shilohmuse@yahoo.com or visit her website
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/ or go to http://www.shilo.org.il
This article is archived at
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2005/11/153-not-me.html
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SIXTEEN AND EIGHTEEN CHESHVAN YAHRZEITS
Posted by Shaul and Aviva Ceder, November 17, 2005. |
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This comes from Stan Dorfan (stan@xnet.co.za) and was sent to Ricky Lomey. hello Ricky, I found this article, which you may find interesting. One of the late Rabbis that I really love was the late Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach. Many of the tunes that we still sing in shul today were composed by Reb Shlomo. Anyway I'm sure you have heard of him. Here is the article that I found. Enjoy. Subject: Reb Shlomo and Meir Kahane I wasn't sure how to share this piece with the Chevre, but now seems as good a time as any to interject it as an aside. I always wondered what Reb Shlomo's relationship/viewpoint to Rav Kahane was. Now we've heard from several of the chevre it was one of positive respect, which may serve to verify in part this anecdote. In the 70s (?) there was an airport tax when leaving Eretz Yisrael. In most airports it's included in the price of the ticket, but then it was charged separately. Canada does the same thing today. Anyway, Reb Shlomo didn't have the $32 on him. He saw Rav Meir nearby and asked him if he could borrow the amount and that once he got to the States he would send him the money. Rav Kahane said sure and gave him the money. On the plane Reb Shlomo saw someone he knew who lived nearer to him. Being that it would be logistically easier to repay this person he borrowed the money to repay Rav Kahane. Reb Shlomo gave the money to Rav Kahane; Rav Kahane said to him a moment later, "You know, Shlomo, it doesn't make any difference to me, but there's only $31 dollars here and I lent you $32." Reb Shlomo said, "I know. I want to be just like everybody else in Klal Yisrael--in your debt." This story was told to me by my friend Gabi Gozlan last Tisha b'Av. Rav Kahane's mother had related the incident to his mother. Contact the posters at ceder@netvision.net.il |
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CONDI SUPPLIES THE ARAB HANGMAN WITH THE ROPE
Posted by Ruth Matar, November 17, 2005. |
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Dear Friends, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has betrayed the Jewish People once again. He has allowed US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, to dictate Israel's terms of surrender to the "Palestinians", who replaced the Jewish residents, forcibly expelled by their own government. The so called "Palestinians" are a conglomeration of Arab terrorist groups, such as the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade (Abbas' own group), Hamas, Hizbollah, and Islamic Jihad. Since Israel's "disengagement" from Gaza, another terror group, Al Qaeda has entered Gaza through the uncontrolled open borders and established its new headquarters there. Al Qaeda has boastfully taken responsibility for The World Trade Center attack on September 11, 2001, in the United States, the Madrid train bombing on March 11, 2004, the England bus bombings on July 7, 2005, and most recently the Jordan hotel bombings on November 9, 2005. Gaza has now become the terror capital of the world since Israel's "disengagement". Nonetheless, the US seeks further concessions from Israel. To achieve this goal, Condoleezza Rice delayed her departure from Jerusalem in order to do some arm twisting of Ariel Sharon. Some journalists called it "knocking heads together" of Sharon and Abbas. However, Charles Krauthammer on a FOX News panel discussion said, "There was no knocking heads together- Rice only knocked Sharon's head." Whether it is called arm twisting or head knocking, Ariel Sharon succumbed to US pressure and agreed to the following concessions, which are extremely dangerous to Israel's security. 1. Opening the Rafah Crossing from Egypt into Gaza, which will facilitate smuggling of weapons. The only access Israelis will have will be a video-link a few kilometers away from the border post, that will allow the Israelis, albeit ineffectively, to monitor the borders. Any disagreement will be decided by monitors from the European Union! (Do they really expect the EU to be fair to Israel?) 2. In addition, work will begin on the Gaza seaport, which will make it possible for the Arabs to bring in even more weapons. 3. The Karni Crossing from Gaza to the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) will be established as a direct link in the form of special bus and truck convoys. This link will be very important for the Arabs, and not only for economic reasons. It reaffirms the Arab Big Lie that Gaza and the West Bank is one single Palestinian territory, and that the Israeli disengagement from Gaza means, "Gaza first but not Gaza last". These concessions are very harmful for Israel as they make it much easier to smuggle weapons and terrorists, such as suicide bombers, into Israel. Silly us, we thought that Sharon wanted us to "disengage" from Gaza to protect us from Arab terror! He promised us that the Arabs would no longer be able to attack the rest of Israel as we would not allow them to cross the new borders! However, Mahmoud Abbas saw the situation differently. He said triumphantly, "Now, with the help of G-d we will get a Palestinian State." It is surely not G-d's intention to give the Muslim terrorists a Palestinian state, carved out of the Promised Land. It is Condoleezza Rice who is trying to do that! It is widely assumed that President Bush appointed Rice as US secretary of State because of her long time association with the oil industry. Condoleezza Rice had served on the board of one of the top ten largest oil companies in the world, Chevron Oil Company, between 1991 and January 2001. She only resigned when Bush named her as his top national security aid. Her services to the Chevron Oil Company were so valuable that a double-hulled, 129,000 ton tanker, part of the international fleet of Chevron, had years before been named, "Condoleezza Rice" in honor of her services. But critics complained that the ship served as a giant floating symbol of the Bush Administration's cozy ties to the oil industry. The tanker's name also raised more serious questions of possible conflict of interest for Rice, because Chevron does business on 6 continents and in 25 countries and has been sued for alleged human rights abuses in Nigeria. Leaving a wave of controversy in its wake, one of the most visible reminders of the Bush Administration's ties to big oil - the "Condoleezza Rice" tanker was quietly renamed the "Altair Voyager". Of most concern to Israel is Rice's apparent antagonism to the Jewish people, their right to live in their entire homeland and her continual attempts to whitewash Mahmoud Abbas and his unsavory past. Rice thus seems to be the perfect person to advance President Bush's goal to divide the Holy Land into two entities; a Jewish state and an Arab state. It is sad that President Bush has forgotten that he once said that anyone who supported terror anywhere in the world is an enemy of the United States. Instead the US is pressuring Israel to make dangerous concessions in order to appease the common Islamic enemy. If you want to know more about the controversial background of Condoleezza Rice, you can access an article that I wrote on February 10, 2005 entitled, "A Ship on Oily Waters". Click on the following URL http://www.womeningreen.org/sayfeb05.htm then scroll down to the eleventh article on the page entitled, "A Ship on Oily Waters". * * * Dear Friends, in my last letter I asked you to give me your ideas as to what Israel and the United States can do in order to avoid future terror attacks. Thank you, Bob Hathaway! Your suggestions may not all be completely practical, but they sure will illicit a good laugh. Here goes: Suggestions for the U.S.
Suggestions for Israel 1. Give every Arab in Israel notice that they have 30 days to liquidate all
their holdings and get out. Begin cutting services to them in 15 days.
Ruth and Nadia Matar established Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green), an activist group of women based in Jerusalem. Their website address is http://www.womeningreen.org |
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AHMED CHALABI AND THE ARABIST ALTERNATIVE
Posted by Barbara Lerner, November 17, 2005. |
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This appeared in www.FrontPageMagazine.com yesterday. How can America win in Iraq? How soon can substantial numbers of our troops come home, satisfied that they are leaving behind a better Iraq -- a difficult, often dangerous place still, but a freer, fairer, more hopeful one, no longer an enemy state, but one allied with us in the war against Islamofascist terror? The answer to both questions depends, in great part, on whom the Iraqis choose as their new national leader, starting with the crucial Iraqi election, now less than a month away. If Iraqis end up with an effective prime minister who will fight hard against both terror and corruption, and work just as hard to give all Iraqis a stake in the unity of their state, and a loyal, decently equipped Iraqi security force to defend it, we could see substantial reductions in US troop requirements in 2006. If, on the other hand, Iraqis choose a weak, corrupt, and/or hopelessly sectarian and divisive prime minister, the odds on a satisfactory outcome any time soon are low. Thus, all Americans have a big stake in this Iraqi election, and if our press was doing its job, American voters would know enough about the main candidates, their past records, and their plans for Iraq's future to make a reasoned judgment about which one is most likely to advance the goals outlined above. What Americans have gotten instead is a savage, sustained smear campaign against one candidate, Ahmed Chalabi, and a see-no-evil whitewash of another, Iyad Allawi. Dr. Chalabi is the candidate long favored by American officials in the office of the Vice-president and the Secretary of Defense, officials who believe we were right to topple Saddam Hussein and try to put someone truly different in his place. Dr. Allawi is the candidate favored by the Arab League and by American Arabists -- former high officials and current members of the permanent bureaucracy at CIA and State -- who were against the Iraq war from the start, convinced that the best we can realistically hope for in Iraq is another Sunni despot like the twenty we already have. The argument between these two groups is legitimate; the means the Arabists use to advance their argument -- a CIA disinformation campaign against Chalabi and his American supporters -- is not. As Zell Miller pointed out in connection with the Wilson-Plame disinformation campaign that forced Lewis Libby, the Vice-president's national security advisor, from office, it is both illegal and unacceptable for CIA agents to mount disinformation campaigns at home. If our press were doing its job, these campaigns would be relentlessly exposed, not just in occasional editorials, but in regular news stories, and the actual records and plans of men like Chalabi and Allawi would be clearly and prominently displayed to the American people. Instead, with only a few honorable exceptions, both the mainstream media and far Left publications like the Nation have acted as one in echoing false charges against Dr. Chalabi, and ignoring disturbing charges about Dr. Allawi. This shameful press behavior was on striking display at the American Enterprise Institute last Wednesday, when Ahmed Chalabi, after a long absence from Washington, spelled out his plans for giving all Iraqis a stake in their new government, and creating the security they need to maintain their new freedoms without need of a massive U.S. military presence. American journalists were there in force, and not one of them asked a single question about anything Chalabi said, anything else remotely connected to American hopes for the future of Iraq or the successful completion of our mission there. Instead, led off by David Corn of the Nation, they shouted out all the old CIA slanders, blaming Chalabi for the CIA's own mistaken assessments of Iraq's WMD capabilities before the war, and accusing him of being a corrupt politician who stole money from the Iraqi people and betrayed American secrets to the Iranians, totally ignoring the mountain of evidence showing that these charges are not only false but, often, completely ludicrous even at face value. See, e.g., the 2004 report of the Senate Intelligence Committee, the 2005 report of the Robb-Silberman commission, and two earlier articles of mine. Instead of reviewing all this evidence for the umpteenth time here, I want to focus instead on the contrasting record of Iyad Allawi, the candidate the American Arabist contingent and the Sunni despots of the Arab League see as a preferable choice to lead Iraq. Dr. Allawi headed the unelected government that ruled Iraq during the wasted year when Paul Bremer played at being MacArthur in Japan, and the corruption, on their watch, rivaled that of Saddam Hussein's UN-sponsored Oil-for-food scam. Allawi and Bremer didn't just close their eyes to the theft of hundreds of millions of dollars from the Iraqi people; they betrayed American and Iraqi hopes by letting crooked Iraqi officials buy essential equipment -- helmets, body armor, weapons and vehicles -- that was so grossly defective as to leave Iraqi soldiers and police impotent to protect themselves, let alone the Iraqi people. The contrast with Chalabi's record in office couldn't be clearer. Chalabi has yet to hold the top job in Iraq, but as deputy prime minister in the government that replaced the Allawi-Bremer regime, he has rooted out corrupt and disloyal officials, instituted sensible procedures to prevent further rip-offs, and worked hard to get Iraqi security forces the equipment they need and to repair and protect Iraq's vital oil infrastructure. Best of all, he has come up with an imaginative plan to make Iraq's oil wealth a blessing instead of a curse by sharing it equally with all Iraqi citizens, Sunnis no less than Shia and Kurds. He has also worked harmoniously with our new Ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, the man who worked closely with a similar exile leader, Hamid Karzai, to bring us a considerable degree of success in Afghanistan. These are the facts that the American people deserve to know. How long will we have to wait before our press stops playing destructive disinformation games and begins to report them, accurately and honestly? Contact Barbara Lerner at xlerner@ameritech.net |
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THE AM HA'ARETZ
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, November 17, 2005. |
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Arrogance is one of the prime characteristics of the Am Ha'aretz. It is the main factor that prevents him from learning. He believes he already knows what he needs to know and no one can tell him otherwise. However, when his arrogance and his ignorance grow beyond a certain measure, he comes into a new category; the fool. A fool wallows in his arrogance and ignorance and become unapproachable. No mater how many times he is wrong and irrespective of how much harm he does to himself or others, the fool persists in his way. Shlomo Hamelch warns us in Mishley that a fool is more dangerous than a villain. An evil person, a villain, at least has some logic to his actions and one can plan and guard against him. The fool at root is illogical and irrational and is more like a drunkard of small child. Once he has locked onto something, there is so breaking him away short of force. It is indeed reflective that Israel's ruling class looks to this rag for its "news" and opinions. This comes from CAMERA: "Ha'aretz Stonewalls In Attempt to Escape From Correcting Errors," http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=27518 For more than two decades, CAMERA has followed media coverage of Israel and the Middle East closely, contacting countless outlets with questions about factual accuracy and in many instances eliciting corrections. Virtually every major media outlet in America and some beyond U.S. shores have corrected errors in response to CAMERA, in accordance with professional journalistic standards asserting the paramount importance of accuracy -- and accountability. Among those issuing corrections, often multiple times, have been the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, International Herald Tribune, National Public Radio, ABC News, and CNN. Until recently CAMERA's efforts have focused primarily on North America with few foreign media outlets monitored intensively for accurate coverage or challenged for corrections on erroneous reporting. Little attention was directed, for example, toward Ha'aretz, an Israeli daily newspaper printed in Hebrew and English and relied on by the Western press corps as well as Israel's cultural and political elite. (Ha'aretz is sometimes described by its admirers as the New York Times of Israel.) With the opening of CAMERA's Israel office last year, however, it was possible for the first time to monitor Ha'aretz in the same sustained way as U.S. newspapers are followed. In the last year, CAMERA has contacted the paper's editors concerning multiple factual errors, taking the identical approach used with U.S. publications - emailing editors behind the scenes, providing data substantiating why a report is incorrect, requesting a correction, following up with phone calls, and finally, posting an item on our Web site and/or sending out an alert. (In a particularly egregious case, we published an Op-Ed in the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles about a serious and uncorrected error.) However, unlike prominent American and international outlets, Ha'aretz apparently considers itself above criticism. Ha'aretz editors seem unaccustomed to responding to readers in a straightforward process and appear to believe readers have no right to fault them for shoddy, inaccurate coverage. Rather than considering the substance of CAMERA's queries, Ha'aretz has stonewalled completely, refusing to correct errors. Indeed, the English edition of the newspaper, in contrast to almost every major American newspaper, has no regular corrections section; a lone correction appears once every few months. Amira Hass Falsehood CAMERA contacted Ha'aretz editors about an error that appeared Nov. 2 in an Op-Ed entitled "How the PA Failed" by columnist Amira Hass. She writes that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas "cannot prevent the expropriation of land for Jewish-only roads in the West Bank." In fact, while there are roads prohibited to Palestinians in the West Bank, there are no "Jewish-only roads." Israel' s Arab citizens and, indeed, Israeli citizens of any religion or ethnicity, have just as much right to travel on those restricted roads as do Israeli Jews. Israeli Arabs frequently use the bypass roads for business and to visit relatives. Moreover, at least one Israeli Arab was fatally shot by Palestinian terrorists on one of these roads. As the Los Angeles Times reported on Aug. 8, 2001: "Wael Ghanem, an Israeli Arab, was shot and killed as he drove toward the Jewish settlement of Tzofim in the West Bank, not far from where an Israeli woman was killed on Sunday. ... However, he was driving a car with yellow license plates on a West Bank road where a similar shooting attack had taken place, raising the possibility that Palestinian gunmen thought they were targeting an Israeli settler." Georgios Tsibouktzakis, a Greek Orthodox monk, shot on June 12, 2001, was another non-Jew killed by Palestinian terrorists while on these roads. Even B'Tselem, an organization frequently critical of Israel, acknowledges that restricted roads are reserved for those with Israeli plates, (Jews and Arabs), as opposed to Jews only. Thus, an Aug. 9, 2004 hard-hitting report stated: "B'Tselem has divided the Forbidden Roads Regime into three categories of roads: 'sterile roads' where Palestinian traffic is completely prohibited, roads where Palestinians require special permits, and roads with restricted access. The regime applies only to Palestinians. Israeli vehicles are allowed to travel freely along these roadways." (Emphasis added.) This false charge implying a racist policy on the part of Israel -- allowing special privilege to Jews over other religious and ethnic groups -- is particularly pernicious. When such a claim is made in a prominent Israeli newspaper it is often echoed in the media worldwide. In response to CAMERA's request for a correction on this issue, Ha'aretz assistant editor Ruth Meisels inadvertently sent CAMERA's Israel Director Tamar Sternthal what was clearly meant to be an internal Ha'aretz email. Addressed to a Ha'aretz employee who apparently handles phone calls, the email warned (in Hebrew): "In the event that this [CAMERA complaint] gets to you: We have a quasi 'policy,' on the orders of [editor-in-chief] David [Landau], to ignore this organization and all of its complaints, including not responding to telephone messages and screening calls from Tamar Sternhal [sic], director of CAMERA. Otherwise, we will never finish with them." Thus, Ha'aretz editors appear to have little interest in the accuracy of their coverage or the accepted standards of journalism -- unlike their American counterparts -- and seem to believe (wrongly) that not returning a phone call or responding to an email will deflect CAMERA's efforts to redress false and inflammatory assertions. Uncorrected Errors Beyond the most recent Amira Hass error, numerous others remain uncorrected, including: In a July 18, 2004 column, Gideon Levy made a number of false claims, among them the allegation that Golda Meir once said: "After what the Nazis did to us, we can do whatever we want." CAMERA was not able to track down any source for such a quote. Moreover, Levy himself sent an email to CAMERA admitting that he had no source. Nevertheless, Ha'aretz editors refused to correct. On Jan. 26, 2005, Ha'aretz ran a five-column color Reuters photograph above the fold on the front page, with the incorrect caption: "A Palestinian man inspecting buildings after they were demolished by Palestinian police in Gaza yesterday, the first time the PA has acted against illegal construction." In actuality, the PA has repeatedly acted against illegal construction, and CAMERA provided Ha'aretz with news reports from Times of London, the Washington Post, and Israel's Channel 2 substantiating earlier such action taken by the PA in 1994, 1995, and 1998, respectively. In a Feb. 10, 2005 Op-Ed about the current status of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Ha'aretz writer Sefi Rachlevsky alleged that there had been "four years in which the Palestinians preserved nearly absolute quiet." The exact time of the four years is not entirely clear from Rachlevsky's writing, but at no point during the 1990s was there a period in which "the Palestinians preserved nearly absolute quiet." CAMERA provided Haaretz with a detailed list of the attacks which occurred throughout the decade. Ha'aretz again stonewalled. In a June 5, 2005 Op-Ed, Yossi Beilin claimed that in Israel from 1957 to 1967 "only 20 people were killed from hostile operations." In fact, at least 40 Israelis were killed in hostile acts during this period. In a Jan. 21, 2004 exposé in Ha'aretz Magazine, Meron Rapaport erred about the Absentee Property Law, stating: "The law stipulates that the property of such an absentee would be transferred to the Custodian of Absentee Property, with no possibility of appeal or compensation" (emphasis added). This is false, as both appeal and compensation are possible, and landowners have exercised these rights and been compensated. Though Ha'aretz ran a letter from CAMERA on this issue, a letter is no substitution for an acknowledgment from the newspaper that it had erred. 'Personal Vendetta' In July, the Israeli weekly Makor Rishon ran an article about CAMERA's Israel office, focusing on its efforts with respect to Ha'aretz, quoting the editor: David Landau, editor of Ha'aretz, says that his relationship to CAMERA's complaints are different than his relationship to the complaints of others. "I confirm that we relate to CAMERA as if they have a personal vendetta against us. I have experience of many years with them. We encourage readers to write to us, and we publicize every day or two days corrections of errors according to need, but everything depends on the clean hands of the writer." Yet, it is totally untrue to suggest that in the English edition, which is the version Western journalists read, corrections run every day or two. Moreover, CAMERA is the only organization to press Ha'aretz for factual accountability in a systematic way. Thus, it is CAMERA's unique agenda to promote accountability which makes Ha'aretz's relationship with us "different." Israeli Code of Ethics Landau's directive to disregard complaints from CAMERA not only stands in contrast to the attitudes and procedures of the U.S. arena but also, in fact, violates the Rules of Professional Ethics of Journalism as authorized by the Israel Press Council. These state: "Substantive mistakes, omissions or inaccuracies in the publication of facts must be corrected speedily, fairly and with the appropriate emphasis relative to the original publication. In addition, in suitable cases, an apology shall also be published. In suitable cases a person injured shall be given a fair opportunity to respond to a substantive mistake, omission or inaccuracy speedily and with the appropriate emphasis relative to the original publication." Ha'aretz seems to believe it is above any such guidelines requiring accountability. Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. Contact him at zelasko@actcom.co.il |
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WHY ISRAEL IS SUSPICIOUS OF THE UN? INTRO 2
Posted by Steven Shamrak, November 17, 2005. |
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1. Before 1990, Security Council passed 175 resolutions, 97 were directed against Israel (It is 55% of all resolutions). 2. Before 1990, UN General Assembly voted on 690 resolutions, 429 were directed against Israel (It is 62% of all resolutions). 3. The UN was silent when Jordanians destroyed 58 Synagogues in Jerusalem. 4. The UN was silent while the Jordanians systematically desecrated the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives. 5. The UN was silent while the Jordanians enforced an apartheid-like policy of preventing Jews from visiting the Temple Mount and the Western Wall. 6. The UN was silent while for 18 months Israel was terrorised by indiscriminate suicide bombing campaign unleashed by PA leadership. 7. There are 54 Muslims countries in the UN. As well as many more are others Arab oil dependant states. 8. Israel is the ONLY MEMBER OF THE UN THAT IS NOT PERMITTED MEMBERSHIP ON THE SECURITY COUNCIL. 9. Israel is the only country excluded from the U.N.'s regional group system. Since Israel does not belong to any group, it is the only country of 190 member states that is not eligible to serve on the numerous U.N. commissions. 10. In recent years, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights has annually passed five resolutions condemning Israel. This year, they passed seven. By contrast, each of the following countries/regions has been the subject of only one resolution: Afghanistan, Burundi, Congo, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Myanmar, Russia/Chechnya, Sierra Leone, Southeast Europe and Sudan. 11. Nov. 29 is the United Nations Day of International Solidarity with the Palestinian People. No other group or nation has a U.N. Day of Solidarity. 12. Israel is the only state to which a special investigator with "an open-ended mandate to inspect its human rights record" is assigned by the U.N. 13. It is the only state targeted by two special committees and special units of the U.N. Secretariat ostensibly devoted to the Palestinians but in reality dedicated to Israel-bashing worldwide, costing millions of dollars a year. 14. UNIFIL, the U.N. force stationed on the Israel-Lebanon border, hid a videotape of Israeli soldiers being abducted by Hezbollah in October 2000. After finally admitting to having the tape, the U.N. would only show an edited version (in which Hezbollah faces were hidden) to the Israeli government. 15. UNESCO, in Paris, began passing resolutions about protection of Jerusalem holy sites and access for Muslims in 1968. No resolutions about protection or Jewish access were passed from 1946 to 1967 when Jordan controlled Jerusalem and barred Jews from entering. "It is Time to "Leave Egypt"
It is Time to "Leave Egypt ". I respect people who do not know and do not care about Arab-Israel conflict. They are honest enough to admit that paying bills and raising children is more important for them. At the same time, there is a danger when someone forms opinions under the influence of selectively presented information, provided by generally bias toward Israel in the press. People become attached to the belief system they have adopted and it is difficult to change it. I would like to tell them following: 1. Israel is on a front line of the war between Arab-Muslim expansionism and Western democracy. This war has already shifted to America and Europe. 2. According to UN own legal opinion: Judea, Samaria and Gaza does not belong to any country at the moment. Therefore, it is wrong to call them 'Occupied territories'. They used to be a part of Jewish land. There was never Arab country in the Palestine. 3. So-called Palestinians are Arabs who moved to the territories during the last 130 year, after the Jews started re-vitalising the land. 4. Arabs have no intention to live in peace with Jews. When Saddat Hussain was asked: "Why do you continue to fight Israel after so many defeats?" His answer was: "Because. We need to win only one war!" Arabs aim is a total destruction of Jewish state! 5. Arabs respect charisma and strong leadership. It is the time for Israel and her government to show it and stop terror. 6. Enemies and so-called friends have never treated Jewish people as equal. They will never support Israel unconditionally. They do not respect facts where Israel is concern (remember Jenin). 7. After 54 years of wars and terror, it is time to "leave Egypt ", become an Independent nation, equal among equals. It is time to regain self-respect. No more double standards! 8. Israel was created to fulfill 2000 years old national inspiration of Jewish people. Time is Now! Israel can (Must) 'Just Say No' to US pressure. " Israel can just say no!" Dr. Rand Fishbein, former Professional Staff Member of the U.S. Senate Defense Appropriations and Foreign Operations Appropriations subcommittees. "The democratically elected leaders of the State of Israel are under no obligation to reflexively bow to State Department pressure - you can say no!" "American policy in the Middle East today is driven by "flawed notions," said Fishbein who went on to give several examples of such faulty assumptions * "That democratization and political reform are possible in the Arab world in our lifetimes..." "The planned Gaza retreat has undercut Israel's strongest supporters
in the Congress who believe that any retreat in the face of terrorism
only encourages more terrorism."
Steven Shamrak was born in the former Soviet Union (USSR) and
participated in the Moscow Zionist "refusenik" movement. For the last
3 years, he has been publishing internet editorial letters on the
Arab-Israeli conflict - independently, not as a member of any
organization or political movement. He can be reached by email at
StevenShamrak@mail2world.com
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CONDI'S SABAN FORUM SPEECH
Posted by Ted Belman, November 17, 2005. |
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Condi's speech at Saban Forum was in need of fisking. "[..]Disengagement was a testament to the character and the strength of Israeli society, especially to the men and women of the Israeli Defense Forces and the police service, whose noble conduct during this painful event set a standard to which all democratic nations should aspire." Yes it was and they should. "And the effective cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians was both impressive and inspiring." Somehow I failed to notice any cooperation to speak of let alone one that was "effective" or "impressive and inspiring". "Disengagement can be a great step forward on the path to a different Middle East." It is strange that Ms Rice and the Left put forward "disengagement" as the answer in Israel whereas they argue integration everywhere else as the answer. Furthermore she doesn't mean it because she then demands that Arabs be allowed to work in Israel and the economies of the two groups be integrated. If it be "disengagement" let it be total disengagement. But this would undermine the Roadmap and its demand for viability. "It creates an opportunity for the Palestinians to secure their liberty and build a democratic state." The Palestinians have always had such an opportunity but rejected it in favour of the war against Israel. They don't need another "opportunity". They just have to turn their swords into ploughshares. Israel isn't stopping them. "At the same time, the changing nature of the Middle East can reinforce the democratic aspirations of the Palestinian people and deny the enemies of reform their favorite excuse for coercive rule and unconscionable violence." One could argue that any positive democratic signs are temporal at best and an illusion at worst. One could also argue that there is a different take on the "changing nature of the Middle East" namely, that al Qaeda is on the rise; witness the bombings in Iraq Sinai and Jordan; witness also infiltration of Gaza and the West Bank by al Qaeda and Hezbollah; witness also the mortal threats from Iran; witness also the growing pressure in the US to bring the boys home. "These positive developments will not jeopardize Israel's security; they will enhance it." Easy for her to say. Of course she doesn't mean this for the foreseeable future because she knows full well that terror and violence will follow as night follows day. What she means is that peace, if it can be obtained, will bring peace. "After all, true peace is that which exists between peoples, not just between leaders." How can there be peace between the peoples so long as the Arab world and the Palestinians continue to incite hatred. "Now, if Palestinians fight terrorism and lawless violence and advance democratic reforms -- and if Israel takes no actions that prejudge a final settlement and works to improve the daily lives of the Palestinian people -- the possibility of peace is both hopeful and realistic." All true but it has always been true and has never happened. What reason is there to believe that it will happen now. Are the Syrians, Iranians, Wahhabists and terrorists turning to peaceful coexistence? Why would the Palestinians? Sure it is possible but to bet on it is to bet on a long shot with maybe 9 to 1 odds. But if they don't which is much more likely, "the possibility of peace" is neither "hopeful or realistic". This mantra, "and if Israel takes no actions that prejudge a final settlement and works to improve the daily lives of the Palestinian people" drives me around the bend. Only Israel is not permitted to take such actions. The Quartet has put Israel in a straight jacket, demanding that Palestine be created, viable and contiguous. Is this not prejudging the final settlement. They have demanded that Jerusalem be subject to negotiations. The UN has passed many a resolution prejudging the final settlement. The Palestinians continue to build in the west bank without permits or condemnation. They continue to commit violence against Israel. Are these not actions that prejudge settlement? "Greater freedom of movement is a key for Palestinians, from shopkeepers to farmers to restaurant owners and for all seeking early easier access to their economic livelihood." But for the violence perpetrated by Palestinians there would be no restrictions on movement and no harm to the economy. To deny Israel the right to have checkpoints is to deny Israel the right of self defense. She is making the checkpoints out to be the problem and not the violence. Some war on terror. "And let us be very clear about one other matter: Dismantling the infrastructure of terrorism is essential for peace because in the final analysis, no democratic government can tolerate armed parties with one foot in the realm of politics and one foot in the camp of terrorism." Quite so, so why not insist on it as a starter. "Israel's neighbors must demonstrate their concern for peace not only with rhetoric but with action. We encourage them -- Egypt to enhance its cooperation with Israel on basic security issues. And we call on all Arab states to end incitement in their media, cut off all funding for terrorism, stop their support for extremist education, and establish normal relations with Israel." To require Israel to make the first moves is to legitimate the expressed grievances of the Arabs. It is Israel that is sorely in need of goodwill gestures, not the other way around. Ted Belman is a Canadian lawyer and editor of the IsraPundit.com website, an activist pro-Israel website. Contact him at tedbel@rogers.com |
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JEWS MUST STAND BY JEWS
Posted by Jewish Defense League, November 17, 2005. |
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This article was written by Cinnamon Stillwell.
She is a Bay Area-based columnist for SFGate.com and Israel National News and she can be reached at cinnomonstillwell@yahoo.com.
Perhaps it's time to right that wrong A deafening silence overcame the Jewish community this month after Jewish Defense League member Earl Krugel was murdered in an Arizona prison. The 62-year old Navy veteran and former dental technician -- three days into a 20-year federal sentence -- was exercising when another inmate came up behind him and hit him over the head with a concrete block, killing him instantly. Why a loose cement block was just hanging around the exercise yard is still unknown. Authorities have been fairly tightlipped so far, but the investigation has reportedly focused on a white supremacist inmate. Despite all the questions surrounding the case, not one Jewish group other than the JDL has called for an investigation. And they reacted in exactly the same manner after former JDL chairman Irv Rubin's alleged suicide. The truth is the American Jewish community has long been wary of associating itself with the JDL, which it sees as an obstacle to its own comfortable existence as non-threatening Jews. While Jews have shown concern in the past over the fate of Jewish prisoners housed with neo-Nazis and such, when it comes to the JDL, it seems that some Jewish lives are deemed more important than others. But perhaps the JDL's reputation as hardcore extremists is off the mark. Richard Rosenthal was a New York police officer who went undercover to investigate the JDL in 1970 and he wrote a book about the experience, "Rookie Cop." The picture Rosenthal paints of the JDL hardly demonstrates the ruthless and criminally skilled organization so often portrayed by its opponents. If anything, JDL members were beset by mishaps, petty infighting and a lack of experience. Such internecine squabbling continues today with a split within the JDL that shows no sign of letting up, even after Krugel's death. Beyond all the accusations of extremism, it appears the JDL's real crime has always been standing up unequivocally for the Jewish people. They are Jews who refuse to be victims. They believe in armed self-defense as the best means of combating anti- Semitism. For this they are shunned by the mainstream Jewish community to this day. Indeed, there is such a strong prejudice among Jews against displays of strength that those who stray from the party line are immediately ostracized. This is why if one dares mention the JDL in Jewish company, they are sure to be met with either immediate dismissal or a barrage of animosity. The Anti-Defamation League has been particularly strident in its denunciation of the JDL, going so far as to commend the FBI for arresting Irv Rubin. From the ADL Web site: "For more than a quarter of a century, [the] ADL has been monitoring the contemptible activities of the JDL and its leadership." The Anti-Defamation League has been particularly strident in its denunciation of the JDL, going so far as to commend the FBI for arresting Irv Rubin. From the ADL Web site: "For more than a quarter of a century, [the] ADL has been monitoring the contemptible activities of the JDL and its leadership." Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino, said of the JDL: "They're extremists. They really have been marginalized. None of the credible [Jewish] groups would have anything to do with these people." Some have simply written off Rubin and Krugel's deaths as the deserved end to lives of controversy. But the point isn't whether Krugel and Rubin were the "terrorists" they've been labeled, but rather that prominent Jews in federal custody have a curious habit of dying under mysterious circumstances. In a time when liberal organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union and Amnesty International devote an inordinate amount of energy to standing up for the rights of Islamic terrorists at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, one would think that Jewish "extremists" would garner as much concern. But the overriding attitude has been one of silence, dismissal and even contempt. If there's anything the JDL can teach the Jewish community, it's the principle that Jews must stand up for other Jews. Unfortunately, this has not been the case with Irv Rubin and Earl Krugel, whose deaths are being largely disregarded because of their unpopular politics. Perhaps it's time to right that wrong. About The Jewish Defense League The Jewish Defense League is an activist organization dedicated to the protection and defense of the Jewish people in the Diaspora. To that end, there will be no sanctuary for those who threaten or attack Jewish individuals or institutions. Never Again! Website: http://www.jdl.org.il Donations Many of our members cannot be directly involved in the daily aspects of running this organization. All members are an integral part of the Jewish Defense League and those who cannot volunteer their time on a continual basis can help in another way. Since we feel everyone should benefit from our various projects, news alerts, and events; we would ask that you donate to keep our operating costs to a minimum. Klal Yisrael needs a helping hand and we are the first line of defense fighting Anti-Semitism in the Diaspora. Jewish Defense League
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EXTREMISM IN THE SERVICE OF JEWISH YISRAEL
Posted by Andras Bereny, November 17, 2005. |
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This appeared as an opinion piece in today's Arutz-Sheva -
www.IsraelNN.com and is archived at www.israelnn.com/article.php3?id=5760
In order to resolve the conflict between Jews and Arabs, first we should resolve the real conflict; that is to say, the one between those who want an atheist Israel, Jewish only by denomination but democratic in substance, and those Jews who think democracy can only hurt the Jewish People and who want Israel to be Jewish. Democracy is a Greek word that stands for an ancient law-making method, based on people's power, demos meaning "people" and cratos, power. By the way, democracy also mistakes quantity for quality, making laws of the "more" as opposed to of the "better". The positive values we commonly attribute to democracy today, like the respect for the other and helping the weak, are actually Jewish values. In reality, democracy itself is the dictatorship of a few tax-consumers over the majority of the tax-payers. Over and above the age-old problem of corruption (the "people's representatives" tend to represent themselves and not the people), for the Jews, there is a much bigger problem. Should the people's representatives decide that a Golden Calf is necessary, the government would be obliged to respect this "law" and build one. The Golden Calf episode actually warns the Jews against democracy. Democracy may be good for the nations, but the Jews were clearly warned not to adopt it. The State of Israel today is ruled by these democratic, Golden-Calf-building Jews. In the Knesset, furthermore, there are Arab legislators who determine the present and the future of the Jewish People. Jews also know only too well what Hellenism is all about, what it means for them, and remember well their victory over it every year at Hanukah. It should also be said that Judaism is much older than democracy and stands for an altogether different principle. Jews believe that the Law is given by G-d, certainly not by some elected individuals. In substance: Man should not take into his own hands the legislative function; this belongs to HaShem, may His Name be blessed. These are just some of the reasons why we are for our G-d-given Law in our G-d-given Land; or, to put it in simple words, for a Jewish Yisrael. We want Israel to be a modern, theocratic kingdom. Please don't misunderstand this statement. I'm not talking about individual observance - that is a private and religious matter. What I'm talking about is the institutional setup we shall have in our country, in our Promised Land, in Eretz Yisrael. We can have no trust in an atheist and democratic power-structure that has nothing to do with Judaism. That is why it constantly negotiates our very presence on our Land. Let's stand up for Jewish Yisrael. After all, there are many democratic countries in the world today; whereas, there is only one Israel. Some people say that it is simplistic to "pit" democracy against Judaism because the current regime practices neither. Well, I agree with them. The current regime practices neither democracy nor Judaism. I also agree in saying that it is simplistic to "pit" democracy against Judaism. I am a simple man and I want simple answers. The "simple" fact, however, is that democracy assigns sovereignty to the people; whereas, the Torah assigns this role to G-d. Now, this doesn't seem to me a little, insignificant difference. I also "simply" think that we should do everything in our power to adapt the model of our institutions in Israel to the model of the institutions we pray for every day. "Now, that is ideology," you might say. I think it is just a question of being Jewish, marching in HaShem's path. There are important arguments against democracy on the ground, as well. Think, the whole demographic issue is a byproduct of democracy. Without democracy, the Arab birthrate becomes irrelevant. Furthermore, with no democracy, you cut out a whole corrupt class of non-Jewish "leaders". Judaism provides us with the institutions we need and we know it. There is just one more thing I'd like to mention. I'm no fool and I understand perfectly well that what I'm saying is unrealistic. It is unrealistic to propose to end the so-called democratic regime today in Israel or anywhere else, for that matter. But that does not mean that saying it loud and clear is not useful. The fact is that "extremisms" serve not to realize they declared program. They contribute to determining where the center stands. An example? Today, we take it for granted that our very territory is challenged. Why? Because Palestinianists are shouting this extremism into our and the world's ears for years. In other words, we are loosing out because we always want to be "impartial" and "just", forgetting that we are fighting for our survival against a deadly enemy. In this way, we allowed the center to slide down on the Palestinianists' side. So, what we need now is to reposition the center to the center. And the way to do this is to put up a united, Jewish, political, non violent extremism. This will do the trick and resolve many problems on the ground. Andras Bereny is an oleh hadash, a new immigrant, to Israel and resident in Kfar Tapuah in the Shomron, five miles south of Shechem. He is a founding member of Mishalot Yisrael, a grassroots group promoting a referendum with a Jewish alternative to plans for Disengagement. |
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SIX GIRLS KEPT IN PRISON, DESPITE COURT ORDERS
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, November 17, 2005. |
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From today's Arutz Sheva - IsraelNationalNews.com (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=93178). Six girls aged 13-15, arrested four days ago after a scuffle with Arabs in the Shomron, were not freed - despite two court orders to do so. Now, they themselves refuse to sign the release papers. The girs' attorney maintains that the police are "misusing their authorities" in keeping them in prison against the stated intention of the courts. The saga began on Sunday afternoon, when the girls met up with a group of Arab olive harvesters, and a clash ensued. This one ended unlike other city scuffles, however, when soldiers and policemen were called to the scene and the six girls were arrested. Contrary to press reports that the girls "destroyed a full day's worth of olive pickings," the mother of one of the girls said that during the clash, a bag or two of olives were torn, and a "small amount of olives spilled out." "The police decided to harass the girls and arrest them, even though they had done nothing that would justify arrest according to the criminal code," their lawyer, Ephraim Katzir of the Honenu organization, said. "Anywhere else in the country, no one would take the time to arrest someone for such a thing." The girls were brought to the Jerusalem Magistrates Court, and the police charged them with attacking Arabs, attacking soldiers and attacking policemen. "A total exaggeration, a thread turned into an entire suit," Katzir said. "We then had to wait over 6 hours at the courthouse for a hearing that took less than an hour." The prosecutor already then reserved the right to ask for the girls' custody until the end of the legal proceedings against them. Atty. Katzir, considered to be one of Honenu's top lawyers, cross-examined the police investigator extensively, and the true story that was revealed convinced the judge to order the girls' immediate release to four days of house arrest. The police did not give in, however, and asked that the judgment be delayed so that they could file an appeal. The court agreed, but when the issue was passed to District Court Judge Noam Solberg, he "deviated from his authority," according to Katzir, "by not ruling on the appeal itself - instead he allowed the release to be delayed for yet another 24 hours." "I did not give in, though," Katzir said, "and I immediately appealed to the Supreme Court. There, Justice Edna Arbel called an urgent hearing within two hours, and in fact ordered their release." The ruling was that the girls would be placed under house arrest for four days. At one point, the Prosecution asked that the house arrest be outside of Judea and Samaria, where the girls live. Katzir objected: "At this rate, we'll all end up in the 1948 borders, and from there we'll continue to the sea. You can't have different laws for different areas." Justice Arbel accepted Katzir's protest. However, this Supreme Court ruling was promptly ignored, and the Prosecution appealed once again - with the girls remaining in prison. The Prosecution claimed again that the girls are a danger to the public and could "lead to an escalation in the entire area, because if they are attacked, they would hit back and this would cause the soldiers to have to get involved and shoot." Katzir said, "The Prosecution essentially blamed the girls for the fact that the Palestinians hit them, and for causing the soldiers to have to shoot to protect them." But the Prosecution's appeal found its way back down to the District Court - which concurred with the Supreme Court and ordered their release. But the story still did not end there. The Shai (Samaria/Judea) Police District submitted a request for their incarceration until the end of the proceedings. Katzir expressed amazement at the turn of events: "Is there an automatic arrest clause such that they have to remain in jail because of a police request? It is totally unacceptable and judicially illogical, and the police are misusing the authorities they have been granted, in order to thwart judicial rulings." Finally, just as the release was to go into effect, and even after the process started for one of the girls, the police claimed they were unable to find the proper forms, and the girls spent last night in prison as well. This morning, they were to be released on 800 shekels' bail - but here the story took a swing in another direction: Some of the girls refused to sign any papers restricting their freedom, saying that they do not recognize an Israeli judicial system that is based on non-Torah law. The mother of one explained that their decision is also based on the real suspicion that the police and courts are merely toying with them. In fact, a court hearing is still scheduled for tomorrow regarding the police request to keep all six in custody until the end of the proceedings. |
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JEWISH ROOTS OF THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION
Posted by Professor Paul Eidelberg, November 16, 2005. |
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A. Historical Background 1. No nation has been more profoundly influenced by the "Old Testament" than America. Many of America's early statesmen and educators were schooled in Hebraic civilization. The second president of the United States, John Adams, a Harvard graduate, had this to say of the Jewish people: The Jews have done more to civilize men than any other nation... They are the most glorious Nation that ever inhabited the earth. The Romans and their Empire were but a bauble in comparison to the Jews. They have given religion to three-quarters of the Globe and have influenced the affairs of Mankind more, and more happily than any other Nation, ancient or modern. 2. The curriculum at Harvard, like those of other early American colleges and universities, was designed by learned men of "Old Testament" persuasion. Harvard president Mather (1685-1701) was an ardent Hebraist (as were his predecessors). His writings contain numerous quotations from the Talmud as well as from the works of Saadia Gaon, Rashi, Maimonides and other classic Jewish commentators. 3. Yale University president Ezra Stiles discoursed with visiting rabbis on the Mishna and Talmud. At his first public commencement at Yale (1781), Stiles delivered an oration on Hebrew literature written in Hebrew. Hebrew and the study of Hebraic laws and institutions were an integral part of Yale's as well as of Harvard's curriculum. 4. Much the same may be said of King's College (later Columbia University), William and Mary, Rutgers, Princeton, Dartmouth, and Brown University. Hebrew learning was then deemed a basic element of liberal education. Samuel Johnson, first president of King's College (1754-1763), expressed the intellectual attitude of his age when he referred to Hebrew as "essential to a gentleman's education." 5. This attitude was not merely academic. A year before the American Revolution, Harvard president Samuel Langdon, declared: "The civil polity of Israel is doubtless an excellent general model[of government]." 6. The Higher Law doctrine of the Declaration of Independence is rooted in the Torah, which proclaims "The Laws of Nature and Nature's God," and appeals to the "Supreme Judge" and "Providence" -- terms lacking in Israel's Declaration of Independence. 7. During the colonial and constitution-making period, the Americans, especially the Puritans, adopted and adapted various Hebraic laws for their own governance. The legislation of New Haven, for example, was based on the premise that "the judicial laws of God, as they were delivered by Moses, and as they are not ceremonial, shall generally bind all offenders..." Thirty-eight of the seventy-nine statutes in the New Haven Code of 1665 derived their authority from the Hebrew Bible. The laws of Massachusetts were based on the same foundation. 8. The fifteen Capital Laws of New England included the "Seven Noahide Laws" of the Torah, or what may be termed the seven universal laws of morality. 9. Now, without minimizing the influence of such philosophers as Locke and Montesquieu on the framers of the American Constitution, America may rightly be deemed the first and only nation that was explicitly founded on the Seven Noahide Laws of the Torah. It should also be noted that the constitutions of eleven of the original thirteen states made provision for religious education. Some even had religious qualifications for office. B. The Institutions Prescribed by the American Constitution 1. The House of Representatives represents 435 districts of the United States, where the people of each district elect one person to represent their views and interests. The idea of district elections is implicit in the Torah. We read in Deut. 1:13: "Select for yourselves men who are wise, understanding, and known to your tribes and I will appoint them as your leaders." a. Exodus 18:19 states: "seek out from among all the people men with leadership ability, God-fearing men--men of truth who hate injustice." Similar qualifications are prescribed in the original constitutions Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. b. Each tribe was to select the best men to be their representatives. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch comments that "each tribe (shevet) is to choose out of its own midst men whose character can only be known by their lives [hence whose character] is known only to those who have associated with them." This is the biblical source of residential requirements for Representatives and Senators in the United States. Also, what is here called a tribe was called a district (pelech) after the Second Temple. c. Finally, it is a principle of Jewish law that "No legislation should be imposed on the public unless the majority can conform to it" (Avoda Zara 36a). This requires legislators to consider or consult the opinions of their constituents. Hence representative democracy can be assimilated to Judaism by adding that representatives must be "men who are wise and haters of bribes." This would make for an aristocratic democracy, or a universal aristocracy -- a kingdom of priests, of noblemen. 2. The Senate. The Senate represents the 50 states of the Federal Union; it therefore represents the Federal principle. But the idea of federalism goes back to the Torah and the twelve tribes. Each tribe had its own distinct identity, its own governor and its own judicial system. 3. The Presidency. Unlike Israel, which has a Plural Executive or Cabinet consisting of a prime minister and other ministers representing different political parties in the Knesset, the United States has a Unitary Executive, namely, the President. Of course the President has a Cabinet, but its members cannot hold any other office and they are wholly responsible to the President, not to any political party. a. Now it so happens that a Unitary Executive is a Torah principle! Thus, when Moses told Joshua to consult the elders when he was about to lead the Jews across the Jordan, God countermanded Moses: there can only be one leader in a generation. And if you look at tractate Sanhedrin 8a, you will see that Jewish law opposes collective leadership. Nor is this all. b. Just as a President of the United States must be a native-born American and not a naturalized citizen, so a king of Israel must be born of a Jewish mother and not a ger or convert. 4. The Supreme Court. Just as the American Supreme Court is the final interpreter of the American Constitution, so the Great Sanhedrin is the final interpreter of the Jewish Constitution, the Torah. So we see that the original American Constitution was very much rooted in Torah Judaism. C. Brief Comparison with Israel's political and judicial institutions 1. The Knesset: MKs are not individually elected by the voters in constituency elections -- hence there is no accountability. In fact, MKs can ignore public opinion with impunity, as 23 Likud MKs did when they voted for Disengagement, contrary to their pledge to the nation in the January 2003 election. 2. The Government: The cabinet is collection of rival party leaders competing for a larger slice of the national budget. This undermines national unity and national purpose. The average government last less than two years, which makes it impossible to pursue a consistent and long-range national strategy. 3. The Supreme Court: The Court is a self-appointed oligarchy. It refuses to enforce the Foundations of Law Act 1980 which would make Jewish law first among equals. Chief Justice Aaron Barak writes: "It should never be said that a particular legal system has the primary claim to interpretive inspiration." Imagine a US Supreme Court justice teaching Americans: "It should never be said that the American legal system has the primary claim to interpertive inspiration." Israel's Supreme Court is the only court in the world that scorns the legal heritage of its own people. It has repeatedly handed down decisions that violate the basic beliefs and values of the Jewish people. D. Conclusion: The political and judicial institutions of the so-called Jewish State are less Jewish than the political and judicial institutions now operating in the non-Jewish democratic world! Professor Paul Eidelberg is President of the Foundation For Constitutional Democracy. He can be reached by mail at 244 Madison Avenue, Suite 427, New York, NY 10016, Tel: 212-372-3752, and by email at Constitution@usa.net |
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PALESTINIANS IN SUITS
Posted by Judy Lash Balint, November 16, 2005. |
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One day before U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice managed to hammer out an uneasy agreement on border arrangements in the Gaza Strip, James Wolfensohn, Quartet special envoy to the Middle East, told a Jerusalem meeting of Palestinians and Israelis exactly what he thought of them. Addressing several hundred people convened by the Israel Council on Foreign Relations and the Issam Sartawi Center for Peace and Democracy Studies, Wolfensohn who has spent the last five months in the area trying to forge agreement on things like how to link Gaza and the West Bank and who will haul away the rubble from the demolished Jewish homes of Gush Katif, said he believes the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is "a sideshow in terms of global politics." Despite the disproportionate attention given to the area, in terms of the money and numbers of people involved, we're small potatoes, Wolfensohn said. "This is a sideshow." Heavily represented in the audience for Wolfensohn's Jerusalem talk were the professional peaceniks who might in fact not know what to do with themselves if the sideshow came to an end and solutions were found to the Arab conflict with Israel. Galia Golan of Peace Now, Gila Svirsky of the Coalition of Women for Peace, Uri Avnery of Gush Shalom and Gershon Baskin representing the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information were all present and eager to ask questions. No representative of any Israeli right-wing group was there. The former World Bank chairman reckons he has traveled to at least 130 countries, but says he's never seen anything like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He was charged with resolving just six key issues regarding free passage in and out of Gaza, and has spent twenty weeks trying to do it. "It's difficult to understand how we haven't made more progress," he says. "Maybe there was something like this in ancient times," he declares and then adds pointedly, "But I think you're all proud of it." No -- we're not proud of it, but maybe Wolfensohn is just experiencing a different reality. For Wolfensohn and another American visitor to the area this week, Bill Clinton, the issues seem quite simple. If only we can provide funds and a boost to the Palestinian state idea through freedom of movement for goods and people, all our troubles will be over. Wolfensohn noted that, "People who have hope don't blow themselves up," and Clinton regurgitated the same message to different audiences during his visit here. According to the two prominent Americans, hope can be provided not only by an influx of more of the world's money into the Palestine Authority, but also by opening up Gaza and the West Bank. Israel is expected to open its borders, remove 125 checkpoints in the West Bank and allow access into Gaza from Egypt -- a traditional route for smuggling arms and terrorists. Not a word was mentioned during the briefing about transparency or accountability for the more than $4 billion already funneled into the black hole of the Palestine Authority coffers since 1993. No one asked about the schools, hospitals, community centers and universities that were supposed to be built with the donations. Nor did anyone raise the possibility that perhaps Islamic fundamentalism and hatred, not economics, might have something to do with homicide bombers. Wolfensohn, who spent $500,000 of his own money as part of a $14 million deal to buy the functioning hothouses left behind by the Jews of Gush Katif, didn't seem too perturbed by the fact that in the week following Israel's withdrawal, Palestinian looters damaged one third of the greenhouses, hauling off computers used to monitor crops, irrigation pumps and anything they could strip down as PA security officers stood by. But the Palestinian Minister of Finance took Wolfensohn on a tour of Gaza the day before his Jerusalem talk, and the two men reported "everything is again in pristine condition." The thinking of Wolfensohn and Clinton on matters Middle Eastern is obviously influenced by the Palestinians with whom they have come into contact. Wolfensohn shared the Jerusalem podium with Zahi Khouri, a prominent Palestinian industrialist who divides his time between Orlando and Jerusalem. Khouri, educated in France (MBA from INSEAD) and Germany (M.Sc) is the CEO of the Coca Cola Company in the Palestinian territories. His resume includes stints as Chairman of Palestine Telecommunications, and Chairman of Intram Investments Inc., a major New York-based developer specializing in real estate and the hospitality sector in Orlando. Khouri is on the board of a slew of other companies including La Vie S.A., a leading manufacturer of organic food; Cairo Amman Bank; the Middle East Capital Group; the Palestine Development and Investment Co. and HIG Investments in Miami. Bill Clinton told a Jerusalem audience the other night that he knows there's potential for the Palestinians because he meets many prosperous Palestinian businesspeople all over the world in the "Palestinian Diaspora." Neither Wolfensohn nor Clinton seemed to have noticed that the majority of Palestinians living abroad, including Khouri, are Christians, who tend to be the best educated and most affluent and the least likely to prosper under Hamas or Fatah rule. Wolfensohn's main message was that Israel and the Palestinians would have to resolve to work out the thorny issues themselves. The Quartet, made up of the U.S, Russia, United Nations and the European Union, will be there to provide support, "but if you want to blow each other up, I have a nice house in Wyoming and in New York and Australia and I will watch with sadness as you are doing it." And the very next day, Condi Rice announces that Israel will open up the Gaza crossings and allow Palestinians and Egyptians to monitor the very places they have used to let in the weapons used to murder thousands of Israelis over the past five years. When do we get the opportunity to tell Mr. Wolfensohn, Ms. Rice and Mr. Clinton just what we think of them and their understanding of how to bring an end to the Arab onslaught against Israel? Judy Lash Balint is an investigative journalist and author of "Jerusalem Diaries: In Tense Times" (Gefen). It is available for purchase from www.israelbooks.com |
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ARAB-ISRAEL CONFLICT -- FORGOTTEN FACTS! INTRO 1
Posted by Steven Shamrak, November 16, 2005. |
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The term "Palestinian" is itself a masterful twisting of history. To portray themselves as indigenous, Arab settlers adopted the name of an ancient Mediterranean tribe, the Philistines ("Invaders" in Hebrew), that disappeared out over almost 3000 years ago. The connection between this tribe and modern day Arabs is nil. Romans, in order to conceal their shame and anger with rebellious regions, changed the references to Judea and Samaria by naming them Palestine. 1. Nationhood and Jerusalem - Israel became a nation in the 14th century B.C.E. Two thousand years before the rise of Islam. 2. Since 1272 B.C.E. the Jews have had dominion over the land for up to 1,000 years with a continuous Jewish presence in the land for the past 3,300 years. 3. The only Arab dominion since the Arab invasion and conquest in 635 C.E. lasted no more than 22 years. 4. King David founded the city of Jerusalem. Mohammed never came to Jerusalem. 5. For over 3,000 years, Jerusalem has been the Jewish capital. Jerusalem has never been the capital of any Arab or Muslim entity. Even when the Jordanians occupied Jerusalem, they never sought to make it their capital and Arab leaders did not come to visit. 6. Jerusalem is mentioned over 700 times in Tanach, the Jewish Holy Scriptures. Jerusalem is not mentioned once in the Koran. 7. Jews pray facing Jerusalem. Muslims pray facing Mecca (often with their backs toward Jerusalem ). 8. In 1854, according to a report in the New York Tribune, Jews constituted two-thirds of the population of that holy city. (The source: A journalist on assignment in the Middle East that year for the Tribune. His name was Karl Marx. Yes, that Karl Marx.) 9. In 1867, Mark Twain took a tour of Palestine. This is how he described that land: A desolate country whose soil is rich enough but is given over wholly to weeds. A silent, mournful expanse. We never saw a human. 10. In 1882, official Ottoman Turk census figures showed that, in the entire Land of Israel, there were only 141 000 Muslims, both Arab and non-Arab. 11. A travel guide to Palestine and Syria was published in 1906 by Karl Baedeker; estimated the total population of Jerusalem at 60,000, of whom 7,000 were Muslims, 13,000 were Christians and 40,000 were Jews. 12. As the Jews came and drained the swamps and made the deserts bloom, Arabs followed. They came for jobs, for prosperity, for freedom. And, they came in large numbers. 13. In 1922, with what was widely acknowledged as the illegal separation of Transjordan, the Jews were forbidden to settle on almost 77% of the Palestine, while Arab settlement went unrestricted and encouraged by British mandatory authority. 14. Prior to the Second World War Mojli Amin, a member of the Arab Defense Committee for Palestine, proposed the idea "that all the Arabs of Palestine will leave and be divided up amongst the neighboring Arab countries. In exchange for this, all the Jews living in Arab countries will leave and come to Palestine." 15. Did you know that Saudi Arabia was not created until 1913, Lebanon until 1920? Iraq did not exist as a nation until 1932, Syria until 1941; the borders of Jordan were established in 1946 and Kuwait in 1961. Any of these nations that would say Israel is only a recent arrival would have to deny their own rights as recent arrivals as well. They did not exist as countries. They were all under the control of the Turks. Over 80% of the original British Mandate land was given to Arabs without population transfer of Arabs from the land designated for Jews. 16. In 1947, the Jewish state huddled on 18% of the original British Mandate land. The Jews accepted it gratefully. The Arabs rejected it with a vengeance and seven Arab states immediately declared war against Israel. 17. In 1948, the Arab refugees were encouraged to leave Israel by Arab leaders promising to purge the land of Jews. Most of them left in fear of being killed by their own Arab brothers as traitors. 18. Some 850,000 Jewish refugees were forced to flee from Arab countries, due to Arab brutality, persecution and pogroms. 19. The number of Arab refugees who left Israel in 1948 is claimed to be around 630,000 (where did they get this number?). Based on population census, estimated number of Arabs who left Israel was around 460,000. They were ordered to leave by Arab leaders at the time. 20. From 1948 till 1967 Arabs made no attempt to create a Palestinian state. Under Jordanian rule, Jewish holy sites were desecrated, 58 synagogues in Jerusalem were destroyed and the Jews and Christians were denied access to places of worship. Under Israeli rule, all Muslim and Christian sites have been preserved and made accessible to people of all faiths. 21. Arabs began identifying themselves as part of a Palestinian people in 1964 only, on the initiative of Egyptian-born Yasser Arafat. The idea became popular Arab propaganda tool after Israel re-captured Judea, Samaria and Gaza in the defensive 6-Day War of 1967, 22. Out of the 100,000,000 refugees since World War II, Arab-Palestinians is the only refugee group in the world that has never been absorbed or integrated into their own peoples' lands. Jewish refugees were completely absorbed into Israel. 23. Arab refugees INTENTIONALLY were not absorbed or integrated by the rich Arab oil states that control 99.9 percent of the Middle East landmass. They are kept as virtual prisoners by the Arab power brokers with misplaced hatred for Jews and Western democracy. 24. There is only one Jewish state. There are 60 Muslim countries, including 22 Arab ones. 25. The PLO's Charter still calls for the destruction of the State of Israel. 26. Pan-Arabism or the doctrine of Muslim Caliphate declares that all land that used to belong to Muslims must be returned to them. Thus, Spain, for example, must eventually be re-conquered. General Assembly resolution 181, of Nov. 29, 1947: It calls for the partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, with Jerusalem to be controlled by a "special international regime" to protect its holy places. The Zionist movement seeking to establish a Jewish state accepted the partition, the Arabs rejected it. The resolution was not carried out: After Israel declared its independence on May 14, 1948, war broke out pitting the embryonic state against surrounding 7 Arab states. Israel gained more land than it would have had under the partition resolution. Neither Israel nor Jordan, which controlled the divided parts of Jerusalem after the war, accepted control of the holy city by an international body. Security Council resolution 242, Nov. 22, 1967: It calls for "withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied" in the 1967 Six Day War and for "respect for and acknowledgment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." The resolution was not carried out because the Arab side did not recognize Israel, and Israel refused to withdraw. Steven Shamrak was born in the former Soviet Union (USSR) and participated in the Moscow Zionist "refusenik" movement. For the last 3 years, he has been publishing internet editorial letters on the Arab-Israeli conflict - independently, not as a member of any organization or political movement. He can be reached by email at StevenShamrak@mail2world.com |
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CAN ARABS BE ANTISEMITES?
Posted by Alex Grobman, November 15, 2005. |
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There are those who claim that Arabs cannot be antisemitic since they themselves are Semites. If they make this assertion, it's out "of either ignorance or bad faith," opines Bernard Lewis, one the world's leading experts on Islam and the Middle East. "Semite, like Aryan, is a classification of language, not of race or nationality. The misuse of both these terms originated in the same quarters, and serves the same purpose." Antisemitism has never "been directed against any but Jews, and this has been well understood by all concerned. The Nazis. saw no difficulty in simultaneously hating Jews and courting Arabs, and there were few Arabs who likewise found no difficulty in responding to this courtship.."1 The Egyptian intellectual Dr. Mamoun Fendi, a columnist for the London Arabic-language daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, also refutes this argument that is continuously discussed in the Arab media. "When Arabs respond to accusations of antisemitism with the argument that 'we are Semites,' he said, "the West laughs... because the term antisemitism as it is understood here in the West, is not the result of an anthropological classification of the races. The 'semitism,' of the concept of 'antisemitism'. is mostly connected to the Jewish holocausts in Europe-that is, to the hatred of those people [the Jews], which led directly to the gas chambers in which the Jews were cremated. Therefore, when some Arabs say 'We are Semites,' the ordinary man [asks]: 'When exactly were the Arabs cremated in the gas chambers of Europe, and how are the Arabs connected to this?' Of course the Arabs were not cremated by the Nazis. Therefore, the Arabs' claim that they are 'Semites' is... an attempt to shove themselves into someone else's history. "There are [in the West]... some who ask whether this [Arab] attempt to shake free [of charges of antisemitism] is connected to the Arabs' denial of this history, and that therefore, they stand in the same ranks as Europe's Neo-Nazis who deny that the gas chambers existed and that the Holocaust [ever] happened. While Germany purifies itself of this historical crime, we find that some Arabs celebrate the event [i.e. the Holocaust]."2 Denying Israel's right to exist "has clear genocidal implications," asserts Holocaust historian Yehuda Bauer. There is little doubt that abolishing the Jewish state would result in the "wholesale murder of its citizens."3 After the Israelis defeated the Arabs in the War of Independence, Ben-Gurion said "The Arab people will not be reconciled to the fact that six hundred thousand Jews defeated them; and this will remain a critical issue for us for a long time." He also recognized the Arabs would not be deterred from liquidating the Jewish State-that they would take every opportunity to achieve a strategic advantage, and that they believed time was on their side: "It should not be assumed that the defeat has restrained them from [wishing to] extirpate us from our land.. They are certain, with some justification, that time is on their side. ten, fifty, a hundred or two hundred years. They have a classic example right here in the country-the eleventh-century Crusader conquest. A Christian state rose.[and] thrived for decades, [but] eventually the Muslim world overpowered and totally annihilated it."4 The Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir also understood the extent of this hatred when on October 16, 1973, she warned members of the Knesset: "I have never doubted for an instant that the true aim of the Arab states has always been, and still is, the total destruction of the State of Israel, or that even if we had gone back far beyond the 1967 lines to some miniature enclave, they would not still have tried to eradicate it and us." For this reason she felt duty bound to remind them "to realize the truth. to make it clear to all men of goodwill who tend to ignore it. We need to realize this truth in all of its gravity, so that we may continue to mobilize. all of our resources necessary to overcome our enemies."5 Golda realized that Arab leaders like Yasser Arafat were telling the truth when they openly declared that there was no solution to the Arab/Israeli conflict other than the destruction of the Jewish state. There is, for some unfathomable reason, a predisposition in the West to disregard whatever the Arabs say as insignificant since it does not reflect what they really mean or will do. This theory blames the Arabic language for this disconnect. At best, the correlation between words and action is unpredictable and random. Christian missionaries spread the patronizing notion that Arabs were wonderfully mischievous children. Most scholars reject such views about the Arabic language. There is no ambiguity. Special emphasis is added to ensure that what was said, was intentionally said and is clearly understood. And therefore, failure to destroy Israel should not be misconstrued as a lack of commitment to achieving that goal. In the West, journalists and diplomats tend to highlight the discrepancy between what Arab leaders say in public and in private. When Arab leaders make a public statement that affronts Westerners, it is rejected as being meant only for Arab public consumption, for the street, while in private these same leaders are amiable and conciliatory.6 1. Bernard Lewis, "The Arab World Discovers Anti-Semitism," (May 1986), p. 31. 2. "Arab Press Debates Antisemitic Egyptian Series 'Knight Without a Horse - Part II," MEMRI Inquiry and Analysis Series - Number 113 (November 20, 2002.). 3. Yehuda Bauer, "Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism-New and Old," in Anti-Zionism and Antisemitism in the Contemporary Word ed. Robert S. Wistrich (New York: New York University Press, 1990). 4. Zaki Shalom, David Ben-Gurion, the State of Israel, and the Arab World, 1949-1956 (Portland: Sussex Academic Press, 2002), pp. 3-4, 14. 5.Golda Meir, My Life By Golda Meir (Jerusalem: Steimatzky's Agency Ltd. 1975), pp. 364-365. 6. Gil Carl AlRoy, "Do the Arabs Want Peace," Commentary (February 1974), p. 54. $ID |
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BUSH "MORPHING" INTO CLINTON? SAUDIS RESUME TERROR-FUNDING; "SECULAR" SYRIA
Posted by Richard Shulman, November 15, 2005. |
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SHARON'S "YES" "NO" TECHNIQUE After having broken resistance to withdrawals and retained command of his Party, Sharon declared that he wants no more unilateral withdrawals. The qualifier, "unilateral," means he is not averse to negotiating them. Indeed, Sharon is anxious to draw the remaining boundaries for Israel (IMRA, 11/9). Based on Sharon's record of lying promises and undemocratic means, no assurance of his carries weight. Israel needs a different type of leader. It needs a leader who wants to annex more of the Jewish homeland and is anxious to negotiate Arab withdrawal. IS BUSH METAMORPHOSIZING INTO CLINTON? "In fact, President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice have even begun employing Clintonian language of moral equivalency which fails to distinguish between killers and victims. There is renewed talk of "cycles of violence," of the "need for restraint," and continuous references to the road map without emphasis on the fact that it obligates the Palestinians (P.A.) first (to) dismantle the terrorist infrastructure." Likewise, Abbas is depicted as a partner for peace, whereas he does nothing for it (IMRA, 11/9). WHY IS POLLARD STILL IN JAIL? A plausible case is made that the reason for keeping Pollard in jail longer than for others convicted of his crime, and for denying clemency (and for the various miscarriages of justice in his case and of brutality towards him) is that he is a political prisoner being made an example of. An example for whom? An example for the Jewish people. The lesson is that the Jews must not try to help protect Israel from the State Department's anti-Zionist policy. This attitude towards Pollard is in addition to the government's over-reaction to employees of AIPAC interested in a baited story about an Arab plot against Israel. Israel is the main subject on US campuses, and an object of opprobrium, setting the climate. Agitation against the neo-conservatives, most of whom have left the Administration, is taking an antisemitic form, because some of the known neo-cons were Jewish. The Defense Dept. has some grievances with Israel over arms sales, (but so has Israel with it) but is over-reacting and being offensive about it (to impede the Israeli defense industry, a competitor). The Administration keeps urging Israel to give the P.A. unilateral concessions that imperil Israeli lives. Israelis should ask themselves whether the US really is friendly to it and whether it should acquiesce to any further imperious demands (IMRA, 11/9). It hardly matters who is President. Presidents almost always defer to the State Dept., which traditionally is anti-Zionist. THE GOOD NEWS An Italian newspaper several times called for rallies in behalf of the US and Israeli victims of Islamic terrorism, and thousands came out (NY Sun, Nov.). GOVERNMENTS LULL CITIZENRY OVER A-BOMBS When rogue states are developing nuclear weaponry, the democracies have a tendency to reassure their citizenry that such development is years away. The implication is that action need not be taken for years, and no difficult decisions need be made. Such assurances have proved incorrect about Pakistan and N. Korea, which, themselves, became sources of nuclear proliferation. Such assurances are improper. Our intelligence services cannot estimate the rate of development by secret foreign agencies. Neither can they always detect purchases of components and technology that hasten completion of projects. Nor can they account for the clandestine sale of weaponry by impoverished soldiers. Soviet and E. German soldiers used to sell their weapons cheap, including tanks. Ranking Soviet officers had close connections to the Soviet Mafia. Gen. Lebed claimed that a hundred nuclear bomb suitcases were missing from the Soviet arsenal. He was killed shortly thereafter. Emanuel Winston figured out that six nuclear artillery shells were missing from Soviet inventory. He points out how difficult it is to maintain control over thousands of nuclear weapons and radioactive material. Iran seems to have bought nuclear material from Russia. S. Arabia bought nuclear-capable missiles from China and refuses to allow them to be inspected for nuclear weaponry. Similar to assurances about nuclear weaponry are assurances from Israeli Defense Min. Mofaz about how well Egypt is cooperating in stopping arms smuggling. He omitted mention of the several shiploads of arms that Egypt allowed to be unloaded into the Sinai and then into Gaza (Winston Mid East Analysis, 11/9). S. ARABIA RESUMES TERROR-DOLLARS For a year, S. Arabia officially ceased funding terrorism. Recently it resumed financing of terrorism. It sent several million dollars (that are known about) to Hamas. The US protested mildly (IMRA, 11/9). TWO MUSLIM REACTIONS TO FRENCH REVOLUTION II One reaction is to forbid insurrection and to blame the immigrants for failing to integrate themselves into French society. The other reaction is to blame the society for failing to integrate Muslim immigrants. A London Arabic daily that inclines to the latter acknowledges that arson is no remedy, but society should heed the rebels' complaints. A Saudi correspondent argued that Muslim culture is not compatible with others (IMRA, 11/9) ANGLICANS FOR PRESERVING ISRAEL? A couple of dozen NGOs at the UNO, including the Anglicans, issued a resolution against Iran's proposal to wipe out Israel (IMRA, 11/10). Thanks but no thanks. This is a resolution with which the anti-Zionist State Dept. could concur. They oppose a nuclear attack on Israel, but they indirectly support terrorist attacks on Israel by opposing Israeli defenses. Thus they oppose every type of measure that Israel takes in pursuit of terrorism: roadblocks, checkpoints, bombing of terrorist bases, targeted assassination, long-term imprisonment of terrorists, border control, arrests of members of non-fighting branches of terrorist organizations, defensible borders, you name it. They also propose divesting from Israel but not the P.A. which started the war. They demand little of the Arabs, and overlook Muslim Arab bigotry, even persecution of Christians, who are the real martyrs in the P.A.. They donate funds to the P.A., much of which the P.A. steals or diverts to terrorism. The State Dept. favors arming the P.A.. The malignity describes is not justified by Sharon's approval for arming the P.A.. His Quisling regime is under control of leftist prosecutorss, who are anti-Zionist or do not believe in secure borders, and of the State Dept. FROM PERES TO PERETZ The Labor Party has changed its chairman (IMRA, 11/10) from someone who profits from the suspicious murder of his predecessor and from the "peace process" he sponsors, to someone who prevents industrial reform lest it break up the governmental monopolies that slow down the economy but gives his union members a strangle-hold over. "SECULAR" SYRIA The Syrian Minister of religious endowments considers Syria the last line of Arab defense against (us) "descendants of apes and pigs." He is quoting the Koran. He claims that we Jews now are ruling most of the Mideast (IMRA, 11.10). How shocking! I mean that which he finds in the Koran. Isn't he misquoting that supposed bible of tolerance? No. I agree that we Jews are descendants of apes, but so is the rest of homo sapiens. Although it is popular to call Baathist Syria "secular," the news brief shows it like the other Arab states in fostering religious supremacy and intolerance. If the Jews run the Mideast, how would he explain that most Mideastern countries forbid Jewish land ownership and teach that racist biology and that Iran and the PLO threaten to annihilate Israel? Actually, the Jews do not even control their state, which takes orders from the US. Otherwise, I would suggest that Israel practice this military deception: leak false boasts about controlling certain Arab leaders, who'd then get assassinated. Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at richardshulman5@aol.com. |
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CLINTON'S ISRAEL 'PIECE' PLAN
Posted by David Meir-Levi, November 15, 2005. |
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This was written by Joseph Farah and appeared in World Net Daily today. Joseph Farah is a Christian American of Lebanese origin who identifies himself as an "Arab-American", critiques Clinton's peace plan (faux peace plan, in my opinion) as adumbrated in his speech at the Rabin memorial ceremony. Farah asks the obvious questions, which apparently no one in the Clinton camp is asking. Unfortunately, no one in the Bush camp seems to be asking them either, judging from the demands made upon Israel by Condaleeza Rice at yesterday's Gaza-Border-Crossing agreement meeting. I encourage all of you to write to the President and to Congress.
PS. Mr. Farah makes one understandable error. He refers to Clinton's plan, and to the overall Western World's critical and demanding attitude toward Israel, and its laxity toward the Arab world, as "insanity". Mr. Farah fails to notice... (quite a forgivable failing, since almost no one else in the world except myself and a very few others have read: Aburish, Sa'id The rise and imminent fall of the house of Saud
...that it is not insanity which drives world leaders such as Clinton, EU secretary generals, Jacques Chirac, Jack Straw, Kofi Anan, and others to strike political poses that do indeed look insane when it comes to their exhortations regarding the Arab-Israel conflict. No, it is not insanity. It is greed, or fear. Most of the world does not know the degree to which Saudi oil money and petro-power (and the comensurate and accompanying political power, the power to intimidate, to bribe, to buy, to browbeat, to blackmail, to threaten, and to seduce) have wormed their way into the deepest and highest layers of western government and the UN. I cannot prove it, but I strongly suspect that the Clinton (faux) peace plan (which Farah calls the "piece plan") is a product more of the imoral (and probably illegal) influence that the Saudi royal family has over Clinton (and has had at least since the beginning of his first presidency) than any serious evaluation of what needs to be done in the arena of peace-making in the Middle East. I hate to say it, but I think the same may be true of Condaleeza Rice. Forcing Israel to open its borders to the Gaza Strip even as the world is witness to the arms build up and terrorist-central-home-office developing there...that is insanity: but we know that Secretary Rice is not insane. So...greed? fear? I don't know...but it is clear that her demands just don't make sense...just as Clinton's don't. And, as my grandmother of blessed memory used to say: when things don't make sense, look for the money. david ml It's not bad enough that the Israelis evacuated peaceful civilians from the Gaza Strip because the proposed new government there cannot stomach the idea of any Jews living in their country. Now Bill Clinton says Jews should send financial aid and technology to their anti-Semitic terrorist enemies there. That's what the former U.S. president told a group in Jerusalem gathered to mark the 10th anniversary of the assassination of Israel Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin last weekend. Clinton also referred to the Oslo peace process -- by any standard a total and abject failure -- "our best chance for a lasting and comprehensive peace." I'm surprised he wasn't booed off the stage. "If you work for peace and fail, fewer people will die than if you do not work at all," he said. Tell it to Neville Chamberlain. Clinton offered up a three-point peace plan: 1. He suggested Palestinians "use their opportunity in Gaza to do a better job of fighting terror." A better job? How about any job? 2. He suggested Israelis must find a way "to organize their politics" so that "their search for peace can continue." Isn't it time for world leaders to acknowledge that Israelis have done all they can -- that they have gone above and beyond the call of duty in working for peace? Am I the only one who finds such remarks rather insulting? How do Israelis view it? 3. And he suggested that the "most important" step is that Jews around the world and friends of Israel "have a special responsibility to give financial, moral and technical support to the Palestinian people to help the Gaza gamble succeed and to the Israelis to give them time to sort through their political situation." This is what passes for deep thinking among world leaders. Jews have a special responsibility to come to the aid of their embattled, bleeding, battered brothers and sisters in Israel. Suggesting Jews should divert their support to aiding the budding anti-Semitic, terrorist state of Palestine is immoral and unconscionable. It is like suggesting that the best hedge against the rise of Adolph Hitler in the 1930s would have been diverting financial and technical aid to Germany. Hear me -- an Arab-American who has covered this part of the world for many years -- on this point: No people have done more for the Arab refugees than the Jews. Nowhere in the Middle East do Arabs live freer, more productive lives than in Israel. Their thanks has been in the form unrelenting, unending terrorism and death. I find these comments by Bill Clinton condescending and dangerous. Why do we keep raising the bar of civil conduct higher and higher for Jews? Why are expectations continually lowered for the Arab world? Why do we believe that we can change the moral character of the Arab people in Gaza by throwing money at them? Why do we think that rewarding terrorism is the right thing to do in the Middle East, even though acknowledging it is the wrong approach elsewhere? Why is it that the Jews are expected to pay for the needs of the people in Gaza -- even though the Arab states of the Middle East are wealthy and claim to support their struggle? This is insanity. Why is analysis like this even taken seriously? How many times do we have to witness the same policies of appeasement and one-sided sacrifice fail before we recognize it's time for a re-evaluation of those policies? Bill Clinton did his level best to destroy Israel during his eight years as president. He twisted Ehud Barak's arm to the point that the former prime minister had virtually given his country away to Yasser Arafat. Only a strange twist of fate, in which Arafat rejected the giveaway, halted the process and saved Israel from the unimaginable horror of being sliced and diced. When people like Bill Clinton talk about a "peace plan" for Israel, what they really mean is a "piece plan" -- in which Israel would be left with only an indefensible piece of its historic land. That's not peace... it's ethnic, religious and cultural suicide. |
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CHRISTIANS, BEWARE OF SABEEL
Posted by Naomi Ragen, November 15, 2005. |
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Friends, Dorit Evan, a Canadian journalist, has provided some shocking information about a dangerous little known Christian group in Jerusalem called Sabeel, led by Anglican Reverend Naim Ateek, a Palestinian. Thanks Dorit! Naomi Dear Naomi; I am a journalist in Toronto and have just covered a conference by a little known group called Sabeel, based in Jerusalem. Its leader is Anglican Rev. Canon Naim Ateek, a Palestinian Christian. He is extremely dangerous. While epousing peace and "morality" he delivers a one-sided, impassioned anti-Israel, anti-Semitic narrative, filled with distortions and falsehoods without context and scrutiny to an audience of mostly well meaning Christians, who don't challenge him and believe everything he says. He is calling for a third "non violent" intifada. In the conference kit was a flyer announcing n "International Nonviolence Conference in Bethlehem, to learn first hand about nonviolent activism". It will take place in Bethlehem Dec 27-30. They expect over 1000 people. A rep from the David Project was there to denounce him. You are welcome to use my article. And thank you for your brave work. Dorit Evan
Naomi Ragen is an American-born novelist and journalist who lives in Jerusalem. She can be contacted at www.naomiragen.com, where you can subscribe to her newsletter. |
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SAUDI TEACHER TO BE LASHED FOR PRAISING JEWS
Posted by Avodah 15, November 15, 2005. |
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(Reuters) A court in Saudi Arabia sentenced secondary school teacher Mohammad al-Harbia to 40 months in jail and 750 lashes after he discussed the Bible and praised Jews, Al-Madina newspaper said on Sunday. (http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&story ID=2005-11-13T201733Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-223345-1.xml&archived=False) |
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THE GAZA DEAL, DEAR SECRETARY RICE, WHERE DO YOU WANT THE CASUALTIES
Posted by David Meir-Levi, November 15, 2005. |
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Below is my letter to the Secretary of State. I suggest that you write one as well. You can send it to her by going to WWW.State.gov, and clicking on 'contact us' and then clicking on the 'contact Secretary Rice" line in blue on the left side of the screen. david ml Dear Secretary Rice, No disrespect (God forbid !), but your pressure on Israel to compromise its security by permitting Arab terrorists open access to its populations seems utterly insane. Now, I know that you are not insane. So, please let me, Israelis and Jews everywhere, the American people, the world ... know what moved you to such an irrational course of action. It seems that you have failed to ask yourself the all-important question that leaders must ask in time of war: where do you want the casualties? Have you come to the decision that you want Israeli citizens to be casualties to renewed and re-armed onslaughts of Palestinian terrorism, just so that you could "clinch the deal?" I am sure that you must know that forcing Israel into prematurely surrendering control of the dangerously porous border between the Gaza Strip and the Egyptian Sinai to the PLO, permits Gazan Arabs to travel between the coastal strip and Judea-Samaria in bus convoys -- convoys that can surreptitiously smuggle arms and ordnance and missiles and terrorists into the West Bank.. Air and sea ports will be open to the influx of weapons and personnel from any and every Arab terror group in the world. The lack of a physical Israeli presence on the Gaza-Sinai border will be an invitation for Palestinian and Egyptian violation of the new agreement, and a fresh influx of terrorists and terrorist arms.. In sum, you appear to have scuttled Israel's security concerns in your relentless rush for a deal. It appears that you have staked your foreign policy credentials on this deal, which is seen by the US and the Arab world as a pivotal step in moving towards a two-state solution. But how did you decide that your reputation is worth the lives of the dozens, scores, hundreds, perhaps thousands of innocent Israelis who will die as a result of your re-enabling Palestinian terrorism. And why do you think that you are helping an advance toward peace when you enable terrorists to perpetrate more terror? I know that you said. "As Palestinians move back and forth to the outside world, as they trade with their Israeli neighbors, the lives of ordinary people on both sides will change for the better." But you seem unaware of recent history. During the decades from 1967 to 1994, when these territories were under Israeli sovereignty, the economy soared at an average rate of 13% per year, tourism skyrocketed, the population tripled, infant mortality plunged, longevity increased, seven new universities were built, sewerage and phones and electricity and clean water were brought up to 20th century standards ... their lives were indeed changed for the better ... by Israel.. But, when the right leader came along, and promised them endless Jewish blood and their state "from the river to the sea", all that "change for the better" was forgotten as the Palestinian populace supported Arafat and his thugocracy in their endless terror war. Why do you think it will be any different now? I know too that you think this agreement strengthens Mahmoud Abbas ahead of Jan. 25 parliament elections, and it may help him fend off a strong challenge by Hamas. But at what cost? And, perhaps as important, with what gain? Abbas has vowed never to use force against terrorists. He has supported terrorism as his own Fatah police moonlight for Hamas and Islamic Jihad. So what does it matter that he is strengthened? Strong or weak he will do nothing to stop the terrorism, nothing to advance the cause of peace. In short, this deal does not make sense. How can anyone suggest that Israel must open its borders to the very terrorists who want to destroy her? How can anyone suggest that Israel should allow the Gaza strip to become a haven for any and every terrorist in the Middle East. Moreover, you are enabling el-Qaeda as well! Between their new-found freedom in the Gaza Strip and their four bases of operation in the southern Sinai Peninsula, el-Qaeda will have a free field of fire against Israel, Jordan, Egypt, and southern Europe. What is to be gained by forcing such a deal, which will only redound to the benefit of the terrorists? Why the hurry to force Israel to do what no country in the world would ever do? Secretary Rice, you are helping the terrorists win against Israel. Helping the terrorists win against Israel is helping them win against the USA. So, back to my original question: where do you want the casualties? With the borders sealed, the Gazan Arabs are the casualties in that they cannot grow their economy and have easy contact with their West Bank brethren (unless, of course, they stopped the terrorism and made peace with Israel). And, perhaps, you too are a casualty since your reputation in the context of international policy is at stake. But with the borders open, the casualties will be the new victims of the newly empowered Arab terrorists. They have already killed 1,700 Israelis since signing the "peace accords" at Oslo 12 years ago. Your plan helps them kill more. And your plan may, also, help el-Qaeda kill more of us and our allies. So? Where do you want the casualties? David Meir-Levi is an American-born Israeli, currently living in Palo Alto. He lectures in English, Hebrew, and Spanish; his expertise is in Near Eastern studies and the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. He is Director of Peace and Education at Israel Peace Initiative (www.ipi-usa.org). |
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BUSINESS IS BUSINESS
Posted by Lawrence Uniglicht, November 15, 2005. |
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America, Israel's most formidable ally, has allowed itself to become the planet's premier debtor nation, most dependent upon oriental nations such as China and Japan to continue servicing its ever widening trade deficit. If such foreign investors significantly reduce the rate of or indeed halt a continuing accumulation of greenback I.O.U.s or worse yet decide to dump their largesse of these monetary instruments precipitously, America's economy would likely tank. Furthermore, America must insure the viability of its petrodollar, today's fossil fuel trading currency of choice, to maintain the value of its essential medium of exchange. We might then say that Islamic petroczars have the world's one superpower over a barrel. The beleaguered state of Israel must be cognizant of such reality on the ground. If macroeconomic machinations go south for today's swaggering world leviathan, ambitious nations in the wings would surely attempt to alter the planet's competitive pecking order. What then for the state of Israel? Might an astute Knesset as well as Israeli chamber of commerce focus entrepreneurial efforts ever more towards a rising eastern sun in light of these compelling prospects? Of course the special alliance between America and Israel must not erode, yet business is business. The Bush Administration has its own special energy and military alliances with Jew-despising Wahhabi promoting Saudi royalty. Furthermore, Vice President Dick Cheney's (perhaps) erstwhile company Halliburton fulfills contractual obligations in war bedraggled Iraq as well as axis of evil advancing nuclear nemesis Iran, not exactly the Jewish democracy's favorite Middle Eastern neighbor. Within a decade or so China, India, Japan, South Korea, and other exponentially emerging Far Eastern nations will further flex strengthening sinew among this planet's economic and technological heavyweights. Israel should make every effort to enter the ring through the same corner. Secular scientifically progressive states worthy of century twenty-one will carry the day while faith based misogynistic theocracies wallow in a stultifying anti-intellectual quagmire of their own dysfunctional creation. Survival of the sharpest minds will be the customized Darwinian motto for our evolving species. Make note of that prescient Knesset members and be generous when financing your education and research budgets. $ID |
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PIECING IT ALL TOGETHER: Part 1
Posted by Ellen W. Horowitz, November 15, 2005. |
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As you know, last night author Judy Balint was able to extract yet another denial of any swap deal from a former Israeli ambassador to the Vatican. He felt that a certain unnamed individual may have leaked the story to the Italian press. http://isfsp.org/updates.html But it's interesting to note that Vatican Radio didn't have any problem making some capital on the leak the following day: http://www.oecumene.radiovaticana.org/en1/Articolo.asp?id=52079 And what about our present ambassador to the Vatican, Oded Ben Hur. and the individuals he hangs out with? He [Gary Krupp] is a good friend of both Franciscan Fr. David Jaeger, a principal negotiator for the Holy See with the Israelis, and Oded Ben-Hur, the Israeli ambassador to the Holy See. http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/word012005.htm What might this mean for us...? We know that the Roman Catholic church is anxious to receive sites that they deem holy, as well as properties that they consider seized and under occupation by Israel. And that they have been pushing for a conclusion to negotiations and an adherence to all articles of the 1993 Fundamental Agreement to mark the 40th anniversary of Nostra Aetate. To see the terms of the Agreement, go to the following link: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/holysee.html [Note: Article 10 of this agreement deals with property issues] For some of the other problems inherent in that agreement, please see: "The Vatican's Betrayal of Israel" by Don Kenner in Front Page Magazine http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=12287 The Church considers the Cenacle shrine (Last supper room) to be one of their most precious treasures. There is also an issue of religious doctrine involved, whereas the church aspires to holding Mt. Zion, and considers themselves the rightful heirs. That theological position puts Israel and the Vatican at an impossible impasse: "The jewish temple of Sion had passed away but the new Christian Sion had arisen." http://servus.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/pope/10GPen/12/12GPsh05.html Renowned Jewish scholar, Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, noted that prejudices remain and the Catholic Church was in an "almost impossible" position when it came to dealing with the Jews. "It's very hard to be somebody's heir when he's still alive," Rabbi Steinsaltz told an audience of academics, students and Catholic and Jewish representatives. (Associated Press October 28, 2002) But that hasn't stopped people like Jewish Papal Knight Gary Krupp, founder of Pave the Way Foundation, from actively and hastily mediating and trying to bring about an historic conclusion to negotiations with the Vatican. He appears to be using the Cenacle shrine as his chief bargaining chip. Krupp said the pope embodies the "spirit of Aaron, the high priest of ancient Israel..." ...Krupp's next project is to try to help get negotiations between the Holy See and the State of Israel back on track. He's a good friend of both Franciscan Fr. David Jaeger, a principal negotiator for the Holy See with the Israelis, and Oded Ben-Hur, the Israeli ambassador to the Holy See. Krupp said he hopes he can mobilize American Jewish support to galvanize Israel's government to bring the talks to a swift conclusion. One specific goodwill gesture he intends to urge upon the Israelis is the return of the Shrine of the Cenacle. http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/word012005.htm It appears that Mr. Krupp has had a certain amount of success in his quest to mobilize American Jewish Support - at least from the new Jewish Papal Knight, Rabbi Rosen - interreligious affairs director for the American Jewish Committee (AJC) I am sending you this letter of support to express my deep appreciation for your remarkable work to promote good relations and cooperation between the Holy See and the State of Israel. In particular your efforts to galvanize Israeli compliance with its commitments made in the Fundamental Agreement and to demonstrate gestures of goodwill to the Vatican are of enormous importance, both for the bilateral relations themselves and for Catholic-Jewish relations around the world.? Contact Ellen W. Horowitz at ellenwrite@bezeqint.net |
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A YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY: ANNIVERSARY OF THEO VAN GOGH'S DEATH
Posted by Janet Lehr, November 15, 2005. |
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This was written by Francis Fukuyama, and appeared in the Wall State Journal November 2, 2005. It is archived at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113089516582785870.html Mr. Fukuyama is professor of international political economy at Johns Hopkins and chairman of the editorial board of The American Interest. One year ago today, the Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh had his throat ritually slit by Mohamed Bouyeri, a Muslim born in Holland who spoke fluent Dutch. This event has totally transformed Dutch politics, leading to stepped-up police controls that have now virtually shut off new immigration there. Together with the July 7 bombings in London (also perpetrated by second generation Muslims who were British citizens), this event should also change dramatically our view of the nature of the threat from radical Islamism. We have tended to see jihadist terrorism as something produced in dysfunctional parts of the world, such as Afghanistan, Pakistan or the Middle East, and exported to Western countries. Protecting ourselves is a matter either of walling ourselves off, or, for the Bush administration, going "over there" and trying to fix the problem at its source by promoting democracy. There is good reason for thinking, however, that a critical source of contemporary radical Islamism lies not in the Middle East, but in Western Europe. In addition to Bouyeri and the London bombers, the March 11 Madrid bombers and ringleaders of the September 11 attacks such as Mohamed Atta were radicalized in Europe. In the Netherlands, where upwards of 6% of the population is Muslim, there is plenty of radicalism despite the fact that Holland is both modern and democratic. And there exists no option for walling the Netherlands off from this problem. We profoundly misunderstand contemporary Islamist ideology when we see it as an assertion of traditional Muslim values or culture. In a traditional Muslim country, your religious identity is not a matter of choice; you receive it, along with your social status, customs and habits, even your future marriage partner, from your social environment. In such a society there is no confusion as to who you are, since your identity is given to you and sanctioned by all of the society's institutions, from the family to the mosque to the state. The same is not true for a Muslim who lives as an immigrant in a suburb of Amsterdam or Paris. All of a sudden, your identity is up for grabs; you have seemingly infinite choices in deciding how far you want to try to integrate into the surrounding, non-Muslim society. In his book "Globalized Islam" (2004), the French scholar Olivier Roy argues persuasively that contemporary radicalism is precisely the product of the "deterritorialization" of Islam, which strips Muslim identity of all of the social supports it receives in a traditional Muslim society. The identity problem is particularly severe for second- and third-generation children of immigrants. They grow up outside the traditional culture of their parents, but unlike most newcomers to the U.S., few feel truly accepted by the surrounding society. Contemporary Europeans downplay national identity in favor of an open, tolerant, "post-national" Europeanness. But the Dutch, Germans, French and others all retain a strong sense of their national identity, and, to differing degrees, it is one that is not accessible to people coming from Turkey, Morocco or Pakistan. Integration is further inhibited by the fact that rigid European labor laws have made low-skill jobs hard to find for recent immigrants or their children. A significant proportion of immigrants are on welfare, meaning that they do not have the dignity of contributing through their labor to the surrounding society. They and their children understand themselves as outsiders. It is in this context that someone like Osama bin Laden appears, offering young converts a universalistic, pure version of Islam that has been stripped of its local saints, customs and traditions. Radical Islamism tells them exactly who they are -- respected members of a global Muslim umma to which they can belong despite their lives in lands of unbelief. Religion is no longer supported, as in a true Muslim society, through conformity to a host of external social customs and observances; rather it is more a question of inward belief. Hence Mr. Roy's comparison of modern Islamism to the Protestant Reformation, which similarly turned religion inward and stripped it of its external rituals and social supports. If this is in fact an accurate description of an important source of radicalism, several conclusions follow. First, the challenge that Islamism represents is not a strange and unfamiliar one. Rapid transition to modernity has long spawned radicalization; we have seen the exact same forms of alienation among those young people who in earlier generations became anarchists, Bolsheviks, fascists or members of the Bader-Meinhof gang. The ideology changes but the underlying psychology does not. Further, radical Islamism is as much a product of modernization and globalization as it is a religious phenomenon; it would not be nearly as intense if Muslims could not travel, surf the Web, or become otherwise disconnected from their culture. This means that "fixing" the Middle East by bringing modernization and democracy to countries like Egypt and Saudi Arabia will not solve the terrorism problem, but may in the short run make the problem worse. Democracy and modernization in the Muslim world are desirable for their own sake, but we will continue to have a big problem with terrorism in Europe regardless of what happens there. The real challenge for democracy lies in Europe, where the problem is an internal one of integrating large numbers of angry young Muslims and doing so in a way that does not provoke an even angrier backlash from right-wing populists. Two things need to happen: First, countries like Holland and Britain need to reverse the counterproductive multiculturalist policies that sheltered radicalism, and crack down on extremists. But second, they also need to reformulate their definitions of national identity to be more accepting of people from non-Western backgrounds. The first has already begun to happen. In recent months, both the Dutch and British have in fact come to an overdue recognition that the old version of multiculturalism they formerly practiced was dangerous and counterproductive. Liberal tolerance was interpreted as respect not for the rights of individuals, but of groups, some of whom were themselves intolerant (by, for example, dictating whom their daughters could befriend or marry). Out of a misplaced sense of respect for other cultures, Muslims minorities were left to regulate their own behavior, an attitude which dovetailed with a traditional European corporatist approaches to social organization. In Holland, where the state supports separate Catholic, Protestant and socialist schools, it was easy enough to add a Muslim "pillar" that quickly turned into a ghetto disconnected from the surrounding society. New policies to reduce the separateness of the Muslim community, like laws discouraging the importation of brides from the Middle East, have been put in place in the Netherlands. The Dutch and British police have been given new powers to monitor, detain and expel inflammatory clerics. But the much more difficult problem remains of fashioning a national identity that will connect citizens of all religions and ethnicities in a common democratic culture, as the American creed has served to unite new immigrants to the United States. Since van Gogh's murder, the Dutch have embarked on a vigorous and often impolitic debate on what it means to be Dutch, with some demanding of immigrants not just an ability to speak Dutch, but a detailed knowledge of Dutch history and culture that many Dutch people do not have themselves. But national identity has to be a source of inclusion, not exclusion; nor can it be based, contrary to the assertion of the gay Dutch politician Pym Fortuyn who was assassinated in 2003, on endless tolerance and valuelessness. The Dutch have at least broken through the stifling barrier of political correctness that has prevented most other European countries from even beginning a discussion of the interconnected issues of identity, culture and immigration. But getting the national identity question right is a delicate and elusive task. Many Europeans assert that the American melting pot cannot be transported to European soil. Identity there remains rooted in blood, soil and ancient shared memory. This may be true, but if so, democracy in Europe will be in big trouble in the future as Muslims become an ever larger percentage of the population. And since Europe is today one of the main battlegrounds of the war on terrorism, this reality will matter for the rest of us as well. Janet Lehr is editor/publisher of a daily e-mail called "Israel Lives." She can be contacted at israellives@gmail.com |
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OLD JUAN COLE IS A PATHETIC DUMB SOUL
Posted by Steven Plaut, November 15, 2005. |
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"Juan Cole and the Decline of Middle Eastern Studies," Alexander H. Joffe, Middle East Quarterly, Winter, 2006, http://www.meforum.org/article/789 When the Middle East Studies Association's annual conference ends on November 22, 2005, University of Michigan history professor Juan Cole[1] is scheduled to become the organization's president. The association describes itself as: A non-political association that fosters the study of the Middle East, promotes high standards of scholarship and teaching, and encourages public understanding of the region and its peoples through programs, publications, and services that enhance education, further intellectual exchange, recognize professional distinction, and defend academic freedom.[2] As president, Cole is the public face of Middle Eastern studies. His election marks an endorsement of his work by hundreds of professors in various fields of Middle Eastern studies in American universities. Cole has written four academic books but his prominence comes not from scholarship but from his commentary on history and current events.[3] As such, this commentary provides a mirror into the state of Middle Eastern studies and the widespread urge of its practioners to promote polemic over scholarship. Cole: Israel as a Fascist Society Juan Cole: The Likud coalition in Israel does contest elections. But it isn't morally superior in most respects to the Syrian Baath. The Likud brutally occupies 3 million Palestinians (who don't get to vote for their occupier) and is aggressively taking over their land. That is, it treats at least 3 million people no better than and possibly worse than the Syrian Baath treats its 17 million. September 9, 2004[4] Middle East Quarterly: Freedom House gives Syria its lowest rating of "not free" for both political rights and civil liberties.[5] In contrast, Israel has a rating of "free."[6] The analogy between Likud and the Syrian Baath misunderstands the nature of comparative politics. The Likud has an active membership and contested leadership; the Baath is subordinate to Bashar al-Assad. Cole ignores the Syrian occupation of Lebanon, its massacres of perhaps 20,000 in Hama in 1982, and the imprisonment of at least 17,000 political prisoners.[7] Cole: No American media will report the demonstrations in Israel[8] as fascist in nature, and no American politicians will dare criticize the Likud. But the fact is that the Israeli predations in the West Bank and Gaza are a key source of rage in the Muslim world against the United States (which toadies unbearably to whatever garbage comes out of Tel Aviv's political establishment), something that the 9-11 commission report stupidly denies. July 26, 2004[9] MEQ: Cole's characterization of peaceful demonstrations as "fascist" is inaccurate. Fascism suggests an autocratic system that seeks to regiment and control every aspect of social, political, and economic life. This cannot apply to Israel, which has from its independence been fully democratic. Israelis often demonstrate against their government's policies. Cole also fails to acknowledge U.S. political criticism of various Israeli governments. In 1991, Secretary of State James Baker declared Sharon persona non grata in Washington[10] and President H.W. Bush opposed issuing loan guarantees to Israel.[11] More recently, the Pentagon blacklisted Israeli Defense Ministry director-general Amos Yaron because of a dispute over Israel's military relationship with China.[12] Lastly, Jerusalem -- not Tel Aviv --is the capital of Israel. Cole: Judaism has given us so much that is noble in ethical religion, and what the Likud is doing is an insult to that long and glorious tradition. Likud's real roots lie not in the Bible but in Zionist revisionism of the Jabotinsky sort, which is frankly a kind of fascism. March 21, 2003.[13] MEQ: Cole's dislike for Ze'ev Jabotinsky (1880-1940), an early Zionist leader who moved Zionism from intellectual debate to reality by organizing illegal immigration into Mandatory Palestine and helped establish a Jewish state, is a constant theme in his Internet postings. Cole resents the establishment of the Jewish state. In January 2003, he wrote, "While one certainly cheers the British for giving refuge in Palestine to Jews fleeing Hitler, it would have been nobler yet to admit them to the British Isles rather than saddling a small, poor peasant country with 500,000 immigrants hungry to make the place their own."[14] Cole's insistence that Likud's willingness to defend Israel against terrorism suggests a break with the "glorious tradition" of Judaism, a religion in which he holds no expertise, suggests a misunderstanding of both the democratic process which brought Likud to power and the divisions between religion and state which mark Israeli governance. Cole: Dual Loyalties Cole: It is an echo of the one-two punch secretly planned by the pro-Likud faction in the Department of Defense. First, Iraq would be taken out by the United States, and then Iran. David Wurmser, a key member of the group, also wanted Syria included. These pro-Likud intellectuals concluded that 9-11 would give them carte blanche to use the Pentagon as Israel's Gurkha regiment, fighting elective wars on behalf of Tel Aviv (not wars that really needed to be fought, but wars that the Likud coalition thought it would be nice to see fought so as to increase Israel's ability to annex land and act aggressively, especially if someone else's boys did the dying). August 29, 2004[15] MEQ: Cole suggests that many American Jewish officials hold dual loyalties, a frequent anti-Semitic theme.[16] Suggestions that American Jewish officials desired "someone else's boys" to fight is anti-Semitic and a common refrain in Cole's commentary.[17] Cole's commentary is often derivative and dishonest; he often substitutes others' web commentaries for the effort of tracking down original sources. In the case of "the one-two punch," he adopts the narrative espoused by the Lyndon LaRouche movement[18] and mischaracterizes the contents of the Institute for Advanced Strategy and Political Studies paper[19] that actually chastised Israel for not supporting the U.S. fight against terrorism and made suggestions about how Jerusalem could be more supportive of Washington. Cole: Likud Manipulation Cole: The rightwing Zionists want to racialize the Sudan conflict in American terms, as "Arab" versus "black African" because they want to use it to play American domestic politics and create a rift among African-Americans and Arab-Americans. Both of the latter face massive discrimination in contemporary society, and they should find ways of cooperating to counter it. What is happening in Darfur is horrible with regard to the loss of life and the displacement of persons, but the dispute is not about race. It is about political separatism and regionalism. March 27, 2005[20] MEQ: In contrast to those in the region,[21] Cole argues that there has not been an ethnic component to the Sudanese conflict and implies that suggestions that ethnicity is a factor are a Zionist conspiracy. Since hostilities erupted after Khartoum's 1983 decision to impose Islamic law over the predominantly Christian and animist southern region of the country, approximately two million persons have died.[22] Cole: If Rice is going to be a successful Secretary of State, she simply has to get back control of US foreign policy from the Likudniks in the Bush administration. January 20, 2005[23] MEQ: Cole promotes an anti-Semitic myth while misunderstanding the process of U.S foreign policy. The president and the U.S. Congress set the direction of U.S. foreign policy. A secretary of state is charged with implementing it. Several times weekly, a Principles' Committee, consisting of the secretaries of state and defense, the national security advisor, and the director of national intelligence, meets to resolve any policy questions. In response to charges of undue influence by Jewish American officials, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld said, "I suppose the implication of that is that the president and the vice-president and myself and Colin Powell just fell off a turnip truck to take these jobs."[24] Cole: With both Iraq and Iran in flames, the Likud Party could do as it pleased in the Middle East without fear of reprisal. This means it could expel the Palestinians from the West Bank to Jordan, and perhaps just give Gaza back to Egypt to keep Cairo quiet. Annexing southern Lebanon up to the Litani River, the waters of which Israel has long coveted, could also be undertaken with no consequences, they probably think, once Hizbullah in Lebanon could no longer count on Iranian support. The closed character of the economies of Iraq and Iran, moreover, would end, allowing American, Italian, and British companies to make a killing after the wars (so they thought). August 31, 2004[25] MEQ: No Israeli expulsion of the Palestinians or annexation of Lebanese land has occurred. Cole's comment appears to reflect his belief in the Arab nationalist and Islamist claim that Israel seeks to stretch from the Nile to the Euphrates.[26] This is one of many Cole predictions that are detached from reality. Cole: Israel as Cause of Terrorism Cole: That British police have received training in Israel in stopping suicide bombers with the technique of shooting the suspect in the head has not made things easier in that regard [sic]. July 25, 2005[27] MEQ: In most cases, Israel thwarts suicide attacks without violence.[28] Following the shooting of a Brazilian tourist by the London police on July 22, 2005, Tom Gross, the Jerusalem correspondent of The Daily Telegraph, wrote, "Had the Israeli police shot dead an innocent foreigner on one of its buses or trains, confirming the kill with a barrage of bullets at close range in a mistaken effort to thwart a bombing, the UN would probably have been sitting in emergency session by late afternoon to unanimously denounce the Jewish state."[29] Cole: our press and politicians do us an enormous disservice by not putting the Israeli announcement about the Jerusalem barrier on the front page. This sort of action is a big part of what is driving the terrorists (and, of course, Sharon himself is a sort of state-backed terrorist, anyway). The newspapers and television news departments should be telling us when we are about to be in the cross-fire between the aggressive, expansionist, proto-fascist Likud coalition and the paranoid, murderous, violent Al-Qaeda and its offshoots. July 11, 2005[30] MEQ: The separation fence has reduced terrorism 75 percent.[31] Saudi Arabia, India, Morocco, Turkey and even the United Nations in Cyprus built similar barriers before Israel, in each case reducing terrorism or, in the latter case, communal violence.[32] Cole: According to the September 11 Commission report, Al-Qaeda conceived 9/11 in some large part as a punishment on the U.S. for supporting Ariel Sharon's iron fist policies toward the Palestinians. Bin Laden had wanted to move the operation up in response to Sharon's threatening visit to the Temple Mount, and again in response to the Israeli attack on the Jenin refugee camp, which left 4,000 persons homeless. Khalid Shaikh Muhammad argued in each case that the operation just was not ready. July 8, 2005 MEQ: Martin Kramer points out that the 9-11 Commission determined the hijacking plan was conceived by early 1999, that Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount took place in September 2000 when he was head of the opposition, and that the Jenin operation took place in April 2002, seven months after 9/11. After these factual problems were pointed out, Cole surreptitiously changed his original posting. [33] Cole: It is obvious to me that what September 11 really represented was a dragooning of the United States into internal Middle East political conflicts. Israel's aggressive policies in the West Bank and Gaza have poisoned the political atmosphere in the Middle East (and increasingly in the Muslim world) for the United States. It is ridiculous to suggest that radical Islamists don't care about the Palestine issue. September 9, 2004[34] MEQ: Cole ignores events such as the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, the attacks on U.S. embassies in East Africa in 1998, and on the USS Cole in 2000, all of which took place during periods of seeming progress in Israeli-Palestinian relations. Cole: We don't need any more U.S. buildings blown up because our government is coddling cuckoo [Israeli] settlers who are stealing other people's land to fulfill some weird religious power fantasy. January 2, 2004[35] MEQ: The 9-11 Commission determined that planning for the terrorist attacks began during the Camp David II process as it appeared that Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority chairman Yasir Arafat would agree to a comprehensive peace agreement.[36] Cole: Taking Liberty with the Facts Cole: Was American journalist Steve Vincent killed in Basra as part of an honor killing? He was romantically involved with his Iraqi interpreter, who was shot four times. If her clan thought she was shaming them by appearing to be having an affair outside wedlock with an American male, they might well have decided to end it. In Mediterranean culture, a man's honor tends to be wrought up with his ability to protect his womenfolk from seduction by strange men. August 8, 2005[37] MEQ: According to Vincent's wife, he was not romantically involved with his Iraqi interpreter.[38] Iraq is not part of the Mediterranean world; Baghdad is more than 500 miles from both Tel Aviv and Beirut. Cole: Even medieval Islamic law recognized the right of Christians, Jews, and other monotheists to practice their religion and enjoy rights to their lives and property. This relative tolerance has often been enhanced in the twentieth century by the rise of nationalism, wherein Arab Christians sometimes are privileged as symbols of national authenticity because Christianity predated Islam in the nation's history. August 3, 2004 [39] MEQ: As Martin Kramer points out, "Iraqi nationalists perpetrated massacres against Iraq's Christians in 1933 and against its Jews (who also predate Islam in Iraq's history) in 1941."[40] Cole's understanding of medieval Islam is also selective. Harun al-Rashid (786-809) originated the practice -- revived by the Nazis more than a millennium later -- of requiring Jews to wear yellow patches.[41] The eleventh century Saljuq dynasty also required Jews to wear yellow patches and shuttered Christian-owned taverns.[42] Both Christians and Jews had to pay extortionate taxes until they converted "voluntarily" to Islam.[43] In nineteenth century Iran -- within Cole's self-declared scope of expertise -- Islamic clerics whipped up anti-Christian pogroms.[44] Only in the early twentieth century, did Jews and Christians win equal rights within Iran,[45] and then only briefly. Alex Joffe is director of Campus Watch, at www.campus-watch.org. [1] Cole received a Bachelor's degree in the history and literature of religions, Northwestern University; a master's in Arabic studies from the American University in Cairo and a Ph.D. in Islamic studies from the University of California in Los Angeles. He joined the University of Michigan in 1984 and served an abbreviated term as the director of the university's Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies.
Steven Plaut is an American-trained economist, a professor of business administration at Haifa University and author of "The Scout." He frequently comments - both seriously and satirically - on Israeli politics and the left wing academic community. His website address is http://www.stevenplaut.blogspot.com or write him at splaut@econ.haifa.ac.il. |
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JEWS ARE A CHOSEN PEOPLE
Posted by Lawrence Uniglicht, November 14, 2005. |
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Jews indeed are a chosen people, chosen to follow a double standard foisted upon them by a disrespecting world. The planet's one Jewish sanctuary Israel prevailed against hostile Arabs attempting to annihilate that sacred homeland in 1967. As a fortuitous result of the intrepid victory Israel substantially extended its boundaries to include Gaza, Judea, Samaria, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. Such extension is surely necessary to allocate future generations of Israelis reasonable living space within a region of the world that will not allow Jews to dwell elsewhere. Observe that today's Eretz Yisroel is dwarfed 100 fold in landmass by belligerent Muslim neighbors, thus Jewish habitation is still confined to a miserly share of a generous Middle Eastern expanse. Yet the outer world tells Israel it cannot keep the fruits reaped from a war it did not start. Indeed, due to planetary pressure Gaza has already been ceded to a so-called Palestinian entity morphing into a bastion for Jew-despising Hamas fanatics. As a basis of comparison, the Jewish democracy's formidable American ally was able to extend its borders at the behest of the concept manifest destiny. That emerging nation's southwest including Texas, California, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona was in effect conquered in battles (the U.S. did pay Mexico a relative pittance after the fact) during the mid 1800s against America's proximate neighbor Mexico. Denizens of the planet did not and do not now protest this acquisition. Furthermore, European troops vanquished a formerly entrenched Ottoman Empire by the early 1900s yet no hand wringing did nor does occur by aggrieved civilized world citizens blasting any consequential occupation of erstwhile Muslim territory. Why then do so many members of an arguably dysfunctional species apparently unacquainted with past practices relating to the outcomes of war sanctimoniously condemn Israel? Why must Israel return justifiably obtained land? At the highest levels of manipulation, the primary motivating factor for such hypocrisy might be found in that addictive vicious viscous substance just below the surface of deserts owned by autocratic Islamic potentates. The skewed planetary prevailing perception of Jordanians morphed to Israeli-abused Palestinian waifs is a direct and convenient consequence of the industrial world's energy addiction. Finalize the Faustian pact, abuse the Jewish shlamazel, and spindly autocratic Muslim fingers will loosen their grip on the infatuating fossil fuel faucet. Strategically programmed perhaps subtle anti-Semitic/anti-Israeli sentiment for mass consumption is no doubt crafted and disseminated by upper crust predators and their contemptuous cronies oiling the skids for Arab endearing wealth enhancing pandering petrol policy decisions. The delusion of land for peace by many pie in the sky Israelis and their presumed supporters is unsupported by reality on the ground portrayed by Islamic fundamentalist fanatics frothing to sever the Jewish jugular no matter what. Israeli land for guaranteed oil contracts to those infidel deliverers possessed of diabolically persuasive Israel dismantling rhetoric is a more accurate assessment. Contact Lawrence Uniglicht at luniglicht@snip.net |
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THE 'HATE-BUSH' CROWD MUST RE-THINK THEIR IDEOLOGY IN LIGHT OF IRAN'S REALITY
Posted by David Meir-Levi, November 14, 2005. |
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Dear Mr. President, Note carefully Amir Taheri's analysis below. The two paragraphs that I have extracted give us an incredibly important message: "For almost a quarter of a century the Islamic Republic has been trying to change the status quo in the region while the US sought to preserve it. After 9/11 President George W. Bush transformed the US into an anti-status quo power and introduced major changes by toppling the Taliban in Afghanistan and the Ba'ath in Iraq. Sooner or later a new status quo has to emerge in the Middle East. The question is whether it will be shaped by the US or by Iran. Ahmadinejad believes that Iran has a better chance of putting its imprint on the new Middle East. The US lacks staying power (he believes) and Bush is an aberration in contemporary American history. All that the Islamic Republic needs to do is wait until the Bush presidency is either politically destroyed by its opponents in Washington or comes to the end of its term. Then, once Bush is crippled or gone, no American leader would have the stomach for a fight with Iran." So, according to Taheri: a.) Iranian leaders believe that you, President Bush, reversed Clinton's legacy of do-nothing/know-nothing regarding the Middle East and the Islamofascist war against us; and by doing so you presented a powerful threat to the supremecist, triumphalist, totalitarian designs of Islamofascism. Conclusion: Taheri could be wrong. But he is a very knowledgeable and insightful commentator on Iran. His past essays have been accurate and lucid. Moreover, his analysis regarding Iran's current manipulations is certainly coherent and logical. And note, too, that it does not matter whether or not you, President Bush, actually are an 'aberration' in American foreign policy vis-a-vis Islamofascist terrorism. What matters is that Iranian leaders THINK that you are. They act on their perceptions. And Taheri is describing their perceptions. So...even if there is only, say, a 50-50 chance that Taheri is right, then any and every opponent of the Bush Doctrine and to your over-all foreign policy regarding America's stand against Islamofacist terrorism (in Afghanistan, in Iraq, on the world-wide stage of covert operations against el-qaeda, in support for Israel's war against Palestinian and Hezbollah terrorism, and in the possibility of future action against a Moslem terror state such as Syria) is very probably assisting the Islamofascists in their terrorism against us. It is incumbent, therefore, upon the 'hate-Bush' crowd to do a rapid and radical re-thinking of their ideology and strategy. Ranting against the Bush Doctrine, ranting against the Iraq war, ranting against your use of American armed might against the Middle East countries that house and train and fund and shelter and launch terrorism against us and against our allies...these rantings help our self-proclaimed and self-identified Islamofascist enemies. They make it easier for our enemies to destroy us. What Taheri's article tells the 'hate-Bush' crowd is that we are on the threshold of another Munich. Recall that in March of 1939, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain came back to London from his Munich meeting with Adlolph Hitler, proclaiming that he had achieved "peace in ouir time" thanks to his surrendering Czekoslovakia to the NAZIs. Six months later, Hitler invaded Poland and the war had begun. A year later, all of Europe was in flames. Five years later 70,000,000 people had died. And 50 years later, we learned from his own writings that Hitler would have retreated had he been stopped when he first took over Sudetanland. Appeasement emboldened the aggressor. If, as our President, leader of the free world, you have the support you need to wage an effective war against our Islamofascist enemies...then there is no Munich, and we avoid the world-wide terror war (perhaps with WMDs) that Iranian leaders promise. If your presidency is crippled by internal dissention and by the 'hate-Bush' democrats, or if you are replaced in 2008 by another Clintonesque appeaser, we have Munich in our time...and World War 4 shortly thereafter. It is time to deluge the 'hate-Bush' crowd with a dose of reality...reality the way Iranian President Akhmedi-Nejad sees it. David Meir-Levi
PS. this does not mean that we cannot critique you, your presidency, the Bush Doctrine, and/or the war as you are currently waging it. Rather, it means that we cannot rant in order to gain political adherents and undermine our President at the expense of truth, accuracy, integrity...and ultimately our own security. It also means that criticism should be toward improving our country's ability to wage this war now, while it is contained, while the enemy is containable, and while the conflict is still devoid of WMDs. "Eye of the Storm: Whose new Middle East?" by Amir Taheri, Nov. 10, 2005, Jerusalem Post. When Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made his "wipe Israel off the map" remarks last month, many diplomats on both sides of the Atlantic rushed to explain, read between the lines and relativize what was an unambiguous statement of Teheran's long-established policy. They expressed the hope that Iran would "clarify" - meaning soften - its position. That was followed by feverish diplomatic activities, mainly by the United Nations' Secretary-General Kofi Annan, to persuade Teheran to tone down Ahmadinejad's remarks. (Annan was forced to cancel a planned visit to Teheran after the Iranians told him they would not allow any conciliatory phrases into the final communique.) Last week, however, Iran's "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenehi, the nation's ultimate decision-maker under the Khomeinist Constitution, not only gave his ringing endorsement to Ahmadinejad's remarks, but went further by offering his "vision for Palestine." Addressing a congregation at the end of Ramadan, Khamenehi said Iran rejected the two-states formula proposed by the US, and would fight for the creation of a single state encompassing Israel and the Palestinian territories. In such a state, power would be in the hands of Muslims, although some Jews would be allowed to remain, under unspecified conditions. Khamenehi went further by suggesting that Israel's political and military leaders, especially Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, be tried on charges of crimes against humanity. WHY HAS Teheran decided to play hardball? The answer is that it wants a clash with the US over the future of the Middle East, and is convinced that it can win. For almost a quarter of a century the Islamic Republic has been trying to change the status quo in the region while the US sought to preserve it. After 9/11 President George W. Bush transformed the US into an anti-status quo power and introduced major changes by toppling the Taliban in Afghanistan and the Ba'ath in Iraq. Sooner or later a new status quo has to emerge in the Middle East. The question is whether it will be shaped by the US or by Iran. Ahmadinejad believes that Iran has a better chance of putting its imprint on the new Middle East. The US lacks staying power and Bush is an aberration in contemporary American history. All that the Islamic Republic needs to do is wait until the Bush presidency is either politically destroyed by its opponents in Washington or comes to the end of its term. Then, once Bush is crippled or gone, no American leader would have the stomach for a fight with Iran. In the meantime, the only regional powers capable of challenging Iran's leadership are out of the race for different reasons. Turkey has decided to become part of Europe, and would not cherish the prospect of being sucked into the Middle East's deadly politics. Egypt, for its part, is heading for a period of instability under an octogenarian leader who just managed to retain power with the support of no more than 12% of the electorate in a rigged election. Iran, on the other hand, has become more powerful. Internally, the soft-liners have been kicked out, allowing a new generation of radical revolutionaries to seize control of all levers of state power. Iran's oil income is at an all-time high, allowing the new president to buy popular support. Abroad, while the US is bogged down by the insurgency in Iraq and the periodical resurfacing of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Iran has formed solid alliances in both countries. Iran has also emerged as the main supporter of Palestinian radical movements, some of which had been without a patron since the fall of Saddam Hussein. Next February, Teheran is scheduled to host the largest gathering of radical leaders from across the Muslim world to endorse its one-state formula for ending the Israel-Palestine conflict. Syria, isolated and terrified, has become even more dependent on Iranian support while Iran, operating through Hizbullah, remains a major player in Lebanon. THE NEW Iranian leadership is also encouraged by the current weakness of the European Union. Germany is apparently unable to form a new government while Britain's influence is fading as Premier Tony Blair becomes a political lame duck. As for France, it is facing a Muslim intifada while its top three leaders are tearing each other apart over who should be a presidential candidate in 2007. Italy is heading for elections that seem certain to spell the end of pro-American Premier Silvio Berlusconi and the return of weak coalition governments. Closer to home, Iran is positioning its pawns. After more than a decade of relative quiet, Teheran has also reactivated its network of Shi'ite contacts in the Persian Gulf region. A Shi'ite coalition was formed in Kuwait last month, while two Shi'ite parties in Bahrain have been told to go on the offensive against the emir and his policy of rapprochement with Israel. Teheran has also resumed contact with Saudi Shi'ite opposition leaders in exile. In the meantime, Iran's massive military buildup has been accelerated, and it is no longer a mystery that the new leadership is seeking a nuclear arsenal within three to five years. Teheran also counts on support form China and Russia. Thirsty for energy, China needs Iran, which holds the world's third-largest oil reserves and second-largest gas deposits. A plan, originally negotiated under the shah in 1975, for building 25 oil refineries in China was revived last September as part of Ahmadinejad's "Look East" policy. Russia needs Iran for two reasons: to help counter American influence in the Caspian Basin and Central Asia, and to forestall revolt among Russia's Muslim communities. Iran also hopes to revive the moribund non-aligned movement as a global anti-American forum, with the help of allies such as President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. The state-owned media in Teheran are in combative gear. Echoing Ahmadinejad's analysis, the Iranian media present the West, led by the US, as a "sunset" (ofuli) power that must be taken on and defeated by a tolue'e (sunrise) Islamic power led by Iran. In that context the destruction of Israel becomes a key element in Teheran's strategy in the Middle East because Ahmadinejad knows that radical Sunni Arabs will not accept the leadership of Shi'ite Iran unless it is perceived as the only power capable of realizing their dream of wiping Israel off the map. Amir Tahari is an Iranian author and journalist, is editor of the Paris-based Politique Internationale. |
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IS THE LABOR PARTY NOW IN THE ASCENDENCY?
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, November 14, 2005. |
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With Amir Peretz now the head of the Labor Party, having defeated Shimon Peres, there is now a new game in town. Here are some possibles to consider: Sharon - having lost both Shimon Peres with the Labor Party support as his 'allies' in abandoning the Land - recognizes his end-of-days. Likud's Party hacks will recognize that continuing to support Sharon will not only lose many seats in the upcoming elections but will reduce Likud to a minor political party having lost ignominiously. The Political Right, having recognized Sharon as a veritable lying machine with bottomless corruption, will not pour into the streets as they once did to support Sharon no matter what Party he joins or invents. Look for Sharon to play his last trick cards before he is out. Without Knesset approval, he will attempt to pre-define borders, using his Fence as his drawing stick and finish his commitment to his and the Bush "Road Map". While having no legal position to set these borders, Sharon will rely on his personal declaration to be accepted by America, the E.U., the U.N. as a fait accompli. The new Sharon plan will be in coordination with those powers with the idea that the new Prime Minister of Israel (whoever that may be) and the always weak Knesset will cave in to this pressure and be forced to vote Sharon's Declaration of Borders as legal after the fact. Sharon's commitment to the failing Bush Administration is an example of the failed judgement of both. Bush is now at his lowest ratings and is in a crash-and-burn dive which will drag both the Republican Party and those like Sharon down with him. Sharon, having thrown open the gates of Gaza/Gush Katif and Northern Samaria to Terrorists for the weak and empty political plan of a boy President, has put the Jewish State of Israel in grave jeopardy. I would not be surprised to see indictments of Sharon and his two sons, the Sharon Cabinet and Attorney General Menachem Mazuz after the Sharon government falls. The records of betrayal, even treason will be there unless Sharon starts to shred documents now. There is still the possibility that Sharon will bolt the Likud Party, denials not withstanding, and try to form a new Party. I would not be surprised to see Shimon Peres as a co-founder with Sharon, claiming they are a centrist party representing all sides. However, having betrayed Likud Party principals and observed that half the Party hacks voted "Disengagement", Sharon may yet decide that his best chances to stay in power are with Likud. Be assured as in the election of Rabin vs. Shamir, the U.S. government will pour in millions - legally or otherwise - to support the candidate of its choice. In this case, it would be Sharon or Sharon/Peres where the monies would be funneled. Naturally, such organizations as Peace Now, among other Leftists, would suddenly find their coffers filled with U.S. dollars. There would be a massive repeat of the false front organizations to collect illegal dollars to which Omri Sharon has admitted and Ehud Barak has - so far - skillfully avoided. The Bush Family Dynasty, with James Baker and the oil companies magnates (maggots) had a vested interest in pacifying Muslim Terrorists. This included the Arab Muslim Palestinians, the Saudis and Syria, underpinned with the Arabist State Department's mistaken idea that driving Israel back to her 1949 Armistice borders would appease the Islamo-Fascists and the black gold would flow unimpeded.. But, that Plan was a failure from the start as we watch all the International Terrorist organizations move into the Judenrein Gaza Strip and set up shop in the 7 cities of Judea and Samaria that were gifted to the Arab Palestinians under the Oslo Accords 1 and 2. Sharon, of course, knowingly advanced the attempt to eliminate Israel by gifting Gaza and Northern Samaria to the entire gamut of Muslim Arab Terrorist Organizations. Judea and Samaria will be the next operational target with heavy weaponry now that the old hero has shown he can easily be made to run. Can you think of many or any nations, large or small that have not experienced Muslim Jihadist Terrorist attacks? To name a few: America (Twin Towers 1993 & 9/11), Saudi Arabia (Khobar Towers), Egypt (Sharm el Sheik hotels), the Philippines, Iraq (on a continuing massive scale), Spain (3/11), Jordan (3 international hotels on 9/11 that is, November 9th), Afghanistan, Israel (since Oslo was signed more than 1700 murdered, tens of thousands wounded - many maimed for life), Iran (we'll wipe Israel off the map & have nukes very soon), France (just a beginning of burning), England (just beginning also), not to mention Belgium, Holland, Canada (a harbor for arriving Muslim Terrorists)... The larger nations of America, France, England, et al are awaiting anything from a radiation dirty bomb, to a nuclear device, delivered through the hands of Al Qaeda by way of Pakistani-Iranian nuclear facilities. As for Sharon and Bush, there is a sense of desperation as their reach for an honorable place in history is thwarted by the inevitable march of Islamists who believe their dying is itself a great victory. These two sophomoric idiots will, indeed, leave a monumental legacy, only it will be something in smoking ruins and a vast graveyards of bones having pandered to Arab Muslim Terror. Don't be too shocked to see Sharon, through Defense Minister Mofaz, launch all sorts of attacks against Muslim Terrorists - just before elections. He will attempt to resurrect his old image as a fighting General before age and corruption took over his mind. Sharon will be fighting all those Jihadi-Islami Terrorists he released from prison and all those Islami-Jihadi Terrorists that poured through the gates Sharon opened up into Gaza. Bush and his mouthpiece Rice will allow Sharon to open up a temporary and theatrical offensive on the presumption that a leader at war can more easily win an election. This ploy was tried by Father Bush as he launched 40 cruise missiles at an empty factory complex in Iraq prior to his last days as President - using men and missiles to save a political party is an old ploy and it always seems to trick the electorate. Sharon having built the idol of Terror and now he will knock it down to show the electorate what a great General/leader he is 'again'. Should he win, be assured he will return to bringing Israel back to the 1947 pre-Independence lines after agreeing first to the 1967 Armistice Lines and then to the 1949 Armistice Lines. I can only hope and pray that there will be a time when all those who conspired with Sharon to subvert Israel's safety and sovereignty will pay a price equal to the crime of using the nation's citizens and her young soldiers to retain power. Such crimes against humanity are certainly worth of the Haman or Nuremberg gallows. Emanuel Winston is a commentator and Middle East analyst. His articles appear often on Think-Israel and Gamla. He is a member of the Board of Directors and a research associate of the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies (http://www.freeman.org/online.htm). |
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THREE DAYS TILL KATSAV MEETS POPE. ASK KATSAV THESE QUESTIONS...
Posted by Ellen W. Horowitz, November 14, 2005. |
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When you write to President Katsav, Israeli government officials and others (like Rabbi Rosen or Gary Krupp), place less emphasis on the swap aspect of any deal, and more on what, if any, properties will be discussed in the upcoming meeting with Katsav and the Pope. Don't let them deflect from the real issues by allowing them to focus on an empty building in Toledo Spain. The denials coming from the various powers-that-be seem to deny the swap itself, but are not clear with regards to other types of property deals and arrangements that may take place when Katsav meets with the Pope. Ask them for clarification on some or all the following: a) Do any properties on Mt. Zion fall under the the 1993 Fundamental
Agreement?
For a list of government contact information (email, phone and fax numbers), go to: http://ISFSP.org/zion31.html ----- SOME REFERENCES: Final details of a long-delayed accord on Catholic properties in the Holy Land are expected to be agreed during the visit, marking reconciliation between Christians and Jews after centuries of hostility. http://www.cathnews.com/news/510/70.php The Greek Orthodox Church is one of the largest landholders in Jerusalem. Among its land is the property where the Israeli Parliament now sits... (I'm withholding any editorial comment) http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0406861.htm On property rights, the church is seeking the "full enjoyment" of properties that has been lost for various reasons. Most emblematic would be the Cenacle, or "upper room," in which tradition holds that Jesus and his disciples celebrated the Last Supper. Restitution of the Cenacle "would make the climate a lot more favorable for the rest of the negotiations," Jaeger said. The church also wants the legal capacity to seek relief in Israeli courts for property disputes. http://nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/word0620.htm In 1998, negotiations began between the state of Israel and Vatican representatives over control of several areas and buildings claimed by the Catholic Church to have fallen under its control in the past. Thus, it is asking to reassume control of these sites. The Foreign Ministry created a committee to examine the problem and determine Israel's position. As is known, Minister Poraz told Vatican officials that he supports their stance. http://ISFSP.org/zion34.html ----- PART OF WHAT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH EXPECTS KATSAV TO DELIVER: That the church in Caesarea will be rebuilt. That the Convent of St. Anthony will finally be returned fully to the Franciscan Sisters. Most of all, that the present negotiations will be accelerated with a view to an early conclusion, in accordance with the Fundamental Agreement. Then I will know that the great hopes we had in 1993 were truly justified, and that the friendly relations that all of us, on both sides, worked so hard to achieve are finally secure. Caesarea has a prominent place in the Acts of the Apostles and early Christian history. It was where the Gentiles first received the Holy Spirit. Yet the church there was confiscated in the 1950's and was later completely destroyed. There is also the case of the convent of Franciscan sisters in Jerusalem that is still obstinately occupied in part by the Hebrew University, a major national institution. The good sisters gave hospitality to the University in 1948 when the University itself was a war refugee from its original campus. Now the University has several large, spacious campuses, but it is still refusing to leave the little convent. http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=4603 ----- NOW HOW COME WE JEWS CAN'T UNIFY AND COME UP WITH A STATEMENT LIKE THIS LAYING CLAIM TO OUR INHERITANCE? On 30 April, Patriarch Michel Sabbah, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem representing the Roman Catholic church, Bishop Riah Abu Al-Assal of the (Anglican) Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem and Bishop Munib Younan of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land said "We express our disagreement with the selling of any Christian property of any denomination to any side because the purpose of these properties is to serve the Church and its children," they said. http://www.eni.ch/articles/display.shtml?05-0337 |
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IRAQI WOMAN CONFESSES TO JORDAN PLOT
Posted by ELiezar Lewis, November 14, 2005. |
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The staged pictures of Arab women crying copious tears over Arab kids exposed in the crossfire between Israeli Army and Arab terrorists is staple TV fare. But read the last paragraph in this account for how much concern they usually show for women and children, even Arab women and children -- emphasis is mine. 
Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi described on television how she failed to blow herself up during a wedding reception at the Radisson SAS hotel after struggling with the cord on her explosives belt. (AP-left; CBS-right) AMMAN, Jordan -- An Iraqi woman who was arrested yesterday went on television wearing a disabled explosives belt and confessed to trying to blow herself up with her husband in one of three suicide attacks last week. The 35-year-old woman -- the sister of a deputy to Abu Musab Zarqawi who was killed by U.S. forces -- appeared on Jordanian state TV hours after being captured by security forces. Authorities said they were tipped off by al Qaeda's own self-promoting claim that a husband-and-wife team participated in Wednesday's bombings, which killed 57 persons. Looking nervous and wringing her hands, Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi said she had failed to blow herself up during a wedding reception at the Radisson SAS hotel after struggling with the cord on her explosives belt. "My husband wore a belt and put one on me. He taught me how to use it," al-Rishawi said, wearing a white head scarf, a black gown and a disabled bomb belt tied around her waist. "My husband detonated [his bomb], and I tried to explode my belt, but it wouldn't," she said. "People fled running, and I left running with them." Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Muasher said the belt she wore in the broadcast was the same one she tried to use in the attack. "The vest was caught with her," he told CNN. Her husband, Ali Hussein Ali al-Shamari, 35, was identified yesterday as one of three Iraqi men who carried out the bombings. The Grand Hyatt and Days Inn hotels also were bombed. Mr. Muasher said the woman was wearing two vests, one packed with explosives and the other with ball bearings to inflict maximum damage. "This technique was used in all three of the attacks," he said. Al-Rishawi's brother was Zarqawi's deputy, Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi, who was killed by U.S. forces in the one-time terrorist stronghold of Fallujah, Mr. Muasher said, adding that it was not clear when he was killed. He said authorities hoped the broadcast confession would offer some solace to Jordanians shocked by the attacks. He promised that the woman would get a fair trial. Al Qaeda in Iraq, which is led by the Jordanian-born Zarqawi, said in its claim of responsibility that there were four bombers, including a woman. The group said the attacks were designed to strike at Jordan's support for the United States and other Western powers. A top Jordanian security official, insisting on anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press, said al-Rishawi was arrested yesterday morning at a "safe house" in the same Amman district where her husband had rented a furnished apartment recently. He said Jordanian security was "tipped off" by al Qaeda's claim. "There were leads that more people had been involved, but it was not clear that it was a woman, and we had no idea on her nationality," the official said. Al-Rishawi, who is from the volatile Anbar province town of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, said she entered Jordan from Iraq with her husband and two other men. Authorities have said the other two Iraqi bombers were Rawad Jassem Mohammed Abed and Safaa Mohammed Ali, both 23. "I was traveling with my husband, who carried a forged passport under the name of Ali Hussein Ali, and mine was Sajida Abdel Qader Latif," she said. "We waited, and a white car arrived with a driver and a passenger. We rode with them and entered Jordan," she said during the three-minute broadcast. Once in Amman, she said that the four rented an apartment and that her husband showed her how to use the bomb. "He said it was for the attack on hotels in Jordan. We rented a car and entered the hotel on November 9. My husband and I went inside, and he went to one corner, and I went to another," she said. "There was a wedding at the hotel with children, women and men inside." |
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WEIZMANN INSTITUTE CHOSEN WORLD'S TOP UNIVERSITY FOR LIFE SCIENTISTS
Posted by Mordechai Ben-Menachem, November 14, 2005. |
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This was written by Sharon Kanon and ISRAEL21c staff November 08, 2005
Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science has been voted the best university in the world for life scientists to conduct research. The poll was conducted by The Scientist magazine as part of its third annual 'Best Places to Work in Academia' survey. The more than 2,600 academics who responded to this year's survey rated relationships with their peers, a sense of accomplishment in their work, and access to research resources as the ingredients that make for a great workplace. "The Weizmann Institute of Science attributes much importance to the work environment and the conditions which are made accessible to the scientists, in particular to the young scientists, to enable them to use their full potential for the benefit of humanity," said Prof. Ilan Chet, President of Weizmann. "We are very happy on our grading according to the magazine The Scientist and consider it a great honor and simultaneously an obligation for the future." Following Weizmann in the poll was the University of Toronto and the University of Alberta. Topping the list in the 2005 survey of US Institutions is Clemson University, located in Clemson, South Carolina, followed by the Trudeau Institute in Saranac Lake, NY and the J. David Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco, CA. If you peek into any lab at the Weizmann Institute - located in the central Israeli city of Rehovot, you will see a staff hard at work at rigorous, meticulous, tedious tasks -- the nitty gritty of scientific research. It is hard to believe that these labs are the 'labor rooms' for blockbuster drug development, strategies for blocking cancer, faster and more efficient electronic processors, dramatic brain and neurological research, the creation of tools which helped crack the genetic code, and tools for the first and still the best database for mining the human genome. Basic research was a strong component of Chaim Weizmann's dream of building a scientific research center in Israel. Yet, Weizmann (the Institute's founder and Israel's first president), himself an industrial chemist who developed two chemicals essential for British arms manufacture during World War I, also believed that science could reap economic benefits for the young country. Yeda Research and Development, the commercial arm of Weizmann Institute, (established in 1959, 10 years after the Institute was inaugurated) can point to revenues that would stagger the imagination of the Institute's founder. Weizmann has become a world leader in the commercialization of patents. In 1988, revenues from royalties were $1 million; in 1998, $16 million; in 2003, $93 million. Yeda now registers about 80 patents a year, 75 percent of them in the life sciences. In all, Weizmann scientists have been responsible for well over 1,000 registered patents, many of which have been developed commercially. More than half of the senior scientific staff at Weizmann is involved in the life sciences, with the rest in computer sciences, chemistry and physics. Professor Haim Garty, vice president for technology transfer and board chair at Yeda, said that the revenue is not the primary reason for developing new realms of research. "It would be inconceivable that we would develop a scientific field because it is a source of revenue," he said in a recent interview in the Israeli press. "I would prefer that a researcher from the Institute win a Nobel Prize rather than register another patent." With the breakthroughs that have come via the Weizmann pipeline, a Nobel is likely not too far off on the horizon. Two feathers in the Institute's research cap are Copaxone (manufactured by Teva) and Rebif (licensed to Inter-Lab Ltd./ Serono). The drugs are used to treat multiple sclerosis, an auto-immune disease that destroys the myelin sheaths surrounding nerve fibers. The disease's worst symptoms include loss of vision and mobility. Over 400,000 Americans suffer from multiple sclerosis and Copaxone has been prescribed by American doctors since 1997 as a treatment for the earlier stages of the disease. Michal Schwartz, a professor in the Neurobiology Department at Weizmann has showed that Copaxone, can also be used as a vaccine that protects the optic nerve from neuronal degeneration. Teva recently has signed an agreement with Israeli company Proneuron to explore the use of Copaxone for glaucoma and other neuro-degenerative diseases. Rebif (recombinant interferon beta) has been shown to reduce the number and severity of attacks and delay the onset of disability. High doses of Rebif significantly reduce the number of severe MS cases. Rebif is used by approximately 70% of the MS patients worldwide. In the fight against debilitating ostereoporosis, Institute researchers discovered Vitamin Alpha D3, a molecule that protects against brittleness as well as loss of bone mass. It is produced under license by Teva pharmaceuticals. A vaccine for Hepatitis B (contracted from unsterile needles, and/or during blood transfusions) is another product developed by Weizmann scientists. It was the first blue and white vaccine submitted and approved in Israel. Licensed to Bio-Technology General, it is registered and sold in Israel, Vietnam, the Philipines, Singapore, and Hong Kong. In the pipeline is another vaccine, for Type I (Juvenile) diabetes, an autoimmune disorder that usually sets in suddenly during childhood or adolescence. In the disease, the immune system attacks the body's own insulin- producing pancreatic beta cells. Insulin, a vital hormone that controls blood sugar levels, is a key mechanism in the absortion of glucose and fat. In Phase II clinical trials, the vaccine, a synthetic protein fragment, blocks the autoimmune process in a single dose. It is licensed to Peptor, Ltd., an Israeli company which is a fully- owned subsidiary of Develogen, GMPH, Germany. What does the future hold in store for Weizmann researchers? One candidate is 'the world's smallest biological computer' - a nanocomputer which is listed in The 2003 Guiness Book of World Records. It is composed of tiny, tiny molecules (synthetic DNA and enzymes) - so small that they can fit in a drop of water... but so powerful that they can detect changes in the balance of molecules that indicate the presence of certain cancers. The Weizmann team says that it can already pick up molecular signals of 15 types of cancer. The prototype produced by the scientists can also fight cancer by releasing the appropriate medication to cause the cancerous cells to self-destruct. The promising biological computer has a long way to go before it will become an actual product capable of performing medical and pharmaceutical applications within the human body. But with the drive and determination of the Weizmann life sciences staff, the nitty gritty of research will likely one day turn it into reality. Mordechai Ben-Menachem is a Ben-Gurion University in Beer-Sheva. Contact him at quality@acm.org |
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BUT WE WANT TO LEARN NOW!
Posted by Ehud Shomron, November 14, 2005. |
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Last night my mother told me that my school -- resestablished Neot Katif now at Shafir-Ein Tzurim is going to be on strike. My school is in need of: books, computers, office and school supplies, teachers, and school counselors -- all that the government had promised and as it won't fulfill these promises we are going on strike. Gush Katif students now living in Nitzan-2 are joining the strike to show unity with us. I awoke this morning at 6:30 am and left to the Gan-Or synagogue. It was a little chilly in the air, but thanks to my heavy jacket I wasn't cold. I got to the synagogue a little late but not too late for the praying. In the praying in the synagogue I had the honor to an aliah and to do glilah. On my way home the sun was out and there was a nice cool breeze. I didn't need my heavy jacket. I knew it was going to be a nice hot summer day, even though we were expecting rain for this week. When I got home I wanted to go on the computer to my e-mail (which I'm not going to tell you what it is?). My mother was on already. I went on when my mother finally got off. When I was done I put the movie Madagascar on the computer for my younger sisters. They enjoyed it. I didn't watch the whole movie, just the beginning. I took my binoculars and went outside to see if I could see the demonstration. On the tall hill by the main highway I saw people standing there with signs. Among the people I could see my parents with a sign in their hands. I decided to go to them with my bike. It was fun riding my bike over the little dirt hills. When I got there my brother Meir was already there with them. Television cameras filmed us. I decided to pull a trick by pretending to fall off the hill, but they weren't amused. With my binoculars I could see every car that passed and every thing that was far away. People of all ages were standing with signs facing the highway. There must have been about 150 people including children. Mafdal Knesset member Zevulon Orlev came and stood with us. From time to time people that were in the cars on the highway waved to us while others honked in support as they drove by. It made us feel supported. The demonstration lasted about two hours. Ehud Shomron, together with his family, was expelled from Gush Katif. He now lives in the very temporary Nitzan Caravilla site. He is in the 8th grade. |
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FIVE QUESTIONS NON-MUSLIMS WOULD LIKE ANSWERED
Posted by Naomi Ragen, November 14, 2005. |
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This was written by Dennis Prager and it appeared in the LA Times yesterday. It is archived at www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-op-prager13nov13,0,5189241.story? coll=la-news-comment-opinions Dennis Prager's nationally syndicated radio show is heard daily in Los Angeles on KRLA-AM (870). He may be contacted through his website: www.dennisprager.com. THE RIOTING IN France by primarily Muslim youths and the hotel bombings in Jordan are the latest events to prompt sincere questions that law-abiding Muslims need to answer for Islam's sake, as well as for the sake of worried non-Muslims. Here are five of them: (1) Why are you so quiet? Since the first Israelis were targeted for death by Muslim terrorists blowing themselves up in the name of your religion and Palestinian nationalism, I have been praying to see Muslim demonstrations against these atrocities. Last week's protests in Jordan against the bombings, while welcome, were a rarity. What I have seen more often is mainstream Muslim spokesmen implicitly defending this terror on the grounds that Israel occupies Palestinian lands. We see torture and murder in the name of Allah, but we see no anti-torture and anti-murder demonstrations in the name of Allah. There are a billion Muslims in the world. How is it possible that essentially none have demonstrated against evils perpetrated by Muslims in the name of Islam? This is true even of the millions of Muslims living in free Western societies. What are non-Muslims of goodwill supposed to conclude? When the Israeli government did not stop a Lebanese massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Chatilla refugee camps in Lebanon in 1982, great crowds of Israeli Jews gathered to protest their country's moral failing. Why has there been no comparable public demonstration by Palestinians or other Muslims to morally condemn Palestinian or other Muslim-committed terror? (2) Why are none of the Palestinian terrorists Christian? If Israeli occupation is the reason for Muslim terror in Israel, why do no Christian Palestinians engage in terror? They are just as nationalistic and just as occupied as Muslim Palestinians. (3) Why is only one of the 47 Muslim-majority countries a free country? According to Freedom House, a Washington-based group that promotes democracy, of the world's 47 Muslim countries, only Mali is free. Sixty percent are not free, and 38% are partly free. Muslim-majority states account for a majority of the world's "not free" states. And of the 10 "worst of the worst," seven are Islamic states. Why is this? (4) Why are so many atrocities committed and threatened by Muslims in the name of Islam? Young girls in Indonesia were recently beheaded by Muslim murderers. Last year, Muslims -- in the name of Islam -- murdered hundreds of schoolchildren in Russia. While reciting Muslim prayers, Islamic terrorists take foreigners working to make Iraq free and slaughter them. Muslim daughters are murdered by their own families in the thousands in "honor killings." And the Muslim government in Iran has publicly called for the extermination of Israel. (5) Why do countries governed by religious Muslims persecute other religions? No church or synagogue is allowed in Saudi Arabia. The Taliban destroyed some of the greatest sculptures of the ancient world because they were Buddhist. Sudan's Islamic regime has murdered great numbers of Christians. Instead of confronting these problems, too many of you deny them. Muslims call my radio show to tell me that even speaking of Muslim or Islamic terrorists is wrong. After all, they argue, Timothy McVeigh is never labeled a "Christian terrorist." As if McVeigh committed his terror as a churchgoing Christian and in the name of Christ, and as if there were Christian-based terror groups around the world. As a member of the media for nearly 25 years, I have a long record of reaching out to Muslims. Muslim leaders have invited me to speak at major mosques. In addition, I have studied Arabic and Islam, have visited most Arab and many other Muslim countries and conducted interfaith dialogues with Muslims in the United Arab Emirates as well as in the U.S. Politically, I have supported creation of a Palestinian state and supported (mistakenly, I now believe) the Oslo accords. Hundreds of millions of non-Muslims want honest answers to these questions, even if the only answer you offer is, "Yes, we have real problems in Islam." Such an acknowledgment is infinitely better -- for you and for the world -- than dismissing us as anti-Muslim. We await your response. Naomi Ragen is an American-born novelist and journalist who lives in Jerusalem. She can be contacted at www.naomiragen.com, where you can subscribe to her newsletter. |
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AN INTERVIEW WITH AL AQSA MARTYRS BRIGADES
Posted by Bryna Berch, November 13, 2005. |
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From "Rusty goes to Israel," http://www.talktorusty.com/, November 7, 2005. "WND Jerusalem bureau chief Aaron Klein and nationally syndicated radio host Rusty Humphries today conducted an exclusive interview in the West Bank's Balata refugee camp with seven gun-toting leaders of the terror group Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. Below are excerpts from the interview. Humpries: Do you not believe it would help matters by not using suicide bombs? I think that's one thing that is very frightening to the world and, by stopping, could that bring more peace to the world? Aziz: We wanted to stop our suicide attacks. Actually we declared a cease-fire but the Israelis don't help us maintain our cease-fire. They are daily killing Palestinians and daily coming into our cities and villages. The last time was a few hours ago when they came into our camp and we went against them, four hours of clashes and blood. They came to our camps. We did not go to their camps. Humpries: Why did they come here? Aziz: They came because they still want to persecute the wanted members of the organizations. Humpries: What would you expect them to do, just leave you alone and move on? Aziz: As a part of the cease-fire we are supposed to be free to move freely in our cities and villages. This was the condition of the cease-fire, but unfortunately the Israelis are still persecuting us and are still coming to our houses and villages. Let me ask you a question, if I came to you with my gun toward you making danger how would you react? (Aziz points his gun toward Humphries and Klein)
Aziz: That is what we are doing. We are trying to defend ourselves. Humpries: How do you choose to send someone on a so-called martyr mission? Is that what you call the mission? How do you get somebody to do that? Aziz: We are all martyrs in potential. It is not us that choose who the guy is who goes on a suicide attack; he is a martyr and he is chosen by God. The name martyr in Arabic is shaheed, which is one of the 99 names of God, and God chooses this guy to be a martyr. And being a martyr is part of our fight, of our activities. Humpries: I think one of the big things Christians are concerned about is when Muslims take over the holy sites they don't let anyone visit. Do you think that is OK? For example, I can't go to the Temple Mount and pray. Aziz: Israelis don't allow us to pray in their synagogues. Everyone has their religion and faith. Humpries: But the difference is while I don't necessarily need to go and pray in a mosque, there are certain religious sites that I would like to go to, but I am not allowed. I am not allowed to go to where Jesus was baptized on the Jordan River, for example. Aziz: Here in the middle of the camp we have a church, a daily Christian camp to pray and no one aggressed them, and in Bethlehem the Christians have full liberty of cults and faith. On Christmas day, Muslims participate with the Christians and the holy day activities that they make. Humpries: I have studied history and the Temple Mount ... was that not built by King Herod for the Jews? Unnamed Terrorist #1: In what period of history? Humpries: You had the first temple built by King Solomon, the second temple built by King Herod ... Unnamed terrorist No. 1: We would rather not enter into this religious debate because we can't hurt one's religion. Some Jews say that they were promised by God to have the state of Israel -- this is nonsense, and God never promised them. They falsified history. Humpries: So the Bible is not correct then? Unnamed terrorist No. 1: I have historical proof the Bible and the New Testament were falsified. Humpries: I was in the City of David yesterday and went down to the water and the tunnels. Does that not prove that King David existed? Unnamed terrorist No. 1: I do not know the answer, I do not know the answer. Humpries: I have heard this rumor: Jews sent Monica Lewinsky to Bill Clinton so they could run the country. True or false? Sanakreh: Of course. Humpries: That is true? Sanakreh: Yes. OK. Humpries: Did Jews send the planes to the World Trade Center to start that war against Muslims in America? Unnamed terrorist No. 2: Five-thousand Israelis that were in the World Trade Center were evacuated. Humpries: OK, so the answer to that is yes? Unnamed terrorist No. 2: Yes, and we heard that the Israelis told the U.S. that something will take place in a few hours the day of the attacks. Humpries: Yasser Arafat died because of poisoning or natural causes? Sanakreh: The president died of poison. Humpries: Now I have heard that it is possible -- it's one of those things that people said -- that he died of homosexuality and AIDS. Sanakreh: This is not true! If someone says this we will cut his head! Humpries: I am not saying, I am just asking. Humpries: So do you believe honestly that somebody that dies in a martyr operation will get 72 virgins? Sanakreh: Of course we believe that. It's mentioned in the Quran. Humpries: Look it up for me, because the Muslims in America say it is not true. Sanakreh: Of course it is true! It is mentioned in the Quran. In your religion you have the book. Humpries: I just want you to tell me chapter and verse where it is. And also many moderate Muslims, they call them moderate in America, believe that Islam is a religion of peace and that there should be no violence. Sanakreh: There is not violence. This is jihad for God. I don't bring a soldier and slaughter him. Humpries: In America, the moderates say this -- that jihad is a battle against Satan, against the devil, it's a personal thing not a military thing. Unnamed terrorist No. 1: Yes this is right, but also in Quran it says, "Aggress those who aggress you, use violence against those who use violence against you." Humpries: How does it stop? We have you guys saying Israel is the aggressor, they say we are trying to stop and defend ourselves, you are saying you are trying to defend yourselves ... How do we just say, dammit, stop? Hey! Has anybody found the chapter and verse of the 72 virgins yet? (Mumbling amongst the terrorists, but still no answer)
Humpries: What verse is that? Aziz: Verse 1-8-9 Humpries: OK, but still no virgins. Still looking for the 72 virgin thing? (After about five minutes of conversation, a terrorist says he has
found the Quranic verse)
Aziz: OK, this is Al Amran verse 1-6-8, which says that those who get killed in favor of God are not considered dead people [but are] alive people between God's hands. Humpries: Where are the 72 virgins? Aziz: The virgins are mentioned in the Quran but the experts [who] interpret it considered 72 virgins. Virgins are mentioned in the Quran but not the number of 72. Unnamed terrorist No. 1: Do you believe in the next world? Humpries: Yes, I am a Christian. Unnamed terrorist No. 1: Everything we do is because we know one day we will be in front of God and he will be asking us the same as your boss will be asking you -- "How is your job, how is he doing?" God will ask us what we did on earth. Did we make a good thing, a bad thing. If we do a good thing he will give us what we deserve, if we do the bad things he will punish us. We make what God asks. |
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EARL KRUGEL OMB LAID TO REST
Posted by Robert Turk, November 13, 2005. |
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Former JDL Member Earl Krugel was laid to rest on November 09, 2005, in Los Angeles, California. Earl was a soldier in the war against Anti-Semitism, a proud United States Navy veteran, and a Dental Assistant by profession. A United States Navy Honor Guard provided Earl with full military honors and the flag which adorned his coffin commemorating his honorable service to his Country was presented to his Wife, Mrs. Lola Krugel. His Widow asks all donations to be sent to: Kehilot-Yaacov Yisroel 415 N. Las Palmas Ave. Los Angeles, Ca 90048. The money will be dispersed for the needy in Israel at my discretion. I also know that Earl would be happy if donations were given to the V.A. of America, as he was proud to have been a part of the arm forces. Contact Robert Turk at jdlnews@jdl.org.il The Jewish Defense League is an activist organization dedicated to the protection and defense of the Jewish people in the Diaspora. To that end, there will be no sanctuary for those who threaten or attack Jewish individuals or institutions. Never Again! |
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ANTI-PATRIOTISM - GRADUAL DHIMMITUDE; SPECIAL ENVOY, SPECIAL BIAS; ISRAEL-U.S. ARMS INDUSTRY RELATIONSHIP
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, November 13, 2005. |
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OUR GRADUAL DHIMMITUDE A recent headline was "Militants Exchange Bomb Information." Terrorists are cross-training each other. This is a serious development in the global Islamist war. The Islamists seek to destroy civilization. Since their threat is a new type of barbarism, we were slow to perceive it, unwilling to gird against it, and liable to back away from it, because of its association with Pres. Bush and how he mishandled it. A US halt would enable the enemy to organize better, turn more Muslims into active participants, and gain more victories over the West. The headline hampers our mobilization by minimizing the threat. Instead of identifying the enemy as "Islamists" or "terrorists", it calls them "militants." American has a traditional usage of that term: fervent reforms seeking to improve society, not destroy it. The term, in this context, is misleading. Why is it used? The term is used as are many terms nowadays, as euphemisms. Examples are "peace process" and the more ambiguous "Palestinian Land." Both are forms of political correctness and advocacy by vocabulary. Thus the Western media hampers our side in the war. ISRAEL FALSELY FLATTERED & SELF-FLATTERING Israel performs many valuable services for the US, without public acknowledgment. Some of this is a matter of being discrete, but much is a matter of the US not wanting enemies of Israel to see the connection. US officials probably flatter Israel privately. Naive Israeli Prime Ministers probably think themselves highly valued by the US government. It is not quite like that. The State Dept. is working to strip Israel of defensive borders. Israel would become non-viable. Until then, however, the US exploits Israel. This situation reveals several problems. One is Israeli naivete, in thinking that its valuable services to the US will keep the US from abandoning it. Another is the failure of Israel to make its case sufficiently known to get the American public more strongly against efforts to abandon it. A third but closely related one is to regain respect for Zionism so that the US government would be less ashamed to admit it has been helped by Israel. SPECIAL ENVOY'S SPECIAL BIAS Special envoy James Wolfensohn advised the Quartet that although Israel withdrew from Gaza, it failed to let Arabs move more between Gaza and Israel, Judea-Samaria, and Egypt. There is no indication that he explained the circumstances, he just complained only against Israel (Greg Myre, NY Times, 10/25, A8). He was totally unfair. He would have been halfway fair if he also had complained that the Arabs have used freedom of movement to step up their war on Israel. He would have been completely fair if in addition, he had not complained about Israel. How so? First, Israel relinquished control over the Gaza-Egypt border. Result: Egyptian arms warehouses emptied into Gaza, and terrorists flocked from Gaza into the Sinai en route to less guarded portions of the Sinai-Israel border. The P.A., if not Egypt, again proved itself untrustworthy. That bolstering of the Arab war potential drew no objection from envoy or Quartet, including our supposedly anti-terrorist President. Then Egypt, not Israel, closed the barn door. Wolfensohn's complaint is that the thieves can't steal more horses, now that the barn is kept locked. Second, since Gaza Arabs are better armed, and they have been trying to infiltrate into Israel, Israel would be foolish to invite Arabs into its territory or to pass through it so as to be able to add another front in Judea-Samaria. But Wolfensohn expects Israel to let its people be killed. Could he and Quartet be more callous and cruel? Pres Bush asserted that whoever aids terrorism, is a collaborator. Indeed! STATING THE NEWS, BUT NOT OBJECTING On 10/27, the NY Times stated the Israeli reaction to another Arab suicide bombing that murdered five people. "But Israel said the Palestinian (P.A.) leadership bore responsibility because it had refused to use its security forces to break up the factions." (Greg Myre & Dina Kraft, A3.) It often goes unreported or unclearly. The Israeli should have added, "and because the P.A. still honors 'martyrs' and lets its media continue to depict Jews as evil sub-humans who are oppressing the Arabs and should be exterminated." For readers, I add that the depiction is false. The Times fails to editorialize against the P.A. for its intolerance and its encouragement of terrorism. The most the ?Times? does is what the State Dept. and President do, pay lip service by urging the P.A. to do more to fight terrorism. They know that the PA. pays no attention to the prompting. Nor can they seriously expect the P.A. to fight against the terrorism that its leaders and troops originated and spent their careers fostering, with the encouragement of religious leaders. The Times and our President tell the country about terrorism, but seem ignorant about it when the P.A. is concerned. ISRAEL-US ARMS INDUSTRY RELATIONSHIP "Given that Israel depends on billions of dollars in annual US military assistance, it would be wise for it to temper its competitive energy particularly when it comes to marketing to countries deemed as adversaries of the US. This lesson was brought home by the recent dispute relating to Israel's hi-tech military sales to China. Hopefully, Israel will be more considerate of American concerns about such sales in the future, if they don't want to jeopardize this important area of the economy." (Jewish Political Chronicle, 9/2005, Ed..) The editorial is partly true but one-sided. Both Israel and the US have advanced and inventive arms industries. Often they collaborate, to develop new systems faster, better, and, thanks to Israel, cheaper. Typical of US policy is to demand privileges for itself that it denies to others. One such is to veto its partner's arms sales. This grew out of a reasonable demand: systems that include what it helped develop not be sold to third parties without its consent. The US, however, is notorious for arming Israel's enemies. The US sells to the Arabs weapons enhanced by Israel. AIPAC has little influence in checking such sales. As a partner-rival of Israel, the US has played dirty. In at least one case, it let Israel go out on a limb, contracting with US approval, for the sale of certain battlefield monitors to China. Then the US demanded that Israel not proceed, leaving Israel liable for a billion-dollar penalty. Against the Arabs, Israel had developed software that would enhance the capability of the airplanes that the US sells Israel. The US denies Israel the right to insert that software. Were the US a faithful ally, it would not restrict Israel that way. As an otherwise faithful ally of the US, Israel has been callous at other times about arming a rogue state such as China. In such matters, Israel should consult with the US. Whatever is agreed to should be clear and written, so the US doesn't suspect bad faith and Israel doesn't cheat. Sometimes US officials leak slander about this. I advocate that Israel decline US aid. Contrary to the editorial, Israel does not depend on it, but it induces a mental dependency and comes with barbed strings. I think that Israel should ask the US to forgive its debt to the US, whose interest consumes most of the US aid. In making this request, Israel should cite Egypt, whose comparable debt the US forgave, only to build a large army whose doctrine is to make war on Israel, some day. Israel should free itself of US interference in diplomacy, too. It should void Oslo and the Road Map, which the Arabs violate and are State Dept. schemes for helping the Arabs against Israel. It should stop supplying the US Ambassador with Territory building statistics, used for demand cessation of building. It must wean the US from the imperial habit and itself from asking US permission for each act of self-defense. This means that Israel need more of its own satellites and must spend more on arms and be less extravagant. This would give its arms industry more independence. Israel would become better armed than when it has to rely upon US arms or accept US demands that it not insert its own, superior software into planes that the US sells Israel. Being more independent, Israel could develop more weaponry both for itself and for customers. Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at richardshulman5@aol.com. |
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THE BIG PICTURE
Posted by Lawrence Uniglicht, November 13, 2005. |
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Our one home in this Universe, a dysfunctional admixture of cruelty and humanity, slithers relentlessly forward towards the inevitable Darwinian holy-grail Planet Earth Inc. Vestiges of a brutal past indelibly etched into the collective human neuron network, morphing survival into lust for material reward, will rule the day despite distracting cross sections defined by culture, nation, and religion. Such distractions in fact become effective tools for the true power brokers who move and shake the planet's pliable masses at will. Indeed, such blips as religious revivals scattered planet wide, one-currency faint heartedness among culturally diverse Europeans, and jingoistic banter in emerging nations such as China mask the true direction of this orb's cold calculating wealth driven grand directors. The tiny but useful state of Israel, cast about as scapegoat by fossil fuel rich Middle Eastern Muslim autocrats donned in royal robes and Armani suits, must comprehend the nature and strategies of today's T-rex predators if it is to survive the jihad jungle. Moral principle dominance is perhaps eons away when spaceship Earth is but the origin of cosmic colonies. For now, terrestrial land, raw materials, and technological ingenuity are trump cards that must not be ignored in our solar system's one evolving casino of cosmopolitan robber barons. "Two out of three ain't bad", thus oil-bereft Israel, although it has ceded Gaza must keep all its other territory including land justifiably conquered in 1967 as a consequence of vanquishing intended Arab annihilators, and be the breakthrough vanguard in technologies such as cost effective alternative fuel development, stem cell research, and alas military defense. There is little room for policy error. Contact Lawrence Uniglicht at luniglicht@snip.net |
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REMEMBERING ABBA EBAN
Posted by Israel Zwick, November 13, 2005. |
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Last week, the State of Israel commemorated the 10th Anniversary of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Soon it will be time to commemorate the third Yahrzeit of Abba Eban, z"l, Israel's greatest diplomat. Abba Eban died on November 17, 2002. The corresponding Hebrew date is 12 Kislev. Because of the Jewish leap year, it falls out this year on December 13. In the interest of brevity, this article will not include a biography of Abba Eban. Readers are encouraged to visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abba_Eban for a good brief biography. Instead, this article will focus only on my personal anecdotes related to Abba Eban. I recently mentioned Abba Eban in a basic psychology course that I was teaching to Jewish college students. I cited Abba Eban as an example of a person who had exceptional verbal abilities. To my surprise, none of these Jewish college students knew who Abba Eban was. This was especially shocking to me because when I was their age, Abba Eban was my hero. I idolized him and aspired to be like him. The time that I spent a few minutes with him was a momentous event in my life that I will never forget. I first saw Abba Eban when I was a young child in primary school. My father took me to the 10th Anniversary of Israel's independence at Yankee Stadium. While other boys my age went to Yankee Stadium to see Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra, my father took me there to hear Shoshana Demari sing Hatikvah and to listen to Abba Eban and Golda Meir. The stadium was filled to capacity. Those were the halcyon days before the era of suicide bombers. Security was lax. Nobody checked my lunch bag or asked for identification. When Abba Eban spoke, my father who did not understand English well, kept interrupting with "Vus zugt er, vus zugt er?" or "What is he saying?" I was just learning how to speak English myself so I marveled at Abba Eban's exceptional command of the English language. I wondered to myself, "Will I ever be able to speak English as well as Abba Eban?" Later I learned that Abba Eban's language proficiency also included fluency in Hebrew, Arabic, French, and German. Abba Eban's exceptional language skills were the object of a joke many years later. The joke went something like this: President Richard Nixon told Prime Minister Golda Meir, "Our countries have much in common. We both have Jewish scholars in charge of foreign affairs. I have Henry Kissinger and you have Abba Eban." So Golda Meir responded, "Yes, that's true but my Foreign Minister speaks English much better than yours." The next time that I recall seeing Abba Eban, was many years later, around 1970. I heard that Abba Eban was scheduled to speak at a large synagogue in Manhattan. A bright idea occurred to me. As an editor of the NYU Heights Daily News, I had recently been given a Press Pass to attend an NYU convocation where David Ben-Gurion was given an honorary degree. So I got to meet David Ben-Gurion on, what I believe, was his last visit to the United States before he died. So I figured, "If I can get a Press Pass to see David Ben-Gurion, why can't I get a Press Pass to see Abba Eban?" I called the organizers of the event and told them that I was an editor of the Heights Daily News and I wanted to cover the event. Much to my surprise, I received a Press Pass a few days later. At the time, I interpreted this to be a fortuitous misunderstanding. The organizers must have thought that I was representing a local newspaper from Washington Heights or Morningside Heights. Today, being more religious than I was then, I would interpret it as Min Hashomayim, a sign of Yad Hashem. That is, G-d wanted me to have that Press Pass, perhaps to inspire me to write this article 35 years later. When I got to the synagogue for the Abba Eban event, there was a huge crowd. There were so many people that they had to open a satellite site where the speech was broadcast. So I proudly displayed my Press Pass and I was ushered in to a reserved section for the press and dignitaries. So there I was, a 20-year old Yiddish-speaking college kid from a DP camp in Germany, sitting among dignitaries from around the world. When my hero, Abba Eban spoke, I sat in awe, mesmerized by his eloquence, erudition, and wisdom. Afterwards, our group had a few private moments with Abba Eban before the security officials whisked him away. To me, those few moments were worth the many hours that I had devoted as an editor for my college newspaper. I never saw Abba Eban again. After graduation, my career path took me in a different direction. But I never forgot those few moments in the presence of Abba Eban. I continued to follow his activities. I read his books and watched his Jewish history programs on public television. In 1988, I was greatly disappointed when he had to leave his long-time position as a Member of Knesset to return to private life. Eban's 75th birthday celebration in 1990 was hardly noticed. It surprises me that among all the highly trained, educated, and experienced diplomats in Israel's Foreign Service, there is still no one to replace the great Abba Eban. When the world says, "The oppressed Palestinians are struggling for liberation from the harsh, Israeli military occupation," where is Abba Eban? When the world says that "Israel is violating the human rights of the Palestinians by building an apartheid wall," where is Abba Eban? When the world says that "Israel must remove illegal Jewish settlements from occupied Palestinian lands," where is Abba Eban? When the President of Iran says that "Israel must be wiped off the map," where is Abba Eban? Abba Eban, I miss you so much. Please come back, we need you. Contact Israel Zwick at israel.zwick@earthlink.net |
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PALESTINIAN CHRISTIANS' HUMAN RIGHTS
Posted by David Frankfurter, November 13, 2005. |
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Justus Reid Weiner's latest monograph Human Rights of Christians in Palestinian Society makes chilling reading. While I don't want to preempt my conclusions until I have finished reading it, the material so far makes me wonder why Christians around the world show so little concern for their co-religionists. Let alone for the many significant Christian sites in the Holy Land. One analysis that has surprised me, however, is the review of the US State Department's annual Report on Religious Freedom. Weiner tells us that the State Department shows a definite bias. * "Infringements" by Israel are repeated twice (once under Israel and once under Palestinian Territories), giving them double the "airplay" (doubling the negative impression). By contrast, violations by the Palestinian Authority are generalised, without specific detail, and language is used to deliberately minimise the allegations against the PA and to throw doubt on their veracity. Only new items are included. Clear cases of religious persecution are minimised as possibly being the result of "several factors" leading to mistreatment of the individual. The State Department has never seen fit to mention - let alone condemn - the Palestinian practice of shooting from churches in order to draw Israeli fire onto Christian holy sites. Reporting of the Palestinian invasion, looting and desecration of Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity in 2002 was carefully worded to avoid any mention of negative Palestinian actions. Weiner reports that when the State Department representative interviewed Christians reporting persecution, he did not even bother to take notes. In one case study, a wink and a nod seems to have been enough. The State Department's apparent disinterest in the victim's initial arrest and torture was followed by repeated arrests, torture and finally his murder. Please (politely) tell Condaleeza Rice that you expect better from her State Department. (http://contact-us.state.gov/cgi-bin/state.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php?p_cv=4.114& p_pv=&p_prods=0&p_cats=37%2C84%2C86%2C114&p_hidden_prods=&prod_lvl1= 0&cat_lvl1=37&cat_lvl2=84&cat_lvl3=86&cat_lvl4=114). Hardcopies of the report can be obtained from the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA), and will soon be available on Amazon. If you would like me to send you a PDF version (a 1.4mb file), just let me know. To subscribe to David Frankfurter's 'letter from Israel', email him at david.frankfurter@iname.com. Or go to http://www.livejournal.com/users/dfrankfurter/ |
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ONCE AGAIN ISRAEL SAVES AMERICA
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, November 13, 2005. |
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This is hardly the first time Israel has had to save the Americans from their self-created disasters. As in the past, Israel will get a "thank you very much" from the US military and kick in the pants from the US State Department. This is called "America's S.O.S to the IDF [Israel sharing secret technology to protect against bombs in Iraq]." It was written by Amir Oren and appeared yesterday in Ha'aretz. It is archived at www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/644348.html At the end of last month, Brigadier General Joseph Votel, a boyish-looking, tall and smiling American, made an urgent request to an old friend of his from Washington - also a brigadier general, but in the Golani Brigade rather than the Rangers - Nitzan Nuriel, the chief of the foreign liaison department of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces. So urgent was the message that the Pentagon didn't even update their military attache in Tel Aviv. Votel implored Nuriel to send him a top-secret item the IDF has developed that could be useful in combating the improvised explosive devices (IED) used against U.S. forces in Iraq. Nuriel called the chief of the Engineering Corps, Brigadier General Shimon Daniel, who was the Northern Command chief engineering officer during the war against Hezbollah IEDs before the IDF withdrawal from Lebanon and who has been holding professional contacts with Votel and his aides for the past year and a half. Daniel convened the Israeli experts, Nuriel set off on the obstacle course of coordination and authorization - and within a record time of five days, the items in question and their manuals were on a plane headed overseas. It may sound exaggerated, unfounded, or at least pretentious, but at the end of 2005, the salvation of U.S. President George W. Bush is in large measure dependent on the military intelligence of Israel: the ability of the IDF, the Defense Ministry and the defense industries to help the Americans thwart the IED attacks in Iraq is becoming the tipping point on which the Bush administration is tottering. This conclusion is the final link in a logical chain, which is known to the decision-makers and those in uniform but has been hidden from others. Bush's most severe entanglement is in Iraq; the quagmire has resulted in the deaths of more than 2,000 U.S. troops since the start of the war, though a quarter of them died in accidents, from sickness or suicides. The most lethal factor are the IEDs planted along roadways or in booby-trapped vehicles. By the Americans' admission, the most effective aid in their efforts to defeat the IEDs comes from Israel. The ministering angels who are working to extricate Bush from his distress are, thus, Daniel, Nuriel and Rafael. The last-named is not a person but a corporation: the Armament Development Authority. A bit of Rafael's activity to protect U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan was revealed last summer in the form of a report that the U.S. Army was acquiring anti-explosives protection kits manufactured jointly by Rafael and the U.S. firm General Dynamics. Other activity is classified. Votel is one of the officers whom the U.S. Army is proud to present to the public in interviews and in Congressional hearings. In his previous rank, as a colonel, Votel was commanding officer of the elite unit of the American ground forces, the 75th Rangers Brigade - in IDF terms: the Paratroop commandos (sayeret), but 10 times the size. Votel's Rangers landed in Afghanistan in 2001 and captured an airport, known as Camp Rhino, which then became the landing base for the forces that took Kandahar and Kabul. Afterward Votel led the Rangers in the Iraq war, until he was assigned to head a task force to combat the IEDs. As a former Ranger, Votel initially contacted Brigadier General Yossi Hyman, the IDF's chief infantry and Paratroops officer. At Hyman's initiative, the Engineering Corps and Army Headquarters were placed in charge of handling Votel's team. Votel received an annual budget of $1.2 billion and a promotion to the rank of general. His staff, which at first consisted of units from the army only, was expanded to include representatives of the marines, the special forces, the air force and the navy. The most senior levels, all the way up to deputy secretary of defense - at the time Paul Wolfowitz and now Gordon England - listened attentively, in gross contrast to the contempt being shown by the office of Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz to the warnings of Colonel (res.) Yossi Langotsky concerning the tunnels being dug by the Palestinians (and perhaps by Hezbollah as well). The mobilization to fight against the IEDs reflected the gravity of the problem but did not solve it. True, fewer IEDs are striking their targets, but the results remain brutal and intolerable: three of every five people killed in Iraq in the past few months were killed by IEDs, planted either on the ground or in booby-trapped vehicles. The enemies of the Americans prepare the devices so that the explosion launches burning-hot armor-penetrating lead projectiles, and even if the soldiers' personal protection, ceramic vests and their like that block Kalashnikov bullets and fragments, saves their upper body, their limbs and other organs are in danger of being mortally wounded. In the spring of 2004 every exploded device in Iraq caused casualties. This year only one in four explosions have caused casualties, but the absolute numbers of the losses is constantly accumulating. The British commander of the Basra and southern Iraq zone, Major General James Dutton, has had 18 of his troops killed by IEDs in the last three months. A concealed mistress It is dangerous to move about in Iraq in an American or British uniform, and frightening to serve there in a bomb disposal unit. Last month, National Defense, the monthly magazine of the U.S. National Defense Industrial Association, which has been persistent in covering the developments in combating IEDs, reported that the U.S. Navy's bomb disposal unit, which was called in to reinforce the army forces and the marines, is not succeeding in manning one-sixth of its available positions. Members of bomb disposal units get extra pay for danger, parachuting and diving, totaling $625 a month. To tempt them to remain in career service, if they have accumulated at least six years of experience, the navy offers them a grant of $45,000 upon signing the contract. In one of its recent visits to Israel, a delegation from Votel's task force spent three days touring IDF units, guided by the chief engineering officer of Northern Command and with the emphasis on the Engineering Corps' Yahalom unit, a special-operations force. The U.S. Army maintains frequent and regular contacts with the IDF. The IDF takes pride in this. The U.S. Army is ashamed, citing outdated and transparent pretexts - what will the Arabs say- - which are unable to conceal professional embarrassment. This is not a matter of joint operational planning or intelligence secrets; it is a matter of saving lives - American lives - an issue that is the epicenter of the concern of politicians in Washington. However, instead of congratulating themselves about know-how that was acquired with the blood of the IDF soldiers who were killed in Lebanon and the territories and which is the property of the entire Israeli public, Israeli politicians - the latest of them was Mofaz in his visit to Washington a week ago - are willing to forgo the status of common-law wife and make do with the appearance of a concealed mistress. Officially, Centcom (U.S. Central Command) is barred from talking directly to Israel - it is supposed to do so only through Eucom (European Command?) or Washington. The prohibition is usually maintained, but life-and-death issues override it. Centcom despaired of the bureaucracy, while soldiers are being killed every day, and three officers who are serving in Iraq came to Israel to learn from the IDF how to combat IEDs. There are also Israeli combatants in Iraq who were released from the IDF to enlist in the U.S. Army. These are not two-footed warriors but members of Oketz, the IDF's canine unit, whose American trainers came to the unit's base to learn how to work with the dogs. A problem of stars In the best tradition of official Washington doublespeak, even as Israel was requested to say nothing, the Pentagon decided to mention the Israeli angle, to prove that no stone is being left unturned in the effort to defeat the IEDs. A week ago the Los Angeles Times reported that the lone star worn by Votel is making it difficult for him to move along the corridors of the Pentagon. A more senior officer is needed, a three-star general. This is a peculiar idea: another two pieces of serrated tin on a general's shoulder and the explosive devices will be gone. The navy respects expertise and experience, the army respects ranks, the commander of the navy's bomb disposal unit was quoted as saying in National Defense. Maybe it will be Lieutenant General Russel Honore, who gained glory in commanding his troops in post-Katrina New Orleans. Honore, who commands the reserve units and National Guard forces being sent to Iraq and Afghanistan, was outraged that the soldiers' training does not include sufficient preparation to deal with the IEDs. In a self-defensive press briefing at the Pentagon, Lieutenant General James Conway, the director of operations on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated that supreme priority has been assigned to combat the IEDs. "The only remaining effective tool Iraqi insurgency has against coalition forces is the improvised bomb," Conway said, and once U.S. and coalition forces find a way to eliminate IEDs, "it's over." The "it" in question is the campaign in Iraq, but before that happens, Conway confirmed it has been proposed to appoint a three-star general above Votel - like Conway's rank - to oversee IED work. To prove the Americans are learning from the best and most experienced sources, Conway noted that the British had encountered the problem of explosive devices in Northern Ireland and the Israelis have coped with suicide bombers in Israel and Lebanon. "We've tried to study what their experiences were and learn from that." Dutton, the British general, added another piece of information which explains why it is vital to draw on the knowledge the IDF gleaned coping with Hezbollah devices: the materials and the technology used in making IEDs are entering Iraq from the same source - Iran. Votel and his colleagues reviewed in public a range of systems and stratagems in use by the enemies of the Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan: detonation by wireless, by tripwire, by remote control of cars and by dog and sheep carcasses. Thousands of disruptive systems have been supplied to the forces, but according to reports these also disrupt the U.S. forces' communication network, so the soldiers tend to shut them off. Another difficulty the U.S. has is collecting accurate data about the attacks perpetrated by the IEDs, such as the time of the detonation, the location of the device and the situation of the force that was attacked. An analysis of this data in southern Lebanon helped the IDF improve its combat tactics against Hezbollah. The key to booby-trapped cars The key to the booby-trapped cars, an Israeli officer told his American colleagues, lies in mapping the fleet of vehicles in Iraq and marking them in a way that makes it possible to spot them from a safe distance and to identify suspicious vehicles which were not present along the route earlier. The weak point of the Americans is the movement on the roads, for patrols or in convoys. The U.S. Army also understood it is essential to train all logistics personnel and drivers as riflemen who are liable to encounter an attack aimed at killing or kidnapping them, and just to be on the safe side, a simulator for practicing responses in convoys was upgraded. A soldier who is not present is not hurt, and the original sin of the U.S. Army in Iraq, in its mission to protect the emerging regime in Baghdad, is its failure to develop "control without presence" - a swift action, sparing in manpower and focused, that achieves results without banking on large-scale presence that eventually becomes bankruptcy. The IDF learned how to do this, on an impressive albeit not absolute scale, in its activity against Palestinian terrorism in the West Bank. This is a decentralized combat doctrine, on which the copyright belongs, in part, to the former commander of the Israel Navy, Rear Admiral (res.) Yedidya Yaari, now the president of Rafael. In the area of combating explosive devices, and in other areas as well, the IDF and sophisticated defense corporations in Israeli industry are so far ahead of their American counterparts that self-admiration needs to be cooled with a doze of modesty; it is not that the Israeli ability is small but that the American needs are large. "The new brigade that is equipped with the Striker combat vehicle is responsible for an area of 38,000 square kilometers in Iraq, almost twice the size of Israel," a realistic IDF officer said this week, "and without diminishing the importance of the lessons we learned and taught others from convoys of eight kilometers to the Beaufort and to the Dlaat outpost [in Lebanon], their convoys have to cover 80 and sometimes 180 kilometers. So we, with all respect, are a drop in the ocean." Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. Contact him at zelasko@actcom.co.il |
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NOT ME!
Posted by Batya Medad, November 13, 2005. |
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Could I easily document that my family has lived here in Shiloh for over twenty-four years? Not me! If, G-d forbid, I had to pack up my most precious possessions what would I pack? Wow! That's a tough one. I've been married thirty-five years; I'm a wife, mother and grandmother. I have a house with four bedrooms, a den and an over-stuffed attic and basement. We have photographs, negatives and pictures the children drew before they could write their names. We have more than enough clothes, and the kids, even though out of the house, have plenty of clothes and books stored here. The kitchen is fully supplied with all of dishes, pots and appliances a kosher kitchen needs in quadruple quantities, and don't forget the parve things for both chametz and Pesach. There are more than enough books and files here to open a reading and reference library, with a well-equipped section for EFL (English as a foreign language) teaching. And did I describe all of the framed pictures, drawings, embroidery and needlepoint on the walls? And we also have a TV, VCR and DVD, small, simple models, plus what to watch, a closet full of tapes and discs. We're just like families all over the world and just like the good people thrown out of their homes in the Name of Disengagement, who are now poverty-stricken, unemployed and homeless. The Disengagement Authority is now demanding that the victims bring in school report cards and other proof that they had really lived in Gush Katif and Northern Shomron. I didn't keep my kids' report cards, and I didn't keep their baby teeth. And if I had to gather my most precious possessions, those would not be on the list. The Israeli government is getting more sadistic by the moment, and the Israeli public is disengaged, ignoring the 'displaced' people, good Jews, loyal citizens who were thrown out of their homes. Most Israelis 'live on' overdrafts. Their bank accounts are permanently in the red, and the banks encourage it, because that way they can charge very hefty interest. If you're wondering how the refugees are 'managing,' that's the story. The big problem is that someday the Disengagement victims are going to have to fill that hole. One of the things making it deeper is that they are being charged for their hotel rooms and caravillas. Since they want to be together and have lost track of their financial situation, these once independent and some were very successful business people are now too paralyzed by depression to take initiative and risks and move to less expensive places. Since the government has added to the requirements of proof, nobody knows how much money is coming whenever it comes. All the time, ticking away, eating up at the potential compensation, are those 'temporary' costs. I have this awful feeling that when the final calculations are done, these poor people will owe the government money. It reminds me of the 'company towns,' which were owned by large companies for their workers. Everything from the housing to the grocer were owned by the company, which controlled salaries and prices, calculated so that nobody could ever save enough money to leave, and frequently at the end of the month, the workers would discover that they owed money to the company, enslaving them further. It's frightening how quickly the once confident and independent residents of Gush Katif and Northern Shomron have deteriorated into depressed refugees. Their former leaders have lost direction and aren't taking them out of their ruts, since they too are in the same condition. I have no doubt that all the proof of residence is easy to find in government files. As a salaried worker, I know that I've had to file 'proof of residence' periodically with income tax forms. Also, the Interior Ministry computerized years ago, and birth certificates include residence of parents. The sick funds are also computerized and should be able to say since when a member has been using a specific clinic. Most people keep the same bank accounts from a young age, and these too will provide proof of address. So, if I'm G-d forbid forced to pack, and I hope, pray and write all I can so the day never comes, I'm not going to look for old report cards. We moved to Shiloh over a two-day period, August 31 and September 1, 1981, and I'd like to see the government try to prove differently. From my home in Shiloh,
This is Musing #153. Batya Medad lives in Shiloh. She can be
reached by email at Shilohmuse@yahoo.com or visit her website
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/ or go to http://www.shilo.org.il
This article is archived at
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2005/11/153-not-me.html
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WHY SHOULD JEWS BOW BEFORE TURKISH DECREE?
Posted by David Ben Ariel, November 12, 2005. |
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"Something's missing. Rome is synonymous with the Vatican, Mecca with
the Kaaba, and Jerusalem's known for its Western Wall. But WHY should
we stand before the wall, letting it obstruct our vision, when we
could be praying in a Temple? Why should Jews continue to bow before
an illegitimate Gentile decree that tells them where to pray? (Isa.
10:1). The Turks designated the Wall as an alternative "holy" site
since Muslims had stolen the Temple Mount! If we rightly refused to
accept Uganda as a Jewish "homeland," why should Jews settle for
anything less than a Temple for worship?
That basically, is the gist of the message our demonstrations seek to send. The Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement doesn't only protest the ongoing Muslim occupation of our Temple Mount, but proclaims that this unnatural set of circumstances will come to an end. We're confident that Muslim rule on the Temple Mount will soon be history, just as surely as the Berlin Wall fell and Eastern Europe came out from under the Russian heel!" David Ben Ariel is author of "Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall." Contact him at http://www.pushhamburger.com/david.htm |
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TIME TO PUT UP OR SHUT UP
Posted by Gerald A. Honigman, November 12, 2005. |
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Hamas should be allowed to run in the upcoming Palestinian Arab elections. True, Hamas rejects Israel's very right to exist--no matter what its size--so this goes against even what the phony Oslo peace process calls for. And while Hamas' own patron saint, Sheikh Izzedin al-Qassam (for whom the brigade which blows up buses and restaurants is named for, along with the rockets aimed at Jews as well), was a native of Latakia, Syria along with scores of thousands of other allegedly "native Palestinians" (along with most others who flocked into the Mandate in the late 19th and early 20th centuries from other "Arab" lands according to the Records of the League of Nations Permanent Mandates Commissions and other solid documentation), Hamas rejects the rights of Jews to any part of the Dar ul-Islam. Keep in mind that half of Israel's Jews were refugees from so-called "Arab" and/or Muslim lands. Nevertheless, as long as Israel follows through with what needs to be done, Hamas' candidates should be on the slate. What sense is there to keep playing the same old game? The Arafatians now in power have made clear over and over that they differ with Hamas only in tactics. As I've often stated before, blown buses bring bad press. The end goal--Israel's destruction--is the same for both, as a quick view of the Palestinian Authority's own statements, websites, textbooks, media, maps, and such illustrates. Abbas' own military folks have repeatedly stated that Israel will be the sole target of their arms. Recall that Condi was in Israel not long ago demanding that the Jews themselves supply the PA with those arms. Poll after poll taken among Palestinian Arabs show that even if Israel returned to its 1949 nine-mile wide, armistice line-imposed, rump state status, most Arabs would still support terrorism and reject its right to exist. So folks...there's no nice way of putting this. Israel faces deadly, rejectionist enemies and must deal forcefully with this unfortunate reality sooner rather than later. Give it credit...Unlike the let's-destroy-Israel-but-by-other-more-acceptable-means Arafatians, at least Hamas is up front and honest on these issues. So there's no doubt as to how Hamas must be handled. No Israeli concessions short of national suicide will suffice for it. And that's why Hamas needs to be a choice for Arab voters the next time around. The Arab Street needs to make a collective decision--so Hamas itself cannot alone be blamed--for the policies that will then be carried out in its name. If Hamas wins, the Arab voters will have told the entire world that they reject the alleged "two-state" solution that others--including the American State Department and such--falsely claim that they accept. The reality, of course, is that even the alleged PA "moderates," such as Abbas and Qurei, openly reject the right of a Jewish Israel to exist, speak only in terms of a hudna (ceasefire--not permanent peace), and have called all such dealings with the Jews merely a Trojan Horse designed to bring about the Arabs' ultimate goal. And for this the Jews are expected to give away the store. When the predictable next atrocity against Jewish innocents is then carried out (notice how Kofi Anan & Co. cry out profusely about innocent Arabs killed at a wedding in Jordan but typically make excuses when Jews are the targets, killed at Passover Seders, weddings, and the like), terror will have a democratically-decided address. Nations have gone to war for far less than seeing their own people repeatedly butchered. So, Israel must make very clear--and not just by blowing hot air--that it will consider any terror subsequent to the Palestinian elections an act of war. After the elections, if the new Arab government shows--unlike the current one, which still allows terror to continue--that it is truly willing to fight the sources of terror and enemies of permanent peaceful coexistence with a Jewish State (again, no hudna manure...please), then Israel should allow for a grace period and offer assistance. If, however, as will most likely be the case, the new, democratically-elected government opts to just play more good cop/bad cop games with Israel, the Jews need to finally wise up and do what must be done: Unleash pure hell on the murderers of Jewish innocents. Israel must first issue an ultimatum to the new Arab government. When that ultimatum is predictably next ignored, it must declare war, fight to win, and tell the hypocrites in the United Nations and elsewhere to ask themselves what they would be doing if they were in Israel's shoes. And the Arabs will have brought this all upon themselves by democratically electing a government which openly calls for the destruction of both Jews as a nation and as a people. One more time... What other nation would have put up with this reality as long as Israel already has? President Bush has repeatedly stated that those who support terror will be treated as the terrorists themselves. America has followed through with this wise policy in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere. Collateral damage in super power America's own wars has been far more than that caused by tiny Israel's struggle to survive. America needs to remember this when Israel follows through with what it too must do. And if America does this, the hell with what the rest of the world thinks. Gerald A. Honigman, a Florida educator, has created and conducted counter-Arab propaganda programs for college youth, has lectured on numerous campuses and other platforms, and has publicly debated Arab spokesmen. His articles and op-eds have been published in both the print media and on websites. Contact him at honigman6@msn.com or go to his website: http://geraldahonigman.com/blog.php |
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ABBAS EXHIBITS DOUBLE STANDARD ON TERROR
Posted by Ryan Jones, November 11, 2005. |
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While "Palestinian" terrorism against Israel's Jews is a tactical error that "harms national interests," the kind of Islamic violence that rocked Amman this week is a "crime against humanity," according to PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas. Following the bombings of three crowded hotels in the Jordanian capital Wednesday evening, Independent Media Review and Analysis (IMRA) compared Abbas' reactions to that attack and similar atrocities perpetrated against Israelis in recent months. According to the PLO news agency WAFA, Abbas phoned Jordan's King Abdullah II to condemn the Amman bombings as a "crime against humanity," convey his deepest condolences, and express the solidarity of all those living under the Palestinian Authority with the Hashemite Kingdom. Several weeks earlier, a "Palestinian" homicide bomber trained and armed by Islamic Jihad without PA interference slaughtered six innocent Israelis at an open air market in the town of Hadera. WAFA reported that Abbas condemned that attack too, but only because "such operations harm the Palestinian people's interests." When a Jerusalem couple were murdered on the roads of the Gaza Strip in July, the response was much the same. A spokesman for Abbas told WAFA, "These operations at the time of Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip do not serve our national unity, threaten our national security and weaken the [PA's] credibility on an international level. The regime of the man Washington insists is a "moderate" dedicated to peace has systematically refrained from extending the same sympathy and solidarity it did to Jordan to its Israeli peace partners. Nor have Abbas or his underlings ever referred to the mass murder of Israeli Jews as a "crime against humanity." Rather, the PLO chief has on numerous occasions embraced the killers as his "brothers." Ryan Jones is News Editor of Jerusalem Newswire, the only independent Jerusalem-based, Gentile-operated news service providing daily coverage and commentary. This article appeared in Jerusalem Newswire today and is archived at www.jnewswire.com/library/article.php?articleid=854 |
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A SERIES OF DRAMATIC ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDS
Posted by Avodah 15, November 11, 2005. |
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This was written by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz and appeared in today's Arutz-7. Archaeologists announced this week the discovery of a 3,000-year-old Hebrew inscription. It is merely the latest of a series of dramatic archaeological finds in Israel in recent months. Archaeologists have discovered a 40-pound stone containing the oldest known example of the Hebrew alphabet. The stone, inscribed with the Hebrew alphabet written out in its traditional order, was found in the wall of a building dated from the 10th century BCE in Tel Zayit, ancient Judea, south of Jerusalem. The building itself was part of a network of structures at the site, indicating an important border town connected to a centralized kingdom. The discovery was made by Dr. Ron Tappy, a professor at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, on the last day of a five-week dig at Tel Zayit. "This is very rare," he said, "This makes it very historically probable there were people [3,000 years ago] who could write." In an interview with the New York Times, Dr. Tappy said, "All successive alphabets in the ancient world, including the Greek one, derive from this ancestor at Tel Zayit." In addition to constituting an important contribution in understanding the history of writing, the inscription helps to counter claims that the Bible could not have been written by Jews in ancient times, experts said. The find, in its context, suggests literacy levels that support Biblical writings of a unified Jewish kingdom. Further details of the Tel Zayit discovery are to be reported next week during a meeting of experts on Biblical literature in Philadelphia. For Biblical scholars, the latest discovery dovetails with another ancient Hebrew inscription found in August of this year in an archeological dig in the City of David, adjacent to the Old City of Jerusalem. The inscription was on a royal seal dating to the period of the First Temple. The seal has the name of Yehudi, son of Shelemiah, one of the top officials in the court of the last Judean king prior to the destruction of the First Temple, King Zedekiah. He is mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah. The seal was found at the site of the palace of the Judean kings, according to archaeologists under the supervision of Dr. Eilat Mazar of Hebrew University. Several years ago, another circa-580 BCE royal seal was found in the same area. It had the name of Gemaryahu, son of Shafan, who is also mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah as a top official in the court of King Zedekiah's predecessor, King Yehoyachim. The discovery of the ancient alphabet in Tel Zayit was preceded last week by the announcement of the discovery of a rare Christian religious structure from the 3rd-4th centuries CE on the grounds of Megiddo Prison, in northern Israel. Excavations at the site, carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), included the discovery of an impressive mosaic floor and three ancient Greek inscriptions. IAA excavation supervisor Yotam Tefer said, "This is a unique and important structure vis-a-vis our understanding of the early period of Christianity..." One of the inscriptions is dedicated to the memory of four women: Primilia, Kiraka, Dorothea and Crista. Other inscriptions memorialize the people who contributed to the church, including a military officer. Contact Avodah 15 at avodah15@aol.com |
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ISRAEL FALSELY FLATTERED & SELF-FLATTERING; HOW TO FIGHT TERRORISM; HAMAS WOULD NEGOTIATE, BEWARE
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, November 11, 2005. |
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ISRAEL FALSELY FLATTERED & SELF-FLATTERING Israel performs many valuable services for the US, without public acknowledgment. Some of this is a matter of being discrete, but much is a matter of the US not wanting enemies of Israel to see the connection. US officials probably flatter Israel privately. Naïve Israeli Prime Ministers probably think themselves highly valued by the US government. It is not quite like that. The State Dept. is working to strip Israel of defensive borders. Israel would become non-viable. Until then, however, the US exploits Israel. This situation reveals several problems. One is Israeli naivete, in thinking that its valuable services to the US will keep the US from abandoning it. Another is the failure of Israel to make its case sufficiently known to get the American public more strongly against efforts to abandon it. A third but closely related one is to regain respect for Zionism so that the US government would be less ashamed to admit it has been helped by Israel. FRANCE For years, Emanuel Winston had warned the West against letting Muslims gain critical mass in any of their countries. They obtained critical mass in France, and exploded. French politicians are trying to duck responsibility for letting this happen. The politicians won't deport the rioters or shoot them, "lest they get angry." (That sarcasm is about how angry the rioters already are, or they would not destroy everything they can.) Arabs riot all over the world, but the West pretends that it is a coincidence, an aberration (or in the case of the Times, the fault of the West). It doesn't pass, however, it spreads. Germany and Belgium were next. Even in the US, Muslims shake down major corporations, demanding special privileges for Muslims. One is to be allowed to break five times a day for prayer. Factories would not be able to function properly. The countries that condemned Israel for defending itself from the Arabs now are under Muslim assault, themselves. Apparently the West is waiting to be partly destroyed by dirty radiation bombs, before it acts strongly against the jihadists (Winston Mid East Analysis, 11/7). DEFENSE MIN. MOFAZ OF ISRAEL Until the abandonment started, Defense Min. Mofaz warned that Israel must retain control over the border. Israeli officials reported that with forfeiture of that control, arms smuggling into Gaza has increased. After abandonment of Gaza and of control over the border, Mofaz backed up PM Sharon by denying that arms smuggling has increased. He also pretends that Egypt is cooperating with Israel against smuggling and terrorism. He claims that Abbas is doing his best, but other leaders would make peace. How pollyanish! (IMRA, 11/7.) PM SHARON OF ISRAEL PM Sharon claims he would not tolerate terrorism. Of course, he does. He lets them have almost free reign in Gaza and northern Samaria. They bomb Israelis almost without retaliation, etc. (Winston Mid East Analysis, 11/7). HOW TO FIGHT NEW TERRORIST SET-UP Al Qaeda now is operating primarily through affiliates. Therefore, it should be fought not only by pursuing its central apparatus but also by liquidating affiliates. To get at the affiliates necessitates working with Muslim governments. That will be challenging. If the West gets this cooperation, however, it finally would pit "moderate" Muslims against the extremists (Middle East quarterly, 11/8 e-mail of book review). HAMAS WOULD NEGOTIATE HOW ANTISEMITIC IS THE WORLD? The Arabs try to deceive the West into taking Muslim antisemitism not as racial and religious prejudice but as a political view -- anti-Zionism (as if there were much difference). They belied their rationalization by taking a poll not about Israel but towards the Jewish people. Muslim countries had the most anti-Jewish sentiment. Jordan was 100% anti-Jewish. That compares with 27% for Poland and 7% for the US (IMRA, 11/8). This poll result would surprise American audiences. They probably will not see it, however. Jordan is the country that the media loves to love, although it sided with Saddam. The major media used to label the previous king "the brave little king," although he was a genocidal imperialist, fortunately not a successful one. The major media does not advise how deep is the bigotry of the Arabs, whom the media wants to appease, and of Islam, which it is politically correct to portray as a religion of peace and tolerance. US public schools do no better than the media. As a country, we are not preparing our people for the world war called jihad, already begun. The poll's result ought not be surprising. Jordan is a Palestinian Arab state. Most of its people are descendants of refugees from the 1947 aggression against the nascent State of Israel. The curriculum in Jordan is thoroughly antisemitic. The Islamists have major influence there. HAMAS WOULD NEGOTIATE Hamas has changed its policy about negotiating with Israel. Formerly, it felt that negotiating would be a form of recognition. Now Hamas feels negotiations could be used to help it realize its goals. Its ultimate goal for Israel is to incorporate it into an Islamic empire (IMRA, 11/8). What Hamas plans for the inhabitants is frightening. Hamas must have come to realize that Westerners are naïve about negotiations with Muslims. Such was the case with Oslo, as well as other agreements. A typical Israeli leftist reaction would be to feel that the Hamas change augurs peace, which it does not. The West tries to solve problems, whereas the Muslims foster imperialism. The West feels somewhat bound by agreements, but the Muslims do not. Westerners think they are negotiating permanent peace, but the Muslims consider the agreements only as a truce. When they Muslims feel the truce is over, or they find a pretext for claiming that Israel violated it, and they feel strong enough, they return to war. They reopen the war further along, thanks to the earlier agreement's concessions to them. This is the gist of Arafat's explanation to his people, referring to Muslim history as justification for making pacts with Israel.
Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several
web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on
Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target
overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him
at richardshulman5@aol.com.
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PA OFFICERS: WE'LL ONLY TARGET ISRAEL
Posted by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz and Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu, November 11, 2005. |
In the letter, revealed by UPI, the officers warn that the Palestinian Authority (PA) security apparatus is on the verge of collapse due to widespread corruption and the ongoing state of anarchy that exists in autonomous areas. The authors of the letter to Abu Mazen state that they reject ongoing US and Israeli pressure demanding the disarming of PA terrorist organizations. Instead, the militia officers declared, their weapons will only be pointed at Israel and at Israel's Arab agents fighting terrorism in the PA. Under the shadow of this warning, the PA is preparing for local elections, which will include the Islamist Hamas terrorist group. The Hamas is widely seen among the PA Arabs as representing a turn away from official corruption and neglect. Growing unrest among PA Arabs was reflected in the results of a new poll by the Palestinian Center of Public Opinion, which showed a 20 percent drop in the number supporting a halt to violence against Israel. While the PA officers' letter confirms situation analysis reports from Israeli army intelligence, Chief of Army Intelligence Major-General Aaron Ze'evi-Farkash told cabinet ministers last month that Abu Mazen can take control of the situation if he so chooses. However, former IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon contended in a lecture to the Washington Institute for Near East Peace this week that Abbas has decided to exhibit a weak profile, seeking to use this to his advantage in negotiations with Israel. Meanwhile, sniper fire, Molotov cocktail attacks and stone throwings, reminiscent of the breakout of the Intifada in the late 1980s, have become more widespread in the past several weeks. IDF soldiers found two weapons and bullet shells Thursday night on the road to Ma'aleh Michmash after terrorists shot at an Israeli vehicle. No one was injured in that attack. In Bethlehem, the PA claimed it had arrested five Al-Aqsa Marytrs
Brigades terrorists, affiliated with the ruling Fatah movement,
involved in the murder of three young Israelis hitchhiking on the
Jerusalem-Gush Etzion road last month. There was no confirmation of
the arrests from Israeli sources.
The authors are writers for Arutz-Sheva (www.IsraelNN.com).
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BEN GURION U. IN OFFICIAL CAHOOTS WITH EXTREMIST ANTI-SEMITIC PROPAGANDA ORGANIZATION
Posted by Steven Plaut, November 11, 2005. |
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Whenever confronted with evidence of the collaboration of academics from thei campus with anti-Israel and anti-Semitic extremists, the officials at Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheba always insist that treason is not the officially sanctioned policy of the university and that such extremist activity is regretable but well within the framework of academic freedom. Such statements are belied now by the fact that Ben Gurion University is holding a one-day conference on "Medical Teams and Dual Loyalties", co-sponsored by the university and the extremist anti-Semitic organization "Physicians for Human Rights". The conference will be held Nov 29 and the opening speaker will be Prof. Avishay Braverman, the president of Ben Gurion University. The "dual loyalty" of which the conference speaks is evidently dual loyalty to Israel and "Palestine". The Physicians for Human Rights is a fanatic anti-Israel propaganda organization. While whining every time Israel searches a PLO ambulance for weapons, it has never come out in favor of the defense of the "human right" of Jews not to be murdered by terrorists. PHR has been the focus of attention by NGO-Monitor.org, which documents phony propaganda organizations passing themselves off as NGOs. Its report may be read at www.ngo-monitor.org/editions/v3n02/v3n02-2.htm In the past PHR was accused by large numbers of people, including in a petition organized by Prof. Gerald Steinberg and signed by hundreds of academics, of being an openly anti-Semitic organization, after it distributed propaganda with anti-Jewish caricatures. For samples, see www.ngo-monitor.org/archives/infofile/PHRIPictures.htm For more details on that, see www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=230911& contrassID=2&+ubContrassID=16&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y and www.israelnationalnews.com/print.php3?what=article&id=2176 In the 1990s, PHR was run for a while by Neve Gordon, probably the most anti-Semitic academic at Ben Gurion University, an open groupie of neonazi Norman Finkelstein. Some of Gordon's areticles were published by the web site operated by Ernst Zundel, the nazi deported from Canada. The Israeli Medical Association has denounced PHR as an anti-Israel propaganda outfit: www.ngo-monitor.org/editions/v1n05/v1n05-3.htm PHR is funded by the EU, by the seditious pro-terror New Israel Fund (which also funds the defense team for arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti), and by other extremist groups. The Israel Medical Association official boycotts PHR. The PHR routinely turns out extremist propaganda that is little more than collections of lies: www.ngo-monitor.org/editions/v1n01/v1n01-1.htm THIS is the partner of Avishay Braverman and of Ben Gurion University in debating supposed human rights violations by Israel at an official BGU campus event. Steven Plaut is an American-trained economist, a professor of business administration at Haifa University and author of "The Scout." He frequently comments - both seriously and satirically - on Israeli politics and the left wing academic community. His website address is http://www.stevenplaut.blogspot.com or write him at splaut@econ.haifa.ac.il. |
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SHOELESS SHARON
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, November 11, 2005. |
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The expression: "Waiting for the other shoe to drop" has now taken place with regard to Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's on-and-off again lies, promises and misleading statements. In the November 9th Jerusalem Post, the leading editorial banner was: "Sharon wants to draw new borders". Is this Sharon's swan song in his last effort to imprint his historical legacy that will speak of dividing up the Land in deference to the Bush family "Road Map"? Sharon's penchant for playing with his beloved maps like the behavior of a self-anointed mythological earthly god who believe that they have been selected to control all others. We have seen such gods before among the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans and others who have been anointed by their unholy priest cults. Is Sharon now a Zeus, a Caesar or one of the Egyptian underworld gods? Is this what Sharon believes is his destiny, namely to rule the Jewish people until they too become one of the "lost civilizations" because they abandoned their belief in G-d, the Land and the Torah? Sharon uses his infamous Wall as a weapon of choice, dividing the Jewish communities into bits and pieces, so that they can be later purged of Jews by either Sharon or the terrorists at a time of their choosing. Will Sharon develop such a map and then hand it over to the U.N., the E.U., the Bush pro-Arab State Department and Russia - all of whom will accept it as an irrevocable commitment - even after Sharon is driven from office? Sharon has at last dropped his other shoe in speaking of his plans to evacuate the territories of Judea and Samaria. He has been extraordinarily silent about the Golan Heights and the eastern parts of Jerusalem - especially The Temple Mount. I wonder if the people of those territories will accept Sharon's self-declared god-like dictums that savaging the Jewish Land is acceptable? What will the military's General Staff do when they see their Prime Minister is nothing more than a mad Nero as he torches the nation to fulfill his pathological dreams and nightmares which pervade and swirl about in his aging mind? We already know that Shimon Peres will be delighted to place flowers on Sharon's last days. Today, November 10th we learned that Peres lost - again - to a relative weakling, Amir Peretz whose only known activities have been the blocking of roads when the Labor Left wanted to force their policies on the rest of the Israeli people. When those who opposed being forced to evacuate their own homes, gardens, factories, fields, schools, synagogues and cemeteries blocked the roads, they were arrested, even and especially minors and young girls. We already know the weak Knesset will bend to any wind that keeps them in their paid seats for a few more months. We see such examples as former Shin Bet Director Avi Dichter, who first was against disengagement and later adopted it as his new credo - having been offered a high post in what may be Sharon's new "Divestment of Jewish Land" Party. I wonder if Shimon Peres will join Sharon in a new party. The DoomsDay Clock is swinging its hands towards a midnight where the darkness will be controlled by Sharon and his Mafia yes-men. There is very little time left for the sons-of-light to take back the Jewish nation. Emanuel Winston is a commentator and Middle East analyst. His articles appear often on Think-Israel and Gamla. He is a member of the Board of Directors and a research associate of the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies (http://www.freeman.org/online.htm). |
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SCIENCE AND TORAH
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, November 11, 2005. |
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In "Torah and Reason" the late Torah genius, Rabbi Dr. Chaim Zimmerman wrote that the more science uncovers and understands of the world, the more the truth of the Torah becomes clear. Probably one of the most hostile groups to Torah in academia are archeologist yet they are constantly being forced to acknowledge the accuracy of the Torah's historical narrative by their own discoveries. "Scientists find "Goliath" inscribed on pottery," (www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9997587/) The Associated Press. Reference from 950 B.C. lends credence to Bible tale, archaeologists say JERUSALEM - Archaeologists digging at the purported biblical home of Goliath have unearthed a shard of pottery bearing an inscription of the Philistine's name, a find they claimed lends historical credence to the Bible's tale of David's battle with the giant. While the discovery is not definitive evidence of Goliath's existence, it does support the Bible's depiction of life at the time the battle was supposed to have occurred, said Dr. Aren Maeir, a professor at Bar-Ilan University and director of the excavation. "What this means is that at the time there were people there named Goliath," he said. "It shows us that David and Goliath's story reflects the cultural reality of the time." In the story, David slew Goliath with a slingshot. Some scholars assert the story of David slaying the giant Goliath is a myth written down hundreds of years later. Maeir said finding the scraps lends historical credence to the biblical story. The shard dates back to around 950 B.C., within 70 years of when biblical chronology asserts David squared off against Goliath, making it the oldest Philistine inscription ever found, the archaeologists said. Scientists made the discovery at Tel es-Safi, a dig site in southern Israel thought to be to be the location of the Philistine city of Gath. Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. Contact him at zelasko@actcom.co.il |
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GENERAL DAN HALUTZ LEARNS POLITICAL DOUBLE TALK
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, November 11, 2005. |
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Chief of General Staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz just made a speech worthy of Sharon and Peres in double talk: He speaks of "After the hardest mission the army had ever been charged with by the government, it was now time to seek strength through unification." He goes on to say: "Now was the time to pursue all those who crossed the lines between freedom of speech and incitement." (1) That's his idea of unity. You all remember how the Left howled after PM Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated, maintaining that all who disagreed with the Oslo Accords, were partners in the conspiracy to commit murder. Somehow, Sharon's "Disengagement" which sent Halutz and the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) against decent, hard-working Jews then claimed that this made them potential assassins of PM Sharon. Strangely, none of the soldiers or police were even hurt by those settlers who were demonized as dangerous fanatics. Sharon was wrong in demonizing the Jews to justify his attack against them. There was only passive resistance. Now Halutz speaks of Unity while at the same time speaks of aggressively pursuing resistors, using the old whips of Rabin's assassination which itself is - for the first time - is finally being questioned as an 'inside job'. Apparently, there is to be no attempt at healing the deep wounds of "Disengagement" aside from the speeches by Sharon's mouthpieces. The "Show Trials" of resistors are to be continued. Israel's Judges seem to still be under orders to mete out the maximum punishment to civilians, even minors. Examples are to be made and this is the unity Halutz speaks of. The Public Defender's office just released a report indicating that the arresting authorities adopted a "trigger-happy" policy in detaining protestors and the courts cooperated. In brief, there was a Police Riot, aided and abetted by the Courts in excess of anything approaching Justice and the Law. We hear that some Ministers were shocked by the Report which, in Israel, is a sad joke. What minister was ever really shocked? I don't recall any expression of shock when police under direct instruction by Sharon beat protestors, arrested minors and kept them in prison for several months - usually in solitary. There is no expression of shock nor do we hear any expression of shock for the settlers purged and sent to live in any way they can. The shock belongs on the side of the people to find their formerly great hero is merely a run-of-the-mill dictator. ### 1. "Halutz: Lessons of Rabin's Death not learned" by Margot Dudkevitch JERUSALEM POST November 8, 2005 2. "Official Stands by Criticism of Court Action Against Protestors" by Dan Izenberg, Jerusalem Post, November 8, 2005 3. "Report Talks of 'Trigger-Happy' Policy" by Dan Izenberg Jerusalem Post November 8, 2005 in full: According to the internal document drafted in the Public Defender's Office, "the investigative and arresting authorities adopted a 'trigger-happy' policy [vis-à-vis detained disengagement protestors] and the courts cooperated with it." In doing so, the courts allegedly created new procedural rules. For example, judges heard prosecution requests to remand entire groups of, rather than individual protestors. The proof present by the police to back up allegation that detained suspects directly participated in the demonstrations was often "extremely weak". The prosecutors left it up to the judge to determine whether there was a cause for arrest. In some cases, they presented the court with hours of video tapes of a demonstration and left it to the judges to view them themselves in order to determine that the suspects brought before them had, in fact, acted illegally. The courts used remands in custody to deter other disengagement opponents from blocking roads an other protest actions. But according to the law, deterrence is not a criterial for remanding in custody. They often agreed to keep protestors in jail instead of considering alternative measures. The courts, particularly the district courts, did not take into account that the suspects were minors and that juvenile court procedures placed special emphasis on rehabilitation rather than punishment. The courts often refused the Public Defender's request to postpone judicial procedures so that juvenile workers could meet with the suspects and try to help them. The Courts Administration made a policy ruling that the trials of the anti-disengagement defendants, unlike regular trials, would be conducted without delay and heard on consecutive days until completion. This policy interfered with the rehabilitation aspect of the legal procedures. By Dan Izenberg. [This document was written in July before the Disengagement by Public Defender Inbal Rubenstein, leaked to Israel Radio several weeks ago. It began with the charge: "The judicial handling of disengagement detainees strengthened the feeling that the need to deter the plans' opponents and foil anyone who tried to interfere with it so as enable the government to continue implementing it took precedence over basic rules that must be observed in order to conduct proper criminal procedures." At an emergency session of the Law Committee called by Zevulun Orlev (NRP), Yuli Edelstein (Likud) and Meir Porush (Agudat Yisrael), Orlev said: "This is the Yom Kippur of the judicial system. There was not a single error it did not commit. All the protection mechanisms were trampled. No rule was observed." Orlev further commented: "In this case is 'did you expel and arrest them and also cause them lifelong damage?"] Emanuel Winston is a commentator and Middle East analyst. His articles appear often on Think-Israel and Gamla. He is a member of the Board of Directors and a research associate of the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies (http://www.freeman.org/online.htm). |
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LECH LECHA -- HOME FROM RAMALLAH
Posted by Walter Bingham, November 11, 2005. |
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This comes from Zev Roth's "Monsey, Kiryat Sefer, and Beyond" (http://www.targum.com/store/Roth.html -- Targum Press, 2002). The history is true, but the names have been modified. I adapted it for radio. At various places in the Torah, we read that either at the request of God or even on their own accord, some of our forefathers left their place of residence and moved on to a new home. This week, we are reading the Tora Portion Lech Lecha in which we learn that God instructed Abraham to leave his home in Ur Kasdim and set up in a new place, which will be the home for the Jewish people. (Ur Kasdim by the way is today's city of Ur in the south of Iraq, west of the Euphrates river.) I want to share with you a true story, which has great relevance to that, to going home. It was after the concluding prayer, when Dan quickly walked to the front of the Synagogue in Jerusalem and said Gut Shabbos, Shabbat Shalom to the Rabbi and a few other people he knew and then hurried towards the door, time to get home and make Kiddush for the family. On his way out, a sudden impulse struck him and he turned around to watch the people filing out. His eyes slowly scanned the Synagogue -- was there anyone who needed a place to eat; - who is that, sitting near the side wall; I know almost every-one here and I don't believe he's been here before. Dan approached the young man, scanning him with an experienced eye. Dungarees, back-pack, dark skinned, curly black hair; looks Sephardy maybe -- maybe Moroccan. A moment more for consideration and he was moving toward the boy with his hand extended in welcome. Shabbat Shalom my name is Dan Eisenblatt, would you like to eat at my house tonight? The young man's face broke in an instant from a worried look to a toothy smile. Yea thanks -- my name is Macky. The young man picked up his back-pack and together they walked out of the Shul. A few minutes later they were all standing around Dan's Shabbat Table. As soon as the family started singing Shalom Aleichem, Dan noticed that his guest wasn't singing along. Ach, may be he's shy or can't sing he surmised. The guest gave another of his toothy smiles and followed along, limping badly, but obviously trying his best. Even after the meal began, and the guest had relaxed somewhat, he still seemed a bit fidgety and was mostly silent. Dan picked up the signal and kept the conversation general and centred his remarks on the weekly Torah portion mixed with small talk about current events. After the fish, Dan noticed his guest leafing through his song-book, apparently looking for something. He asked with a smile: "Is there a song you want to sing? I can help you if you are not sure about the tune." The guest's face lit up -- a startling change: "There's a song I'd like to sing, but I can't find it here. I really liked what you sang in the Synagogue tonight; what was it called -- something Dodi". Dan paused for a moment on the verge of saying "it's not usually sung at the table" but then caught himself; (if that's what the kid wants, he thought, what's the harm?) and loud he said: "You mean Lecha Dodi -- wait, let me get you a Siddur." Once they had sung Lecha Dodi, the young man resumed his silence until after the soup, when Dan asked him: "Which song now?" The guest looked embarrassed, but after a bit of encouragement he said firmly: "I'd like to sing Lecha Dodi again." Dan was not really all that surprised, when after the chicken he asked his guest: "What song now?" and the young man said: "Lecha Dodi please." Dan almost blurted out "lets sing it a little softer this time, the neighbours are going to think - I'm nuts," but thought better of it. Finally, it got to be too much for Dan. "Don't you want to sing something else?" he suggested gently. His guest blushed and looked down: "I really like that one," he mumbled? "just something about it, I really like it." In all, they must have sung the song eight or nine times. Dan wasn't sure, he lost count. Later, when they had a quiet time to talk, Dan said: "I was just wondering -- we haven't had more than a few moments to chat; where are you from?" The boy looked pained, then stared down at the floor and said softly: -- "Ramalla" -- Dan's heart skipped a beat. he was sure he heard the boy say Ramalla, a large Arab city on the West Bank or Samaria as we know it. Quickly he caught himself and then realised that he must have said Ramle, an Israeli city. Dan said: "Oh I have a cousin there, do you know Chaim Warner? He lives on Herzl street." The young man shook his head sadly: "There are no Jews in Ramallah. Dan gasped. He really had said Ramallah. His thoughts were racing, did he just spent Shabbat with an Arab? Wait a minute, take a deep breath; let's get this straightened out. Giving his head a quick shake, he told the boy: "I'm sorry, I'm a bit confused, and now that I think of it, I haven't even asked your full name, what is it, please?" The boy looked terrified for a moment, then squared his shoulders and said quietly: "Machmoud ibn esh Sharif." Machmoud was looking even more terrified now, obviously he could tell what Dan was thinking. Hurriedly he said: "Wait -- wait, I'm Jewish, I'm just trying to find out where I belong." Dan stood there speechless. What could he say? Machmoud broke the silence hesitently: "I was born eh, and grew up eh, in Ramallah; I was taught to hate my Jewish oppressors and to think that killing them was heroism, but I always had my doubts -- I mean we were taught that the Suna, the tradition says 'No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself.' I used to sit and wonder -- weren't the Yahud, the Jews, people too? Didn't they have the right to live the same as us? If we are supposed to be good to everyone, how come nobody includes the Jews in that?" I asked these questions to my father and he threw me out of the house, just like that, with nothing but the clothes on my back. By now my mind was made up. I was going to run away and live with the Yahud, until I could find out what -- they -- were - really like? Machmoud continued. I snuck back into the house that night, to get my things and my backpack. My mother caught me in the middle of packing. She looked pale and upset, but she was quiet and gentle to me - and after a while, she got me to talk. I told her that I wanted to live with the Jews for a while and find out what they are really like, and may be -- I would even want to convert. She was turning more and more pale while I said all this and I thought she was angry. But that wasn't it. Something else was hurting her and she whispered: "You don't have to convert, you already are a Jew." I was shocked, my head started spinning -- for a moment I couldn't speak, then I stammered Whhhhat do you mean? "In Judaism," she told me, "the religion goes according to the mother -- I am Jewish, so that means you are Jewish." I never had any idea that my mother was Jewish. I guess she didn't want anyone to know, she sure didn't feel to good about her life, because she whispered suddenly -- I made a mistake by marrying an Arab -- and in you, my mistake will be redeemed. My mother always talked that way -- poetic like. She went and dug out some old documents and handed them to me. Things like my birth certificate and her old Israeli ID card, so I can prove I am a Jew. I've got them here, but I don't know what to do with them. My mother hesitated about one piece of paper, then she said "you may as well take this, it's an old photograph of my grandparents, which was taken when they went looking for the grave of some great ancestor of ours." They went up north and found the grave, and that's when this picture was taken. Dan gently put his hand on Machmoud's shoulder. Machmoud looked up, scared and hopeful at the same time. Dan asked: "do you have the photo here?" The boy's face lit up. "Sure, I always carry it with me." He reached in his backpack and pulled out an old tattered envelope. Dan gingerly took the photo from the envelope, picked up his glasses and looked painstakingly at it. The first thing that stood out was the family group, an old time Sephardy family from the turn of the century. Then he focused on the grave they were standing around. When he read the gravestone inscription, he nearly dropped the photo. He rubbed his eyes to make sure, - there is no doubt, this was a grave in the old cemetery in Z'fad, in Safed - and the inscription identified it as that, of the great Kabbalist and Tzadik Rabbi Shlomo Halevi Alcabetz. Dan's voice quivered with excitement as he explained to Machmoud who this ancestor was. "He was a friend of the Arisal, - a great Torah scholar, a Tzadic, a mystic, and Machmoud, your ancestor wrote the song that we were singing all evening -- Lecha Dodi." This time it was Machmoud's turn to be struck speechless. Dan slowly stood up, still in awe about what had happened. He extended his trembling hand and said, "Welcome home Machmoud, - now, how about picking a new name for yourself?" Rabbi Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz lived from 1505 until 1584 and the composition is so arranged that the first letters of each stanza spell out the name of the author, a practice quite common among liturgical authors. Walter Bingham is a veteran journalist and broadcaster from London who made aliyah and now lives in Jerusalem. His weekly radio programme, Walter's World, can be heard on Israel National Radio.com. Contact him by email at walter@IsraelNationalNews.com |
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WHEN A KNOCK ON THE DOOR MEANT TERROR
Posted by Walter Bingham, November 10, 2005. |
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Throughout the Jewish world, meetings have been held this week, to commemorate Crystal-night, Kristallnacht, the horrendous night that shattered lives - like the glass of Jewish premises. It happened in the early hours of November 10th 1938. That night, 67 years ago today, most Synagogues throughout Germany, Austria and the by then annexed Czechoslovakian Sudetenland were set alight, their content plundered, Torah scrolls desecrated, thousands of Jewish businesses destroyed and 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent off to Concentration Camps. It was that night, that made Nazi Germany's policy towards the Jews clear to the world- and illustrated their real intentions. The trigger for these atrocities can be found in the events of a few days earlier. During 1938, the Polish authorities became increasingly concerned about the German annexation of Austria in March of that year and at the increased persecution of Jews in Germany and Austria. They were of course not concerned with their welfare; but feared that the many Polish Jewish nationals in these areas would want to, or are forced to return to Poland. So in Mid-October the Polish Government enacted a de-nationalisation law, which annulled the citizenship of Poles who had lived abroad for more than 5 years, unless - before the end of that month they obtained a special stamp in their passports, from one of the Polish Consulates. Not surprisingly from anti-Semitic Poland, Jews were refused the stamp. When the Germans learned that the Poles would not endorse the Passports of Jews, which made all of them stateless, the Gestapo Chief Heinrich Himmler ordered that all Polish Jews should be immediately and forcibly be repatriated to Poland. It was during the early hours of October 28th 1938, that about 20,000 Jewish men women and children were roused by a knock at the door. They were arrested, permitted to hurriedly pack one suitcase and with an allowance of just 10 Reichsmark per adult transported to the Polish border in sealed trains. When the Poles heard what was happening, they closed their borders. "No more Jews," they decided. So with Polish Machine guns facing them and German Bayonets behind them, these bewildered and tired Jewish families were stranded in no-man's-land. A Jewish welfare organisation, I believe it was ORT, was allowed to hastily provide some shelter. The conditions were grim; food was short - and all the while the Germans and Poles continued to argue - until the Poles were forced to accept this - by now dejected and hungry mass of disowned citizens. The largest number was interned in Zbaszyn, a small Polish border town, and months later - moved to the Warsaw ghetto. A 17-year-old German born - Polish Jew, Hershel Grynspan, who lived illegally in Paris, received a postcard from his family, telling him of their deportation and desperate plight. He became so angry, so enraged, that he went to the German Embassy and requested to see the Ambassador. Instead, he was taken to Ernst vom Rath, a 3rd Secretary. When face to face, Hershel drew a pistol and shot him. Vom Rath died of his wounds on the evening of November 7th. This death was the trigger for what the Nazis claimed was a "spontaneous" outburst of national anger, Kristallnacht, the most savage pogrom before the enactment of the "final solution", the Nazi killing machine. It is documented that the plans for this outrage had been prepared in great detail long before the Grynspan affair, and that Himmler and his Gestapo had only waited for a suitable moment to implement them. When French police arrested Hershel Grynspan, he protested: "Being a Jew is not a crime, I'm not a dog, I have a right to live and the Jewish people have a right to exist on this earth. Wherever I've been, I have been hounded like an animal." There are conflicting reports about his fate, but it can be safely assumed that he did not survive the war. Let us never forget the brave and courageous Hershel Grynspan. At the time, I was a boy of 15, and a little while before these events, my parents decided to send me to a city some 60 miles away, where there was an opportunity for further Jewish education. I was put up at the Jewish orphanage, the only place that was strictly kosher. From there I walked every morning a few blocks to school. It was behind the main Synagogue. On the 28th October I heard of the deportation of Polish Jews, and as we belonged to that group, I became frightened and phoned home. My mother answered and said: "For goodness sake, stay where you are, they have taken your father. When they asked for you, I told them that you had gone out and I don't know where you went." Luckily, in the City where I was, they either didn't know of me or didn't take young children. Had I been at home at the time, I would most certainly have perished in the Warsaw ghetto like my father s"l When I went to school as usual, a few days later, I saw the Synagogue in flames. It was the morning of Kristallnacht. The street was crowded with onlookers, some laughing, some singing anti Jewish songs, only a few had grim faces. The fire service was there too, but not to put out the flames, but to cool down and protect neighbouring non-Jewish property. I can never forget that picture. I ran to the orphanage, telephoned home, packed up and took the train. Do you know, today, I forget where I put my keys, or that my glasses are on my head, but that occasion was so momentous, that I even remember it was the 3.22 train in the afternoon. I later learned that in my hometown, the Nazis demanded that the Jewish community pays to make safe the dangerous structure that was a burned out synagogue, thus adding insult to injury. (PS.I don't like the term Kristallnacht.It was coined by the Nazis and denotes Jewish wealth and opulence. We ought only to refer to it as the night of the broken glass. Regrettably, it is generally recognised by that unfortunate name.) Walter Bingham is a veteran journalist and broadcaster from London who made aliyah and now lives in Jerusalem. His weekly radio programme, Walter's World, can be heard on Israel National Radio.com. Contact him by email at walter@IsraelNationalNews.com |
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U.S. ACKNOWLEDGES SAUDI SUPPORT FOR HAMAS
Posted by Avodah15, November 10, 2005. |
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This is an excerpt from the Middle East Newsline article. WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The Bush administration has acknowledged that Saudi Arabia has renewed funding to Palestinian insurgency groups. Officials said the Treasury Department has determined that after a lull of more than a year Riyad has relayed millions of dollars to Palestinian insurgency groups. They said most of the money was said to have been sent to Hamas. "The United States shares Saudi Arabia's concern for meeting the humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people," Deputy Assistant Secretary Daniel Glaser said. "But it is vitally important for Saudi Arabia to act resolutely against all terrorist organizations and to cut off support for groups like Hamas." On Tuesday, Glaser told the Senate Judiciary Committee that in August 2005 Saudi Arabia held a telethon in support of the Palestinian war against Israel. He said the government established a bank account, termed Joint Account 98, for Saudi contributions to Palestinian insurgency groups. The telethon was sponsored by the Saudi Committee for the Support of the Al Aqsa Intifada. |
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PERETZ'S POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE
Posted by IsrAlert, November 10, 2005. |
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Two articles on Amir Peretz defeating Shimon Peres to become the Labor Party's leader. (www.israelpolicyforum.org). 1. This was prepared by the Israel Policy Forum (IPF) staff with Guy Ziv (www.israelpolicyforum.org). Yesterday, in an historic upset, Amir Peretz defeated Shimon Peres for the leadership of the Labor Party. Peres was expected to win by a comfortable margin, but Amir Peretz' well organized supporters -- coupled with relatively low voter turnout -- produced a stunning victory for the former Histadrut chairman. Amir Peretz has pledged to withdraw the Labor party from Prime Minister Sharon's governing coalition, which almost certainly means that new elections are on the way, probably in March or April. The national unity government that brought Israel through the disengagement process is virtually dead. Some Israeli commentators have gone so far as to say that Peretz' dramatic victory heralds the beginning of a "new era" in Israeli politics. Why? Q: Who is Amir Peretz? A: Amir Peretz was born in Morocco in 1952, and grew up in Sderot, a persistently poor development town in the Negev. He is the former head of the Histadrut, the powerful Israeli labor federation that represents hundreds of thousands of Israeli workers. He began his national political career in the Labor party, and left in 1999 to form Am Echad, a social democratic party. He rejoined Labor in 2005, ironically at Shimon Peres' invitation. Q: What is Peretz' appeal? A: In a country where over 20 percent of Israelis live below the poverty line and the gap between the rich and poor is the largest in the developed world, Peretz' calls for European-style social democracy are naturally attractive. He also appeals to the traditional Likud constituency: blue-collar Sephardic Israelis (Israelis who hail from Arab countries). Peretz' election signifies a major shift in priorities for the Labor party where, under Peres, the peace process was the primary concern. Social policy and poverty have now come to the forefront. Peretz is a populist with little resemblance to the more technocratic style of Ehud Barak or even Peres. Q: Where does Peretz stand on the peace process? A: Speaking at Yitzhak Rabin's gravesite following his election, Peretz said: "I came today to make a vow to Rabin that I intend to do everything I can to continue his way, I intend to do everything I can so that [Rabin's] assassin would know he failed to murder peace." Peretz favors negotiations with the Palestinians and a two-state solution. Q: How does he differ from Netanyahu or Sharon? Or with other Labor politicians? A: Peretz has fashioned himself as the anti-Binyamin Netanyahu. In the past few years, the two have butted heads over the former Finance Minister's cuts to welfare programs and his privatization policies. Peretz favors compromise with the Palestinians, whereas Netanyahu opposed even the disengagement from Gaza.Ariel Sharon, like his mentor Menachem Begin, has used populism (albeit of a right-wing variety) to win the hearts and minds of Israel's Sephardic underprivileged. Peretz, only the second Sephardic Jew to head one of Israel's major parties, is a more natural populist. Q: Does he stand a chance in the general elections? A: No one knows for sure. Peretz did very well in traditional Likud strongholds, but his redistribution policies will alienate some members of the Labor establishment. Ariel Sharon still hasn't decided whether or not he will stay in the Likud party, with party primaries pitting him against Netanyahu scheduled for the spring.Sharon still enjoys national popularity and is the favorite to remain Prime Minister after the new elections. Nevertheless, Peretz' ties to labor, his Sephardic background, and his sweeping economic-political vision could make him a formidable candidate. Q: What are the implications for US policy? A: If anything, Peretz is closer to US policy goals in the region than Sharon and certainly than Netanyahu. A strong backer of the two-state solution, he would, as Prime Minister, likely be responsive to US efforts to push the peace process to a successful conclusion. But that is jumping too far ahead. All we know at this point is that Shimon Peres, one of Israel's greatest (sic) leaders, suffered a surprising defeat at the hands of Peretz. But the next critical steps will be Sharon's. Will he create a new centrist party that will build on Gaza withdrawal and move on toward a rejuvenated peace (sic) process? The surprise victory of Histadrut labor federation chairman Amir Peretz over VPM Shimon Peres in the Labor Party primaries this morning puts an end to speculation as to whether or not Israel will have early general elections. There will be. It is far from clear, however, how this election will play out. Will Peretz succeed in making economics the dominant issue of the campaign? One can certainly argue with Peretz's socialist economic views - a clear preference to re-divide rather than enlarge the economic pie - but one cannot ignore that he enters the arena with the advantage of having a very clear economic philosophy and the ability to communicate it to the voters. Binyamin Netanyahu certainly has a clear economic philosophy, and he has demonstrated as treasury minister that it works in practice. But there is a large population of voters who may not have the patience to wait for the benefits of the expanding economic pie Netanyahu promises to benefit them and would prefer Peretz's promise to give them a bigger slice of the existing pie today. On the other hand, if the issue remains "guns" rather than "butter", Peretz is at a considerable disadvantage in light of his lack of any background in either defense or foreign affairs as well as his leftist views. Netanyahu's identification with an economic policy that is the polar opposite to Peretz may put him at a disadvantage over alternative Likud candidates since others can more credibly adopt some of Peretz's demands (for example increasing the minimum wage to a livable wage, increasing transfer payments to the poor elderly, etc.) to knock much of the wind out of his sails so that the "guns" remain the decisive issues in the campaign. And what of a break-away Sharon party? It would certainly be tempting to try to put together a list of Likud and Labor personalities to take votes from both parties, but the gross failure of pollsters to predict the Peretz victory serves as a warning that political machinations driven by polling data are far from being a sure bet. A Sharon party would also be, by its nature, totally dependent on the vote drawing ability of Ariel Sharon, and that is a function both of how Sharon's retreat plays out before the elections and Attorney General Mazuz. Post retreat security arrangements are certainly considerably inferior to what the Sharon team anticipated and post-retreat Gaza is a source of ever increasing concerns, but it remains to be seen if the situation will reach a boiling point before or only after Israelis go to the polls. If indicted, Sharon would not be able to serve as prime minister. Mazuz wasn't expected to allow the wheels of justice to interfere with the implementation of Sharon's retreat, but it was far from clear just how long this policy would continue. Reports in the press that Sharon intends to retreat to "final borders" if diplomacy fails may make concerns regarding the possibility that Mazuz might indict Sharon moot. Will the advanced elections have an impact on Israel's willingness to make further concessions on security arrangement at the passages? Will Washington try to strike a balance between its desire to help Abbas in the Palestinian elections (by pressing Israel to make security concessions) and an interest to avoid hurting Sharon's election prospects? One thing is certain: Peretz's victory brings Israel considerably closer to
finally providing its citizens with the opportunity to express their will
for the first time since Mr. Sharon exploited his landslide anti-retreat
election campaign victory to implement the very policy he opposed.
Harv Weiner, a businessman in Dallas, Texas, is the founder and
moderator of Isralert. To subscribe to IsrAlert, send an email to
isralert@aol.com
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NEITHER TO THE LEFT...NOR TO THE RIGHT!
Posted by Arlene Peck, November 10, 2005. |
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From time to time I receive questionnaires in the mail, wanting me, as a Democrat, to provide information and send in a check. Then, shortly thereafter, I will receive something similar from the Republican Committee asking me to let them know my feelings so they can fix the problems that they, in my opinion, have caused. Maybe it's time I put myself on one of those "Do not call" lists, aimed at tele-marketers, but just as necessary with Political Parties, because it's gotten to the point where I do not know what I am anymore. I am disgusted with all politicians. Even more so with the press. I am embarrassed to say that I am one of them. Does everybody lie? I have readers that will not read me...and publishers that refuse to publish me because I complain about George Bush and some of the really stupid and deplorable situations that he has gotten us into. I thought Saddam was a bad guy (I still do) and felt that he should have been taken out. However, I also felt that he was somewhere down the middle of a list, there being others who should have come first. For instance, why did we not take on North Korea, that has weapons of mass destruction, or Iran, which will very soon, both seemingly itching to use them? Was it because, with his myopic, 'white hat' Texas mentality, George W. wanted to ride in on his horse and redeem his daddy's good name; to correct the historical record that shames "big daddy" for not going in there and doing what needed to be done when he had the chance in the first war he got us into? Or, possibly, because he was still mad that Saddam actually put out a contract on his father and it was now 'pay back' time. Why didn't he go in, as the Israeli Air Force did in 1982, with less than a squadron of fighter jets and 'take him out', without bankrupting the country and destroying whatever good will we had left with the rest of the world? Just asking! In fact, why hasn't he shown a little tenacity in the pursuit of Osama Bin Laden which he has for Saddam? Actually, does anyone care if we are loved in the hearts and minds of the Iraqis? I am more concerned about our open border situation. It is on the evening news for all of us to see; potential terrorists and runaway Mexicans walking across our borders with apparent impunity. They've learned to either go to some kind of school with a hidden terrorist agenda in mind or immediately get into our system and use our hospitals, schools, social services, etc., to help bring our economy to it's knees as we desperately try to pay for their needs and our own. If "they", our newest backdoor Americans, have any difficulty in achieving these goals, they always have the ACLU to fall back on. Actually, I wonder why W. walks around holding hands with the leaders of Saudi Arabia when we all know that they are the ones sponsoring the hate and terrorism that is coming out of the many Muslim countries. The Saudi Kingdom sure as hell is funding schools that teach the worst forms of dysfunctionality on the planet today; Their children aren't learning "the 3 R's", let alone Critical Thinking, but they seem to do well in other areas. They can strap a bomb around their waists and bomb a restaurant or disco as a graduation fete. It is no surprise that the Saudis are the principal sponsors of the PLO, Fatah, Islamic Jihad, PFLP, Tanzim Force 17 and a host of other terrorists groups, which have targeted Israel for destruction. Lord, they were blatantly open about their telethon when over a $100 million was raised to donate to the families of the 'martyrs. We all watched that fund raising and what, if anything, was done about it? More and more the political scene appears to me as some kind of Alice in Wonderland adventure. The terrorist's orchestrate bombings and murder in Israel; sometimes they are even arrested. Then, as usual, thousands of them are released in some sort of "transfer of good-will". It makes as much sense as the farce we Americans witnessed a few years ago, when hordes of Cubans came over to this country and the idiot president we had at that time stood on the shore and welcomed the poor, deprived people of that country to our shores. Meanwhile, Castro was laughing and opening his prisons and mental hospitals finding more and more of the worst and saddest of his nation for us to accept. Now, Sharon, and before him, Peres, and before that, Barak etc. would open the jails and let hundreds and eventually thousands more potential mass-murderers back into normal society to resume their bombings, all under the guise of 'goodwill.' Lately thought, there has been one of the regular lulls in this insanity, while Sharon and company dicker over the fact that the Palestinian government has not moved to disarm the (there's that word again) "militants". Meanwhile, press reports state Palestinian leaders have complained, with growing bitterness, that Sharon is doing little to improve Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' "ability to overcome political challenges by the militant group Hamas." Militant? Hell, they are a terrorist group, funded by the Saudis, a fact which our President and State dept, not to mention every rational, intelligent person on the planet, are perfectly aware of! But, duh, our President and State Dept are also perfectly aware that Iran has now gone on official record, declaring long and loud that they want to "wipe the Jewish State off the map". After 24 hours of International outcry, the Iranians had the opportunity to "spin" that statement, and at least attempt to placate the alarmed world. But what did they do? The next declaration from them was to re-affirm the statement. Israel must be destroyed. It wasn't for a further 2 days that some "moderation" of those comments came from Tehran. While we sit on our hands and whistle in the dark, Iran will soon have the means to do what they have said. What happens now? Will this upset Bush and the Arabist State Dept. Or, as usual, will we in the United States sit by and goad Israel into taking care of the "problem', as they did in 1982. At the end of dialogue, with no fanfare, and no attempt to mollify "appeasers", Israel fighter pilots went in with five planes in the middle of the night and knocked out Iraqis nuclear facilities, effectively setting their Nuclear Weapon "research" back some twenty or thirty years. Hey, here's a thought. Maybe now that France is burning and their suburbs are being torched by hordes of Islamic youth (who manage to ravage every country who is stupid enough to host them), they might want to send in their army and take them out. Oh? I forgot, France doesn't have an army, does it? Maybe there is such a thing as retribution. Maybe Buddhism is right, and there is Karma. Richard Gere must be delighted at this display of gratitude from the Muslims of France! I wonder what the French are thinking now, reading news reports barely acknowledging that the cause of their problems is the 'unhappiness' of these poor deprived Muslim 'immigrants'? The needy who were forced into 'protest' because of their mistreatment in not being able to find the jobs that they need. Yeah right. Personally, I am finding it difficult to repress an "I told you so!" Couldn't happen to a nicer country, with it's long history of supporting Palestinian terrorism and Islamic fascisms. After all of the anti-Israeli meetings France has hosted in the corrupt United Nations maybe France would now be willing to turn over what's left of Paris to be used as a Muslim State where they could live "side by side" in peace, just like France insists Israel do, with their cousins in Gaza. Since the French have never considered Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel, only recognizing Tel Aviv, and have always pushed the line that Syria has "a moral right to force Israel to return the Golan Heights," how about rewarding the rioters with Paris and making it the new capital of The Caliphate? They wanted it for Israel and their beloved Arab brothers, how about France being the capital of two peoples? I wonder how they feel, now that the "solution" they have demanded for years be forced onto the Jews, seems to be the only answer in Paris? Arlene Peck is an internationally syndicated columnist and television talk show hostess. She can be reached at: bestredhead@earthlink.net and www.arlenepeck.com |
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ISLAMIST THREAT IN FRANCE
Posted by David Braham, November 10, 2005. |
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This was written by Tony Blankley and is archived at www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/tonyblankley/2005/11/09/1748 Tony Blankley is Editorial Page editor for the Washington Times. When, seven months ago, I finished writing my book, "The West's Last Chance: Will We Win the Clash of Civilizations?" (Regnery Publishing, Washington, D.C., Sept.11, 2005), London had not been attacked by Islamist terrorists, the Tate Museum in London had not removed an art exhibit because it offended radical Muslim sensitivities, and France had not yet experienced the explosion of violence from elements of its Muslim population in its "no-go zone" communities. The fact that I predicted all those events in my book was not the result of clairvoyance. It was merely the result of a normally intelligent person looking at the facts, and their rather obvious implications, without the blinding effect of a politically correct mentality. After studying what the radical Islamists were saying and doing in Europe, I opened my book with a scenario of a London Islamist terrorist attack and an Islamist demand for removing offensive European artwork from museums. Then I wrote: "Muslim parts of Paris, Rotterdam and other European cities are already labeled no-go zones for ethnic Europeans, including armed policemen. As the Muslim populations -- and their level of cultural and religious assertiveness -- expand, European geography will be 'reclaimed' for Islam. Europe will become pockmarked with increasing numbers of little Fallujahs that will be effectively impenetrable by anything much short of a U.S. Marine division." "Thus, as the ... fundamentalism expands into European (and perhaps to a lesser extent American) Muslim communities, not only will Islamic cultural aggression against a seemingly passive and apologetic indigenous population increase, but the zone of safety and support for the actual terrorists will expand as well." ("The West's Last Chance," pp 55-56). Now, two weeks into the appalling explosion of violence in Europe (and the equally appalling French governmental passivity in the face of such violence), most of the world's media treats this huge event as the third or fourth story on the evening news. From the BBC and CNN to the major newspapers of the world, the story is underreported and mis-reported. On Monday, the Washington Post was still not reporting the story on the front page. The big networks have consistently given only headline coverage to the story. I was in Russia last week (lecturing and doing media on my book) and actually timed the BBC coverage of the French Muslim violence story at about a minute and a half, while in the same broadcast the post-Pakistani earthquake relief story was given over 15 minutes. CNN International proportioned their coverage similarly. Soon, the violence of the last two weeks will be seen as the opening of an event of world-historic significance. Even when the current violence subsides -- even when the French government attempts to placate their radical Muslim population by offering more welfare benefits and programs -- it will not be the end of the story. A new benchmark of the possible will have been established. The flaccid and timorous response of the French government will only increase the radicalizing Muslim elements' contempt for Western cultural weakness. As Paul Belien, writing from Brussels this weekend observed: "It is not anger that is driving the insurgents to take it out on the secularized welfare states of Old Europe. It is hatred. Hatred caused not by injustice suffered, but stemming from a sense of superiority. The "youths" do not blame the French, they despise them." As Mr. Belien reports, look what a typical radical Muslim leader, Dyab Abou Jahjah, the leader of the Brussels-based Arab European League says: "We reject integration when it leads to assimilation. I don't believe in a host country. We are at home here and whatever we consider our culture to be also belongs to our chosen country. I'm in my country, not the country of the Westerners." Or consider the statement of a German radical Islamists that I recounted in my book (based on a National Public Radio news story broadcast): "Germany is an Islamic country. Islam is in the home, in schools. Germans will be outnumbered. We [Muslims] will say what we want. We'll live how we want. It's outrageous that Germans demand we speak their language. Our children will have our language, our laws, our culture ("The West's Last Chance," page 75). This is not about Muslim poverty (the Islamist terrorists who hit London all had good jobs. Mohammed Atta, who struck us in New York, was well-born and came from a prosperous family). It is about radical Islamist self-confidence and contempt for the West. And, it is about Western weakness. We should not sneer at French weakness, but rather should encourage them to re-find their strength. It is a strength we will need to find in ourselves, as well. Vive la France! |
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THE OUTLINES OF THE CONFLICT
Posted by Lawrence Auster, November 10, 2005. |
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Terrorist bombs killing scores of Indians in a New Delhi market; Muslim murderers in Indonesia capturing and beheading three Christian teenage girls as they walk through a cocoa plantation; Dutch politicians sleeping in prisons to protect them from Muslims who have threatened to behead them; U.S. airports and public buildings locked down under a permanent security swath to ward off terrorist attacks -- this, in one way or another, is the daily reality the non-Islamic peoples of the world are now living under, wherever a Muslim population is present in the same society. Yet, in a combination of philosophical nominalism and practical appeasement, the non-Islamic world has dealt with this phenomenon thus far in piecemeal fashion. No non-Islamic leader has noticed a common global pattern joining these events and trends together or called for a common global response. View from the Right (VFR's) Indian correspondent living in the West has noticed, and has sent in these thoughtful observations. This article appeared on View from the Right October 30, 2005. It is archived at www.amnation.com/vfr/archives/004440.html These latest attacks confirm what has been happening since the end of the Cold War. Islam is now resurgent and its followers know it. The Western world had demolished Islamic military strength to the point where, at the end of World War I, nothing remained of it. Islam was a religion in the backwaters of the world -- a religion of metaphorical bedouins immersed in darkness. Two things have changed since then -- the West has made itself vulnerable by a self imposed code of self-destruction ("multiculturalism") and the end of the Cold War has given new life to hitherto suppressed religious feelings among Muslims. What we are now witnessing is a new bloody jihad (but still part of the old historical jihad) that is global in scale. It spares no one -- no one who is an infidel is immune from it. From South East Asia to the American Northwest, the Islamists are on the move. The Islamists have one important advantage -- they know there is a war on, whereas the non-Islamic world refuses to see it even when the reality of the war expresses all its ugliness before their very eyes. The refusal of the non-Islamic world to see the true nature of Islam and their refusal to deal with it means that in the short term the Islamists will go from strength to strength. The global jihadist movement has grown exponentially since the end of the Cold War when it was confined to fringe movements in some parts of the Islamic world. Our refusal to deal with the fanaticism of Islam has allowed this to occur. The non-Islamic world's advantage is superior technology and the mastery of science. None of the most technologically advanced nations are Muslim. Even second rate powers include almost no Muslim nations. But this is an advantage that can be brought to bear only if the non-Islamic world recognises what it is faced with. As long as the non-Islamic world refuses to see what it is facing, the Islamists can keep blowing up bridges, buildings, underground trains and pizza parlours with abandon and with nothing more than a few government prosecutors and lawyers to fear. The Islamic world sees this as a war, the non-Islamic world see this as a law enforcement exercise. We mustn't lose sight of the lessons of history. When Muhammad founded this death cult in the 7th century, it only had a following among a handful of tribes. Thirteen centuries later, one sixth of the earth is Islamic. Western military supremacy over the Islamic world in the last three centuries ensured that a lull occurred in this long war. But that is all it was -- a lull. Now the war has started again. Lawrence Auster maintains the View from the Right weblog (http://amnation.com/vfr/). |
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10TH ANNIVERSARY OF RABIN ASSASSINATION: REMEMBER THE REAL, UNABRIDGED RABIN LEGACY
Posted by Susie Dym, November 10, 2005. |
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Rabin in the Knesset -- October 5, 1995 -- one month before his assassination - said NO to a Palestinian state
Excerpts from Rabin's speech, a month before his assassination, are as follows (the complete speech appears in the Foreign Ministry website archives as pointed out by Dr. Aaron Lerner of IMRA): "We view the permanent solution in the framework of ... a Palestinian entity ... in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state... If you think leading politicians are mis-representing Rabin's legacy and need to remember the above information, please forward this email to the White House, to Prime Minister Sharon, and to Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom: vice_president@whitehouse.gov; comments@whitehouse.gov; pm_eng@pmo.gov.il; sar@mfa.gov.il. Most important, forward this email to your friends. Susie Dym is spokesperson for Mattot Arimm the grassroots activist organization against the expulsion from Gaza. It now works to prevent further land giveaways from the West Bank. To get updates from Mattot Arim directly, subscribe at sddym@Bezeqint.net. |
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BOOMS OVER GAZA
Posted by Honest Reporting, November 10, 2005. |
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The BBC and Guardian claim that IDF "sonic booms" are responsible for Palestinian miscarriages in Gaza. Dear HonestReporting Subscriber, Sidestepping the continuing threat of Qassam rockets flying over the Gaza border towards Israeli population centers, The Guardian reported that: Israel is deploying a terrifying new tactic against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip by letting loose deafening "sound bombs" that cause widespread fear, induce miscarriages and traumatise children. Both The Guardian and the BBC quote Palestinian Dr Eyad Sarraj, a psychiatrist, who, in a sweeping statement lacking credible scientific or medical evidence, claims: the sonic booms are having serious effects on children in Gaza, including anxiety, panic, fear, poor concentration and low academic success. 
The Guardian states that 28 sonic booms occurred over the course of last week, in addition to 29 during a period in September - hardly a prolonged period of time in which to produce credible medical evidence to back up these claims. The anecdotal evidence of Dr Sarraj, the head of the Gaza Community Mental Health Program (an expert on obstetrics?) is used to back up the story. In fact, Dr Sarraj is no stranger to giving questionable comment to the media, attempting to explain suicide bombing as the result of the "trauma of Israeli occupation" and stating that "the principle behind [suicide bombing] is that it is better to die in dignity rather than to live in humiliation and shame". Sarraj, while blaming Israel, fails to acknowledge the role of indoctrination and incitement within the Palestinian Authority for creating a breeding ground for suicide bombers. Sonic booms, by the IDF's own admission, are a loud yet non-lethal reminder to the Palestinian population that terrorists are still operating from within their midst. Compare, however, The Guardian report with a feature in the same paper only days later on Palestinian Qassam missile attacks on Israeli towns. According to The Guardian, the missiles' "main effect is fear and uncertainty." While underestimating the potential lethality of a Qassam hitting a school, kindergarten or even a child's bedroom, The Guardian at least interviews Israelis directly affected by Qassam strikes. In stark contrast to these credible eyewitnesses, why is it that The Guardian is prepared to take Palestinian anecdotal evidence at face value? Comments to The Guardian: letters@guardian.co.uk HIJACKING PALESTINIAN HEALTH FOR POLITICAL ENDS The sonic boom claims are not, however, the first time that health issues have been hijacked to promote the Palestinian political agenda in the media. As the NGO Monitor points out, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, one of two organizations currently petitioning the Israeli High Court over the use of sonic booms, has a long history of radical anti-Israel political activities. Sonic booms are not even the first of many 'dastardly Israeli schemes' claimed to affect Palestinian health. The litany of libelous accusations to have appeared in the media, many critiqued by HonestReporting, includes these: * Israel deployed radioactive uranium against Palestinian protestors; Needless to say, all of these were comprehensively debunked, but only after various media outlets had run the stories and the damage had been done. A viewing of the 'Pallywood' movie, as featured by HonestReporting, reveals compelling evidence of how the media is manipulated and taken in by such falsehoods. The footage includes a Palestinian doctor coaching his patient into claiming that she had been forced to give birth at an IDF checkpoint as a result of Israeli soldiers detaining her ambulance. This, despite the fact that this supposed 'victim' of Israeli brutality had actually given birth not at a checkpoint, but in the hospital - the very same doctor having performed the delivery himself. Scholars for Middle East Peace documents many instances of Palestinian abuse of medical norms for political purposes, including misuse of ambulances and violation of medical neutrality, false reports of Israeli medical malfeasance, and diversion of public health funds to terrorism. So perhaps it is time that certain media outlets start to question the bedside manner of so-called Palestinian 'health officials' who act in the service of demonizing Israel and promoting false or exaggerated propaganda. THE MEDIA STRUGGLE HIGHLIGHTED IN NEW BOOK Stephanie Gutmann's new book, "The Other War: Israelis, Palestinians and the Struggle for Media Supremacy", is reviewed by Townhall: "The Other War" isn't a sterile, number crunching analysis of news headlines and journalists' political predilections. Instead, it has the refreshing feel of a documentary... Speaking recently in San Francisco, Ms. Gutmann stated: I wanted to do a primer about media coverage and how it works. I still find people who say 'it must be true because I saw it on CNN.' If people think that's the absolute truth, there's still a place to remind them that news is manufactured by people and that people are involved in every step of the way. "The Other War" is a valuable contribution in the battle to reveal what really goes on behind the scenes of Mideast media coverage and recommended reading on this important issue. Thank you for your ongoing involvement in the battle against media bias. HonestReporting
Honest Reporting monitors the media for inaccuracy and unfairness
in how they report the news about Israel. Ther website address is
http://www.honestreporting.com. You can help support their research
online or by sending contributions to: HonestReporting, 400 South Lake
Drive, Lakewood, NJ 08701-3167.
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TRULY MIRACULOUS -- SUPREME COURT: EXPELLEES MUST BE PAID
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, November 10, 2005. |
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All things considered, this is truly miraculous. This taken together with the sudden about face of the Israeli media and security apparatus towards the Rabin assassination inconsistencies indicates to me that something serious is churning around in Israel's ruling elite. Anyone with a clue as to what is going on, please let me know. This comes from today's Arutz Sheva - www.IsraelNationalNews.com (www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=92777). The Supreme Court ruled that the gov't may no longer withhold advance compensation payments to those thrown out of Katif/Shomron. Homeless residents told a Knesset Committee of their plight. The High Court ruled today (Thursday) in favor of the homeless residents on a petition brought by Atty. Yossi Fuchs of the Land of Israel Legal Forum and several residents. They had maintained that though their requests for an advance compensation payment had been approved by the relevant committee, the Disengagement Authority suddenly added another condition that most of the former residents cannot meet: The Authority demanded that they sign a form stating they had left their former homes within 48 hours of having been ordered to do so. Atty. Fuchs told the Court that the extra condition is illegal, as "most of the families owned a home there, and according to Clauses 32-43 of the Evacuation/Compensation Law, their right to compensation is absolute, regardless of when they left the area." Fuchs said that the government came up with this new decree in the days preceding the High Holidays, "after dozens of families had already received the advance payment, even though they did not leave within the prescribed 48 hours." The advance payments - 50,000 shekels (less than $11,000) - were designed, Fuchs said, "to help Israeli citizens who de facto became homeless refugees who do not even have winter clothing, who do not have jobs, and who will not receive their final compensation until the application process reaches the finish line." The Court ruled that the government must pay the advance payments within seven days - and if not, Chief Justice Barak said, the residents should return to him. In a Knesset Economics Committee session this week, Chairman Amnon Cohen (Shas) said that the "draconian bureaucracy" of the Disengagement Authority had brought some of the expellees to near-poverty. Several expelled residents participated in the session, explaining how the uprooting had impoverished them. Yehuda Gross, formerly of N'vei Dekalim, said that had lived in the area for 23 years, and owned a store for picture-frames and keys. "Just a half-year ago I finished paying the mortgage payments on the store," he said, "yet now I am not eligible for unemployment because I was self-employed. I did not even receive the 'adjustment' payment, because of all the procedures and bureaucracy... I don't even have winter coats or clothing for our children because if I open the container in which our belongings are packed, the insurance will be nullified - and the opening itself costs money." Nachum Hadad, a grocery store owner from Nisanit, where he lived for 21 years, said, "I can't look at my children in the eye. I worked all my life, and suddenly I have become a welfare case, with welfare workers coming to see me. We exist today only from loans and gifts." Guy Netanel of Nisanit said that he owned a sewing workshop where he employed 70 workers at the Erez Crossing, and that he began the process of trying to transfer it to Ashkelon a year ago - well before the expulsion. "Those attempts cost me more than I made all my life," he said, noting that he is now in debt to the tune of one million shekels. "I feel like a stranger in the country, even though I am an IDF officer who does 60 days of reserve duty a year." Debbie Rosen lived in N'vei Dekalim for 20 years and served as a spokesperson for the Regional Council. "The Authority demanded that I produce 1st-grade report cards of my children as proof of how long I lived there," she told the Knesset committee. "Many of the expelled residents see no reason to get up in the morning, after having worked hard all their lives... The re-training courses being offered in Ashkelon are totally not appropriate," saying she is not quite cut out to be an electrician or a kashrut supervisor. MK Uri Ariel (National Union) said that the Authority's demands for proof of residence are ridiculous: "The Authority is hooked up directly to the computers of the Interior Ministry and the Electric Company, and can easily find the information there." Meretz MK Avshalom Villan agreed as well that the bureaucracy was unnecessarily bothersome. The Director of the Industry and Trade Ministry, Raanan Dinur, said his office is responsible for finding employment solutions for the evictees, "and we will accompany them until June 2006, or even longer, if necessary." He said that his office is dealing with 520 self-employed workers, 720 salaried workers, and 300 others who worked in Gush Katif but did not live there. "We have a bank of 1,420 jobs," Dinur said, "and we are in the process of trying to match up jobs with workers - but we know that often the expellees are used to higher salaries than some of these jobs offer." Former farmers from Bdolach now living in the Nitzan pre-fab site say they are not willing to work ten-hour days in a factory and then come home with a tiny fraction of what they used to earn. Committee Chairman Cohen said that people were forced to borrow gray-market money because of the "obtuseness of the Disengagement Authority." "The criteria for receiving compensation must be eased," he said, "and people should not be forced to bring grocery store receipts from years ago or their children's 3rd-grade report cards as proof of how many years they lived there... The government must pay unemployment even to those who are self-employed, since it was the one that closed their businesses." Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. Contact him at zelasko@actcom.co.il |
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TWO MORE CHRISTIAN GIRLS KILLED IN INDONESIA
Posted by IsrAlert, November 10, 2005. |
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This comes from AINA (www.aina.org/news/20051108134614.htm). Yes, obviously, Islam is a religion of peace and love. 
It is reported that two armed men shot the girls point blank in the head with pistols. These attacks follow the gruesome beheadings of 3 Christian High school students at the end of October. It is reported that 10 national-level police officials are in Central Sulawesi heading up the investigation into the beheadings. This latest attack coming right under their noses comes as a complete embarrassment to the central government. There have been reports that the perpetrators of the beheadings are
in custody but have not been formally charged. This latest attack also
underscores the level of danger to Christians in the Poso area. This
attack comes on the heels of 40 or more attacks against the Christian
community, including shootings, killings, and major bombings. There
have not been any convictions or arrests in any of these attacks.
Harv Weiner, a businessman in Dallas, Texas, is the founder and
moderator of Isralert. To subscribe to IsrAlert, send an email to
isralert@aol.com
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THE RED CRESCENT
Posted by David I. Gross, November 10, 2005. |
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A recent proposal would adopt a Red Diamond as an additional symbol to the red cross and red crescent -- allowing Magen David Edom "Full entry." THIS IS A JOKE the other symbols are NOT GOING TO BE REPLACED -- only the JEWISH STAR is being ruled unacceptable. Contact Dr. Gross at comunicear@hotmail.com |
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ARABS FIREBOMB HADASSAH HOSPITAL, FRENCH HILL NEIGHBORHOOD JERUSALEM
Posted by Marlene Young, November 10, 2005. |
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From: Marlene Young
Dear Bradley, re "Palestinians throw two firebombs at entrance to Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem" November 10: Why isn't this the top story on your Haaretz News Website -- that Arabs are rioting and burning in Jerusalem? Imagine the outcry if "settlers" would be throwing firebombs at a hospital and setting cars on fire. Every politician and media outlet would be condemning and calling for action. But they are silent at the violent riots by Arabs in Jerusalem. Why aren't these Arab thugs arrested? Why isn't Sharon sending 20,000 troops to the Arab violent rioters in Jerusalem, as he did to the nonviolent "settlers" in Kfar Maimon whose only act was holding signs, praying and singing? Marlene Young Contact Marlene Young at marleneyoung1@yahoo.com |
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RABIN CONSPIRACY THEORY VINDICATED; "TIMES" BLAMES FRENCH, NOT MUSLIMS
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, November 10, 2005. |
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RUSSIA INVESTING IN SYRIA Russia is proposing to invest $2 billion in building oil refineries in Syria (IMRA, 11/6). U.S.-ISRAEL DIALOGUE An Israeli-American businessman underwrote the Saban Center for Middle East Policy. Many high US and Israeli officials and former officials accepted invitations to its conference. They are to exchange ideas about democracy (IMRA, 11/6). I recognized almost all of their names, and with one exception, they are appeasement-minded. None would uphold the Jewish nationalist view or question failed policies. It would be nice if the Israelis -- other than the diehard and dictatorial enemies of their people such as Peres and Sharon -- would learn something about democracy. Unfortunately, prominent among the US delegates are State Dept. men used to overriding Israel's precarious democracy and to fashioning US policy without frankly consulting the American people. The meals probably would be more gourmet than the discussions.. FOREIGN MAIDS IN JORDAN "According to a 2005 UNIFEM study, 50 per cent of live-in immigrant workers were being abused by their employers; 35 per cent study reported sexual abuse or harassment. UNIFEM admits that" these are just estimates. "the ... female employer is usually the perpetrator, according to Jureidini. Recruiting agents can be brutal, sometimes 'bordering on torture'... Reported abuses by employers and agents include: hitting, sexual harassment, 'devirginisation,' psychological, emotional and verbal abuse, restrictions on freedom of movement, 16- to 17-hour workdays, and the withholding of passports and payment. Jureidini ... says these conditions could be classified as 'contract slavery.' Wages are scaled according to race, nationality, and knowledge of English. Much of the abuse may be due to not knowing the language, which gives Arab employers an impression of stupidity." Proof of abuse is difficult to acquire. Police may not cooperate. There are no international protections (IMRA, 11/6). Israeli employers were known to withhold passports and payment. RABIN CONSPIRACY THEORY VINDICATED Barry Chamish finally has been invited onto some mainstream Israeli TV programs. True, they stack the panel 4:1 against him, but he was able to show some film and make his case convincingly. The other panelists have no answers but smear. Audiences can see Chamish is right. Meanwhile, prominent or knowing figures have been admitting parts of his case, such as that Rabin was shot once from in front and all point blank, making it impossible for Amir to have fired any of those shots! (Chamish, 11/7.) ISRAEL LETTING P.A. REARM Arguing that it must strengthen Abbas, as if he then would fight terrorism, Israel has approved a shipment of arms for the P.A. police. The US is paying for it (IMRA, 11/7). Israel supposes, or pretends to suppose, that when Abbas says he will not fight fellow terrorists, he doesn;t mean it. I think he does. His predecessor, Arafat, had the means to arrest the Hamas membership, but didn't. All the P.A. factions wage the same jihad, though from different approaches. Abbas' PLO shares the goal of conquering Israel, and is setting up joint cells with Islamist groups. P.A. police commit terrorism. Abbas is recruiting Islamist terrorists into the P.A. police, rather than fight them. Israeli forces raiding terrorists find they have to fight P.A. police, but their government rearms the P.A. police. Does that make sense? I think that Israel should tell the US its theory, of strengthening the P.A. police, is a poor one, and not go along with it. Israel seems unable to challenge US misconceptions. HOW EFFECTIVE ARE P.A. ROCKETS The IDF reports that four-fifths of the rockets fired from Gaza at Israel land within Gaza, causing damage and injuries. The report claims that the terrorists are discouraged and no longer use rockets much. Absent from the optimistic IDF report is a note of caution that the Arabs are developing longer-range rockets that would reach Israel. The current lull is temporary. Therefore, Israel should work to prevent the use of extended-range rockets (IMRA, 11/7). SAUDI DISCONTENT WITH ISLAMISTS A Saudi journalist disapproves of radical imams using the pulpit to expound their personal views about which Muslims to support and to oppose. His family considers this meddling in politics (IMRA, 11/7). Now that Islamists are waging jihad in S. Arabia, ordinary Saudis are becoming upset over the Islamist propagandizing they formerly overlooked when it was just for export. NY TIMES ON THE NEW FRENCH REVOLUTION An editorial and an Op-Ed of 11/8 and 11/9 Resp. blamed the riots on France and stated that the problem is not the Muslims. The Times demanded "affirmative action" for the rebels. I find that unfair to a country that gave generous welfare benefits largely to what at first were illegal aliens and who could have presented any grievances politically. The Times should wake up. I hope France does. |
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A IS FOR ANCIENT, DESCRIBING AN ALPHABET FOUND NEAR JERUSALEM
Posted by Deb Kotz, November 10, 2005. |
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Interesting finding and reminds us why Hebrew is written from right to left: Letters were orginially tapped out in stone. Also, appears to be evidence confirming the biblical image of David's and Solomon's kingdom as one containing a sophisticated government. This was written by John Noble Wilford and it appeared in the New York Times yesterday. In the 10th century B.C., in the hill country south of Jerusalem, a scribe carved his A B C's on a limestone boulder - actually, his aleph-beth-gimel's, for the string of letters appears to be an early rendering of the emergent Hebrew alphabet. Archaeologists digging in July at the site, Tel Zayit, found the inscribed stone in the wall of an ancient building. After an analysis of the layers of ruins, the discoverers concluded that this was the earliest known specimen of the Hebrew alphabet and an important benchmark in the history of writing, they said this week. If they are right, the stone bears the oldest reliably dated example of an abecedary - the letters of the alphabet written out in their traditional sequence. Several scholars who have examined the inscription tend to support that view. Experts in ancient writing said the find showed that at this stage the Hebrew alphabet was still in transition from its Phoenician roots, but recognizably Hebrew. The Phoenicians lived on the coast north of Israel, in today's Lebanon, and are considered the originators of alphabetic writing, several centuries earlier. The discovery of the stone will be reported in detail next week in Philadelphia, but was described in interviews with Ron E. Tappy, the archaeologist at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary who directed the dig. "All successive alphabets in the ancient world, including the Greek one, derive from this ancestor at Tel Zayit," he said. The research is supported by an anonymous donor to the seminary, which has a long history in archaeological field work. The project is also associated with the American Schools of Oriental Research and the W. F. Albright Institute for Archaeological Research, in Jerusalem. Frank Moore Cross Jr., a Harvard expert on early Hebrew inscriptions who was not involved in the research, said the inscription "is a very early Hebrew alphabet, maybe the earliest, and the letters I have studied are what I would expect to find in the 10th century" before Christ. P. Kyle McCarter Jr., an authority on ancient Middle Eastern writing at Johns Hopkins University, was more cautious, describing the inscription as "a Phoenician type of alphabet that is being adapted." But he added, "I do believe it is proto-Hebrew, but I can't prove it for certain." Lawrence E. Stager, an archaeologist at Harvard engaged in other excavations in Israel, said the pottery styles at the site "fit perfectly with the 10th century, which makes this an exceedingly rare inscription." But he added that more extensive radiocarbon dating would be needed to establish the site's chronology. The Tel Zayit stone was uncovered at an eight-acre site in the region of ancient Judah, south of Jerusalem, and 18 miles inland from Ashkelon, an ancient Philistine port. The two lines of incised letters, apparently the 22 symbols of the Hebrew alphabet, were on one face of the 40-pound stone. A bowl-shaped hollow was carved in the other side, suggesting that the stone had been a drinking vessel for cult rituals, Dr. Tappy said. The stone, he added, may have been embedded in the wall because of a belief in the alphabet's power to ward off evil. In a study of the alphabet, Dr. McCarter noted that the Phoenician-based letters were "beginning to show their own characteristics." The Phoenician symbol for what is the equivalent of a K is a three-stroke trident; in the transitional inscription, the right stroke is elongated, beginning to look like a backward K. Another baffling peculiarity is that in four cases the letters are reversed in sequence; an F, for example, comes before an E. The inscription was found in the context of a substantial network of buildings at the site, which led Dr. Tappy to propose that Tel Zayit was probably an important border town established by an expanding Israelite kingdom based in Jerusalem. A border town of such size and culture, Dr. Tappy said, suggested a centralized bureaucracy, political leadership and literacy levels that seemed to support the biblical image of the unified kingdom of David and Solomon in the 10th century B.C. "That puts us right in the middle of the squabble over whether anything important happened in Israel in that century," Dr. Stager said. A vocal minority of scholars contend that the Bible's picture of the 10th century B.C. as a golden age in Israelite history is insupportable. Some archaeological evidence, they say, suggests that David and Solomon were little more than tribal chieftains and that it was another century before a true political state emerged. Dr. Tappy acknowledged that he was inviting controversy by his interpretation of the Tel Zayit stone and other artifacts as evidence of a fairly advanced political system 3,000 years ago. Critics who may accept the date and description of the inscription are expected to challenge him when he reports on the findings next week in Philadelphia at meetings of the American Schools of Oriental Research and the Society of Biblical Literature. |
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BLASTS AT HOTELS IN JORDAN KILL 57
Posted by Washington Times, November 10, 2005. |
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This was written by Jamal Halaby and appeared in today's Washington Times. 
A function room at the Radisson Hotel in Amman Jordan (AP) Suicide bombers carried out nearly simultaneous attacks on three U.S.-based hotels in the Jordanian capital last night, killing at least 57 persons and wounding 115 in what appeared to be an al Qaeda assault on an Arab kingdom with close ties to the United States. The explosions hit the Grand Hyatt, Radisson SAS and Days Inn hotels just before 9 p.m. local time. One of the blasts occurred inside a wedding hall where 300 guests were celebrating -- joined by a man strapped with explosives who had infiltrated the crowd. Black smoke rose into the night after the attacks, and wounded victims stumbled from the hotels. A State Department official said there was no information on any American casualties. Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood condemned the attacks, saying they were against Islam. "These are criminal and terrorist acts which no Muslim can accept and which go against our religion," said Abdel Majid Zuneibat, the head of the Islamic political organization. "The enemies of the nation will only profit from this crime," Mr. Zuneibat said in a statement carried on state-run Petra news agency. A Jordanian security official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to address the press, said the dead included at least three Asians, possibly Chinese. "We thought it was fireworks for the wedding, but I saw people falling to the ground," said Ahmed, a wedding guest at the Radisson who did not give his surname. "I saw blood. There were people killed. It was ugly." Jordan's deputy prime minister, Marwan Muasher, said there was no claim of responsibility but that Abu Musab Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, was a "prime suspect." A U.S. counterterrorism official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the strong suspicion is that Zarqawi was involved because of his known animosity for the Jordanian monarchy and because these were suicide attacks, one of his hallmarks. In February, U.S. intelligence indicated that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was in contact with Zarqawi, enlisting him to conduct attacks outside Iraq, said another U.S. counterterrorism official on the condition of anonymity. Jordan has arrested scores of Islamic militants plotting attacks and has sentenced many militants to death in absentia, including Zarqawi. The firing of missiles from Aqaba, Jordan, into the Israeli resort of Eilat in August contributed to a sense in Jordan that a terrorist attack was imminent, said Daoud Kuttab, an Amman-based analyst and journalist. "There was a general expectation that something was going to happen, but nobody knew when," he said. "Hotels have been in a state of alert for some time. You couldn't park your car near the hotels for six months now." The first blast was reported about 8:50 p.m. at the five-star Grand Hyatt. The explosion occurred in the lobby and shattered its stone entrance. Steve Olderman of England was attending a business dinner at the hotel, where an information technology conference was held earlier in the day. "Suddenly, we heard an explosion and the whole hotel filled with smoke, and suddenly we found ourselves outside the hotel," said Mr. Olderman, who was on the ground floor at the time of the attack. "We saw bodies lying as we were coming out" of the hotel, said the businessman, who had been staying at the Radisson. "It was pretty horrific. We were sitting beside a huge plate glass window and it just exploded beside us. ... We were lucky to get out alive." A few minutes after that attack and a short distance away, police reported the explosion at the wedding celebration, which occurred in a reception hall on the ground floor. At least five persons were killed and 20 wounded. The Radisson is popular with American and Israeli tourists and was a target of several foiled al Qaeda plots, including a conspiracy to attack U.S. and Israeli tourists during the kingdom's millennium celebrations. Israel's ambassador to Jordan, Yaakov Hadas, told Israel TV from Amman that there were no reports of Israeli casualties. The third explosion, at the Days Inn, occurred after a car packed with explosives approached the hotel, Mr. Muasher said. He said the car could not cross a protective barrier and detonated outside. As a result, the number of casualties at the Days Inn was lower, he said. King Abdullah II cut short his official visit to Kazakhstan and was returning home. "The hand of justice will get to the criminals who targeted innocent secure civilians with their cowardly acts," he said. The date of the attacks, Nov. 9, would be written as 9/11 in the Middle East, which puts the day before the month. A Jordanian government spokesman declined to speculate on what this means. But Jordanian citizens were sending mobile messages that read: "Have you noticed that today is 9-11, similar to America's 11-9?" |
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BAR ILAN U. PROFESSORS: CANCEL `OVERLY LEFTIST` SEMINAR ON RABIN
Posted by Steven Plaut, November 10, 2005. |
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This was written by Tamara Traubman, Haaretz correspondent.
In a highly unusual step, some 20 Bar Ilan University professors called on the university administration to cancel a Wednesday seminar marking the tenth anniversary of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, arguing that the institution is becoming too leftist, and that the seminar's program is one-sided, denying expression to the pro-settler nation religious viewpoint. The morning seminar, organized in cooperation with Haaretz, focused on the influence of the Rabin murder on mamlachtiut the concept of the responsibility of politicians to rise above politics. The seminar also came in for criticism from a different source. Women's groups noted the relative absence of women involved in the event. The seminar was organized by Prof. Yedidya Stern of the Bar Ilan law faculty, and is being held under the sponsorship of Bar Ilan President Moshe Kaveh and Haaretz. Among the scheduled speakers are former Shin Bet chief Ami Ayalon, former Supreme Court chief justice Meir Shamgar, Elon Moreh Hesder Yeshiva head Rabbi Elyakim Levanon, Petah Tikva Hesder Yeshiva head Rabbi Yuval Sherlo, former Supre Court justice Dalia Dorner, and Haaretz Editor-in-Chief David Landau. 'From left to extreme left' Bar Ilan Professor Elisha Haas, who led opposition to the seminar, said the event calls for dialog, but is itself a one-way monolog. "They're bringing only one viewpoint - left and extreme left," Haas said. One can find only one speaker from the settler side." A protest letter initiated by Haas read in part: "Of 26 participants listed in the seminar's published program, around 85 percent represent one line of the public discourse in Israel, including representatives of the more extreme left, who reject the very existence of the Jewish State." The professors also criticized the university's partnership with Haaretz. They said that it was "unimaginable" in an academic context that the partnership would mean that the three main sessions would be chaired by Haaretz personnel, a reference to journalists Tom Segev, Ari Shavit and Danel Ben-Simon. University: Small group of critics A university spokesman, in a reference to the anti-disengagment movement, said that the critics of the seminar represented a "small group of people identified with 'orange,' who believe that Bar Ilan University has turned too leftist for their taste." The spokesman said the seminar had maintained balance, inviting both a rabbi from Eilon Moreh settlement and Menachem Klein, a professor who had helped draft the Geneva Initiative. At the same time, he continued, "It is their right to express protest and that is well and good. As long as there is debate, that is very good." Steven Plaut is an American-trained economist, a professor of business administration at Haifa University and author of "The Scout." He frequently comments - both seriously and satirically - on Israeli politics and the left wing academic community. His website address is http://www.stevenplaut.blogspot.com or write him at splaut@econ.haifa.ac.il. |
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PERES LOSES AGAIN, AMIR PERETZ NEW LABOR PARTY LEADER
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, November 10, 2005. |
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It remains to be seen if the loss of yet another election will in anyway diminish the real power and influence of Shimon Peres. The ascension of Amir Peretz to the leadership of the Labor Party, once again unites the power of the Histadrut Labor Union with that of the Labor Party. In the past that was very bad for both the economic development of the country and general political freedom. The situation might be quite different today. The other day Foreign Minister and Likud veteran Silvan Shalom warned that Amir Peretz would draw away votes from the Likud if he headed the Labor Party. He is probably correct. The weakening of the Likud can, however, only be for the good of the nation. In fact the weaker and more fractionalized the Government will be, the better for all of us. We do not need strong Governments dedicated to implementing the hostile policies of foreigners. This is from Arutz Sheva - www.IsraelNationalNews.com (www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=92729) Amir Peretz, head of the Histadrut Labor Union who left Labor to found the small One Nation party before returning to Labor, eked out a surprise victory over Shimon Peres, and is Labor's new leader. The race for Labor Party Chairman was too close to call for most of the night, but was finally decided early this morning by a small margin of 2.4%. The final results:
Peretz pulled off a surprise victory after polls throughout the campaign showed him trailing Peres by a significant margin. It had been widely believed - apparently correctly - that Peretz's well-oiled Histadrut machine would help him make up some of that margin by bringing out voters who might otherwise not have shown up. Peres said this early morning that he would ask the party to investigate charges of vote-tampering in the Peretz camp. "There are real suspicions of forgeries, pressures, and threats," he said. As of 9:00 AM, he still had not called Peretz to congratulate him on his victory. Peretz, in his victory speech, said that he would act immediately to remove Labor from the unity government with the Likud - one of the main issues on which he differed with Peres. Peretz added later, however, that he would consult with the party's Secretary-General (MK Eitan Cabel) and other party leaders to "decide on the best way in which to inform the Likud that we wish to separate." When the polls closed last night at 8:30 PM, a major media drama began when the two leading radio stations produced diametrically-opposed projections. The Voice of Israel, commissioning Prof. Yitzchak Katz of Maagar Mohot (Brain Base), reported that Peretz would beat the incumbent Peres by a 46%-41% margin. Army Radio, on the other hand, utilizing the services of the Smith Institute, reported a large Peres victory - 52%-38% - over Peretz. Peretz's victory is widely seen as the end of the current Knesset and the opening whistle of the national election campaign. Likud MK Gideon Saar said that Labor had chosen an "extreme left-winger on economic and diplomatic issues, who has absolutely no experience in running a country." Shinui Party leader Tommy Lapid said that Peretz's victory put Labor on the extreme-left of Israel's political scene. MK Effie Eitam (National Union) called upon Peretz to begin consultations with the opposition parties to determine an agreed-upon date for early elections. "The shake-up in Labor and the split in the Likud leave no doubt that the current government does not represent its voters or the will of the nation," Eitam said. "The left and right must work together to advance the elections." The next national election is scheduled for a year from now, and Ariel Sharon has promised many times that the elections will not be moved up. Sources close to Sharon have been hinting of late that the Prime Minister is planning to start a new party in time for the elections. Much of the Labor Party leadership did not support Peretz in the campaign. He called upon them this morning to "give me some leeway," and said that he would meet with them and try to convince them to quit the government. Approximately 62% of Labor's 100,474 eligible voters cast their ballots in the Labor primaries. Worried that a low turnout would mean a Peretz victory, Peres requested that the polls be kept open for two extra hours -- but received only a half-hour extension. He spent the last hours of the vote calling Labor Party members personally and asking them to go out and vote. It is not yet known whether Peres, 82, who has become accustomed to losing elections, will retire from politics, or whether he will continue with "business as usual." His daughter said this morning that in her opinion, her father will not quit. "He is like the wind; he can't be stopped or closed up," she said. Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. Contact him at zelasko@actcom.co.il |
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THE PALESTINIAN'S GIFT TO THE WORLD
Posted by Marcel Cousineau, November 9, 2005. |
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The death toll so far in Amman, Jordan is now at 57 dead and 150 injured by 3 suicide/homocide bombers for allah. Not long ago It used to be that it was only Israel and the Jews who suffered being blown to pieces by homocide bombers eager to meet up with their promised 72 virgins. It's become almost commonplace today. We now see it's slow but sure spread thruout the globe from Bali, Indonesia to Madrid, Spain to Iraq and London and now Amman, Jordan. The fact,t he truth is that it is the Palestinians who birthed this evil destruction on mankind. And they continue to be rewarded bt ALL the nations at Israel's expense. This will bring the same death and destruction to all the nations who support and stand with the Palestinians, rewarding their evil terrorist bloodshed with a terrorist state on once Jewish land, this while punishing Israel and the Jews. Contact Marcel Cousineau at up2zionsg8@yahoo.com or go to his blogsite -- http://aaveryheavystone.blogspot.com |
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IRANIAN NUCLEAR BOMBS ... WHEN?
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, November 9, 2005. |
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Aren't you the least bit suspicious when you hear government propaganda repeated each year that "nations like Iran and North Korea are years away from producing sufficient fissile material to make a nuclear warhead"? Such misleading propaganda was shoveled out by the Media about North Korea, Pakistan. Are we supposed to be calmed by their efforts to pacify us so we will not demand substantive action? I recall writing an article on nuclear transfer at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union. In East Germany the East Germans and the Soviet soldiers were selling their rifles and uniforms simply to eat. T72 Tanks were being sold for a few hundred thousand dollars by high ranking officers. Iran was there also, shopping with an unlimited budget. Doing simple research, I discovered that 4 to 6 tactical artillery nukes went missing and were probably bought by the Iranians. In a few weeks, stories began to emerge in American papers that "we were not to worry because everything has been accounted for". Did our Intelligence really know what was being sold out of Soviet munitions inventory but the stories were floated anyway to calm us dumb civilians? Are we so stupid as not to know the world has been awash in plutonium, enriched uranium easily obtained from demobilized Russian Generals or the Russian Mafia who were well-connected to the Russian Army who were the supposed guardians of all sorts of radio-active materials and even nuclear warheads. Then General Lebed spoke about the KEGS (Suitcase Nukes), with about a hundred missing from Russian inventory. His accusation was immediately denied by the Russians. Lebed was later killed in one of those "special" suspicious Russian accidents when his helicopter crashed. So far, those suitcase nukes remain missing! Today we hear some psychobabble from General Shaul Mofaz speaking about pressure on Iran through the U.N. to keep Iran from reaching the efficiency of enriching uranium in only a few years. How about the fully processed and militarized fissile material Iran has already bought from Russia? Of course, former KGB head Vladimir Putin, now Russia's President, will deny any such sale. I doubt that the Mafia in Russia will admit to making Iran the most dangerous nation on this planet. Perhaps Putin will be able to cover up whatever transfer of nuclear materials to Iran by claiming the collective quantities are in the nuclear reactor Russia is building for Iran. Mofaz tells us that Egypt can do more, ignoring the visits by Pakistan's General Kahn who was transferring nuclear technology and equipment to Egypt. But, Egypt's nuclear program is supposed to be a "Big Secret!" which the Arabist U.S. State Department doesn't really want bandied about. Come to think of it, wasn't it Saudi Arabia who imported Nuclear-Capable missiles from China and placed them in the Rubi Kahl (Empty Place - Desert) and refused inspection as to whether they had nuclear warheads. Here again the State Department didn't want to irritate the Saudis by demanding inspection. Mofaz speaks about the Israel Defense Forces intercepting the Karin A boat from Iran with its 50 tons of weaponry found in January 2002. But, Mofaz neglects to speak about the other ships that were NOT intercepted and were aided by the Egyptians who unloaded them in Alexandria and smuggled them into the Sinai and then into the tunnels to the Arab Muslim Palestinians. Mofaz expressed his satisfaction with Egyptian cooperation slowing or stopping the smuggling through Rafah and past the Philadelphi corridor. The only thing Mofaz forgot in his anxiousness to apologize for the Egyptians was the massive transfer of arms, then stored in the Sinai Desert under the watchful eyes of the Egyptians and pushed into Gaza within days of Sharon's abandonment of Gaza. Israeli Intelligence had estimated that what would have taken a year of smuggling through the tunnels which passed into Gaza in four days (all with the help of the Egyptians). One is reminded of "Bagdad Bob", Saddam Hussein's humorous spokesman who made such absurd claims that he became the laughing stock of the world Media. The Sharon-Mofaz propaganda machine works 24/7 to assure us dumb civilians that their misleading words are pearls of wisdom. So when you hear from Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, French President Jacques Chirac (who supplied Saddam with his nuclear plants), and Tony Blair, et al that Iran is still "years away from Muslim Nuclear Capability", please know that it is merely a ploy to keep from taking decisive pre-emptive action before they are ready. With a few years to wait, why worry about it now?! The following speaks further about Iran's nuclear preparation. ### MOFAZ: STRIKE AGAINST IRAN NOT ON AGENDA BY Yitzhak Benhorin YNet.news.com In interview with Newsweek defense minister says, "I believe for the time being the diplomatic channel is the main one, There is a chance that by putting pressure on Iran, a decision in U.N. Security Council will delay or stop Iranian nuclear capability; says Syria still supports Hizbullah financially despite withdrawal from Lebanon Despite Iran's call to wipe Israel off the map, as of now Israel is not contemplating an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told Newsweek during his U.S. visit. "The military option is not on the agenda today," Mofaz said. "I believe for the time being the diplomatic channel is the main one, and the United States along with the European countries should put this on the table of the U.N. Security Council, to talk about sanctions and a very deep and large inspection of all Iran's nuclear locations." [Harsh Remarks: IRAN SAID: "ISRAEL SHOULD BE WIPED OFF THE MAP"] The State of Israel should be wiped off the map, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday, underscoring Teheran's extreme attitude towards the Jewish State. The Iranian leader's remarks were made during a convention entitled: "A World Without Zionists" Mofaz continues: "There is a chance that by putting pressure on Iran, a decision in the U.N. Security Council will delay or stop an Iranian nuclear capability. What would satisfy us is that the Iranians do not reach a point of no return in enriching uranium. We have a few years until they reach this point (enrichment), and I hope the diplomatic effort will delay this". The Defense Minister added that Iran's nuclear aspirations pose an international threat, and therefore it is up to the West to work toward resolving the issue. "I can tell you that what (Iranian President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad said about erasing the state of Israel from the map, combined with Iran's surface-to-surface missiles and the fact that they have a high desire for achieving nuclear power, is a real threat against the state of Israel but also against all Western countries. Under the nuclear umbrella in the future (Iran) will be a threat to the world.", he said. "EGYPT CAN DO MORE" As to Iran's support of various terror organizations, the defense minister said, "We know that the Iranians are supporting and harboring terror. They support Islamic Jihad, they support other terrorist organizations, including Hizb'Allah. "Remember the Karin A, the ship we captured in January 2002? That occurred after (the late Palestinian President Yassir) Arafat met with representatives of Iran, and they produced a special line of armaments for the Palestinians. The goal was to send 50 tons of arms to the hands of the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinians promised the Iranians in return they would give them security for Iranian terror groups coming to Israel. This was the deal. We were very luck to expose it. Mofaz also addressed Syria's recent withdrawal from Lebanon, stating that, "they (Syria) support Hizb'Allah financially, and they are not allowing the Lebanese Army to come to the south of Lebanon to deal with security there." However, Mofaz expressed the satisfaction with the level of cooperation reached with the Egyptians. "The disengagement was so rapid that they (the Egyptians) couldn't prepare themselves for responsibility in this area. But since they took responsibility for the Philadelphi corridor (on the border between Gaza and Egypt), the amount of smuggling has decreased," he said. "There are still some measures they need to be taking, but the deployment of border guards is effective. And they are stopping the smuggling of arms and people from one side to the other. But, they still have to do more." Emanuel Winston is a commentator and Middle East analyst. His articles appear often on Think-Israel and Gamla. He is a member of the Board of Directors and a research associate of the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies (http://www.freeman.org/online.htm). |
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81 DAYS WITHOUT A HOME
Posted by Hillel Fendel, November 9, 2005. |
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Some 1,200 people rallied on behalf of thousands of expelled residents from Gush Katif and Shomron in Jerusalem Tuesday night. 600 families are still living in tents, hotels, or dormitories. The protest was organized by grassroots activists living in Talmon, between Ramallah and Modiin. Expelled residents still living in temporary quarters addressed the crowd and explained the difficulties of spending nearly 12 weeks living in hotels and the like. One woman said that she was told in the Interior Ministry that the policy was not to provide help for the expellees unless they officially change their address from Gush Katif to whatever hotel they were staying. Another couple changed its address to the Jerusalem Central Bus Station for this reason. Other speakers talked of various other humiliations they face daily. The call echoing from all the speakers was addressed to the Prime Minister and the government, asking them to turn a listening ear to the pleas of the people they made homeless and to begin relating to them as normal people. The Yesha Council of Communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza released statistics before the rally, showing that 35% of the evicted families are still living in ultra-temporary quarters such as hotels and tents, and 40% are in caravans, pre-fab housing or other two-year solutions until their permanent housing becomes available. Among the latter group are former residents of Ganei Tal now living in Yad Binyamin; expellees from Atzmona and Netzarim residing in Yevul and Yated in the Halutza Sands area; some 300 families from various communities living in the newly-built pre-fab community of Nitzan; and others. Communal solutions have still not been found for places such as Moshav Katif, Kfar Darom, Netzer Hazani, and N'vei Dekalim. For others, such as Slav, Ganim, Kadim, and Dugit, it is too late for such solutions, as they have already broken apart. The Council notes that three-quarters of the residents are still without work. Seven-eighths of the residents have not received any advance payments on their government-promised financial compensation, leaving them without money to pay for basic essentials. This Thursday, an emergency Supreme Court session has been called to hear a petition by the Land of Israel Legal Forum, demanding that all compensation money be freed up. The L'maan Achai [On Behalf of My Brothers] organization, which is coordinating much of the relief efforts, reports that the situation is particularly difficult in the King Sha'ul Hotel in Ashkelon. The hotel was originally disqualified for housing the deportees because of poor health conditions, yet despite this is now housing them. The hotel has cut down on meals, reduced electricity and heating, provided an insufficient number of blankets, and the like. In one case, a family of five people is living in one room. Participants at the rally held signs reading, "81 days without a home," "There is no solution for every resident" [a reference to the government's television-and-radio campaign boasting of a 'solution for every resident'], "Have you thrown out and also abandoned?" and the like. Preparations are underway for a massive sit-in strike in Jerusalem to protest the government apathy towards the expellees. It will be run under the banner of "All Israel are Guarantors for One Another," and the organizers say it is not designed for youths - who should be in school - nor for Knesset Members, who have other ways of waging the struggle. Registrants are asked to specify if they can remain for only three days, or for longer. For details, call 09-7921290. This was written by Hillel Fendel, senior editor at Arutz-Sheva (www.IsraelNN.com). |
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MORE MOSLEM DESTRUCTION OF TEMPLE MOUNT FEARED
Posted by Mordechai Ben-Menachem, November 9, 2005. |
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This was written by Hillel Fendel, senior editor at Arutz-Sheva (www.IsraelNN.com). The Committee to Prevent Temple Mount Artifacts Desecration warns that Muslim Waqf construction works are once again underway - this time at the Temple entrance path taken by Jews 2,000 years ago. The Committee sent a letter on the matter this week to the Prime Minister and to the Director of the Antiquities Authority. The letter states that new information has been received indicating the Waqf's intention to continue its "refurbishing" works on the Mount. Yisrael Caspi, an active member of the Committee, told Arutz-7, "For some years now we have been standing guard to try to have the Waqf stop its destruction works. The Waqf is trying to take over the Mount and make it a totally Moslem site, with no Jewish presence." "The problem is that the Prime Minister has neutralized all other elements - the Minister of Public Security, the Education Ministry, and the Antiquities Authority - and has taken full control of the situation. And the cycle is always the same: The government gives the Waqf a permit for refurbishing and the like, then the Waqf starts building and turning the area into a mosque, while destroying or hiding Jewish artifacts, and then we are not even allowed into the sites. This cycle has to be stopped!" Caspi said that the latest information indicates that the Waqf plans to begin work at the site known as the Hatunya, adjacent to the Southern Wall excavations and the Dung Gate entrance to the Western Wall. "A staircase leads from the Temple Mount plaza downward under the Al Aksa mosque [south of the Dome of the Rock]," he said, "to two tunnels built by King Herod 2,000 years ago. The tunnels served the Jews who entered the Holy Temple from the Hulda Gate on the Southern Wall of the Temple Mount. Today, we see the Hulda Gate, but just to the left is a building called the Hatunya, built several hundred years ago. The Waqf wants to excavate the tunnels and the Hatunya, and, based on past experience, turn it into yet another mosque - while hiding or destroying Jewish artifacts." 
"We firmly object to granting the Waqf a construction permit for its Temple Mount works," the Comittee's letter states, "and we demand that all work be carried out only under the supervision of the Antiquities Authority." Caspi said, "Our past experience has shown that the Waqf does not exactly have an interest in preserving the archaeological findings there, and especially not the Jewish ones. On the contrary: They want to hide and even destroy all Jewish findings. This is our concern. We demand that the Antiquities Authority - which is not taking a strong enough position on this issue - be responsible once again for what goes on there." "In the past," Caspi said, "the government of Israel gave a permit for Waqf renovations in the Solomon's Stables area of the Temple Mount and under the Al Aqsa mosque [just south of the Dome of the Rock]. The bottom line was that the works were done without supervision, archaeological findings are feared hidden and destroyed, new mosques were built on the Temple Mount, and Jews are prevented from visiting the most important Jewish sites in history." Caspi said that while he and his colleagues try - so far with little success - to find MKs or others who can intervene with the Prime Minister on this issue, the public can do its part as well: "They should fax the Prime Minister's Office [at 02- 670-5475 from within Israel; +9722-670-5475 from abroad] and protest the fact that his policies are allowing the Moslems to totally take over our holiest site and keep us, and our history, out." For more information, send email to itac45@inter.net.il.
Mordechai Ben-Menachem is a Ben-Gurion University in Beer-Sheva.
Contact him at quality@acm.org
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ISRAELIS DEVELOPING ALTERNATIVES TO ARAB OIL
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, November 9, 2005. |
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This was written by Ezra HaLevi and appeared in Arutz Sheva (IsraelNationalNews.com) and is archived at http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=92622 An Israeli inventor and company are trying to use garbage and leftover olive pulp from olive-oil factories, respectively, to replace oil in providing fuel and electricity to the Jewish State. From one ton of garbage, half a ton of oil, 300 kg of gas or 150 kg of green coal, from which electricity is produced, can be extracted, according to inventor Dr. Sergei Rosenberg. Dr. Rosenberg spoke with Arutz-7 about the development of his invention that turns garbage into oil. "I turned to the Ministry of Infrastructure with my invention and they told me to build such a machine outside Israel and they would consider bringing it here," Rosenberg described. "I built the machine in Moldova and demonstrated there that it works -- with the oil undergoing tests demonstrating that the process is not toxic." Asked by Arutz-7's Yigal Schok why Israel is not pursuing the invention to wean the Jewish State off of Arab-controlled oil, Dr. Rosenberg said that the state was afraid of implementing the changeover due to concern of taking away the monopoly of the oil tycoons. "To my surprise much of the interest actually came from Arab parties because they have a lot of refuse they want to get rid of in an efficient manner," Rosenberg said. Dr. Rosenberg gained the experience necessary to come up with his invention from working in Russia before he immigrated to Israel. "In Russia I helped with the building of an artificial reservoir, a number of power stations and I designed the water system for the nuclear core in Chernobyl, but Israel did not hire me for similar work since I don't have any connections. I have other ideas, such as wind turbines that operate on air and exploiting the power of the ocean's waves to produce power." Another company, Genova Ltd., is also working on alternatives to Arab oil. The company has signed an agreement, according to Globes, with an olive press in the village of Julis, in the Galilee to establish a small facility to produce electricity from the waste from olive pressing. The facility is slated to produce an estimated 200 kilowatts of power, enough to provide 70 homes with power. It will also provide for the disposing of olive waste formed during oil production, which has until now posed an environmental hazard. Genova's method heats the waste to temperatures abover 1500 degrees Fahrenheit, transforming it into a flammable gas. Burning that gas is environmentally-friendly, releases no greenhouse gases and causes no damage to the earth's ozone layer. The gas operates an electricity-generating turbine. The company hopes to market the product, which will be small enough to fit on a countertop, to other olive-oil producing countries such as Spain and Italy. |
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THE BUSH DOCTRINE
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, November 9, 2005. |
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THE BUSH DOCTRINE Commentary held a symposium whether the Bush Doctrine is valid and being fulfilled. The doctrine basically is: (1) Islamists and allies seek to overthrow the rest of the world; (2) The US should fight back against members of the axis in whichever order it prefers and without awaiting proof that a particular member already attacked us; and (3) Spreading democracy would knock members out of the axis. Here are some of the more interesting ideas there. My comments are in parentheses. Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: The Bush Administration ignores the establishment of institutions prerequisite for democracies, as if elections, alone, suffice. Through elections, a Turkish Islamist party "is mounting a classic takeover of the institutions of civil society." (True. Just as it took Pres. Bush years to define the enemy properly, he has failed to define "democracy" fully. A President should be the national educator. The Administration proposes rooting out domestic organizations supporting terrorism, but embraces domestic sympathizers of terrorism. This gives magnifies their influence, muddles US policy, and demoralizes anti-Islamist Muslims. Nor does the public take this world war seriously, when the government does not involve it in the war. "Significant portions" of "public-pension funds, mutual funds, life insurance, and private portfolios" are invested with "state sponsors of terrorism." Those should be disinvested, to reduce the means available to terrorism. Owen Harries: A democratic apparatus has been set up in Afghanistan and Iraq, but the prospect of real democracy there are meager. (Just as too few people can prevent a jungle from growing back, neither can too few troops prevent the native culture from flowing back, aided as it is by foreign Islamists.) We set a precedent for preventive war that less savory states will follow, as an excuse. Same for setting aside habeas corpus and dissembling. (Yes, but evil does not need precedents. What about our nuclear warfare in Japan?) The Bush doctrine has a contradiction between a conservative domestic policy that seeks to reduce government power and a conservative foreign policy that must increase it. (The GOP no longer is conservative. It redistributes wealth and piles up government debt through taxpayer largesse, to get elected, just as do liberals, but it does so more for the upper classes. It has not yet faced up to the expense of its foreign policy doctrine.) Daniel Henninger: Radical Islam is a threat because Arab regimes export it. The US has not taken seriously the Pakistani network of nuclear proliferation. More rogue countries soon will be able to build WMDs. Pre-emption against them is justified. Although China also menaces the US, our Presidents have not drawn attention to that fact. Its military progress should be identified in annual reports. The Bush doctrine is in danger from the major, pacifist media of the US and Europe. (Bush should be advising the public every week, instead of hunkering down.) Stanley Hoffmann: Democratic revolutions may not produce stability or friendly regimes. (This is especially insightful in combination with other correspondents' observations that democracy requires a deep institutional and cultural backup.) Josef Joffe: The US did Iran a favor by eliminating the army of its Iraqi rival and by freeing Shiite Islamists so they could take over. It also tied down the US military, leaving Iran free to develop nuclear weapons. (Correct, bearing in mind the paucity of US forces mobilized. The US also worked with some of the Shiite Islamists.) Robert Kagan: The US is supposed to be spreading democracy, but it is selective, not caring about China remaining despotic. (The US relies too much upon physical force and not enough upon moral force, although Bush did help other countries become democratic, recently, mostly via moral force. We should join issue with China, but tactfully.) William Kristol: The Bush Administration states that 9/11 changed everything. Apparently it did not prompt the Administration to enlarge our military, streamline our government for dealing with rapid change, or devise coherent foreign policy. One of the respondents observed that the CIA and the State Dept. battled the Defense Dept. (Bush did not think this through, and failed to initiate a national discussion and debate. Since it took years before we warred on Iraq, he did have the time to forge most of a national consensus. Americans would be less polarized and more rallied.) Robert J. Lieber: The old theory of containment and deterrent does not work with terrorists, especially now that they seek WMDs. The UNO is incapable of dealing with major problems. Leadership naturally falls to the US. Therefore, we must be ready to take action. We hope others would join us. In any case, we go forward. (People accuse Bush of being a unilateralist. Nonsense. Like his predecessors, he does what he thinks right and welcomes allies. The problem is that our natural allies in this world war fail to overcome minor concerns misconceptions, and to join with us.) Richard Lowray: Not everybody wants freedom or democracy. Some prefer power, obedience to religion, ethnic pride. They fight their own liberators. (Yes. Our explanations of the war took this into account only in flattering Islam. Didn't seem to work. Perhaps Islam, being a creed of war and deceit, is the basis for the problem with Islamists. How much would moderate Muslims help?) Joshua Muravchik: The Islamists are moved not by anger as much as by optimism that we won't persist and can be driven off. (Bush says we will persevere. He has given great speeches, but I don't think he challenged his critics to imagine how much worse it would be not to persist.) Daniel Pipes: Before the Bush doctrine, the US relied upon deterrence. It worked with the USSR. It did not work with Hitler, N. Korea, or Iraq. We failed to make the consequences clear to Saddam. It is less likely to work now that there is no USSR to restrain its clients. (Deterrence requires means, clarity of intent, credibility, and consistency. The US and Israel are unclear and inconsistent.) Richard Pipes: The US thinks globally, whereas other Western states think regionally. They don't take distant threats as seriously. The UNO has no right to decide whether the US is threatened and how it may answer the threat. The US is sovereign, duty-bound to protect its people. The West is individualistic, whereas many other countries are tribal. It is not realistic to expect them to develop genuine democracy swiftly. (W. Europe still wants to depend on collective security, which failed it in WWII and cannot be anticipated from the UNO, which gives more voice to our enemies than to us. Europe really depends on the US, which it impedes. The Bush doctrine assumes that people would give first loyalty to democracy, but some plot for tribal dominance.) R. James Woolsey: The doctrine is good, but the US blundered: (1) Failed to call upon the people to sacrifice for it and to stop depending so much on oil; (2) Didn't train Iraqi rebels, so they could take over when we invaded; (3) Didn't let US commanders employ Iraqis on reconstruction immediately; (4) Should have made area after area safe, instead of just pursuing rebels (11/2005). The President is an oil executive. (Only Natan Sharansky pointed out the major contradiction in the Bush doctrine and application, that the US opposes Iraqi terrorists but supports Palestinian Arab terrorists. Why do the pundits, journalists, and diplomats ignore that glaring injustice? If Bush followed his own policy speeches, he would be one of our great Presidents.) Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at richardshulman5@aol.com. |
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RETIRE TO ISRAEL LIKE ABRAHAM
Posted by Ariel Natan Pasko, November 9, 2005. |
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About twenty years ago as a young Yeshiva (Rabbinical Seminary) student in Jerusalem - recently graduated from college - I met some members of a Jewish Federation Mission from America, in downtown Jerusalem. We began talking, one thing led to another, and I then told them one of my "pet" ideas of the time. I pointed out, that there were a lot of programs that are run by the Jewish Agency, or funded by various ministries of the Israeli government, to encourage young people to come to Israel. There are Ulpans (Hebrew language study programs), volunteer programs on Kibbutz (collective farms), one-year programs for overseas students at Israeli universities and Yeshiva programs to learn about Judaism or strengthen Jewish identity; but even when young people really fall in love with Israel, and decide to make Aliya (immigrate) to Israel, many need to go back to the states or Europe first, they need to get a job to pay off student loans or other debts, and in the process get bogged down there and never return to Israel. I told them, many other young people would love to come to these programs, but since they have to be able to pay their own airfare - even for the programs that are totally free - they can't afford it. What's lacking I told them, is assistance from the organized Jewish community in America or elsewhere to help finance these young people to get to Israel. Why not, I asked them, create a fund to pay for the plane tickets, for those who want to go on these programs? And also, to help pay off student loans and other debts, for those who want to make Aliya? Why not help them in job hunting and dealing with the Israeli immigration bureaucracy during that difficult transition period once in Israel? Not only did I tell these people on a federation mission, but I also told others who came for the World Zionist Congress meeting and for the Jewish Agency meetings held later that summer. I was telling everyone in those days about my "idea". I have no clear evidence that anyone worked on it, but almost twenty years later, I can sit back with some satisfaction and watch as projects like "Birthright Israel" and "Nefesh B'Nefesh" which do just as I suggested, are successfully implemented. They now bring many young people to Israel for totally free programs - airfares included - and help people, including families pay off their debts, find jobs in Israel and process the paperwork, making the Aliya process smother. Why do I tell you all this? As an introduction to my next "pet" idea... While reading the Torah portion Lech Lecha (Genesis 12:1), where G-D tells Avram - not yet renamed Avraham - to "Go from your land, from your relatives and father's home, to the land I will show you," which is the basis for the Mitzva (divine commandment) for Jews to live in the Land of Israel; I thought about this verse in today's context. This is the Zionist Mitzva - for Aliya - par excellance. Yet Avram and Sarai - later Avraham and Sara - were not youngsters when they made Aliya. According to the Torah text, they were 75 and 65 years old respectively. So here is my new idea, based on G-D's model. Programs need to be developed to bring older people to Israel, just as there is today a wealth of programs for younger people. Older people need to be encouraged to make Aliya and "retire" to Israel, to start the next stage of their lives, just as Abraham and Sara did. You could call it, the Abraham and Sara Project. I say, "retire" because most older people today don't really stop working and sit around reminiscing about the good old days. With many people living into their 80's, 90's and beyond, these days, retiring at 65 leaves at least 20 more good years of life. Since most people are in much better health for their age than used to be the case, "retirees" can still be productive contributors to society. Heck, living 10, 20, or 30 years staring at the "four walls" has got to be boring enough to kill you. Bring those people to Israel; they're full of life experiences, skills, connections, and yes, resources. Unlike younger people just starting out in life, most older people have worked their whole life. They've raised families; many own homes, have investments, businesses, and property. They won't come to Israel as financial burdens, but assets. We should be encouraging older people to "retire" to Israel, i.e. move there and start chapter two, or three, or four, of their lives. Encourage them to volunteer. Encourage them to start businesses in Israel. Encourage them to act as consultants. Israeli businessmen need help getting into markets abroad. These people have a lifetime of connections. The weather is as good as Florida or California, and it's the Jewish State. Most people in professional Zionist circles have always thought of encouraging youth to make Aliya. The work was tough. Israel needed soldiers. It wasn't a place for sissies. It still isn't, but most people don't work in agriculture or backbreaking labor anymore. Israel has a modern developed economy, and the white-collar and entrepreneurial skills of Jews from America, Europe, Australia, and South Africa fit nicely into that. Older people can make great contributions to Israel's economy and Israeli society. It was always thought in professional Zionist circles, that young people settling down in Israel would act as a magnet to attract their families. It was hoped that parents, brothers and sisters would follow them and move there too. I want to propose a new model of Aliya. Older people - grandparents - will move to Israel. Their now grown children, who also have more wealth and resources than those just starting out in life, will come out for visits. Who doesn't fly across America to visit their elderly parents? They'll send their kids on vacation to "Savta & Saba", "Bubby and Zaidie", or Grandma and Grandpa's just as they always do. Only now the kids will be taking a trip to Israel. Since people are living much longer, someone who "retires" out to Israel at 65, and lives another 20 or 30 years, is likely to see their children "retire" out there as well. Another important point to stress is that this is the future. Jewish birth rates are at an all time low, except in Israel. The aging Jewish populations of America and Europe are growing faster than the general population. While the potential pool of Aliya from young Jews in America and Europe is drying up, numbers are shrinking; the numbers of Jewish retirees is growing. The Baby Boom generation will begin retiring soon and they must be tapped for the next big wave of Aliya. It makes sense to reach out to these people. The lone son or daughter who moved to Israel can be discounted as just another "rebellion". But when Grandma and Grandpa move to Israel, they'll be setting an example that will have lasting impact on the family. Since grandparents tend to be the links to Jewish tradition, it will teach everyone in the family how important being Jewish and living in Israel are. If they open a new business, well, they'll be able to invite someone (their grandson or granddaughter?) from the "old country" to help run it. And although it's not pleasant to talk about, when they die, family members will want to go out there to acquire their inheritances. How many will decide to move to Israel permanently when they already own factories, stores, and real estate there? With all the elderly moving to Israel, whole new industries will pop-up, remember they're elderly with money. Geriatric medicine will expand, putting many of the underused "Russian" doctors to work. New entertainment places will open. Why can't retirement communities be built, just as in Florida? They can be... G-D would never have told Abraham to pick himself up and go to Israel if it wouldn't have been good for him. We have a concept, "Ma'ase Avot Siman L'Banim" (the actions of our forefathers are guides to what we should do). Rather than just encourage Aliya for the young, Israel must make a concerted effort to encourage Aliya for the aged. It will be the renewal of their lives - just as Abraham and Sara started their lives anew - and that will be good for them and the Jewish people. Ariel Natan Pasko is an independent analyst & consultant. He has a Master's Degree in International Relations & Policy Analysis. His articles appear regularly on numerous news/views and think-tank websites, in newspapers, and can be read at: www.geocities.com/ariel_natan_pasko |
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STEREOTYPES OF THE LEFT
Posted by Steven Plaut, November 9, 2005. |
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The PC crowd regularly complains that all those evil non-leftists promote stereotypes about all sorts of groups of people. It is all part of the efforts of the Left to paint all non-leftists as racists, bigots, and troglodytes. Well, as it turns out, the PC Left does more to promote false stereotyping than anyone else. We thought we should list a few: 1. If an Arab speaks English well, he or she must be pro-peace and a moderate.
Steven Plaut is an American-trained economist, a professor of business administration at Haifa University and author of "The Scout." He frequently comments - both seriously and satirically - on Israeli politics and the left wing academic community. His website address is http://www.stevenplaut.blogspot.com. Or write him at splaut@econ.haifa.ac.il. |
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IS ISRAEL JOINING THE CLUB TO REGULATE ACCESS TO THE INTERNET?
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, November 9, 2005. |
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In its continuous efforts to be accepted as a full member of the international community, Israel will soon be following in the foot steps of such great nations as North Korea, China, Iran, Burma and other progressive societies in regulating the Internet. This is to be seen in light of the Junta's vigorous effort to erase the stigma of only being the second most corrupt country in the developed world ... by becoming number one. This multifold approach will greatly accelerate the process of moving us closer to our neighbors and transforming Israel into a proper Middle Eastern nation. This is from yesterday's Arutz Sheva - IsraelNationalNews.com (www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=92627 It is called "Gov't Regulation of Internet Broadcasts Could Undermine Arutz-7" A government body responsible for regulating satellite and cable broadcasts is considering extending the scope of its authority to Internet broadcasts aimed at the Israeli public. The Council for Satellite and Cable Broadcasting is currently charged by Israeli law with regulating the content of satellite and cable broadcasts. Broadcasting via cable or satellite to the Israeli public requires a license. The council has the power to grant licenses to selected content and service providers who meet its requirements, and revoke the licenses of broadcasters who do not. If the council's authority is broadened to include Internet broadcasts, broadcasters such as Israel National News (Arutz-7), might be subject to government regulation and oversight, something that could severely compromise its independence, objectivity, and ability to report and comment on current events the way it sees fit. Yoram Mokdi, council chairman, said that while the council is only beginning to study the issue, Israel's big cable and satellite content providers, such as Hot and Yes, are already making plans to broadcast to subscribers via the Internet. While satellite and cable companies must get a license to start Internet broadcasting, companies who limit their broadcasting only to the Internet, can still reach out to the public without government interference. But once such broadcasts "reach half the country via the Internet," Mokdi said, many people, particularly Israel's media conglomerates, will demand that the government start subjecting them to regulation as well, or in the alternative, exempt satellite and cable broadcasting from government regulation. Mokdi said, however, that in his opinion, "regulation is not always a good thing," and that the council does not intend to create "a dictatorship for Internet sites," But when asked what would happen if Arutz-7 started broadcasting television news content over the Internet the way CNN or Fox News do in the United States over cable, Mokdi said he could not be certain that Arutz 7 would be exempt from Israeli government regulation and supervision. Under current regulations, the state would have to grant Arutz-7 a special license for broadcasting news, if it were on cable or satellite. In today's political reality, with Arutz 7 more often than not at odds with government policy, especially on the sensitive issue of holding all the land of Israel under Jewish sovereignty, getting a license to broadcast news and commentary from the government would be highly unlikely. Baruch Gordon, director Israel National News' English website, said it was no coincidence that the government shut down Arutz-7's over-the-air broadcasts shortly before announcing the Disengagement Plan to the public. He said the best way to ensure the future of Israeli democracy would be to allow unregulated Internet news broadcasting regardless of how many Israeli's decide to tune in, "even if it?s half the country." Gordon explained that Arutz-7 broadcasts only over the Internet because the Israeli government would not issue a tender for a national radio station that would be allowed to broadcast news and commentary freely without government intervention. Most over-the-air radio and television broadcasting in Israel is controlled by the state. Israel recently allowed private firms to operate regional radio stations, but they are forbidden to broadcast their own news or opinion, unless it relates to the particular region they operate in. In contrast, virtually all television and radio stations in the United States are privately owned, and the government does not regulate the content of broadcast news or opinion. Traditional over-the-air broadcast media in the United States do, however, require a license from the Federal Communications Commission. The U.S. initiated licensing of over-the-air broadcasts in order to ensure fair public access to limited radio frequencies. Cable and satellite broadcasts, on the other hand, are subject to very little government regulation and interference. Controversial radio talk host Howard Stern recently moved to satellite radio in order to avoid certain regulatory limitations on speech. Internet broadcasting in the United States is virtually free of government regulation, except for certain pornography issues, and legal concerns involving the use of copyrighted material. Mokdi said the council will be examining the American model as well as the one being developed in Europe which tends to view more favorably government regulation and supervision of Internet broadcasting. The council will be holding public hearings on the issue until March 7, 2006. After that, it will formulate its policy along with the Justice Ministry and the Ministry of Communications. "We might reach the conclusion that it is impossible to regulate the Internet," he said. Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. Contact him at zelasko@actcom.co.il |
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FRANCE'S RAMADAN UPRISING - A TICKING BOMB FOR EUROPE
Posted by David Nathan, November 8, 2005. |
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This is a DEBKAfile Special Report. The violent riots spreading across France took several worrying directions Sunday night, Nov. 6, and Monday. The mostly Muslim gangs of youths began surging out of the immigrant suburbs to invade town centers; they fired their first gunshots at policemen; the number of torched cars peaked to 1,400; and disturbing new slogans were hurled, depicting Paris as "Baghdad-on-the Seine" and their campaign as the start of Europe's Ramadan Intifada. A single slogan made a mockery of president Jacques Chirac's efforts of the last three years to distance France from President George W. Bush's Iraq war. Furthermore, the French government's helplessness in quelling the trouble is encouraging other European communities to follow suit - in Denmark, Belgium, Spain and Sweden, for starters. Chirac, after lying low for 10 days, finally called an emergency security meeting in Paris Sunday, Nov. 6. He then promised arrests, trials and punishment for those who "sow violence or terror" across France. But politics as usual held him back from instituting tough measures or naming those responsible for the violence, let alone deploying the necessary forces. French police are still under orders not to open fire unless fired on first. No names have been released of ringleaders despite several hundred arrests. Saturday, Nov. 5, as the disorders went into their second week, the French prosecutor-general Yves Bot said he had detected an organized hand and a strategy behind the riots. Witnesses reported vehicles without number-plates distributing petrol bombs. A fuel bomb factory was in fact discovered Sunday in Paris with 150 bottles and gallons of gasoline ready to distribute to the bands of arsonists. Also found there were masks to hide rioters' faces. In Clichy-sour-Bois, where the accidental electrocution of two teenagers in flight from the police ignited the first protests, residents said: This is just the beginning. There are plenty of indications that the riots are not simply spontaneous outbursts of frustration by disadvantaged youths of North and black African descent, but centrally organized mayhem, an intifada activated by Muslim networking. The Chirac-de Villepan government, trying to live down interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy's provocative pledge to deal with what he called "scum," is not acknowledging this. Because they refuse to recognize the rampage for what it is, they are withholding the forces required to restore order and so letting the danger get out of hand. Police, firemen and paramedics are no match for a fast developing civil war. The army will have to be brought in at some point, preferably sooner rather than later. For a start, marksmen need to be posted to pinpoint the ringleaders and the bottle-bomb wielders targeting cars, schools, shops, warehouses and public buildings. France's leaders, like the British and Dutch, are clinging to the hope that sympathetic dialogue with moderate Muslims will calm the street, despite all the evidence that radical, activist Muslims do not heed established Islamic authorities. On Nov. 6, the Union of Islamic Organizations in France, UOIF, issued a fatwa forbidding Muslims to seek "divine grace" by blindly attacking private and public property and urging meditation and calm. The following night, bands of marauding Muslim youths extended their areas of attack from outlying city districts to urban centers and started shooting at police officers. The controlling hand, far from being legitimate Muslim authority, is beginning to emerge as the very organization that has for several years been recruiting young fighters in French Muslim ghettos fight al Qaeda's wars against the West in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Iraq and other sectors. On February 20, 2004, DEBKA-Net-Weekly and DEBKAfile were first to reveal the extent of al Qaeda's penetration of West Europe. They turned up French intelligence statistics which estimated that "al Qaeda had recruited in France between 35,000 and 45,000 fighters and was organizing them in military-style units. They meet regularly for training in the use of weapons and explosives, combat tactics and indoctrination and are controlled from local and district command centers under the organization's national French command." "In Germany, Al Qaeda's numbers are estimated at 25,000 to 30,000 men." To read the original article, click HERE Today, French counter-terror sources are willing to admit, albeit on the quiet and not for attribution, that those clandestine terrorist cells may well be at the bottom of the current riots. They note the history of the Palestinian uprising, which kicked off in 1987 with stones and petrol bombs, only to evolve into a suicidal terrorist war by the late nineties. They fear this process may be beginning - not just in France but in the rest of Europe too, that the covert nucleus of trained and indoctrinated Islamic terrorists al Qaeda buried inside Europe is being turned against the continent, starting in France. |
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MT. ZION -- MEDIA ATTENTION, LEGAL ACTION, RADIO COVERAGE
Posted by Ellen W. Horowitz, November 8, 2005. |
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MEDIA BREAKTHROUGH: The mainstream Israeli press is now carrying the story. It should be noted that this is 3 weeks after www.Israelnationalnews.com reported the story, and almost a month after the news broke via the Vatican news services (both print publication and radio) and was reported in the Times of London, JTA, Catholic Church News, etc... Maariv (in Hebrew)
http://www.isfsp.org/mt-zion-article-2.jpg
----- DENIALS OR RETRACTIONS?: International news agencies continue to report a deal and we have yet to receive any official denials or retractions from the press. There was, however, a rather puzzling message from the Prime Minister that was released by the Government Press Office (GPO) http://www.isfsp.org/zion28.html The President's office continues to issue a general denial "to the story which has appeared in some press reports." And Pave the Way Foundation continues to feature the Cenacle Shrine on their homepage at http://pavethewayfoundation.org/ ------ YOU WANT ANSWERS? GO GET THEM IN NEW YORK: The night before President Katsav's scheduled meeting with the Pope, there will be a panel-discussion on Jewish - Christian Relations at the Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16 Street, NYC. The event is held in cooperation with the American Jewish Committee, the Center for Christian-Jewish Understanding of Sacred Heart University, and the PAVE THE WAY FOUNDATION. Remember on November 16th at 7pm you have the opportunity to ask questions and insist on answers from those engaged in Catholic-Jewish "dialogue." ------ ZOA RADIO BROADCAST COVERS MT.ZION SITUATION TUNE-IN TOMORROW: Lori Lowenthal Marcus, President of ZOA Greater Philadelphia, hosts The ZOA Middle East Report. She will be interviewing Rabbi Shabtai Herman of the Diaspora Yeshiva and Shelomo Alfassa of The Committee to Save Mt. Zion The show broadcasts WEDNESDAY AT 12:30 - 1:30 pm EST, 1540 AM WNWR Radio, and can be heard anywhere in the world through the computer JUST CLICK ON: http://www.wnwr.com ------ DIASPORA YESHIVA GETS TOUGH: PURSUES LEGAL ACTION: read the press release at http://www.isfsp.org/zion26.html ---- VIGIL TO CONTINUE OUTSIDE OF PRESIDENT'S RESIDENCE: For regular updates on the peaceful gathering to take place at 11AM on
Friday go to
http://isfsp.org/zion.html
For the most recent updates, go to the website of the Committee to Mount Zion. To get there, Click here. Ellen Horowitz is the author of the "The Oslo Years: a mother's journal." The book is available through retailers listed at http://osloyears.com/retail.htm |
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BRITISH GOVERNMENT FUNDING FOR PALESTINIAN NGOS IS COUNTERPRODUCTIVE
Posted by NGO Monitor, November 8, 2005. |
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The British government, through its Department for International Development (DFID) continues to fund Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that misuse their funds on demonization campaigns against Israel instead of fighting poverty and promoting development, as intended. These NGOs include Oxfam, Christian Aid, and the Oversees Development Institute. As NGO Monitor's analysis shows, DFID, the UK's principal agency for providing international development and humanitarian aid, is independent of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and has its own foreign policy. It grants money to NGOs though long-term Partnership Programme Agreements (PPAs). In funding PPAs, DFID does not require partners to account for their expenditures. As a result, a number of DFID funding recipients are able to divert the money away from the DFID's goals of fighting poverty and increasing development, and use the money to promote violence. One DFID-funded NGO, Christian Aid, which has received more than $10 million, focuses on highly political campaigns in this region, without a visible impact on humanitarian and development goals. Christian Aid also funnels money to extremist NGOs such as Sabeel and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), the Gaza-based group behind the recent attempt to arrest a former Israeli general for alleged "war crimes". "The lack of accountability in DFID Partnership Programme Agreements enables political groups to take funds intended for fighting poverty, and use them instead on demonization campaigns," said Gerald Steinberg, editor of NGO Monitor, which promotes critical debate and accountability of human rights NGOs. "These PPAs directly contradict DFID's goals of development for poverty relief, which require an internal focus on assisting Palestinian development, rather than externally directed political agendas," Steinberg added. Christian Aid has been linked to the divestment campaign against Israel, through its support of Sabeel. Thus DFID is fueling a campaign to isolate Israel internationally, in opposition to the stated position of the British government, which declares that "constructive engagement with Israel is the best approach to exert influence on it." For the text of the NGO Monitor report on DFID, go to: http://www.ngo-monitor.org/ The NGO Monitor organization (www.ngo-monitor.org) promotes critical debate and accountability of human rights NGOs in the Arab Israeli Conflict. Note that the original article contained dynamic links to additional material - see http://www.ngo-monitor.org. |
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EXPULSION OF JEWS FROM JEWISH HEBRON
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, November 8, 2005. |
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This expulsion was in the works during the Rabin-Peres grasp of government. I wrote about the game plan several times but, Jews are not necessarily educable - particularly when they accept the promises of government leaders. The earliest game plan was to insure that there would be enough provocation by Muslim Arabs to warrant a contrived rescue of the Jews. (Take that to read a forced evacuation under the guise that the Jews of Hebron were being rescued by the government - just like they were "rescued" after the 1929 Arab pogrom that killed 67 Jews while the British soldiers looked on.) The Left wanted Hebron abandoned to the Arab Muslims and worked diligently with the Americans to achieve that goal. Manipulating a willing Bibi Netanyahu in giving up 80% of Hebron - which much later Netanyahu admitted was a mistake. Nevertheless, the transfer took place and the Muslim Arabs grew bolder and more aggressive - which was exactly what they were supposed to do. After all, how could you mount a rescue effort if the Jews were not under siege? The abandonment of Hebron is wired to the abandonment of Gaza which will soon be connected to Judea, Samaria, the Golan Heights, all of Jerusalem controlled by Jordan from 1948 until 1967, Notwithstanding Prime Minister Sharon's bluster that he will not negotiate with President Bashar Assad of Syria, be assured that he has already pre-planned its abandonment. Hebron is merely one piece in a number of pieces planned by a corrupt government in collusion with the American State Department Arabists to chop Israel into digestible pieces. Saudi Arabia must be appeased and placated whatever the cost. It was Israel who was selected to pay this cost and it was the Israeli leadership who was willing to act the role of Quisling and sell out to the nations. Hebron is Gaza is Yamit is Judea is Samaria is the Golan is the Jordan Valley is East Jerusalem. For once if you put your head in the air to check which way the wind is blowing, you might survive. With your head in the sand and your ass in the air, you will never know who is betraying you. Emanuel Winston is a commentator and Middle East analyst. His articles appear often on Think-Israel and Gamla. He is a member of the Board of Directors and a research associate of the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies (http://www.freeman.org/online.htm). |
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THE CASE FOR DELUSION: A REVIEW OF ALAN DERSHOWITZ'S THE CASE FOR PEACE
Posted by David Bedein, November 8, 2005. |
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Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz has written a book that is based on commonly held assumptions about the Middle East. The surprise is that a man of his stature never bothered to ascertain the veracity of these assumptions. PALESTINIAN WILLINGNESS TO COMPROMISE ON THE RIGHT OF RETURN? Professor Dershowitz asserts that the "Palestinian leadership seems willing to compromise on the right of return," yet he cannot find any footnote to support any such newsworthy assertion. He also states that "Although Mahmood Abbas insisted on a full right of return during his election campaign, he has, since becoming president, moderated his stance somewhat." Yet Dershowitz only relies on a New York Times correspondent who thinks that this is the case, and cannot point to any such statement by Abbas to his own people in his own language and media. Meanwhile, Professor Dershowitz calls for the "symbolic recognition" of the "rights of Palestinian refugees" which would include a "compensation package and some family reunification, without addressing implications of what it would mean for Israel if the Jewish State were to absorb a hostile population in its midst, without addressing the issue of who would choose which families would be 'reunited'". Professor Dershowitz does not address the legal precedent that such recognition would create for all Palestinian Arab refugees and their descendants who demand the "right of return." While he writes that Palestinians stake claim to all lands lost in 1967, he neglects to mention that the PLO claims all lands lost in all of their wars with Israel in the context of the consistent PLO demands for the realization of the "right of return" to lands lost in 1948. Instead, Prof. Dershowitz calls on Israel to allow for a "reasonable number" of Palestinian refugees and their descendants to return to their "homes" in Israel, yet he does not address the situation that would be created if, say, Israel were to allow 5% of the four million refugees and their descendents now registered with UNRWA's refugee camps to "return," an act that would force Israel to allow 200,000 people from a hostile entity to reside in Israel itself. And he brings no source whatsoever to the possibility that the PLO would accept any such "compromise." Professor Dershowitz asserts that the Palestinian leadership "would have to waive or compromise the broad, collective political 'right' to turn Israel into another Palestinian state by orchestrating a mass return of Palestinians to Israel," yet he produces no evidence that the Palestinian leadership would make any such move. Professor Dershowitz posits that "Israel should declare, in principle, its willingness to give up the captured territories in return for a firm assurance of lasting peace," yet he does not show any hint of evidence that the PLO would be willing to provide any such "firm assurance". DIVIDING JERUSALEM LEADING TO PEACE? Perhaps most astonishing of all is Dershowitz's call for a "division of greater Jerusalem," with the "Arab part becoming the capital of the Palestinian State," without relating to the fact that Arab & Jewish neighborhoods are intertwined in Jerusalem. For example, when you drive from the Israeli neighborhood of Gilo to Katamon, you travel through the Arab neighorhood of Beit Tzfafa. And when you travel from the Israeli neighborhoods of Neve Yaakov to French Hill, you traverse the Shuafat and Beit Hanina. And when you travel from Mount Scopus to the center of town, you traverse Wadi Jose. Imagine what it would be like to have to negotiate a PLO army base in the middle of Jerusalem. In other words, his suggestion would mean that PLO armed forces would be placed at the edge of every Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem. Yet he asserts that "Jerusalem must be divided for peace," without saying on what basis he comes to the conclusion that relinquishing neighborhoods of Jerusalem to the PLO, which remains at war with Israel, would lead to peace. He advocates "Palestinian sovereignty in Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem," without explaining to the reader that sovereignty means guns in the hands of the PLO in Jerusalem, and that if his suggestion were implemented, it would be life-threatening to Jews throughout Jerusalem. Prof. Dershowitz also asserts that the "Moslem Quarter should be under Palestinian or Islamic Authority," without taking into consideration the Jewish population who live and own property in the Moslem Quarter, which, by the way, has only been known as the "Moslem Quarter" since the Mufti-inspired expulsion of the Jewish population in that part of Jerusalem in 1936. He also asserts that the Temple Mount, on which two mosques stand, "should be largely under the sovereignty and control of the Palestinians and Moslems," without taking into consideration that such sovereignty would mean possession of weapons, which would allow armed Palestinians to threaten lives of Jewish worshippers below at the Western Wall Plaza. PALESTINIAN LEADERSHIP DESIRE FOR PEACE? Somehow, Dershowitz comes to the conclusion that "mainstream Israelis and mainstream Palestinians, along with their respective governments, are largely on the same side: they all want peace, compromise and a two state solution," yet no one has ever found mainstream Palestinians who make such expressions of compromise in the official publications, radio or TV broadcasts of the official Arabic language Palestinian Authority media. Professor Dershowitz posits that the "only real hope for peace is that the current Palestinian leadership will be more like the pragmatic leadership of the Jewish Agency in 1937 and 1948," yet he provides no evidence that the PA leadership has expressed any such pragmatism in their public statements to their own people in the Arabic language. Professor Dershowitz refers to preventive measures by PA armed forces against terrorists, yet he brings no sources to support any such measures. Professor Dershowitz gives credence to the assertion of Tom Friedman from the New York Times that "hot pursuit" of terrorists does not work, yet he does not say on what basis he accepts that premise. He does not relate to the fact that the IDF's dispatch of troops inside Palestinian population centers, since April 2002, has served to curtail infiltrations of terrorists Professor Dershowitz contends that Abbas condemned a terror attack in Tel Aviv in February, 2005, yet brings no evidence from Palestinian Authority Arabic language media to support that assertion, and makes no mention of the honor that the official Arabic language Palestinian Authority media afforded these killers.. Since monitoring the Arabic language expression of the Palestinian Authority has become a cottage industry of late, Professor Dershowitz could have accessed Palestinian Authority media from news organizations that retain credible Arabic speaking professionals such as the Israel Resource News Agency, The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, IMRA, PMW, MEMRI or Middle East News Line, all of which produce timely and publicly available updated reports from what is said in the PA public domain. None of these organizations have found that -- "mainstream Palestinians" express support for "peace, compromise and a two state solution," in their own language and in their own media, except in Dershowitz's imagination. Furthermore Professor Dershowitz fantasizes that the Palestinian state might become "economically viable, politically secure, religiously free, and protective of individual rights," yet makes no mention of the rampant corruption in a PA regime which is currently devoid of human rights and civil liberties. Is this the same Alan Dershowitz who has made his name synonymous with his lifelong struggle for human rights and civil liberties? Professor Dershowitz advocates a "secure elevated highway" between Judea/Samaria and Gaza, without taking into consideration that since the PLO remains in a state of war with Israel, this not give them the opportunity to fire on Israeli lands from their "elevated road" on Israeli vehicles and on Israeli communities in the Negev. Professor Dershowitz quotes the covenant of the Hamas to dispossess the Jews and destroy Israel, which remains in force, yet makes no mention of the PLO covenant which also remains in force with the same goals. Professor Dershowitz asserts that the "only way that Israel is going to have security is if the Palestinians provide it by restraining their own", yet he does not relate to the fact that the PLO has not foresworn its war against Israel, raising the question of why an entity at war with Israel would "restrain" their forces. Professor Dershowitz gives credence to the statement of President Bush's press secretary that the Israelis and Palestinians "must work together to fight terror", yet he does not relate to the fact that over the last five years, the security services of the PA have been engaged in direct acts of terror against the state and people of Israel. Professor Dershowitz does mention that Palestinians have been raised in hatred of Jews, and that this is a by product of their school curricula, and then go on to mention The Hamas Charter, yet he does not mention the fact that the schools curriculum, available in English at www.edume.org, is produced by the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Education, and not by Hamas. Professor Dershowitz does report that the PA Minister of Information requested that the Religious Affairs Ministry dismiss Sheik Ibraham Mudreis from his position after Mudreis had delivered an anti semitic sermon, yet he does not report that the Religious Affairs Ministry simply refused the request to fire Mudreis, and that Mudreis continues to deliver his virulent message every Friday as a paid employee of the PA, and that his speeches are broadcast by the official PBC Radio and RBC TV. Professor Dershowitz reports that the "elders of Zion" allegation was removed from an official PA web site, yet he neglects to report that.that the PA refused to remove the "Elders of Zion" lesson from its new official tenth grade civics book issued this past year by he PA education ministry, despite the protests of 34 congress people who petitioned Abbas when he visited Washington in May 2005 to remove such blatant anti-Semitism from the PA curriculum? Incidentally, he writes that the PA negotiators at Camp David "seemed" to accept the limitation of the PA armed forces to "only" have light weapons, yet he brings no Palestinian source to support any such assertion. Professor Dershowitz mentions that Al Aksa Brigades is one of the terrorist organizations threatening the stability of Abbas's regime, yet forgets to mention that the Al Aksa Brigades remain an integral part of the Fateh, and that Abbas remains the chairman of the Fateh. Professor Dershowitz does mention "incitement to violence from Palestinians themselves", and yet only alludes to Hamas, and mentions that the Imams who preach hatred on Palestinian-run radio and television, official textbooks, and neglects to mention that this message of hatred emanates from the official Palestinian Authority-run radio station and TV, and that the Palestinian Authority employs these imams, and that the PA has done nothing to ameliorate the hatred which emanates from its education system Professor Dershowitz expresses confidence that Palestinian pragmatism will emerge, yet he cites no statements made by Palestinian leaders to their own people in the Arabic language which would support any such confidence. Professor Dershowitz devotes much space to resentment of those who engage in holocaust denial, yet makes no mention of Abbas's PhD. which promotes holocaust denial. Professor Dershowitz mentions the Palestinian "thirst for education", yet he does not address the connection between current Palestinian Authority education and incitement to terrorism. He could have mentioned how incitement to terror remains a focus of the curriculum at Palestinian Universities., as shown in studies conducted by The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center in Herzelia, or he could have mentioned the study of Palestinian school books conducted by the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace. APPROPRIATING HISTORY? Professor Dershowitz rewrites history when he asserts that Ben Gurion sank the Altelana because he wanted to "prevent arms from reaching Israeli paramilitary groups such as Etzel...and Lechi." And he ignores the fact that the IDF fired on the Altelena and killed 19 Jewish passengers only AFTER an agreement had been reached to hand over ALL of the weapons on board the ship to the IDF. Professor Dershowitz even ascribes past peaceful intentions to Syria, and writes that "Syria seemed willing at least for a time to make peace with Israel in exchange for the Golan Heights and other considerations", yet he brings no documentation of any kind that Syria ever sought peace with Israel. COPING WITH REALITY? Professor Dershowitz waits until page 91 in the eighth chapter of his CASE FOR PEACE to comment that "a Palestinian state may probably evolve into a launching pad for terrorism", and notes only on page 96 in chapter nine that "Abbas will not disarm terrorist organizations". Such statements, buried in the midst of his book, undermine almost every premise of theoretical possibility of peace with the Palestinian entity, and he then goes back to asserting assumptions that the new Palestinian entity will make peace with Israel. Professor Dershowitz suggests that US troops could be positioned to respond to terror attacks on Israel, yet he does not relate to the danger that US troops placed in the line of fire would be hurt in response to attacks on the sovereign state of Israel. Yet even after Professor Dershowitz notes that Abbas will not disarm terrorists, he still advocates light weapons for the PA armed forces. Why? Does he not know that the PA's armed forces have used light weapons to murder hundreds of Israeli citizens, especially over the past five years. His reassurance that the PA entity would have to "control terror in its midst" is left hanging, since he gives no indication that the PA will ever "control terror in its midst". Instead, he concludes with a bland wish for "democratic governance" Professor Dershowitz makes no reference to the 51 dissidents against Abbas who linger on death row, and makes no reference to the proposed Palestinian State Constitution, which denies juridical status to Judaism and to Christianity and which is based on the Sharia Law. Is this a prescription for "democratic governance"? Is the PA attitude towards democracy since its inception not an indication of how a PLO state would behave" Then again, Professor Alan Dershowitz did not base his book on what the Palestinian Authority conveys in the Arabic language, in their own media, to their own people, but rather on what he hopes they would be saying. However, Professor Dershowit"s immense credibility and access to the media, the damage that this book to Israel will be immeasurable. Instead of using his immense skills to challenge questionable assumptions that this book is based on, Prof. Dershowitz has written a book that joins the cacophony of detractors of Israel, adding his respected voice to their chorus. David Bedein is an investigative reporter and Bureau Chief, Israel Resource News Agency. (http://Israelbehindthenews.com). |
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WHY WAS EARL KRUGEL LEFT UNPROTECTED IN PRISON"
Posted by Robert Turk, November 8, 2005. |
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[Background: In 1985, Alex Odeh, Southern California director of the
Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee was assassinated by a
bomb. Almost immediately, attention focused on Irv Rubin and his
cohorts in the JDL. Though charges were never filed and no one has
ever been convicted for the crime, the FBI has worked on the case for
20 years under the assumption that it was JDL-inspired and executed.
Earl Krugel, a Jewish Defense League activist was convicted of an unrelated charge, i.e., plotting -- not carrying out -- Southern California bombings against local mosques, Muslim-American organizations and an Arab-American congressman.] Did the federal government put Earl Krugel in open population at the medium-security Federal Correctional Institution in Phoenix Arizona to squeeze information out him about the Alex Odeh murder" If so, were the same tactics used on Irv Rubin. According to the New York Times Staff writers David Pierson and Greg Krikorian, A federal law enforcement official involved in the Odeh investigation said he was unsure what effect Krugel's death would have on finding Odeh's killer. "Once he got there [prison], he might have a change of heart and finally cooperate," the official said. "But we weren't counting on it." If this is true, where is the Jewish outrage? Krugel's wife, Lola, told Associated Press that she believed her husband's conviction was linked to Odeh. "Earl did not deserve what he got. It was all political," she said. "It was all about Alex Odeh, and my husband did not know anything about Alex Odeh. I'm devastated and I'm shocked that the system allowed this to happen." No one finds it coincidental that both Irv Rubin and Earl Krugel were murdered on November 4th, the day before the anniversary of the murder of Rabbi Meir Kahane? The prisons seem to keep Muslim terror suspects alive while in custody, they even keep pedophiles alive. But a Jew? Krugel pleaded guilty and was given a 20-year sentence. I beg to differ; he was in my opinion, sentenced to death. How stupid could anyone be to think that putting him in a medium-security prison amongst white supremacists and Islamic extremists would be justice served? Robert Turk, Jewish Defense League Eastern Regional Director and JDL News Editor stated "It is shameful that our Congressional delegates as well as the media have given more credence and importance to find out who forced Muslim prisoners to wear underwear on their heads, while virtually ignoring the murder of Earl Krugel, killed while in Federal Custody. Not one word or a call for an investigation has been made by our elected representatives, the news pundits, or any major Jewish organization. It is now perfectly clear that the value of a Jewish life is of no consequence in today's politically correct America. May G-d help us all. Where is the Jewish outrage? According to the National Islamic Prison Foundation, they claim to convert an average of 135,000 prisoners a year and federal prison. The Aryan Brotherhood rules over whites in prison. Islamo- nazis. Is that the justice system's final solution? The Jewish populations in the prisons are just a grain of sand on the beach. Putting Jewish prisoners in open population is a certain death sentence. Who oversees the security of Jewish prisoners? The ADL, B'nai B'rith, or any other mainstream organizations with their high paid executive staffs. Where are the so-called Jewish organizations that bilk the Jewish community and accomplish nothing for its own people? With all the money and influence they have, do they even have a Jewish outreach program? Where is the Jewish outrage?" "'al ta'amod 'al dam re'ekha" (do not stand idle by your brother's blood)?. Simon Hetlyn,
Contact Robert Turk at jdlnews@jdl.org.il The Jewish Defense League is an activist organization dedicated to the protection and defense of the Jewish people in the Diaspora. To that end, there will be no sanctuary for those who threaten or attack Jewish individuals or institutions. Never Again! |
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DEADLY TOYS: SLOPPY JOURNALISM LEAVES MANY QUESTIONS UNANSWERED IN TRAGIC DEATH OF CHILD
Posted by Honest Reporting, November 8, 2005. |
As HonestReporting has repeatedly stated, pictures are central aspects of news stories. The decision of which photograph should accompany a report is an editorial matter of tremendous importance. It can completely change the way an textual story is understood by the reader. On Saturday (Nov. 5), a Palestinian child playing with a replica of an M-16 assault rifle in Jenin was mistakenly shot and killed during a firefight between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian terrorists. As Reuters described: The Israeli army said soldiers in the Jenin refugee camp came under fire from Palestinian gunmen in several locations and returned fire, hitting the boy who they said was later discovered to have been holding a toy weapon. The New York Times provides greater detail: Soldiers noticed what they thought was an armed gunman standing about 130 yards away, and opened fire, hitting the target, which turned out to be the boy, the army said. He was evacuated by the Palestinian Red Crescent, and when the Israeli soldiers "approached the spot, they found the weapon which the Palestinian was holding and discovered it to be a plastic gun," an Israeli Army statement said. Obviously, a soldier being under fire from multiple directions 130 yards away could easily mistake a plastic replica for a real gun. From the pictures above, therefore, one could easily understand how the boy could be confused for one of the gunmen. Most media outlets, such as BBC, Boston Globe and Kansas City Star, decided to accompany the story with pictures of the grieving mother or the child's body: 
These photos, while eliciting sympathy for the loss, fail to illustrate how this tragedy occurred. The journalists have left many questions unasked in this incident, among them:
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U.S. NOT ASSESSING CHINA; FALSE EXCUSES FOR ABBAS' PRO-TERROR; EU ARAB LINE
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, November 8, 2005. |
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HOW HAARETZ REPORTS VIOLENCE The Hebrew daily, Haaretz, translates and compresses some articles into an English-language edition. Its Hebrew edition recently alleged violence by all sides in evacuating Jewish residents from the Territories. Police allegedly beat girls and banged boys' heads on the pavement. The English edition omitted only the violence against Jewish civilians (IMRA, 10/30). Some of the omitted reports of gratuitous police brutality are backed up by videotape. Such one-sided omissions have been noted before, by IMRA. ISRAEL & THE RED CROSS The Red Cross is to hold a conclave in December, in which Israel's application for membership will be put to a vote. IMRA of 10/31 headlined it, "Magen David Adom to Join Red Cross in December." I think the headline premature. Let us await the vote. CHINA HELPS IRAN China is helping Iran build a satellite for detecting enemy movement (IMRA, 10/31). When will the US realize that China is a threat to world peace and to the US? What we can do about it is another matter. That would take much thought and discipline. US consumers fuel the Chinese military buildup -- China has decided to reserve a major part of world resources for itself -- and Chinese bond purchases underwrite US deficits. HOW EGYPT WORKS WITH ISRAEL Egypt and Israel are supposed to set up a joint operation center to oversee the Sinai-Gaza border. Egypt has delayed discussing the establishment, is slow to contribute personnel to the project, and disagrees with Israel's work plans and assessment of security threats (IMRA, 10/31). What does Israel expect? Egypt now has control over the border. It doesn't need to work with Israel, any more. Pres. Mubarak finally rebutted Israeli complaints about the mass-smuggling immediately upon Israeli abandonment of Gaza, by citing the IDF flight before Egypt had its troops in place. The media failed to grasp his point. It ignored all parties' guilt and the problem. Now those troops are in place. They are supposed to be Egypt's best, for they were the excuse for the previously stationed police not stopping arms smuggling. IMRA reported that the troops had captured three terrorists, but for a bribe of $50, let them go. ABBAS STILL SPONSORING TERRORISM Abbas sponsored a ceremony at which an Iranian fund donated millions of dollars to families of slain terrorists. The speaker representing him indicated that the P.A. will fight against the security fence and Jewish civilians in the Territories (IMRA, 11/1). Compensation to terrorists' families is both insurance for them and reassurance for terrorists. Breadwinners can sacrifice themselves without fear for their families' financial future. By that way, as well as by encouraging continued armed struggle, Abbas contradicts claims by Pres. Bush and Sec. Rice that he opposes terrorism. The excuse made for him -- too weak to fight terrorism -- does not hold for his supporting terrorists. since Saddam paid such subsidy, the war on him was part of the war on Islamism. U.S. STILL SPONSORING TERRORISM The Quartet has set as its goal the unification of the P.A.; police forces. Piggybacking upon that idea, Abbas plans to bring the illegal militias into the P.A. police, staying in their own units! This would give legal sanction to their illegal means. Nevertheless, IMRA informs us, the US has given the P.A. $4 million to integrate most Fatah (11/2). Keeping unit integrity is a sign for the slow-witted that terrorism would continue. IMRA keeps mocking the notion that enrollees would be disarmed by turning in their weapons, and then being issued arms. The mainstream media and the US government do not respond to this skepticism. They don't come to grip with the issues. WHAT FORCES HAS THE U.S. IN RESERVE? What would the US do if a (presumably Islamist) coup seized S. Arabia? A US official replied that the US probably would take military action. It would send in three Army divisions and support forces, up to 300,000 people (IMRA, 11/1). The US has reduced ifs military and spread them around (though some countries have only a dozen or so). It is nice to know that it still has 300,000 to spare. Are they needed for training, or could some be sent to Afghanistan and Iraq, if for nothing else but to relieve the existing forces of multiple call-ups. EDUCATION IN IRAN Iranian TV has an animated program depicting Israelis as murderously brutal. In it, the surviving children decide to become suicide bombers (IMRA, 11/2). The brutality depicted is not typically Israeli but Muslim Arab. Iran, too, has a brutal notion of child-rearing. In a war with Iraq, it used children to live-test mine fields. EU ADOPTS ARAB LINE ON ISRAEL The head of the EU Development Committee, Luisa Morgantini asserted: (1) The Arabs have a right to set up a state in the "occupied" territories; (2) "Occupied" people have a right to defend themselves by "legitimate resistance"; (3) A state has a right to territorial contiguity between Gaza and Judea-Samaria; (4) Gaza still is not free from Israel, because Israel controls the border, including the seacoast; (5) The withdrawal does not promote peace, because it was not negotiated; (6) The EU will send the P.A. hundreds of millions of dollars to develop Gaza; (7) The world has a duty to pressure Israel to stop building settlements and expropriating land for the security wall, to release its Arab prisoners, and to let the Palestinian Arabs live in dignity and freedom; (8) The P.A. people chose peace and self-rule twice by electing Arafat and Abbas (IMRA, 11/6). Those statements and most of their tendentious terminology constitute the Arabs line. The P.A. Arabs are not occupied. They have less right to statehood than Israel does to extend its state into the P.A. part of the Jewish homeland. The Arabs are engaged in a genocidal, land-grabbing jihad not just for the Territories but for all of Israel. Since the Arabs are the aggressors, they are not do not have a right to "defend" themselves by attacking Israel. Having signed agreements for peaceful resolution, they ceded any right to warfare. As aggressors, the Arabs are not engaged in self-defense. Their means of fighting primarily is terrorism, which the EU should condemn and which it is the world's duty to pressure the Arabs to cease. There is no right to territorial contiguity by seizing the land of another country. Israel does not control the Gaza border with Egypt. Israel must guard the coast, should not have relinquished guarding of the Gaza border with Egypt, and obviously has the right to guard its own frontage on Gaza, because the Arabs try to get across those lines in order to murder people. How do negotiations with Arab fascists promote peace? The Arabs violate agreements. Elections managed by terrorists for terrorists, whose covenants pledge war, do not indicate a desire for peace. Why does the EU subsidize Arab aggressors who Arabs convert subsidy into bank accounts and terrorism? Why no EU aid for Israel, victim of Arab war crimes? It is a security fence, not a wall. Instead of chastising Israel for building it for protection from Arab terrorism, let the EU chastise the Arabs for making the fence seem necessary to Israel! Countries don't release POWs during wartime, but the terrorists are not POWs and needn't be released. Israel has not built new settlements in years. Why shouldn't it? Under the Oslo Accords, even the PLO recognized its right to. Problem is, the EU shows no recognition of Israeli or Jewish rights and no decency or truthfulness. Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at richardshulman5@aol.com. |
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DESECRATION OF JEWISH GRAVES IN REMIREMONT, VOSGES
Posted by Appoline06, November 8, 2005. |
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The police was alerted(notified) on Monday evening by the degradation of about twenty steles of the Jewish square in the cemetery. An inquiry was in progress on Monday, November 7th, after the desecration of about twenty Jewish graves of the cemetery of Remiremont, in Vosges. The police was alerted(notified) on Monday evening by the degradation of about twenty steles of the Jewish square in the cemetery of Remiremont. Swastikas were registered on the marker pen on graves. Contact the writer at appoline06@yahoo.fr |
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PARISTINE
Posted by Steven Plaut, November 8, 2005. |
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This comes from www.WorldNetDaily.com and is archived at http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47285 It is called "French solution: Paristinian state." OK, enough is enough. It's clear France is no longer in control of its population. It's clear millions within its borders are struggling for freedom and independence. It's clear that these people are not rioting for the sake of rioting, they are responding to oppression from French authorities. It's clear that their uprising cannot be met with state violence, because that would only lead to a cycle of violence. It's clear that these freedom-fighters -- whom I have dubbed "Paristinians" -- want a state of their own. It's clear that the international community must force France to the negotiating table with these freedom fighters to begin the peace process that will inevitably lead to the creation of an autonomous, independent state of "Paristine." If it's good enough for Israel, it's good enough for the French surrender monkeys who have been leaders of the global movement to force the Jewish state into appeasement of terrorists. We've got to stop referring to this "intifada" in France as "riots." This is a movement for self-determination. This is a movement for independence. This is a movement for freedom from imperialism. The analogy is apt. That's not "Frère Jacques" they're singing in France. It's "Fire Jacques." The president of France can see the cinder in the eye of others, but is missing the beam in his own. What's good for the goose liver is good for the gander liver. The chicken cordon bleu has come home to roost. It's time for France to stop the hypocrisy. It's time for the French to take a dose of the medicine they have been handing out to the Jews of Israel. It's time to end the apartheid within its population. It's time for France to stop treating those poor, Muslim immigrants as second-class citizens. It's time to accept the only permanent solution that can address the root problem in French society -- the recognition of the Paristinians as a legitimate negotiating partner. Enough rubber bullets! Enough police repression! Enough calls for restraint! Enough with the threats! Before this cycle of violence spreads throughout all of Europe, France needs to do the right thing. The French have been speaking out of both sides of their mouths for too long. They've been speaking out of both of their nostrils for too long, too. If appeasement was the solution in Iraq, it's the solution for the "Paristinian" revolt. If appeasement was the solution for Hitler, it's the solution for the "Paristinian" revolt. If appeasement was the solution for Israel in dealing with its "Palestinian" problem, it's the solution for France's "Paristinian" uprising. As I mentioned yesterday in my column, if France has these kinds of systemic problems with its Muslim population, then it is time to partition France. It's time for an independent Muslim state to be created. After all, isn't that what France and other European nations have determined is the proper solution for Israel? These are not just riots. This is an intifada -- just like the one begun in 2000 within and around Israel. France and other countries, including the United States, have demanded that Israel meet those attacks with land concessions to the rioters and suicide bombers. That is the only viable, long-term solution, they say. They claim this violence will never cease until those oppressed by Israel are granted an independent, autonomous state of their own. Why should the solution be any different in France? Stop the violence! Now -- not at a snail's pace. The time has come to begin talks with the "Paristinians" about their own future homeland of "Paristine." Steven Plaut is an American-trained economist, a professor of business administration at Haifa University and author of "The Scout." He frequently comments - both seriously and satirically - on Israeli politics and the left wing academic community. His website address is http://www.stevenplaut.blogspot.com. |
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A JUST SOLUTION TO THE OPPRESSION OF MUSLIMS IN FRANCE
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, November 8, 2005. |
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This comes from www.WorldNetDaily.com and is archived at www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47260 The author, Joseph Farah, is founder, editor and CEO of WND, a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host, the founder of WND Books, and a nationally syndicated columnist with Creators Syndicate. It's strange that the civil war in France is not getting wider media attention. Imagine if this were happening in Israel? In case you've missed it (and I can certainly understand how that's possible with the spotty international coverage of this story), for nearly two weeks, spectacular riots by Muslim immigrants from North Africa as well as their descendants have brought Paris to its knees. The firebomb and arson attacks have spread to western Paris suburbs, Rouen in northern France, Dijon in the east and Marseille in the south. The attacks began primarily as clashes with police. Later businesses and warehouses were targeted with firebombs. Cars have been destroyed. In one attack, 23 buses at a depot were burned. Schools have also come under attack. A handicapped woman in her 50s was badly burned when rioters poured gasoline on a city bus and set it ablaze. It is now being characterized as all-out war. "This is immense violence," said Justice Minister Pascal Clement in Bobigny between Paris and the Charles de Gaulle airport. "I think all French are shocked to see things like this." Last Wednesday evening a gang of about 40 youths burst into the local shopping centre, next door to the police station, armed with baseball bats. They broke shop-front windows and hit sales assistants before making off with cash. It was 6:30 p.m. and the invasion "panicked" customers, according to the shopping center's director, Alex Mussawy. "This is not normal for Bobigny," he said. "We are almost in Paris. We are on the Metro line. This is the sort of thing that you hear about from the other more troubled suburbs." French police intelligence say there have been 70,000 acts of urban violence in the area this year alone. Officials in Seine Saint Denis said 187 vehicles were destroyed there in one night. French media reports say as many as 600 vehicles have been destroyed in the greater Paris region. There is concern the rioting could spread to other cities in France. "We're afraid that what's happening in Seine Saint Denis will spread," said Manuel Vallas, mayor of Evry, south of the capital. "We have to give these people a message of hope." It all began when two teenagers of North African origin died while fleeing the police. Day in and day out, French officials pledge to bring order -- but there is no order in sight. Therefore, it occurs to me that an international solution is in order. If France has these kinds of systemic problems with its Muslim population, then it is time to partition France. It's time for an independent Muslim state to be created. After all, isn't that what France and other European nations have determined is the proper solution for Israel? These are not just riots. This is an intifada -- just like the one begun in 2000 within and around Israel. France and other countries, including the United States, have demanded that Israel meet those attacks with land concessions to the rioters and suicide bombers. That is the only viable, long-term solution, they say. They claim this violence will never cease until those oppressed by Israel are granted an independent, autonomous state of their own. Why should the solution be any different in France? The global jihad has come home to Paris. Let's see if French officials impose upon their own population the same solution they demand upon the population of the Jewish state. After all, isn't the key to addressing the concerns of the jihadists to appease them? Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. Contact him at zelasko@actcom.co.il |
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PETTY REVENGE
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, November 8, 2005. |
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The difference between a great and a petty leader is the petty leader's need for personal vengeance. Where Prime Minister Menachem Begin cut a deal for the Sinai, it was done with regret and no vendetta against the pioneering settlers. Begin's advisors at the time were Ezer Weizmann, Moshe Dayan and finally Ariel Sharon. All of whom pushed hard for the quick divestment of the Sinai Desert. It was left for Arik Sharon to do the dirty work of forcing the Jews of Yamit and the surrounding farming communities from their homes. As in the 25 communities of Gaza/Gush Katif and the Northern Samaria, the Jews resisted and were hauled away. Here too Sharon destroyed all that the pioneering Jews had built. Fortunately, Sharon could only indulge his penchant for "getting even" with the resisting settlers - only so far. Those who were arrested for trying to save their homes and businesses, farms and synagogues, schools and cemeteries were released and their files were closed on Begin's orders. Here one separates a great leader from a petty, vengeful leader. One is decent and the other is vicious and calculating. Such negative talents perhaps fit the profile of a great general who fights vicious, unprincipled adversaries - often needing to become like them in order to successfully defeat them. But, the true leader of a nation does not lower himself to use vicious tricks against his own people. He does not harbor a deep grudge when they defy his orders. He does NOT use the Judges in the Courts as his own personal inquisitors to exact vengeance for assembling 40-50,000 soldiers and police men and women to force people out of their homes as if they were his personal enemies. He does not encourage the Police to beat protestors (even minors) and then encourage them to lie in Court, claiming the settlers attacked the police. He does NOT encourage Judges to ignore video evidence showing the Police holding a victim in a choke hold and then have those Police testify that the victim endangered them. When Sharon should have shown leniency, he instead insisted on Show Trials to exact his "Pound of Flesh". He could have issued an amnesty but, instead he urged the Police and the Courts to pound unmercifully on the resistors to his Expulsion. No one was exempt from Sharon's heavy hand - not 15 year Olds, not the elderly. While Sharon set the policy for the Police and the Courts, he had a large cheering section of Leftists and the Leftist Media in print, video and radio. While Sharon, in his dictatorial role, plays the generous benefactor in releasing thousands of convicted Arab Muslim Terrorists, he has only vicious enmity for those who dared to defy his orders of expulsion. He planned the Lie of taking care of all the Jews he drove out of their homes. We now see those Jews scattered around Israel, living like what are called "street people" in America. These were once hard-working, self-sustaining home builders and owners who were bodily thrown out of these beautiful homes on a theory that the Palestinians would be satisfied and President Bush could claim a fragmentation of victory out of cascading failing policies. There have been many great leaders in Israel but, you will have to look hard to find them in present-day Israel. Even the people following these petty role models seem not to care about the corruption in the Israeli Government, Courts, the Police, and even the once admired Military officers' corps. In the meantime, Sharon and his gaggle of party hacks and thugs demonizing the most decent and hard working Israelis and calls them settlers with a nasty smirk on his face. Hopefully, one day a Peoples' Court will gather in this gang of uglies and will indict them on charges of crimes against the Jewish people. As I was proof-reading this article at 6 A.M. on November 8th, I looked at the headlines of the morning's Jerusalem Post. It read "PM VOWS CONSEQUENCES AGAINST REBELS". This referred to the November 7th vote on Sharon's attempt to appoint two party hacks, Roni Bar-On and Ze'ev Boim as a reward for prior votes they cast in his favor. This time he lost the vote 60 to 54 and then vowed vengeance against those who voted against him. MK Uzi Landau said that Sharon's defeat in the vote marked "the curbing of the culture of political aggression" and "boosted clean politics". (1) As we have often said, Uzi Landau is "One Honest Man" who should lead the Likud Party in the next elections. ### 1. "PM VOWS CONSEQUENCES AGAINST REBELS" by Gil Hoffman & Sheera Claire Frenkel JERUSALEM POST November 8, 2005 Emanuel Winston is a commentator and Middle East analyst. His articles appear often on Think-Israel and Gamla. He is a member of the Board of Directors and a research associate of the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies (http://www.freeman.org/online.htm). |
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ARAB INVOLVEMENT IN INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Posted by Israel Zwick, November 7, 2005. |
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Supporters of the State of Israel will soon learn the answer to one of the most vexing questions that have been plaguing them since the beginning of the Palestinian intifada in September, 2000. The question is: Why does the international media continue to misrepresent Israel and demonize it for a "harsh military occupation that is violating the human rights of the Palestinian people and establishing illegal Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian lands?" In contrast, there is an outpouring of sympathy for the "poor, oppressed, disenfranchised Palestinians who are struggling for liberation from the lengthy Israeli occupation." The stories on the Arab-Israeli conflict in the international media have more spin on them than a Chanukah dreidl. The reasons for this will soon become evident at the upcoming conference of the Arab Thought Foundation in Dubai, UAE, on December 5, 2005 (www.arabandworldmedia.org). The conference will take place near the new, high-tech Dubai Media City (www.dubaimediacity.com). What is Dubai? Dubai is a coastal area on the Persian Gulf. It is one of the seven emirates that comprise the United Arab Emirates, which is located on the Gulf, between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The UAE is among the smaller Arab states. With an area of 83,000 sq. km, it is slightly smaller than the State of Maine but almost four times the size of the State of Israel. Its population is only about 2.5 million, of which more than half are non-nationals. Three of the September 11 hijackers came from the UAE. Though relatively small in size, the UAE is one of the wealthiest of the 22 Arab states. On February 7, 2005, FDI magazine, a publication of Financial Times in London, named Dubai the "Middle Eastern City of the Future." The magazine noted that, "Major achievements include the creation of the largest man-made harbour in the world, a huge industrial complex, and the creation of a major air travel hub and financial services center for the entire region." The article then went on to list "more than a dozen big investment projects scheduled for completion before 2010, representing investment of significantly more than $12 billion." In a lengthy article in its travel section on May 8, 2005, The New York Times called Dubai, "The Oz of the Middle East." The article observed that Dubai's Emirates Office Tower is the tallest building in the Middle East, about 25 meters shorter than the Empire State Building. Dubai is currently building what will be the world's tallest building, the Burj Dubai. At close to 800 meters, the Burj Dubai will be more than twice the size of the Empire State Building. It will even dwarf the Petronas Towers in Malaysia and Taipei 101 in Taiwan. What is the Arab Thought Foundation Conference? According to its website, www.arabandworldmedia.org, "Top journalists and media executives from around the world will join their Arab colleagues at the invitational gathering in Dubai on the 5th and 6th of December 2005. Delegates will discuss changes in the Arab world, build relationships, validate assumptions, develop a deeper understanding of the region, and make sure they are Getting it Right (sic). The format will be highly interactive, led by provocative moderators, who will elicit candor, and manage debate about complex questions." There is a long list of speakers for the conference. The first of the Key Speakers is HRH Alwaleed bin Talal, who is described as a "tycoon prince for his very successful investment ventures. His portfolio is strong in media and entertainment companies, and he will share his insights on the best media investments today." The website for the Conference also acknowledged the assistance of the Arab Advisors Group, www.arabadvisors.com. This group contains a number of highly educated and experienced people in the area of Information Services. The president is Jawad Jalal Albassi, a telecommunications expert who was trained in Boston, Mass. What is Dubai Media City? According to its website, www.dubaimediacity.com, "Dubai Media City has grown into a bustling media community of more than 300 companies including CNN, Reuters, Sony Broadcast, and pan-Arabic broadcaster MBC. Dubai Internet City is a vibrant international community of global IT companies eager to take advantage of Dubai's strategic position in the Middle East. HP, Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, and Canon are just a few of the companies already established in Dubai Internet City." The website then goes on to boast about the high-tech equipment in Dubai Media City for satellite broadcasting services. Samples of Information from UAE The website, www.arabic2000.com, lists an enormous number of Arabic newspapers, magazines, internet guides, and websites. It would be beyond the scope of this article to review them. Instead, this section will focus only on the online newspapers from UAE that are listed in the website, www.onlinenewspapers.com. This website lists 12 online newspapers for UAE, some in Arabic and some in English. On October 27, 2005, www.7days.ae, reported the Iranian president's call for the destruction of Israel. One of the readers commented, "As 7 days frequently claims to report facts objectively, it seems like a glaring omission not to have mentioned the wholesale condemnation of Ahmadinejad's proclamation. It is not only the Americans and the Israelis who have spoken out against him, but also many other countries and the Secretary General of the UN, but probably most significantly, the Palestinians themselves. Your objectivity is drawn into question by the facts you choose not to report." On November 4, 2005, www.gulf-news.com, published an article by Dr. Pascal Boniface that was highly critical of the comments by the Iranian president. This was followed by a rebuttal by staff writer, Manal Alafrangi, which excused Ahmadinejad and blamed "Israel's actual behaviour against the Palestinians." On November 3, 2005, Gulf Today reported, "Palestinian resistance fighters shot dead an Israeli soldier on a raid -- a day after an air strike killed two commanders of armed groups == later in the day, a Palestinian resistance fighter was killed in a West Bank gun battle." Then it quoted a Hamas leader who said, "The quiet will end at the end of this year. The quiet is meaningless because Israel continues to kill." The same day, gulfnews.com, reported the incident as follows, "On Tuesday, a Hamas activist and a top fugitive from another armed group were killed in an Israeli air strike in a Gaza refugee camp." Protracted Refugee Situations The repeated references by Arab media to "Palestinian refugee camps" are a sham. On June 10, 2004, the UNHRC issued a report on "Protracted Refugee Situations." The report cites the dimensions of the problem: "Using a crude measure of refugee populations of 25,000 persons or more who have been in exile for five or more years in developing countries, and excluding Palestinian refugees who fall under the mandate of UNRWA, it is estimated that at the end of 2003, there were 38 different protracted situations in the world, accounting for some 6.2 million refugees in total." However, most of the world knows very little about all of these protracted refugees in Africa and Southeast Asia. That's because they're living in tents and don't have what to eat. Unlike the Palestinians, they don't have any websites, newspapers, and broadcast media to publicize their plight. It should be obvious that the "plight of the Palestinian refugees" is only a big hoax being perpetrated by the oil-rich Gulf States and their involvement with international broadcast, print, and online media. The "plight of the Palestinian refugees" is an Arab creation that can easily be resolved with a little bit of the billions of dollars that the Gulf States are getting in oil revenues. All four million of the so-called "Palestinian refugees" can easily be resettled comfortably in the UAE or other sparsely populated oil-rich states. They would be eager to go there if offered decent living conditions and economic opportunities. Considering the rapid growth of Dubai and the UAE, that should not be a problem. Dubai Media City has the potential to promote peace and prosperity in the Middle East. If it uses its resources instead to promote hatred and intolerance, then all of the billions of dollars invested will be wasted in the continued violence going on around the world. Contact Israel Zwick at israel.zwick@earthlink.net |
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IDF FEARS GAZA TERROR GANGS MOVING TO JUDEA AND SAMARIA
Posted by Bryna Berch, November 7, 2005. |
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Leaving Gaza sure made Israel more secure. But at least Sharon doesn't have to worry the Arabs will kill him - he's their best friend. This was written by Zvie Ben Gedalyahu and appeared in Arutz-Sheva (www.IsraelNN.com) today. 
The IDF has arrested several Arab terrorists trying to bring Kassam rocket technology and parts into Judea and Samaria, but intelligence officials do not how many have slipped by. One soldier who patrols the Judean Desert said, "You wouldn't believe the weapons we have caught in smuggling attempts." Residents in the Tel Aviv suburbs in the Sharon area said Friday they also are concerned about the increasingly likelihood of rocket and mortar shell attacks and have asked the government to install Red Dawn alert systems as has been done in Sderot and Ashkelon. The siren alert gives residents 20 seconds to run for cover in the event of an attack. Brig.-Gen. Yair Golan, head of the IDF forces in Judea and Samaria, feels that the truce called by the terror organizations in their war against Israel is essentially dead. "We see in all the [terror] organizations processes of building the infrastructure, with weapons [and] organization, so that if this truce ends, we will face... an operational challenge," Golan told United Press International (UPI). Referring to last month's suicide bombing in Hadera that killed five Israelis, Brig.-Gen. Golan said he doubts claims by Fatah that it was behind the attack. He told UPI he is "99 percent" sure that Hamas launched the attack. But the Hamas terrorists often act on behalf of the Popular Resistance Committees, which sprung up in Gaza at the beginning of the Oslo War in September 2000. Its attempts to transplant terror cells from Gaza to Judea and Samaria were revealed to the public last month when three of its senior members were arrested after having crossed from Gaza to Sinai en route to Jenin. Both the lengthy Egyptian-Israeli border and the Judean Desert, where there is no security fence, provide terrorists with an open area to transport weapons and ammunition. Gen. Dan Harel, who recently left his post as head of the IDF Southern Command, said earlier this week that the 250-kilometer (155-mile) international border along the Sinai Peninsula is a cause for worry, In Samaria over the past two weeks, soldiers targeted several Islamic Jihad terrorists who headed a gang in the Jenin area. "We harmed this terrorist cell quite significantly but this is not the end," said Brig. Gen. Golan, He said he believes the Islamic Jihad has about a dozen more cells. In the south, Arab terrorists continued to fire mortar shells and Kassam rockets on the western Negev this week, wounding one soldier and one woman. "We will not accept a situation of even half a Kassam fired from Gaza to Israel," according to an unnamed Southern Command officer quoted by UPI. |
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GUSH KATIF VIEWPONT: SEARCHING FOR SUPPORT
Posted by Rachel Saperstein, November 8, 2005. |
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PART I: Oct 31, 2005. enroute to Toronto I am in New York now and soon to board a Canadian Airline plane for Toronto. I've come to tell the story of my people, the homeless of Gush Katif. When I tell people that I am from Gush Katif, they are embarrassed for me. The 'New York Jew' once proud of the fighting Jew of Gush Katif now treat me with the look one bestows on the loser, the homeless, the unemployed. The Israeli government has succeeded in turning a vital people into outcasts- an embarrassment to the Jew of the Diaspora. I spoke to a group of dedicated pro-Israel, pro YESHA guests at a fund raiser in a lovely apartment on Park Avenue, an area of canopied apartment houses and uniformed doormen. The hostess and the maid welcomed me as well as Helen Freedman of Americans For A Safe Israel, who chaired the meeting. The home was lovely and I was the homeless of Gush Katif! But I am Rachel Saperstein a media person whom they had seen on TV, heard on the radio, and read about in all major magazines and newspapers. Dressed in a business suit with my orange Gush Katif scarf around my neck, I was indeed displaced, but sill erect with pride and dignity. I talked about our last day in Neve Dekalim. I talked about the masses of troops used in this battle to break down our resistance. The listeners were aghast that the Gush Katif people are continuing to pay monthly mortgage payments on their homes now reduced to rubble and on the ship containers where their personal and household belongings are stored. I talked about how most of the people have not received any compensation. This came as a shock to most of the people as they had believed the Government pronouncements to the contrary. And they asked questions, questions I could not answer. Why aren't you letting the world media know the truth? Why aren't you telling the Rabbis so they can help your cause -- Why don't you form a coalition of women to speak to Ariel Sharon and discuss your plight with him -- Why don't you speak to the Knesset, the Supreme court, President Bush... Why don't you...Why don't you? I listened to their disbeliefs, their suggestions, their pleas, and their distress. I had few answers. I am sitting on the plane waiting for takeoff and wondering what I will say to the Jewish people of Toronto and Montreal locked in their spacious homes concerned with their community and family day to day affairs which are indeed very far removed from our situation. How do I explain Operation Dignity and our Band Aid Fund that I will be presenting -- How can I explain the desperate need of our once prosperous families who are now without jobs who need even the small amount of cash that the fund provides -- What awaits me in Canada, I do not know. They are not New York Jews whom I know, but they are Jews with Jewish hearts. Many survived the Holocaust and therefore know first hand the sense of hopelessness and the need to start again. We will get along fine... PART 2. I am at Kennedy Airport waiting for my El Al flight to Israel. I am going home. The woman at the ElAl counter asked me where my home is in Israel. "I have no home. I live in a hotel." Confusion on her face. "I was expelled from Gush Katif." Eyes opened wide. "You are from Gush Katif? Good luck to you." I spent an intense week in Toronto and Montreal. My days were endless -- meetings with school principals, rabbis, influential attorneys and financiers, Canadian UJA, parlor meetings, newspaper interviews and myriad unscheduled talks. The Zionist Council of Toronto arranged my accommodations and meetings. I was shepherded from event to event, each time to tell our story -- still no compensation, still no homes, still no jobs and still no community solutions. UJA representatives assured me proudly that the UJA had given our children schoolbags. I looked at them with sadness in my eyes and pointed out that I was handing out packets of cash to over 450 families. The Canadian Jewish community had raised over a billion dollars for the refugees of the Katerina hurricane in Louisiana and the earthquake in Pakistan. And homeless refugee children from Gush Katif had received schoolbags. Clearly the UJA and most other Jewish organizations had been duped by the government of Israel into believing that we had been well taken care of. B'nai Akiva school boys, 9th and 10th graders, heard me speak and said they would like to send money from their Student Charity Fund. I thanked them and was warmed by their concern. Teenagers from the National Council of Synagogue youth were enthusiastic to let their peers know our story. They asked me to speak at a Shabbaton in New York, but my flight home was already booked. I was sorry to have to miss this chance to meet and challenge the youth of North America. I spoke to a group of retirees. "What a terrible thing they did to you. But that about the Arabs who lost their jobs? What will happen to them?" Introduced by the host of a Thornhill parlor meeting I listened to a very sincere description of his group's visit to Gush Katif shortly before the eviction. "People" I said, trying to light fires, "this expulsion of Jews is going to happen again and again throughout Israel. Are you preparing for the coming battle?" A sense of helplessness pervaded the room. "What can we do?" "Work together. You are all bright, dedicated professionals. Organize now!" People spoke to one another in excited groups as they sampled the cakes and fruit. "You gave a powerful speech" said one smiling man, "but I've got to get home. I have an early golf date in the morning." In Montreal for Shabbat I spoke at a magnificent synagogue. Few young adults were in attendance. The rabbi, young and enthusiastic, dared not mention in his synagogue newsletter that the scheduled Shabbat speaker was from Gush Katif. "I was openly for Gush Katif. I paid dearly but I would do it again," he confided. Israeli government representatives had warned the rabbi -- had warned all the rabbis -- not to interfere in Israel's "internal affairs". I asked not only for money for the Band Aid Fund, but more than that. "Get the Canadian builders and developers involved. Let them build the new Gush Katif. Everyone will benefit!" My request hit a chord. Many came over to show support for the idea. Let's see what will develop between our people and the Canadians. I stayed at the large home of a Holocaust survivor, now a widow. She spoke movingly of the Jews endless fight for survival. "Jews are always being thrown out. What's new about that? So start again. That's what Jews always do." ?But that's not supposed to happen in Israel" I countered. "Having our own land was supposed to end that phenomenon." "Never believe anyone," she mused knowingly. Rachel Saperstein and her husband were residents of Neve Dekalim, Gush Katif, Gaza. They are now homeless refugees, residing at Jerusalem Gold Hotel. |
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KING DAVID'S TOMB TO BE HANDED TO VATICAN
Posted by Ellen W. Horowitz, November 7, 2005. |
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This comes from Michael Resnick of the Diaspora Yeshiva. Contact him by phone at (02) 671 6841 or by email at torahnet613@yahoo.com The Diaspora Yeshiva Toras Yisrael, located on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem, is contesting Israel's plan to transfer parts of the Tomb of King David to the Vatican on November 14th. King David's Tomb is located on Mt. Zion and is considered to be one of the holiest sites in Judaism. On November 1st, the Dean of the Yeshiva, Dr. Rabbi Modechai Goldstein was handed a draft copy of a portion of the new agreement between the State of Israel and the Vatican. Israel plans to the transfer of much of the Crusader Era Complex which houses the Last Supper Room located directly over King David's Tomb to the Church. This new agreement changes the status quo of holy sites in Israel contrary to the agreement of 1948, and which was reaffirmed in 1993 in the Fundamental Agreement Between the Holy See and the State of Israel. According to Rabbi Herman, Senior Director of the Diaspora Yeshiva, the Catholic Church wants more than to acquire the Last Supper room from the State of Israel. While the Vatican has been preparing to take custody of the Last Supper Room, the Order of Franciscan Friars in Jerusalem, which administers the Custody of the Holy Land, plans to take control of the public walkways throughout the Crusader Era Complex. It is rumored that Mr. David Bartholdy of Haifa, has been fronted bribe-money by a Friar Pierre Patista, a top Franciscan official in Jerusalem, to make his way through the Israeli bureaucracy. So far, he has succeeded. In a November 2 radio interview on Israel National News, Rabbi Herman said, "We know about a lot of envelopes of 10,000 dollars more or less being passed around amongst people. I know two people who've come to us and have told us [that] one was offered 300,000 dollars, one more than that, to help try and persuade the Yeshiva to vacate their properties in the King David's Tomb area so that the Church can totally take over." Bartholdy is working with Keresz-Groag, an architectural firm that specializes in revitalizing historic urban sites, and the Israel Lands Authority. The Ministry of Tourism has set its sites on Mount Zion for its lucrative tourist income. Upon recommendation from the Municipality of Jerusalem and the Lands Authority, Bartholdy has been negotiating to privately purchase the public pathways within Crusader Era Complex. Normally, the Lands Authority requires open bidding on purchases of public sites. But in this case, a private citizen is being allowed to unilaterally purchase all access routes to one of Judaism's holiest sites. There has been no bidding. There has been no Knesset approval. The usual legal requirements are being waived because Bartholdy has influenced a recommendation from the ruling authorities. Along with the public pathways, Bartholdy has also purchased a Muslim cemetery adjacent to the Complex. The Muslim cemetery will be desecrated to make an exclusive entrance to the Last Supper Room. Bartholdy plans to close off the Complex's public areas and charge a proposed $10.00 per person to visit during peak hours. As part of the plan, the Complex will become a Catholic tourist site. Non-Catholics will be required to obtain prior written permission from the Custody of the Holy Land to use buildings within the Complex. Per Article 4, Sec. 1 of the Fundamental Agreement of 1993, the State of Israel and the Holy See mutually agree not to change the Status quo of Christian sites. Nevertheless, under the new agreement, the Church will begin holding Catholic Mass in the Last Supper Room from 6:00am-8:00am daily. Currently, the Diaspora Yeshiva oversees the entire Complex and allows open access to anyone inspired to visit this holy site, which is also a synagogue. Thousands of people from all religions visit the Tomb monthly, which is kept open all night during certain holidays and for other special religious occasions. The new plan proposes that Jews will only be allowed free access to the Tomb from 7:00-9:00 in the morning. Under the auspices of the Vatican, the Complex will be closed at 9:00 p.m. Last week the Yeshiva retained Dr. S. Berkowitz of Jerusalem as legal counsel, and is pursuing legal action. The Yeshiva has also appealed to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, President Moshe Katsav, Tourist Minister Avraham Hirchson, and Efrat Strauss of the Lands Authority, to stop the proposed agreement. |
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IDF FORCES ENTER JENIN
Posted by Hillel Fendel, November 7, 2005. |
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The army has begun retaliating for the murderous terror attack in Hadera with a "limited maneuver" in Jenin. Ground offensives in Gaza are also expected. PM Sharon: "We won't accept terrorism." IDF forces entered the PA-controlled terrorist-haven city of Jenin in the Shomron this afternoon (Thursday), arresting at least one terrorist leader amidst scattered gunfire. One report states that two Israel Air Force helicopters were seen overhead, while 40 jeeps and tanks entered the city. Israel says it is a "limited" maneuver. The offensive was the first concrete result of a high-level security consultation that followed yesterday's murderous attack in Hadera. The attack claimed five lives and wounded 28 others. Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz convened the consultation in Tel Aviv, and resolved to wage comprehensive war - by the army, police, and General Security Service - against the terrorist infrastructures in the Shomron. The series of measures decided upon included these: * A general closure has been clamped down on all of Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Gaza's Karni and Erez Crossings have been closed, after being opened only yesterday morning. Only in cases of special humanitarian need will goods be allowed out of or into the closed areas. Security forces operating in Judea and Samaria arrested 11 Islamic Jihad and Hamas terrorists in various Shomron areas last night. Among them was the father of the Islamic Jihad terrorist who blew himself up in Hadera yesterday. Speaking this morning, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said, "The army's operations will be unceasing and widespread until terrorism stops. Unfortunately, the Palestinian Authority has not taken significant steps to fight terrorism. Under no circumstances will we accept continued terrorism." Sharon's words were reminiscent of past statements he has made. On Aug. 12, 2003, for instance, addressing thousands of Birthright participants in Jerusalem, Sharon said there would be no progress on the diplomatic front as long as the terror continues and the PA takes no action against it. He placed the blame on [PA leader] Abu Mazen, who, Sharon said, "is not fulfilling his obligation to fight terrorism." Exactly three months earlier, on May 12, 2003, Sharon said that the time was ripe for Abu Mazen to take action against the terrorists: "If they are given a chance to re-organize, to manufacture and smuggle in weapons, they will be quiet for a few months - and then [the terrorism] will erupt again. This will, of course, force us to take very vigorous action, because we will under no circumstances accept terrorism against us." Hillel Fendel is senior editor, Arutz-Sheva. |
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A BUS RIDE AND JEWISH DESTINY...
Posted by Judy Lash Balint, November 7, 2005. |
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This comes from Ze'ev Orenstein of Maale Adumim. Email him at zevinzion@yahoo.com Today, I had an experience which had it happened to me anywhere else but in Israel, I believe would have pretty much ruined my day, but happening in Israel, it gave me one more reason to appreciate how fortunate I am to be living here. It started off with a bus ride into Jerusalem, in the midst of which the skies opened up and began pouring rain. (It happens to be that in Israel, rain puts me in a good mood, as rain is such a precious commodity here, and it gives me the feeling that Hashem is listening to our prayers). I got off at Jerusalem's Central Bus Station, as I had a meeting outside of Jerusalem, in the vicinity of Latrun. Unfortunately, as I got off the bus I realized that I had gotten off one stop too soon, and I was forced to begin walking alongside the highway, with the rain still coming down. At that moment I received a call from the person I was meeting, informing me that he was unable to make our meeting (which meant that I had schlepped out for nothing). As I began the 15 minute or so walk to the bus stop back to Jerusalem the rain stopped, the clouds parted, and the sun began to shine. The air felt clean, and as I looked around me, I took in the lush green hills, the cactus with their sabras, and I thought of how fortunate I was to just being able to walk through a different part of the Land of Israel. The area of Latrun holds special significance to the Jewish People, among the events that occured in this area include: 1) The battle most identified with the Latrun area is the battle of Joshua ben Nun, which took place in the area of Beit Horon against the five Amorite kings in the 13th century BCE. Joshua, who made an alliance with the Givonites, came to protect them when the five kings sought to punish them for that pact. His famous cry, "Sun, stand still upon Giv'on; and moon, in the valley of Ayalon" (Joshua 10:12-13) 2) Among the battles of the Maccabees, the battle of Emaos is the most mentioned (Maccabees 1, 3\38 - 4\35) because of the importance of Judah the Maccabi's victory over the Seljuks in the year 167 BCE. It was during this battle that the military and leadership accomplishments of Judah the Maccabi reached their peak. 3) Latrun, situated on the road to Jerusalem and, thanks to its geographic location, a dominant stop along the caravan routes to and from Jerusalem, was considered an important and key goal for conquest. During the War of Independence, three separate operations were executed in order to capture Latrun from the hands of the Jordanian Arab Legion, and open the road to the besieged Jewish Jerusalem. "Operation Ben Nun I," "Operation Ben Nun II" and "Operation Yoram." Not one of these attempts resulted in the desired goal - the conquest of Latrun. However, valiant action took place leading to the opening of the famous Burma Road, which circumvented latrun, and broke the Arab siege. Many of the Israeli conscripts had just survived the Holocaust and were new immigrants; most were poorly trained. The equipment was also very poor, and artillery support was lacking. The official combined number of casualties for both the battles was 139 (an extremely high figure for an assault conducted mainly by two battalions). Latrun remained a mined enclave until our forces vanquished it during the Six Day War, in 1967. The road was reopened and the fort became a museum and a memorial site for Israel's armored forces. As I walked alongside the raod, I was humbled by the knowledge that here I was, walking in the footsteps of generations of Jewish heroes who fought and died so that the Jewish people could live as proud Jews in a sovereign Jewish State in the Land of Israel. To the Jewish heroes, all I can offer is my heartfelt gratitude and thanks. I can only hope that I can do my part, following in your footsteps, fighting for a strong and proud Israel and Jewish Nation, so that your sacrifices should not have been in vain. All this from a bus ride on a rainy day in Israel. Nothing else can compare to the feeling a Jew gets from walking in the Land of his forefathers and knowing he has finally come home and is another link in the glorious chain of the Jewish People and Jewish History and Destiny. Nothing comes close. Judy Lash Balint is an investigative journalist and author of "Jerusalem Diaries: In Tense Times" (Gefen). It is available for purchase from www.israelbooks.com |
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CRITICAL MASS
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, November 7, 2005. |
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For many years I have been posting articles which spoke to the gathering of Muslims in Host countries and then achieving "Critical Mass". This is now surfacing in France as the Muslims have reached that point in a "Critical Mass" where there is something like a spontaneous combustion. (This is where combustible materials are piled together in sufficient quantity to generate flammable heat that bursts into flames.) The politicians in France who allowed France to become a ready receptacle for Muslims (now approximately 5 million) are now trying to explain, placate, snivel and whine that it is "not our fault". They fear gathering up the rioters and simply deporting them to whatever country of origin from which they and their families immigrated. They fear shooting the rioters who are burning everything and anything they can - lest the rioters "get angry"! We have been watching Muslims riot around the globe and we pretend that it is only "an aberration" that will pass. Only it doesn't pass and it continues to grow exponentially. While we see the rioting in France grow daily with great violence, we can assume it will leap across the English Channel, inspiring the Muslims in Britain to unleash whatever power they have accumulated in their growing "Critical Mass". In America cities such as Dearborn and Flint, Michigan where Islam has started to take over. In America, the great melting pot, we see Islamic organizations threatening major corporations like MacDonalds, Disney Corporation, Nike - among others, demanding special privileges for Muslims. Factories and business cannot run when a critical mass of Muslim workers demand that work stop 5 times a day so all can move off the floor to a prayer room for Muslims. When Disney gets a demand/threat the executives think about, not as a work stoppage but rather a large bomb because that's what Islamists do to make a point. Just in, are several reports that Muslims are starting to riot in Germany. More on this as the news develops. So the nations who condemned Israel for fighting Muslim Arabs merely to stay alive are now themselves facing the same threat. So, what's next? Well, must a lot of Jews die before self-interested politicians and the army moves to protect the nation? Europe and the U.S. will likely delay moving against Iran and Syria as they threaten the world. Clearly, significant parts of these nations should be turned into rubble before they try to do the same to us. The major cities of the World will first face riots then some may be hit with radiation bombs or worse - only then will Gabriel's Horn sound in their ears - if we are alive to hear it. If you want a recommended alternate view, I suggest you pull up 1. "The Eurabia War" by Mark Steyn in the NEW YORK SUN of November 7, 2005. http://www.nysun.com/article/22641 2. "Paris Police Fear Rioters' Heavy Arms" by Jennifer Joan Lee WASHINGTON TIMES November 7, 2005 www.washingtontimes.com/function/print.php?StoryID=20051107-122439-9 3. "Why France is Burning" Daily Mail Nov. 7, 2005 4. "France's Ramadan Uprising - A Ticking Bomb for Europe" DEBKAfile special report November 7, 2005 5. "Chirac Addresses Issue of Violence" AP Israeli & Global News from Murray Kahl Emanuel Winston is a commentator and Middle East analyst. His articles appear often on Think-Israel and Gamla. He is a member of the Board of Directors and a research associate of the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies (http://www.freeman.org/online.htm). |
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THE DEEPER DISENGAGEMENT STORY
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, November 7, 2005. |
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At the beginning, most thought that Sharon's plans and judgement were merely a flawed attempt to placate President Bush and energize his "Road Map" plan. Those not in on Sharon's typical long range planning saw what Sharon wanted them to see. When the best of Israel's Military and Intelligence Staff warned him repeatedly that the "Disengagement" would bring all of the various Muslim Arab Terror organizations both into Gaza first and then into Judea and Samaria next, Sharon ignored all reports from the field and fired those experts for blowing the whistle on his vaunted "Disengagement". It wasn't always like this. In his days as a Super-General, Sharon relied heavily on military Intelligence and he planned accordingly. Why now did he do the exact opposite - almost as if he was assisting the Arab Muslim Palestinians deploy and arm themselves. One would have to go back and track the first plans and contacts with Yassir Arafat to force all Jews from the territories of Judea, Samaria, Gaza, the Golan Heights and all of Jerusalem which he had helped liberate in 1967. Remember that, whatever portfolio he had in subsequent governments, he also pushed the incredible enterprise of a successful chain of settlements that are now villages, towns and cities in those territories. Enter Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres whose illegal meetings in the early 1980s with Arafat was to result in pressure being applied in phases against those pioneering settlers who built those communities with their own blood, sweat and often money. Roughly, it was first to apply economic pressure accompanied by delayed building permits, delayed installation of electrical grids, water lines, sewage disposal and road building. Then there were to be certain money offers to those settlers who moved into those areas because housing was cheaper and the Land was beautiful. (We didn't know then as we do now that the money was to come from European and U.S. Arabists to purge Jews from Judea, Samaria and Gaza.) Next, pressure was to be applied against those who lived there for ideological purposes. This was to employ all of the aforementioned pressures plus a mix of military pressures, namely the removal of protective patrols and checkpoints - in effect, making the simple task of traveling more dangerous. Enter Arafat! The Arab Muslim Palestinian role was to insure the danger to Israeli Jews. This included, as we all know, drive-by shootings, sabotage, kidnaping, stoning and killing young hikers. Later, of course, came suicide/homicide bombings of buses, shopping centers, religious sites and celebrations, recreational facilities and car bombings in central Israel. Arafat was indeed a partner Israel could depend upon to kill Jews, to teach young Arab Muslim children to hate and kill. PM Yitzhak Rabin prepared attack squads called "Yatom" to go against the settlers, using the pretense that they were driving them out to save them from the dangers posed by Arafatian Terrorists. As history proves, this didn't work. The "Plan" was shelved temporarily but kept available to evolve into the "Olso Accords" by 1991. Here again we find Rabin, Peres and Beilin's fingerprints on a plan to subvert Israel's security and sovereignty by picking up where the first Plan left off, namely, driving the pioneering Jewish settlers out of the Jewish Land, called the "territories". While Sharon wasn't stage front with the main Leftists, nevertheless, he can be remembered for his ideology of his failed political party called "Shlomzion" which advocated a Palestinian State. Apparently, Sharon knew then where the Palestinian State would be placed. Sharon is also remembered for his joining Ezer Weizmann and Moshe Dayan in advising then PM Menachem Begin to give up the Sinai Desert, its oil and infrastructure, including the evacuation of Yamit and other smaller communities - abandoning $17 Billion worth of infrastructure and military depth. Sharon repeated the Yamit pattern in August by uprooting and expelling 10,000 Jewish men, women and children from 25 Jewish communities, which they had developed into a beautiful, bountiful thriving economic bonanza in Israeli agriculture. This attitude and mind-set to strip Jewish Land of Jews was always there to see but, no one could believe that Arik Sharon was actually either a closet Leftist or merely an amoral opportunist, ready to adopt any political party's ideology IF it advanced his own good fortunes. Sharon knew the military advise he received from his top Generals and Intelligence Staff was accurate. What they didn't understand was that the Palestinian Terrorist Arab Muslim advancement into what is pejoratively called "The West Bank", as predicted by his top officers, was exactly what he wanted to happen after sweeping Gaza/Gush Katif "Judenrein" (Free of Jews). This was the very same plan initiated in the '80s by Rabin and Peres, advanced into Oslo, blipped into the 80% withdrawal from Hevron by Bibi Netanyahu, swung at with another try by PM Ehud Barak at Sharm al Sheik under Bill Clinton with another try with a full court press under Sharon and Bush with Yossi Beilin's Geneva plan in the background. In brief, IF the Terrorists can pour through the Gazan breech, assisted by the Egyptians (which they already have, along with a tonnage of advanced weapons - all of Judea and Samaria will be under siege). Naturally, Sharon will put on a show of defense and bluster but, how many empty buildings can he find to blow up? How many publicity sweeps to capture Arab Muslim Palestinian Terrorists in Jenin, Tulkarm, Nablus (Schechem), Ramallah, etc. - only to release them as all those previous infamous gestures of "good faith". (Recall that Israeli Intelligence confirmed that 40 to 50% returned to perpetrating acts of Terror.) But, all of this shooting, aerial bombing - with the hostile Media spinning stories of those always screaming Arab women mourning in pride the deaths of their Terrorist sons. This will be followed by the insistence of the Western nations to enter the fray. Sharon, Peres and the Left will accept foreign troops into Israel's sovereign borders, claiming that they have no choice. (Something like the present first move to bring the E.U. (European Union into Rafah as one of those porous lines previously deployed in Lebanon by the U.N. In brief, with collusion between Sharon and Peres, the European "camel's" nose is now deep into the Israeli tents. Several agendas will be fulfilled as per the following - in no particular order: 1. The Rabin-Peres-Sharon Left agenda will evacuate all the Jews from Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) - if they are allowed to. 2. To use foreign troops to augment the force needed to push Jews out of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) - as follows: 3. To use Sharon's Wall/Fence as the line of demarcation border for another State of Palestine while selling the concept that it is only for the safety of the Israeli settlers. (All future Rockets and Missiles over the Fence or tunnels under, will be ignored as merely a nuisance to put up with. 4. Within this Plan will be the abandonment of the Golan Heights, already offered by Rabin, Peres, Barak - and presumably now already on the negotiating table - using Dov Weisglass and Ehud Olmert, among others, working under cover. 5. Bush will be able to claim "Road Map" success, even as it fails - something like his claims of success in Iraq. 6. Pre-planning of Sharon's Propaganda Machine to either ignore Terrorist/Activists launched from Gaza or in the "West Bank" or make speeches about how he will not tolerate Terror but, of course, he already has and still tolerates it. 7. One goal of the Sharon-Peres collaboration is to destroy the power of observant Jewry. By breaking up the communities of West Bank Jewry, as he did in Gaza, he and the Left will have completed what was the concept of the Labor Left in terms of de-Judaizing Israel and converting her into a nation like all other nations, namely, observant Jews as a weak minority to be tolerated like a pet one keeps around like a romantic souvenir of past good times. 8. Sharon will enlist the so-called Leaders of World Jewry, knowing that they are ideologically weak and need the status of Sharon's recognition to maintain their self-anointment as leaders of consequence. 9. It is imperative for Sharon that both the Government and the Courts are kept in the hands of the Left, lest a "Peoples' Court" is convened and all those who have subverted the Jewish nation are brought to trial and convicted of a wide range of crimes, including sedition, crimes against the Jewish people, treason, misfeasance and malfeasance of office, embezzlement, perjury and conspiracy to commit murder. (Here we speak of the Rabin assassination, the strange deaths of his bodyguard and other witnesses, the mysterious death of Raful (Raphael Eitan) on a breakwater near Haifa from a "Rogue Wave" - after he came out against Sharon's "Disengagement".) 10. The Sharon-Bush agenda of bringing armed Egyptian soldiers back into the demilitarized Sinai. Here we see America's early plans of arming the Egyptians with more than $68 Billion and growing of the best American armaments on the presumption that Egypt will eventually occupy Saudi Arabia as a "protectorate" and, thereby, serve American oil interests. (They of course, have ignored the obvious resultant take-over by Egypt of the Muslim Brotherhood, thereby, inheriting Egypt's vast inventory of American weapons.) When they occupy Saudi Arabia, the vast Saudi armory will be added to Egypt's making it the greatest military colossus of the Middle East. I could continue but, needless to say, the leaders of Israel, the U.S. the E.U. - particularly England, France and Germany have numerous plans NOT to be shared with their citizens. Of course, it is their citizenry who will pay the ultimate price in both blood and treasure - as they always do. In summation, to trust the present leadership of Israel is like sleeping with a cobra. They have shown repeatedly that they are not to be trusted - particularly when they make a promise. To go back to the beginning and close the loop, the "Disengagement" from Gaza/Gush Katif and Northern Samaria has many parts - not the least of which is forcing Jews to wander around like lost souls while Sharon thugs think nothing of making new promises each day. More later! Emanuel Winston is a commentator and Middle East analyst. His articles appear often on Think-Israel and Gamla. He is a member of the Board of Directors and a research associate of the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies (http://www.freeman.org/online.htm). |
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A WAR OF VALUES, NOT RELIGION
Posted by Shaul and Aviva Ceder, November 7, 2005. |
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This was written by Jeff Jacoby and appeared in Jewish World Review today. The Prince of Wales was at the White House last week, hoping, the Daily Telegraph reported, "to convince President Bush of the merits of Islam ... because he thinks the United States has been too intolerant of the religion since Sept. 11, 2001." This is a drum Prince Charles has been beating for years. In 1993, for example, he scolded those in the West who peddled "unthinking prejudices" about Muslim culture -- for example, "that sharia law of the Islamic world is cruel, barbaric, and unjust." Two months after 9/11, he was lambasting the American attitude toward Islam as "too confrontational." More to Charles's liking, presumably, would be something more conciliatory and politically correct. Something like this: ''The killers who take the lives of innocent men, women, and children are followers of a violent ideology very different from the religion of Islam. These extremists distort the idea of jihad into a call for terrorist murder against anyone who does not share their radical vision. ... Many Muslim scholars have already publicly condemned terrorism, often citing chapter 5, verse 32 of the Koran, which states that killing an innocent human being is like killing all of humanity." If that's the way Charles thinks Bush ought to speak about Islam, I have good news for him: It is. Those were Bush's words. He spoke them on Oct. 17 at the fifth annual White House ''iftaar" dinner during the Muslim month of Ramadan. He praised the ''countless acts of kindness" that followed the recent earthquake in Kashmir. ''For the first time in our nation's history," he said to applause, ''we have added the Koran to the White House library." Too intolerant? Considering that America is at war with the forces of Islamofascism, and that for 25 years Americans have been attacked or killed by radical Muslim terrorists, the president's words about Islam were remarkably benign and uncritical. As indeed they have been since 9/11, when he went out of his way to proclaim the peacefulness of Islam -- sometimes in the company of Muslim leaders whose history has been far from peaceful. Of course, it goes without saying that most Muslims are not terrorists. Of course many people professing Islam are compassionate and generous. Of course Islam should not be gratuitously insulted. But neither should it be sugar-coated or kowtowed to. Yet too many Western elites are unwilling to speak plainly about the problems within Islam itself, or to hold Muslim culture to what should be universal standards of decency and justice. Far from being ''too confrontational" in their attitude toward Islam, they have been too indulgent and deferential, careful never to say anything that might be deemed insensitive. One result has been an increase in extremist behavior: Witness the ''Eurofada" raging in the streets of Paris. We do Muslims no favors by excusing attitudes or practices that ought always to be deemed inexcusable. In Australia's Victoria state, the Herald Sun reported recently, police have been issued a ''religious diversity handbook" that advises them ''to treat Muslim domestic violence cases differently out of respect for Islamic traditions and habits." The Australian Police Multicultural Advisory Bureau's handbook provides guidelines for modifying police procedures to accommodate minority sensibilities. Sikhs, for example, "should not be disturbed" when reading their holy scriptures, a practice that normally takes 50 hours. Photographing Aborigines is discouraged, since it might raise fears of ''sorcery and spiritual mischief." And Muslim wife-beaters should be treated with kid gloves, in deference to Islamic norms. "In incidents such as domestic violence," the handbook instructs, ''police need to have an understanding of the traditions, ways of life, and habits of Muslims." Could anything more perfectly capture the moral bankruptcy of multicultural relativism? The Koran may tolerate wife-beating (Sura 4:34: ''As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and send them to bed apart and beat them"), but why on earth should Australia? "All Muslim husbands are not wife-beaters," remarks Robert Spencer, a scholar of Islam, "and it is condescending and irresponsible ... to give those who are a free pass, instead of denouncing the practice unequivocally and calling upon Muslim men to heed the better angels of their nature." In much the same way, he says, the West's unwillingness to ''confront the elements of Islam that jihad terrorists use to justify violence, for fear of offending moderate Muslims," ends up undercutting the ability of those very moderates to demand reform from within. The war against radical Islam is above all a war of values -- the values of liberty, equality, and human dignity against the values of jihad. The jihadis don't hesitate to proclaim their values. We must not be shy about defending ours. |
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ARE TERRORISTS KILLED FAST ENOUGH?; W. EUROPEAN BACKWARDNESS; NEWS
MANAGEMENT; HOW ABBAS DOESN'T FIGHT TERRORISM
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, November 7, 2005. |
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TWO-TRACK P.A. EFFORT The P.A. operates in a dual mode. On the one hand, its fanatical gunmen continue to build up their armaments. On the other hand, P.A. head Abbas keeps making statements to the Western media about disarming the gunmen. So long as he makes such statements, however non-binding, he retains Western approval. Pres. Bush finds him "impressive" for his stated but unfulfilled interest in fighting terrorism and promoting democracy. The absurdity of Abbbas' hypocrisy would disillusion Western media and leaders, if they paid heed. He sometimes defines disarmament as integrating the militias into his army, which is armed! Sometimes he defines disarmament as keeping the arms off the street but not relinquishing them. Terrorists could take them out when they wished to use them. Is that arrangement too complex for the White House to deduce is continued terrorism? DEMOGRAPHICS & TERRORISM This is not a scholarly analysis of statistics, but a ballpark estimate and hypothetical. Suppose that on the average day, Israeli forces capture two terrorists and kill another two. In a year, that amounts to more than 700 captured and 700 killed. Suppose half the captured terrorists (350) get released, and half of them (175) return to terrorism. The net reduction in terrorism due to Israeli efforts probably is about 1225. This elimination reduces attacks, but terrorist losses probably are compensated for by immigration. Suppose that the Arab population of the Territories (say 3 million) increases at a rate of 2% a year, or 60,000. Half (or 30,000) are males, from whose ranks most terrorists are drawn. Those 30,000 are exposed to a culture whose major emphasis is jihad. They easily can replace the 1225 terrorists whom Israel neutralizes. Those estimates can be way off, but the point remains that the cultural source of terrorism moulds terrorists at least as fast as opponents neutralize them. Therefore, defensive military means minimize Israeli casualties but alone cannot end the war. Can Israel win? It could if it encouraged Arab emigration, annexed strategic territory, and ended dreams of western Palestinian Arab statehood. Israel doesn't realize this. OBSOLETE IDEOLOGIES Some ideologies are useful in their time and place. Having struggled to learn them, people are reluctant to drop them when they become obsolete. Euro-pacifism does not work with countries such as Iran, that welcome nuclear war. China sticks to old-fashioned great power dominance, making needless strife and waste. "EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLING" Whenever an Arab is killed violently resisting arrest, the Palestinian Arabs call it an "extra-judicial killing." They claim it is Israeli policy. The claim is refuted by the scores of Arabs who surrendered peacefully and are alive and well (IMRA, 10/25). The Arabs constantly whine about Israeli counter-attacks. Where is the judiciousness of their war, in violation of signed agreements and against random civilians? Can they dish it out but not take it? Or is their whining propaganda turning world indignation against Israel? It probably is both, but I think more the latter -- the foreign media picks up such themes, and has defamed Israel throughout Western Europe. Think Europe more advanced than the US? There is an example of the reverse. BETHLEHEM CHRISTIANS ON THE MOVE Muslims attack Christian fellow Arabs increasingly, in Bethlehem. More than religious bigotry is at work. Christians have less status, not belonging to the large Muslim clans that protect members. Typical crimes are extortions of land, rape, harassment of women, and intimidation of witnesses. Many Christian girls are sent abroad for safety (IMRA, 10/25). Would that the Muslim clergy taught their men not to behave like beasts! UNSUNG HARDSHIPS FROM SECURITY FENCE A small Jewish community in western Samaria is connected to most of the rest of Samaria by a checkpoint in the security fence. Otherwise its members can reach only two other Jewish communities. The government decided to close that checkpoint, to save staff. How much staff? Two guards it had stationed at the checkpoint. When terrorists tricked the guards into letting them through, the government further argued that the checkpoint is useless. By the same logic, however, the checkpoints in Jerusalem, through which occasionally a few terrorists pass, also should be closed. Thus management of the fence imposes hardships on Jews, not publicized in the Western press, that refers only to Arabs' hardships. Residents are reluctant to appeal to the Supreme Court, which gives loving priority to Arabs' olive trees over Israeli security (Arutz-7, 10/25). By government logic, eliminate all checkpoints, because they aren't foolproof. U.S. DOUBLE STANDARD AMONG ARABS The Bush Administration reiterated its (unenforced) policy that Hamas must disarm before entering politics. The Administration does not state that terrorist Fatah, associated with P.A. head, Abbas, also should be disarmed ((IMRA, 10/25). NEWS & VIEWS MANAGEMENT During the abandonment period, the Israeli media gave settlers and their sympathizers a false reputation. It exaggerated their resistance as incipient civil war, and predicted a mass-refusal to serve in the military. It spread rumors about plots to blowup the Temple Mount. The purpose was to defame the opposition to abandonment. It seems to have worked. Worse, the government is getting used to exaggerating dangers. Demagoguery works more easily in Israel. Its people forget political abuse and don't bother reading the political plans, which the media mis-characterizes. (Israel also does not have sufficiently independent a media to act as a watchdog. Nor does it have representative political leaders, a Bill of Rights, non-violent police, etc..) The expelled Jews are suffering badly. The media hides their plight (IMRA, 10/27). IRAN'S PLANS FOR SYRIA Although Iran signed the international convention against chemical weapons, it has furnished Syria with the precursors to chemical weapons. It plans to help Syria build five factories for chemical weapons (IMRA, 10/28). The chemicals could be put into Hizbullah's missiles on Israel's border. Conventions don't bind fascists! A DEVELOPMENT IGNORED BY ISRAEL The same Israeli raid killed a leader both of Islamic Jihad and of Fatah, part of a joint cell. Israel (and the US) still treats Fatah as if more legitimate and not terrorist. As Islamic Jihad men join with Fatah, and as Fatah integrates into the P.A. police, the "former" Islamic Jihad men will receive military training from Russia (or others) as members of the P.A. Police, under the assumption that they will fight terrorism. Russia wants to give the "police" armored personnel carriers (sorry, lost source). UNO FOLKS AT WAR WITH U.S.? Jean Ziegler is the UNO's special rapporteur on food. His 34 reports blamed the world's problems on the US. He accuses the US of being imperialist and of having committed genocide in Cuba. (Cuba?) He neglected to report in on the 15 of the starving countries whose hunger problem is man-made. Just wants to bash the US. Mr. Ziegler's bias (and irrationality) undermines his credibility. He brings the UNO into disrepute (IMRA, 10/29). Do the American fans of the UNO and of its "multilateralism" know of its antics? Do they object to the radical anti-Americanism it condones? Does France? LEBANON LETS HIZBULLAH GROW STRONGER A UNO resolution demands that Lebanon disarm Hizbullah. Lebanon never complied. The Lebanese Army, now concerned with the Syrian border, has moved troops there from southern Lebanon, Hizbullah's stronghold. Hizbullah is exploiting the vacuum to enlarge its forces (IMRA, 10/29). Lebanon also is in a standoff with fortified PLO camps. The media probably will discuss this issue, if at all, without comparing the two forces. The Lebanese Army is small and poorly equipped. I think that Hizbullah can keep it at bay. But the world piously demands the Lebanon disarm Hizbullah. Not so easy. TIME FOR SHARON TO ACT PM Sharon declares he would retain some settlement blocs. The most important one is Maale Adumim, just outside of Jerusalem. If Israel settles Jews between the two cities and incorporates Maale Adumim and corridor into Israel, it would secure the capital, keep the P.A. from encroaching on the Old City, and be able to safely transport troops to the Jordan Valley to face invaders. The P.A. wants to fill the corridor with Arabs, to achieve the opposite result. Some deny Israel's need, because now Iraq is weak and Syria appears to be weakening. This is shortsighted, for they may regain strength. (Indeed, Russia is rearming Syria. How strong is Israele tied up by the P.A. and Hizbullah, and yet reducing its military?) The test is whether Sharon works on Israel's behalf or in behalf of the anti-Israel State Dept. (IMRA, 10/30). Sharon already failed that test. He abandoned Gaza and northern Samaria, brought the appeasement-minded Labor Party into the government, and fails to make a case for Zionism besides vague and broken threats and promises. P.A. WARNS RESIDENTS NOT TO STOP TERFRORISTS Israel distributed leaflets within the P.A., urging residents to notify Israel of pending terrorism, so it could apprehend the plotters without major raids. This would be to every decent person's benefit. The P.A. responded with demands that residents not cooperate with Israel. It termed Israel's leaflets "divisive." (IMRA, 10/30) That's how Abbas fights terrorism? Israel has found Arab residents anxious not to be caught in the middle. That's where terrorists, by operating from civilian areas, put them. Some civilians have tipped off Israeli forces before. Distributing those leaflets makes sense. As for being divisive, the Arabs, who seek to divide Israeli public opinion, are being hypocritical. Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at richardshulman5@aol.com. |
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HIGH COURT JUSTICE ACQUITS HAIVRI
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, November 7, 2005. |
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If not for the very serious issues this mater involves, this incident would be comical. Here we have the Chief Justice of a nation's highest court having to personally judge a case that no normal person would ever have bothered to bring to court. All this to save a few pennies for a Government that gives the PLO $50 Million every month. This is from Arutz Sheva - IsraelNationalNews.com and is archived at www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=92504 (IsraelNN.com) Former Kach activist David HaIvri was acquitted by High Court Chief Justice Aharon Barak, after he had been convicted earlier of supporting an act of terror. Following the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, HaIvri in a media interview stated "he got what he deserved." That led to HaIvri's conviction. An amendment to the law pertaining to the prevention of terror led Haivri to request a new trial. While the state decided granting a new trial was not justifiable, considering the time and money involved, Chief Justice Prof. Aharon Barak acquitted Haivri. Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. Contact him at zelasko@actcom.co.il |
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INTIFADA COMES TO FRANCE
Posted by Naomi Ragen, November 7, 2005. |
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"AUBERVILLIERS, France - Marauding bands of Muslim youth set fire to cars and warehouses and pelted rescuers with rocks early Saturday, as the worst rioting in a decade spread from Paris to other French cities. The United States warned Americans against taking trains to the airport via strife-torn areas. " -- From Fox News, November 7, 2005 "As in Paris, it was a housing estate inhabited by immigrant families where angry youths used vandalism and violence to express their frustration with a society they feel excludes them from jobs and is too ready to treat them roughly." So writes Reuters. When they were burning down synagogues, it didn't move you. Now that they are burning down your cities, perhaps you will understand that when Nazi wannabees at home attempt to destroy all you hold precious, it's a little less easy to find a local solution that matches your pious mouthings to others. I am, as an Israeli, watching the news closely, my dear French neighbors, fellow inhabitants of the planet Earth, for how you will deal with your "frustrated youths" when they burn handicapped grandmothers on your public buses; shoot your policemen, burn down your cities, shoot at tourists on trains from Charles de Gaulle to Paris. I am waiting to see what happens when it isn't your synagogues and Hebrew schools that are "accidentally" set on fire,( because the French never admit they have had any anti Semitic vandalism). I am waiting to see if the Mayor of Paris, like the Mayor of London, will continue to put his arms around Muslim clerics preaching hatred for the dhimmi. And a little reminder: The Islamic Museum, housed in the center of Paris, has a number of pillars outside which are labeled: Islamic cities. There is Mecca, Medina, and, oh yes, Paris. Welcome, my French friends, to the world the rest of us live in. "Naomi From: Fox News, November 7, 2005 A savage assault on a bus passenger highlighted the dangers of travel in Paris' Muslim-filled and impoverished outlying neighborhoods, where the violence has entered its second week. The African immigrant attackers doused the woman, in her 50s and on crutches, with an inflammable liquid and set her afire as she tried to get off a bus in the suburb of Sevran Wednesday, judicial officials said. The bus had been forced to stop because of burning objects in its path. She was rescued by the driver and hospitalized with severe burns. Justice Minister Pascal Clement deplored the incident, saying it caused him "great emotion." Rioters burned more than 500 vehicles Friday as the unrest grew beyond the French capital for the first time. Unrest returned to the streets in the evening and early Saturday, the ninth night in a row. Police said troublemakers fired bullets into a vandalized bus and burned 85 more cars in Paris and Suresnes, just to the west. In Meaux east of Paris, officials said youths stoned rescuers aiding someone who had fallen ill. Meanwhile, warehouses in Suresnes and Aubervilliers, on the northern edge of Paris, were set ablaze. Officials said other fires raged outside the capital in Lille, Toulouse, and Rouen, while an incendiary device was tossed at the wall outside a synagogue in Pierrefitte, northwest of Paris. Some 30 mayors from the Seine-Saint-Denis region where the unrest started Oct. 27 met Friday to make a joint call for calm. Claude Pernes, mayor of Rosny-sous-Bois, denounced a "veritable guerrilla situation, urban insurrection" that has taken hold. A national police spokesman, Patrick Hamon, said there appeared to be no coordination among gangs in different areas. But he said youths in individual neighborhoods were communicating by cell phone text messages or e-mails - arranging meetings and warning each other about police operations. The violence started Oct. 27 after the accidental electrocution of two teenagers who believed police were chasing them in the Seine-Saint-Denis region, dominated by low-income housing projects. Since then riots have swelled into a broader challenge against the French state and its security forces. The violence has exposed deep discontent in neighborhoods where African and Muslim immigrants and their French-born children are trapped by poverty, unemployment, racial discrimination, crime, poor education and housing. During the day Friday, the burned remains of at least 520 cars littered Parisian streets, an increase from previous nights. Five police officers were lightly injured by youths throwing stones or bottles, the Interior Ministry said. At a depot in Trappes, to the southwest, 27 buses were incinerated, officials said. The commuter train line linking Paris to Charles de Gaulle airport ran limited service Friday after two trains were targeted Wednesday night. The U.S. Embassy called the protests "extremely violent" and warned travelers against taking trains to the airport because they pass through the troubled area. Russia, meanwhile, warned citizens against visiting the suburbs. The Foreign Ministry said it was concerned that foreign media coverage was exaggerating the situation. "I don't have the feeling that foreign tourists in Paris are in any way placed in danger by these events," ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said, adding that officials were "sometimes a bit surprised" by the foreign coverage. Still, the violence has alarmed the government of President Jacques Chirac whose calls for calm have gone unheeded. "This is the first time (suburban violence) has lasted so long and the government appears taken aback at the magnitude," said Pascal Perrineau, director of the Center for Study of French Political Life. There were "few direct clashes" with security forces late Thursday and early Friday, however, no bullets fired at police, and far fewer large groups of rioters, said Jean-Francois Cordet, the top government official in Seine-Saint-Denis. Instead, Cordet said, the unrest in Seine-Saint-Denis was led by "numerous small and highly mobile groups" that burned 187 vehicles and five buildings, including three warehouses. The unrest erupted with youths angered over the deaths of Bouna Traore, 15, and Zyed Benna, 17, who were electrocuted when they hid in a power substation in the suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois." Naomi Ragen is an American-born novelist and journalist who lives in Jerusalem. She can be contacted at www.naomiragen.com, where you can subscribe to her newsletter. |
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CHOMSKYISTS UPSET THAT THEIR GURU IS BEING EXPOSED
Posted by Steven Plaut, November 6, 2005. |
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The Guardian in the UK far to the left of center, has run a fantastic pair of articles this week on Comrade Noam Chomsky. The started with an interview with the Noam, focusing on his endorsements of mass murderers throughout the world. When asked, "Do you regret supporting those who say the Srebrenica massacre was exaggerated?" our favorite Stalinist replied, "My only regret is that I didn't do it strongly enough." This was followed by wailings of pain and anguish from the critters over at Counterpunch. Alexander Cockburn himself took time off fom his busy schedule of bashing Jews to scream that Chomsky was "misquoted". Yeah, sure he was. Just what part of Chomsky's statements insisting that the USA is more evil than Nazi Germany does Cockburn not understand? The Guardian piece produced a wonderful commentary by Norman Johnson, published November 5. He writes, among other things: 'Me? Frankly, I'm just surprised it didn't happen sooner. Once the turncoat had sold his soul, why shouldn't he go the whole way and pick up a few extra shillings chancing his remaining scruples on the stock market? I know we columnists tend to pay a bit more attention to world events than your average homme moyen Norm, but am I the only one who knows what this born-again conservative's been getting up to? ... Chomsky's happier sitting at home, reviewing the fruits of his - sorry, Mrs. Chomsky's - share portfolio. Norman Johnson
Me? Frankly, I'm just surprised it didn't happen sooner. Once the turncoat had sold his soul, why shouldn't he go the whole way and pick up a few extra shillings chancing his remaining scruples on the stock market? I know we columnists tend to pay a bit more attention to world events than your average homme moyen Norm, but am I the only one who knows what this born-again conservative's been getting up to? These days Noam Chomsky's about as radical as Alan Greenspan. Correction: Greenspan's part of the noble neocon mission to spread democracy worldwide. Chomsky's happier sitting at home, reviewing the fruits of his - sorry, Mrs Chomsky's - share portfolio. Granted, the Chomsky family's personal-finance ventures, highlighted in an interview by my lovely, leggy and, I'd go so far as to say, very promising young colleague Emma Brockes, must have come as a nasty shock to Prospect magazine's constituency of stoppers, root-causists and not-in-my-namers. Without this ancient reactionary, how will they know what to think? But, believe me, I feel their pain. It wasn't easy for me, either, when I realised the brilliant academic whose linguistics lectures had once held me spellbound, that the political theorist I'd revered for his unsentimental computation of Mao Zedong's balance sheet, and firm evaluation of Pol Pot's achievement in creating modern Cambodia, had morphed into an unfeeling appeaser to whom the murder of Milosevic's victims could be assessed with an amoral sophistry that might have been lifted, with barely an adjustment, from the speeches of Douglas Hurd. Was it possible that this do-nothing conservative, who presumed, from his armchair, to mete out death sentences to Balkan peasants (let alone his request that Saddam Hussein be offered a visiting professorship at MIT and, I gather, a suggestion that David Cameron contribute to a Festschrift in honour of Robin Cook) was the same far-sighted but, above all, warm-hearted intellectual, who'd written by return when, as an idealistic student, I sent him an account of my first impressions of the Soviet Union, "in the footsteps of Sidney and Beatrice"? How did my former hero, who spent his life fighting ignorance and tyranny, turn into the wannabe-seer who now spends all his time - when not checking online share prices - coming with up the baddest names he can think of (Stalin, Hitler, Bluebeard, Saddam, Lord Voldemort), then denouncing George Bush as the equivalent, or worse. Put it this way: when it comes to mental agility, the great intellectual Chomsky makes Bush look like Christopher Hitchens. OK, I'm there before you. Just because some of us have been on an arduous political journey since the early 70s doesn't mean we no longer recognise a shameless lurch to the right when we see one. What takes over academic fellow travellers when they get old? Moral Alzheimer's? And how come it's not swivel-eyed al-Qaida groupies who get vilified or thrown out of office, but decent people trying to defend democracy from Islamo-fascism? If Bush is no better than Hitler, and Beria a lot more appealing than Dick Cheney, how does Chomsky compare with David Blunkett, the latest good man to fall victim to a pancetta-class pogrom? Sure, David made stupid mistakes. Knocking up Kimberley. He should have known that the Spectator's pro-life. Plus, no one goes to Annabel's any more. But just because Pol Pot never fast-tracked a nanny's visa doesn't make Blunkett guiltier than Bin Laden. My tip for David, now he's back in the wilderness? Keep the DNA shares. Mrs Johnson says they're red hot. Steven Plaut is an American-trained economist, a professor of business administration at Haifa University and author of "The Scout." He frequently comments - both seriously and satirically - on Israeli politics and the left wing academic community. His website address is http://www.stevenplaut.blogspot.com. |
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WAKE UP, EUROPE, YOU'VE A WAR ON YOUR HANDS
Posted by Avadoh 15, November 6, 2005. |
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This is an article by Mark Steyn. It is archived at www.suntimes.com/output/steyn/cst-edt-steyn06.html Ever since 9/11, I've been gloomily predicting the European powder keg's about to go up. ''By 2010 we'll be watching burning buildings, street riots and assassinations on the news every night,'' I wrote in Canada's Western Standard back in February. Silly me. The Eurabian civil war appears to have started some years ahead of my optimistic schedule. As Thursday's edition of the Guardian reported in London: ''French youths fired at police and burned over 300 cars last night as towns around Paris experienced their worst night of violence in a week of urban unrest.'' "French youths," huh? You mean Pierre and Jacques and Marcel and Alphonse? Granted that most of the "youths" are technically citizens of the French Republic, it doesn't take much time in les banlieus of Paris to discover that the rioters do not think of their primary identity as ''French'': They're young men from North Africa growing ever more estranged from the broader community with each passing year and wedded ever more intensely to an assertive Muslim identity more implacable than anything you're likely to find in the Middle East. After four somnolent years, it turns out finally that there really is an explosive ''Arab street,'' but it's in Clichy-sous-Bois. The notion that Texas neocon arrogance was responsible for frosting up trans-Atlantic relations was always preposterous, even for someone as complacent and blinkered as John Kerry. If you had millions of seething unassimilated Muslim youths in lawless suburbs ringing every major city, would you be so eager to send your troops into an Arab country fighting alongside the Americans? For half a decade, French Arabs have been carrying on a low-level intifada against synagogues, kosher butchers, Jewish schools, etc. The concern of the political class has been to prevent the spread of these attacks to targets of more, ah, general interest. They seem to have lost that battle. Unlike America's Europhiles, France's Arab street correctly identified Chirac's opposition to the Iraq war for what it was: a sign of weakness. The French have been here before, of course. Seven-thirty-two. Not 7:32 Paris time, which is when the nightly Citroen-torching begins, but 732 A.D. -- as in one and a third millennia ago. By then, the Muslims had advanced a thousand miles north of Gibraltar to control Spain and southern France up to the banks of the Loire. In October 732, the Moorish general Abd al-Rahman and his Muslim army were not exactly at the gates of Paris, but they were within 200 miles, just south of the great Frankish shrine of St. Martin of Tours. Somewhere on the road between Poitiers and Tours, they met a Frankish force and, unlike other Christian armies in Europe, this one held its ground ''like a wall ... a firm glacial mass,'' as the Chronicle of Isidore puts it. A week later, Abd al-Rahman was dead, the Muslims were heading south, and the French general, Charles, had earned himself the surname ''Martel'' -- or ''the Hammer.'' Poitiers was the high-water point of the Muslim tide in western Europe. It was an opportunistic raid by the Moors, but if they'd won, they'd have found it hard to resist pushing on to Paris, to the Rhine and beyond. ''Perhaps,'' wrote Edward Gibbon in The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire, ''the interpretation of the Koran would now be taught in the schools of Oxford, and her pulpits might demonstrate to a circumcised people the sanctity and truth of the revelation of Mahomet.'' There would be no Christian Europe. The Anglo-Celts who settled North America would have been Muslim. Poitiers, said Gibbon, was ''an encounter which would change the history of the whole world.'' Battles are very straightforward: Side A wins, Side B loses. But the French government is way beyond anything so clarifying. Today, a fearless Muslim advance has penetrated far deeper into Europe than Abd al-Rahman. They're in Brussels, where Belgian police officers are advised not to be seen drinking coffee in public during Ramadan, and in Malmo, where Swedish ambulance drivers will not go without police escort. It's way too late to rerun the Battle of Poitiers. In the no-go suburbs, even before these current riots, 9,000 police cars had been stoned by ''French youths'' since the beginning of the year; some three dozen cars are set alight even on a quiet night. ''There's a civil war under way in Clichy-sous-Bois at the moment,'' said Michel Thooris of the gendarmes' trade union Action Police CFTC. ''We can no longer withstand this situation on our own. My colleagues neither have the equipment nor the practical or theoretical training for street fighting.'' What to do? In Paris, while ''youths'' fired on the gendarmerie, burned down a gym and disrupted commuter trains, the French Cabinet split in two, as the ''minister for social cohesion'' (a Cabinet position I hope America never requires) and other colleagues distance themselves from the interior minister, the tough-talking Nicolas Sarkozy who dismissed the rioters as ''scum.'' President Chirac seems to have come down on the side of those who feel the scum's grievances need to be addressed. He called for ''a spirit of dialogue and respect.'' As is the way with the political class, they seem to see the riots as an excellent opportunity to scuttle Sarkozy's presidential ambitions rather than as a call to save the Republic. A few years back I was criticized for a throwaway observation to the effect that ''I find it easier to be optimistic about the futures of Iraq and Pakistan than, say, Holland or Denmark." But this is why. In defiance of traditional immigration patterns, these young men are less assimilated than their grandparents. French cynics like the prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, have spent the last two years scoffing at the Bush Doctrine: Why, everyone knows Islam and democracy are incompatible. If so, that's less a problem for Iraq or Afghanistan than for France and Belgium. If Chirac isn't exactly Charles Martel, the rioters aren't doing a bad impression of the Muslim armies of 13 centuries ago: They're seizing their opportunities, testing their foe, probing his weak spots. If burning the 'burbs gets you more ''respect'' from Chirac, they'll burn 'em again, and again. In the current issue of City Journal, Theodore Dalrymple concludes a piece on British suicide bombers with this grim summation of the new Europe: ''The sweet dream of universal cultural compatibility has been replaced by the nightmare of permanent conflict.'' Which sounds an awful lot like a new Dark Ages. |
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SYRIA...SERIOUSLY
Posted by Gerald A. Honigman, November 6, 2005. |
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I can't get the image out of my head. There she was, Ashleigh Banfield, MSNBC's rising star, standing before a statue of the great Muslim warrior, Salah al Din, in Syria, glorifying the Arab claim that they were his modern descendants in the fight against Jews and other allegedly new crusaders in the region. Arab tyrants love to make such claims. Syria's twin butchers to the east are famous for this as well. Saddam still loves to present himself as Saladdin reincarnate. He needs to be hung quickly...better yet, gassed. And poor Saladdin is rolling in his grave. A Kurd from northern Iraq (where Arabs later gassed and massacred Kurds by the tens of thousands), he indeed led the fight for the Dar ul-Islam against the crusaders in the Holy Land. But those were the early centuries, and despite the Abbasid Revolution (largely supported by the Mawali) which toppled the Damascus-based Arabist Umayyads over such issues, non-Arab converts to Islam still sought to win equality in Arab eyes (and escape special taxes) by toeing, especially well, the Islamic line. Listening recently to the Muslim but non-Arab Iranian President's renewed remarks about Israel's destruction, some things change...and some things never change. The way for non-Arab Muslims to pass the ultimate litmus test is to out Arab the Arabs in Jew hatred. Some of the worst hate-mongers on campus that I encountered were from Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, and so forth. That was the ticket to stand tall along side Arabs in the Muslim Student Organization, etc. So, while Iranians are now busy slaughtering Muslim Arabs in oil-rich Khuzistan, Muslim Kurds, Muslim Baluchis, Muslim Azeris, and others as well in the name of their own national interests, their religious credentials remain impeccable. Supporting Hizbullah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad in the struggle to exterminate the Jew of the Nations (whose population includes tens of thousands of Iranian Jews who fled for their lives), insures this as well. Back to Saladdin... In 1968, the Kurdish nationalist, Ismet Cherif Vanly, wrote The Syrian 'Mein Kampf' Against The Kurds (Amsterdam). So I couldn't help but feel sickened by seeing that MSNBC reporter endorsing the Arab line while standing in front of a mounted statue of Saladdin. If he only new what the Arabs would be doing to his own people centuries later...long after their conversion to Islam, and still going on as I write this article: Kurdish children being forced to sing songs praising their Arab identity in schools; Kurds slaughtered for nothing more than seeking to be able to retain their own cultural identity while obtaining some semblance of equality; and so forth. A visit to such websites as www.kurdmedia.com will be instructive indeed. Keep all of this in mind when you consider that the above murderous, despotic junk heap leads the pack in attacking those allegedly "racist Zionists" who have made Arabic the second official language of their state, have Arabs who side with Hamas as representatives in the Knesset and leading demonstrations at Hebrew University, and have, as citizens, the freest Arabs living anywhere in the Middle East. And this despite the fact that many of the latter do indeed compose a potentially dangerous fifth column. But now we come to the real reason for this article... Despite Syria's deadly hegemonic attitudes and actions towards what it sees as its Lebanese "provinces;" despite its appalling treatment of Kurds, native Jews, and others as well; despite its support for terrorists undermining Iraq's attempt at democracy; despite the great likelihood that many of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction found a home in Syria; despite Damascus' support of major terrorist organizations whose aim is the destruction of the Jew of the Nations and giving safe haven to those organizations within its own borders; despite its record as mass slaughterer of any and all who decent, author of the infamous "Hama Solution;" etc., etc., etc...America would be squeezing the Jews right now--not Syrian Arabs-- if circumstances were just a bit different. Sad but all too true. Had Syria not opposed America in Iraq, the Foggy Folks would be pressing forward with former Secretary of State James Baker's pledge to Assad the First, butcher of Damascus, of a total Israeli retreat from the Golan Heights. Dubya has made Baker, the Bush's close family friend (whose law firm represents the Saudis), his Special Middle East Envoy. I've written much about Baker's Jew problem elsewehere, so we'll drop it for now. Recall that the Heights were part of the original 1920 Mandate of Palestine until Britain and France did some imperial trading, and that the territory changed hands often throughout the centuries. It was not exclusively Arab, and Jews too had a long history there. Recall also how Syria used the Heights to rain terror on Israelis below prior to the 1967 War--which it also largely instigated. And, lastly, also remember that Israel offered to return all of the territories right after that war in return for peace treaties and was offered the "3 Nos of Khartoum" in response. It got attacked on Yom Kippur from those Heights again in 1973--Arab tanks rolling towards Israel proper. The Jew of the Nations came close to being destroyed that year. Syria has now built up its own massive arsenal of missiles, chemical weapons, and such. Not long ago, an Israeli Prime Minister offered, again, an almost complete return of the Heights. The exception would cover a tiny stretch of land protecting Israel's water sources. But that was, of course, too much to ask of Arabs who--after all--are so understanding of their own national competitors' needs. I'm sure, for example, that if the situation was reversed, and it was Israel who repeatedly attacked Syria and lost territory as a result of its aggression, that Syria would make a similar offer to the Jews. Of course...and I'm also the Passover Bunny. Right now Israel controls the passes Syrian tanks would use to roll down hill to kill Jews. Right now Israeli artillery can send Baby Assad and friends a calling card right from the Heights. Right now Syrian artillery and gunners can't do this anymore to Jews. Right now Israelis are assured that an enemy sworn to its death will not be in control of its water supply. And, also right now, America must finally rid itself of the Arabist State Department practice of constantly twisting the arm of its beleaguered friend to make suicidal concessions to such deadly and obnoxious adversaries, all of whom refuse to recognize the rights of anyone but themselves in the region. Like the Arabs, the Foggy Folks joined in the rejection of the right of Israel to even exist in 1948...for a number of reasons, blatant anti-Semitism included. As with the disputed territories of Judea and Samaria, a territorial compromise--which meets the needs of both parties to the conflict--must be reached on the Golan as well. And if the Syrians don't like it, let them understand that there is a price to be paid for their repeated deadly aggression. Think of all the territories that have exchanged hands because of wars. America holds many territories itself because of this...not to mention Europe and other places as well. The national security requirements of the tiny sliver that is Israel on the world map need to be taken no less seriously...especially since, unlike the super power, three thousand mile-wide America ( largely protected by vast oceans and with fairly reasonable neighbors) and others whose demands often extend hundreds--if not thousands--of miles away from home, those of the Jew of the Nations involve what's going on right on its very own doorstep and in its backyard. |
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NO JEWISH GUILT
Posted by Ken Heller, November 6, 2005. |
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This was written by Rabbi Meir Kahane, January 1988. There is a specter haunting Israel and its American Jewish supporters. It is called guilt. Guilt over the "repression of Palestinian human rights". Guilt over the refusal to remove "the main obstacle to peace in the Middle East, the occupation of the Arab land seized in 1967". Guilt over the unwillingness to give the "Palestinians" their own state in the "occupied lands". And now, guilt over the killing of "Palestinians" and innocent civilians in the "Occupied territories". It is a powerful weapon, this guilt; Jews have a difficult time coping with it. A people that has been the most debased of losers for 2,000 years finds it difficult to cope with victory. It finds it extraordinary difficult to remain normal. It inherits insecurities, complexes-guilt. It begins to to believe its enemies' slanders. It loses its self-respect and longs for the love of a hating world. That is especially true for the Jewish liberal! It is important that those who have retained their self-esteem and sense of Jewish survival speak out against the disease of guilt and moral insecurity. No guilt. Are the lands of 1967, "occupied" by the Jews, the main obstacle to peace? Is the year 1967 the origin of the conflict? How peaceful it must have been in 1966 when Sinai and Gaza were in Egyptian hands and the Golan was possessed by the Syrians to shell, for 19 years, the Jewish settlements below, and when Judea and Samaria and East Jerusalem were in the hands of the "moderate" King Hussein. Why did they go to war? What did they want then? When they had all the "occupied lands" before they were "occupied"? When one has East Jerusalem and attacks Israel, can it be that he desires West Jerusalem? And Tel Aviv? And can it be that that is what they really want again? Now? And why did the "innocent Palestinian women and children" take to the streets then, in 1967, when Jordan and Egypt ruled them to call for "Israel in the sea"? What "occupied lands" did they want back then? And could it be that that is what they want now? And what did they wish in 1947 when they rejected the "Palestine" state offered them by the United Nations and went to war, killing fully 1 % of the population? And what did they wish in the riots of 1936-38 when there was no country called Israel and they murdered more than 500 Jews? And in 1929 when no "Zionist occupation troops" were in Hebron, why did the "Palestinians" rise up to murder 67 Jews in one day? And why the pogroms in Jerusalem and Jaffa in 1920 and 1921? What troubles the Arabs is the very presence of large numbers of Jews in the land, and Israel of any size. Zionism. That is what troubles the Arabs. That is the obstacle to peace. Let us inscribe that on our hearts lest we open the doors to a repitition-on a grand scale-of that which the Arabs have done to Jews since 1920. A horror of slaughter by knives and axes. And the bearers of guilt would do just that. No guilt. There is one sublime reason why we should not give up a centimeter of land...it belongs to us. If we have no right to Judea and Samaria and Gaza, then we indeed have no right to Tel Aviv. Abraham did not walk on Dizengoff Street nor did our ancestors live in Israeli cities that were built in the 20th century. But Abraham, who lived in Hebron, and Jacob who lived in Shechem, now Nablus, and David in Bethlehem are the sole legitimate reasons that Jews can lay claim to a Tel Aviv and the kibbutzim of the guilt-ridden Left. The land belongs to us because the G-d of Israel, creator and Titleholder of all lands, gave it to us. No guilt. There is no such thing as a "Palestinian people". They are Arabs, part of the Arab nation, possessor of 21 lands. Let them live in peace in any or all of them. But there are no "Palestinians". It was the Roman emperor Hadrian who, after the Jewish revolt against the Romans, angrily erased the name of the state, Judea, and invented the name "Palestine" after the Philistines. In every normal case, an existing people gives its name to a land. The Franks named it France and the Angles, England, and the Germanics, Germany. Only in this ludicrous case does a Roman invent a name, give it to a land, and the arriving Arab trespassers become "Palestinians". One presumes that had Hadrian not changed the name, Israel today would be fighting Yasir Arafat and the Judean terrorists. There are no "Palestinians" and there is no "Palestine" in the land of Israel, Eretz Yisrael. No guilt. The "Palestinian" civilians in Judea, Samaria, Gaza and Lebanon cheered and supported every P.L.O murder and terror of Jews. They are united in hatred of Israel. It would be nicer if they did not stone our soldiers and try to kill Jews. It would be nicer if they did not rise up in revolt in order to force us out of Judea, Samaria and Gaza as the first step to the elimination of the State of Israel. But since they do, let Jews not allow themselves to be destroyed by "Palestinian" women and children. And if the only way to survive is to take the lives of people who attack us we have no choice. I wonder how many mourned and protested the killing of German civilians during World War II bombings of Berlin, Hamburg and Dresden? And Israeli General Yekutiel Adam was gunned down and murdered by a 14 year old "innocent Palestinian child" No guilt. There is nothing ethical about dying or anything moral about another holocaust. There is nothing immoral about winning and nothing necessarily noble in a loser. Let us cast off the chains of guilt and reject the accusations of its bearers. The greatness of Judaism is its spirit, but no spirit can survive without a living body. If we do not want to kill Arabs--and we don't; and if we want to put an end to the nightly television pictures of violence; and if we do not want to see those pictures tomorrow inside Israel itself, with Israeli Arabs fighting soldiers; and if we do not want to see the threat of Arab demography destroying the Jewish State--then let us have the corage to take the one difficult but immutable step that will free us of all this and guarantee a Jewish State: Remove the Arabs from the land and let them live with their brothers and sisters in any of the 22 Arab states. Anything short of that will see the horrors of today escalated a hundred-fold tomorrow. And let us not fear the world. Those who stood by during the Holocaust and when Israel faced destruction in 1948 and 1967 have nothing to tell us. Faith in the G-d of Israel and a powerful Jewish army are the only guarantors of Jewish survival. Let us not fear the world. Far better a Jewish State that survives and is hated by the world, than an Auschwitz that brings us its love and sympathy. No guilt Rather faith in G-d and a return to authentic Torah laws; rather pride and strength, and the love of Jews rather than the enemy would destroy them. That is sanity; that is Judaism. Ken Heller is a pro-Israel activist and a member of the Philadelphia Chapter of Americans For A Safe Israel. He can be reached at kayjayphilly@yahoo.com |
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MURDERED TWICE?
Posted by David Wilder, November 6, 2005. |
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Why is there Silence on the planned Expulsion of Jews from Hebron?
Hebron Jews are to be expelled from Jewish Owned property in Hebron. There is no rational, moral, legal or security reason to expel the Jews from this tiny neighborhood in Hebron where Jews are living on Jewish-owned property. The presence of the Jews there lends stability, calm and security to the area. To Those who kept silent and agreed to forcefully expel Jews away from Arabs in Gaza and Shomron- that same logic would prevent you from agreeing to allow Arabs to be moved into the Shalhevet Pass neighborhood in the tiny Jewish area of Hebron, and into Jewish-owned property. This is legally Jewish property and Jewish land and every sorry excuse for expulsion of Jews does NOT apply. Please note: No Jews are allowed in the huge, OVER 80% Arab residential and commercial areas of H-1 areas of Hebron and even H-2 areas of Hebron where Arabs live, but the Sharon government, EU and Israeli and International Leftist groups continually demand Arab "rights" and settlement in the small amount of Jewish Hebron that was not given away to Arabs under the Hebron Accords. The expulsion of Jews from Jewish property in H-2 areas of Hebron, from Jewish owned property, should be eliciting a strong response from every synagogue, the OU, YU, Young Israel, and other Orthodox Jewish groups. Why would Orthodox Jewish leaders allow Jewish property rights in the Israeli holy city of Hebron to be violated, and keep silent, as Ariel Sharon/Peres/Mazuz kicks Jews out of Jewish Hebron? This was written by David Wilder of Hebron. On March 26, 2001, an Arab sniper shot and killed 10 month old Shalhevet Pass. As a result of that murder, Hebron residents redeemed, renovated and repopulated Jewish property stolen from Hebron's Jewish community following the 1929 riots, massacre and expulsion. That neighborhood, "Mitzpe Shalhevet" is presently on the brink of obliteration, not by Arabs, rather by the Israeli government. In 1807, Haim Bajaio purchased, on behalf of the Hebron Jewish community, a five dunam plot of land adjacent to the centuries old Jewish Quarter, for '1,200 grushim'. The deal was witnessed and signed by no less than 22 Hebron Arab notables. This property served Hebron's Jewish community and later accommodated the home and synagogue of Hebron Chief Rabbi Eliyahu Manni. Following the Jordanian occupation of Hebron in 1948, the entire Jewish Quarter, founded by Spanish-Jewish exiles in 1540, was razed to the ground. Among the structures destroyed was the ancient Avraham Avinu synagogue. In the early 1960s, an Arab fruit and vegetable market was constructed on the property bought by the Hebron community in 1807. Following the liberation of Hebron during the 1967 Six-day War, these structures continued to function, having been rented to the Hebron Arab municipality by the Israeli government. The property contracts for these buildings expired in the 1990s, and the site was gradually closed over a period of several years, due to security precautions. It was finally shut down following an attempted terror attack: Arabs placed a booby-trapped teddy bear in a plastic bag in the market near the entrance to the Jewish neighborhood, hoping a Jewish child, finding it, would play with it and be killed in the ensuing explosion. Despite numerous Hebron Jewish Community requests to rent the structures, they were left vacant. Following the murder of Shalhevet Pass at the beginning of the Oslo War, Hebron children began utilizing the structures as a place to play and take cover during the constant shooting attacks from the overlooking Abu Sneneh Hills. Over a period of time, the Hebron community invested tens of thousands of dollars to convert the former fruit and vegetable stalls into livable apartments. Presently, the former 'shuk,' renamed the "Mitzpe Shalhevet Neighborhood," houses Hebron families, and a Torah study hall opened in Shalhevet's memory. Four years ago, in response to an Arab demand to reopen the market, the attorney general's office notified the Israeli Supreme Court that: 1) the Arabs no longer had any legal rights to the shuk and 2) the Israeli "trespassers" would be evicted from the site. The Israel supreme court never ruled that the former market's Jewish population must be expelled from their homes. The reason behind the Attorney General's decision can be summed up in his words: "The criminal must not be rewarded." The criminal, in this case, was not defined as the Arabs who murdered 67 Jews, decimated the Jewish Quarter, shot at Hebron Jews from the surrounding hills and killed Shalhavet Pass. Rather, the criminal, was defined as Hebron's Jews, who had 'usurped' vacant buildings belonging to the State of Israel. Following issuance of an expulsion order, Hebron's Jewish Community appealed to the courts, claiming private Jewish ownership of the property. An appeals committee of three judges ruled, two to one, that the land did legally belong to a private Jewish organization, but that the buildings legally fell within the jurisdiction of the Israeli government. Concurrently, two of the three judges ruled that the optimal solution to the problem was to lease the structures to Hebron's Jewish community. The Defense Minister delayed executing the expulsion order for over two years, due to security issues and other concerns. However, recently, following the successful expulsion of 10,000 Jews in Gush Katif and the Northern Shomron, the present attorney general, Manny Mazuz, has exerted tremendous pressure on Defense Minister Shaul Mufaz to execute the expulsion orders and evict Hebron's families from the Mitzpe Shalhevet neighborhood. Most likely, Mufaz is under the mistaken impression that the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the structures must be evacuated. This is, as previously noted, not true. To the contrary, the easiest and most just solution, as recommended by the judges, is to lease the buildings to Hebron's Jewish community. Hebron's Jewish Community asks: Who is the criminal and who should be rewarded? Following years of terror, shooting attacks and blood-shed, will Hebron's Arabs receive a prize for their aggression? Will they be privileged to again witness Jewish men, women and children being forcibly evicted from their homes? Will Jews again be expelled from their property in Hebron, this time at the hands of the Israeli government? Will Jewish land again become Judenrein, at the initiation of the Israeli government? A Jewish-populated "Mitzpe Shalhevet neighborhood," filled with men, women and children, families dedicated to redeeming the Land of Israel for the Jewish people, living on one hundred percent Jewish-owned property, - this is the just response to Arab violence, blood-shed, theft, and destruction, whose goal is the annihilation of Israel. In the words of Yitzhak Pass, Shalhevet's father, "eviction of the Mitzpe Shalhevet neighborhood will be, for me, as if they killed my daughter a second time." Will Shalhevet be murdered twice: once by Arabs and once by Jews? Contact Marlene Young at marleneyoung1@yahoo.com David Wilder is spokesman of The Jewish Community of Hebron. You can contribute directly to The Jewish Community of Hebron, POB10, Kiryat Arba-Hebron 90100, hebron@hebron.org.il, 972-2-9965333 or write to The Hebron Fund, 1760 Ocean Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11230, hebronfund@aol.com |
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EARL KRUGEL DEAD
Posted by Robert Turk, November 6, 2005. |
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Earl Krugel, former JDL Member murdered after only three days at the Federal Correctional Institution, Phoenix, Arizona. The Jewish Defense League finds this second killing of a JDL member while in Federal custody reprehensible and far beyond the bounds of mere coincidence. The issue is not what Mr. Krugel was incarcerated for, rather whether any Jewish inmate is safe from assassination in a United States prison. The Bureau of Prisons certainly realized that Mr. Krugel was a high profile target for any one of the many enemies of the Jewish people and the Jewish Defense League in particular. Members of the Jewish Defense League have received death threats from Hamas and other Radical Islamic organizations, as well as White Supremacist groups like the Aryan Nations, Aryan Brotherhood, WCOTC, National Alliance, National Vanguard, and neo-Nazi Skinhead groups just to name a few. All of these terrorist entities have tentacles that reach into every prison in the United States. Knowing that Mr. Krugel was a target of murderous prison gangs, the Bureau of Prisons was obligated to afford Mr. Krugel protection from those who would certainly take his life. They did not, and just as we hold them suspect in the death of Irv Rubin, we hold them directly responsible for the deliberate murder of Earl Krugel. As we mourn Earl Krugel, we express our deepest sympathies to his family and the families of all other Jews who have been murdered because they are Jewish. We demand a full and timely accounting and public disclosure of the facts, circumstances, and details of this crime. We also call for an immediate and independent investigation, outside of the Bureau of Prisons, of the murder of Earl Krugel. Bill Maniaci Jewish Defense League Chief, Intelligence and Security P.O. Box 10581 Reno, NV 89510-0581 (775) 857-2027 (775) 742-0407 Email: Maccabee@Charter.net http://jdl.org.il The Jewish Defense League is an activist organization dedicated to the protection and defense of the Jewish people in the Diaspora. To that end, there will be no sanctuary for those who threaten or attack Jewish individuals or institutions. Never Again! JEWISH DEFENSE LEAGUE
Robert Turk is with the Jewish Defense League. Contact him at jdlnews@jdl.org.il |
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HELP THE REFUGEES
Posted by Moshe Finberg, November 6, 2005. |
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We are Maalat HaGeula.org
Help Us Help The Refugees; Please donate generously. This is a Letter to the Chairman of Maalat HaGeula Matt, Here is our response: The American Enterprise Institute completed a study last Spring of the Muslim population in Greater Israel and determined that just under 1 million of them live in the Gaza Strip, most of them in Gaza City which had no Jewish inhabitants. The P.A. has a bad habit of inflating Arab population figures. Israel is a state of fewer than 6 million Jews surrounded by approximately 250 million Moslem Arabs. Your argument suggests that based on demographics of the Middle East, we should dismantle the state. Aza is, in fact, part of the Land promised to our forefathers and was conquered shortly after the death of Samson. It is specifically referenced in Genesis when Isaac sojourned in Aza and HaShem told him that it and all the land of Canaan would be an inheritance of his progeny. It was allocated to the tribe of Judah as Joshua led us across the Jordan River. Significant Jewish academies and communities continued to flourish there by the Sea even after the Babylonian and Roman exiles. Aza was virtually unpopulated in the 20th Century until Jews settled the area after 1967 and miraculously grew produce from sand. The few Arabs and Bedouins living in the area laughed at the concept. Shortly thereafter, the laughter changed when Jews provided employment opportunities. Aza was never part of Egypt or any other country in modern times. Following WW I, It became part of Mandate Palestine reserved for the Jewish National Homeland. Hostile, armed Arab Palestinians moved in and set up refugee camps after 1967 to use as a base of operations for attacks on Jews all over the country. The Jews of Aza suffered little from these mujadeen compared with their victims in other parts of Israel. The better approach today would have been to drive the enemy from our midst as the U.S. Marines did to the mujadeen in Fallujah, Iraq last year. Why do we punish the victims, particularly, as we have seen over the past 2 weeks, the Israeli air force can take out terror leaders driving in cars with rockets launched from jets and helicopters. Let's also keep in mind that most of the terrorists in Aza lived in 3 cities without any Jews. Corrective military action to eliminate the killers would have been rather simple if the government cared to do so. You and I disagree on whether the removal of Jews from Aza was correct. The AFSI mission I recommended by email yesterday and to which you responded "go commit suicide" has the objective of assisting the displaced Jews who have been left hanging without homes or proper clothing in their dispersion throughout Israel. The government did not have communities or even reasonable accommodations ready to absorb the displaced Jews and little progress has been made in the nearly 3 months since the deportation. Some live in hotels, some in dormitory rooms, and others in tent cities. This could have been prevented by better preparation. We who can help these refugees should help them. Taking a trip such as the AFSI mission enables an American Jew to see what is really going on over there first hand. Join them if you can and see for yourself. The land price for this remarkable tour is only $1,000.00. Then you will be in a position to discuss these issues based on the facts in place. This is about humanitarian support for Jews of Israel; not about opposing the Israeli government. People who share my view that the Sharon plan was wrong from both a religious and a security perspective (there are plenty of secular experts on the record to this effect) lost the battle and now just want to take care of the refugees. They needn't be punished. Anita Tucker, a very successful celery farmer for over 30 years in a very warm beachfront community in Gush Katif, was deported to the Golan Heights without proper clothing or a way to make a living. Many, many others are struggling with the same fate. The 8,500 or so pioneers need not be punished for trying to hold onto their homes and their livelihoods. I am not going on the AFSI trip because of a travel conflict. I was part of the AFSI mission in November of 2004. Yes, I live in the relatively safe town of Boulder, Colorado. G_d willing, I will be making Aliyah to a settlement deep in the heart of Greater Israel within the next 3 years. I have spent a significant amount of time in Hebron and its surrounding hills, Gush Katif, and other Yesha communities. I went into Shechem (Nablus to the Arabs) to visit Joseph's Tomb where I could have been blown away by Ishmaelites despite the fact that the Oslo "Peace" Treaty says that Jews have control of that site. The Arabs of the town disregarded that by burning the Yeshiva at the site, murdering its rabbi, and killing the soldiers who were guarding it. The Israeli government decided it wasn't worth fighting for the site and gave it up despite the Treaty. I walk with G_d and an M-16 whenever I visit Jewish Land threatened by homicidal Arabs. I have been in these areas on visits 11 times over the past 3 years. How much time have you spent in the Land of Israel lately? Sharon surrendered to Hamas and its ilk when he pulled Jews from their homes in Gush Katif and Northern Shomron. I pray that in our lifetimes this display of weakness, lack of dedication to Torah, lack of Jewish pride and self-esteem, and obsequious playing to the EU and US petro-vanity will end. The World will be a much better and safer place when Israel once again becomes a nation of scholar warriors who worry not about what the UN will think but what G_d will think. Sincerely,
* Never Again to indifference. "I will plant them upon their land, and they will never again be uprooted from their land which I have given them, said HaShem, your G_d." Amos 9:15. To make a donation, contact me at moshe@maalathageula.org. Maalat HaGeula Contact Matthew Finberg by email at moshe@maalathageula.org |
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ISRAEL DIAGNOSED WITH MENTAL ILLNESS
Posted by Marcel Cousineau, November 6, 2005. |
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On Sunday Israel gave the green light to Egypt to transfer ammunitions to the Palestinian Authority security forces in the Gaza Strip in accordance with a Cabinet decision last week to strengthen PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas before the January elections and assist him in restraining the activities of terror groups. Also on Sunday, the first load of Kalashnikov magazines is set to cross the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza, Yedioth Ahronot, Israel's leading newspaper, reported Sunday. Security officials said that the United States has funded the purchase." ****** Israel, insanely goes along with their planned suicide, a willing sacrifice of it's citizens for the falsse peace Road Map which leads in only one direction. You only have to ask yourself: Is this the road to peace or war? Why is the U.S. funding this instead of DEMANDING the arrest of terrorists and the seizure of their weapons? The Palestinains only on rare occasions turn the bullets towards their own fellow terrorists. They are meant to kill Jews as they have done since the beginning of the false U.S. peace plan For over a decade it's been common knowledge that the Palestiniann Authority is full of Islamic terrorists, corrupt and run by terrorists. There have been hundreds of kilings and attacks at the hands of the Palestinian Police. President Bush is aware of this, so he has innocents' blood on his head. Look for the judgments of God to become more severe against the U.S. for the great wickedness from the top leadership to the bottom dregs of society. Contact Marcel Cousineau at up2zionsg8@yahoo.com |
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CHRISTIANS, BEWARE OF SABEEL
Posted by Naomi Ragen, November 6, 2005. |
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Friends, Some responses from others confirming my e-mail about the anti-Semitic Christian organization Sabeel. Naomi 1. From: Hannah [mailto:hsealey42@hotmail.com] Dear Naomi Shalom. I have had correspondence with Naim Ateek concerning the call for Anglicans (until recently I was an anglican) to boycott companies who do business with Israel. I can confirm what Dorit Evans said, Naim Ateek is extremely dangerous, and if I believed him to be a genuine Christian, I would never darken the door of a church building again. I would also not trust the Bishop of Jerusalem, Riah Hanna Abu El Assal, with whom I have also corresponded. His letters are couched in softer terms that those of Naim Ateek, but he is nevertheless very dangerous, and another person of whose Christianity I am doubtful. If Christians in the UK want to know what is really going on, I would suggest they visit the website of Anglicans For Israel, a grassroots organization which has happened following the boycott call. I had a lovely time in your country over the Succot and Simchat Torah period. Hannah Sealey. 2. From Marjorie M. Rothenberg Naomi, Please see ADL website: "Radicalized Palestinian Christian Group Pushes Protestant Churches Toward Divestment," http://www.adl.org/main_Israel for extensive background information about Sabeel. [See below.] Best,
"Radicalized Palestinian Christian Group Pushes Protestant Churches Toward Divestment" New York, NY, August 23, 2005 - The recent effort by various mainline Protestant denominations to adopt a policy of divestment against companies doing business with Israel has been pushed from behind the scenes by a radicalized Jerusalem-based Palestinian Christian group. According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center is a driving force behind the churches' anti-Israel divestment campaigns, actively promoting divestment through speakers and documents that provide a blueprint for churches to use divestment as a tool to pressure Israel. "The Sabeel Center has long played a behind-the-scenes role in encouraging churches to adopt divestment as a tool to pressure Israel," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "Leaders of the mainline Protestant denominations have routinely welcomed Sabeel leaders as guests at conventions and national meetings, and the influence of Sabeel in advocating for divestment is indisputable, however out of sync their rhetoric is with the people in the pews. Sabeel is the engine that is driving the divestment campaign." Earlier this year, the Sabeel Center released "A Call for Morally Responsible Investment: A Nonviolent Response to the Occupation" (April 2005). The document offers Protestant leadership a handbook on the justification and implementation of a divestment from Israel plan. "The Sabeel document artfully claims morality and responsibility for its irresponsible and amoral accusations against Israel," said Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor, ADL Director of Interfaith Affairs. "It completely ignores the efforts Israel has made to attain peace, and fails to recognize the terrorism and violence perpetrated by Palestinians aimed at destroying the State of Israel." Naomi Ragen is an American-born novelist and journalist who lives in Jerusalem. She can be contacted at www.naomiragen.com, where you can subscribe to her newsletter. |
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DISTURBING UPDATE ON GIVEAWAY TO THE VATICAN
Posted by Ellen W. Horowitz, November 6, 2005. |
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Apologies for a rather lengthy, but VERY VITAL update: 
Arutz-Sheva
A lot of us breathed a semi sigh of relief last week, and declared a cautious victory after receiving official word that Katsav denied any deal with the Vatican over a room in the same building of Kever Dovid Hamelech and the Diaspora Yeshiva. http://www.isfsp.org/zion10.html MK Rabbi Benny Elon had lauded the news of a denial by President Katsav and a papal representative as a remarkable acheivement resulting from public pressure. http://www.israelnn.com/print.php3?what=news&id=92330 We remained vigilant and held a small demonstration outside of the President's Residence on Friday. Jerusalem City Councilwoman, Mina Fenton was in attendance. She expressed great concern over the issue. http://www.isfsp.org/zion11.html After Shabbat, a number of disturbing news items began to surface: According to AGI online, The Vatican has sent Cardinal Walter Kasper to Israel to draw up terms for the return to the Catholic church of the site of the last supper, http://www.isfsp.org/zion-news.html It now appears that when the previous pope visited Israel in 2000, Ehud Barak or other government officials made some kind of verbal promise (maybe written) to give the room to the Roman Catholic Church. http://www.zenit.org/english/archive/0003/ZE000323.html#item1 Negotiations of a formal pact were on-again-off-again (visas, tax laws and other red tape). Progress (sic!) was made when Avraham Poraz (Interior Minister/Shinui) visited Rome in September of 2004. http://www.isfsp.org/zion20.html Gary Krupp of Pave the Way Foundation came in to facilitate in the final negotiations of the deal. http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/word012005.htm Negotiations may have been completed and Katsav was to sign, as a formality, when he goes to Rome this month. This also explains the report I received after a prominent rabbi, who met with President Katsav, reported that everything we reported was true. The President of the State of Israel didn't deny a thing in that meeting. For an astonishing and IRONIC look at the how the church has viewed this issue: Take a look at a New York Times article from 1949, in which the "The Vatican accuses Israel of having refused to return seized property" -- http://isfsp.org/1949.gif The Vatican considers the "Last Supper Room" (Cenacle Shrine) to be their "most precious of treasures". It's important that the public fully understand that this issue didn't just pop-up, but that is has been an ongoing source of tension between the church and Israel since the founding of the State of Israel. The church is essentially demanding that "stolen property" be returned. In a desperate attempt to buy the Pope's friendship, it seems that Israel is about to comply. Between 3-4:00 today, This matter will be discussed on the Tamar Yonah show on http://www.israelnationalradio.com/ Join the Yahoo Group on the issue at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/savezion/ Recent articles online from our activists
Call fax or email the Prime Minister, Mayor of Jerusalem, President Katsav, Religious Affairs Ministry, Ministry of Tourism, and the Israel Lands Authority (make the effort to look these numbers up yourself. We've provided them in the past) Call, fax, or email Maariv, Yediot, Haaretz and the Jeruslaem Post and ask them why this is not an issue. Call your rabbis and get a written condemnation of these plans, an halachic ruling on the sanctity of Eretz Yisrael or an endorsement of our efforts. Email your results to Do you want to hear the sounds of Torah study, Tehillim, the Diaspora
Yeshiva Band and Niggunim on Mt. Zion, or would you rather hear
Gregorian chants? You decide!
CALL AND WRITE
Prime Minister
Communications
Education, Culture & Sport
Foreign
Industry & Trade (Israel Lands authority)
Interior
Minister for Jerusalem
Religion
Tourism
Associate Prime Minister
Knesset
Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski
Israeli Chief Rabbis
Attorney General
President of Israel
Rabbi Benny Elon (Former Tourism Minister)
Voice of Israel Radio
Phone and Fax (in that order)
Israel Television
Voice of Israel
Galei Zahal
Ha'aretz
Jerusalem Post
Ma'ariv
Yediot Acharonot
Ellen Horowitz is the author of the "The Oslo Years: a mother's
journal." The book is available through retailers listed at
http://osloyears.com/retail.htm
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WILL WE DO NOTHING ABOUT THIS OUTRAGE?
Posted by Shaul Ceder, November 5, 2005. |
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I strongly recommend that every concerned party writes to President
Bush about this outrage immediately.
It's called "Training Our Enemies" and was written by Patrick Devenny. It appeared in FrontPageMagazine.com, October 18, 2005. Last month, NBC News correspondent Lisa Myers tracked down one Jihad Jaara, a veteran Palestinian militant who currently resides in Ireland. Jaara's career as a terrorist has been a remarkably effective one. As a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade -- a violent militia tied to Yasser Arafat's Fatah party -- Jaara supervised and planned dozens of assassinations and bombings against a wide-range of American and Israeli targets. One of the more reprehensible actions authorized by Jaara was the kidnapping of Avi Boaz, a 72-year-old American architect who was abducted by Al-Aqsa terrorists while he waited at a Palestinian police checkpoint. His bullet-riddled body was found a few hours later, dumped just outside of Bethlehem. Upon being questioned by Myers, Jaara swore that he had renounced such terrorism, a claim that was dismissed by former associates, who identified him as an important interlocutor between Hezbollah and various Palestinian terrorist groups. What distinguishes Jaara from many of his fellow Palestinian terrorist leaders is that he plied his bloody trade while simultaneously serving as an officer in the Palestinian Preventive Security Service, a body assigned with combating militants. His official status gave Jaara the ability to travel freely throughout the territories, enabling him to plan his attacks while enjoying the protection afforded to Palestinian officials by the Israelis. While his position gave him some advantages, Jaara was unhesitant when asked what single factor had most contributed to his transformation into a successful terrorist: small-arms training supervised by officers of the Central Intelligence Agency. The fact that the CIA trained a man such as Jihad Jaara is hardly surprising. For almost ten years, the American government has been engaged in a series of hopelessly misguided endeavors designed to train and fund the Palestinian security services, an initiative which can be deemed, politely, as a dismal failure. Tens of millions of American taxpayer dollars have simply disappeared into the covert bank accounts of corrupt Palestinian officials, while CIA-trainers recklessly lent their considerable combat expertise to fanatics such as Jaara. The misguided attempt began in 1996, when the CIA led an effort -- engineered by then deputy director George Tenet -- to train the Palestinian authorities in anti-terror tactics. The initiative was secretly authorized by President Clinton, who later signed a Presidential order sanctioning the expansion of the program to include chaperoned tours of the CIA and FBI headquarters buildings for Palestinian security chiefs. The covert training and funding operation continued over the next two years, existing wholly outside of the public's view. In 1998, President Clinton -- anxious to cement his legacy as Middle East peacemaker -- pushed for an expanded and formalized security assistance effort which would be included as a provision in the Wye River agreement. While the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was initially reluctant to accept such an idea, Clinton managed to browbeat the Israeli delegation into compliance, an acquiescence which ensured the continuation and growth of the formerly covert training program. In doing so, the President ignored the warnings of several veteran Israeli counter-terrorist officials, who repeatedly warned their American counterparts that several high-ranking Palestinian terrorists such as Al-Aqsa Brigades leader Nasser Awis were simultaneously serving as senior security officials in the Palestinian Authority, with responsibility for conducting counter-terrorist operations. Within months of the Wye agreement, the first Palestinian trainees arrived aboard U.S. government aircraft. Their training regimen was rigorous, far superior to the domestic "boot camps" offered by the Palestinian government or terrorist groups. The Palestinian units were ferried to various military installations, where they were given advanced small-arms training on firing ranges normally used by the U.S. Army and special forces units. Additionally, the recruits were taught how to effectively protect high-value targets and "motorcade operations," skills that could easily be transferred into protecting terrorist leaders from Israeli capture. Many of the former CIA trainees turned terrorists have since praised the CIA course, including Jaara, who made a point to extol the CIA's "shooting" course. Perhaps most disturbingly, however, was that the Palestinian officers were given "interrogation" training, which, in the hands of those who work in the espionage services of groups such as Fatah, could prove extremely valuable. American officials reasoned that -- emboldened by their new training -- Palestinian authorities would immediately and aggressively crack down on terrorist groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, who were consistently breaking ceasefire agreements during the late 1990s. To the U.S. government's dismay, many of the Palestinian security officers quickly joined or began aiding the very terrorist groups which they had been trained to combat. Security personnel were also observed transferring arms and their American training to militia groups such as the Tanzim, which was led by convicted terrorist Marwan Barghuti. Indicative of the Clinton administration's staggering ignorance over this issue was a class of 18 Palestinians brought to a top-secret location near CIA headquarters in 1998 for a course in "anti-terrorist techniques." American officials failed to realize, however, that most of the men hailed from cities where militant infiltration of the police forces was acute, such as Nablus. Not surprisingly, as detailed in the San Francisco Chronicle, several of the students went on to become some of the most dangerous terrorists in the Palestinian territories, including the infamous Khaled Abu Nijmeh, who used his CIA training to supervise multiple suicide bombings in 2001 and 2002 in Bethlehem. More than half of the original class of 18 went on to become fighters in the Al-Aqsa brigades. Beginning in 1999, Israeli government officials began suggesting that the American training effort be scaled back, in order to better judge its overall effectiveness. In addition, Prime Minister Ehud Barak complained to the White House that Yasser Arafat was using his seemingly close relations with the CIA to bolster his negotiating position, which had become increasingly aggressive. Tel Aviv's requests fell on deaf ears in Washington, which stubbornly clung to the pipe dream that Arafat's police forces would -- given enough American aid and training -- eventually confront the various militant organizations. This expectation was abruptly dashed during the intifada of 2000, in which large numbers of Palestinian police joined militant groups in fighting the Israeli Defense Force. The sight of Palestinian police stripping off their uniforms and engaging in raging street battles with Israeli forces became commonplace. At the same time, the Palestinian authorities failed miserably to curtain the actions of terrorist organizations, who operated with total impunity inside the territories. Apart from the blowback effect precipitated by the Clinton administration's foolishly training men such as Jihad Jaara and Khaled Abu Nijmeh, the futile quest to prop up a Palestinian security service has been an unqualified financial disaster. All told, the U.S. government has squandered almost one billion dollars in the effort to construct a viable Palestinian state, a large portion of which has gone into building a Palestinian security force. Despite this massive amount of funding, the Palestinian services have shown little signs of progress, as detailed in a July 2005 report compiled on behalf of the U.S. government by the consulting firm Strategic Assessments Initiative (SAI). The SAI report stated that, even with millions of American dollars and years of CIA training, the PA police were wholly ineffective, wracked with divided loyalties and inferior equipment. Many of its officers, charged the SAI analysts, were active or complicit in terrorist attacks or organized crime rings. Recent events have provided ample evidence of the overall program's failure. The ongoing chaos in Gaza and the current inability of the Palestinian Authority to enforce its own disarmament provisions with regard to Hamas should serve to prove the utter futility of "reforming" the Palestinian security apparatus. The latest example came on Tuesday, when Palestinian police officers brazenly stormed the offices of the national legislature, complaining that they lacked the basic resources to confront the heavily-armed militant groups. Their lack of weaponry or funding suggests that the tens of millions of dollars in Western aid which was specifically earmarked for arming the police had been directed elsewhere, a violation of the agreed-upon protocols. Regardless of these past failures, the Bush administration seems determined to follow a similar path, as training the Palestinian security services remains at the heart of President Bush's efforts to keep the Palestinians involved in the negotiation process. Earlier this year, while visiting London, Secretary of State Rice suggested, "There will need to be some international effort, and the United States is prepared to play a major role in that, to help in the training of the Palestinian security forces and in making sure that they are security forces that are part of the solution, not part of the problem." Echoing the Secretary of State's words was President Bush, who -- while meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in May -- pledged to "reform" the PA's security services through a $50 million dollar aid package, assigning an American general to oversee the process. Just two weeks ago, American officials in Ramallah proudly announced the transfer of three million dollars to the Palestinian security services, for the "enhancement of their capabilities." Additional measures have been approved by the President, chief among them a CIA-run effort which would give the Palestinians a supplementary $300 million dollars for security operations. These recent overtures are the latest example of our government's puzzling willingness to pour additional millions into anonymous Palestinian coffers, all in the name of highlighting our "even-handedness" with regard to the peace process. As we have already witnessed, however, any American initiative to reform the Palestinian security services is doomed to fail so long as no credible Palestinian government or judicial systems exists in the territories. Yet -- desperate to accrue some sort of good will from our erstwhile Arab and European allies -- the Bush administration sees fit to throw such considerations by the wayside, disregarding our security -- not to mention Israel's -- in favor of overseas image management. |
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CAIR'S OMAR AHMAD: "ISLAM ISN'T IN AMERICAN TO BE EQUAL TO ANY OTHER FAITHS, BUT TO BE DOMINANT."
Posted by Janet Lehr, November 5, 2005. |
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This was written by Diana West and appeared yesterday in the Washington Times and is archived at http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/dwest.htm "We in America know the benevolence that is at the heart of Islam," declared Condoleezza Rice, addressing assembled Muslim dignitaries at the annual Ramadan dinner at the State Department -- and provoking a second, consecutive examination in this column of the rhetoric of the most important US official next to the president. The secretary of state's annual Ramadan dinner at the State Department is not to be confused with the president's annual Ramadan dinner at the White House, although it's easy to get mixed up. The legacy of September 11 has left us with: an open-ended war abroad; the introduction of homeland hyper-insecurity; and the open-ended introduction of Ramadan celebrations all over official Washington. Which is worth a question or two on its own, beginning with: "Why"? Why has it become the post-September 11 function of the U.S. government to celebrate Ramadan? The buzzword of "Muslim outreach" comes to mind, but, as the Judeo-Christian culture hit by Islamikazes on September 11, haven't we got it exactly backward? That is, wouldn't Muslims better outreach themselves if the Saudi Embassy, for example, celebrated Christmas and Hanukah? But I digress. Getting back to Miss Rice's shindig, Ramadan wouldn't be Ramadan without Nihad Awad, the executive director of the notorious Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). His invitation alone deserves separate mention -- and maybe an investigation into whether security concerns arose over bringing into the State Department someone from a Hamas-linked group boasting five current or former officials arrested, convicted or deported on terrorism-related charges. Oh well. In the holiday spirit, let's just recall, as bestselling author Robert Spencer did at www.jihadwatch.com, the words of CAIR's former board chairman, Omar Ahmad: "Islam isn't in American to be equal to any other faiths, but to be dominant." By Washington's Ramadan measure, Mr. Ahmad's wish is America's command. After all, George W. Bush and Condoleezza Rice aren't breaking the fast with Jews on Yom Kippur, supping with Hindus on Diwali, or cavorting with Druids on the Winter Solstice. And they certainly aren't feting official Christendom on Christmas Day -- and no, the children's Easter Egg roll doesn't compare. But I digress again. "We in America know the benevolence that is at the heart of Islam," Miss Rice said. Really? Is that what history tells us? Is that what current events tell us? Miss Rice's speechifying, which included a personal riff on Ramadan as being a time "characterized by sacrifice and abiding faith, by prayer and self-reflection and by compassion and profound joy," makes a wicked contrast to real-live Ramadan headlines. Not the big ones about Scooter and Judy and Matt and Peter; or bird flu; or Charles and Camilla, or even the substantial ones about the new Supreme Court nominee, Samuel Alito. I'm thinking of the Muslim suicide bombing in Tel Aviv that killed five, and the Hitlerian promise of Iran's Shiite president that "the stain of disgrace" -- Israel -- will be "purged from the center of the Islamic world." I'm thinking of the week of Muslim rioting in Paris, and the news that a July 7 London suicide bomber was buried in Pakistan (his exploded remains, anyway) at the shrine of an Islamic saint. In New Delhi, Muslims are suspected of killing 60, while actor Omar Sharif has received Internet death threats, thought to come from Muslims in Italy, for playing St. Peter. And I can't stop thinking about the three Christian girls who were beheaded in Indonesia en route to their Christian high school. The killers carried off one of the severed heads to a new church, where they left it. I could go on about the magazine editor in Afghanistan just sentenced to two years in jail for "blasphemy" -- that is, criticizing Sharia law. Then there's Jyllands-Posten, the newspaper in Denmark that has received bomb threats, become a potential terror target on an Al Qaeda Internet list and drawn official diplomatic protests from 11 Muslim ambassadors for having published 12 cartoons of Mohammed. Depictions of the Islamic prophet may be a no-no under Islamic law, but redoubtable Denmark and its free (non-apologizing) newspaper are not under Islamic law. Condoleezza Rice isn't either. But her soft-soap routine comes across as supplication, not statecraft. The United States should never kowtow to the Islamic diplomatic community by pretending that no doctrinal or institutional links exist between the teachings of Islam and the terrorism that has benighted our days. She and they must face facts. An informative place to start would be to challenge these same Ramadan diplomats to denounce, not newspapers that publish funny faces of Mohammed, but anyone who chops a schoolgirl's head off. Janet Lehr is editor/publisher of a daily e-mail called "Israel Lives." She can be contacted at israellives@gmail.com |
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EX-IDF CHIEF YA'ALON: "PA SUPPORTS TERRORISTS"
Posted by Avodah 15, November 5, 2005. |
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This was written by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu. Former IDF Chief of Staff Moshe (Bogie) Ya'alon said Friday that PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) supports keeping terrorists strong so he can use them as a lever against Israel. Ya'alon, speaking to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said Abbas has disappointed him. "I was one of those who thought that Mahmoud Abbas would lead the Palestinian Authority (PA) in another direction than Chairman [Yasser] Arafat." The retired lieutenant general added, "He [Abbas] appears as weak. He is not so weak. He uses weakness as an excuse [and] prefers to keep them [terrorists] in power as a tool." The former IDF chief blamed Abbas for the current state of anarchy, which he explained has placed PA Arab areas on the brink of splitting up into regions controlled by different terrorist groups. Ya'alon, who is a one-year resident at the Institute, stated, "I haven't seen yet on the Palestinian side leadership that it is ready for settlement on the two-state solution." He said he does not think Israel should take responsibility for the Arab population in Judea and Samaria, but added, "We don't want to be in a situation without defensible borders." Referring to Syria, he predicted that President Bashar Assad will not remain in power. "He is performing very badly. He made all the possible mistakes." Ya'alon stepped down this summer as IDF chief after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, in an unprecedented move, did not extend his term of office as usually is done. Ya'alon, while not opposing the expulsion policy, had expressed reservations about it. Contact Avodah 15 at avodah15@aol.com |
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OLEG CARTOON: IRAN, THE UN, THE WORLD, AND ARAB TERROR
Posted by Women in Green, November 5, 2005. |
Ruth and Nadia Matar established Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green), an activist group of women based in Jerusalem. Their website address is http://www.womeningreen.org |
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WE'RE BEING ROBBED
Posted by Batya Medad, November 5, 2005. |
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Just as we were trying to figure out which communities in Judea and Samaria are, G-d forbid, next in line for extinction and destruction, we were shocked to discover that Mount Zion, including David's Tomb is being offered to the descendents of the Crusaders, the same guys who brought us the Inquisition more than half a millennium ago. If you haven't yet heard, and Israel's President Katzav claims to be in the dark about this scandal, even though the government is planning on using him to sign the contract. Yes, I'm calling it a contract, rather than an agreement, since it's a business deal involving millions, tens of millions of Euros, which are worth more than dollars. Honestly, it is possible that Katzav knows nothing about it. In Israel, the president is a figurehead to be wheeled out to smile and shake hands at formal occasions. Katzav, a "traditional Jew," keeps a kippah handy in his pocket for religious needs, and besides a ready smile, he seems pretty robotic to me. He succeeded Ezer Weitzman, his polar opposite in personality and life-style. That's one of the reasons, probably the main reason he was elected. It's strange that even though Katzav's office professes ignorance and the mainstream newspapers are at best playing it down and even worse most are ignoring it, a group of Anglos have had little trouble discovering the details. Sharon Katz's Voices Magazine will be running an article on the subject. Investigations have shown that the scheme was hatched by Avraham Poraz, of the anti-religious Shinui Party, when he was the Minister of the Interior. He promised to facilitate the deal during a visit to Rome over a year ago. The Shinui Party is no longer a member of the coalition. Previous Israeli officials, such as Rabbi Benny Elon of the National Union and former Minister of Tourism did everything to veto it. The deal to give away Mount Zion to the Catholic Church has been totally ignored by the Hebrew press. Not even the religious Jewish papers have written about it. Every time I mention it to neighbors they are in shock and can't figure out why they have been kept in the dark. Not a peep has been heard from the politicians. It seems like all the activity is from some bloggers and emailers in English. From the amount of letters coming in to our computer, you'd think it was the biggest issue in the country, but unfortunately it's not true. Nobody else seems to know anything. I can't believe that nobody cares. Even if the area in question hadn't been the location of a yeshiva, The Diaspora Yeshiva, for over thirty five years, it's still of great religious and historical importance for the Jewish People. It shouldn't be given, sold or leased to any other religion. It's a travesty of justice. Why are the civil rights of Jews always ignored? On Friday I was the demonstration outside of the President's Residence against his signing the agreement. We were a very small group, and only one politician showed, Jerusalem City Councilwoman, Mina Fenton. She seems to be the only person in the municipality showing any interest, and she had more information, and it was bad news. It's like living in the Theatre of the Absurd. Giving the Catholic Church such a holy Jewish Landmark endangers our existence. Our disengaged government is out to destroy the country, G-d forbid. Let's get to work. We have a country to save. This is Musing #151. Batya Medad lives in Shiloh. She can be reached by email at Shilohmuse@yahoo.com or visit her website http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/ or go to http://www.shilo.org.il |
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"SHREI GEVALT" #2 or HOW TO BE HEARD ABOVE THE NOISE
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, November 5, 2005. |
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I have been advised by some friends that, IF I were less harsh in my words, people would be more likely to listen to what I write. Also, the editor of one very prestigious newspaper with a wide circulation has said that my repetitious warnings about the perfidy of Israeli politicians was somehow unnecessary despite what we know to be Jewish short term memories of being savaged even a week ago. My rejoinder is that, within the media there is a gross surplus of scribblers who strain to sound reasonable but, generally come off as sounding merely passive. They fear pointing a finger and using the names of betrayers lest they be accused of being hysterical or exaggerating. So much Media-speak, video, radio, print, Email, Webmail, blogs, etc. creates a noise level which necessitates "Shreiing Gevalt" in order to be heard and to stimulate people into action. WHY I SPEAK ABOUT PM SHARON IN NEGATIVE TERMS When I speak of Israel's Prime Minister Ariel (Arik) Sharon as a dangerous and warped personality, that is what I know personally to be true - for sure. Since the 1973 Yom Kippur War when I met him on the field at the Suez Canal, I have admired him as a superb true hero of Israel and voted for him in the last 2 elections because he ran on a platform NOT to give up Jewish Land - opposite by 180 degrees of what he actually did. His behavior was very "UN-democratic". I could have politely said that Sharon was merely mistaken in judgement or that he was badly advised by counselors. However, his "Disengagement" has resulted in the exposure of Israeli cities to Arab Muslim Palestinian missiles, snipers, drive-by shootings and suicide/homicide bombers. This is NOT a subject for quiet conversation. In order to withdraw from 25 communities in Gaza/Gush Katif and Northern Samaria because they were considered to be "too dangerous to defend", Sharon destroyed those 25 communities. But, first he created legislation labeling 44 other communities in the Negev within Rocket Range of the Gazan Terrorist camps to be in clear and present danger. It seems his forecast is coming true. Sharon has willfully and knowingly unleashed Palestinian Muslim Terrorists to move closer to Israeli population centers where they promise to kill more Israelis in their homes, cities, factories, shopping malls... This makes Sharon a deliberate collaborator in the deaths and wounding of Israelis. He was warned by the best Israeli Military and Intelligence minds that his judgement was flawed and abandoning Gaza would absolutely not only encourage more Terror but open up the gates for a flood of weapons and more Terrorists. Sharon has ignored the warnings, seemingly bored by the 'repetition'. To solve this problem, he fired the whistle-blowers. Is this then something for which I ought to adopt a softer tone and, what some timorous Jews consider, a 'reasonable attitude' NO! I am angry and remain angry as I see Sharon and the Leftists he needs and uses to stay in office while they are putting Israel's neck on a chopping block to be severed by Muslim Arab Terrorists who are vociferously pledged to this end. Regrettably, we Jews have a reputation for artfully avoiding the imminent approaching danger or, as otherwise said, we stick our heads in the sand so that we cannot see the approaching dangers. With our backsides in the air all we have is hindsight. We do not have to be afflicted with paranoia because we really do have enemies who intend and have killed us. If we are NOT racists, then we should take them seriously. We really should believe what they promise to do. They say what they mean and they mean what they say. So, along comes a predator and attacks us while our passive journalists are pumping out a screed of reasonable opinions which are more pleasant to the ears of advertisers who may otherwise place smaller ads for their wares in the papers. Granted there is the matter of profits to be considered but NOT when it is a matter of life, death, injury or loss of sovereignty. We also do have enemies who call themselves 'Jews' who have set us up for these real and present dangers. Perhaps they deserve to be indicted, tried, and jailed. IF found guilty of crimes causing the deaths of Jews, perhaps they should be introduced to the 10 gallows on which Haman and his sons ended their anti-Jewish compulsion. It's a shame that all of the Jewish population cannot recognized internal treachery and respond with the proper degree of righteous anger. While I do not expect much from the general media vis a vis the Jewish nation-state, I always expect more from the Jewish media and am frequently disappointed in their obsequious genuflecting to a world that just doesn't give a damn. Pretending that we are destined to take a high road verbally and ignoring treachery, we only find that Road (as in 'Road Map') ends on a high cliff with lots of Jewish victims piled up in a bone graveyard at the bottom. There is a time for peace and there is a time to be angry (even enraged!). Regrettably, only a small number of Jews see the dangers and act (with anger) to strike down the predators who hunt us. Since we cannot actually 'strike down' the predators to prevent deaths and wounding of Jews, at least we can "write down" their actions and urge other Jews who are in power to protect their own people instead of endangering them. In Tanach (Bible) we are told that our greatest enemies shall come from within. (Boy, was G-d ever right! as always.) Do we really need more proof than the more than 1,700 Israelis (including some 50 Americans) murdered with tens of thousands wounded, many maimed for life since the Oslo Accords were signed under Rabin and Peres with their policies - aided and abetted by the vicious Left? These policies were continued under Prime Ministers Ehud Barak, Bibi Netanyahu, and now Arik Sharon? Have you ever seen a high ranking politician indicted and sent to jail in Israel? With a corrupt court and a corrupt government they stagger drunkenly down the road, leaning on each other just to stay upright! UNETHICAL & ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES OF PM ARIEL SHARON Few knowledgeable and thoughtful people doubt that the Sharon family has engaged in unethical and illegal activities, using the power of his office to advance his personal power and financial well-being. To some, it makes no difference. Sharon's son Omri has chosen (or been nominated by his father) to accept his own guilt - as well as shielding his father. It is imperative for those who want to see Israel become a secular state for Sharon to remain un-indicted for several reasons. One is that, IF he remains Prime Minister, he can use the power of his office to reduce his sons' sentences in time through a plea bargain conducted with his specially appointed Attorney General Menachem Mazuz. Sharon will also use the power of his office to save himself so he can retire comfortably to his Sycamore Ranch with honor and not in disgrace. He has only a slight problem with that because his own "Disengagement Plan" has enabled the Arab Muslim Palestinians to reach his Ranch with their increasingly accurate and farther reaching Rockets. King Herod retained guards over his grave to prevent his grave being attacked and looted by citizens angry at his harsh regime. No doubt, Sharon will have to post guards for fear that the friends, relatives, children who were orphaned by Sharon's policies might also seek revenge. Hopefully, no Jew will raise a hand against Sharon and his colleagues for their acts that caused the deaths and injuries of their loved ones - as well as their uprooting and eviction from their homes and livelihoods which were all destroyed and demolished. To take such revenge would make that hand contaminated for these men are now 'Tamai' (impure and contaminated). Many want to assist Sharon to remain in office - such as President Bush, the Saudis, the oil companies and the nations who simply hate the Jewish states. Some such 'assistants' are merely dedicated Leftists who wish to see Israel de-Judaized and made into a co-mingled State of Muslims and un-Jews. Secularizing the Jewish State has always been always been the doctrine of the Leftists from David Ben Gurion onward. Sharon adopted a Rightist 'Cover' and became a mole for the Left within Likud. He burrowed in deep enough so that when the levers of power came into his hands, he was able to leave the closet and become what he always was and to act on what he always believed. It has been reported that Ehud Olmert, currently a Deputy Prime Minister, has defended Sharon at a New York fund-raising dinner, claiming that Sharon has not received a penny of this money. That would be like saying that Sharon did not touch the money his son Omri had raised through false front organizations for his election. No doubt Sharon's fingers never 'touched' the money because he didn't have to. Others moved the black money to wherever it would do the most good. It is always beneficial to have explainers around, like Olmert or Dov Weisglass, Sharon's wily aide-de-camp. But, it is also interesting to see wealthy elites like those who attended what they hoped would be a secret meeting to keep Sharon in power financially - such as Nina Rosenwald, heiress to the Sears fortune and Larry Silverstein, owner of the World Trade complex (which was targeted for destruction by 15 Saudis and 4 Egyptian Muslim Terrorists). Somehow I am reminded of the Bilderburgs and the Trilateral Commission who were real. Then there were the fictitious organizations which replicated the gatherings of actual subversive groups who thought that, with power and money, they should direct the future of the World. (I refer to SMURF in the imaginative James Bond adventures who closely followed the script of actual happenings in the world at large.) Sometimes imaginative writers capture the essence of what real-life corrupt men hope to manipulate in their favor. Invariably, one thinks of Adolph Hitler and his plans for a 1000 Year Reich (world control) and Josef Stalin with his version of Communism where both thought to enslave the world because they knew they could run the world better. Now we have both the "New World Orderists" and the Islamo-fascists - each believing that their way of world domination is the best. And, if you look closely you will see a soulless Media supporting whoever is in power at the movement, even though they have a greater exposure to researched (facts) but choose to either ignore them or choose the spin of managed news to soften the story. Because we Jews are quick to forget, I urge vociferous repetition wherever possible. But now, there is the old finalé when the fat man sings. As the forecasts of Muslim Terrorists increasing their murderous actions are coming true, we hear PM Sharon sing his final aria as he tells all that he will fight the Terror which he has fostered and make Israel safe! He neglects to promise Israel's sovereignty. But, the fat man has sung! Emanuel Winston is a commentator and Middle East analyst. His articles appear often on Think-Israel and Gamla. He is a member of the Board of Directors and a research associate of the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies (http://www.freeman.org/online.htm). |
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THE REAL GLOBAL VIRUS: THE PLAGUE OF ISLAMISM KEEPS ON SPREADING
Posted by Emanuel A. Winston, November 5, 2005. |
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I was told by publishers that my articles were too incendiary &
repetitious when i compared islamo-fascism to Hitler & Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon's turning Israel into virtually a police state as well as
the bottomless corruption in Israel & an American regime's acceptance
of the Saudis as they plunder the world in lock-step with Exxon,
Mobil, & other multi-national oil companies. I urge you to read Victor
Davis Hanson's view of Islam & the western leaders who accept these
vicious attacks as acceptable. I may irritate the pacifists but,
Hanson does it better!
This was written by Victor Davis Hanson, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. His latest book is "A War Like No Other. How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War." Either the jihadists really are crazy or they apparently think that they have a shot at destabilizing, or at least winning concessions from, the United States, Europe, India, and Russia all at once. Apart from the continual attacks on civilians by terrorists in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the West Bank, there have now been recent horrific assaults in New Dehli (blowing up civilians in a busy shopping season on the eve of a Hindu festival), Russia (attacking police and security facilities), London (suicide murdering of civilians on the subway), and Indonesia (more bombing, and the beheading of Christian schoolgirls). The loci of recent atrocities could be widely expanded (e.g., Malaysia, North Africa, Turkey, Spain) -- and, of course, do not forget the several terrorist plots that have been broken up in Europe and the United States. The commonalities? There are at least three. First, despite the various professed grievances (e.g., India should get out of Kashmir; Russia should get out of Chechnya; England should get out of Iraq; Christians should get out of Indonesia; or Westerners should get out of Bali), the perpetrators were all self-proclaimed Islamic radicals. Westerners who embrace moral equivalence still like to talk of abortion bombings and Timothy McVeigh, but those are isolated and distant memories. No, the old generalization since 9/11 remains valid: The majority of Muslims are not global terrorists, but almost all such terrorists, and the majority of their sympathizers, are Muslims. Meanwhile, Westerners far too rarely publicly denounce radical Islam for its sick, anti-Semitic, anti-female, anti-American, and anti-modernist rhetoric. Just imagine the liberal response if across the globe Christians had beheaded schoolgirls, taken over schoolhouses to kill students, and shot school teachers as we have witnessed radical Muslims doing these past few months. Instead, Western parlor elites are still arguing over whether there were al Qaedists in Iraq before the removal of Saddam Hussein, whether the suspicion of WMDs was the real reason for war against the Baathists, whether Muslim minorities should be pressured to assimilate into European democratic culture, and whether constitutional governments risk becoming intolerant in their new efforts to infiltrate and disrupt radical Muslim groups in Europe and the United States. Some of this acrimony is understandable, but such in-fighting is still secondary to defeating enemies who have pledged to destroy Western liberal society. At some point this Western cannibalism becomes not so much counterproductive as serving the purposes of those who wish America to call off its struggle against radical Islam. Most Americans think that our present conflict is not comparable with World War II, in either its nature or magnitude. Perhaps -- but they should at least recall the eerie resemblance of our dilemma to the spread of global fascism in the late 1930s. At first few saw any real connection between the ruthless annexation of Manchuria by Japanese militarists, or Mussolini's brutal invasion of Ethiopia, or the systematic aggrandizement of Eastern-European territory by Hitler. China was a long way from Abyssinia, itself far from Poland. How could a white-supremacist Nazi have anything in common with a racially-chauvinist Japanese or an Italian fascist proclaiming himself the new imperial Roman? In response, the League of Nations dithered and imploded (sound familiar?). Rightist American isolationists (they're back) assured us that fascism abroad was none of our business or that there were conspiracies afoot by Jews to have us do their dirty work. Leftists were only galvanized when Hitler finally turned on Stalin (perhaps we have to wait for Osama to attack Venezuela or Cuba to get the Left involved). Abroad even members of the British royal family were openly sympathetic to German grievances (cf. Prince Charles's silence about Iran's promise to wipe out Israel, but his puerile Edward VIII-like lectures to Americans about a misunderstood Islam). French appeasement was such that even the most humiliating concession was deemed preferable to the horrors of World War I (no comment needed). We can, of course, learn from this. It's past time that we quit worrying whether a killer who blows himself up on the West Bank, or a terrorist who shouts the accustomed jihadist gibberish as he crashes a jumbo jet into the World Trade Center, or a driver who rams his explosives-laden car into an Iraqi polling station, or a Chechnyan rebel who blows the heads off schoolchildren, is in daily e-mail contact with Osama bin Laden. Our present lax attitude toward jihadism is akin to deeming local outbreaks of avian flu as regional maladies without much connection to a new strain of a deadly -- and global -- virus. Instead, the world -- if it is to save its present liberal system of free trade, safe travel, easy and unfettered communications, and growing commitment to constitutional government -- must begin seeing radical Islamism as a universal pathology rather than reactions to regional grievances, if it is ever to destroy it materially and refute it ideologically. Yet the antidote for radical Islam, aside from the promotion of democratization and open economies, is simple. It must be militarily defeated when it emerges to wage organized violence, as in the cases of the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan, Zarqawi's terrorists in Iraq, and the various killer cliques in Palestine. Second, any who tolerate radical Islam should be ostracized. Muslims living in the West must be condemned when they assert that the Jews caused 9/11, or that suicide bombing is a legitimate response to Israel, or that Islamic immigrants' own unique culture gives them a pass from accustomed assimilation, or that racial and religious affinity should allow tolerance for the hatred that spews forth from madrassas and mosques -- before the patience of Western liberalism is exhausted and "the rules of the game" in Tony Blair's words "change" quite radically and we begin to see mass invitations to leave. Third, nations that intrigue with jihadists must be identified as the enemies of civilization. We often forget that there are now left only four major nation-states in the world that either by intent or indifference allow radical Islamists to find sanctuary. If Pakistan were seriously to disavow terrorism and not see it as an asset in its rivalry with India and as a means to vent anti-Western angst, then Osama bin Laden, Dr. Zawahiri, and their lieutenants would be hunted down tomorrow. If the petrolopolis of Saudi Arabia would cease its financial support of Wahhabi radicals, most terrorists could scarcely travel or organize operations. If there were sane governments in Syria and Iran, then there would be little refuge left for al Qaeda, and the money and shelter that now protects the beleaguered and motley collection of ex-Saddamites, Hezbollah, and al Qaedists would cease. So in large part four nations stand in the way of eradicating much of the global spread of jihadism -- and it is no accident that either oil or nuclear weapons have won a global free pass for three of them. And it is no accident that we don't have a means to wean ourselves off Middle East oil or as yet stop Iran from becoming the second Islamic nuclear nation. But just as importantly, our leaders must explain far more cogently and in some detail -- rather than merely assert -- to the Western public the nature of the threat we face, and how our strategy will prevail. In contrast, when the American public is still bickering over WMDs rather than relieved that the culprit for the first World Trade Center bombing can no longer find official welcome in Baghdad; or when our pundits seem more worried about Halliburton than the changes in nuclear attitudes in Libya and Pakistan; or when the media mostly ignores a greater percentage of voters turning out for a free national election in the heart of the ancient caliphate than during most election years in the United States -- something has gone terribly, tragically wrong here at home. Emanuel Winston is a commentator and Middle East analyst. His articles appear often on Think-Israel and Gamla. He is a member of the Board of Directors and a research associate of the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies (http://www.freeman.org/online.htm). |
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GOT THAT OOO LA LA INTIFADA FEELING?
Posted by Steven Plaut, November 5, 2005. |
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Well, there are very few things as amusing these days as watching the French grapple with their backyard intifada. The suburbs of Paris are now more dangerous than Jenin, and the French are getting their comeuppance for decades of snootiness, for anti-American and anti-Israel agitprop, for decades of cowardice, and especially for the repulsive French love of old Jerry Lewis movies. Paris is now being targeted by violent rioting hordes. For years the French accused American racism of having produced the race riots in the US in the 60s and 70s, as well as the Los Angeles riots after the Rodney King business. And the French are sure that only Jewish cussedness and just plain Israeli evil lie behind the behavior of the Palestinian pogromchiki. The Gall of dem Galls! Well, now that the French are experiencing their own intifada, we suggest that they resolve the problem using the very same plan that they have been trying for decades to impose upon Israel. Yes, comrades, it is time to implement the Land for Peace Plan, Paris style. Here it is: The French Solution: Land for Peace So after leading the Solidarity-with-the-Baathists movement in Europe furing the recent Gulf War, France is now enjoying its own intifada by urban Moslem "resistance fighters" in suburban Paris! Of course, this is all on TOP of France's long history of supporting Islamist fascism and Palestinian terrorism. Now a few years back during a trip to Israel, French prime minister Lionel Jospin urged Israel to make concessions for peace. More interesting yet, in documents relating to his visit, Jerusalem was called the ''capital of the Palestinian Authority.'' And what do the French consider to be the capital of Israel? Tel Aviv, of course. This trip followed by a few years a visit made by President Jacques Chirac, who used the occasion of his visit in 1996 to announce that ''Syria has a moral right to demand return of the Golan Heights.'' These French politicians may be on to something important. Never one to back down from a challenge, I have prepared a set of proposals for consideration by the French people, so that not only can they preserve peace in Parisian suburbia, but they too can achieve a full, lasting, and just peace with their urban resistance opponents. First, until this plan is implemented in full, we must insist that the French government acknowledge that there is no military of police solution to the problems of violence in its suburbs and only through recognizing the legitimacy of the demands of the murderers and rioters outside Paris can the problems be resolved! Second, we all agree that territory must not be annexed by force. Therefore, we can also agree that Germany has a moral right to demand the return of Alsace-Lorraine, for the French aggression in 1945 and its consequent occupation must not be rewarded. ''A full withdrawal for full peace'' should operate here. Further, France must agree to the return and rehabilitation of all ethnic Germans expelled from Alsace-Lorraine after World Wars I and II, as well as all those they define as their descendents. But this, of course, is just the first step toward a solution, as no aggression can be rewarded -- and France has much other stolen territory to return. It took Corsica from Genoa, Nice and Savoy from Piedmont; as the successor state, Italy must get back all these lands. By similar token, territories grabbed from the Habsburgs go back to Austria, including Franche-Comte, Artois, and historic Burgundy. The Roussillon area (along the Pyrenees) must be returned to Spain, its rightful owner. And Normandy, Anjou, Aquitaine, and Gascony must be returned to their rightful owners, the British royal family. Not even this is enough for the sake of peace. Brittany and Languedoc must be granted autonomy at once, recognizing the Breton and Occitan Liberation organizations as their legal rulers. This leaves the French government in control over the Ile de France (the area around Paris). That, however, still does not solve the problem of the Holy City of Paris, sacred to artists, gourmets, and adulterers. The Corsicans obviously have a historic claim to the Tomb of the Emperor Napoleon, their famed son, as well as the Invalides complex and beyond. For the sake of peace, is it not too much to ask that Paris be the capital for two peoples? The French authorities must agree to prevent French Parisians from even entering the sacred tomb area, lest this upset the Corsicans. The Saint Chapelle and the Church of Notre Dame, of course, will be internationalized, under joint Vatican-art historical auspices. Indeed, the French should consider it a compliment of the highest order that so many people see Paris as an international city. The French have nothing to complain of. They will enjoy the benefits of peace and retain control of the Champs Elysees. Actually, come to think of it, even the Champs Elysees may be too much. Recalling the French position that Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel, perhaps the true French capital is not Paris at all, but Vichy. Steven Plaut is an American-trained economist, a professor of business administration at Haifa University and author of "The Scout." He frequently comments - both seriously and satirically - on Israeli politics and the left wing academic community. His website address is http://www.stevenplaut.blogspot.com. |
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SANHEDRIN PROJECT UNVEILED WITH HUMILITY
Posted by Ezra HaLevi, November 5, 2005. |
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A conference this week unveiled the Sanhedrin project to the public, shifting away from euphoric satisfaction with the launch of the Court one year ago and moving toward broadening participation. Since it was launched in Tiberias last year, the Court of 71 rabbis has strived to fulfill the halakhic (Jewish legal) requirements for renewing authentic semicha (rabbinic ordination passed down from Moses) and for reestablishing the Great Court, which was disbanded 1,600 years ago. At Sunday's conference, distinguished members of the Court, led by Rabbi Adin Even-Israel (Steinsaltz), presented a humble, yet exhilarating plan to widen the scope and acceptance of the Court to truly move toward becoming the restored Sanhedrin of old. Along with the increasingly modest references to the current institution of a Court or Sanhedrin project came new high-caliber participants in the project. Rabbi Even-Israel publicly accepted the position of Nassi, President of the Sanhedrin, and Rabbi Re'em HaCohen -- head of the Otniel Hesder Yeshiva - delivered the first address of the morning. Kiryat Arba Chief Rabbi and Dayan (Rabbinical Court Judge) Dov Lior spoke both at the conference and later at the festive meal. Also participating in the conference were Rabbi Yisrael Rozen, who heads the Tzomet Institute, and Rabbi Ratzon Arussi, Chief Rabbi of Kiryat Ono and a member of the Chief Rabbinate. Both spoke about the relationship of Torah Law with the law of the State of Israel, with Rozen focusing on the grassroots desire for honest and sincere leadership in Israeli society following the crisis of the Disengagement, and Arussi outlining the critical importance of the formation of a unified court of Torah monetary law. The crowd attending the conference, which took place in a synagogue in Jerusalem's Har Nof neighborhood, overflowed onto the street and consisted of many stripes of religious Jews, with a sprinkling of secular Jerusalemites interested in the return to biblical concepts. "While it would be easy to write off secular Jewry as not interested in the preservation of Jewish tradition and therefore not meriting consideration by the Sanhedrin," said Rabbi Re'em HaCohen in his opening address, "the authority and divine inspiration of the ultimate Sanhedrin comes from the Divine Presence, which our rabbis tell us rested upon the Jewish people at Sinai because not one single Jew was left out or excluded. The Sanhedrin project is a vehicle toward unity, and unity is what will be the vehicle that will restore the Divine Glory to the Sanhedrin." Rabbi HaCohen also expressed the opinion that the project should refer to itself as a Court more often than a Sanhedrin, in order to allow the recognized Gedolim, Torah Greats, to join the effort. The prevailing opinion of most of the senior members of the Sanhedrin is that the Sanhedrin has not yet achieved full halakhic (Jewish legal) status on par with its status before it was disbanded 1,600 years ago, but that its restoration is truly underway. In his speech accepting the position of Nassi, Rabbi Even-Israel said that the task of building the Sanhedrin will take some time - but that the ark that Noah built took 120 years to build. He expressed his opinion that the project should steer clear of political pronouncements -- a point that was challenged by Rabbi Yisrael Ariel of the Temple Institute, who said that publicly opposing the expulsion and supporting those Jews expelled from Gaza and northern Samaria could not be referred to as political. The diverging viewpoints gave those in attendance a glimpse of the manner in which Sanhedrin members disagree with one another, recognizing their responsibility to enable the body to provide a wide spectrum of religious Jewish thought. Members of the Court delivered reports outlining how the nascent Sanhedrin is already working toward fulfilling some of the primary functions that the ultimate Sanhedrin must fulfill -- the role of societal leadership. In ancient times there was the Nassi, the legal head, and there was the Av Beit HaDin, Father of the Court, who served more on a societal level. The Sanhedrin was the ultimate authority of Jewish law one the one hand, and a body of leadership for Jewish society on the other hand. Among the projects currently being worked on are the Beit Din Bein HaAm v'HaMedina, the Court Dealing With the Relationship Between the Nation and the State. This Court, which is subordinate to the Sanhedrin, recently grabbed headlines in the daily Maariv newspaper. The paper reported on an arrested disengagement protestor, who was allowed by an Israeli secular court to obtain a ruling from the Sanhedrin regarding whether or not to agree to restricted conditions in exchange for release from prison. Ettie Medad, wife of the director of the Honenu legal assistance organization, accepted the Sanhedrin Court's ruling to refrain from agreeing to the restrictions, even though it meant indefinite continued incarceration with her small child. She was released three days later after informing the secular court of the ruling. Currently in the courts is the case of a teenage girl who was arrested in the former northern Samaria town of Sa-Nur and is refusing to be tried by secular courts, asking to be tried by the Sanhedrin's Court instead. The Beit Din Bein HaAm v'HaMedina is also engaged in high level discussions with the Ministry of Education in an attempt to improve the way in which Bible is taught in Israel's public school system. Other topics addressed at the conference included the following: * Rabbi Shabtai Sabato commended those behind the Sanhedrin project and Rabbi Even-Israel (Steinzaltz), saying that the Sanhedrin has withstood its first year, "in spite of all the derisiveness" toward the endeavor from some sectors. * Rabbi Nachman Kahane, currently the Av Beit HaDin, spoke about the Sanhedrin project in light of world events and the failure of the United Nations to reject the Iranian calls to eradicate Israel. * Rabbi Yoel Schwartz, Vice-Av Beit HaDin, spoke about the Sanhedrin's achievements over the past year, including its interactions with the Ministry of Education. * Rabbi Yehuda Edri summarized the various opinions regarding the precise location of the Holy Temple, a topic examined in depth by the Sanhedrin this year. * Rabbi Gideon Charlap, a master architect, summarized conclusions of the Sanhedrin's committee regarding the site of the Holy Temple - though the Sanhedrin has not yet ruled on accepting the committee's conclusions at this time. * Rabbi Michael Shlomo Bar-Ron spoke about the Sanhedrin's mission to the B'nei Noach, non-Jews who observe the seven laws of Noah. He emphasized the high caliber and self-sacrifice of the Noahides he met on behalf of the Sanhedrin who are coming to Israel in Tevet (January) to be ordained as a high council for the B'nei Noach. Sanhedrin spokesman Prof. Hillel Weiss, speaking with Israel National TV, said that the Sanhedrin seeks to gain the support of the Jewish Nation not through coercion or animosity, but through love, which will eventually culminate in a basic law being put forth in the Knesset restoring the Court to its proper authority. One of those who took the day off from work to attend the conference was Efrat resident Jeremy Gimpel. "I had read everything written about the renewed Sanhedrin with such excitement, I had to see for myself," Gimpel said. "What struck me is that ever since Mt. Sinai, there were always 70 elders leading the Jewish people and I believe that G-d, in His infinite wisdom, knew the Jews would be dispersed among the 70 nations. To see all these rabbis and leaders gathered back in the land of Israel, bringing with them different traditions, cultures and approaches to Torah is a humbling experience and an answer to our daily prayer of Hashiva shofteinu k'varishona, Return our judges as of old." Ezra HaLevi is a writer for Arutz-Sheva (www.IsraelNN.com). This is from today's edition. |
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WHY PARIS IS BURNING
Posted by David Nathan, November 4, 2005. |
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This article was written by Amir Taheri, editor of the French quarterly "Politique internationale," and a member of Benador Associates. It appeared in the New York Post and is archived at www.nypost.com/php/newsletter/classify_newsletter_clicks.php AS THE night falls, the "troubles" start -- and the pattern is always the same. Bands of youths in balaclavas start by setting fire to parked cars, break shop windows with baseball bats, wreck public telephones and ransack cinemas, libraries and schools. When the police arrive on the scene, the rioters attack them with stones, knives and baseball bats. The police respond by firing tear-gas grenades and, on occasions, blank shots in the air. Sometimes the youths fire back -- with real bullets. These scenes are not from the West Bank but from 20 French cities, mostly close to Paris, that have been plunged into a European version of the intifada that at the time of writing appears beyond control. The troubles first began in Clichy-sous-Bois, an underprivileged suburb east of Paris, a week ago. France's bombastic interior minister, Nicholas Sarkozy, responded by sending over 400 heavily armed policemen to "impose the laws of the republic," and promised to crush "the louts and hooligans" within the day. Within a few days, however, it had dawned on anyone who wanted to know that this was no "outburst by criminal elements" that could be handled with a mixture of braggadocio and batons. By Monday, everyone in Paris was speaking of "an unprecedented crisis." Both Sarkozy and his boss, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, had to cancel foreign trips to deal with the riots. How did it all start? The accepted account is that sometime last
week, a group of young boys in Clichy engaged in one of their favorite
sports: stealing parts of parked cars.
Normally, nothing dramatic would have happened, as the police have not been present in that suburb for years. The problem came when one of the inhabitants, a female busybody, telephoned the police and reported the thieving spree taking place just opposite her building. The police were thus obliged to do something -- which meant entering a city that, as noted, had been a no-go area for them. Once the police arrived on the scene, the youths -- who had been reigning over Clichy pretty unmolested for years -- got really angry. A brief chase took place in the street, and two of the youths, who were not actually chased by the police, sought refuge in a cordoned-off area housing a power pylon. Both were electrocuted. Once news of their deaths was out, Clichy was all up in arms. With cries of "God is great," bands of youths armed with whatever they could get hold of went on a rampage and forced the police to flee. The French authorities could not allow a band of youths to expel the police from French territory. So they hit back -- sending in Special Forces, known as the CRS, with armored cars and tough rules of engagement. Within hours, the original cause of the incidents was forgotten and the issue jelled around a demand by the representatives of the rioters that the French police leave the "occupied territories." By midweek, the riots had spread to three of the provinces neighboring Paris, with a population of 5.5 million. But who lives in the affected areas? In Clichy itself, more than 80 percent of the inhabitants are Muslim immigrants or their children, mostly from Arab and black Africa. In other affected towns, the Muslim immigrant community accounts for 30 percent to 60 percent of the population. But these are not the only figures that matter. Average unemployment in the affected areas is estimated at around 30 percent and, when it comes to young would-be workers, reaches 60 percent. In these suburban towns, built in the 1950s in imitation of the Soviet social housing of the Stalinist era, people live in crammed conditions, sometimes several generations in a tiny apartment, and see "real French life" only on television. The French used to flatter themselves for the success of their policy of assimilation, which was supposed to turn immigrants from any background into "proper Frenchmen" within a generation at most. That policy worked as long as immigrants came to France in drips and drops and thus could merge into a much larger mainstream. Assimilation, however, cannot work when in most schools in the affected areas, fewer than 20 percent of the pupils are native French speakers. France has also lost another powerful mechanism for assimilation: the obligatory military service abolished in the 1990s. As the number of immigrants and their descendants increases in a particular locality, more and more of its native French inhabitants leave for "calmer places," thus making assimilation still more difficult. In some areas, it is possible for an immigrant or his descendants to spend a whole life without ever encountering the need to speak French, let alone familiarize himself with any aspect of the famous French culture. The result is often alienation. And that, in turn, gives radical Islamists an opportunity to propagate their message of religious and cultural apartheid. Some are even calling for the areas where Muslims form a majority of the population to be reorganized on the basis of the "millet" system of the Ottoman Empire: Each religious community (millet) would enjoy the right to organize its social, cultural and educational life in accordance with its religious beliefs. In parts of France, a de facto millet system is already in place. In these areas, all women are obliged to wear the standardized Islamist "hijab" while most men grow their beards to the length prescribed by the sheiks. The radicals have managed to chase away French shopkeepers selling alcohol and pork products, forced "places of sin," such as dancing halls, cinemas and theaters, to close down, and seized control of much of the local administration. A reporter who spent last weekend in Clichy and its neighboring towns of Bondy, Aulnay-sous-Bois and Bobigny heard a single overarching message: The French authorities should keep out. "All we demand is to be left alone," said Mouloud Dahmani, one of the local "emirs" engaged in negotiations to persuade the French to withdraw the police and allow a committee of sheiks, mostly from the Muslim Brotherhood, to negotiate an end to the hostilities. President Jacques Chirac and Premier de Villepin are especially sore because they had believed that their opposition to the toppling of Saddam Hussein in 2003 would give France a heroic image in the Muslim community. That illusion has now been shattered -- and the Chirac administration, already passing through a deepening political crisis, appears to be clueless about how to cope with what the Parisian daily France Soir has called a "ticking time bomb." It is now clear that a good portion of France's Muslims not only refuse to assimilate into "the superior French culture," but firmly believe that Islam offers the highest forms of life to which all mankind should aspire. So what is the solution? One solution, offered by Gilles Kepel, an adviser to Chirac on Islamic affairs, is the creation of "a new Andalusia" in which Christians and Muslims would live side by side and cooperate to create a new cultural synthesis. The problem with Kepel's vision, however, is that it does not address the important issue of political power. Who will rule this new Andalusia: Muslims or the largely secularist Frenchmen? Suddenly, French politics has become worth watching again, even though for the wrong reasons. Contact David Nathan at davenathan@aol.com |
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WHY DIDN'T ALHURRA SUCCEED?
Posted by Magdi Khalil, November 05, 2005. |
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Alhurra TV is operated by The Middle East Television Network, Inc., a non-profit corporation funded by the U.S. Congress through the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG).
Alhurra is operated by The Middle East Television Network, Inc., a non-profit corporation funded by the U.S. Congress through the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). Norman J. Pattiz, Chairman of the BBG's Middle East Committee who spearheaded development of Alhurra, said, "Alhurra will present fresh perspectives for viewers in the Middle East that we believe will create more cultural understanding and respect," adding that: "a key part of our mission is to be an example of a free press in the American tradition, and we will stand out like a beacon of light in a media market dominated by sensationalism and distortion.? Now that eighteen months have passed, it is time to verify if this promise was fulfilled. Did Alhurra manage to offer exceptional American media coverage in Arabic? Did it further the Arab-American understanding, challenge the fierce campaign against the U.S. and restore America's image? Did it foster democracy in the Middle East? Did Alhurra hold its own against Arab networks such as Al-Jazerra and Al-Arabia? Unfortunately, the answer to all of these questions is negative; the network achieved none of its objectives. If Mr. Pattiz's noble dream failed to materialize, it is mostly the fault of the Arab management team led by Mouafac Harb. The Americans put their faith in the Arab team and gave them free reign to run the television network; unfortunately, it turned out that their faith was sorely misplaced. The mismanagement and blatant abuse of power have cost Alhurra greatly, and have raised doubts about the United States' ability to create a successful news media and maintain a competitive edge against the established Arab channels. Alhurra is not as much American as it is Arab - with the typical flaws and mediocrity of an Arab news media. To quote Dr. Mamoun Fendi, a researcher at the Baker Institute, "Alhurra seems to be in league with the Arab media. What did Alhurra offer the Arab viewer? Nothing more than what he usually gets from an Arab news media; he was not introduced to American culture or values, and all he got was a reflection of his own, sad reality." To be honest, Alhurra didn't give him "more" but rather "less" than the usual, as the Arab media specialists in the Middle East seem to concur. Their comments include: Alhurra is dull, dry and bland, lacking spirit and rhythm, a pale imitation of Al-Jazeera but without its professional flair and elegance. No one would guess the American identity of the channel given its poor performance, and the lack of exclusive scoops or unique coverage; which is not surprising considering the ineptitude of most of its reporters. The channel sounds more like a local Lebanese channel, and indeed it has fallen in the hands of a leftover group from the civil war with attitudes and ideologies typical of that era. The Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper had labeled Alhurra "Washington's sin," stating that: "The US has sold the Arab audience a poor Arab-made merchandise." I am in the process of preparing a study of Alhurra's performance during the last 18 months, in cooperation with ten prominent Arab intellectuals. The study will be presented to American officials who are interested in Alhurra, and who have a desire to understand its current situation and to take the necessary measures to steer it back to its original course. There are serious flaws to consider, but one of the most alarming is the extent of power that the director -- Mouafac Harb -- holds, and how he had no qualms about using it to further his own agenda, at the expense of the American vision for the channel. I presented a talk show on Alhurra for the past year. Based on this experience I am able to make the following observations:
The decision to create Alhurra was well founded, and the channel possesses great potential as a means of American diplomacy; cultivating international relations and fostering understanding amongst cultures. However, the channel will not fulfill its potential unless it undergoes a restructuring of its objectives, human resources, programs and management. I propose the following approach:
Magdi Khalil is a political analyst, researcher, author and Executive Editor of the Egyptian weekly Watani International. He is also a columnist for Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, London, a free-lance writer for several Arabic language newspapers, and a frequent contributor to Middle East broadcast news TV. Mr. Khalil has also published three books and written numerous research papers on citizenship rights, civil society, and the situation of minorities in the Middle East. E-mail: Magdikh@hotmail.com |
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IS PARIS BURNING?
Posted by Lee Caplan, November 4, 2005. |
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Jan Siegelman I don't know if you've been keeping up with the news on the riots in Paris. I have a simple solution for them. I think that the French need to understand their anger, and negotiate giving up eastern France and certainly parts of Paris so that they can establish a new state with Paris as their capital. As we all know, the French colonialized the countries from which these Arabs came, and they deserve compensation for all the pain and suffering that they have endured. These militants, or shall I say freedom fighters, are only copying their brethren in their justified fights around the world. I think that Israel should lend support to France in those delicate negotiations, as Israel has developed a real expertise in giving over land for such justified Arab causes. The Arabs in Paris need only continue their fighting. The French, of course, should not use any superior force to achieve peace. This would be totally unfair and unjustified. Jan Contact Lee Caplan at leescaplan@yahoo.com |
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URGENT EMERGENCY APPEAL FOR BURN VICTIMS
Posted by Jacky Schweky and Joey Wahba, November 4, 2005. |
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This story can only be told properly and respectfully in a manner that is un-sensationalized and factual. We reach out without adding to the inherent dramatization in an effort to inform you and request your assistance in this potentially life saving and life altering undertaking. For a Jewish family of ten people, a father, a mother, and their eight children, life went from normal to catastrophic, in a matter of a few minutes. This is a story we apologize for having to bring to your attention, and one that no parent or family should ever have to imagine, let alone live through. Last week, during the holidays, while the father of this family is learning not far from their home in an area of Jerusalem called Shmuel Ha Navi, his 1 1/2 year old son gets a hold of a book of matches. Within seconds the home is on fire. The mother struggles to safely remove her children from the burning house, and the father, meanwhile is notified and comes running home. The father and a neighbor enter the burning house, which at this point still contains the boy of 1 1/2, as well as his 4-year-old brother. By the time this horror is winding down, the two boys and their father are all hospitalized, with the two children in critical condition, and the family is facing financial destitution. Now homeless, their home and furnishings all destroyed, residing by neighbors, void of all their possessions. Since the fire, each of the boys has been purposely kept in a coma, while the hospital and doctors have struggled to begin a healing process for them. There were pictures received from Israel, but we have chosen not to include them in the e-mail, due to concerns regarding their severity, and the mixed nature of this audience, in terms of age and gender. The younger of the two boys is suffering from 90% burns, and needs to be placed in a Decompression Chamber as part of his medical treatments. His condition is such that the body is not able to recognize what to fight, and what to embrace; therefore he receives his medication and then gets placed in the chamber to stabilize body and immunity functions and resistances. The cost of these Decompression Chamber treatments is 2600.00 for each time. His 4-year-old brother is facing the possibility of needing to have one of his legs amputated, as well as other serious complications. The father's condition, although no longer termed serious, like the boys, also continues to be hospitalized, and cannot attend to the urgent financial, structural, and emotional needs of his wife and family. We the undersigned pray, that with the efforts of a few weeks, and the assistance of a few dollars from fine friends like yourself, that we can help make a meaningful difference in the future of this family who is suffering such tremendous hardship at this time. We pray that our combined efforts as a concerned community can allow this family to begin reversing their unfortunate direction and getting things back on a normal track. We pray that with today's medical miracles, your generosity, and the financial wherewithal to allow those miracles to take place, that G-d willing, some time from now this family can look back on all this as having been nothing more than a bad memory. Please contact us immediately, as your (100% tax deductible) donation is urgently needed: Thank you very much and Tiskeh le Mitzvot, Joey Wahba, (917) 697-0827, JoeyWahba@aol.com
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SABEEL CENTER FOOLS CHRISTIANS; ARABS STAGE SHOOTING; EXTRA-JUDICIAL ASSASSINATION LIBEL; BUSH RETROGRESSES
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, November 4, 2005. |
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ISRAEL ABANDONED GAZA TO TERRORISM When Israel relinquished control over the Gaza-Egypt border, hundreds of terrorists passed through it to meet with Egyptian smugglers in El Arish, Sinai. They returned with components for at least 100 advanced range Kassam missiles. These missiles can reach major Israeli cities and military bases. The flow continues (though at a lesser pace, since the stockpiles were emptied). The P.A. takes a cut of the contraband, for permitting it in. Why did Israeli troops pull out before Egyptian border troops pulled in? Israel claims the troops were in danger of attack. Actually, PM Sharon wanted to have the abandonment done before his visit to Pres. Bush (IMRA, 10/22). To hell with his people? Fear of attack never deterred the IDF before. I believe that Sharon is craven towards Bush and cruel towards patriotic Israelis. Contrast the Bush Administration praise for Abbas' and Egypt's unnamed "efforts" against terrorism, with their actual collusion with terrorist smuggling for war! The big mistake was to relinquish control, not just relinquishing it before Egyptian troops arrived. Since Egypt colludes with the terrorists, and is Israel's enemy, it never made sense to agree to let Egypt partially remilitarize the Sinai. Two wars were fought primarily to get the Egyptian military out of the Sinai, abutting Israel. SOME U.S. CHRISTIANS BEING TAKEN IN Arab Christians in Jerusalem run the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center. The Center has been sending speakers into US cities to press not for peace and understanding, but for dis-investment from Israel. Its goal is to force Israel to merge with the P.A. into an Arab-dominated state. What one may expect from the Arab dominators may be inferred from the charges that the speakers make against Israel. In its conference at a Lutheran center in Chicago, activist George Rishmawi claimed that Israeli troops fire a gas at Arabs that prevents them from running away, and retrieves the canisters before anyone else might do so and discover what they contain. This is a form of blood libel. (Arabs of every profession invent, copy, and attribute all kinds of infernal tactics to Israel, while the terrorists commit every possible kind of war crime they can.) The group's founder evokes images of deicide. An Arab attorney educated at Harvard claimed that Israel started all the Arab-Israel wars (including the Yom Kippur surprise attack war on Israel?) and withdrew from Gaza probably because, he alleges, it depleted all the potable water. He urged audiences not to have dialogue with Israelis, because they disagree with them. A Jew likened Israel to Nazi Germany. To all this the audience nodded. None questioned it or asked what Israel's side is. There was no mentioned of jihad (Prof. Steven Plaut, 10/25). That Jew and others like him are more than disloyal and untruthful, they are neurotic. These Christians fail to admit that the Muslims want to conquer the Christian world, too. They would be wise to preserve the Israeli Army. Some prominent US Christian clergy are alerting Canadians against a Sabeel conference there (IMRA, 10/25. WHAT'S NOT ON JORDANIAN TV US rabbis representing all wings of Judaism protested to the King of Jordan about a Syrian TV series scheduled to air on his TV. The series presents blood libels of Judaism, such as the one about Jews slaughtering Christian boys for blood to be used in matzohs. The King announced that the series would not be shown, because it is "controversial." The rabbis suggested as a substitute "Schindler's List," which the Arabs have refused to broadcast (Arutz-7, of, I think, 10/27). The Syrian series was more than "controversial," it was defamatory. That is standard Arab fare. Arab universities make agreements of cooperation with Western universities, but do not teach what is true and have no respect for fact-based logic. What do the Western universities think they accomplish with these agreements? This is a fitting story for investigative journalists, if we have any left. Our own universities are taking on an Arab complexion and bias. MOSSAD MOVES ON The Mossad has downsized. It no longer goes in for assassination, nor tries to be everywhere, nor is lavish with resources. It relies on cooperation with other intelligence services. Its main project is Iranian nuclear weapons development. It has been providing the world with valuable but unsung assistance by facilitating reports about Iranian development from Iranian dissidents (IMRA, 10/22). Cooperation with foreign intelligence services can be useful. Reliance upon the services of members of the Quartet, which is anti-Israel, could lead to disinformation. Israel must learn to be more self-reliant. That would cost more. To raise the needed funds, Israel must become more privatized, efficient, and tighter towards the Arabs. As jihad expands, Israel needs to spend more on defense, including intelligence. Half the Israelis polled would like the country to divert defense expenditures to social welfare. HOW WESTERN TV NEWS IS MISCAST A film shows raw footage of conflict between Palestinian Arabs and Israelis. The introduction invites viewers to view the film, evaluate raw footage against stated criteria, and decide for themselves on the quality of resulting news. I don't have time. The introduction suggests that the Palestinian Arab photographers hired by Western media, have standards unlike those of Westerners (or are part of the struggle). The Western public does not get to see that the raw film contradicts the broadcast news. For example, Arabs are said to be wounded, but the raw film shows them running to ambulances, indicative of staging (IMRA, 10/22). ESTIMATED NUMBER OF P.A. TROOPS The sum of enrollment in the various official and unofficial P.A. police forces is 49,590. The estimated number of fighters in the main three terrorist militias is 2,600. The number in the smaller terrorist groups and informal gangs is not known (IMRA, 10/22). The West and the Arabs constantly are training and arming the official P.A. police. Nevertheless, those police do not crush the terrorist militias. The story here has not been explored and evaluated. Remarks that "the P.A. should try harder" are meaningless. The better but usually non-network commentators assert that the police have the numbers to eradicate terrorism but lack the will to do it or lack the quality to attempt it. Some point out that the P.A. police have recruited members of terrorist militias, who then compromise police ability to move against their organizations. The police, themselves, commit terrorism. The P.A. media and educational system continue to glorify terrorism. This indicates that there is no genuine movement against terrorism. How could there be, when the emphasis in the P.A. is upon jihad, which is unrelenting and unscrupulous? P.A. CHAOS INCREASING Armed men kidnap dozens of victims a month. The number is increasing, as the gangs are not held accountable and as authorities, instead, negotiate with them. Kidnapping is resorted to instead of submitting job application forms. Those victims usually are unharmed and soon released. Kidnapping also is used for extortion and vengeance. Abbas is said to be afraid he would lose a confrontation with the gangs, though he is informed who they are. They often are members of his own police and of Fatah. He gives them jobs as police, instead (IMRA, 10/23). If his own men are involved, then he cannot use them to fight lawless elements. EXTRA-JUDICIAL ASSASSINATION OR LIBEL The Palestinian Center for Human Rights claims that the IDF stopped a car bearing a terrorist commander, and then wantonly shot him dead. IMRA remarks that the Center would have us believe that the IDF prefers to shoot terrorists when it could capture them. Actually, the IDF strives to capture them when it can, and interrogate them so that it could learn more and capture others (IMRA, 10/24). The Center has given false reports before. Even if the IDF shot terrorists on sight, that would be permissible, for this is war and the terrorists are like pirates. Honest journalists should be careful whose claims they circulate. During WWII, US journalism knew better than to take the word of the Nazi enemy. Journalists are more naive about the Islamist enemy, especially when Israel is being defamed. QUESTIONS OF IDF The IDF announced that after terrorists fired rockets at Israel, the IDF bombed offices of two terrorist organizations (IMRA, 10/25). As presented, the IDF appears to have engaged in reasonable retaliation. War, however, is not a matter of retaliation. If one knows of offices used by the enemy military, and one has the necessary forces at one's disposal, one is supposed to attack those offices. This leads me to ask these questions of the IDF and the presenters of news: When did the IDF find out that those offices were used by terrorists? If some days earlier, why did it not attack them sooner? Is the attack meant to give the appearance of retaliatory activity, but otherwise Israel is afraid to pursue terrorists? Would foreign leaders protest pursuit, and would Israel challenged them? How many terrorist facilities does the IDF know about, that it has not attacked? Was the attack during the offices' occupation by terrorists? How many were killed? If this was another nighttime raid that did not catch any terrorists, why was it done at night? Why, except for IMRA, are the news sources not asking these questions? IMRA later reported a complaint by the Mayor of Siderot, which was the object of the rocket attack, that the IDF retaliation was inadequate. He said that the buildings were empty! Once again, the IDF minimized enemy casualties. One purpose of an army is to maximize enemy casualties. Israel is engaging in a phony war on terrorism. (So is Pres. Bush.) Jews are suckers in their own country. BUSH GOING BACKWARDS Adopting the new code words and phrases, Pres. Bush now would settle not for disarming Hamas, but for their not carrying arms in the streets. (That means they could mount raids when ready, but would appear to TV cameras at other times as sanitized.) He said he was impressed by Abbas' strong talk about democracy and restoring order. (Sure, Abbas has learned that if he talks about democracy, the democracies will fall for it.) Bush said he was impressed by the young, capable, business-minded, peace-loving Palestinian Arabs he has met lately. Bush repeated the stock phrase about their wanting to "live in peace side-by-side with Israel." (IMRA, 10/25). The whole culture in the P.A. is dedicated to jihad. But they have figured out what to say to Bush, to impress him. He seems to get taken in easily, or else he readily accepts their lies as expedient for his policy against Israel. Our President practically admits he is a fool, in believing what the world's worst liars, such as Putin and the Arabs tell him. Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at richardshulman5@aol.com. |
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GOVERNMENT BY LEAKS AND BOUNDS
Posted by Batya Medad, November 4, 2005. |
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It seems like we're being governed by leaks and bounds. When the Israeli Government has an idea that may not be too popular, it's first leaked by various cooperating media figures. Then when they see that the opposition is adamantly opposed, it's denied. Then it's leaked in a different format, and if there is still a lot of opposition, another denial. This goes on until the "polls" measure that the time is right to "bound" in, no matter what the public really wants. Because after a while most people are numb and confused. Recently they pulled a really sophisticated, advanced version of the leak and deny method. Post Disengagement we had already heard so many times, even before the withdrawal and destruction from Gush Katif and northern Shomron that parts of Judea and Samaria were next. So that's where we were concentrating our energies, when suddenly, AMBUSH! we found out that the government is about to sign away David's Tomb, Mt. Zion to the Vatican, G-d forbid. This must be stopped. And we need a government that will develop and strengthen the country not destroy it! Batya Medad lives in Shiloh. She can be reached by email at Shilohmuse@yahoo.com or visit her website http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/ or go to http://www.shilo.org.il |
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THEY ARE A-F-R-A-I-D OF OUR WONDERFUL YOUTH!
Posted by Nadia Matar, November 4, 2005. |
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The forces of evil in the government, the State Attorney's Office, the police, and the media are in a state of shock. They don't know what happened to them. They truly thought that with the deportation and the destruction of Gush Katif and Northern Samaria that they would succeed in finally crushing us. They truly thought that after this terrible summer the Jewish camp would finally behave as requested: like quiet and docile sheep of the "shepherd" - the dictator Ariel Sharon. [The Sheppard is the name of a new biography on the dictator, Ariel Sharon, which just came out in Hebrew]. They truly thought that after the destruction of Gush Katif and Northern Samaria, that the Jewish camp would focus exclusively on quiet "Panim el Panim" (face to face meetings) activity in Afulah and Haderah and slogans like "With Love We Will Be Victorious" - activities and slogans that don't disturb in the least the dictatorship of Sharon, the dictator, and the gang of deportation criminals that surround him. The forces of evil of Ariel Sharon and Shimon Peres actually expected that after this summer the Jewish camp would totally despair. The deportation forces could then remove the rest of the Jews of Judea and Samaria, and make the entire area Judenrein. Their supporters in the Jewish camp would not dare to protest. But, lo and behold! All of a sudden, it transpires that the Jewish camp is still alive. And it isn't just alive, it's kicking, breathing, raising its head, and daring to say: I'm here! If you thought that you destroyed us, then you are terribly wrong! If you thought that we had ceased to fight for the Land of Israel - then you are wrong, big time! To the astonishment of Sharon's corrupt system, a new movement has arisen, with thousands of youth, who are organized, proud, strong, and not afraid - not of the Arabs, not of the leftists and not of the Sharon Government. Yes, those thousands of youth who struggled for Gush Katif and northern Samaria who have organized anew call themselves "the Land of Israel Youth." Youngsters from the ages of 13 to 25, who are capable of organizing and simultaneously establishing four outpost settlements in different places, with two hundred and fifty of them in each place. The slogan of these youth frightens the entire system- "WE LOVE YOU THE LAND OF ISRAEL". this slogan is tantamount to incitement and sedition! The regime of the dictators Sharon-Peres cannot tolerate anyone who still dares to express their love for "the Land of Israel." The Sharon-Peres regime is a-f-r-a-i-d of proud Jews who declare that they do not consent to enter ghettos. That they do not want to confine themselves within fences. The Sharon-Peres regime is a-f-r-a-i-d of proud Jews who proclaim that they are sick and tired of being second-class citizens, while all Arabs in Judea and Samaria are treated like first-class citizens. The Sharon-Peres regime is a-f-r-a-i-d of proud Jews who dare to walk about the land, plant, demonstrate a presence, everywhere in the Land of Israel. The Sharon-Peres regime is a-f-r-a-i-d of proud Jews who are not afraid to loudly proclaim: "All the Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people." The Sharon-Peres regime is a-f-r-a-i-d of proud Jews who say: "Perhaps you succeeded in destroying Gush Katif and Northern Samaria, but the next time we will not be so nice and innocent. The next time you will not succeed. And this is not all, with God's help, we will yet return to Gush Katif and Northern Samaria!" And because the Sharon-Peres regime is afraid of this new youth movement, it attacks it so strongly and brutally, to try and subdue it before this becomes a mass movement. After what happened last Thursday during the evacuation of the four outposts, we can no longer have any doubts that the security forces received a green light, and an explicit order, to break the bones of anyone belonging to or assisting the Land of Israel Youth. The media aids the Sharon regime. It spreads blood libels, as if the youth were "rioting", "going wild" and "attacking" when the opposite is the case. The attackers are the security forces, who break the bones of the "youth". It is extremely important that the adults in the Jewish camp not fall into the divide-and-rule trap that the Sharon-Peres dictatorship is setting up for us. It must not begin to denounce these wonderful youth. For example, after the publication of the photograph of the officer whose face was injured at Elon Moreh, there was no need for the heads of Moetzet Yesha (the Council of Jewish Settlements in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza) to come out with a statement against the youth. Rather the opposite. A forceful announcement should have been released, saying: "We wonder how many youths' ribs that officer broke in defending themselves!" There has been no investigation of the facts. That officer might just be lying. He and his soldiers acted brutally against the youth. He is using this to besmirch the settler public and de-legitimize them. I call upon the entire public of the Jewish camp to support the Land of Israel Youth, with both moral and financial support. Additionally, we must organize to file personal civil lawsuits against every policeman or soldier who dares to touch our children. I, too, do not intend to remain silent after the severe mistreatment I suffered at the hands of the three detectives who brutally kidnapped me in broad daylight, without any cause, in Efrat. They verbally and physically attacked me in their car. Those police officers should be made accountable for what police brutality they rendered to me. We, the generation of adults who struggled against the criminal Oslo Accords, are proud to have raised such a marvelous generation of youth. They are following in the footsteps of Caleb Ben Jephunneh and Joshua Bin Nun who are continuing the struggle for the conquest of the Land of Israel. They are and continue to be faithful to the people of Israel, the Land of Israel, and the Torah of Israel. Our youth will undoubtedly succeed. Under the age old admonition, "Go forth and triumph" Ruth and Nadia Matar established Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green), an activist group of women based in Jerusalem. Their website address is http://www.womeningreen.org |
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CONDI UPS ANTE ON CRESCENT KISSING - SAYS ISLAM'S A RELIGION OF PEACE AND LOVE
Posted by Don Feder, November 4, 2005. |
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While I never imagined Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to be a conservative, I used to think she was vaguely connected to reality. Her October 25th speech at an Iftaar dinner (marking the end of Ramadan) disabused me of that notion. It was an exercise in crescent-kissing to put even her boss to shame. Upping the ante on Western Muslim mania, madam secretary promoted Islam from religion of peace to "religion of love and peace." (You always hurt the ones you love?) Islam's love letters usually come with TNT attached. "We in America know the benevolence that is at the heart of Islam," Rice remarked. "We've seen it in many ways." Muslim benevolence may also be glimpsed in a ceremony just days ago in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, where Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al Sudais (imam of Mecca's Grand Mosque) received the Islamic Personality of the Year Award. In a 2003 sermon, Sheikh Love prayed that Allah would "terminate" the Jews, who he benevolently called "the scum of humanity, the rats of the world, prophet killers ... pigs and monkeys" (the latter comes from the Koran). On other occasions Al-Sudais referred to Jews as "evil," a "continuum of deceit," "tyrannical" and "treacherous" - doubtless, all terms of endearment among devotees of the religion of peace and love. Rice went on to observe: "We in America also know that Muslims ... possess certain basic rights that arise from our equal human dignity. Among these are the right to live without oppression, the right to worship without persecution, and the right to think and speak and assemble without wrongful retribution." Pity Muslims don't extend the same rights to religious minorities in their counties -- Christians in Nigeria, Jews in Iran, Orthodox in Kosovo, Egyptian Copts, etc. Earlier this month, there were riots outside a Coptic church in Alexandria, Egypt. It took 5,000 police to quell the crowd protesting a play at the church which it believed had defamed its adorable religion. Days before, a Muslim stabbed a nun to retaliate for the sale of a DVD of the play. Crossing "peace and love" can be a risky business. Besides puckering up for the Prophet, our Secretary of State indulged in some unabashed America-bashing. After ritual garment-rending over the sin of segregation, Condi pontificated, "So, of all nations, America has no cause for false pride and we have every reason for humility." (Perhaps it was her years in academia that taught Rice to babble fluently.) No reason for "false pride," huh? It must have been the Saudis who launched us into the computer age. Guess it was the Egyptians who spent half-a-century feeding the world's hungry. Were those Iranians hitting the beach on D-Day? -- probably not, given that most adherents of the religion of peace and love were rooting for the Nazis. Her fondness for Islam must be behind Rice's advocacy of a Palestinian state. Why limit the love to only 1,000-plus dead Israelis in the past five years? In all of existence, there is no greater dichotomy than between the way Islam is portrayed by its Western admirers and the way it's practiced by its more enthusiastic adherents. Wherever large numbers of Muslims come in contact with "infidels," all jihad breaks loose. That's as true on the West Bank as it is in the Kashmir, as much a reality in the Philippines as the Balkans and as sure in West Africa as it is in Indonesia. There are two possible explanations for this phenomenon: 1. Islam is indeed a religion of sweetness and light which, for some inexplicable reason, tends to provoke the wrath of non-Muslims of every variety. Yet, reality notwithstanding, Western elites insist on seeing Islam through Condi-colored glasses. No amount of suicide bombing, anti-Semitic agitation (Jordanian TV is airing a series on the Jewish conspiracy for global domination - The Protocols of The Elders of Zion for Dummies), rampant misogyny, persecution of Christians or slaughter of innocents is allowed to penetrate this mindset. Love (as well as body parts) was in the air in India on Saturday, when bomb blasts in two crowded New Delhi markets killed 61, among them a number children. While no one has claimed responsibility, police are saying it has all the earmarks of the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, the jihadi group attempting to wrest the Kashmir away from India. Isn't it odd how the religion of love and peace often inspires such murderous rage among its disciples? I don't recall Moses, Jesus or Buddha saying, 'If you kill infidels, you'll go straight to heaven and get 70 doe-eyed virgins in the bargain." While most religions went through a violent stage, Islam's has lasted for almost 1,400 years - and counting. The standard Western response is that terrorism in the name of Islam is the work of fanatics, extremists - a fringe element that somehow has managed to misinterpret its peaceable and adorable faith and turn it into an incendiary device. This overlooks opinion surveys in the Islamic world which show substantial support for the Muslim version of Murder Inc. It also ignores the fact that, despite constant urging and every opportunity to do so, so-called Muslim moderates somehow never get around to repudiating jihad violence. It also assumes that George Bush and Condi Rice know more about Islam than the sheikhs of Mecca, the mullahs of Iran, the imams of the West Bank or the religious scholars of Cairo's al-Azhar University. Did our Secretary of State read the Cliff Notes Koran? One who shares Condi's pro-Prophet euphoria is the House of Windsor's Dumbo. Prince Charles is heading here to lecture us on the need for greater acceptance of the swellest religion ever. Re: Islam, "I find the language and rhetoric coming from America too confrontational," the Prince of Wales maintains. Did Neville Chamberlain take too confrontational an approach to the Third Reich? One of Charles's more distinguished countrymen had this to say of Islam: "Individual Muslims may show splendid qualities... But the influence of the religion paralyzes the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists anywhere in the world." Unlike Prince Charles, Winston Churchill didn't inherit his position, but did experience Islam in the raw. I hope Rice's Iftaar remarks receive the widest possible circulation. It should help disillusion those conservatives who are pushing her as the GOP presidential candidate in '08. Who would she run with, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who called for Israel to be "wiped off the map"? Love is all around. Don Feder was an opinion writer for the Boston Herald and a syndicated columnist. He is currently a political/media consultant. Contact him at coldsteel@rcn.com This article was originally published on GrassTopsUSA.com |
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EDUCATION EXPERT SANDRA STOTSKY WRITES ABOUT ARAB MANIPULATION OF US CLASSROOMS
Posted by Janet Lehr, November 3, 2005. |
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There is no lack of information about what Saudi funding is doing to undermine American beliefs. We need to refocus Arlen Specter and the Senate Judiciary Committee on probing the issue. It had been on the Judiciary Committee agenda but was put off in some way. Did Saudi lobbying funds have something to do with its evaporation? The only way for it to be reintroduced is for each of us to pressure our Congressmen/women. Find their names and addresses thru www.vote-smart.org Also, write the press, let them raise their pen in concern. Islam employs many methods of attack of those they perceive as infidels, Terrorism is but one means of attack. Education of the Muslim thru Madrassas is paid for by the Saudis worldwide. There are many Madrassas in the United States. Less noticed but more dangerous are their programs to alter historic fact. In America, the Saudis need only seed, start, the program and then the US government unwittingly finances it thru their Title VI programs. This article is called "What Teachers Learn About Islam, Israel and Mideast." It is a Special to the Jewish Times (http://www.jewishtimes.com/News/5148.stm) and is is reprinted courtesy of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Washington NOVEMBER 02, 2005
Chairs are lined up in neat rows. Coffee is brewing, muffins arrayed. The table is thick with handouts. One of them is Saudi Aramco World, a magazine published by Aramco, the Saudi government-owned outfit that is the largest oil company in the world. "The Arab World in the Classroom," published by Georgetown University, thanks Saudi Aramco on its back cover. Alongside it is the brochure of The Mosaic Foundation, an organization of spouses of Arab ambassadors in America, whose chairwoman and president of the board of trustees is Her Royal Highness Princess Haifa Al-Faisal of the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia. If you think this is a meeting of Saudi oil executives or Middle Eastern exporters or Saudi government officials, you are wrong: It's a social studies training seminar for American elementary and secondary teachers, held last year at Georgetown University. It's paid for by U.S. tax dollars, as the organizer points out in her introduction. "We are grateful to the grant we have under Title VI of the Department of Education that underwrites these programs," Zeina Azzam Seikaly, outreach coordinator of Georgetown's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, tells the more than three dozen current and former teachers at the seminar. Georgetown's Middle East outreach program is one of 18 affiliated with federally designated national resource centers, each of which receives hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal funds under Title VI of the Higher Education Act. Much has been written about the biased nature of Middle East studies programs at universities around the country. Less known is that with public money and the designation as a national resource center, universities such as Georgetown, Harvard and Columbia are dramatically influencing the study of Islam, Israel and the Middle East far beyond the college campus. As a condition of their funding, these centers are also required to engage in public outreach, which includes schoolchildren in grades K-12. Through professional development workshops for teachers and resource libraries, they spread teaching materials that analysts say promote Islam and are critical of Israel and the West. Georgetown's outreach and the materials it disseminates are singled out for special praise by Dar al Islam, an educational center in Albiquique, N.M. Dar al Islam, which houses a mosque, religious school, summer camp and teacher training institute, was financed in part by the late King Khaled ibn Aziz of Saudi Arabia. Its Web site lists four other outreach centers it admires: the University of California at Berkeley, Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan. Professional development workshops like the one at Georgetown provide the most frequent paths for the dissemination of supplementary materials to history and social studies teachers, according to "The Stealth Curriculum: Manipulating America's History Teachers," a lengthy inquiry by educational expert Sandra Stotsky [see attached pdf]. Stotsky is a former director of a professional development institute for teachers at Harvard and a former senior associate commissioner of Massachusetts' Department of Education. Her study was published last year by the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, a Washington-based education think tank. The problems with many of the supplemental materials, Stotsky said in her report, stem from "the ideological mission of the organizations that create them. "Their ostensible goal is to combat intolerance, expand students' knowledge of other cultures, give them other 'points of view' on commonly studied historical phenomena and/or promote 'critical thinking,'" she wrote. But an analysis of the materials convinced her that their real goal "is to influence how children come to understand and think about current social and political issues by bending historical content to those ends. "They embed their political agendas in the instructional materials they create so subtly that apolitical teachers are unlikely to spot them." Among the materials Stotsky cites is "The Arab World Studies Notebook," which has been widely criticized for bias, inaccuracies and proselytizing. Two school districts have banned the book, and the American Jewish Committee has urged others to follow suit. Audrey Shabbas, editor of the notebook, rejects the criticism. "We're providing the Arab point of view," she said. Responding to criticism that the material paints an overly rosy picture of Islam, she said, "My task is not to defend what Muslims do in the world" but to focus on the "difference between what people call themselves and what they do." Experts say the materials are popular because they're recommended by the national resource centers of prestigious universities. In an interview with JTA, Stotsky recounted that in the summer of 2002, after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Massachusetts Department of Education decided to offer a seminar on Islam and the Middle East for area teachers. They accepted a proposal from Harvard's Center for Middle Eastern Studies that "looked very promising." One of the organizers of the seminar was Barbara Petzen, the center's outreach coordinator. But when Stotsky and other officials saw the syllabus, which included the "Arab World Studies Notebook," they requested that the course present a more balanced view of Islam. Officials wanted at least to include a book by Bernard Lewis, a Princeton University professor emeritus who is considered one of the pre-eminent authorities on Islam. But Petzen and her colleague "ducked recent history" by agreeing only to include one of Lewis' older books from the 1970s, rather than one of his more recent critical perspectives on Islam, Stotsky said. Petzen could not be reached for comment. Stotsky was further shocked when she saw the lesson plans created by some of the seminar participants. One, which required the students to learn an Islamic prayer and design a prayer rug to simulate a mosque in the classroom, crossed the line. "It's really indoctrination to have students do such religious things," she said. While there is no way to know the extent to which the teachers, from 20 Massachusetts schools, ultimately incorporated their proposed lessons into the classroom, the assumption of the education department, which paid for the seminar, "is that the teachers use the material they learned," Stotsky said. In New York City, meanwhile, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein has barred the head of Columbia University's Middle East Institute from lecturing to city teachers enrolled in professional development courses on the Middle East. That puts Columbia in an awkward position, since Rashid Khalidi not only is director of the Middle East Institute but also its outreach coordinator, whose job includes reaching out to elementary and secondary school teachers. Klein's move in February against Khalidi, who holds the Edward Said chair at Columbia, was in response to "a number of things he's said in the past," said Michael Best, the department's general counsel, according to The New York Times. The department wouldn't specify any remarks, but The New York Sun reported that Khalidi has called Israel a "racist state." Khalidi could not be reached directly, but he admitted to the Times in February that "I may have used the word 'racist' about Israeli policies." He said he had talked about "the system of control of Palestinians, where they cannot move, and I said if that system is maintained, it would develop into worse than the apartheid system." A spokesman for Klein said last week that "nothing has changed" in Khalidi's status, meaning that he still is barred from lecturing at teacher-training seminars. For Stotsky, a major problem with the teacher-training seminars is the lack of oversight. "What teacher or principal is going to challenge" material that comes "with the sterling credentials of Harvard?" she said. While she doesn't claim to have all the answers, Stotsky recommends halting public funding for professional development until there is "strong evidence that most history teachers learn something useful from a majority of workshops they attend." Janet Lehr is editor/publisher of a daily e-mail called "Israel Lives." She can be contacted at israellives@gmail.com |
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PROTESTS AGAINST IRANIAN PRESIDENT: "ISRAEL MUST BE WIPED OFF THE MAPS"
Posted by Jacob Richman, November 3, 2005. |
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In response to the Iranian president's remarks about Israel, there were pro-Israel rallies this week in several cities around the world. I posted rally pictures from France, Hungry, Vienna, Brussels and Rome on my website at: http://www.jr.co.il/rally/world/archives/oldindex.html Thanks to everyone that attended these rallies. Am Yisrael Chai. Shabbat Shalom,
Contact Jacob Richman at jrichman@jr.co.il |
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THE LEGACY OF RABBI KAHANE
Posted by Gary Cooperberg, November 3, 2005. |
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Sunday, November 20, the eighteenth of Cheshvan, will mark the fifteenth anniversary of the murder of Rabbi Meir Kahane of blessed memory, may HaShem avenge his blood. Tzadikim are taken from us prior to national calamities to spare them the anguish of seeing Divine punishment for our sins. Prior to his murder the rabbi was greatly distraught at what he perceived to be imminent tragedies to his people. HaShem spared him from seeing the humiliation of Oslo and the perfidy of Sharon's surrender of Gaza, not to mention the horror of so many terrorist murders in Israel, including that of his own son and daughter-in-law. Rabbi Kahane spent his life trying his best to bring his people back to the Land and to true Jewish observance. While it was beyond his ability to reshape the Jewish State into a truly Jewish State, he certainly succeeded in bringing countless Jews home, both to the Land and to Jewish observance. This fact will eventually result in turning Israel into a truly Jewish State. His legacy lives in the lives of those who were fortunate enough to know him. In spite of the fact that the Israeli system of government is basically a small clique of power hungry politicians which effectively bar all "outsiders" from participation, Rabbi Kahane single-handedly broke into the closed forum when he won a Knesset seat in 1984. Kach was the first and only faction of One to succeed in breaking into the private club of political hacks. In the short time he was there he set more precedents than any other faction in all the years of the Knesset's existence. He so upset the power brokers that they devoted countless hours to devise a way to assure that the Rabbi would never again regain his seat. They ostracized him by walking out every time he rose to speak; the Knesset Speaker refused to table bills presented by the Rabbi; a special committee of the B'nei Brith Anti-defamation League was invited to Israel to create an advertizing campaign to defame Rabbi Kahane; the term "Kahanism" was coined as an equivalent to racism in reaction to the Rabbi's suggestion that enemy Arabs in Israel be deported to Arab countries (an act which Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin actually exercised after the Rabbi's murder when he deported busloads of Israeli Arab terrorists to Lebanon); and an "anti-racism" law was passed (which, by the way, was supported by the Rabbi), but was worded in such a vague way as to permit a distorted interpretation and was thus used to ban Kach from running in the next election. And, even after succeeding in the unprecedented effort to ban a Jew from running for office in Israel, the power brokers were so afraid of Rabbi Kahane that his assassination was arranged to make it look like an Arab terrorist murdered him. Thus was Israel "protected" from having Rabbi Kahane as a leader. The result of this "success" was a succession of political precedents which paved the way for the murder of thousands of Jewish citizens and the attempted abandonment of the Zionist dream. A national policy which recognizes the right of the terrorist PLO to independence and statehood on Jewish soil as espoused by an alleged right wing prime minister, is proof that the success in expelling Rabbi Kahane included expelling any visage of Jewish self respect as well. The saying of our sages that "He who is merciful unto the cruel is destined to be cruel unto the merciful" was clearly demonstrated by Sharon's alleged concession to our enemies by expelling Jews from their homes in Gaza. This was a cowardly, deceitful, immoral, illegal and treasonous act on the part of a Jewish prime minister and all those who supported it. It was the most shameful event in Jewish history next to the sinking of the Altalena. Although many good people have fallen prey to despair in the aftermath of this self created tragedy, we must all remind ourselves that Israel is not the plaything of those who presume to lead her. While certainly they do have the power to inflict needless harm upon the nation, which they have done and continue to do, they do not have the power to self destruct this nation. No power or combination of powers in the world has the ability to destroy Israel. In spite of our mistakes and in spite of the perfidy of our leaders, this country has a Divine Destiny which will come to pass in spite of our failings. The very fact that this country still exists after so many stupid self inflicted blows from our own leaders, (not to mention our enemies), is proof positive that our G-d is watching over us. Rabbi Kahane tried desperately to get us to realize the power that we possess if only we would behave as proud Jews; loyal servants of our G-d. If we would but conduct our lives, both personal and national, according to the Law of our Torah, we could hasten the redemption and avoid so much needless tragedy. Redemption is destined to happen. It is only the amount of suffering that we need to endure that is in our hands. How foolish we are to cause ourselves so much needless pain. The entire world is looking at the tiny Jewish State for leadership. Rather than serving our G-d and becoming the example of His control of this world, we seek to flee from our destiny and thus prolong our agony and that of the entire world. The source of true world peace and redemption will not be found in Washington, London, Moscow or the European Union. It will come from Jerusalem. Only when we Jews stop looking all over the world for redemption and instead turn to our own destined role as true servants of the G-d of Creation will we and all the nations of the world eventually find genuine peace. The is the legacy of Rabbi Kahane. We must all continue to strive to achieve that goal. Gary Cooperberg is founder of Project Shofar. Contact him by email at gary@projectshofar.org. |
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FOLLOW THE PAPAL PAPERTRAIL
Posted by Ellen W. Horowitz, November 3, 2005. |
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It may not have been considered earthshaking news. But I would have thought that the announcement of a possible agreement over the control of a Jerusalem holy site, emanating from a respected Vatican media source and appearing in the London Times, would have certainly warranted an article in Israel's mainstream Hebrew and English press. While there have been a wealth of columns ushering in a new and brilliant era of Catholic - Jewish dialogue here in Israel, there has hardly been a footnote addressing the price which Israel may have to pay for the dramatic upgrade in relations taking place. The news of a possible deal between the Vatican and Israel which would hand the Catholic church control over portions of a building on Mt. Zion, which just happens to house King David's Tomb and the Diaspora Yeshiva, in exchange for a former synagogue building in Toledo Spain, first appeared in the International press on October 12th. A full week later, the item continued making the rounds in various respected publications - but still no word from Israel's mainstream media. There were no confirmations or denials from our diplomats and government officials, nor were there any retractions from the news agencies which broke or reported the original story. Meanwhile, a lot of us who had already read the draft agreement, viewed the maps, and had heard audio clip interviews via 'lesser' news agencies and sources, began to question our sanity. I'm not crazy. This is newsworthy, right? In addition to my obvious and automatic distress over hearing of alleged territorial concessions and gestures of sacred areas to the church, perhaps part of my anxiety over the non-disclosure of the possible Mt. Zion portion of this burgeoning new friendship, is that I sensed a familiar pattern. It seems that whenever the Israeli government is anxious to push an agenda through, the powers-that- be and the press are remarkably silent on any 'sacrifices' that may need to be made, while they pump up the benefits in a very big way. On November 2nd, a full three weeks after the news was initially reported, the Jerusalem Post was the first mainstream Israeli paper to make mention of a possible swap agreement - which exists on paper - in draft form - but which President Katsav claims to know nothing about. Meanwhile, Vatican officials are still hopeful that Israel's President will sign the agreement when he visits the Pope in about two weeks. I hope by then the President fully understands the far-reaching implications of signing any papers set before him. And I hope the Israeli public is given the opportunity to comprehend exactly what's at stake before being presented with any possible fait au compli. And where is the government in all of this? Isn't the status and role granted the President of the state supposed to be more symbolic than political? And deal or no deal, since when does our President get the power to wield the parker pen and relinquish Israeli holdings? Is that proper protocol? Is this type of confusion and secrecy a harbinger of the new era of Catholic-Jewish relations, or are we simply committing the old errors of negligence and lack of foresight in our rush to find friends and partners? Perhaps we best stop and think before anything else gets overlooked and falls through the cracks. After all, this is the Middle East and concluding a contract over a sacred site is a far cry from closing a hi tech deal in Manhattan over a cup of latte. The very concept of holiness calls for time and reflection. One would think that negotiations over holy sites in the holyland would enjoy the same consideration. But don't count on it. It's a potent mixture of religion, economics and greed - charged with an 'End of Days' atmosphere - which has fueled the frantic land grab over Mt Zion and other areas in Israel. Pieces of the Land of Israel are being haggled over and treated like some object in the shuk. And everybody wants a piece of the action. According to rabbis and spokespersons from the Diaspora Yeshiva, a veritable parade of interested parties have offered them large sums of cash in a frenzied bid for the property which houses an institution of Torah study, the traditional tomb of King David, and is the purported location of the Last Supper. That's one full house! Last month, it was widely reported that evangelical groups are planning to develop a Christian center, which will include a possible biblical theme park, on 125 acres of prime Lake Kinneret real estate. Not to be outdone, it seems the Roman Catholic Church aspires to similar grand designs for Mt. Zion. They would like to transform the area into mini Vatican complex and a majestic center of Christendom. You can't blame them for having seen spiritual potential in the Land of Israel, which many of us Jews are oblivious to. The Jewish land developers are only too happy to oblige and promote plans in order to make the Christian dream come true. And what could possibly be wrong with boosting tourism, fueling the economy, and promoting improved interfaith relations through dialogue and gestures? Our very soul and sole possession in this world is at stake and yet so few Jewish people can answer that question. That's what's wrong. But depending on where you are standing, one man's business deal is another man's scandal. Don't get me wrong. I'm not some insulated religious fanatic. As an artist and author, I too reap the benefits of Christian tourism and their concern and interest in Israel. Two weeks ago I addressed a group of evangelical Christians who were visiting the North of Israel after having attended their annual 'Feast of the Tabernacles.' I explained to these very fine people that my caution in approaching the Christian community didn't stem from hatred, historical scars, or from anti-Semitic paranoia. My discretion is directly connected to my passionate love for and commitment to the Land of Israel. I compared this passion to a protective and maternal love, and I used our matriarchs, patriarchs, and prophets to drive home my point. The concept was well accepted by the listeners ( and it didn't hurt my sales either). Not every Jew and Israeli thinks and feels as I do about Eretz Yisrael and our holy places - I don't expect them to. But until the vast majority of us can perceive just who we are and where we are standing, I suggest that we proceed carefully and thoughtfully in our dealings with the Christian community and their desire for our land. One need not be a religiously observant Jew to realize the insight of our sages when they cautioned, 'respect them and suspect them'. That's not archaic thinking. I believe it's called wisdom. Ellen Horowitz is the author of the "The Oslo Years: a mother's journal." The book is available through retailers listed at http://osloyears.com/retail.htm |
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THE ADAM AND EVE SYNDROME
Posted by Lawrence Uniglicht, November 3, 2005. |
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"...You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." This biblical Judeo-Christian parable is ironically ever so useful as an implied fatwa to be obeyed by those ordinary hoi polloi relegated by misfortune of birth to dwell within Islamic autocracies. If ever the Muslim masses could be flies on palace walls of their plutocratic oppressors, get an earful of forbidden knowledge, perhaps their own paltry digs might not seem as satisfying. An aristocrat is indeed an aristocrat bedecked in royal robe or Armani suit, an ignoble Darwinian capitalist squatting atop fossil fuel reserves while spewing twisted Koranic verse at a captive audience of propagandized peasants. "Blame Israel and the West for your misery," so speweth the filthy rich Arab weasels, "above all watch what you eat, consume as much Jew/Israel bashing as you want from Al-Jazeera and other acceptable media outlets, but do not dare digest blasphemy critical of us or you will surely be afflicted with a lethal case of indigestion." There is nothing new here. The Adam and Eve syndrome has stifled dysfunctional despotic societies and even pseudo-democracies since before Og invented the wheel. Dictators dictate as long as the suckers they rip off are both cajoled and intimidated to suck up the strategically embellished gristle provided without seeking wisdom inherent to a kosher cut of the lamb. Still, century twenty-one satellite dishes dotting Arab landscapes provide a glimmer of hope for the someday Israel Hasbara Channel to perhaps clandestinely and effectively state its case, correctly redefining good and evil for a hopefully attentive audience. The emerging second millennium certainly deserves a new Genesis defined by an accessible tree of knowledge of true good and evil. Contact Lawerence Uniglicht at luniglicht@snip.net |
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WANTED: STRATEGY FOR EXPULSION PROTESTORS FACING LEGAL ACTION
Posted by Lee Caplan, November 3, 2005. |
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This was written by Hillel Fendel, senior editor at Arutz-Sheva (www.IsraelNN.com). Indictments and summons to court sessions are being mailed these days to an estimated 400 people, mainly youths - a result of the anti-disengagement activities of this past spring and summer. Many of the youths are unsure as to how to proceed. They are turning to the Honenu (http://www.honenu.org.il/) organization, which has several suggestions - but these have not yet been implemented. Throughout the months preceding the expulsion from Gush Katif and northern Shomron, beginning roughly in February, hundreds of youths were arrested in the course of protesting the planned disengagement. Most were arrested while blocking roads, and were even held in prison for various amounts of time. A special wing in the Maasiyahu Prison in Ramle was even set up for the disengagement protestors. Coming to their rescue was largely Honenu, a voluntary legal rights organization. Honenu had been established four years earlier to help citizens whose spontaneous acts of self-defense in life-threatening situations had embroiled them in legal trouble. Honenu hired lawyers, at group discounted rates, to represent the protesting youths and others at the first stage of their arrest, trying to help them avoid being incarcerated until the end of the proceedings and other restrictions. The lawyers advised them regarding such issues as whether to identify themselves and the like. The young inmates forged close ties as they experienced jail together "for the cause," and for the most part drew much admiration for their ideals and behavior while in prison. The commander of the Maasiyahu Prison reportedly told MK Effie Eitam that he hoped his own children would grow up like them. One yeshiva high school junior who spent eight days in prison after passively participating in a road-blocking wrote on the Ynet Hebrew news site, "I'll tell you frankly: I wasn't supposed to be [arrested]. I was arrested for nothing. Really. But I'm not sorry for one second that I was there! To me, those 'law-breakers' gave so much... The Sabbath that I had there in prison - I don't remember such a Shabbat in my life. Such righteous boys and girls! What an amazing and uplifting Kabbalat Shabbat [Friday evening prayer service]! ... I don't think there was one person there who hadn't gone on the face-to-face campaign [of meeting people in their homes and explaining to them about Gush Katif, Judaism, etc. - ed.] at least five times. So whoever thinks that these road-blockers don't care about the People of Israel should sit on the side and learn from them about true love of their fellow Jew. Even in jail they tried to do the face-to-face campaign. We did it with the jailers, with other prisoners, with police officers, etc." Now, however, the situation has changed: the arrestees are no longer "together," their plight is no longer of great public interest, and Honenu's funds cannot be stretched to cover all the legal fees that are now arising. Shmuel "Zangy" Medad, the founder and head of Honenu, told Arutz-7, "We simply do not have enough money. At the first stage, our help was critical, because people were in shock over being arrested, and they needed immediate help, to avoid being jailed until the end of proceedings and the like. We would like to continue our help, but we simply can't - it's too much... But we can help now in other ways: For one thing, one who receives a court summons can take lawyers from among those who are still in our pool, at discounted prices [roughly a third to a quarter of normal lawyers' fees]. Or, of course, he or she can take a public defender; this is free, and some of them are of high quality. In that case, we can advise him on what he needs to be eligible for such representation. Or if he wants to defend himself, we have lawyers who can advise him." Medad then said that a fourth option exists: "We don't officially recommend it, but it's important to mention - and that is for the defendant to state straight out that he or she does not recognize the courts because of their non-Jewish orientation. We know that only isolated individuals are able to take this approach, however." One of them is Medad's wife Ettie, who was taken yesterday by force to a court in Kfar Saba - a day earlier than her scheduled court date, sentenced to a three-month suspended sentence, and released. She spent most of the month of August this year in prison on two-year-old charges related to alleged "child neglect" having to do with her protest against the eviction of a widow from her hilltop home. ("State Gives In, Releases Mother of Nine from Disengagement Wing," http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=89229) She said at the time that she prefers to "sit in jail, despite the suffering my family and children will face, rather than cooperate with the evils perpetrated against our people. I will not cooperate with the forces who are expelling David Hatuel... [or that] permitted the eviction of Livnat Ozeri and the destruction of her home, [or] with the forces that are planning to build a casino in Elei Sinai. If this is the price we have to pay, so be it." Clearly, however, only a small number are willing to take this approach, and Medad says that within a few days, he hopes to have a meeting of all of them to decide on a joint strategy. Others who have been helped by Honenu would like to enlist the organization's help in holding another gathering - of those who are not willing to take the above approach. The mother of one young defendant said that she was told by the Rabbi of Yitzhar, David Dudkevitch, that there must be a group strategy for those in the "mainstream" who don't wish to clash directly with the legal system. One man close to the matter, a resident of Kedumim who is in close contact with Honenu, told Arutz-7 that he would like to organize such a strategy: "It's a realistic goal, but it has to be organized by a group. My idea is that we all saw and all agree that the system is corrupt and has to be changed - but it can't be done overnight. We also have to recognize that there are still some individuals, even in the system, who can be convinced when they see that something is wrong. Last week, for instance, a report was issued showing how unfairly all the disengagement protestors were treated - and it made some waves. We have to keep the pressure on; we have to lead to a situation where there is much scrutiny, both here and abroad, of their decisions; we have to show the judges reports and investigations, asking questions like, 'How do you expect me to cooperate with a system that does this and this?'; and of course we have to aggressively contest the actual charges. We need to hold a press conference that will present this position and turn it into news, and then meet together and make decisions." For some of the defendants, the above might be too late, as their court dates are coming up in the coming days. "We might be able to push off the court date," one mother said, "and if so, the [above-mentioned] strategy is the way we would like to go." The people mentioned in this article are in contact with one another, and hope to work together to implement their strategy for the benefit of as many of the young defendants as possible. Medad said, "Keep in mind that after the Yamit/Sinai expulsion in 1982, then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin closed all the files against the protestors - but Sharon has not done this. He has been sending a consistent message ever since he first announced his disengagement plan that he wants to break the national-religious-settler camp. But he won't succeed. The tide is turning against him, and people believe in our way. We believe that the State of Israel is a great thing, and we thank G-d for it - but the way is now open for it to become a truly Jewish state. For this, we have to struggle." Contact Lee Caplan at leescaplan@yahoo.com |
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RESISTING US ISLAMIFICATION; PHONE TECH SUPPORT; BUSH CONTRADICTIONS; FALSE ISLAMOPHOBIA ACCUSATION
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, November 3, 2005. |
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RESISTING ISLAMIFICATION OF U.S.
California requires public schools to teach seventh graders about Islamic civilization in the Middle Ages. A state textbook warns against role-playing instruction about religious practices. A couple of years ago, as we reported, some public schools required the general student body to play the role of Muslims and only of Muslims. The schools had the students don Islamic dress, recite phrases from the Koran, mimic Ramadan fasting, wear name tags with the star and crescent identification as Muslims, and play a "Race to Mecca" game During the 8-week stint, Islamic religious teachings were described as facts, parents claimed. Two families of Christians brought suit against this partial Establishment of Islam, as contrary to the California Constitution. They now are appealing an adverse lower court decision, but are finding some appeals court judges skeptical. Denying any violation, the school district asserted that the program was not a religious service. District Supt. Meyer noted that only the plaintiffs objected. A district lawyer said nobody would object to a simulation of a Passover Seder or a Last Supper. The case for injunction is the double standard that favors Islam in the public schools. "If this case dealt with the teaching of Catholicism, of course people would say you're endorsing religion." Asked one judge, "Did they spend eight weeks on that dressing as priests and crusaders?" (No, for other religions, the schools don't get students so intimately involved. Would it be right if they did?) An appeals court judge thought many aspects of instruction were cultural and historical, really, secular. Children should be taught the history of religions. After all, none of the teachers involved were Muslims interested in proselytizing (Josh Gerstein, NY Sun, 10/20, p.1). "Taught" is not the issue; indoctrination is. Lack of additional plaintiffs is no better an argument than superintendents' dubious excuse that the tenant complaining to him at the time is the only one. That did not excuse the lack of hot water. Not everyone braves political correctness, including the teachers who made the students not just learn about Islam but practice it. That is the nub of the matter: they didn't study it objectively. They were made to identify with it and only with it. There is more here than merely being taught about something, as when they are told that the claims of Islam are factual. The judges seem unaware that Islam is a total civilization, not only a theology. The immersion in many Islamic practices therefore amounts to practice of the religion. I am willing to bet that the course did not teach the students about the imperialism by which Islam dominated other countries nor the discrimination against people of other faiths by means of taxation, second class-citizenship, distinctive dress, pogroms, and employment. If so, the course is even more biased, by covering up negatives and depicting all Muslim claims as factual. The poor students probably don't know about the Islamic principle of the ends justifying the means, including lying and false accusations of others lying. TECH SUPPORT BY PHONE My problems in AOL are not routine. I need a human advisor, not an enormous website. Almost every time I call, the procedure and recordings are different. Now they have voice-recognition, to further shield their live -- and paid -- staff from customers. "For sale to marketing companies, your call may be recorded." Is that what they mean? "All consultants are busy fouling up other customers," or so I have found. It takes several calls to resolve a problem. Sometimes foreign accents impede communication. I attribute to that and poor training the consultants' frequent failure to grasp the problem. The computer voice takes agonizingly long to get through. This is typical of message machines in this age of robots and over-specialized workers (meaning that they know nothing but their immediate task). To conserve their company resources, they waste ours. Tip: Answer with your choice when the recording starts to ask whether you want the first choice. If you do, the next question would come right up. When the computer voice informs you that your call is valuable to the company, it would be more convincing if you weren't kept waiting so long. The female computer voice informs you that the next consultant would be available in two minutes, but it turns you over to a male computer voice, that estimates the time as 10 minutes. Ten minutes gives the company time to inject a number of commercials, some boastful. You are fuming over the delay in getting their help in solving a problem of their bugs, but they boast about how excellent their advisory service is. By the time they are through, they ask us our screen names more than once. Wouldn't it be nice if the data were passed through? AOL wants to know how well their staff serves us. It offers a questionnaire. The questionnaire runs on for pages, filled with questions making meaningless distinctions. Fatigue set in without my having found a place for entering my own narrative reaction, which would have been more indicative of their efforts. Software packages generally first check for compatibility with your computer. Not AOL. It lets one install an updated version up to the last step, before it fails, sometimes without notification. At least the installation is briefer than formerly. I had to discard my P.C., when the Trojan virus infested it. I had tried to install Norton, which told me there was one more task to do, and then failed. I deleted Norton, and installed McAfee. It got caught in the middle of its registration. It could run to a certain extent automatically, but I could not start it manually. Can't get Norton and McCaffee on the phone without heavy charges. I tried AOL 9.0 Security version, but that failed. When my paid consultant examined the machine, he found that Norton still was in there. Could cause problems, having two anti-virus packages in the same P.C. Google took a few months, at one response a week, figuring out the bug in my version of its software. I'm not tech-savvy. Hope you had some laughs at my expense. WHAT THE BUSH REDEFINITION OF THE ENEMY ERRED IN Although Pres. Bush went admirably further in redefining the enemy from terrorism to Islamism or Islamo-fascism, he blunted his message by adding that the failure is not of the Muslim culture and religion but just of political and economic doctrines. Not true. As he explained, whole societies in the Mideast remain stagnant, while the rest of the world progresses. He knows why the Arab and other Muslim societies fail to modernize and democratize. They all are backward, due to their culture. Culture cannot be separated out from economics and politics. For that reason, some former satellites of the USSR turned to democracy, whereas others did not. Some are dynamic, others, with a cultural albatross, lag. (Some may have stronger KGBs.) What retards Muslim societies? Impermissibility of questioning dogma (which affects the economy and politics). Clan loyalties, which make conformity and group loyalty the supreme value. Suppression of women (stemming from, or embodied in religious precepts). The absence of critical intellectual thought and blaming others for one's own faults. The result is lack of individual freedom (Hillel Halkin, NY Sun, 10/18, Op. Ed.). BUSH PRAISES MUSLIM LEADER Abbas' 40 years of terrorism were capped by a White House reception. Pres. Bush praised his commitment to "one authority, one law, and one gun." (Eli Lake, NY Sun, 10/21, p.6.) (But of that, the Democrats fail to complain. To let Jews die, they put aside their partisanship.) For the leader of an anarchy, it is a nice phrase. But it would suit Stalin and Mussolini, too. The gun is loaded and firing, the law is Islamic and dictatorial, and the authority is personal. What contribution is Abbas making? He's covering up for terrorism, which he does not disavow as evil. His controlled media agitate against America, Jews, and peace. Pres. Bush disgraced himself, but nobody knew it, because the media did not tell them, because they are disgracing themselves and not admitting it. AT WAR, BUT BUSH DOESN'T ACT The new Hizbullah satellite channel is seeking to broadcast to N. America. It promotes insurgency and suicide attacks against Americans. In reaction, the US Senate passed a resolution unanimously, calling on the President to place the channel under Treasury Dept. financial sanctions, and not leave it merely designated on the Terror Exclusion List (Eli Lake, NY Sun, 10/25, p.6). Why didn't Bush act, and do so before the resolution? Where is his wartime leadership? UNO HAMPERS WAR ON ISLAMISM The UNO investigator had identified dictator Assad's family as plotters in the assassination of Lebanon's leader against the Syrian occupation. Those names were deleted from the report. Sec.-General Annan claims that the deletion was done by the investigator, but it was done in Annan's office, as he was reviewing it! Annan is watering down the case against Syria, just as he undercut sanctions against Iraq. He does not exert proper leadership (NY Sun, 10/25, Ed.). Annan has presided over terrible scandals and whitewashes. He probably does not want to antagonize the Muslim states, which forms the biggest UNO bloc. His program seems to be: (1) Don't roil the majority, even if doing so lets injustice prevail; (2) Raise funds for the UNO, even if most of it gets wasted; and (3) Amass power in the international body, even if it is likely to be misused. FALSE ISLAMOPHOBIA ACCUSATIONS An Islamist organization tried to head off British prosecution by financing a clandestine university campaign to "Stop Islamophobia." Islamists try to intimidate opponents, whether they be patriots defending against the organization or fellow Muslims seeking to reform it, by accusing them of having an unreasonable hatred and prejudice against Islam. There is no hatred, the prejudice is reasonable, and it isn't particularly against Islam as against the radical version championed by Islamist organizations. It is not unreasonable to fear Muslims who, in the name of Islam, are conducting global jihad. Daniel Pipes is accused of Islamophobia, although he carefully explains that he has nothing against the religion of Islam, just against the radical Islamist ideology. The Islamists comlain that they are discriminated against by the police, that most Western literature is anti-Muslim, that "anti-Semitism" was the term devised to describe anti-Arab sentiment in Medieval Spain, and that Westerners try to hide the Arabic origin of certain English words. All those claims are exaggerations or false. The English word used as an example was not derived from Arabic. "Antisemitism" was coined in 1879 by a Jew-hater to describe Jew-hate. Few books vilify Islam (Daniel Pipes, NY Sun, 10/25, p.5). Some of the stated Islamist fear are petty if not paranoid. They falsely assumes an organized and widespread campaign against them. Actually, the West is just awakening! The Islamists are trying to cow opposition. They want people to fear being accused of prejudice, if they oppose the Islamists. Islamists try to garner sympathy as if they were the victims instead of the victimizers. It is like black racists in the US accusing opponents of "racism." Will Britons have the courage to stand up to the tactic? Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at richardshulman5@aol.com. |
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OPINION SURVEYS AS OPINION MANIPULATION
Posted by Ruth Matar, November 3, 2005. |
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Dear Friends, Yesterday I got my first telephone call from an Israeli Public Opinion research outfit. "Finally," I said to myself, "somebody in Israel wants my opinion!" The interviewer first wanted to ascertain if I was an Israeli citizen, (I have dual citizenship) and if I was a registered Likud Party member. My answer was affirmative to both questions. Obviously, the interviewer was working from a Likud Party membership list. The interview went as follows: Q: Who are you going to vote for in the upcoming Likud primary,
Sharon or Netanyahu?
I doubt that I will be part of the findings of this opinion survey. In my youth, long ago, after I graduated from Hunter College in New York City, I worked for a number of years at the Bureau of Applied Social Research of Columbia University, one of the foremost academic institutes for public opinion research. There is one important thing that I learned there. The validity of any public opinion research project depends on how you choose your sample and how you frame your question. However, I have no idea how I happened to be chosen as part of This Likud Party opinion-poll. The framing of the question as to who was my choice for the Likud Party leader was completely biased in that one of the main contenders, Uzi Landau, was left out of the equation. I speculate that the reason for this manipulation is to give people the impression that Ariel Sharon is likely to be the winner of the Likud primary. This in turn will increase the vote for Ariel Sharon, as people generally like to be on the side of the winner. Another opinion-poll came to my attention. On October 31, 2005, the Jerusalem Post published the following article on the front page, entitled: POLL: US ATTITUDES ON ISRAEL IMPROVE AFTER DISENGAGEMENT. This opinion poll was conducted by The Israel Project, supposedly a non-partisan group. I could not believe my eyes, as I read these "non partisan" findings. I was disturbed enough to obtain the actual study from an influential media friend. The opinion survey is a collection of charts, statistics and "thermometer" readings- approximately 30 pages of gobbledygook. The key findings of this survey are: 1. The withdrawal from Gaza is an Israeli success story. WOW! Can you believe this? The horrific images of forcible evacuations of Jews by Jews. The bulldozing of hundreds of homes, the wholesale destruction of businesses and schools and community centers and synagogues. The bus loads of homeless refugees arriving in various Israeli cities with only the clothes on their back. The frightening and strange parallels of human suffering and homelessness across the seas by an act of G-d. Those images boosted favorable American attitudes toward Israel? If you believe that, the Brooklyn Bridge is still for sale! What would the professors at the Bureau of Applied Social Research of Columbia University in New York City say about this study? I assume that they would question the choice of the sample and the framing of the question. CHOICE OF THE SAMPLE: The survey was conducted among 500 members of "opinion elites"- likely voters who regularly follow the news, have a college degree and earn more than $75,000 annually. Are those "elites" representative of American attitudes toward Israel following disengagement? I certainly question the size and composition of that sample. FRAMING OF THE QUESTION: The Israel Project, in this survey, frames loaded questions, aimed at eliciting specific answers. In addition, they introduce the concept of thermometer readings of the respondents' feelings toward certain people and organizations, such as: the Palestinians, the Israelis, Ariel Sharon, Mahmoud Abbas, George W. Bush, Israel, a Palestinian state, Hamas etc. On a scale of one to one hundred: One hundred meaning VERY WARM, FAVORABLE feeling; zero meaning a VERY COLD, UNFAVORABLE feeling; and fifty meaning not particularly warm or cold. The higher the number the more favorable the feelings are toward that person or organization. The respondent is permitted to use any number from zero to one hundred. If I were asked to diagnose my emotional temperature, I would find it very difficult. In addition, the Israel Project has omitted any instruction as to where to stick the thermometer. Dear friends, I cannot believe that the majority of my fellow Americans really believe that Sharon's withdrawal from Gaza is an Israeli success story. Interestingly enough, Israel's deputy Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, made clear in a June 9, 2005, speech that Sharon's decision to destroy the Jewish communities of Gush Katif and northern Samaria was not the result of US or European pressure. Boasted Olmert: "The beauty of this policy of the Israeli Government was that this was a unilateral action. No one imposed it on us, no foreign government forced Israel to pull out from these territories." Thus, Sharon cannot blame American President George W. Bush for initiating this crime against the Jewish people. However, there is no doubt that once Sharon approached the United States with his disengagement plan, President Bush, with the enthusiastic input of the US State Department and US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, mistakenly accepted this plan as being in America's global interest. Supporting Sharon's plan was, of course, completely at odds with the American declared war on terror, wherever it is found. Once the radical Muslims learned that terror paid great dividends in Israel, they used this knowledge in their fight against America in Iraq. Yes, the "disengagement" was successfully carried out. Following Israel's departure from Gaza, thousands of tons of weaponry was brought into Gaza as the border with Egypt was thrown open. Not only weapons, but large numbers of terrorists poured into Gaza. This includes terrorists from Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hizbollah, Islamic Jihad, Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, etc. Within a week, Gaza was transformed into the largest, best-armed and best-financed terror base in the whole world! This dangerous situation threatens the very existence of Israel. It is also extremely dangerous for the United States, as well as for the entire non-Islamic world. Dear friends, I would like to run a public opinion survey of my own. I ask you to please take a minute out of your busy life to answer the following questions with a simple answer of Yes or No. Questions: 1. Do you view Sharon's Gaza withdrawal as a courageous move, and a risk that paid off? 2. Do you feel that the chances for peace between Muslim terrorists and the United States and Israel have increased because of Gaza disengagement? Please email your response to me a.s.a.p. The results will be published in next week's article. (I doubt that the Jerusalem Post or the New York Times will be interested.) With Blessings and Love for Israel,
Ruth and Nadia Matar established Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green), an activist group of women based in Jerusalem. Their website address is http://www.womeningreen.org |
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PA UNABLE TO PREVENT GAZA LAND THEFT
Posted by Avodah 15, November 3, 2005. |
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This comes from the Jerusalem Post and was written by Khaled Abu Toameh. It is archived at www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1130954353662&pagename= JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull The PA seems to have failed in preventing many land thieves from laying their hands on the former area of Gush Katif. PA officials pointed out that some of the thieves belong to the PA security forces. While the PA announced plans to build thousands of housing units in the former settlements with the help of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, some of the projects may now be postponed because of the land theft. During a surprise visit to Khan Yunis and Rafah Wednesday, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas was shocked to see large areas fenced off by local families, gangs, and individuals. Contact the poster at avodah15@aol.com |
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DIVESTMENT - THE GREAT PRESBYTARIAN HOAX
Posted by Jock L. Falkson, November 3, 2005. |
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Presbyterian Churches have stepped up their campaign (originally launched in year 2000) to divest from 5 US companies targeted for doing business with Israel. The Jerusalem Post reports (Oct.30, 2005.) that they are now campaigning in Canada for their counterparts to divest from the same 5 companies. Aside from being surprised that the church appears to be so heavily invested (reportedly to the tune of $7.5 billion) in companies exporting to Israel, my reaction is "so what"? Let them go ahead and divest all they like -- the sooner the better. Because, in disposing of their shares the church does not hurt any US or Israeli company financially. Divestment simply means that shares change hands. Sellers must sell their shareholdings to buyers; in this case buyers who presumably don't follow the Presbyterian agenda. In the process Israel loses a badmouthing enemy and gains many friends. Goody! What Is The Presbyterian Record On Tibet, India, Asia, Africa etc? Did the Presbyterian church fight for Tibetan human rights when the Chinese occupied their country and mercilessly subjugated their people? Why Aren't The Presbyterians Disinvesting? It doesn't take 5 years to divest. In practice, you simply call your broker and instruct him to sell all your holdings in Caterpillar, Motorola, United Technologies, ITT, Industries and Citygroup. In less than a month Presbyterian honor would have been upheld. Their shares would have been sold and their money safely banked. But no shares whatever have been sold during the past 5 years! And you know what? None might ever be sold according to an Arutz Sheva report (Oct. 14, 2005) quoting Reuters: "The Presbyterian Church has not yet carried out its decision to get rid of investments in targeted companies, and a church spokesman told Reuters that "we're not in a hurry." He explained that divestment only is a last resort, depending on whether Israel carries out further expulsions of Jewish residents from Judea and Samaria." Of course, nothing of the kind was mentioned about "last resort" or expulsions of residents from Judea and Samaria when the campaign was launched in year 2000. Was Divestment Just An Astute PR Campaign? Embarrassing as it may be, it seems the Presbyterians have been involved in an astute Public Relations campaign excoriating Israel and favoring the Palestinians. They did not intend to divest in the foreseeable future. But they did keep their media fest going for 5 years! (59,000 Google references.) Anyone involved in PR must admire this remarkable achievement. Presumably they will try to keep it going for as long as they can keep the media hooked. Hoist By Their Own Hoax? One reason they have not divested is that dividends and share prices have probably risen -- and the trend for 2006 looks good too. Losing money by divesting was, sensibly, not a Presbyterian principle. There is however, the ethical dilemma. Is it right to sell shares in such untouchable companies, so worthy of Presbyterian indignation ... to unsuspecting buyers? Should honorable believers sell tainted shares to Christian buyers? Indeed to anyone? To be put on Jock Falkson's email list, contact him at falkson@barak-online.net |
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WE'RE DISENGAGED
Posted by Batya Medad, November 3, 2005. |
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I'm embarrassed to admit it, but we're going on with our lives disengaged from all those who were thrown out of their homes by the Israeli Government in the Name of Disengagement. With very few exceptions, we haven't done anything major, changed our routines, sacrificed anything of value for the benefit of the (choose your term; I don't know what's the best one): evacuees Periodically like right now, I mount my office chair and charge ahead writing, trying to challenge the establishment, and change the world. But the rest of the time, I'm like everyone else, busy with work and family, laundry and shopping. Even here in Shiloh, we're busy keeping our routines going. In the early days after the soldiers and police forced people from their homes in Gush Katif and Northern Shomron, we collected gifts and freshly baked treats to send to Nitzan, the Caravilla neighborhood, the largest concentration of Disengagement victims and Ariel, where the Yishuv Netzarim were temporarily "relocated" -- what a cold, technical word. Relocated, like moving a book from the shelf to the table. I can't remember the last request I got to help. I write; I talk to people; I write. And I even managed to make contact with an old friend who's now living in a caravilla. But my life is going on as usual, and it's almost embarrassing, yes it is embarrassing to admit. We should have all stopped our routine and gone out to protest. Some of you will remind me that you did. Many good people left their homes to try to break through the barriers and make it to Gush Katif and the northern Shomron. Why that great effort failed is no longer that important. Orange ribbons are still seen tied to bags, baby carriages and car antennas, which have gotten very black from soot. A few of us still have orange bracelets, though mine is temporarily brownish from the minerals in the spa I visited on Sunday. Last month I had donations to treat some evacuee women to an evening with us in the spa, but after dozens of calls I finally found some who were interested in going, and then they never showed -- too depressed to get out. The Sharon Israeli Government considers Disengagement a roaring success. He claims Security in Israel has improved at the same time that the Arab terror state shot rockets into Israel wounding civilians and an Israeli woman was stabbed by an Arab terrorist. And thousands of innocent Israel citizens are homeless and unemployed, since their homes were destroyed and they were evicted in the Name of Disengagement. All over the world, Jews and self-proclaimed lovers of liberty and civil rights are silent. And we used to wonder how the Holocaust could have happened. This is Musing #150. Batya Medad lives in Shiloh. She can be reached by email at Shilohmuse@yahoo.com or visit her website http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/ or go to http://www.shilo.org.il |
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DURUD BAR AZADI, ZENDEBAB ISRAEL
Posted by SSMCCDI, November 2, 2005. |
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This was translated from an article in Il Foglio, Anno 10, No. 259, (http://www.ilfoglio.it) written by Stefania Lepenna. 'LONG LIVE FREEDOM, LONG LIVE ISRAEL'. SLOGANS IN FARSI FOR TOMORROW'S DEMONSTRATION. TWO LEADERS OF THE OPPOSITIONS EXPLAIN US HOW TO ORGANIZE POLITICAL MOVEMENTS AND CAMPAIGNS ( NOT WITHOUT OBSTACLES ) COORDINATED FROM OUTSIDE TO INSIDE THE COUNTRY' Rome - The words of hatred and destruction from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad still sound furious after a week-long worldwide protests. On the web, many remind about those words - 'Israel must be wiped off the maps' - and the oppositions to the mullahcracy react as well. "The islamic regime in Tehran tried first to induce Iranians and the world in error of appreciation on existance of possibility of transformation. This worked for years. Now many start realizing to have been deceived", Aryo Pirouznia (one of the most known dissidents, coordinator of the SMCCDI, and founder of the newborn Iranian National Secular Party) says to Il Foglio. Those who since years fight for the cause are glad of seeing the world community waking up to the threat coming from the regime in Tehran. Activism for the cause goes from "calls for the boycott" of the elections, founding of movements or parties in exile, campaigning for the women's rights, giving voice to the dissidents inside the country and letting everyone know every kind of detail about what's really going on in Iran. Aryo Pirouznia has recently founded a party-in-exile reflecting "what SMCCDI brought on Iran's political debate along with rich experiences gained by this movement and implement the well-known aspirations of millions of Iranians in the years and decades to come", he says. Roozbeh Farahanipour, chairman of the Marze Por Gohar Party for a Secular Republic of Iran, is still another member of this galaxy of dissidents nostalgic of their country. "It is necessary to see the Islamic republic for what it really is: - he says to Il Foglio - a threat to peace and stability in the region and the world at large. The Iranian people are fighting to oust a regime that occupies the country since 25 years. It must be helped in concrete ways, not only by saying to be for Democracy and human rights and then making economic deals with the oppressors". The impossibility of reforming the ideological system The Iranian activists say the Iranians are not with Ahmadinejad: "It is a known fact that the Iranian people sees Israel as a friend and a strategic ally against a common enemy - Pirouznia explains - Millions have boycotted last week's anti-semitic demonstrations and turned their backs to the fanatical regime and its new symbol". On the TV screen, we all saw thousands of people demonstrating. "These demos were in reality meaningless and turned into another fiasco for the islamist regime - Pirouznia says - which did not gather more than 50-80 thousand people, mainly professional demonstrators and mercenaries. Several thousands of them were Afghan, Iraqi, Lebanese and e Palestinian islamists living in Iran since years". Many agree with Pirouznia: several opposition websites are telling about "mercenary demonstrators", which use to demonstrate every Friday after the prayer, in support of the regime. A very tiny minority in a capital of 13 millions inhabitants. According to Pirouznia, "more Iranism is spreading and more Islamism is backing off", reforms have been just a mere illusion - "it is literally impossible and nonsense to try modifying the islamic regime's constitution or reform the regime itself", Farahanipour states -because Islamism is a "an ideology similar to fascism, nazism and communism. All of them have in common the repressive character and the threat to the mankind nature. The world is just learning this fact", Pirouznia explains. As the world faces the threats against Israel 'coming from' the Islamic regime, some see war as more likely: "Either the Iranian people organizes a revolution to overthrow the regime or the world community is going to do what it think is in its best interest - Farahanipour reiterates - While we fight to get rid of the mullahcracy, we must do all we can to avert a military invasion". The role of the oppositions is vital and they need to be united: "There have been a lot of division among the oppositions and this has of course not helped us", Farahanipour recognizes. Yet, things seem to be changing, thanks to an effort in the search of the needed unity. More international pressure on the regime of course would help so much. In order to defeat terrorism and avert a nuclear nightmare, "the Iranian people must be helped both morally and economically to oust a regime whose evil nature many are learning to know better just in these days", Pirouznia says. The regime's illegitimate financial assets needs to be frozen. Many of these assets are in European, Canadian, UAE and African banks. Without the flow of money, also the hatred promoted by a regime that relies on money to stay in power, will cease to exist. This was submitted by the Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran (SMCCDI). Contact the Daneshjoo organization by email at peyk@daneshjoo.org or go to their website (http://www.daneshjoo.org). |
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IS FRANCE "BLOWING UP"?
Posted by Mordechai Ben-Menachem, November 2, 2005. |
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As many of you know, I have predicting for quite some time that France is on the verge being conquered by the Islamic Jihad. With nearly a week of ultra-violent Moslem violence, the question should be asked, "Is this the blow up? Is France at Civil War?" It is my opinion that this violent activity is not the advent of full-scale civil war. However, I also believe that this is a well-planned attack meant to advance the Islamic Jihad objectives, to train operatives, to obfuscate things, so that other activities may take place which would be more difficult in times of quiet and to provide general "WAR GAMING" for the Islamic command structure in France. It is by no means certain that France is the first (next) target for takeover. Personally, I believe there are good reasons to view Spain as being targeted before France -- historic as well as strategic reasons. We must all remember that Spain was previously part of the Dar Es-Islam and that all Jihadists are commanded to take it back from the Dhimmi/Infidel. Should my assurances be comforting? By no means! The violence in France is very dangerous and very grave. At worst, it can get out of hand and plans can change. At best, it is accomplishing those other objectives (above). The Jihad movement has definitely made vast progress over this past year and this violence shows a tip of it. I believe this coming year (whether you use the Jewish or the Christian calendar) will be a very difficult one. Already, many more US soldiers have died in Iraq than all Israeli casualties in five years of war. This is a very bad sign. Good luck to us all, we shall need it in this coming year. Mordechai Ben-Menachem is a Ben-Gurion University in Beer-Sheva. Contact him at quality@acm.org |
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THE POLICE ARE AT IT AGAIN IN HEBRON
Posted by Hebron Community, November 2, 2005. |
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This morning the Hebron police showed up at Beit Hadassah at 6:30. Bright and early, almost in time for Rosh Hodesh (New Month) morning prayer services. They had two targets: a mother of nine and a 13-year old girl. First they started looking for the 13-year old. There were dozens of them, regular police, detectives, riot squad, and officers, including the Hebron city police chief and the regional police chief. All there, looking for 13 year old Chenia. And waiting down the street, across from the Avraham Avinu neighborhood, dozens more, waiting to be called. (An aside: Chenya is about as large as my pinky.) The forces had only one problem: they didn't know were Chenya lived. So they searched for a while and then gave up, temporarily. What was the awful crime Chenya is accused of? About a year and a half ago, when Chenya was 11, one of her neighborhood friends, arrested near Beit Hadassah, was to be taken to the Hebron Police Station. She asked Chenya to accompany her, so she wouldn't be alone. Chenya asked the police if she could come with her friend, and was answered positively. So, both of them climbed into the police van and traveled a few minutes to the police station. When they arrived Chenya found herself being accused, questioned, and booked for disturbing a policeman in the course of his duty. Today, the trial was supposed to begin. The police came to take Chenya, insuring that she would appear in court for the trial. But, as already explained, they couldn't find her apartment. So, the police went after their next victim, mother of nine, Etti Meidad. The beginning of Etti Meidad's saga can be read at: http://www.hebron.com/news/emeidadarrest2.htm The last time Etti was apprehended, in the beginning of August, she spent a month in jail with her 9 month old infant girl, before a judge released her, both from her cell and from her obligation to appear in court. However, the judge changed his mind and issued a warrant, which permitted the police to arrest her should she refuse to sign it, and deposit 1,000 shekels bond, insuring her appearance in court. When the police knocked on her door at about 8:30 this morning, Etti was still asleep. The police, upset at being ignored, broke the door down, and marched into the apartment. About an hour later, Etti, accompanied by her husband Zangi (Director of Honenu), and a string of children, made her way down stairs to an awaiting police van. Together with infant Miriam, she left for Jerusalem, again, arrested and in custody. When arriving in Jerusalem, the police immediately took their victim to court, to appear before the judge, who was quite surprised to see them. This, because he had signed a warrant ordering Etti Meidad to be brought before him tomorrow, not today. He immediately threw the police out of the courtroom and refused to listen to them. Rather than release Etti, they decided to keep her (illegally, it seems), in custody. Israeli law demands that babies and young children, while in a car, be placed in a special car seat. Before leaving Hebron, Etti and Zangi requested that their baby daughter be so protected, in the police vehicle. However, the police, not being prepared to deal with infants, decided to take Etti and Miriam without a car seat. On the way back to Hebron from Jerusalem, they had an accident, and Miriam, flying from her mother's arms, was hit on the head. Fortunately, her injury is not serious. For the time being, Etti is still in custody. After Etti was taken away the police returned to their original goal: looking for 13-year old Chenya. By this time they had located her apartment, but, lo and behold, when they knocked on the door, no one answered. Here too, the door was in danger of destruction, but being massive, much more so than the Meidad's door, the police, surprisingly, decided to leave without breaking it down. So they gathered their tools and left, until next time... tomorrow, or the day after, or, maybe even tonight. Never fe You can contribute directly to The Jewish Community of Hebron, POB10, Kiryat Arba-Hebron 90100, hebron@hebron.org.il, 972-2-9965333 or write to The Hebron Fund, 1760 Ocean Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11230, hebronfund@aol.com |
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CRIME BY AMBULANCE; ISRAEL DISCRIMINATES -- AGAINST JEWS; MUSLIM-ISRAEL THAW?
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, November 2, 2005. |
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WAR CRIME BY AMBULANCE Last month, an Arab stole an Israeli ambulance for use by P.A. terrorists. Israeli security officials warned that terrorists are seeking an Israeli ambulance for use in blowing up a hospital. This month, police spotted in the P.A. an ambulance owned by a private Israeli medical service. The owner claimed that it was being serviced in a garage. Police were afraid that, even if true, the P.A. would commandeer it for terrorism. Police are investigating whether the medical service committed a crime (IMRA, 10/20) or a grave indiscretion. The use of ambulances to kill people surreptitiously rather than to save them openly is so abhorrent a treachery, that it is a war crime. The Arabs commit that war crime, but accuse Israel of committing war crimes such as attacking their ambulances, a crime that the Arabs also commit. The chief characteristic of Israeli defense against Arab aggression is its usually restrained nature. When the US urges Israel to act with more restraint, the US is not finding Israel acting with impropriety, it just favors the Arabs over Israel, taking no notice of who is the aggressor and how vicious is that aggression. The Nazis used to accuse Germany's weak neighbors of attacking it. I wonder whether the German people believed that propaganda. How much effect on foreign countries do such lies have? At present, Europeans and the American Far Left believe them. The media they rely upon omit most negative news about the Arabs. Leftist audiences react with indignation, which incited by their censored and distorted news. They have faith in NPR. WHAT DOES THE U.S. DO ABOUT P.A. TERRORISM? Besides shipping money to the P.A. that the P.A. diverts to terrorism, and besides training P.A. police who double as terrorists, Pres. Bush told Abbas that P.A. statehood may have to be deferred for years, until it eradicates terrorism and gains the confidence of its neighbors, meaning Israel. Abbas replied that Israel could do more, too, such as by returning to the Road Map. Meanwhile, Sec. Rice chastised Israel by calling its plan to build between Jerusalem and Maale Adumim a contradiction of US foreign policy (Arutz-7, 10/20). Israel has to do in its own homeland what the US dictates to it? That is interference in a foreign country. What would that building do? It would buffer Israel's capital and keep terrorists from easier access to both cities. It also would make it easier to annex Maale Adumim. Why does Bush want the P.A. to gain Israel's confidence? In order to lull Israeli suspicions long enough to cede territory to the P.A.. Then let terrorism resume with a bang! "Return to the Road Map?" But it is the Arabs who departed from it, not that it is well-intentioned or obligatory upon Israel. The Arabs violated its provisions to eradicate terrorism. Abbas is demanding, in effect, that Israel make the concessions specified by the Road Map, while the Arabs do not fulfill the commitments specified by the Map. That double standard is the way by which the Arabs conduct policy. It works. It certainly has worked with Oslo, the non-aggression pact with Egypt, the peace treaty with Jordan, arrangements with Lebanon, etc.. Does Abbas show any connection between his obligation to eradicate terrorism and his demand that Israel resume Road Map negotiations? No. His suggested justification for the demand is that it would foster an atmosphere of peace. "Atmosphere" is a vague term diplomats make, when suggesting unjustified demands upon Israel. If Israel acceded to his demand, it would be recognizing a banned Arab right to "armed struggle." If the Arabs had a right to "armed struggle," even after having signed peace agreements several times, then it would be able to assert such a right, as P.A., PLO, and Hamas doctrine already claims. Then there will be no peace. U.S. INTERFERENCE IN OTHER COUNTRIES' INTERNAL AFFAIRS? Hamas complained that the US demand, that Hamas disarm before it fields candidates in a P.A. election, interferes in internal P.A. affairs (Arutz-7, 10/20). Does it? First of all, the US found itself at war with Islamism, which attacked it by means of terrorism. Therefore, the US demand is not unfounded interference. Second, the P.A. is not a country but a territory lent autonomy in the Oslo Accords, to which the US is a party and which stipulates that terrorists be disarmed. That gives the US further rights in this matter. The P.A. government refuses to disarm Hamas. It claims that if Hamas enters politics (which it already did), then it is not a terrorist organization. Why can't it be both, the way the Nazis and Communists were, and the way the PLO is? The P.A. is making a false excuse. The US demand of Hamas carries no force. It just is lip service, while the US subsidizes the P.A.. The US is losing credibility throughout the world. US loss of credibility is unfortunate. The US has many decent policies that the rest of the world needs us to carry through. U.S. MADE ISRAEL NOT ARM VENEZUELA Israel had contracted with Venezuela to enhance its F-16 fighter planes. The US threatened to cut off military aid if it fulfilled that contract. Its reason is that Venezuela contributes to regional instability (IMRA, 10/29) and is pro-terrorist and anti-American. Israel had just about resolved most of its dispute with the US over its plans to upgrade the armaments of Red China, and now this! Israel is foolish. If it wants to make money, let it privatize its failing industries and reduce its excessive regulations. Let it stop subsidizing anti-Zionist "art" and the P.A.. But let it not enhance the global reach of rogue China! Much of the US objection to the Israeli arms industry pretends to be maintaining international security. The actual objection arises both as a competitor in the industry and from the State Department's traditional anti-Zionism. Israel could make a clear case about this, and could complain about the US arming Israel's enemies, if Israel didn't muddy the water by arming America's enemies, China and Venezuela. Israel doesn't think through its foreign policy. But then, what country does, except China and Iran? Do we even study what they are planning? ANOTHER MEANS OF DISCRIMINATING AGAINST JEWS IN ISRAEL The Public Defenders Office of Israel reported that the prosecutors and courts were overly harsh on minors who protested against the abandonment. IMRA points out that this harshness (brutality included) originated with the police. The harshness was reinforced by prosecutors' practice, after the courts ordered dismissal of charges against the minors, to appeal (IMRA, 10/20). Immediate and automatic appeal in political cases is an example of the government using its power to inflict hardship, in this case physical, in the case of adults, economic, against dissidents. It is like people and corporations of means suing people of modest circumstances. The defendants cannot pay the expenses, so are forced to yield, right or wrong. WESTERN IDEOLOGICAL DIVIDE Westerners are divided into patriots and an intellectual "elite" that considers their allegiance to "humanity" rather than to country. Patriots have a sense of continuity and purpose. The elite have no tradition to guide them. The elite has abandoned the sense of responsibility to help their country survive against totalitarian aggressors. The adversarial position towards one's own country started in the US with the Vietnam War, started, ironically, by liberals. Globalization spread it. Businessmen (engaged first in international trade and then in outsourcing long have) acted upon it, too. The patriots tend to vote Republican, and the trans-nationalists, Democratic. Most liberals reject pre-emptive use of force and want to cut the military budget. They are influential within the Democratic Party. Most voters do not agree with them (Michael Barone, 10/17, Op-Ed.). I don't like the use of the word, "elite," or even "intellectual," to refer to that position. Intellectuals are often the last to wake up to dangerous trends. They can be quite unwise and also uninformed. Those terms unfairly flatter them. As a principle, nothing is wrong with pre-emptive use of force. The wars in which the US is engaged really are not pre-emptive, in that Islamism and their allies already had been striking at the US. Somehow, the elites did not condemn that. They have a double standard. Their standard is not based as much on humanitarianism as they claim, but much on anti-Americanism. If they let us be conquered by totalitarians, we would be subjected to mass-murder, and humanitarianism would die down. Their love for the Third World is a form of prejudice. If they were so humanitarian, they would not favor the inhumane Arabs. But they do. Where the Bush policy on selecting countries to attack falls short is that it was done without sufficient public discussion and understanding. That invites more opposition, frustrating bolder methods and earlier moves. Hasty policy and blind opposition cost more and likelier fail. With a bigger and more focused military budget, we would likelier succeed. Patriotism requires sophistication. It often is simplistic. A true patriot distinguishes between the long-term interests of the American people and the policies of the current government. The patriot should support the long-term interests but not automatically support government proposals. Automatic support is neither democratic nor wise. Neither is automatic opposition. Opposition just out of partisanship is a surrender of one's mental faculties. MUSLIM-ISRAEL THAW? "Israel's Gaza Pullout Brings Dividend," asserts journalist Eli Lake. The dividend is that "relations between the Jewish state and Muslim nations are quietly thawing." Pakistan has decided, after all, to accept Israeli earthquake relief. Israeli trade officials are meeting with Muslim officials to institute trade. Most of these gestures merely rare symbolic, just public dialogue. They approach recognition, although some Muslim states insist that first Israel withdraw from Judea-Samaria. They remind one of the prelude to Oslo, when Israel established trade missions in Arab states, most of which were expelled when the P.A. started the Oslo War. The State Dept. has seen these fluctuations before (NY Sun, 10/18, p.1) like ice ages and thaws. It is part of deceptive Muslim diplomacy to offer friendship conditional upon enemy concessions that would help the Muslims conquer the enemy. Concessions made, friendship withdrawn. Why does the journalist quote the realistic observation by the State Dept., but reach the non-logical conclusion that the Gaza withdrawal is of more than minor benefit, as it ratchets terrorism up? THE ABANDONED Israel expelled approximately 10,000 Jews from Gaza and northern Samaria, in return for which Israel got a predicted upsurge in terrorism. The regime is defaming these people as wastrels, although they had created a profitable agricultural industry for the country. The media announced that the government gave the internal refugees financial compensation, jobs, housing, and medical care. In reality, it gave most of them nothing and some a little. Nor did the Sharon regime have much succor planned, and much of what it planned has not come through on time. The Jewish victims of the Jewish state now depend on charity. The government ruled them obliged to continue mortgage payments for the houses it demolished, and also charges them rent for the tiny trailers in which some of them are placed. The government packed their belongings into steel containers to which it denied them access, while they either baked into ruin or were unguarded against looters working in the open, and charges them storage fees! The people are denied their request to be kept together in the communities they had formed. Probably the reason is to keep them of balance, so they can't campaign against what, if in Russia, would be called a pogrom. Sharon does this, because he is a sociopath, interested only in his own power and money; he lies and ruins people to preserve it. Meanwhile, his officials are investing in a casino to be built on the vacated land. Israel is rated as the 28th most corrupt country out of 159. As for the terrorism, Israel rescinds anti-terrorist restrictions, until terrorism recurs as a result, and then resumes them temporarily. It bombs empty buildings that it claimed were used as weapons factories, instead of demolishing them when it found them operational and instead of demolishing all other empty P.A. buildings to prevent such usage. In other words, it keeps them for a pretense at counter-terrorism. The same thing happened to PLO bases, when Rabin was PM. When the planes came overhead, the bases mysteriously were empty. Who warned the terrorists? Israel can't win the war if its first priority is to spare enemy lives (Winston Mid East Analysis, 10/20). ABBAS MORE LOYAL TO HIS PEOPLE THAN SHARON IS TO HIS Abbas asked Pres. Bush to help free Marwan Barghouti, the murderer convicted by Israel and who directed for Arafat the launching of the Oslo War (IMRA, 10/20). By contrast, Sharon did not ask for clemency for Pollard, under Bush's control, and who served several times the customary time in prison. I think that Israel will be asked to free Barghouti as the only person who might defeat Hamas in the elections. But what good is Barghouti? He starts wars and organizes murder! WHAT HAPPENED TO ARAFAT'S FINANCIAL HOLDINGS? The P.A. now holds much of Arafat's embezzled wealth. The US should demand that it release that money for the benefit of its people, instead of begging the US for money while it uses the hoard for jihad. The US is not serious about P.A. development, however. Neither is it serious about P.A. eradication of terrorism, judging by the Administration's weak demand that the P.A. disarm the terrorists "eventually." (Dr. Aaron Lerner, IMRA, 10/20.) That leaves only the setting up of a state ready to fight against Israel, as the goal of US policy. Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at richardshulman5@aol.com. |
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JIHAD IN PARIS
Posted by Marcel Cousineau, November 2, 2005. |
I wrote this to Jack Golbert:
ack, Jack Golbert replied: You are probably right, Aryeh. France has already let it be known that civil war is not an option, meaning that France has already decided to roll over and come under Muslim rule, the question being only how soon. Contact Marcel Cousineau at up2zionsg8@yahoo.com |
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U.S. PROVIDES $4.4M FOR PA TO ABSORB FATAH TERRORISTS
Posted by Avodah 15, November 2, 2005. |
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This comes from Middle East Newsline (www.menewsline.com/stories/2005/november/11_02_4.html) The U.S. has provided $4.4 million for the absorption of hundreds of Fatah insurgents into the PA security forces, Palestinian sources said. "The U.S. money was meant to pay salaries for Al Aqsa [Brigade] people who join the PA," a senior Palestinian source said. Al Aqsa has a force of between 500 and 700 fighters, and they were to receive $400 per month. While most of the fighters have agreed to join the PA security forces, the sources said at least 100 would continue attacks against Israel in operations financed by Iran and Hizballah. Contact the poster at avodah15@aol.com |
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COMPLAINTS FILED TO INVESTIGATE POLICE MISCONDUCT: POLICE VIOLENCE AGAINST MINORS
Posted by Women in Green, November 2, 2005. |
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This comes from Arutz-Sheva INN News, www.inn.co.il October 30, 2005 This morning Aryeh Yitzhaki, one of the deportees from Gush Katif, and Nadia Matar, the Co-Chairperson of Women in Green, are filing complaints with the Department for the Investigation of Police Misconduct (PID) against police officers who apparently engaged in police brutality. These complaints relate to the events surrounding the uprooting of the Maoz Hahar neighborhood, that was established last Thursday, within the municipal bounds of Efrat, as part of the settlement campaign by the new youth movement, the 'Land of Israel Youth movement" Yitzhaki included with his complaint photographs and a video film as evidence supporting the claims against the police, further claims that the video film that was given to Channel One and the major news papers was "buried." Channel One territories correspondent Benny Liss went even further. He used a voiceover in a different film as if it was occurring in Kedumim, when in reality such police violence was occurring in Efrat. The false reports that appeared in the media over the weekend, according to which the youth in Efrat "engaged in violence against the security forces," is a stark lie. Furthermore, the Council of Jewish Settlements in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza did not bother to check the facts when it denounced and reviled our wonderful youth. "The truth was entirely different," Yitzhaki told Arutz 7 (Israel National News). "On Thursday, 24 Tishrei [October 27], Large forces of army and police arrived and attacked the Maoz Hahar meahaz [outpost] that was established by youth on the hill where the new cemetery of Efrat was to be located. The outpost was established on state land, and is specifically within the municipal urban plan of Efrat," Yitchaki wrote the above in his complaint to the police Misconduct Unit. In order to prevent unnecessary confrontations, the youth evacuated the hill. On the way back, they did not take the main road directly into Efrat, but took a walk on other hills. When one hundred and fifty youth and several adults came to the Gush Etzion Industrial Park, the security forces ran towards them and began to arrest the youth with no cause or reason. Thus, 3 youth and one woman, the mother of one of the youth, were arrested. The rest of the group understood that this was a vengeful campaign by the security forces, who apparently were disappointed by the lack of a confrontation at Maoz Hahar. The youth ran into Efrat, thinking that they would be safe there. The youth had arranged to meet at the pizzeria in Rimon [one of the Efrat neighborhoods] shopping center. To everyone's amazement, police from the Yamar [the elite Central Division] came to the shopping center in Efrat in order to arrest Nadia Matar and a number of the youth without any cause. They jumped on them extremely violently on Rimon Street, arresting Nadia Matar, as well as several additional youth, and put them in vehicles and a police jeep. Dozens of young men and women attempted to block their way. The detectives were forced to call for additional border police backup. They realized that there were not enough police when faced with the inhabitants' outrage. The police, moreover, acted with incredible brutality." Yitzhaki then claims that the arrest of the minor A. V. was made in a brutal manner: "After his hands were manacled and he was held by five policemen, one plainclothes detective, Chief Inspector [Pakad] Moshe Ben-Harush, grabbed him and very ferociously choked him. The detective stopped and was compelled to identify himself only after the intervention of a number of adults." The struggle lasted about two hours. Superintendent [Rav-Pakad] Moshe Moshe also engaged in extreme violence, and among other things, attacked the minor Y. M. without cause, choking him and hitting him in the face. Superintendent [Rav-Pakad] Yosef Cohen punched Y. A., another minor, in the head. A senior police officer, Eli Zamir, conducted a dialogue with adults, including Mayor Eli Mizrachi and ended the matter. It was agreed that civilians would clear the blocked roads, and the police forces would withdraw from Efrat and release Nadia Matar and the additional arrestees. Yitzhaki states that when Nadia was released, she told him about her arrest: Three detectives: Itamar Cohen, Yossi Cohen, and Ushik Ben-David, brutally "kidnapped her" and subjected her to extreme physical and verbal abuse and brutality. They beat her on her head and neck, resulting in a severe sprain of the juncture of her spinal column with her neck. They threatened her that "they would screw her with such a severe trial that she would be in trouble for her entire life, and would regret ever having been born". They promised that there would be all kinds of false charges made against her. Nadia required medical treatment and X-rays following the incident. Woman In Green Co-Chair, Nadia Matar, is also filing a complaint with the Police Unit (PID). She told Arutz 7 that she was "kidnapped" in broad daylight in the area of the Efrat shopping center, by three detectives. "They put me in the back seat of a Skoda automobile. A detective was to my right, and another to my left. The driver said: 'I will screw you with such a trial that you will never get out of it. I will use the law to hit you so that you will regret ever having been born. I will make sure there will be all kinds of charges brought against you.' He began to drive, but did not know of any other exit from the area besides the way that the youth were blocking. This annoyed him. When I saw my son from a distance, and I leaned forward a bit to try and wave to him, so that my son would see that this was the car in which I was sitting, the detective brutally pushed me back, put handcuffs on me - which, by the way, remained on me all the time until I was released, about four hours later. The driver said to the other two detectives: 'Guys, Nadia tried to grab the wheel from me, while I was driving. Isn't it so that she thereby endangered our lives, which is an extremely serious charge? The two other detectives agreed. 'In other words, they shamelessly invented a false charge against me, and prepared their perjury about something that I in no way did. In fact, one of the specific accusations was that I endangered the lives of the policemen when I tried to grab the steering wheel from them." This is a complete fabrication. Even more serious than this, Nadia continues, "When they saw that they could not leave the neighborhood, they even drove wildly the wrong way on the main street until they decided to park. They were hiding me from the youth who were looking for me. We stayed there, in this little car, parked between other cars, and they hoped that in this way no one would pay attention to them. But when local residents began walking around, and came near the vicinity of the car, the policemen were afraid that the residents would see me. Accordingly, every time that someone came close to the car, the policeman sitting to my right put his left hand around my neck and viciously pulled my head and neck down. All this, so that no one outside would see that I was in the vehicle. My head was actually on his knees and I could throw up when I think about this. At the same time, the policeman to my left put his right hand on my arms, to prevent me from signaling to those outside that I was in the car. "It took them close to an hour until they found a way to take me out of Efrat. They did so through a hole in some fence, on a dirt road, and then transferred me to another police car. In the police station I was charged with: illegal assembly, assaulting a police officer, preventing a police officer from doing his duty, and more... Among other things, during the interrogation I was told that I was 'suspected of endangering policemen's lives by attempting to take the steering wheel from them while moving'" -- The above are excerpts from testimony of Nadia Matar in the complaint that is to be filed. The Youth for the Land of Israel Movement insist that the policemen who engaged in such brutality will be punished. They called on all inhabitants of Efrat, Judea and Samaria and elsewhere, not to believe the lies that are being told about them by the leftist media. Instead they should fully support, in every way possible, the members of the Land of Israel Youth Movement. Ruth and Nadia Matar established Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green), an activist group of women based in Jerusalem. Their website address is http://www.womeningreen.org |
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NORMAN FINKELSTEIN HAS AN ISRAELI GROUPIE
Posted by Steven Plaut, November 2, 2005. |
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This was published at http://moonbatcentral.com/wordpress/?p=1715 The original is worth examining because it has live links to additional material. We here at the Moonbatcentral have been devoting considerable time and effort to exposing the activities of the pseudo-scholar and neonazi Norman Finkelstein, on the faculty of DePaul "University", a fact that raises serious doubts about whether DePaul should even be considered to be an academic institution at all. Finkelstein has been declared by the Anti-Defamation League to be a Holocaust Denier. The fact that he was born Jewish is used by his nazi supporters to justify his views and writings, but most other folks think it simply makes him an interesting clinical case for some psychiatry department. Finkelstein's presence on the DePaul faculty shows that no academic standards are in effect there at all. And the fact that this same DePaul fired Thomas Klocek for expressing pro-Israel opinions shows that the campus has been taken over by totalitarian anti-democratic charlatans. DePaul is currently running a campus-wide program on how to defeat the "American Empire." Ward Churchill was recently a campus speaker of honor. Finkelstein has been thoroughly exposed as a fraud by Alan Dershowitz, as well as a long list of historians. Dershowitz recently revealed that Finkelstein's own mother, whom Finkelstein proclaims as a Holocaust survivor when attacking Holocaust survivors and Jews, was in fact a collaborator with German nazis in World War II. It is well known that Israel universities contain leftist radicals at least as extremist as those on American campuses. One of the worst extremists is a lecturer in political science at Ben Gurion University in the Negev, named Neve Gordon. Gordon not only produces Bash-Israel propaganda articles by the bushel, some of which are published on web sites run by neonazis and Islamist pro-terror radicals. Somewhat bizarrely, Gordon has long operated as an Israeli apologist for Norman Finkelstein. In the past, Gordon compared Finkelstein ethically to the Prophets in the Bible. Gordon has been acting as Finkelstein's de facto lieutenant in denouncing Dershowitz for daring to defend Israel. Gordon essentially agrees with Finkelstein's demonizing of Israel and representation of Israel as a fascist state. Gordon himself has repeatedly characterized Israel as a fascist apartheid terrorist state, all the while collecting his salary from the taxpayers of that state. He not only defames Israel collectively but also individual Israelis, including his own army commander. This past week two major articles were published exposing Gordon's relations with Finkelstein. First, an Op-Ed column in the Jerusalem Post exposed Finkelstein's fraudulent "scholarship" and Gordon's endorsements of Finkelstein. The columnist, Isi Leibler, writes, "But the most outrageous paeans of praise come from Israeli academics whose universities are sponsored by the state they demonize and supported by contributions from Diaspora Zionists." A second article, by David Hornik, exposes Gordon's anti-Israel extremism and fondness for Finkelstein further. Hornik writes,
In the same article by Leibler cited above, Leibler gives us a sample of the scholarship of Finkelstein for which DePaul claims he deserves a place on its faculty: "If everyone who claimed to be a survivor is one, my mother used to say 'Who did Hitler kill then?'" In subsequent interviews, Finkelstein attacked Leon Uris, author of Exodus alleging that "the chief character was named Ari Ben Canaan because Ari is the diminutive for Aryan." He admired Hizbullah - "The honorable thing now is to show solidarity with Hizbullah as the US and Israel target it for liquidation." Finkelstein is a victim of his own illiterate alliteration. "Ari" is in fact a common Jewish name, and the name of one of the most famous medieval Rabbis. Using the Finkelstein logic, Finkelstein's own name must be based on Frankenstein. Steven Plaut is an American-trained economist, a professor of business administration at Haifa University and author of "The Scout." He frequently comments - both seriously and satirically - on Israeli politics and the left wing academic community. His website address is http://www.stevenplaut.blogspot.com. |
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LET MY PEOPLE IN!
Posted by Michael Freund, November 2, 2005. |
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The following is an article of mine from today's Jerusalem Post about the Israeli government's failure to speed up the immigration of Ethiopia's remaining Jews, and the dangers this poses to them in a country wracked by famine and disease. It is archived at www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1129540651794&pagename= JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull Please send your feedback/ comments to letters@jpost.com or to me directly at msfreund@netvision.net.il For a country that says it wants more new immigrants, Israel sure has a funny way of showing it. This past Sunday, thousands of protesters gathered outside the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem. As at all such gatherings, the participants waved banners and placards, shouted slogans and catchphrases, and appealed for their elected representatives to heed their calls and take action. Those in attendance were not calling for Jews to be allowed out of some foreign land, however. Ironically enough, they were there to demand that Israel let Jews in. The crowd consisted largely of Ethiopian immigrants, many of whom still have loved ones stuck in Ethiopia thanks in no small measure to the government's indifference, incompetence and utter lack of concern. It has been eight months since Prime Minister Ariel Sharon bowed to pressure at home and abroad and agreed to increase the number of Falash Mura immigrants from Ethiopia allowed in to Israel each month. Descendants of Ethiopian Jews who converted to Christianity, many against their will, the Falash Mura now wish to rejoin the Jewish people, and there are still some 18,000 of them waiting to come home to Zion. After pleas from a broad spectrum of prominent Jews, ranging from Israel 's Sephardic Chief Rabbi to the Canadian Minister of Justice to the head of the Reform movement, Sharon promised that beginning in June, the monthly quota of Falash Mura aliya would double from 300 to 600 souls. We are now in the month of November, and that has yet to happen. Indeed, according to the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption, the number of immigrants from Ethiopia in the month of June, the month when Sharon 's new policy was due to take effect't was - you guessed it - just 300. In July, it was 303, in August just 302, and in September 440, all far short of what the Prime Minister had promised. Why does the number 600 matter so much? Do some quick arithmetic, and you'll see why. With some 18,000 Falash Mura still waiting in Ethiopia to make aliya, a monthly rate of 300 translates into another 6 years for the remainder of Ethiopian Jewry to be brought home. Double the monthly allotment to 600, and we can restore this ancient community to the land of their ancestors in just two-and-a-half years instead. As a result of the government's ongoing failure to speed up Falash Mura aliya, Ethiopian families will continue to be needlessly divided, and future immigrants might be compelled to wait until 2011 or even later before seeing their loved ones again. Delaying the arrival of the Falash Mura only places them at greater risk, as Ethiopia contends with an ongoing food crisis, rising rates of HIV/AIDS, and a simmering conflict with neighboring Eritrea. A recent report by the UN's World Food Program noted ominously that, "Twenty years after famine killed an estimated one million people in Ethiopia, hunger still looms large in a country where population growth is among the highest in the world." "More than three million people," the report stated, "face persistent hunger and need emergency food aid" in Ethiopia. The situation becomes even more absurd when one considers that it was back in February 2003 that the Israeli cabinet, headed by none other than Sharon himself, formally adopted a decision to bring the remaining Falash Mura to Israel. In effect, then, the protesters this week weren't actually seeking to force a change in the government's policy. They were just trying to convince Sharon to implement his own decision from over two years ago. So, just how does the government explain its failure to boost the monthly quota of Ethiopian immigrants? Why, by blaming someone else, of course. On Sunday, Reuters reported that an unnamed spokesman for the Absorption Ministry "blamed the delay on Ethiopian elections, saying it had been impossible to finalize details sooner." That sounds reasonable enough, except for one minor catch: the Ethiopian elections were held back in May, before the monthly Falash Mura quota was set to double. Moreover, the balloting was won by the incumbent, Meles Zenawi, so Ethiopia 's policy remained unchanged. Nice try, Mr. Spokesman. But the obstacle to increased Ethiopian immigration lies in Jerusalem, not in Addis Ababa. Believe it or not, the Falash Mura aren't the only potential immigrants that are being stonewalled by Israel 's government. There are thousands of others out there too, from the 15,000 Subbotnik Jews of the former Soviet Union, to the 7,000 Bnei Menashe of northeastern India. The Subbotniks are descendants of Russian peasants who converted to Judaism two centuries ago, and who clung to their new-found faith despite Czarist oppression, Nazi persecution and Communist cruelty. Thousands moved freely to Israel until the Interior Ministry inexplicably halted their arrival in 2003. The Bnei Menashe, a group claiming descent from one of the Ten Lost Tribes, were formally recognized by the Chief Rabbinate on March 30 as "descendants of Israel," but Interior Minister Ophir Pines-Paz seems in no hurry to welcome them home, either. Taken together, these three groups - the Falash Mura, the Subbotniks and the Bnei Menashe - number over 40,000, all of whom wish to tie their fate with the people of Israel and make aliya. The only thing preventing them from doing so is Israel 's government, which offers little more than empty excuses to justify this outrageous situation. In the past, various ministers have pleaded poverty, claiming it would cost too much for Israel to absorb so many immigrants all at once. In truth, it is not a lack of finances, but a lack of will that lies at the root of the problem. The Falash Mura, the Subbotniks and the Bnei Menashe may not come from affluent backgrounds, nor bring with them the resources available to other immigrant groups. But they are our brothers and sisters, our flesh and blood, and they long to return after an arduous and often painful journey in Exile. The time has come for the government, together with world Jewry, to stop dilly-dallying and get to work. The time has come to bring our lost brethren home to the Jewish people and to the Jewish state. Michael Freund is chairman of Shavei Israel (www.shavei.org), a Jerusalem-based group that assists "lost Jews" seeking to return to the Jewish people. |
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LIBERAL BAHRAINI JOURNALIST: "WHO HATES AMERICA IN THE ARAB AND MUSLIM WORLD, AND WHY"
Posted by David Nathan, November 2, 2005. |
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This is No. 1016, MEMRI Special Dispatch-Reform Project. To view this Special Dispatch in HTML, visit http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=SD101605 Visit www.MemriTV.org to view recently translated segments from Arab and Iranian TV. Contact MEMRI by email at memri@memri.org Against the backdrop of the September 2005 tour of the Middle East by U.S. State Department official and presidential advisor Karen Hughes, who is heading the effort to improve the U.S.'s image abroad, in a recent article liberal Bahraini journalist 'Omran Salman presents two explanations for the hatred towards America: Arab and Muslim culture, and a post 9/11 coalition of Islamists, Pan Arab Ba'athists and nationalists, and Arab regimes.(1) The following are excerpts from the article: Hatred is a General Phenomenon in the Arab and Muslim World, and Not Limited to Americans "...Hatred in the Arab and Muslim world is a general phenomenon that is not limited only to the Americans. It is possible that the Arabs and Muslims hate each other no less than they hate others... "In the 1990s, over 200,000 citizens were killed in Algeria -- most of them by extremist Islamic groups. What was the response of most of the Arabs and Muslims? A mixture of amusement and of presenting justifications for the murderers and terrorists. During those years, the Taliban movement also abused Shi'ites, Azeris, Tajikis, and other minorities, and no one did anything [to stop it]. "In 1990, Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, occupied it, and expelled its residents. What was the response of the Arabs and Muslims? Nothing. On the contrary: Most Arabs and Muslims supported Saddam... And in 1991, Saddam murdered hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Shi'ites and Kurds, and most Arabs and Muslims did not condemn it. "These days, the Arab Janjaweed militias, which are supported by the Khartoum government, are continuing their racist campaign of annihilation against the African Muslims in Darfour. "In Iraq, Al-Zarqawi and the terror groups affiliated with him are slaughtering Shi'ites and blowing up their mosques and their schools, after declaring war on them. In both cases, none of the Arabs or the Muslims are acting to prevent this, or even to condemn the deeds. "In total, during a single decade alone no less than half a million Arab and Muslim victims were murdered by Arabs and Muslims. "In addition, the religious, ethnic, and national minorities in the Arab world, such as the Shi'ites, Isma'ilis, Zaidis, Christians, and Jews, have been subject to humiliation characterized by racism... The U.S.'s Powerful Response to 9/11 Infuriates the Extremist Muslims and Pan-Arabs as well as the Arab Governments "American policy in the [Arab and Muslim] region did not change essentially for over 50 years, until 2000. So what new thing happened to arouse the hatred [towards the U.S.] in its current broad scope? ... "The new element in the American-Arab-Islamic arena was the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, and the U.S.'s powerful and decisive response. This response was aimed at accomplishing three goals simultaneously. "First, to strike a crushing blow against the Al-Qaeda organization and its allies in the Taliban movement in Afghanistan. This goal was accomplished. "Second, to destroy the despotic regime of Saddam Hussein and of the fascist Ba'th party in Iraq. This goal too was accomplished. "Third, to spread democracy and freedom in the Middle East. This project will continue for decades to come. "The first blow infuriated the Islamists; the second blow infuriated the pan-Arab nationalists; and the third blow infuriated the Arab regimes. "Gradually, an unofficial alliance emerged between these three parties, with the long-term goal to thwart the new American policy. [But] since this alliance is too weak to respond militarily to the American policy, it responds in the media and with propaganda. "Its first goal was to distort the image of the U.S. in order to make the Arab citizens loathe everything American. "The main means which they are using to distort the image of the U.S. are: "1. The printed and electronic media, which are for the most part subject to the control of the Arab governments (whether via funding or via influence), beginning with Al-Jazeera in Qatar and including the national papers in Egypt. "2. Educational programs, all of which are subject to control by the Arab governments and to the influence of the Islamic groups. "3. The mosques, which are also subject to the control of governments and the Islamic groups, via the Ministries of Religious Endowments and Islamic Affairs in the Arab countries. Exceptions are the Shi'ite mosques, because the Shi'ites are usually economically independent from the governments of their countries. "This [propaganda] machine operated at full power in order to brainwash the Arab citizens, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in order to fan the hatred against the U.S. ... "[The Islamists, the pan-Arab nationalists, and the Arab regimes] are the ones who hate America. The ordinary Arab and Muslim citizens are mere blindfolded hostages in the hands of this alliance. "The U.S. must respond [to the hatred against it] not by appealing to the hostages and convincing them of the good things in the U.S. -- because they are incapable of seeing them even if they wanted to. "They must be helped first of all by freeing them of their [Islamist, pan-Arab, and Arab government] abductors." Endnote:
Contact David Nathan at davenathan@aol.com |
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JIHAD IN PARIS
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, November 2, 2005. |
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It seems the long awaited Jihad has begun in Paris. The believers are battling the infidels. Of course you will not find this element of the conflict mentioned in the news reports, yet. Once we have some sort of local committee negotiating the grievances of the oppressed believers, we will no doubt be told that they want to be rid of their French occupiers and allowed to live in their liberated zones as true Muslims. The most likely outcome will be for this to be publicly refused but privately granted. This was written by Elaine Ganley Sixth Night of Violence Erupts Near Paris PARIS (AP) - Unrest spread across troubled suburbs around Paris in a sixth night of violence Tuesday as police clashed with angry youths and scores of vehicles were torched in at least nine towns, local officials said. Police in riot gear fired rubber bullets at advancing gangs of youths in Aulnay-sous-Bois - one of the worst-hit suburbs - where 15 cars were burned, said the prefecture that runs the Seine-Saint-Denis region. Youths lobbed Molotov cocktails at an annex to the town hall and threw stones at the firehouse. It was not immediately clear whether there were injuries from the clashes. Four people were arrested for throwing stones at police in nearby Bondy where 14 cars were burned, the prefecture said. A fire engulfed a carpet store, but it was not immediately clear whether the blaze was linked to the suburban unrest. Officials gave an initial count of 69 vehicles torched in nine suburbs across the Seine-Saint-Denis region that arcs Paris on the north and northeast. The area, home mainly to families of immigrant origin, often from Muslim North Africa, is marked by soaring unemployment and delinquency. Anger and despair thrive in the tall cinder-block towers and long "bars" that typically make up housing projects in France. No trouble was immediately reported in Clichy-sous-Bois, where rioting began Thursday following the accidental deaths of two teenagers hiding to escape police in a power substation. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy - blamed by many for fanning the violence with tough talk and harsh tactics - met Tuesday night in Paris with youths and officials from Clichy-sous-Bois in a bid to cap days of rioting. But the unrest spread even as they met. Sarkozy recently referred to the troublemakers as "scum" and "riffraff." An Associated Press Television news team witnessed confrontations between about 20 police and 40 youths in Aulnay-sous-Bois with police firing tear gas and rubber bullets. Officials said that "small, very mobile gangs" were harassing police and setting fires to garbage cans and vehicles throughout the region. France-Info radio said some 150 blazes were reported in garbage bins, cars and buildings across Seine-Saint-Denis. The unrest highlighted the division between France's big cities and their poor satellites. Tension had mounted throughout Tuesday after young men torched cars, garbage bins and even a primary school 24 hours earlier. Scores of cars were reported burned Monday night in Clichy-sous-Bois and 13 people were jailed. Youths set two rooms of a primary school in Sevran on fire Monday along with several cars, Mayor Stephane Gatignon said in a statement. Unrest was triggered by the deaths of two teenagers electrocuted in a power substation where they hid to escape police. A third was injured. Officials have said police were not pursuing the boys, aged 15 and 17. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin met Tuesday with the parents of the three families, promising a full investigation of the deaths and insisting on "the need to restore calm," the prime minister's office said. Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit (www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet buying facility for American visitors to Israel. Contact him at zelasko@actcom.co.il |
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THE JERUSALEM POST ON RENEGADE JEWS AND JEWISH ANTI-SEMITES
Posted by Steven Plaut, November 1, 2005. |
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This is called "Norman Finkelstein's world" and was written by Isi Leibler, who chairs the Diaspora-Israel relations committee of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. He is a veteran international Jewish leader. Contact him at ileibler@netvision.net.il This article was published in the Jerusalem Post today and is archived at www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1129540643087&pagename= JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull Historically, self-hating Jews besmirching their kinsmen have ranged from apostates in the Middle Ages to communists in Stalinist Russia. Today their successors have assumed pivotal roles in the global campaign to delegitimize Israel. The most recent chapter in the ongoing offensive is Norman Finkelstein's book Beyond Chutzpa, which endeavors to depict Israel as one of the most evil countries in the world. The author also defames Alan Dershowitz, author of the widely acclaimed The Case for Israel. Dershowitz is particularly hated by the anti-Israeli pack because of his impeccable credentials as a champion of human rights. Finkelstein accuses Dershowitz of plagiarizing material for his book from Joan Peters's From Time Immemorial, published over 20 years ago. The accusation is specious, because Dershowitz never used a single phrase or idea from Peters without proper citation. All Dershowitz did was to collate the evidence (including material used by Peters) and employ his professional fort to present a first-rate case for Israel. Indeed, after reviewing the charge of plagiarism, the former presidents of Harvard and Dartmouth both concluded that it was baseless. Finkelstein also accused Dershowitz of trying to suppress his views on the grounds that he expressed surprise that a purportedly reputable publisher like University of California Press would associate itself with so unscholarly a work. But Dershowitz was entirely justified in describing Beyond Chutzpa as a vile, unscholarly anti-Semitic tract. It employs similar techniques that Holocaust revisionists do in seizing upon tiny grains of truth to build a framework of lies, employing myriads of distorted or misleading footnotes to provide a veneer of pseudo scholarship. Peter Novick, whose work criticizing aspects of Holocaust memorial activity was utilized by Finkelstein, described Finkelstein's "scholarship" as "a twenty-first century updating of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a piece of trash." NEVERTHELESS Beyond Chutzpa is likely to confuse those unaware of the extent to which human rights agenda of NGOs as been hijacked and transformed into a vehicle for demonizing Israel. Finkelstein quotes extensively from organizations such as Human Rights Watch, B'Tselem, Physicians for Human Rights, Amnesty, and the Public Committee against Torture which have long track records of bias and employing double standards in relation to Israel. Finkelstein had already assumed the role of a global cult figure among anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli groups prior to the publication of Beyond Chutzpa. In an earlier book, Finkelstein described the "holocaust industry" as "an extortion racket", a vehicle "to crush any dissent, any criticism of the State of Israel." Jewish leaders were referred to as "gangsters" and "crooks." Eli Wiesel was depicted as "the resident clown for the Holocaust circus." He challenged the authenticity of survivors, "If everyone who claimed to be a survivor is one, my mother used to say 'Who did Hitler kill then?'" In subsequent interviews, Finkelstein attacked Leon Uris, author of Exodus alleging that "the chief character was named Ari Ben Canaan because Ari is the diminutive for Aryan." He admired Hizbullah - "The honorable thing now is to show solidarity with Hizbullah as the US and Israel target it for liquidation." Israeli demolitions of terrorist homes are equivalent to the "Nazi destruction of the village of Lidice" (in Czechoslovakia). Being compared to the Gestapo would "flatter" Israel; its human rights record "is interchangeable with that of Saddam Hussein's Iraq." But his most bizarre comments related to Osama bin-Laden: "Regrettably it is payback time for the Americans... We deserve our problems because some things Bin Laden says are true... Bin Laden said 'until we [Moslems] live in security, you are not going to have any security' ... and there is certain rightness in that... Why should we go on merrily with our lives when so much of the world is suffering - with us as the direct and indirect perpetrators?" IN Beyond Chutzpa Finkelstein writes: "From a combination of economic and political power [Jewish American elites] have sprung a mindset of Jewish superiority... From this lethal brew of formidable power, charismatic arrogance, feigned or marginal victimhood, and Holocaust immunity to criticism, has sprung a terrifying recklessness and ruthlessness on the part of American Jewish elites. Alongside Israel, they are the main fomenters of anti-Semitism in the world today. Coddling them is not the answer. They must be stopped." He also claims that "like the Holocaust" anti-Semitism is an ideological weapon to deflect justified criticism of Israel and concomitantly, powerful interests. In its current usage, "anti-Semitism" alongside the "war against terrorism" serve to cloak a "massive assault on international law and human rights." Jewish leaders "resemble stereotypes straight out of Der Sturmer" and are also "de facto agents of a foreign government" and "in service to their Holy State." IN A sane political world one might have assumed that such trash would be relegated to the fringe. Not in todays frenzied anti-Israeli climate where Finkelstein's ravings are boosted, among others, by a long parade of academics of Jewish origin praising his lies and describing his distortions as scholarship. The blurb on the dust jacket of this appalling book includes commendations from Daniel Boyarin of the University of California, Avi Shlaim of Oxford, and of course, Noam Chomsky from MIT. But the most outrageous paeans of praise come from Israeli academics whose universities are sponsored by the state they demonize and supported by contributions from Diaspora Zionists. Thus Hebrew University professor of sociology, Baruch Kimmerling, describes the book as "the most comprehensive systematic and well documented work of its kind... about the daily practices of the occupation and colonization of the Palestinian territories by Israel." In a review of Finkelstein's book in the National Catholic Reporter, Neve Gordon of Ben-Gurion University, who also promotes international war crime tribunals against Israeli military officers, described Beyond Chutzpa as "an attempt to expose how elements in academia have played a role in concealing Israel's abuse... the heated response to his book is just another example of how the literature discussing the new anti-Semitism delegitimizes those who expose Israel's outrageous violations of international law. The major irony in relation to this saga is that Dr. Finkelstein's book, not Dershowitz's, constitute the real case for Israel, that is, for a moral Israel." THE INCREDIBLE damage to Israel's reputation inflicted by renegade Jews has been greatly underestimated. The distortions have already persuaded the average European that Israel represents a greater threat to world peace than Iran or North Korea. We cannot afford this to be extended to the United States. Israel must realize that the battle of ideas is crucial to our future. There are hundreds of talented Israelis and friends of Israel throughout the world who possess the scholarship and communication skills to enable them to make a major contribution. The government should invite the best of them to join in a campaign to reverse the tide. When the poisonous ravings of people like Finkelstein gain credence in the mainstream media, it is surely time to ring the alarm bells. Steven Plaut is an American-trained economist, a professor of business administration at Haifa University and author of "The Scout." He frequently comments - both seriously and satirically - on Israeli politics and the left wing academic community. His website address is http://www.stevenplaut.blogspot.com. |
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ISRAEL'S BLACK SEPTEMBER
Posted by Walter Bingham, November 1, 2005. |
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Black September was a little-known terror group until they murdered 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972. They took their name from the battles between the Jordanian army and Palestinian terrorists in September1970, when a great number of them were expelled from Jordan and then moved their operation to Lebanon, where they started to ferment that country. For the USA, September will always be associated with the terror attack on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, and recently, with the floods in her southern states and the loss of so many lives on those occasions. It will indeed be a black memory. Israel, too, has its Black September, but it started in August this year, when nearly 10,000 of her citizens were made homeless. But not by a tsunami or catastrophic floods, or another natural disaster decreed by G-d. No, they were forcefully dragged from their homes and synagogues with the help of water canons and allegedly debilitating chemical substances. Was it done by Palestinian terrorists or an enemy force? Again, no. It was the Israeli police and our own defence forces that carried out the dastardly act. It has to be said here that many of the uniformed personnel were forced to act against their consciences. They were not resolute enough to refuse and join others in uniform who did, and who had to pay the price of their freedom. There is no need to once again review the reasons for this expulsion, they have been discussed and condemned ad nauseam (instead of having evoked national revulsion to the point of a general strike, which would have, in my view, prevented Ariel Sharon's reckless and irresponsible excursion). For the moment, it's done. The houses and most large buildings have been raised to the ground. Despite opposition from some quarters, the shells of synagogues were left to the Arabs to desecrate; the people have gone and the voices of the many happy children that were constantly heard to echo around those streets are still. Where are they now? In new communities, prepared in advance, with equivalent homes and similar facilities to those they built up during the past 20-odd years, and which they had to leave behind? Absorbed into existing communities with homes of the same size as those from which they were expelled? Are their many children enrolled in kindergartens, primary or high schools for the new school year that started early in September? No to all that. One thousand of the 1,500 families are languishing in hotel rooms around the country, accommodation that, in the kindest terms, has to be described as totally inadequate. I thought this expulsion had been on the cards for quite some time and the government made the necessary arrangements. You might justifiably ask about that. Ask you may, but answers are not forthcoming. And those answers that are offered are couched in meaningless terms, which are effectively lies, because the government has no explanation for its neglect. It is becoming clearer by the day that the only well-prepared and extremely effectively organised action was the relentless clearance of anything Jewish from Gaza. Not much thought was given to the plight of the now-homeless. Oh yes, figures of compensation have been bandied about and I believe that some moneys have been distributed. However, the monetary value of the expellees' properties in Gaza, on which compensation amounts are based, will buy you a storage shed in some parts of the country, unless they move to other so-called settlements in disputed areas, to maybe -- G-d forbid -- be forced out again if the present government has its way. Many of the now homeless were once before expelled. They came from the Yamit area in the Sinai to Gaza after the peace treaty with Egypt in March, 1979. I saw the places in Yivol and Yated, some five kilometers from the Egyptian border, where some 400 families were to be accommodated in mobile homes, and I walked in 18 inches of loose sand. I saw some of the necessary public services in the process of being installed, but having been expelled from their spacious homes, surrounded by beautiful greenery and civic infrastructure, and sent to this place, is, to put it mildly, a traumatic experience of immeasurable proportions. Just imagine yourself in their place. Even in ordinary circumstances, it is said that, after bereavement, moving is the most traumatic event in one's life. This government has adopted an important pillar of Judaism, but, as with most of their actions, got it all wrong. I am talking about Na'aseh v'Nishmah -- we shall do and we shall act, and only then listen and ask questions (Exodus 24:7). This maxim applies to our relationship with the Almighty, when we accepted his Torah, not to our daily interaction with our fellow Jews. It is interesting that when it comes to the government's actions that affect those who are determined to wipe us off the map, the Palestinians, it invariably acts according to the concept that the end does not justify the means. So that to remove Arabs from Jewish land, even in an exchange -- to relocate Arab villages from northern Samaria to Gush Katif, for instance -- is against the government's principles. But to throw Jews out of their homes, some from the centre of the country, for some obscure political manoeuvre has fallen within the principles of this corrupt and rotten government, led by the dictatorial General Pinochet-Sharon. Yes, like Pinochet of Chile, Sharon of Israel has committed a crime against humanity and should be brought before the courts to justify it. But then, the judiciary in Israel does not act as independently as it should. An analysis of their judgements of late clearly indicates a political empathy with the present government. The cases are too numerous to list. I am, of course, not privileged to be present throughout cabinet meetings. nor do I have access to classified information, but I want to say this: Let's assume for one moment, just for one moment, that there were compelling, valid reasons for a retreat from Gaza. Would it not have been right and proper to first disclose it to the communities affected, and for the very man who personally encouraged them to settle there, Ariel Sharon himself, to also personally explain to them the reasons for his proposed action? Instead, the Disengagement Plan was publicly announced at the Herzliyah Conference. Another example of this uncaring and heartless administration -- if one were needed. To borrow a phrase from Abba Eban, 'His ignorance is encyclopaedic!" Now that Sharon's dirty work is complete, the expellees feel abandoned -- and probably are: 'Here are a few dollars, now go and fend for yourself.' Most of them were farmers or horticulturalists. Where are they going to get the equivalent volume of land of which they were robbed? Even if they would be resettled in the Negev, the southern part of Israel, whatever compensation they receive would be a drop in the ocean considering the months, even years, of labour required to make the desert arable. On the other hand, it recently came to light that Sharon allegedly received a grant of NIS 600,000 from government funds for some project on his farm. The whole business of the so-called disengagement from Gaza was a disgraceful act and as far as the humanitarian aspect was, and still is, concerned, mismanaged from beginning to end. Heads must roll, including that of the prime minister, because the buck stops with him; in fact, it all started with him. Those members of Knesset who place themselves into the camp of the opposition must unite to bring about the fall of this government. They must act unselfishly, without regard to their political careers and their next seat in the Knesset. If they want to demonstrate their loyalty to Israel and its future, they must put their money where their mouth is; otherwise they will be publicly accused and shamed. Walter Bingham is a veteran journalist and broadcaster from London who made aliyah and now lives in Jerusalem. His weekly radio programme, Walter's World, can be heard on Israel National Radio.com. Contact him by email at walter@IsraelNationalNews.comThis article appeared in arutz-7 (www.IsraelNationalNews.com) on September 18, 2005. |
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GOVERNMENT INITIATES CAMPAIGN OF HARASSMENT AGAINST ELON MOREH
Posted by Bryna Berch, November 1, 2005. |
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This is a news item from today's Arutz Sheva - IsraelNationalNews.com. It is archived at http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=92179 It is interesting that the government is harassing Hebron and Elon Moreh in particular. When Abraham came into the Land of Israel, he came to Elon Moreh and both Abraham and Sarah are buried in Hebron. David was crowned king in Hebron. I guess Sharon and his thugs have joined the Destroy Israel's History club. The Arabs are, of course, charter members. The Israeli government, using the long arm of the police department, has initiated a campaign of harassment against the residents of Elon Moreh, a Jewish community in Samaria, east of Shechem. Police set up a road block at the entrance to the town Tuesday morning, and began to thoroughly check every vehicle and individual leaving the community. Residents were ticketed with fines for every minor infraction. This is the second time in recent days that the police have singled out Elon Moreh for such an operation. The harassment most likely comes in retaliation for last week's incident, in which a number of persons who were not permanent residents of the town, assaulted an IDF officer who was ordered to take down an unauthorized community outpost located nearby. Town spokesman, Benny Katzover, said, "The police have initiated a campaign of retribution against Elon Moreh. They set up a barrier with four patrol cars and 20 police officers positioned on the road leading into Elon Moreh. Every car that came out of the town was delayed for 15 minutes and thoroughly checked by vehicle inspectors working for the police." In a number of instances, driver's licenses were revoked and vehicle owners were ordered to get their cars inspected. Katzover said the police harassment occurs every time "there's an incident with the police." The last time was when police entered the town to arrest youngsters who had been protesting the Disengagement Plan. When youngsters slashed the tires of some police vehicles, police punished the town "for three days straight." When the town council appealed to the Judea and Samaria police commander, Yisrael Yitzhak, he told them that police were routinely checking vehicles to make sure they were "winter proof." "If police were checking cars for winter proofing, why then where they checking the passengers as well?" asked Katzover. The town's Rabbi, Elyakim Lebanon, said that police told him they were actually searching for the person who assaulted the IDF officer. "We explained to the police that we don't know who the youngster was." Lebanon said he is certain, however, the youth was not from Elon Moreh. "Despite this, they decided to subject an entire community to harassment," said the Rabbi. He said that if the police want to carry out a routine operation that should not focus on one town only. The town council said it intends to raise the issue of police harassment with government officials, and if need be, hold a demonstration against the police and halt all cooperation with them. |
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AN 8-YEAR OLD IRANIAN BOY CAUGHT STEALING BREAD
Posted by Simon Pilczer, November 1, 2005. |
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THE DESPERATE STATE OF GUSH KATIF/N. SHOMRON REFUGEES
Posted by AFSI, November 1, 2005. |
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The enclosed report from Arutz Sheva describes the condition of the refugees from Gush Katif and the N. Shomron communities following the August 17 forced expulsion by the Sharon government. To date, ALMOST NOTHING has been done to help the refugees -- NO COMPENSATION, NO EMPLOYMENT, NO HOMES, NO SCHOOLS, NO SYNAGOGUES, NO FARMS, ...NOTHING -- except one temporary shelter followed by another. It is clear that the government MUST fulfill its obligations to the 10,000 displaced persons, but, WHILE THEY WAIT, MANY ARE PENNILESS. Money is being raised for them through many different organizations. AFSI suggests that you may want to give tax-deductible donations through the CENTRAL FUND OF ISRAEL -- earmarked for RACHEL-OPERATION BAND-AID, or to FRIENDS OF GUSH KATIF. Checks may be mailed to AFSI, 1623 Third Ave., Suite 205, New York, NY 10128, and we will send them on to the proper parties. This was written by Hillel Fendel, senior editor at Arutz-Sheva. It is called "Sharon Held Personally Responsible For Expellees' Plight." Over 10 weeks after the expulsion, and 2/3 of the families evicted from their Gush Katif/Shomron homes have not yet been provided with a temporary solution. Their lawyer holds PM Sharon responsible. Attorney Yitzchak Meron, the head of the Land of Israel Legal Forum that has been representing the Gush Katif expellees on a pro-bono basis, has written a letter to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Excerpts: "Over 70 days have passed since, at your initiative, some 9,000 people were thrown out of their homes. Almost none of them have attained their permanent [housing] solution. At the earliest, they will reach it two years from now, and others will apparently have a final housing solution in only 3-4 years. "No less severe is the fact that 2/3 of the people still do not even have a temporary solution. As it appears now, a large portion of them will reach this only 3-6 months from now. "The temporary solutions themselves involve great suffering for the residents. They will have to live in very crowded conditions of 10-12 square meters [12-14 square yards] per person. Much of their furniture and belongings do not even fit into the small houses; their belongings will have to remain in containers or warehouses. The people have to buy furniture and equipment that fits their new houses - and it goes without saying that the law provides for no compensation for this." "In short, the State has taken away from thousands of expelled residents their houses that they built with great toil, and these people are now without a home. They live in crowded hotel conditions. Some of them will have to remain this way for months to come. Physical and psychological ramifications of this situation are already noticeable, and experts say they will only get worse. "We warned in advance that the state did not concern itself with providing appropriate housing solutions in advance. We warned of a double uprooting, and now it appears that some people will have to be uprooted three and even four times." Meron contests the claim that the residents themselves did not cooperate sufficiently with the Disengagement Authority, but adds, "In any event, ever since the expulsion, certainly there is no such claim! Yet despite this, everything that has been done has been too late, too little and too slow... "Among the issues that have not been solved and that could be solved by your personal intervention are the families that lived in the area for many years - including young couples who were born there and families who rented privately - but because of various technical definitions, [are not yet receiving compensation]. The uprooted people themselves are not even involved in various negotiations between the government and the locations where caravila communities are planned - and they stand helpless on the sidelines." Americans For a Safe Israel/AFSI is a pro-active pro-Israel advocacy group. AFSI may be contacted by mail at 1623 Third Ave., Suite 205, New York, N.Y. 10128 (Tel: 212-828-2424; Fax: 212-828-1717); by email at afsi@rcn.com; or by accessing its website: www.afsi.org. Helen Freedman is Executive Director. |
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THE GOOD TERRORISTS
Posted by Women in Green, November 1, 2005. |
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This was written by Caroline Glick and it appeared in The Jerusalem Post Oct. 27, 2005. Wednesday was a difficult day. First, on Wednesday morning Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for Israel's annihilation. Then, a few hours later, a Palestinian terrorist blew up at a Hadera felafel stand in and murdered five Israelis. Israel's responses to these events revealed as much about its strategic confusion as Ahmadinejad's speech and the bombing revealed about our enemies' strategic clarity. In the case of Iran, Israel's response was well-conceived and executed. In calling for the annihilation of Israel - a UN member state - Iran stands in grave breach of the UN Charter, which stipulates that member states must foster peaceful relations with one another. And so, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom ordered Israel's ambassador at the UN to demand Iran's expulsion from the world body. Israel's emissaries throughout the world rapidly pointed out the fact that with its nuclear weapons program, its ballistic missiles and its active support for global terrorism, Iran is not just Israel's problem. It constitutes a clear and present danger to global security. In sharp contrast to Israel's clear, understandable and constructive response to the Iranian threat, the government's response to the bombing in Hadera was marked by confusion, defeatism and absurdity. How is this the case? First it should be recalled that in the immediate wake of last week's terror attack at the Gush Etzion junction, the Aksa Martyr Brigades - the terror group belonging to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party - issued an announcement claiming responsibility. Oddly, in the hours that followed, IDF commanders and government ministers denied Fatah's claim and insisted that Hamas, not Fatah, had carried out the attack that murdered three. Although no evidence was ever presented to back up this claim, let's assume that it is true. Still, the question arises: What does the fact that Fatah claimed responsibility tell us about Abbas's Fatah party, on which Israel and the US are currently pinning all their hopes for peace and security? After Wednesday's bombing, the Iranian-sponsored Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility. As is their habit, the terrorists claimed that the massacre of Israeli civilians was their response to the IDF's killing of their terror commander Luai Sa'adi in Tulkarm earlier this week. But then something interesting occurred. In Gaza City, masked Fatah and Islamic Jihad terrorists held a joint press conference where they claimed joint responsibility for the bombing. A Fatah spokesman further announced that any attack against Islamic Jihad will be viewed as an attack against Fatah as well. Disturbingly, no Israeli newspaper other than The Jerusalem Post reported on the press conference. And that isn't all. Like the government, the Israeli media also ignored the fact - reported again exclusively by the Post's Khaled Abu Toameh - that in the same IDF raid where Sa'adi was killed, Majed al-Ashkar, a senior Fatah terror commander, was also killed. The Israeli Hebrew-speaking public has not been informed that the two had spent the past several months establishing joint Fatah-Islamic Jihad cells throughout Judea and Samaria and Gaza. FOR HIS part, Abbas, whom the Sharon-Peres government and the Bush administration uphold as Israel's partner in peace and the fight against terrorism, has been making some interesting moves. Abbas has told the Americans and the Israelis that he is working to end Fatah terrorism by integrating the Aksa Martyrs Brigades into the Palestinian security forces. But on Wednesday night, Channel 2's reporter in Gaza interviewed three such "former" terrorists as they stood in position outside the ruins of the community of Neveh Dekalim. The flag flying from the top of their tent was that of the Aksa Martyr Brigades. One man was in uniform and the other two were wearing civilian clothes. All were brandishing the same AK-47 rifles they received as terrorists. All claimed that they are still part of the Aksa Brigades. As one Palestinian source noted to the Post, the fact that Fatah and Islamic Jihad terrorists are now operating in the same cells raises the prospect that Islamic Jihad operatives will infiltrate the Palestinian security services by claiming to be Fatah terrorists. As members of the security forces, these murderers will receive training at the hands of Russian security personnel who are now operating in Gaza. And that's another thing. According to recent press reports, as the multitudes of foreign terrorists entered Gaza after the IDF abandoned the Philadelphi Corridor linking Gaza to the Sinai last month, Russian security forces also quietly entered the area. Without any prior coordination with Israel the Russians set up shop in Gaza, where they claim to be training Palestinian security forces which they also wish to arm with armored personnel carriers and other weapons systems. Given Russia's intent to sell advanced anti-aircraft missiles to Syria and its continued support for Iran's nuclear program, the deployment of an unknown number of Russian security personnel in Gaza is an unwelcome strategic development that is liable to have disastrous and far-reaching consequences. Abbas himself spent a formative period of his terror career as a KGB underling in Moscow while he received his doctorate in Holocaust denial at the Soviet Institute for Oriental Studies in the 1960s. Apart from all of this, the attack in Hadera on Wednesday showed - yet again - that the security fence that the Left touts as the ultimate antiterror weapon is worthless. Officers in the Central Command claimed that the bomber was able to enter Israel by going through one of the several dozen gates in the fence. These passages were set up to enable both Israelis and Palestinians to pass through the fence legally and can be easily exploited by terrorists. Even if Israel were to seal the gates (a move that would induce immediate protest from the Palestinian "human rights" camp), the terrorists would still find a way to infiltrate into Israel. As they did two years ago on the Trans-Israel Highway, they can dig a tunnel. Or as they did four years ago along the fence separating Israel from Lebanon, they can build a ladder. Since the time of the Assyrian Empire 2,700 years ago, there has never been a defensive wall that cannot be breached by an enemy with sufficient will to do so. IN THE aftermath of the bombing in Hadera, and in the face of the integration of Fatah and Islamic terror groups, Abbas's continued collusion with terrorists, Russia's uncoordinated deployment in Gaza, and the unraveling of the fence as a defensive strategy, what did the government do on Wednesday night? It declared "war" on the Islamic Jihad. In so doing, the government maintained its earnest denial of all the essential components of Israel's current security reality. The government stated at the outset that the IDF's offensive against Islamic Jihad must necessarily be limited to prevent the operations from weakening the irreplaceable Abbas. And so, on the Gaza front, the "war" was immediately reduced to a renewal of the IAF's sound and light show over Gazan skies and the artillery corps' renewed pummeling of open fields in northern Gaza. As for operations in Judea and Samaria, without knowing how many terrorists will be rounded up or killed in the coming days, it is already certain that their arrests or deaths will make no lasting impact on the terrorist infrastructure in the area. This is so because the IDF, in attempting to carry out the mission it was given by the government, is acting against a problem that doesn't exist while ignoring the problem that does exist. The Sharon-Peres government, like every other leftist government since 1993, insists on making a distinction between "good" terrorists from Fatah and the Palestinian Authority and "bad" terrorists from the Islamic Jihad and Hamas. Yet the Palestinians themselves make no such distinctions. Since Yasser Arafat signed his accord with Hamas in Cairo in November 1994, the PA and Fatah have enthusiastically and continuously cooperated with Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The fact that in all the PA's calls for the release of terrorists from Israeli prisons, it has never distinguished between Fatah terrorists and Hamas or Islamic Jihad terrorists is just one clear example of this cooperation. Wednesday's bomber, for instance, was supposedly from Islamic Jihad and yet he was recently released from an Israeli prison as part of a "confidence-building measure" aimed at strengthening Abbas. During Binyamin Netanyahu's three-year tenure as prime minister, as well as during the period from the Passover Massacre in 2002 through Arafat's death in November 2004, Israel actually did have a clear and constructive policy towards the Palestinians that in many respects was similar to its policy towards Iran. It was the policy of the Right. During these two periods, Israel dropped its artificial and self-defeating distinction between "good" terrorists and "bad" terrorists and held Arafat and the PA responsible for all acts of terrorism emanating from the PA. But with Abbas's rise to power and Sharon's final transformation from a rightist to a leftist, Israel again sunk into strategic ambiguity. Indeed, more than anything else, the government's "declaration of war" against Islamic Jihad is just new evidence of the fact that no matter what happens, the Israeli Left will never learn from its mistakes. Rather than contend with reality, it justifies its policies with defeatism and non sequiturs. As the security fence strategy collapses, we are told that we will just have to live with terrorism. In the face of the active collaboration between Fatah and Islamic Jihad and the PA and Hamas, we are told that we must strengthen Abbas. Tragically, the Right today is in no position to enunciate policy options based on its clear understanding that terrorists must be defeated, not coddled and negotiated with. After Sharon splintered his Likud party, defeated his political camp and pummeled his support base by adopting the policies of the Left, the Right is in shambles. Sharon's opponents within the Likud are so confused in the aftermath of their failed attempt to advance the date of Likud primaries that they cannot contend with Sharon, let alone the Palestinians. Knesset members from the National Union and the National Religious Party have been missing in action since the expulsion of the Jews of Gaza and northern Samaria. At the grassroots level, activists are too busy devouring the leaders of the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, whom they blame for failing to prevent the expulsions, and hating the IDF for carrying out the expulsions, to pay attention to what the Palestinians are doing. As with the delusional Left, so too the Right, in its weakness, is showing that it has no ability to learn from its mistakes and prefers to sink into neurotic self-obsession rather than act responsibly by pointing out a sane path for Israel to embark upon. Ironically, Iran is a major beneficiary of Israel's willful strategic blindness. For even if Israel's responsible diplomatic moves against Teheran actually expedite the mullocracy's international isolation, Ahmadinejad can be satisfied with the fact that his Palestinian foot soldiers are destroying Israel for him. Ruth and Nadia Matar established Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green), an activist group of women based in Jerusalem. Their website address is http://www.womeningreen.org |
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CLINTON'S SECRET LEGACY; DIPLOMATIC TRICKS OF THE TRADE; TERRORISTS DAMAGE WORLD ECONOMY
Posted by Richard H. Shulman, November 1, 2005. |
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BILL CLINTON'S SECRET LEGACY A member of an avowed P.A. terrorist organization, who doubled as a member of P.A. Preventive Security (an undeclared terrorist organization), was asked what most contributed to his success as a terrorist. He credited small-arm training by the CIA. This CIA program was a secret initiative by Pres. Clinton (once thought to be "Israel's best friend in the White House, ever"). Israeli intelligence officials warned Clinton of such security officers' dual affiliation. The course included training not only in shooting, but also in interrogation and how to protect motorcades. Those skills are needed by terrorists as well as those who fight terrorists. The trainees became the most successful terrorists. The P.A. never fought terrorists except under special, temporary circumstances. Instead, the US discovered, the trained men transferred their arms and skills to terrorist organizations. Often, P.A. police would tear off their uniforms before engaging in combat with Israeli forces. The US has spent more than a billion dollars building up the P.A., whose forces still do not -- cannot or will not -- fight terrorism and may be inferior to Hamas forces, and which, themselves, engage in terrorism. The P.A. police complain of being under-equipped. They may be right, for the P.A. steals much of their US funding. The P.A. still denies that it would disarm Hamas. Its stated reason is interesting -- that its weapons are part of the "resistance" (IMRA, 10/19), i.e., jihad against Israel. No comment about Bill Clinton necessary. U.S. INTERFERENCE IN OTHER COUNTRIES "Speaking at a meeting of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Rice said that Israeli construction between East Jerusalem and Ma'aleh Adumim is against the Bush Administration policy in the Middle East.' (Arutz-7, 10/20.) How would the US like it if Russia declared that US reconstruction of New Orleans is against the Putin Administration policy in the Western Hemisphere? CONFUSING REPORT Arutz-7 reports that Russian officers are "in Israel" training the P.A. police. Russia won't divulge details of duration and scope of training (10/20). What does it mean, "in Israel"? I don't think it means in Israel. I think it means in Israeli-held territories. There's a difference. The report is unclear. Israel has no objection as its enemies are trained against it. SWISS AGENCY FOR DEVELOPMENT & COOPERATION (SDC) SDC professes a humanitarian mission in the P.A.. The NGOs that it finances, however, justify violence (against Israel) rather than internal reform and development. One such NGO, Al Mezan, calls itself a Human Rights Center, but ignores P.A. abuses of Arab and Jewish rights, but busies itself (falsely) charging Israel with war crimes and apartheid (both of which the P.A. engages in) and seeks disinvestments from Israel. Another beneficiary is DET.tv, which fails to promote democratic values, accountability, and sound economic polities. It produces propaganda films defaming Israel. One film charges that Israel tries to Zionize by impoverishing Bedouin. Another blames terrorism on Israel. The discourse of other beneficiaries is entirely pro-Arab. There are more examples (IMRA, 10/20 from NGO Monitor). SECRET NUCLEAR ARMS TRADE A British newspaper got hold of a secret British M-15 intelligence report on Mideastern nuclear ambition. The extent of traffic in nuclear weapons materials and components is greater than had been realized. So is the number of countries seeking to develop nuclear arms. They obtain supplies through front organizations in the UAE. The nuclear aspirants include Syria and Egypt. Iran, India, Israel, and Pakistan also engage in the trade. (Iran's participation is illegal, but that of the other three is not.) Hundreds of companies that take part in the trade were identified. M-15 wants to alert British companies not to inadvertently ship such materials. Ironically, the latest Nobel Peace prize was bestowed on the head of the UNO committee against nuclear proliferation, although he has allowed to develop this situation and worse (IMRA, 10/19). IRAQIS TELL SAUDIS OFF Saudi rulers have been coming to the US to advise against our democratization and policies in Iraq. The head of Iraq replied, "Iraq is heir to an ancient civilization and does not need advice from a Bedouin riding a camel." He suggested that Prince Saud worry about his own country, which oppresses minorities and women and whose youth become radicalized. The temerity of the advice was unusual, but the Arabs do not consider S. Arabia one of their leading centers (Nibas Kazimi, NY sun, 10/19, Op. Ed). HOPE FOR U.S. UNIVERSITY FREEDOM OF THOUGHT The Chancellor of CUNY has entered the fray. He criticized faculty for arrogating academic freedom to themselves and for misinterpreting it. He said that students and university heads have a right to their own opinions. Universities don't have to stand for antisemitism by their professors in the classroom (Jacob Gershman, NY Sun, 10/17, p.1). The universities need to have a publicly understood standard for the role of faculty. Are they teachers who guide students to figure things out or who also impart certain knowledge? How much may a professor broach his own opinions in class? What is fact as compared with opinion? KOFI ANNAN INTERFERES AGAINST ISRAEL The Sec.-General told Yossi Beilin and a P.A. partner that Israel should not oppose Hamas' participation in the P.A. election, and that although an armed militia should not sit in a parliament, the P.A. should not insist that it disarm before the election, lest that demand gain it popular support. Dr. Joseph Lerner points out that this topic has not been resolved by a UNO decision, so he is not expounding on existing policy but exceeding his authority. Nor is it appropriate for him to give this advice to known opponents of Israel. It happens that the P.A. peace agreements are that no militia may field candidates in its elections. It doesn't matter whether those candidates are gunmen, recruiters, propagandists, or fundraisers, for they all contribute to its terrorism. After the election, in which it is expected to gain substantial representation, its political power would grow. It would become more difficult to disarm it. Annan knows that Hamas is an antisemitic terrorist organization dedicated to destroying Israel. His statement reveals his own ethics. (IMRA) SIMPLISTIC HEADLINES One headline asserts that the Iraqi vote to approve a Constitution "...is seen" as a step towards democracy and US withdrawal. Who sees this was not indentified. It could be such a step. It also could be a step towards imposition of undemocratic Islamic law. The NY Times keeps finding every P.A. pledge, made after the Arabs violently had broken their prior pledges, as "New Hope For Peace." The pledge does not give hope for peace, because there is no hope for peace in the foreseeable future. The pledge is a tactic in jihad. It is one of the ways that the Arabs temporize. They placate the US or Israel, to stave off retribution, by making false pledges. The West is naive or deceptive, when it accepts the pledge as genuine -- the West cannot point to the bona fides of earlier pledges. DIPLOMATIC TRICKS OF THE TRADE We've been exposing the tricks of diplomacy as they come up. Considered as a whole, they amount to an indictment of that profession. The State Dept. excuse for not cracking down on the P.A. for its condoning of terrorism is that it has "taken steps" against terrorism, though no concrete steps are identified and none taken. It urges the P.A. to "try harder," though what the P.A. is trying to do is facilitate terrorism. Under pressure, Arab dictators allow a bit of choice in elections, so the US government and the NY Times will hail the movement towards democracy in the Arab world. Dictators sometimes hand over a terrorist to the West, so the Times? will hail the Arabs' or Pakistanis' cooperation against terrorism. Among political criminals as among economic ones, the soldiers are expendable. Israel pretends to be tough on terrorism, to appease its citizenry. It bombs empty buildings and fields, but reports it as bombing installations to good effect. Israel re-imposes restrictions that it only recently had relaxed, and that it will relax again, at US prompting. The imposition draws criticism, the relaxation, praise. The US is directing the build-up of terrorist independence that first would strike at Israel and then at the US. The irresponsibility of the superpower is daunting. The UNO conducts studies, but China vetoes action. Result? The UNO absorbs financing, much from the US, but produces little and promotes evil, though its diplomacy is taken seriously. The Nobel Committee awards prizes to some of the world's reprobates. Partly it hopes to encourage them to reform. Prize in hand, however, one is less inclined to reform; culprits paid in advance do not perform. Another reason for unreasonable awards is to spite the US. Rarely do they honor genuine peacemakers. The peace prizes often are premature, so that by the time some dust gathers on the plaque, the peace has collapsed. Peace agreements are another ruse. To Communists, Nazis, and Muslims, peace agreements are meant to stave off retaliation, gain concessions, and lull suspicions. They are a tactic in war. The US does not understand that its enemies use negotiations and peace agreements cynically, although it uses negotiations and peace agreements between Israel and the Arabs cynically. Diplomats issue statements about the "traditional friendship between the peoples of their countries." It's hot air, obscuring a record of governmental and ideological hostility or of indifference. Americans are notorious for ignorance about geographic and distant lands. Foreigners have distorted views of America. No doubt you can come up with more examples. MIS-REPORTING ON P.A. VS. TERRORISM Diplomatic sources discussed "whether the P.A. can make good on its promise to disarm Hamas?" (Eli Lake, NY Sun, 10/19, P.1.) Abbas promises his own people he won't. The newspaper reports only the P.A. commitment under Oslo. That's misleading. STATE DEPT. BRIEFINGS REPETITIVE We've described the cycles of terrorist attack, Israeli restrictions on terrorist access to Israelis, and US demands that Israel ease its restrictions. It happened again, for the nth time. Part of the scenario that constantly plays out is the State Dept. briefing. Reporters ask the same question, as if they hadn't asked it the month before, and so on. The Dept. spokesman gives the same reply. Yes, he admits, the terrorism is grievous, and the P.A. should "try harder" to eradicate it. Yes, he admits, Israel has a right to defend itself, but it should try not to do so in a way that imposes a hardship on the innocent Arab civilians (IMRA, 10/18). Not so innocent, and not so civilian. They support terrorism. Many of them have participated in it. It's their second biggest occupation. Their first is embezzlement of foreign aid. Will we get a reporter who reminds the State Dept. that it has been suggesting that the PLO "try harder" for more than a decade, but that the PLO does not eradicate terrorism and Abbas tells his people he will not disarm the militias? Are mainstream reporters the last to know? LEBANESE ARMY NOW GUARDS THE BORDER The border with Syria, that is. It is Lebanon's response to Syrian truckloads of arms driven in to its Palestinian Arab camps. Syria is striving to retain control over Lebanon (IMRA, 10/18). In Lebanon, Syria has Palestinian Arab allies, Hizbullah allies, and its own intelligence agents. TERRORISTS DAMAGE WORLD ECONOMY Increased demand for oil by the growing economies of China and India, has driven up prices. There is no slack. Small disruptions here or there can force prices up sharply. Bin Laden is exploiting this to weaken the US economically, just as the cost to the USSR of fighting in Afghanistan was too much for it to continue to bear. Consequently, terrorists have made hundreds of attacks on oil installations all over the world, but especially in Iraq. They have succeeded in lowering output by about a million barrels a day. If they hadn't, oil prices would be about $20 (or one-third) lower. That $20 is like a terrorism tax. The advanced countries are transferring their wealth to the oil-bearing states. We cannot win the war on terrorism when we enrich the countries that sponsor it. Neither will the advanced countries unite against terrorism, when they compete for oil. China vetoes UN sanctions against Iran, Sudan, and Uzbekistan because of oil. China is investing in oil countries all over. In 1973, the US imported 30% of its oil. Now it imports 60%. That makes oil not only an environmental issue but one of national security, too. By contrast, using its agriculture as a source of energy, Brazil went from 80% imports to close to energy self-sufficiency. S. Africa has turned coal into jet fuel. The US has sufficient coal for doing that, as it did with the electric power industry (IMRA, 10/18 from Wechsler Family Foundation & Jer. Center for Public Affairs). Pres. Bush has blocked measures to reduce US energy consumption. Perhaps we need to string him up and get him off our necks. Or curb our standard of living. Or are prices rigged? Richard Shulman is a veteran defender of Israel on several web-based forums. His comments and analyses appear often on Think-Israel. He provides cool information and right-on-target overviews. He distributes his essays by email. To subscribe, write him at richardshulman5@aol.com. |
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ISRAEL ACTIVISTS SUED IN BOSTON
Posted by Naomi Ragen, November 1, 2005. |
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Friends The David Project, which was founded to fight the horrible distortions in the media against Israel, now finds itself under a lawsuit by the Islamic Society of Boston. I thought all of you would be interested in their response and in their ongoing struggle for justice. My blessings to them. Keep up the great work and do not be deterred. Naomi STATEMENT OF THE DAVID PROJECT The following is the statement of The David Project, a non-profit organization whose purpose is to promote a fair and honest discussion of the Middle East conflict, in response to the lawsuit that has been initiated against it and against one of its employees today by the Islamic Society of Boston: There is a serious body of well-documented evidence that various individuals who have been affiliated and directly involved with the Islamic Society of Boston ("ISB") have defended acts of terrorism, and have publicly engaged in the worst sort of anti-Semitic and other hate speech. The David Project is one of many organizations and citizens that have asked questions about that very troubling evidence, and that have sought answers to those questions. It would have been hoped that the ISB would provide those answers. Instead, the ISB has chosen a different course, one apparently designed not only to avoid answering those questions but to stop people from asking them. Backed by what appears to be unlimited financial support from unknown funders, the ISB has initiated a lawsuit against citizens and organizations that had the temerity to raise concerns that the ISB and others would prefer not to have raised. The ISB lawsuit apparently seeks to punish those citizens and organizations for raising these issues, and to discourage others from doing so. The ISB lawsuit is an ugly and obvious attempt to bully American citizens into not exercising their fundamental First Amendment rights: the right to engage in free speech, the right to express views to governmental bodies about important public policy issues, and the right to communicate with other citizens. The ISB appears to hope that in forcing these citizens to spend many tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees defending themselves, it will frighten others out of exercising their own First Amendment rights, which all Americans hold dear. "No one who cares about the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment to express concerns, to ask questions and to comment on issues of public policy, can view the ISB lawsuit as anything other than an assault on the First Amendment", said the President of The David Project, Dr. Charles Jacobs. "We do not intend to be intimidated, and do not believe others will be." The David Project expects that the Massachusetts courts will find that the ISB claims against it and one of its employees will be found to be factually and legally frivolous, and will be dismissed. In the meantime, it will refrain from commenting directly on the lawsuit. Inquiries should be directed to its counsel, Jeffrey Robbins, at Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo P.C., at 617-542-6000. Naomi Ragen is an American-born novelist and journalist who lives in Jerusalem. She can be contacted at www.naomiragen.com, where you can subscribe to her newsletter. |
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GOVERNMENT WORKING HARD TO BE NUMBER ONE
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, November 1, 2005. |
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"Are Elected Officials Setting an Example?" This is a news item from
yesterday's Arutz-Sheva (www.IsraelNN.com).
(IsraelNN.com) Polls continue to return with bleak results regarding the nation's trust in Israel's elected officials. As the current administration continues to struggle to remain in power, plagued with in-fighting and a major chasm among coalition members, Israelis are increasingly expressing frustration, anger and distrust regarding elected officials and cabinet ministers. While most feel Knesset members and cabinet ministers should set and example, the number of public officials being investigated by police on charges including fraud and betrayal of trust continues to grow. That list includes, Omri Sharon (Likud), Ehud Olmert (Likud), Yisrael Katz (Likud), Shlomo Benizri (Shas), Naomi Blumenthal (Likud), Yitzchak Cohen (Shas) and Michael Gurolevsky (Likud). |
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WHAT A SURPRISE
Posted by Aryeh Zelasko, November 1, 2005. |
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Oh my, what a surprise. The Egyptians and the Egyptian-created and controlled PLO are still trying to murder all of us. This is from the DEBKAfile and is called "Fatah Is Deeply Implicated in the Palestinian Terrorist Coalition. Egyptian Military Collaboration Is Also Present," DEBKAfile Special Report, October 31, 2005, http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=1103 The major battle fought through Sunday night, Oct. 30, against a Jihad Islami cell in Qabatiya, near Jenin, only partially addressed the Palestinian terror threat creeping in from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank. The al Aqsa Brigades, a wing of Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas' ruling Fatah, either led or took active part in all the terrorist strikes of late. This holds true for the Oct. 16 drive-by shooting that murdered three young Israelis at the Gush Etzion hitchhiking post, the suicide bombing that killed another five Israeli civilians in the Hadera open market ten days later, the frequent shooting and bombing attacks on West Bank roads and the Qassam missile barrages from the Gaza Strip. The last volley was launched Sunday night, Oct. 30, hours after Palestinian spokesmen claimed consent to halt this offensive. DEBKAfile's intelligence sources point to the evidence that the Gush Etzion strike and a synchronized attack further north at Ely were the work of two Fatah gangs from Nablus and Bethlehem. Yet the Israeli army was not sent into action against Fatah -- only later against the Jihad Islami cell that ordered the Hadera attack. This situation recalls the Israeli government's tactics in 2001 and the first half of 2002, when Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon, who succeeded him as prime minister, cherished the illusion that Yasser Arafat would rein in his Fatah and uphold his commitments under the Oslo Accords. Those vain hopes had the same results as today's twice-weekly exhortations aimed by Israel and America at Abu Mazen. Then the suicide bombings of buses and crowd centers carried out by the Fatah-Tanzim and al Aqsa Brigades were usually pinned on the Hamas. Today, the favorite culprit is Jihad Islami. 
This coalition is not working in a vacuum. The Shin Beit reconstruction of their mission and route deeply implicated Egyptian special troops who were assigned in lieu of Israeli forces to guard the Philadelphi border route between Sinai and Gaza against arms smuggling. It transpired that these troops, deployed as a pre-condition for Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, can be bought for the trifling sum of NIS200 (less than $50) -- and have been from Day One of their deployment last month. With Egyptian connivance, the three Palestinian weapons pros used one of the forbidden arms smuggling tunnels to cross into Sinai from Gaza, picked up a Hizballah disk containing instructions on how to construct a missile workshop in Jenin, and then infiltrated southern Israel through the Egyptian border. What is more, picked up with the three Palestinian "engineers" was an Egyptian "guide," familiar enough with the southern Israeli Negev region to shepherd them to Mitzpe Ramon, where they were intercepted by Israeli security police. This discovery floored Israeli security experts who would have expected Palestinians to guide Egyptians inside Israel -- not the reverse. They were appalled to find an Egyptian terrorist cell supporting al Qaeda and Palestinians operations in Sinai had planted a tentacle deep inside Israel's southern and central Negev regions, as a branch of the Sinai organization. All these disturbing developments have occurred since the Israeli pullback from the Gaza Strip in mid-September and are therefore glossed over by Sharon government spokesmen. The serious security deterioration can be summed up by - 1. The influx of a huge, illegal war arsenal from Sinai into Palestinian Gaza; At Sunday's cabinet session, prime minister Ariel Sharon woke up belatedly and declared: "We must not allow Qassam missiles to be fired from the West Bank at coastal Israel." His rationale? "We can't put them all in bomb-shelters." Israel is also determined not to allow suicide, drive-by and
missile attacks. But they still happen. Sharon pledged solemnly to
Sderot that this battered town would suffer no more Qassam attacks.
That was several attacks ago.
Aryeh Zelasko lives in Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. He is
Director of Sales and Marketing of Israel Visit
(www.israelvisit.co.il) which provides information and an internet
buying facility for American visitors to Israel.
Contact him at zelasko@actcom.co.il
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