"And when the days of weeping for him passed, Joseph spoke to the house of Pharaoh saying, 'If I have found favor in your eyes, speak into the ears of Pharaoh to say: My father made me swear, saying, "Behold I am going to die. Bury me in my grave that I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me.'" (From this week's Torah portion, Vayechi, Genesis 50:4-5).
Wait a minute - isn't Joseph the viceroy of all Egypt? Didn't Pharaoh promise him that he would be second-in-command and the next-to-final- word in the Egyptian kingdom? Why does Joseph have to lobby Pharaoh's close aides to convince them to bring his request before the king? Why are the palace ministers closer to the king than he is? After all, this is the original Pharaoh - the "good" one - not the Pharaoh who enslaved the Jews as related in next week's Torah portion.
Some sages in Europe predicted the German atrocities while the Jews there were still enjoying their host country's wealth of culture, philosophers, musicians and poets. Pharaoh was also a "good" king and the bottom line is that he kept his promise to Joseph. But in case anybody thinks that Joseph was an equal among equals, the above verse is proof - and a reminder to our fellow Jews in the U.S., England, France and all the other democracies - that their good standing in their host countries is ephemeral. Even after years of assimilation, the Jew will always be different. From the time that G-d chose us from amongst the nations, we will never find permanent rest in foreign countries.
Pharaoh promised. So did Napoleon. But the reality of anti-Semitism is stronger than all their promises. We can build flourishing communities at the summit of a sleeping volcano. But it just may erupt sooner than we expect.
Shabbat Shalom,
Moshe Feiglin
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Is it really all Feiglin’s fault? (Yeshiva World News)
In response to growing attacks against Moshe Feiglin, who heads the Manhigut Yehudit faction of Likud, by MK Yaakov Katz, Shmuel Sackett, the International Director of Manhigut Yehudit released the following letter, dated December 22, 2009.
The building freeze and Barak’s proposed draconian measures to enforce it have left Israel lovers the world over feeling angry and frustrated. Unfortunately, MK Yaakov Katz (Ketzaleh) has been taking out his frustration on Moshe Feiglin, accusing him of “paving the way” for the Disengagement and the current freeze. To understand what is really going on, it is important to be able to reflect on the facts in an orderly manner, which is what I propose to do in this article.
Immediately after this year’s Knesset elections (just 10 months ago), President Shimon Peres met with EVERY party in the Knesset and asked them one question: “Who, if anybody, should I give the first chance to form a government?” The National Union met with President Peres and recommended that Bibi Netanyahu be given the chance to form a government.
Allow me to repeat that – in different words: Ketzaleh and the members of his NU party: Ariel, Eldad and Ben-Ari, asked that Bibi be the next Prime Minister of Israel! Feiglin, on the other hand, has consistently run against Bibi for leadership of the Likud and is on record as recommending not endorsing Bibi for premiership after he lost to Kadima in the previous elections.
That is point #1.
After Feiglin won the 20th slot in the Likud primaries, Bibi used some political tricks to push him down to an unrealistic spot on the list so that he would not make it into the Knesset. The media in Israel agree that because of what Bibi did to Feiglin, the Likud lost 10-12 seats in the Knesset. Based on that, Ketzaleh should be thanking Feiglin for making the Likud weaker.
That is point #2.
Before Bibi starting playing around with Feiglin’s spot on the Likud list, all election polls showed that neither Hershkowitz’s “Jewish Home” party nor Ketzaleh’s “National Union” party would pass the minimum threshold for votes needed to get Knesset seats. When Bibi succeeded in pushing Feiglin down 16 spots on the Likud list, the public responded by giving 3 seats to “Jewish Home”, 4 seats to “National Union” and 4-5 more seats to “Yisrael Beitenu” (Lieberman’s party). These three parties need to send “Thank You Letters” to Moshe Feiglin!
That is point #3.
And finally, there is only one man in the world today who keeps Bibi up at night, drives up his blood pressure and makes him totally nuts. There is only one man in the world today that caused Bibi to end his family’s summer vacation in the middle in order to have an emergency meeting with his Deputy Prime Minister (Boogey Ya’alon) after that Deputy Prime Minister committed a “crime” of meeting with Manhigut Yehudit supporters. There is only one man who forces Bibi’s hand in the Central Committee, defeats him time and again in the Likud court and grabs enormous public attention away from King Bibi all of the time. The name of that man? Well, it’s NOT Ketzaleh, Marzel, Eidelberg or Rabbi Melamed. It’s not even – L’havdil – Obama, Ahmadinejad, Assad or Mubarak. It’s Moshe Feiglin.
That is point #4.
Everyone should know that we love Ketzaleh dearly, respect him tremendously for all that he has done for our people and think that he is a true Jewish hero… but on THIS POINT, he is TOTALLY mistaken and 100% wrong. We need to work TOGETHER to change the leadership and that can ONLY be done within the Likud party.
Allow me to end with this last question: Everybody told me that Barak Obama ran an incredible presidential campaign; Internet, YouTube, slogans like “Change” and “Hope” etc… Had he run the EXACT campaign – word for word and dollar for dollar – NOT as the Democratic candidate but as an Independent candidate – would he be president today?
It is common knowledge that in order to become president of the USA, you have to be either Republican or Democrat. That is some kind of “unwritten rule” and will probably not change for the next 50 years. Israel works the same way. If you come from the national camp and want to be the Prime Minister, you MUST FIRST rise to a leadership position within Likud. This is why Manhigut Yehudit is there. Ariel Sharon came from Likud and so did Olmert and Livni. Lieberman was General Manager of Likud. Like it or not, the Likud is the incubator for leadership in Israel and if you want to lead Israel – something that Moshe Feiglin truly wants to do – you MUST do it through Likud.
(YWN Desk - Jerusalem)
The building freeze and Barak’s proposed draconian measures to enforce it have left Israel lovers the world over feeling angry and frustrated. Unfortunately, MK Yaakov Katz (Ketzaleh) has been taking out his frustration on Moshe Feiglin, accusing him of “paving the way” for the Disengagement and the current freeze. To understand what is really going on, it is important to be able to reflect on the facts in an orderly manner, which is what I propose to do in this article.
Immediately after this year’s Knesset elections (just 10 months ago), President Shimon Peres met with EVERY party in the Knesset and asked them one question: “Who, if anybody, should I give the first chance to form a government?” The National Union met with President Peres and recommended that Bibi Netanyahu be given the chance to form a government.
Allow me to repeat that – in different words: Ketzaleh and the members of his NU party: Ariel, Eldad and Ben-Ari, asked that Bibi be the next Prime Minister of Israel! Feiglin, on the other hand, has consistently run against Bibi for leadership of the Likud and is on record as recommending not endorsing Bibi for premiership after he lost to Kadima in the previous elections.
That is point #1.
After Feiglin won the 20th slot in the Likud primaries, Bibi used some political tricks to push him down to an unrealistic spot on the list so that he would not make it into the Knesset. The media in Israel agree that because of what Bibi did to Feiglin, the Likud lost 10-12 seats in the Knesset. Based on that, Ketzaleh should be thanking Feiglin for making the Likud weaker.
That is point #2.
Before Bibi starting playing around with Feiglin’s spot on the Likud list, all election polls showed that neither Hershkowitz’s “Jewish Home” party nor Ketzaleh’s “National Union” party would pass the minimum threshold for votes needed to get Knesset seats. When Bibi succeeded in pushing Feiglin down 16 spots on the Likud list, the public responded by giving 3 seats to “Jewish Home”, 4 seats to “National Union” and 4-5 more seats to “Yisrael Beitenu” (Lieberman’s party). These three parties need to send “Thank You Letters” to Moshe Feiglin!
That is point #3.
And finally, there is only one man in the world today who keeps Bibi up at night, drives up his blood pressure and makes him totally nuts. There is only one man in the world today that caused Bibi to end his family’s summer vacation in the middle in order to have an emergency meeting with his Deputy Prime Minister (Boogey Ya’alon) after that Deputy Prime Minister committed a “crime” of meeting with Manhigut Yehudit supporters. There is only one man who forces Bibi’s hand in the Central Committee, defeats him time and again in the Likud court and grabs enormous public attention away from King Bibi all of the time. The name of that man? Well, it’s NOT Ketzaleh, Marzel, Eidelberg or Rabbi Melamed. It’s not even – L’havdil – Obama, Ahmadinejad, Assad or Mubarak. It’s Moshe Feiglin.
That is point #4.
Everyone should know that we love Ketzaleh dearly, respect him tremendously for all that he has done for our people and think that he is a true Jewish hero… but on THIS POINT, he is TOTALLY mistaken and 100% wrong. We need to work TOGETHER to change the leadership and that can ONLY be done within the Likud party.
Allow me to end with this last question: Everybody told me that Barak Obama ran an incredible presidential campaign; Internet, YouTube, slogans like “Change” and “Hope” etc… Had he run the EXACT campaign – word for word and dollar for dollar – NOT as the Democratic candidate but as an Independent candidate – would he be president today?
It is common knowledge that in order to become president of the USA, you have to be either Republican or Democrat. That is some kind of “unwritten rule” and will probably not change for the next 50 years. Israel works the same way. If you come from the national camp and want to be the Prime Minister, you MUST FIRST rise to a leadership position within Likud. This is why Manhigut Yehudit is there. Ariel Sharon came from Likud and so did Olmert and Livni. Lieberman was General Manager of Likud. Like it or not, the Likud is the incubator for leadership in Israel and if you want to lead Israel – something that Moshe Feiglin truly wants to do – you MUST do it through Likud.
(YWN Desk - Jerusalem)
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Feiglin: High Court Decision to Open Highway 443 Means More Potential Terror Deaths
December 30, 2009...
Moshe Feiglin, the leader of the Manhigut Yehudit faction of the Likud Party, slammed the Israeli High Court's decision to open Highway 443 to unrestricted traffic. "The decision to open the checkpoint at Shechem and to allow Palestinian Authority (PA) Arabs to travel on Road 55 directly brought about the murder of Rabbi Meir Chai last week. The latest High Court decision to open the main artery between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv gives murderers access to untold numbers of potential victims," Feiglin said. “This decision demonstrates, yet again, that the Supreme Court relentlessly carries out the ideology of the left.” Moshe Feiglin has repeatedly called for democratization of Israel's judicial system so that it would reflect the traditional Jewish values of Israel’s majority.
Background:
Yesterday Israel’s Supreme Court decided to allow unfettered access to Highway 443. 443 is a major east-west artery connecting Modiin with Jerusalem and Tel Aviv; passing through Judea and Samaria and alongside many Jewish communities. PA traffic on the road was restricted in 2002 due to numerous terrorist attacks on drivers - including sniper fire and firebombs. Even with the limitations and substantial barricades along the road, attempted attacks continue. The most recent incident occurred on December 17th, 2009. According to IDF sources, sounds of explosions led security forces to a location south of Ramallah where they found homemade explosive devices and plans detailing their use against Jewish drivers on Highway 443. Highway 443 follows the path of an ancient road that was the scene of many battles including the defeat of the Syrians by Judah Maccabee at the Battle of Bet Horon.
Moshe Feiglin, the leader of the Manhigut Yehudit faction of the Likud Party, slammed the Israeli High Court's decision to open Highway 443 to unrestricted traffic. "The decision to open the checkpoint at Shechem and to allow Palestinian Authority (PA) Arabs to travel on Road 55 directly brought about the murder of Rabbi Meir Chai last week. The latest High Court decision to open the main artery between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv gives murderers access to untold numbers of potential victims," Feiglin said. “This decision demonstrates, yet again, that the Supreme Court relentlessly carries out the ideology of the left.” Moshe Feiglin has repeatedly called for democratization of Israel's judicial system so that it would reflect the traditional Jewish values of Israel’s majority.
Background:
Yesterday Israel’s Supreme Court decided to allow unfettered access to Highway 443. 443 is a major east-west artery connecting Modiin with Jerusalem and Tel Aviv; passing through Judea and Samaria and alongside many Jewish communities. PA traffic on the road was restricted in 2002 due to numerous terrorist attacks on drivers - including sniper fire and firebombs. Even with the limitations and substantial barricades along the road, attempted attacks continue. The most recent incident occurred on December 17th, 2009. According to IDF sources, sounds of explosions led security forces to a location south of Ramallah where they found homemade explosive devices and plans detailing their use against Jewish drivers on Highway 443. Highway 443 follows the path of an ancient road that was the scene of many battles including the defeat of the Syrians by Judah Maccabee at the Battle of Bet Horon.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Civil War - What Ehud Barak Has On Bibi Netanyahu - by Barry Chamish
Defence Minister Ehud Barak, leader of the Labor Party, has declared war on well over half the Jews of Israel who voted for the Right. And Prime Minister Netanyahu, is letting him.
Why would Netanyahu allow Barak to start a civil war that has all the ingredients of demolishing not the settlements in the end, but Israel itself? What has Barak got over Netanyahu?
It's an ugly story, but now if ever, it has to be told. First, an overview:
Leaked IDF memo details tactics to enforce settlement freeze
The Israel Defense Forces will use air reconnaissance and photography
to detect violations of the freeze on settlement construction in the
West Bank, as well as special forces raids on violators, according to
a leaked internal army memo obtained by Haaretz.
The document, issued by officers from the Central Command, details
the intelligence-gathering methods to be used to detect freeze
violations and plans to demolish illegally built structures.
Documented violations will be destroyed in lightning operations in
which the army will create a closed military zone so media will not
be allowed to enter. The document differentiates between what its
authors called "tactical surprise" and "strategic surprise."
First, there will be an effort at dialogue with settlers, the
document states. "On the tactical level, surprise needs to be
achieved...by blocking off the area with large forces so as to
paralyze...."
All intelligence sources will participate in tracking violations, the
document said. "All agencies will be used, including the intelligence
branch of the command, the Shin Bet and regular troops."
First and foremost, the community will be isolated by
security forces. Cellular telephone transmissions will be jammed, and
the community will be closed to any and all members of the press.
While soldiers will not be in the front-line force, soldiers will
always be standing by, and called in should commanders determine the
situation demands the reinforcements. Soldiers are also being
instructed on the use of live fire.
The secret document, which has clandestinely reached Arutz-7, shows that the army is planning to enforce the government-ordered construction freeze on Jewish towns in Yesha with the help of six brigades, the entire Border Guard forces of Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem, Israel Air Forces helicopters and drones, the Shabak (Shin Bet) and police, intelligence forces, and IDF reserve units.
Settlers: Secret Plan Renders Barak ‘War Criminal'
"Even I was surprised," said Danni Dayan, who heads the Council of
Jewish Communities of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip, of the
exposed guidelines. "This is quite simply deployment for a military operation against an
enemy," Dayan told Army Radio on Sunday morning. "This is not how to
enforce a government's decision applying to citizens in a democratic
state..."
“With the full backing of Netanyahu, who so cynically called us ‘brothers,’ Barak is wasting billions of shekels of the People of Israel’s money in order to promote his own standing in the Israeli left – instead of investing the money in building and developing the Galilee, Samaria, Negev and Judea. We will fight without compromise against Barak’s criminal actions, and we will continue to build our land wherever Arab nationalism threatens to turn it into terrorist states.” The document states that the plan is on the “General Staff” level, and outlines the plan to destroy new Jewish buildings throughout Judea and Samaria. It appears that the plan is set to be put into operation within two weeks. “The security forces will display zero tolerance vis-à-vis violence against the forces engaged in enforcing the construction freeze, demolitions and evictions,” the document states.
Ehud Barak was a or the planner of two Godawful crimes, one against Netanyahu, the other against the world. Brace yourself. I've known about both for years and kept silent. To help prevent a Jewish civil war, I am silent no longer.
Benjamin Netanyahu's brother Yoni, was not killed in 1976 at Entebbe Airport by Ugandan soldiers. He was murdered by Israeli soldiers. And PM Netanyahu's other brother Iddo, wants the truth told.
----------------------------------------------
Josh Hamerman
Published: 04.02.07, 11:53 /
If the pen is mightier than the sword, Yedioth Ahronoth proved it last June. On June 30, just before the 30-year anniversary of the IDF’s dramatic rescue of Jewish hostages in Entebbe, Uganda, the daily Hebrew newspaper published an article debunking 20 years of myths surrounding that proud moment in Israeli history.
In a recent interview with Ynetnews, one of Yoni’s younger brothers, radiologist and writer Iddo Netanyahu, discussed... the falsification of history.
The attack on Entebbe was not Yoni's battle. He was brought in at the last moment by the commander of the attack, head of the Sayeret Matkal Infantry Brigade, Ehud Barak. We will not focus on the political advantages Labor gained by eliminating Yoni, only that Bibi and his family know well that Barak and not Idi Amin was the commander of the raid and that killed Yoni Netanyahu. And without a word said, with endless fear of being the next brother dead, Bibi appointed Barak to be his Defense Minister.
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- A monument to the victims of 9/11 was dedicated in Jerusalem. The monument, commissioned and built by the Jewish National Fund-USA/Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael, depicts the World Trade Center and Pentagon through sculpture and landscape.
Ehud Barak was the Prime Minister of Israel from 1999 to 2001, precisely when 9-11 was being formulated. Six weeks before 9-11, Larry Silverstein, a large contributor to Ariel Sharon's removal of Jews from Gaza, and proud Mossad agent Frank Lowy, took out insurance policies worth $7.5 billion. Silverstein's policy was on his 99 year lease of the World Trade Center, Lowy's on the retail floor space of the same complex. It was Silverstein who blew the cover on the operation, and I do mean conclusively.
Questions about the highly suspicious nature of the building's collapse remained comparatively muted until January 2004, when a PBS documentary, America Rebuilds, originally broadcast in September 2002, received attention across the Internet.
The documentary was made infamous for one comment made by Larry Silverstein on the subject of 9/11. Silverstein states, "I remember getting a call from the, er, fire department commander, telling me that they were not sure they were gonna be able to contain the fire, and I said, "We've had such terrible loss of life, maybe the smartest thing to do is pull it. And they made that decision to pull and we watched the building collapse."
On September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post reported: “Frank Lowy, who emigrated to Australia from Israel in 1952, owns the 99-year lease for the 425,000 square foot retail portion of the destroyed World Trade Center…Westfield said today that it has insurance cover against terrorist attacks and its earnings will not be materially affected.”
At 5:20 PM, in the shadows of the smoldering twin towers, Silverstein ordered the demolition of the 47 storey Building 7 of the WTC. And it came down in a perfectly controlled demolition. Normally, it would take weeks to rig the building with demolition explosives. But Flight 93 was supposed to crash into the building and it was disabled over Pennsylvania. With fire marshals snooping around, Silverstein had no choice but to fell the building before they found the evidence of sabotage.
And this is they key to 9-11; HOW DID LARRY SILVERSTEIN KNOW BUILDING SEVEN WAS RIGGED WITH DEMOLITION EXPLOSIVES?
We repeat: HOW?
And now Ehud Barak, PM of Israel in 1999. In the late 80s, the two chief accountants of the Likud Party, Ehud Olmert and Menachem Atzmon, were tried for graft and corruption but only Atzmon served prison time. When he was released in 1999, during the term of Ehud Barak as PM, he got a reward for his silence:
Menachem Atzmon, convicted in Israel in 1996 for campaign finance fraud, and his business partner Ezra Harel, took over management of security at the Boston and Newark airports when their company ICTS bought Huntleigh USA in 1999. UAL Flight 175 and AA 11, which allegedly struck the twin towers, both originated in Boston, while UAL 93, which purportedly crashed in Pennsylvania, departed from the Newark airport. This convicted Likud criminal's firm was in charge of security at Logan Airportinspecting the validity of passports and visas, searching cargo, screening passengerswhen two airliners were hijacked from there on Sept. 11, 2001, and demolished the World Trade Center towers in New York.
Without Atzmon in charge of Newark and Logan Airports, 9-11 could NOT HAVE HAPPENED.
We repeat; Without Atzmon's supervision of passports, cargo and screening at Logan and Newark Airports, no terrorist or anyone else could ever have boarded the planes.
Lest you believe I'm blaming Israel for 9-11, think again. The entire US air force stepped down, the government stepped up, and this required massive American cooperation. And this was in a Bush Administration. But the Obama Administration knows and if Ehud Barak doesn't play their game, Israel will pay the price. This Netanyahu knows, and he is cooperating. If he doesn't...(index finger under throat).
Let us recall how dirty Labor plays. In 1933, the Labor Party chief Chaim Weizmann cut a deal with the Nazis called the Transfer Agreement. In short, they agreed to ignore calls for the boycott of the Nazis in return for the safety of the German Jews who would found their version of a Jewish nation. The Revisionist Zionists objected and the negotiator of the agreement, Chaim Arlozoroff, was murdered in Tel Aviv. The Revisionists were falsely blamed, thrown out of Zionism and in 1936 Weizmann, addressing the World Zionist Conference told the delegates, "In the upcoming Holocaust, perhaps only two million Jews will survive. But they'll be strong and good for the land of Israel. The rest will be consigned to the ashpit of history."
The Labor Zionists applauded.
Why would Netanyahu allow Barak to start a civil war that has all the ingredients of demolishing not the settlements in the end, but Israel itself? What has Barak got over Netanyahu?
It's an ugly story, but now if ever, it has to be told. First, an overview:
Leaked IDF memo details tactics to enforce settlement freeze
The Israel Defense Forces will use air reconnaissance and photography
to detect violations of the freeze on settlement construction in the
West Bank, as well as special forces raids on violators, according to
a leaked internal army memo obtained by Haaretz.
The document, issued by officers from the Central Command, details
the intelligence-gathering methods to be used to detect freeze
violations and plans to demolish illegally built structures.
Documented violations will be destroyed in lightning operations in
which the army will create a closed military zone so media will not
be allowed to enter. The document differentiates between what its
authors called "tactical surprise" and "strategic surprise."
First, there will be an effort at dialogue with settlers, the
document states. "On the tactical level, surprise needs to be
achieved...by blocking off the area with large forces so as to
paralyze...."
All intelligence sources will participate in tracking violations, the
document said. "All agencies will be used, including the intelligence
branch of the command, the Shin Bet and regular troops."
First and foremost, the community will be isolated by
security forces. Cellular telephone transmissions will be jammed, and
the community will be closed to any and all members of the press.
While soldiers will not be in the front-line force, soldiers will
always be standing by, and called in should commanders determine the
situation demands the reinforcements. Soldiers are also being
instructed on the use of live fire.
The secret document, which has clandestinely reached Arutz-7, shows that the army is planning to enforce the government-ordered construction freeze on Jewish towns in Yesha with the help of six brigades, the entire Border Guard forces of Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem, Israel Air Forces helicopters and drones, the Shabak (Shin Bet) and police, intelligence forces, and IDF reserve units.
Settlers: Secret Plan Renders Barak ‘War Criminal'
"Even I was surprised," said Danni Dayan, who heads the Council of
Jewish Communities of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip, of the
exposed guidelines. "This is quite simply deployment for a military operation against an
enemy," Dayan told Army Radio on Sunday morning. "This is not how to
enforce a government's decision applying to citizens in a democratic
state..."
“With the full backing of Netanyahu, who so cynically called us ‘brothers,’ Barak is wasting billions of shekels of the People of Israel’s money in order to promote his own standing in the Israeli left – instead of investing the money in building and developing the Galilee, Samaria, Negev and Judea. We will fight without compromise against Barak’s criminal actions, and we will continue to build our land wherever Arab nationalism threatens to turn it into terrorist states.” The document states that the plan is on the “General Staff” level, and outlines the plan to destroy new Jewish buildings throughout Judea and Samaria. It appears that the plan is set to be put into operation within two weeks. “The security forces will display zero tolerance vis-à-vis violence against the forces engaged in enforcing the construction freeze, demolitions and evictions,” the document states.
Ehud Barak was a or the planner of two Godawful crimes, one against Netanyahu, the other against the world. Brace yourself. I've known about both for years and kept silent. To help prevent a Jewish civil war, I am silent no longer.
Benjamin Netanyahu's brother Yoni, was not killed in 1976 at Entebbe Airport by Ugandan soldiers. He was murdered by Israeli soldiers. And PM Netanyahu's other brother Iddo, wants the truth told.
----------------------------------------------
Josh Hamerman
Published: 04.02.07, 11:53 /
If the pen is mightier than the sword, Yedioth Ahronoth proved it last June. On June 30, just before the 30-year anniversary of the IDF’s dramatic rescue of Jewish hostages in Entebbe, Uganda, the daily Hebrew newspaper published an article debunking 20 years of myths surrounding that proud moment in Israeli history.
In a recent interview with Ynetnews, one of Yoni’s younger brothers, radiologist and writer Iddo Netanyahu, discussed... the falsification of history.
The attack on Entebbe was not Yoni's battle. He was brought in at the last moment by the commander of the attack, head of the Sayeret Matkal Infantry Brigade, Ehud Barak. We will not focus on the political advantages Labor gained by eliminating Yoni, only that Bibi and his family know well that Barak and not Idi Amin was the commander of the raid and that killed Yoni Netanyahu. And without a word said, with endless fear of being the next brother dead, Bibi appointed Barak to be his Defense Minister.
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- A monument to the victims of 9/11 was dedicated in Jerusalem. The monument, commissioned and built by the Jewish National Fund-USA/Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael, depicts the World Trade Center and Pentagon through sculpture and landscape.
Ehud Barak was the Prime Minister of Israel from 1999 to 2001, precisely when 9-11 was being formulated. Six weeks before 9-11, Larry Silverstein, a large contributor to Ariel Sharon's removal of Jews from Gaza, and proud Mossad agent Frank Lowy, took out insurance policies worth $7.5 billion. Silverstein's policy was on his 99 year lease of the World Trade Center, Lowy's on the retail floor space of the same complex. It was Silverstein who blew the cover on the operation, and I do mean conclusively.
Questions about the highly suspicious nature of the building's collapse remained comparatively muted until January 2004, when a PBS documentary, America Rebuilds, originally broadcast in September 2002, received attention across the Internet.
The documentary was made infamous for one comment made by Larry Silverstein on the subject of 9/11. Silverstein states, "I remember getting a call from the, er, fire department commander, telling me that they were not sure they were gonna be able to contain the fire, and I said, "We've had such terrible loss of life, maybe the smartest thing to do is pull it. And they made that decision to pull and we watched the building collapse."
On September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post reported: “Frank Lowy, who emigrated to Australia from Israel in 1952, owns the 99-year lease for the 425,000 square foot retail portion of the destroyed World Trade Center…Westfield said today that it has insurance cover against terrorist attacks and its earnings will not be materially affected.”
At 5:20 PM, in the shadows of the smoldering twin towers, Silverstein ordered the demolition of the 47 storey Building 7 of the WTC. And it came down in a perfectly controlled demolition. Normally, it would take weeks to rig the building with demolition explosives. But Flight 93 was supposed to crash into the building and it was disabled over Pennsylvania. With fire marshals snooping around, Silverstein had no choice but to fell the building before they found the evidence of sabotage.
And this is they key to 9-11; HOW DID LARRY SILVERSTEIN KNOW BUILDING SEVEN WAS RIGGED WITH DEMOLITION EXPLOSIVES?
We repeat: HOW?
And now Ehud Barak, PM of Israel in 1999. In the late 80s, the two chief accountants of the Likud Party, Ehud Olmert and Menachem Atzmon, were tried for graft and corruption but only Atzmon served prison time. When he was released in 1999, during the term of Ehud Barak as PM, he got a reward for his silence:
Menachem Atzmon, convicted in Israel in 1996 for campaign finance fraud, and his business partner Ezra Harel, took over management of security at the Boston and Newark airports when their company ICTS bought Huntleigh USA in 1999. UAL Flight 175 and AA 11, which allegedly struck the twin towers, both originated in Boston, while UAL 93, which purportedly crashed in Pennsylvania, departed from the Newark airport. This convicted Likud criminal's firm was in charge of security at Logan Airportinspecting the validity of passports and visas, searching cargo, screening passengerswhen two airliners were hijacked from there on Sept. 11, 2001, and demolished the World Trade Center towers in New York.
Without Atzmon in charge of Newark and Logan Airports, 9-11 could NOT HAVE HAPPENED.
We repeat; Without Atzmon's supervision of passports, cargo and screening at Logan and Newark Airports, no terrorist or anyone else could ever have boarded the planes.
Lest you believe I'm blaming Israel for 9-11, think again. The entire US air force stepped down, the government stepped up, and this required massive American cooperation. And this was in a Bush Administration. But the Obama Administration knows and if Ehud Barak doesn't play their game, Israel will pay the price. This Netanyahu knows, and he is cooperating. If he doesn't...(index finger under throat).
Let us recall how dirty Labor plays. In 1933, the Labor Party chief Chaim Weizmann cut a deal with the Nazis called the Transfer Agreement. In short, they agreed to ignore calls for the boycott of the Nazis in return for the safety of the German Jews who would found their version of a Jewish nation. The Revisionist Zionists objected and the negotiator of the agreement, Chaim Arlozoroff, was murdered in Tel Aviv. The Revisionists were falsely blamed, thrown out of Zionism and in 1936 Weizmann, addressing the World Zionist Conference told the delegates, "In the upcoming Holocaust, perhaps only two million Jews will survive. But they'll be strong and good for the land of Israel. The rest will be consigned to the ashpit of history."
The Labor Zionists applauded.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Jimmy Carter Offers Jews An ‘Al Chet’ & Asks For Forgiveness
Former US President Jimmy Carter is asking for forgiveness of the Jewish community for forgiveness for any stigma he may have caused Israel.
The following are excerpts of the seasonal message which was released exclusively to the JTA, [link to complete letter at end of YWN article]
“…..I have the hope and a prayer that the State of Israel will flourish as a Jewish state within secure and recognized borders in peaceful co-existence with its neighbors and with all the Moslem States, and that this peaceful co-existence will bring security, prosperity and happiness to the people of Israel and to the people of the Middle East of all faiths.
“We must recognize Israel’s achievements under difficult circumstances, even as we strive in a positive way to help Israel continue to improve its relations with its Arab populations, but we must not permit criticisms for improvement to stigmatize Israel. As I would have noted at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but which is appropriate at any time of the year, I offer an Al Het for any words or deeds of mine that may have done so.”
JUST A FEW CARTER HIGHLIGHTS IN THE PAST 2 YEARS:
It should be noted that although Mr. Carter has released many anti-Israel comments over the years, he has been actively involved in trying to obtain the release of abducted IDF Soldier Gilad Shalit. Most recently he met with Chacham Ovadia Yosef Shlita, as well as delivering a letter to the Shalit family written by Gilad.
In 2008, Carter passed a photo of missing IDF Soldier Guy Chever to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad asking for assistance.
CARTER NOT HELPING ISRAEL:
In July 2009 Mr Carter visited Hamas-controlled Gaza, and told the media that he was “holding back tears” in his description of the difficult situation, calling upon Israel to end the blockade and stop treating Gaza residents like “savages”. Carter blamed Israel for the “humanitarian crisis” that exists in Gaza today. On that same trip to Gaza Carter delivered a letter to Hamas from the Shalit’s to give to their captive son.
In December 2008, Carter met with Syrian President Assad and then called on Israel to give the Golan Heights to Syria.
In December 2008, Carter caused quite a stir when he scheduled a meeting with senior Hamas terrorist Khaled Meshal, currently exiled in Damascus. Carter was slammed by many people - most notably then US Democratic hopeful Senator Barack Obama. While speaking to Jewish leaders in Philadelphia, Obama reiterated his support for Israel, stating Hamas is a terror organization and until they renounce terrorism and recognizes Israel’s right to exist, meeting with its leaders is unacceptable.
In January of 2007, Carter apologized to a US Jewish audience over a passage in his controversial book ‘Peace Not Apartheid.’ “Asked if he was justifying terrorism in a passage in the book calling on Palestinians to cease terrorist attacks if the Israelis agree to abide by international law, Carter said, ‘That sentence was worded in a completely improper and stupid way. I apologize to everyone here. Throughout the rest of the book I call on all Palestinians and Israelis to terminate violence against civilians.’ He promised subsequent editions would be changed,” the Jewish Week had said in a report.
The following are excerpts of the seasonal message which was released exclusively to the JTA, [link to complete letter at end of YWN article]
“…..I have the hope and a prayer that the State of Israel will flourish as a Jewish state within secure and recognized borders in peaceful co-existence with its neighbors and with all the Moslem States, and that this peaceful co-existence will bring security, prosperity and happiness to the people of Israel and to the people of the Middle East of all faiths.
“We must recognize Israel’s achievements under difficult circumstances, even as we strive in a positive way to help Israel continue to improve its relations with its Arab populations, but we must not permit criticisms for improvement to stigmatize Israel. As I would have noted at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but which is appropriate at any time of the year, I offer an Al Het for any words or deeds of mine that may have done so.”
JUST A FEW CARTER HIGHLIGHTS IN THE PAST 2 YEARS:
It should be noted that although Mr. Carter has released many anti-Israel comments over the years, he has been actively involved in trying to obtain the release of abducted IDF Soldier Gilad Shalit. Most recently he met with Chacham Ovadia Yosef Shlita, as well as delivering a letter to the Shalit family written by Gilad.
In 2008, Carter passed a photo of missing IDF Soldier Guy Chever to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad asking for assistance.
CARTER NOT HELPING ISRAEL:
In July 2009 Mr Carter visited Hamas-controlled Gaza, and told the media that he was “holding back tears” in his description of the difficult situation, calling upon Israel to end the blockade and stop treating Gaza residents like “savages”. Carter blamed Israel for the “humanitarian crisis” that exists in Gaza today. On that same trip to Gaza Carter delivered a letter to Hamas from the Shalit’s to give to their captive son.
In December 2008, Carter met with Syrian President Assad and then called on Israel to give the Golan Heights to Syria.
In December 2008, Carter caused quite a stir when he scheduled a meeting with senior Hamas terrorist Khaled Meshal, currently exiled in Damascus. Carter was slammed by many people - most notably then US Democratic hopeful Senator Barack Obama. While speaking to Jewish leaders in Philadelphia, Obama reiterated his support for Israel, stating Hamas is a terror organization and until they renounce terrorism and recognizes Israel’s right to exist, meeting with its leaders is unacceptable.
In January of 2007, Carter apologized to a US Jewish audience over a passage in his controversial book ‘Peace Not Apartheid.’ “Asked if he was justifying terrorism in a passage in the book calling on Palestinians to cease terrorist attacks if the Israelis agree to abide by international law, Carter said, ‘That sentence was worded in a completely improper and stupid way. I apologize to everyone here. Throughout the rest of the book I call on all Palestinians and Israelis to terminate violence against civilians.’ He promised subsequent editions would be changed,” the Jewish Week had said in a report.
Monday, December 21, 2009
British anti-Semitism returns-with a vengeance - Gabriel Schoenfeld
Like cancer, ideas can metastasize. In 2007, John Mearsheimer and
Stephen Walt -- the former a professor at the University of Chicago, the latter at
Harvard -- came out with The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. A
"situation [that] has no equal in American history" had arisen, they wrote
in the book (and in a paper bearing the same title posted on Harvard's
website). A domestic pressure-lobby -- a body mostly comprising "American
Jews making a significant effort in their daily lives to bend U.S. foreign
policy so that it advances Israel's interests" -- had accumulated "unmatched
power" and was using it to "skew" the American political system for its own
narrow ends. Among other things, the Jewish lobby had used its
"stranglehold" on Congress and "manipulation" of the mass media to propel
the United States into war in Iraq.
Mearsheimer and Walt provoked a raging controversy, but apart from a few
pockets in the universities and on the far left and right (the white
supremacist David Duke was among their most enthusiastic endorsers), the
book was mostly given short shrift. Reviewing The Israel Lobby in the New
York Times, Leslie Gelb, former head of the Council on Foreign Relations,
expressed dismay at the "puzzlingly shoddy scholarship" that led Mearsheimer
and Walt to "fuel, inadvertently, ... the fires of anti-Semitism."
But if the respectable center dismissed the book in the United States,
matters stand quite differently abroad. Before their book was published,
Mearsheimer and Walt tried to peddle a shorter version, but found no takers.
The article wound up appearing in the London Review of Books in 2006. The
locale was not an accident. The soil in Great Britain was fertile for their
thesis. Today, three years later, we can see some of its fruits.
An official inquest is now under way in London into the decisions that led
Tony Blair's government to join with the United States in going to war in
Iraq. On the five-member board of inquiry sit Sir Martin Gilbert and Sir
Lawrence Freedman, both distinguished historians and students of warfare.
But their scholarly credentials are not what is today garnering attention.
Writing in the Independent, Oliver Miles, Great Britain's former ambassador
to Libya, has unearthed "facts" about the two men that he says are "not
usually mentioned in the mainstream British and American media": Both, he
writes, "are Jewish." This detail of their background, says Miles,
threatens to undercut the credibility of the inquest: "Membership should not
only be balanced; it should be seen to be balanced."
In the same newspaper, the columnist Richard Ingrams called Miles's comments
"helpful." The Iraq war, after all, was "initiated ... by a group of
influential American neocons ... nearly all of whom were ardent Zionists."
Given the panel's composition, the question arises of whether it will
"investigate or even refer to the U.S. neocons and their links to Israel?"
In other words, can Jews be trusted to investigate themselves?
Anti-Semitism has deep roots in England. In the 12th century, many of the
country's Jews were put to the sword in a wave of massacres. The 13th
century began with the introduction of the yellow badge, the mandatory
marking that Jews were compelled to wear, and ended with the mass expulsion
of the Jews.
Fast forward to the 20th century. In its first half, anti-Semitism was
rampant among the upper classes. It also thrived in the gutter. Oswald
Mosley's British Union of Fascists -- the "blackshirts" -- drew fully a
quarter of the vote in London's 1937 municipal elections.
Today, Britain is awash with hatred of Jews carried in by followers of
radical Islam who have found a congenial home in which to preach their
genocidal doctrines. British soccer fans -- where so many of the country's
violent dregs are concentrated -- have never been shy about giving voice to
neo-Nazi slogans. Anti-Semitic incidents in the first six months of 2009
alone -- vandalism, hate mail, and direct violent attacks on Jews -- already
exceeded the entire number for 2008 and reached a level not seen since such
statistics began to be compiled in 1984.
Both the soccer hooligans, the Muslim fanatics, and the perpetrators of
violence are situated on the fringe. In the post-World War II era, the
British establishment was resistant to the most blatant forms of a prejudice
severely discredited by the scope of German atrocities committed in its
name. To the extent it remained visible, it typically took the form of
phantasmagorical demonization of the state of Israel.
In the direct assault on Gilbert and Freedman a corner has been turned. The
old prewar brand of British anti-Semitism has reared its head. It is in
this climate that Britain's Channel 4 broadcast a documentary
"investigation" of Britain's own "pro-Israel Lobby." This exposé examines
what is said to be the extraordinary power of organized Jewry: "who they
are, how they are funded, how they work and what influence they have, from
the key groups to the wealthy individuals who help bankroll the lobbying."
With shades of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and shades of
Mearsheimer-Walt, the program conveyed a picture of a nefarious conspiracy
to plunge Britain into war in Iraq.
Voices in the Jewish community have expressed outrage at the documentary.
The Times of London has denounced Ambassador Miles's remarks about Gilbert
and Freedman as "extraordinary and disgraceful." But the Times's editorial
declined to call the comments anti-Semitic, labeling them instead a "snide
attack and irrelevant innuendo." On the heels of this episode comes an
astonishing ruling from Great Britain's newly created high court holding
that an Orthodox Jewish school is guilty of "discrimination" for insisting
that matrilineal descent -- a core precept of Judaism -- determines who is a
Jew and eligible to enroll. This not only tells Jews, laments the columnist
Melanie Phillips in the Spectator, "that the state will not accept their own
decision about who is or is not a member of their own community but uniquely
stigmatises them for doing so." Anti-Semitism is playing offense in Great
Britain and those alarmed by it are in a crouch.
Writing not long after World War II, George Orwell noted that "prejudice
against Jews has always been pretty widespread in England," but the
depredations of Hitler had caused a lull in public expression of such
sentiments. During the war, many came to realize that "this is not a time
to throw stones at the Jews." But even though a taboo had set in, this
hardly altered underlying sentiments: "Many people who would perish rather
than admit to anti-Semitic feelings," wrote Orwell, are nonetheless
"secretly prone to them."
Times have changed. Mearsheimer and Walt's poison is doing its work, and
the secret feelings are no longer so secret. Indeed, when it comes to Great
Britain's small Jewish community -- some 300,000 souls in a country of 61
million -- the soccer hooligans and the intellectual and media elite are
increasingly united in their loutishness.
Gabriel Schoenfeld is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and a resident
scholar at the Witherspoon Institute. His Necessary Secrets: National
Security, the Media, and the Rule of Law is due out next year.
Stephen Walt -- the former a professor at the University of Chicago, the latter at
Harvard -- came out with The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. A
"situation [that] has no equal in American history" had arisen, they wrote
in the book (and in a paper bearing the same title posted on Harvard's
website). A domestic pressure-lobby -- a body mostly comprising "American
Jews making a significant effort in their daily lives to bend U.S. foreign
policy so that it advances Israel's interests" -- had accumulated "unmatched
power" and was using it to "skew" the American political system for its own
narrow ends. Among other things, the Jewish lobby had used its
"stranglehold" on Congress and "manipulation" of the mass media to propel
the United States into war in Iraq.
Mearsheimer and Walt provoked a raging controversy, but apart from a few
pockets in the universities and on the far left and right (the white
supremacist David Duke was among their most enthusiastic endorsers), the
book was mostly given short shrift. Reviewing The Israel Lobby in the New
York Times, Leslie Gelb, former head of the Council on Foreign Relations,
expressed dismay at the "puzzlingly shoddy scholarship" that led Mearsheimer
and Walt to "fuel, inadvertently, ... the fires of anti-Semitism."
But if the respectable center dismissed the book in the United States,
matters stand quite differently abroad. Before their book was published,
Mearsheimer and Walt tried to peddle a shorter version, but found no takers.
The article wound up appearing in the London Review of Books in 2006. The
locale was not an accident. The soil in Great Britain was fertile for their
thesis. Today, three years later, we can see some of its fruits.
An official inquest is now under way in London into the decisions that led
Tony Blair's government to join with the United States in going to war in
Iraq. On the five-member board of inquiry sit Sir Martin Gilbert and Sir
Lawrence Freedman, both distinguished historians and students of warfare.
But their scholarly credentials are not what is today garnering attention.
Writing in the Independent, Oliver Miles, Great Britain's former ambassador
to Libya, has unearthed "facts" about the two men that he says are "not
usually mentioned in the mainstream British and American media": Both, he
writes, "are Jewish." This detail of their background, says Miles,
threatens to undercut the credibility of the inquest: "Membership should not
only be balanced; it should be seen to be balanced."
In the same newspaper, the columnist Richard Ingrams called Miles's comments
"helpful." The Iraq war, after all, was "initiated ... by a group of
influential American neocons ... nearly all of whom were ardent Zionists."
Given the panel's composition, the question arises of whether it will
"investigate or even refer to the U.S. neocons and their links to Israel?"
In other words, can Jews be trusted to investigate themselves?
Anti-Semitism has deep roots in England. In the 12th century, many of the
country's Jews were put to the sword in a wave of massacres. The 13th
century began with the introduction of the yellow badge, the mandatory
marking that Jews were compelled to wear, and ended with the mass expulsion
of the Jews.
Fast forward to the 20th century. In its first half, anti-Semitism was
rampant among the upper classes. It also thrived in the gutter. Oswald
Mosley's British Union of Fascists -- the "blackshirts" -- drew fully a
quarter of the vote in London's 1937 municipal elections.
Today, Britain is awash with hatred of Jews carried in by followers of
radical Islam who have found a congenial home in which to preach their
genocidal doctrines. British soccer fans -- where so many of the country's
violent dregs are concentrated -- have never been shy about giving voice to
neo-Nazi slogans. Anti-Semitic incidents in the first six months of 2009
alone -- vandalism, hate mail, and direct violent attacks on Jews -- already
exceeded the entire number for 2008 and reached a level not seen since such
statistics began to be compiled in 1984.
Both the soccer hooligans, the Muslim fanatics, and the perpetrators of
violence are situated on the fringe. In the post-World War II era, the
British establishment was resistant to the most blatant forms of a prejudice
severely discredited by the scope of German atrocities committed in its
name. To the extent it remained visible, it typically took the form of
phantasmagorical demonization of the state of Israel.
In the direct assault on Gilbert and Freedman a corner has been turned. The
old prewar brand of British anti-Semitism has reared its head. It is in
this climate that Britain's Channel 4 broadcast a documentary
"investigation" of Britain's own "pro-Israel Lobby." This exposé examines
what is said to be the extraordinary power of organized Jewry: "who they
are, how they are funded, how they work and what influence they have, from
the key groups to the wealthy individuals who help bankroll the lobbying."
With shades of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and shades of
Mearsheimer-Walt, the program conveyed a picture of a nefarious conspiracy
to plunge Britain into war in Iraq.
Voices in the Jewish community have expressed outrage at the documentary.
The Times of London has denounced Ambassador Miles's remarks about Gilbert
and Freedman as "extraordinary and disgraceful." But the Times's editorial
declined to call the comments anti-Semitic, labeling them instead a "snide
attack and irrelevant innuendo." On the heels of this episode comes an
astonishing ruling from Great Britain's newly created high court holding
that an Orthodox Jewish school is guilty of "discrimination" for insisting
that matrilineal descent -- a core precept of Judaism -- determines who is a
Jew and eligible to enroll. This not only tells Jews, laments the columnist
Melanie Phillips in the Spectator, "that the state will not accept their own
decision about who is or is not a member of their own community but uniquely
stigmatises them for doing so." Anti-Semitism is playing offense in Great
Britain and those alarmed by it are in a crouch.
Writing not long after World War II, George Orwell noted that "prejudice
against Jews has always been pretty widespread in England," but the
depredations of Hitler had caused a lull in public expression of such
sentiments. During the war, many came to realize that "this is not a time
to throw stones at the Jews." But even though a taboo had set in, this
hardly altered underlying sentiments: "Many people who would perish rather
than admit to anti-Semitic feelings," wrote Orwell, are nonetheless
"secretly prone to them."
Times have changed. Mearsheimer and Walt's poison is doing its work, and
the secret feelings are no longer so secret. Indeed, when it comes to Great
Britain's small Jewish community -- some 300,000 souls in a country of 61
million -- the soccer hooligans and the intellectual and media elite are
increasingly united in their loutishness.
Gabriel Schoenfeld is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and a resident
scholar at the Witherspoon Institute. His Necessary Secrets: National
Security, the Media, and the Rule of Law is due out next year.
Auschwitz
According to the Associated Press:
WARSAW, Poland -- "The Nazis' infamous iron sign declaring "Arbeit Macht Frei" -- German for "Work Sets You Free" -- was stolen Friday from the entrance of the former Auschwitz death camp, Polish police said."
"The 16-foot-long, 90-pound iron sign at the Holocaust memorial site in southern Poland was unscrewed on one side and torn off on the other, police spokeswoman Katarzyna Padlo said."
"The sign "Arbeit Macht Frei" ("Work Sets You Free") was stolen before dawn Friday. The theft from the entrance to the camp, where more than one million people, mostly Jews, died during World War II, triggered world-wide condemnation."
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Why make aliyah?
Yoel Meltzer explains why for a Jew there is no better place than the State of Israel
Yoel Meltzer
Roughly 15 years ago I made a personal decision to leave the comfortable lifestyle and familiar surroundings of America in order to settle down and build my life in Israel.
As important as this decision was, it had nothing to do with any negative feelings that I had towards the US. In fact, just the opposite is true and most of my memories of life in America are very positive. From childhood vacations in the Lake George region of upstate New York, to a couple of cross-country ventures in my mid-20s, to a few years of life in the middle of New York City, I can honestly say that the United States is really one incredible, beautiful country. Furthermore, the variety of quality choices and lifestyles that are available in an enormous country of nearly 300 million residents truly makes settling down in America such an attractive option.
Nonetheless, despite all the wonderful things that can be said about America, I would not trade for a second the life that I have built in Israel. Moreover, I am 100% convinced that there is no place in the world that is potentially more suitable for a Jew to live than in the Land of Israel. To someone living outside of Israel this may sound like quite a bombastic declaration, but nonetheless this does not detract from the veracity of the statement.
The problem is the chicken and the egg factor. Only by living here and experiencing the reality of life in Israel can one honestly come to such an internal realization. Thus, to a Jew who still lives outside of Israel, it is only natural that such a statement will be somewhat incomprehensible or perhaps even irritating.
Nonetheless, I would like to present a short list of positive reasons for a Jew to consider building a life in Israel:
1. Percentage-wise the best chance to find a Jewish spouse is in Israel.
2. Statistically the lowest rate of intermarriage is in Israel.
3. Within a few short hours one can hike in the desert, swim in the Mediterranean, ski on the Hermon or float in the Dead Sea.
4. Jewish holidays are a natural part of the lifecycle here.
5. There is no Christmas shopping season in Israel.
6. The cost of Jewish education in Israel is a fraction of the cost in the US.
7. In Israel there is a feeling of "home" for the Jewish people.
8. Israel is the only Jewish country in the world. There are no others.
9. In Israel a Jew does not have to integrate into a non-Jewish society.
10. Although like any country there are many problems and issues, at least they are our problems and issues.
11. Mitzvah observance and their significance take on a whole different meaning in the Land of Israel.
12. There is only one Jerusalem in the whole world and it is here, in the Land of Israel.
13. After a few thousand years, Hebrew, the language of the Prophets, is once again heard throughout the Land of Israel.
14. Israel boasts the fastest growing Jewish population in the world.
15. After a long respite of nearly 2,000 years, Israel is once again the physical and spiritual center of the Jewish people.
16. History is literally unfolding here in front of our eyes. All that has transpired here during such a relatively short time period is nothing short of mind-boggling. As such, there is an incredible and unique opportunity available to any Jew throughout the world to come to Israel and to actually have an impact on the shaping of history.
In summary, the greatest potential for a Jew to be in tune with his real self, to live his life according to his true inner voice, is here in the Land of Israel. In this respect there is absolutely no comparison to anywhere else in the world. As great as America might be, and I say this as a former American who has nothing but fond memories of the US, the best home for a Jew is in the Land of Israel. It's really that simple.
Yoel Meltzer
Roughly 15 years ago I made a personal decision to leave the comfortable lifestyle and familiar surroundings of America in order to settle down and build my life in Israel.
As important as this decision was, it had nothing to do with any negative feelings that I had towards the US. In fact, just the opposite is true and most of my memories of life in America are very positive. From childhood vacations in the Lake George region of upstate New York, to a couple of cross-country ventures in my mid-20s, to a few years of life in the middle of New York City, I can honestly say that the United States is really one incredible, beautiful country. Furthermore, the variety of quality choices and lifestyles that are available in an enormous country of nearly 300 million residents truly makes settling down in America such an attractive option.
Nonetheless, despite all the wonderful things that can be said about America, I would not trade for a second the life that I have built in Israel. Moreover, I am 100% convinced that there is no place in the world that is potentially more suitable for a Jew to live than in the Land of Israel. To someone living outside of Israel this may sound like quite a bombastic declaration, but nonetheless this does not detract from the veracity of the statement.
The problem is the chicken and the egg factor. Only by living here and experiencing the reality of life in Israel can one honestly come to such an internal realization. Thus, to a Jew who still lives outside of Israel, it is only natural that such a statement will be somewhat incomprehensible or perhaps even irritating.
Nonetheless, I would like to present a short list of positive reasons for a Jew to consider building a life in Israel:
1. Percentage-wise the best chance to find a Jewish spouse is in Israel.
2. Statistically the lowest rate of intermarriage is in Israel.
3. Within a few short hours one can hike in the desert, swim in the Mediterranean, ski on the Hermon or float in the Dead Sea.
4. Jewish holidays are a natural part of the lifecycle here.
5. There is no Christmas shopping season in Israel.
6. The cost of Jewish education in Israel is a fraction of the cost in the US.
7. In Israel there is a feeling of "home" for the Jewish people.
8. Israel is the only Jewish country in the world. There are no others.
9. In Israel a Jew does not have to integrate into a non-Jewish society.
10. Although like any country there are many problems and issues, at least they are our problems and issues.
11. Mitzvah observance and their significance take on a whole different meaning in the Land of Israel.
12. There is only one Jerusalem in the whole world and it is here, in the Land of Israel.
13. After a few thousand years, Hebrew, the language of the Prophets, is once again heard throughout the Land of Israel.
14. Israel boasts the fastest growing Jewish population in the world.
15. After a long respite of nearly 2,000 years, Israel is once again the physical and spiritual center of the Jewish people.
16. History is literally unfolding here in front of our eyes. All that has transpired here during such a relatively short time period is nothing short of mind-boggling. As such, there is an incredible and unique opportunity available to any Jew throughout the world to come to Israel and to actually have an impact on the shaping of history.
In summary, the greatest potential for a Jew to be in tune with his real self, to live his life according to his true inner voice, is here in the Land of Israel. In this respect there is absolutely no comparison to anywhere else in the world. As great as America might be, and I say this as a former American who has nothing but fond memories of the US, the best home for a Jew is in the Land of Israel. It's really that simple.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Anti-Israel Boycott Backfires in Canada
Another anti-Zionist attempted boycott in Canada has backfired, with Israeli products enjoying sales rates much higher than usual.
Anti-Israel groups had threatened MEC – Canada’s Mountain Equipment Co-op - with a boycott because of its inclusion of Israeli products in its inventory. But barely anyone showed up for the boycott, and instead, large crowds of Israel supporters came to buy Israeli products.
The Canada Jewish Tribune reports that several MEC stores across Canada experienced unusually high sales for its Israeli products on Sunday of last week. Shelves with Israeli-made products – numerous styles of seamless underwear and hydration systems products – had to be re-stocked a couple of times each day.
What had been planned as giant demonstrations against Israel in Toronto and Vancouver resulted in tiny-to-small groups of protestors who were dwarfed by crowds of Zionists purchasing Israeli items. B’nai Brith and the Canada-Israel Committee joined forces to organize a “buy-cott” in response to the boycott.
Anti-Israel groups had threatened MEC – Canada’s Mountain Equipment Co-op - with a boycott because of its inclusion of Israeli products in its inventory. But barely anyone showed up for the boycott, and instead, large crowds of Israel supporters came to buy Israeli products.
The Canada Jewish Tribune reports that several MEC stores across Canada experienced unusually high sales for its Israeli products on Sunday of last week. Shelves with Israeli-made products – numerous styles of seamless underwear and hydration systems products – had to be re-stocked a couple of times each day.
What had been planned as giant demonstrations against Israel in Toronto and Vancouver resulted in tiny-to-small groups of protestors who were dwarfed by crowds of Zionists purchasing Israeli items. B’nai Brith and the Canada-Israel Committee joined forces to organize a “buy-cott” in response to the boycott.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Germany: Rightist party campaigns against mosques
Anti-Islamic party in North Rhine-Westphalia says mosques are symbol of 'Muslim occupation of land'
Sarah Stricker
Published: 12.15.09, 12:18 / Israel News
A rightist group from the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia has become the first official European party to promote a ban on the construction of mosques.
The group, Pro-North Rhine-Westphalia, is promoting the ban as part of its campaign against "Muslim occupation of land" ahead of the state elections in May 2010.
The campaign joins a European trend most recently manifested by a Swiss referendum that approved a ban on minarets in the country.
"We will organize an elections campaign that clearly criticizes Islam," says Markus Wiener, secretary-general of Pro-North Rhine-Westphalia.
"We will adopt slogans used by Switzerland. We see the construction of mosques as a violent symbol of Muslim occupation of our land," he told the Die Welt daily.
Wiener stressed that the campaign was not aimed "directly against Islam", but dealt with the issue of "non-European immigrants, most of whom come from Muslim culture".
Wiener plans to hold an anti-minaret conference this spring, to which he wants to invite other rightist groups in order to debate the question of whether a referendum similar to the one held in Switzerland should also be held in Germany.
He plans to make use of the Lisbon Treaty approved by European states last month, which says the European Commission must debate bills supported by a million or more citizens.
Wiener's party won just 0.4% of the vote during the previous elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, however in the city of Cologne, which houses the largest Muslim population in the state, the group received 5.4% of votes.
In Switzerland, the minaret ban was put forth by the right-wing Swiss People's Party, the largest party in parliament. Its speakers said they saw the minarets as "a claim for a political and religious regime".
The referendum was condemned by all of the other government ministers, even after the public showed support for the ban
Sarah Stricker
Published: 12.15.09, 12:18 / Israel News
A rightist group from the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia has become the first official European party to promote a ban on the construction of mosques.
The group, Pro-North Rhine-Westphalia, is promoting the ban as part of its campaign against "Muslim occupation of land" ahead of the state elections in May 2010.
The campaign joins a European trend most recently manifested by a Swiss referendum that approved a ban on minarets in the country.
"We will organize an elections campaign that clearly criticizes Islam," says Markus Wiener, secretary-general of Pro-North Rhine-Westphalia.
"We will adopt slogans used by Switzerland. We see the construction of mosques as a violent symbol of Muslim occupation of our land," he told the Die Welt daily.
Wiener stressed that the campaign was not aimed "directly against Islam", but dealt with the issue of "non-European immigrants, most of whom come from Muslim culture".
Wiener plans to hold an anti-minaret conference this spring, to which he wants to invite other rightist groups in order to debate the question of whether a referendum similar to the one held in Switzerland should also be held in Germany.
He plans to make use of the Lisbon Treaty approved by European states last month, which says the European Commission must debate bills supported by a million or more citizens.
Wiener's party won just 0.4% of the vote during the previous elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, however in the city of Cologne, which houses the largest Muslim population in the state, the group received 5.4% of votes.
In Switzerland, the minaret ban was put forth by the right-wing Swiss People's Party, the largest party in parliament. Its speakers said they saw the minarets as "a claim for a political and religious regime".
The referendum was condemned by all of the other government ministers, even after the public showed support for the ban
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Moshe Feiglin: Leadership that does not Capitulate
12 Kislev, 5769 (Nov. 29, '09)
Wherever I go and wherever I speak, the same question surfaces time and again: How do we know how you will stand up to pressure when you are prime minister? Who's to say that you won't change your policies like all of your predecessors?
"It makes no difference who the prime minister is," explained Israel Radio's commentator this week. "He will always implement the policies of the Left."
Is he right? Is this just a fact of life? Maybe once a person becomes prime minister he is privy to knowledge that we mere citizens do not know? Maybe this secret knowledge leaves them with no choice but to capitulate? What exactly did Sharon discover when he became PM that he did not know when he served in almost every other ministerial capacity in the government? What new insight has Netanyahu perceived that he didn't know the last time he was prime minister?
Let us explore the two worst-case scenarios:
One scenario is that Obama is threatening Netanyahu that the US will not stop Iran's nuclear development and will even penalize Israel if it attacks Iran without his authorization. The second scenario is that Obama has threatened Netanyahu that if he does not clamp an immediate freeze on building in the settlements, he will consent to a "Palestinian" unilateral declaration of independence - which would effectively transform us all into war criminals.
When Ben-Gurion was poised to declare the establishment of the State of Israel, our situation was much worse. We did not have tanks or fighter jets, seven Arab armies threatened to easily finish the job that Hitler had begun and to top it all off, the US threatened that if Ben-Gurion would declare statehood, it would impose an embargo on all US arms sales to Israel. That is, in fact, exactly what happened and the American arms embargo remained intact until Israel liberated Judea, Samaria and Gaza in the six day war of miracles in 1967.
When Saddam Hussein was about to produce his own nuclear bomb, America was opposed to an Israeli pre-emptive strike. When Begin instructed the air force to destroy Iraq's nuclear reactor, Shimon Peres tried to torpedo the plan. Begin was forced to keep the mission a secret from Peres so that he would not leak the information to America. After the fact, the Americans condemned the attack, but Israel was strengthened, which in turn strengthened the American interest in continued relations with Israel. Ultimately, the US also thanked Israel for its pre-emptive strike.
Today, Israel is in a much more dangerous situation. Elimination of the Iranian nuclear threat is liable to trigger a massive missile attack on Israel from Iran, Lebanon, Syria and Gaza. We must be prepared to deal with all of those threats simultaneously.
We must remember, though, that while the arsenal of missiles that the enemy boasts today can inflict serious damage on Israel and can, G-d forbid, bring about the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of Israelis, it is not a strategic threat to Israel's existence. On the other hand, an intense nuclear attack on Israel can destroy the entire country. The government that did nothing while our enemies armed themselves with long range missiles in the early 80's brought thousands of Israelis within missile range. The government that will do nothing about the Iranian threat now will bring millions of Israelis into range of a nuclear attack, G-d forbid.
Past experience shows that when we do not take care of our own security, nobody does it for us - certainly not the US. On the contrary, it was George Bush Senior's attack on Saddam Hussein that brought the Scud missiles into Israel's cities. It will not help us to wait for the US to take care of the Iranian threat - certainly not during Obama's term. The Americans to date have afforded Iran more and more time to stock their arsenal. When we will finally be forced to address the Iranian threat ourselves, the precious time lost will, G-d forbid, extract a dear price from our nation.
Consequently, it is simply absurd to freeze building in Judea and Samaria because of the Iranian threat. This weakens Israel while giving our enemies time to prepare better to destroy our country, G-d forbid.
As to the second scenario, a unilateral "Palestinian" declaration of statehood, we must take a long and hard look at what is taking place before our eyes. For decades, Israel has been tripping over itself in its attempts to have a "place among the nations," in the words of Netanyahu, or to be "the Singapore of the Middle East," a la Peres or a "state of all its citizens," as former Chief Justice Aharon Barak advocates. But today, Israel is more isolated than ever.
America seems to be the last hope in our pathetic attempts to be accepted by the nations. But this great hope is also turning out to be nothing more than a fata morgana. In a painful and traumatic move, we destroyed Gush Katif to show the world that we were doing exactly what it wanted. Did we get more understanding in exchange? More nods of approval in London universities?
Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon cannot visit Europe for fear of being arrested there for war crimes. Our Defense Minister cannot land in London in an unofficial capacity. Western intellectuals fashionably debate how the world will look without Israel. We are turning into international war criminals. Our situation was never this bad - not even in the 50s.
It is time for us to understand. Israel is a nation unto itself. That timeless Torah message is becoming more pertinent by the hour. The rest of the Torah verse, "and it will not take the nations of the world into account," depends on us. Leadership that is not equipped with the anchor of faith in G-d will always capitulate. But when Israel will elect leadership that clings to the Eternal One of Israel, we will merit the blessing of our Father in Heaven - and triumph.
Wherever I go and wherever I speak, the same question surfaces time and again: How do we know how you will stand up to pressure when you are prime minister? Who's to say that you won't change your policies like all of your predecessors?
"It makes no difference who the prime minister is," explained Israel Radio's commentator this week. "He will always implement the policies of the Left."
Is he right? Is this just a fact of life? Maybe once a person becomes prime minister he is privy to knowledge that we mere citizens do not know? Maybe this secret knowledge leaves them with no choice but to capitulate? What exactly did Sharon discover when he became PM that he did not know when he served in almost every other ministerial capacity in the government? What new insight has Netanyahu perceived that he didn't know the last time he was prime minister?
Let us explore the two worst-case scenarios:
One scenario is that Obama is threatening Netanyahu that the US will not stop Iran's nuclear development and will even penalize Israel if it attacks Iran without his authorization. The second scenario is that Obama has threatened Netanyahu that if he does not clamp an immediate freeze on building in the settlements, he will consent to a "Palestinian" unilateral declaration of independence - which would effectively transform us all into war criminals.
When Ben-Gurion was poised to declare the establishment of the State of Israel, our situation was much worse. We did not have tanks or fighter jets, seven Arab armies threatened to easily finish the job that Hitler had begun and to top it all off, the US threatened that if Ben-Gurion would declare statehood, it would impose an embargo on all US arms sales to Israel. That is, in fact, exactly what happened and the American arms embargo remained intact until Israel liberated Judea, Samaria and Gaza in the six day war of miracles in 1967.
When Saddam Hussein was about to produce his own nuclear bomb, America was opposed to an Israeli pre-emptive strike. When Begin instructed the air force to destroy Iraq's nuclear reactor, Shimon Peres tried to torpedo the plan. Begin was forced to keep the mission a secret from Peres so that he would not leak the information to America. After the fact, the Americans condemned the attack, but Israel was strengthened, which in turn strengthened the American interest in continued relations with Israel. Ultimately, the US also thanked Israel for its pre-emptive strike.
Today, Israel is in a much more dangerous situation. Elimination of the Iranian nuclear threat is liable to trigger a massive missile attack on Israel from Iran, Lebanon, Syria and Gaza. We must be prepared to deal with all of those threats simultaneously.
We must remember, though, that while the arsenal of missiles that the enemy boasts today can inflict serious damage on Israel and can, G-d forbid, bring about the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of Israelis, it is not a strategic threat to Israel's existence. On the other hand, an intense nuclear attack on Israel can destroy the entire country. The government that did nothing while our enemies armed themselves with long range missiles in the early 80's brought thousands of Israelis within missile range. The government that will do nothing about the Iranian threat now will bring millions of Israelis into range of a nuclear attack, G-d forbid.
Past experience shows that when we do not take care of our own security, nobody does it for us - certainly not the US. On the contrary, it was George Bush Senior's attack on Saddam Hussein that brought the Scud missiles into Israel's cities. It will not help us to wait for the US to take care of the Iranian threat - certainly not during Obama's term. The Americans to date have afforded Iran more and more time to stock their arsenal. When we will finally be forced to address the Iranian threat ourselves, the precious time lost will, G-d forbid, extract a dear price from our nation.
Consequently, it is simply absurd to freeze building in Judea and Samaria because of the Iranian threat. This weakens Israel while giving our enemies time to prepare better to destroy our country, G-d forbid.
As to the second scenario, a unilateral "Palestinian" declaration of statehood, we must take a long and hard look at what is taking place before our eyes. For decades, Israel has been tripping over itself in its attempts to have a "place among the nations," in the words of Netanyahu, or to be "the Singapore of the Middle East," a la Peres or a "state of all its citizens," as former Chief Justice Aharon Barak advocates. But today, Israel is more isolated than ever.
America seems to be the last hope in our pathetic attempts to be accepted by the nations. But this great hope is also turning out to be nothing more than a fata morgana. In a painful and traumatic move, we destroyed Gush Katif to show the world that we were doing exactly what it wanted. Did we get more understanding in exchange? More nods of approval in London universities?
Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon cannot visit Europe for fear of being arrested there for war crimes. Our Defense Minister cannot land in London in an unofficial capacity. Western intellectuals fashionably debate how the world will look without Israel. We are turning into international war criminals. Our situation was never this bad - not even in the 50s.
It is time for us to understand. Israel is a nation unto itself. That timeless Torah message is becoming more pertinent by the hour. The rest of the Torah verse, "and it will not take the nations of the world into account," depends on us. Leadership that is not equipped with the anchor of faith in G-d will always capitulate. But when Israel will elect leadership that clings to the Eternal One of Israel, we will merit the blessing of our Father in Heaven - and triumph.
MK - Dr. Michael Ben-Ari Questions Shas’ Modus Operandi
In a Tuesday evening interview on Kol Chai Radio, opposition MK (Ichud HaLeumi) Dr. Michael Ben-Ari, a shomer shabbat Jew, questioned the motives of the Shas party, seemingly unable to understand why the decision has not been made together with Yahadut HaTorah to bring down the government.
Ben-Ari, a talmid of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane HY”D, explained that he is well-aware that based on post-election statistics, he is sitting in Knesset due to a chareidi mandate, explaining he definitely received enough votes from the chareidi public to secure his position, adding as such, he feels loyalty to chareidi constituents and a constant awareness to represent chareidi interests as well as those of the right-wing dati leumi camp.
Ben-Ari explained that the chareidim are not in favor of forfeiting portions of Eretz Yisrael to Israel’s enemies, and he points out that Shas, with 11 mandates, together with Yahadut HaTorah, have enough combined strength to halt the latest evil decree, the 10-month construction freeze. He questions that even if one accepts the fact that this is a decision forced upon Israel by the United States, accepting the prime minister’s explanation that America’s unwavering support is too critical today due to the Iranian threat, the situation begs the question “what will change in 10 months” and after the freeze period, “what will take place?”
Ben-Ari decried the decision to halt construction, a move that will present new difficulties to the dati leumi and chareidi communities alike, insisting the time has come for the camps to unite for the common good, towards achieving their combined goals, emphasizing the construction freeze mustn’t be perceived as a fait accompli and action to reverse the move must be taken, immediately.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
The option no one wants to think about
Dec. 1, 2009
LAWRENCE HART , THE JERUSALEM POST
Israel at one time was the world leader in combating terrorism. Military colleges studied the Entebbe raid of 1976. People marveled at the courage of storming a children's house on Kibbutz Misgav Am in 1980 and killing all five terrorists before they could slaughter the remaining children. Israel launched a daring commando raid against a particular terrorist in Lebanon, coming under cover of night, killing him and getting back out without losing a man - a perfect surgical strike.
Israel is responsible for declaring that terror can never be negotiated with, knowing that any such negotiations represent a slippery slope to defeat.
But Israel has been languishing in recent years, infected by the same political correctness that is drowning the rest of the Western world. It just doesn't seem to have what it takes to deal the proper blow to the terror in its midst. What with the 2006 debacle in Lebanon, and missing the opportunity to cut the head off one of these snakes in Gaza last year, Israel appears doomed to live with terror until it either destroys us or burns itself out - in 100 years or so.
ENTER THE Sri Lankans. I think they have an answer, and I think Israel should listen to what they have to say.
Sri Lanka used to be just like Israel. It had a perennial terrorist problem with its Tamil minority. For almost 30 years, organized bands from that community terrorized the nation, to the point where the country could not evolve. Navin Dissanayake, Sri Lankan minister of investment promotion, claims that it "could have been another Singapore if it had not been for that war." Terrorism in Sri Lanka, as it did in Israel, held that country from progressing - progress which would have been good for Sri Lanka and the world.
The Tamil Tigers , sometimes referred to by its full name, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), resembled Middle East terror groups. Actually, it is more correct to say that Middle East terror groups resemble the Tamil Tigers, as the Tigers introduced many of the techniques subsequently used by Israel's enemies. They invented the suicide belt and perfected the suicide bombing attack, turning it into a tactical device. They were the first to use women and children in these attacks. And they have been accused of using their own innocent civilians as human shields. They are a vicious crowd, and were implicated in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi of India in 1991. As we all know, the Palestinians have imitated these tactics with devastating brutality.
The Sri Lankans had more or less lived with this horror since 1983. Then 9/11 happened and a new dynamic, promoted by president George W. Bush and the United States, gave the Sri Lankans a new outlook. With a new administration elected on the promise of stopping the LTTE permanently, the country embarked on a full-scale military assault. It sent its army, much stronger than the Tamil tigers, into Tamil-occupied territory and began to take back town by town, going street to street in some cases, and killing anyone who resisted.
Jehan Perera of the Sri Lankan Peace Council said, "This government has taken the position that virtually any price is worth paying to rid the country of terrorism."
The price paid was indeed a heavy one. Many innocent people died. The Sri Lankan government deeply regrets the killing of innocent civilians, but most government officials believe they made a conscious choice to pay that price, and that the alternative status quo was simply no longer acceptable.
It was bloody and dirty, and they took a lot of criticism for it. The UN estimates that during the final months of fighting in Sri Lanka, at least 7,000 Tamil civilians were killed and 13,000 were wounded. But they also wiped out the scourge of terror, not stopping until total victory was declared last May. Today, Sri Lankans can once again walk the streets of their cities, visit the marketplaces and conduct business without the fear of being murdered in such gruesome ways that not even their loved ones can identify their bodies. It is a new dawn for Sri Lanka.
Israel can take a real lesson from this experience. The threat facing the Jewish state from the West Bank, Gaza and Lebanon is no different than the threat to the north of Sri Lanka, and its coastline into the south that the Tamils occupied before the Sri Lankan army began its war of elimination.
THE TIME has come to admit that there might not be a solution to the Palestinian problem, but there is a way to end it. The next time terror forces Israel to take military action, this option should be considered. Israel must realize that there will be no peace with an intransigent enemy that refuses to act in good faith. Palestinian rejectionism and Iranian-backed Hizbullah threats to our existence will never be placated; they will not stop until Israel is destroyed. Once the population realizes this unfortunate reality, there is only one way to change it. Israel must take the Sri Lankan initiative and move into these areas one by one, cornering, enveloping and killing off all armed resistance.
Bending over backward to make peace with the Palestinians has proven fruitless. It's time to make the choice of a better life for all. More than 60 years of living with this is enough. When we have completely wiped out this enemy, a new dynamic will rise. Without the Muslim thugs holding their own people back, there will be nothing to stop them from negotiating genuine peace. There might be a Palestinian, a Lebanese, a Syrian, maybe even an Iranian peace partner which will transform the Middle East from a charnel house of hatred and bloodshed to a prosperous community of nations working together to make the daily lives of all their citizens better.
LAWRENCE HART , THE JERUSALEM POST
Israel at one time was the world leader in combating terrorism. Military colleges studied the Entebbe raid of 1976. People marveled at the courage of storming a children's house on Kibbutz Misgav Am in 1980 and killing all five terrorists before they could slaughter the remaining children. Israel launched a daring commando raid against a particular terrorist in Lebanon, coming under cover of night, killing him and getting back out without losing a man - a perfect surgical strike.
Israel is responsible for declaring that terror can never be negotiated with, knowing that any such negotiations represent a slippery slope to defeat.
But Israel has been languishing in recent years, infected by the same political correctness that is drowning the rest of the Western world. It just doesn't seem to have what it takes to deal the proper blow to the terror in its midst. What with the 2006 debacle in Lebanon, and missing the opportunity to cut the head off one of these snakes in Gaza last year, Israel appears doomed to live with terror until it either destroys us or burns itself out - in 100 years or so.
ENTER THE Sri Lankans. I think they have an answer, and I think Israel should listen to what they have to say.
Sri Lanka used to be just like Israel. It had a perennial terrorist problem with its Tamil minority. For almost 30 years, organized bands from that community terrorized the nation, to the point where the country could not evolve. Navin Dissanayake, Sri Lankan minister of investment promotion, claims that it "could have been another Singapore if it had not been for that war." Terrorism in Sri Lanka, as it did in Israel, held that country from progressing - progress which would have been good for Sri Lanka and the world.
The Tamil Tigers , sometimes referred to by its full name, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), resembled Middle East terror groups. Actually, it is more correct to say that Middle East terror groups resemble the Tamil Tigers, as the Tigers introduced many of the techniques subsequently used by Israel's enemies. They invented the suicide belt and perfected the suicide bombing attack, turning it into a tactical device. They were the first to use women and children in these attacks. And they have been accused of using their own innocent civilians as human shields. They are a vicious crowd, and were implicated in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi of India in 1991. As we all know, the Palestinians have imitated these tactics with devastating brutality.
The Sri Lankans had more or less lived with this horror since 1983. Then 9/11 happened and a new dynamic, promoted by president George W. Bush and the United States, gave the Sri Lankans a new outlook. With a new administration elected on the promise of stopping the LTTE permanently, the country embarked on a full-scale military assault. It sent its army, much stronger than the Tamil tigers, into Tamil-occupied territory and began to take back town by town, going street to street in some cases, and killing anyone who resisted.
Jehan Perera of the Sri Lankan Peace Council said, "This government has taken the position that virtually any price is worth paying to rid the country of terrorism."
The price paid was indeed a heavy one. Many innocent people died. The Sri Lankan government deeply regrets the killing of innocent civilians, but most government officials believe they made a conscious choice to pay that price, and that the alternative status quo was simply no longer acceptable.
It was bloody and dirty, and they took a lot of criticism for it. The UN estimates that during the final months of fighting in Sri Lanka, at least 7,000 Tamil civilians were killed and 13,000 were wounded. But they also wiped out the scourge of terror, not stopping until total victory was declared last May. Today, Sri Lankans can once again walk the streets of their cities, visit the marketplaces and conduct business without the fear of being murdered in such gruesome ways that not even their loved ones can identify their bodies. It is a new dawn for Sri Lanka.
Israel can take a real lesson from this experience. The threat facing the Jewish state from the West Bank, Gaza and Lebanon is no different than the threat to the north of Sri Lanka, and its coastline into the south that the Tamils occupied before the Sri Lankan army began its war of elimination.
THE TIME has come to admit that there might not be a solution to the Palestinian problem, but there is a way to end it. The next time terror forces Israel to take military action, this option should be considered. Israel must realize that there will be no peace with an intransigent enemy that refuses to act in good faith. Palestinian rejectionism and Iranian-backed Hizbullah threats to our existence will never be placated; they will not stop until Israel is destroyed. Once the population realizes this unfortunate reality, there is only one way to change it. Israel must take the Sri Lankan initiative and move into these areas one by one, cornering, enveloping and killing off all armed resistance.
Bending over backward to make peace with the Palestinians has proven fruitless. It's time to make the choice of a better life for all. More than 60 years of living with this is enough. When we have completely wiped out this enemy, a new dynamic will rise. Without the Muslim thugs holding their own people back, there will be nothing to stop them from negotiating genuine peace. There might be a Palestinian, a Lebanese, a Syrian, maybe even an Iranian peace partner which will transform the Middle East from a charnel house of hatred and bloodshed to a prosperous community of nations working together to make the daily lives of all their citizens better.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
America vs. The Narrative
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
What should we make of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who apparently killed 13
innocent people at Fort Hood?
Here's my take: Major Hasan may have been mentally unbalanced - I assume
anyone who shoots up innocent people is. But the more you read about his
support for Muslim suicide bombers, about how he showed up at a
public-health seminar with a PowerPoint presentation titled "Why the War on
Terror Is a War on Islam," and about his contacts with Anwar al-Awlaki, a
Yemeni cleric famous for using the Web to support jihadist violence against
America - the more it seems that Major Hasan was just another angry jihadist
spurred to action by "The Narrative."
What is scary is that even though he was born, raised and educated in
America, The Narrative still got to him.
The Narrative is the cocktail of half-truths, propaganda and outright lies
about America that have taken hold in the Arab-Muslim world since 9/11.
Propagated by jihadist Web sites, mosque preachers, Arab intellectuals,
satellite news stations and books - and tacitly endorsed by some Arab
regimes - this narrative posits that America has declared war on Islam, as
part of a grand "American-Crusader-Zionist conspiracy" to keep Muslims down.
Yes, after two decades in which U.S. foreign policy has been largely
dedicated to rescuing Muslims or trying to help free them from tyranny - in
Bosnia, Darfur, Kuwait, Somalia, Lebanon, Kurdistan, post-earthquake
Pakistan, post-tsunami Indonesia, Iraq and Afghanistan - a narrative that
says America is dedicated to keeping Muslims down is thriving.
Although most of the Muslims being killed today are being killed by jihadist
suicide bombers in Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan and Indonesia, you'd never
know it from listening to their world. The dominant narrative there is that
9/11 was a kind of fraud: America's unprovoked onslaught on Islam is the
real story, and the Muslims are the real victims - of U.S. perfidy.
Have no doubt: we punched a fist into the Arab/Muslim world after 9/11,
partly to send a message of deterrence, but primarily to destroy two
tyrannical regimes - the Taliban and the Baathists - and to work with
Afghans and Iraqis to build a different kind of politics. In the process, we
did some stupid and bad things. But for every Abu Ghraib, our soldiers and
diplomats perpetrated a million acts of kindness aimed at giving Arabs and
Muslims a better chance to succeed with modernity and to elect their own
leaders.
The Narrative was concocted by jihadists to obscure that.
It's working. As a Jordanian-born counterterrorism expert, who asked to
remain anonymous, said to me: "This narrative is now omnipresent in Arab and
Muslim communities in the region and in migrant communities around the
world. These communities are bombarded with this narrative in huge doses and
on a daily basis. [It says] the West, and right now mostly the U.S. and
Israel, is single-handedly and completely responsible for all the grievances
of the Arab and the Muslim worlds. Ironically, the vast majority of the
media outlets targeting these communities are Arab-government owned - mostly
from the Gulf."
This narrative suits Arab governments. It allows them to deflect onto
America all of their people's grievances over why their countries are
falling behind. And it suits Al Qaeda, which doesn't need much organization
anymore - just push out The Narrative over the Web and satellite TV, let it
heat up humiliated, frustrated or socially alienated Muslim males, and one
or two will open fire on their own. See: Major Hasan.
"Liberal Arabs like me are as angry as a terrorist and as determined to
change the status quo," said my Jordanian friend. The only difference "is
that while we choose education, knowledge and success to bring about change,
a terrorist, having bought into the narrative, has a sense of powerlessness
and helplessness, which are inculcated in us from childhood, that lead him
to believe that there is only one way, and that is violence."
What to do? Many Arab Muslims know that what ails their societies is more
than the West, and that The Narrative is just an escape from looking
honestly at themselves. But none of their leaders dare or care to open that
discussion. In his Cairo speech last June, President Obama effectively built
a connection with the Muslim mainstream. Maybe he could spark the debate by
asking that same audience this question:
"Whenever something like Fort Hood happens you say, 'This is not Islam.' I
believe that. But you keep telling us what Islam isn't. You need to tell us
what it is and show us how its positive interpretations are being promoted
in your schools and mosques. If this is not Islam, then why is it that a
million Muslims will pour into the streets to protest Danish cartoons of the
Prophet Muhammad, but not one will take to the streets to protest Muslim
suicide bombers who blow up other Muslims, real people, created in the image
of God? You need to explain that to us - and to yourselves."
What should we make of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who apparently killed 13
innocent people at Fort Hood?
Here's my take: Major Hasan may have been mentally unbalanced - I assume
anyone who shoots up innocent people is. But the more you read about his
support for Muslim suicide bombers, about how he showed up at a
public-health seminar with a PowerPoint presentation titled "Why the War on
Terror Is a War on Islam," and about his contacts with Anwar al-Awlaki, a
Yemeni cleric famous for using the Web to support jihadist violence against
America - the more it seems that Major Hasan was just another angry jihadist
spurred to action by "The Narrative."
What is scary is that even though he was born, raised and educated in
America, The Narrative still got to him.
The Narrative is the cocktail of half-truths, propaganda and outright lies
about America that have taken hold in the Arab-Muslim world since 9/11.
Propagated by jihadist Web sites, mosque preachers, Arab intellectuals,
satellite news stations and books - and tacitly endorsed by some Arab
regimes - this narrative posits that America has declared war on Islam, as
part of a grand "American-Crusader-Zionist conspiracy" to keep Muslims down.
Yes, after two decades in which U.S. foreign policy has been largely
dedicated to rescuing Muslims or trying to help free them from tyranny - in
Bosnia, Darfur, Kuwait, Somalia, Lebanon, Kurdistan, post-earthquake
Pakistan, post-tsunami Indonesia, Iraq and Afghanistan - a narrative that
says America is dedicated to keeping Muslims down is thriving.
Although most of the Muslims being killed today are being killed by jihadist
suicide bombers in Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan and Indonesia, you'd never
know it from listening to their world. The dominant narrative there is that
9/11 was a kind of fraud: America's unprovoked onslaught on Islam is the
real story, and the Muslims are the real victims - of U.S. perfidy.
Have no doubt: we punched a fist into the Arab/Muslim world after 9/11,
partly to send a message of deterrence, but primarily to destroy two
tyrannical regimes - the Taliban and the Baathists - and to work with
Afghans and Iraqis to build a different kind of politics. In the process, we
did some stupid and bad things. But for every Abu Ghraib, our soldiers and
diplomats perpetrated a million acts of kindness aimed at giving Arabs and
Muslims a better chance to succeed with modernity and to elect their own
leaders.
The Narrative was concocted by jihadists to obscure that.
It's working. As a Jordanian-born counterterrorism expert, who asked to
remain anonymous, said to me: "This narrative is now omnipresent in Arab and
Muslim communities in the region and in migrant communities around the
world. These communities are bombarded with this narrative in huge doses and
on a daily basis. [It says] the West, and right now mostly the U.S. and
Israel, is single-handedly and completely responsible for all the grievances
of the Arab and the Muslim worlds. Ironically, the vast majority of the
media outlets targeting these communities are Arab-government owned - mostly
from the Gulf."
This narrative suits Arab governments. It allows them to deflect onto
America all of their people's grievances over why their countries are
falling behind. And it suits Al Qaeda, which doesn't need much organization
anymore - just push out The Narrative over the Web and satellite TV, let it
heat up humiliated, frustrated or socially alienated Muslim males, and one
or two will open fire on their own. See: Major Hasan.
"Liberal Arabs like me are as angry as a terrorist and as determined to
change the status quo," said my Jordanian friend. The only difference "is
that while we choose education, knowledge and success to bring about change,
a terrorist, having bought into the narrative, has a sense of powerlessness
and helplessness, which are inculcated in us from childhood, that lead him
to believe that there is only one way, and that is violence."
What to do? Many Arab Muslims know that what ails their societies is more
than the West, and that The Narrative is just an escape from looking
honestly at themselves. But none of their leaders dare or care to open that
discussion. In his Cairo speech last June, President Obama effectively built
a connection with the Muslim mainstream. Maybe he could spark the debate by
asking that same audience this question:
"Whenever something like Fort Hood happens you say, 'This is not Islam.' I
believe that. But you keep telling us what Islam isn't. You need to tell us
what it is and show us how its positive interpretations are being promoted
in your schools and mosques. If this is not Islam, then why is it that a
million Muslims will pour into the streets to protest Danish cartoons of the
Prophet Muhammad, but not one will take to the streets to protest Muslim
suicide bombers who blow up other Muslims, real people, created in the image
of God? You need to explain that to us - and to yourselves."
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