ProZion by Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg

Jews and muslims

2009-01-09T07:04:00.000-08:00

The Jews are *NOT* promoting brainwashing children in military training camps, teaching them how to blow themselves up and cause maximum deaths of Jews and other non Muslims!

The Jews *DON'T* hijack planes, nor kill athletes at the Olympics, or blow themselves up in German restaurants. There is *NOT* one single Jew that has destroyed a church. There is *NOT* a single Jew that protests by killing people.

The Jews *DON'T* traffic slaves, nor have leaders calling for Jihad and death to all the Infidels.

Perhaps the world's Muslims should consider investing more in standard education and less in blaming the Jews for all their problems.

Muslims must ask 'what can they do for humankind' before they demand that humankind respects them!!

Regardless of your feelings about the crisis between Israel and thePalestinians and Arab neighbors, even if you believe there is more culpability on Israel 's part, the following two sentences really say it all:

'If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel ' -Benjamin Netanyahu

Nobel Prizes-

2009-01-09T07:03:00.000-08:00

Consider:

The Global Islamic population is approximately 1,200,000,000 ONE BILLION TWO HUNDRED MILLION or 20% of the world's population.

They have received the following Nobel Prizes:

Literature:
1988 - Najib Mahfooz

Peace:
1978 - Mohamed Anwar El-Sadat
1994 - Yaser Arafat:
1990 - Elias James Corey
1999 - Ahmed Zewai

Economics: (zero)

Physics: (zero)

Medicine:
1960 - Peter Brian Medawar
1998 - Ferid Mourad

TOTAL: 7 SEVEN

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The Global Jewish population is approximately 14,000,000 -- Only FOURTEEN MILLION or about 0.02% of the world's=2 0population.

They have received the following Nobel Prizes:

Literature:
1910 - Paul Heyse
1927 - Henri Bergson
1958 - Boris Pa sternak
1966 - Shmuel Yosef Agnon
1966 - Nelly Sachs
1976 - Saul Bellow
1978 - Isaac Bashevis Singer
1981 - Elias Canetti
1987 - Joseph Brodsky
1991 - Nadine Gordimer World

Peace:
1911 - Alfred Fried
1911 - Tobias Michael Carel Asser
1968 - Rene Cassin
1973 - Henry Kissinger
1978 - Menachem Begin
1986 - Elie Wiesel
1994 - Shimon Peres
1994 - Yitzhak Rabin

Physics:
1905 - Adolph Von Baeyer
1906 - Henri Moissan
1907 - Albert Abraham Michelson
1908 - Gabriel Lippmann
1910 - Otto Wallach
1915 - Richard Willstaetter
1918 - Fritz Haber
1921 - Albert Einstein
1922 - Niels Bohr
1925 - James Franck
1925 - Gustav Hertz
1943 - Gustav Stern
1943 - George Charles de Hevesy
1944 - Isidor Issac Rabi
195 2 - Felix Bloch
1954 - Max Born
1958 - Igor Tamm
1959 - Emilio Segre
1960 - Don ald A. Glaser
1961 - Robert Hofstadter
1961 - Melvin Calvin
1962 - Lev Davidovich Landau
1962 - Max Ferdinand Perutz
1965 - Richard Phil lips Feynman
1965 - Julian Schwinger
1969 - Murray Gell-Mann
1971 - Dennis Gabor
1972 - William Howard Stein
1973 - Brian David Joseph son
1975 - Benjamin Mottleson
1976 - Burton Richter
1977 - Ilya Prigogine
1978 - Arno Allan Penzias
1978 - Peter L Kapitza
1979 - Stephen Weinberg
1979 - Sheldon Glashow
1979 - Herbert Charles Brown
1980 - Paul Berg
1980 - Walter Gilbert
1981 - Roald Hoffmann
1982 - Aaron Klug
1985 - Albert A. Hauptman
1985 - Jerome Karle
1986 - Dudley R. Herschbach
1988 - Robert Huber
1988 - Leon Lederman
1988 - Melvin Schwartz
1988 - Jack Steinberger
1989 - Sidney Altman
1990 - Jerome Friedman
1992 - Rudolph Marcus
1995 - Martin Perl
2000 - Alan J. Heeger

Economics:
1970 - Paul Anthony Samuelson
1971 - Simon Kuznets
1972 - Kenneth Joseph Arrow
1975 - Leon id Kantorovich
1976 - Mil ton Friedman
1978 - Herb ert A. Simon
1980 - Lawrence Robert Klein
1985 - Franco Modigliani
1987 - Robert M. Solow
1990 - Harry Markowitz
1 990 - Merton Miller
1992 - Gary Becker
1993 - Robert Fogel

Medicine:
1908 - Elie Metchnikoff
1908 - Paul Erlich
1914 - Robert Barany
1922 - Otto Meyerhof
1930 - Karl Landsteiner
1931 - Otto Warburg
1936 - Otto Loewi
1944 - Joseph Erlanger
1944 - Herb ert Spencer Gasser
1945 - Ernst Boris Chain
1946 - Hermann Joseph Muller
1950 - Tadeus Reichstein
1952 - Selman Abra ham Waksman
1953 - Hans Krebs
1953 - Fritz Albert Lipmann
1958 - Joshua Lederberg
1959 - Arthur Kornberg
1964 - Konrad Bloch
1965 - Francois Jacob
1965 - Andre Lwoff
1967 - George Wald
1968 - Marshall W. Nirenberg
1969 - Salvador Luria
1970 - Julius Axelrod
1970 - Sir Bernard Katz
1972 - Gerald Maurice Ed elman
1975 - Howard Martin Temin
1976 - Baruch S. Blumberg
1977 - Roselyn Sussman Yalow
1978 - Daniel Nathans
1980 - Baruj Benacerraf
1984 - Cesar Milstein
198520- Michael Stuart Brown
1985 - Joseph L. Goldstein
1986 - Stanley Cohen [& Rita Levi-Montalcini]
1988 - Gertrude Elion
1989 - Harold Varmus
1991 - Erwin Neher
1991 - Bert Sakmann
1993 - Richard J. Roberts
1993 - Phillip Sharp
1994 - Alfred Gilman
1995 - Edward B. Lewis

*TOTAL: 129 ONE HUNDRED TWENTY NINE!
*

the UN ceasefire?

2009-01-09T04:35:00.000-08:00

Israel's government says any cease-fire must guarantee an end to rocket fire and arms smuggling into Gaza. During a six-month cease-fire that ended with the current operation, Hamas is thought to have used tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border to smuggle in the medium-range rockets it is now using to hit deeper than ever inside Israel.

no apologies

2009-01-08T07:15:00.001-08:00

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An open letter to the world: Sorry, no apologies

By DAVID BREAKSTONE
January 5, Jerusalem Post

'Not by might and not by power, but by My spirit, says the Lord of Hosts." Ironically, it was this verse from Zechariah, read on the Shabbat of Hanukka, that was being chanted in synagogues throughout the world several days ago, precisely as Israel 's air force was embarking on a display of might and power that it rarely demonstrates. So, do we believe in the message of our prophets or not?

With our reservists being called up by the thousands and our troops having into Gaza , I recall as well another chant, an echo of the first, and one that was no less sacred to me in my formative years: "Fighting for peace is like f--king for virginity." Both phrases continue to resonate within me, together giving expression to the cherished commandment of the Jewish tradition that we are to seek peace.

How, then, do I reconcile my unabashed support for the current military operation in Gaza with the values that I hold so dear? The answer is a complex one, but in its simplest form I would offer that we really are not fighting for peace; we are fighting to protect ourselves and for our right to some normalcy in our lives. Few, if any, are under the illusion that this military campaign is going to result in peace. Hamas has repeatedly affirmed its commitment to the destruction of the State of Israel, and no amount of bombs is going to alter that. The problem is, neither is any amount of diplomacy. The Hamas covenant explicitly rejects negotiations as a legitimate form of struggle against the Zionist entity.

Being the stubborn people that we are, however, we have repeatedly refused to accept this reality. Just over six months ago, we and Hamas agreed to an Egyptian-brokered "lull" in the use of violence against one another. Our hope was that our avowed enemy would use this period of calm to invest its resources and energies in promoting the social agenda on which it rose to power, and in the meantime reconcile itself - without ever having to say so out loud - to living alongside its hated adversary. Our fear was that Hamas would instead take advantage of the opportunity to act with impunity that it had bargained for to enhance its firepower. Unfortunately, it was our fears that were realized and not our hopes.

DURING THE past half year of relative quiet, a full 538 mortar shells and rockets were launched against Israel, and on December 21, Hamas unilaterally declared an end to the tenuous respite in its holy war against the Jewish state. Until the very last minute, our leaders were scurrying around the region, and calling around the globe, in an anxious effort to grasp at any diplomatic straw that might have prevented the renewal of all-out violence.

Leaders of Arab states were actively supportive of these efforts. So were leaders of the free world, particularly in Europe and the United States .

Nevertheless, Hamas chose to intensify its barrage of missiles rather than talk, its commitment to our destruction apparently even stronger than its will to survive. As the number of rockets exploding in southern towns and settlements surpassed 80 per day last week, and with the wounds inflicted by more than 5,000 such explosions over the past eight years still raw, our military and political leaders, having exhausted all diplomatic options, determined that enough was enough.

CLEARLY THEY were giving expression to the public mood as well. Some 90 percent of the country's citizenry supported the initial strikes against Gaza . But only a few days later, the question has already arisen as to whether or not our response has been disproportionate to the threat we are trying to fend off. A perfectly proportionate response, of course, would have been to fire one missile into Gaza for every missile fired from it. Or, perhaps, proportionality requires calculating the number of missiles per capita raining in on the population of Sderot and its environs, and sending an equivalent number back to terrorize the civilian population of Gaza City . That would give them a taste of their own medicine, wouldn't it?

We are, however, long past the point where dispensing medicine can do any good. Instead, we are interested in radical surgery, in eliminating as much of the cancer of radical Islamic terrorism as possible before it metastasizes throughout the region, and eventually the entire world. If someone, somehow can offer us a noninvasive procedure that will allow us to do that, I am confident with every fiber of my being that we will opt for it, even if the method is considered chancy and unproven.

We have taken risks numerous times in the past and, despite repeated disappointments, we will be prepared to do so again. We really are a peace-loving nation; it is all of our children who have been asked to cross the border, and on the other side of it are real human beings, good people among them who are no less deserving than we of the tranquility Hamas has denied us all. Our tradition, however, demands not only that we seek peace, but also that we choose life. I am deeply sorry about the terrible suffering of the innocent that we are perpetuating within Gaza , but under the circumstances, I offer no apologies.

The writer is a member of the Schechter Institute Executive Committee and executives of the Jewish Agency and World Zionist Organization, where he serves as head of the Department for Zionist Activities.

Hamas uses human shields

2009-01-07T18:02:00.001-08:00

Hamas Using Gaza Civilians as Human ShieldsThe White House on Tuesday condemned Hamas for using Gaza civilians as human shields, hours before the Associated Press carried eyewitness reports of Hamas fighters firing at Israeli soldiers from a school run by the United Nations before Israeli troops returned fire. The incident came amidst reports that the terrorist group had been hiding in hospitals, storing weapons in mosques, schools and homes and forcing fleeing residents back into their homes at gunpoint to act as human shields. The Iranian-backed terrorist group has been documented firing rockets from other UN-run schools and heavily populated areas, and its fighters have hijacked ambulances for use as personnel carriers in the hopes of avoiding the Israeli military. "For the Palestinian people, death has become an industry," Hamas MP Fathi Hammad told Al-Aqsa TV last February. "This is why they have formed human shields of the women, the children, the elderly, and the mujahedeen, in order to challenge the Zionist bombing machine." Israel takes considerable steps to prevent civilian casualties—dropping flyers, calling residents and firing warning shots, among other measures—but it faces extreme difficulty in fighting an enemy that both targets innocent Israelis and hides behind its own civilians.

Hamas and war

2009-01-07T07:18:00.000-08:00

Hamas the real Nazis

Jewish World Review January 7, 2009 / 11 Teves 5769

Who are the real Nazis?

By Jonah Goldberg

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | "Go back to the oven! You need a big oven, that's what you need!"

This is what one young woman thought passed for acceptable discourse during an anti-Israel rally last week in, of all places, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Other chants were similarly unlovely. You can watch it on YouTube if you like.

But why bother? The Fort Lauderdale outburst is just one window on the upside-down world of Israel hatred. Across the Islamic world, and in too many points West, it is still considered a penetrating and poignant insight to call Zionists the "new Nazis." For instance, in Sunday's Gulf News, Mohammad Abdullah al Mutawa, a sociology professor at United Arab Emirates University, penned an essay titled "Zionists are the new Nazis." He began: "Today, the whole world stands as a witness to the fact that the Nazi Holocaust was a mere lie, which was devised by the Zionists to blackmail humanity."

At a Saturday protest in New York against Israel's military assault on Gaza, some carried signs that read: "Israel: The Fourth Reich," "Holocaust by Holocaust Survivors," "Stop Israel's Holocaust," "Holocaust in Gaza" and "Stop the Zionist Genocide in Gaza."

Type "Israel" and "Nazi" into any news search engine and you'll be rewarded, or punished, with a bounty of such statements from just the last week or so. Gaza is the new Auschwitz, the Israeli Defense Forces are SS troops ... I find myself tempted to simply write "et cetera" because it's all so familiar by now. But to do that is to dismiss, and therefore accept, such grotesqueries as trivialities, when in fact such charges are deeply revealing -- just not about Israel.

First, let us note that if supposedly all-powerful Israel is dedicated to exterminating the Palestinian people, it is doing a bad job. The Palestinian population has only grown since 1948. There are more Arab citizens living in Israel proper today than there were in all of Palestine the year Israel was founded.

Perhaps one reason Israel fails at genocide is that it isn't interested in genocide? That would explain why Israel warned thousands of Gazans by cell phone to leave homes near Hamas rocket stockpiles. It would clarify why, even amid all-out war, it offers aid to enemy civilians. It would even illuminate the otherwise mysterious clamor from Israelis for a viable "peace partner."

But no. For millions of Israel haters, the more plausible explanation is that the "defiant" Palestinians have miraculously survived Israel's determination to wipe them out.

Meanwhile, calls for the complete extermination of Israel are routine. The Hamas charter, invoking the fraudulent "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" as justification, demands the destruction of Israel. Hamas exists solely because it is dedicated to the complete obliteration of the "Zionist entity." Remove that "principle" and Hamas is meaningless.

A sick mixture of Holocaust envy and Holocaust denial is the defining spirit of Hamas. Indeed, Holocaust denial passes for a scholarly pursuit not just in Gaza but throughout much of the Arab and Muslim world.

The head of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, literally earned a doctorate in it. His doctoral thesis became a book, "The Other Side: the Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism," in which he denounces "the Zionist fantasy, the fantastic lie that 6 million Jews were killed." In Hamas' eyes, Abbas is an incorrigible moderate.

It's Palestinian Islamists who have ideological and political ties to Nazism stretching back to the days of "Hitler's Mufti," Haj Amin al-Husseini, a happy warrior for the Nazi cause.

So why the obsession with casting the Israelis as the new Hitlerites? One answer is surely that critics know such charges are painful to a country largely born of the Holocaust and marked by its scars. It also grabs attention, galvanizes radicals, vents legitimate frustrations and anger, and helps demonize the enemy and, hence, justify the murder of "Zionists everywhere," as Hamas often declares in its communiques.

But I think the desire to cast the Israelis as Nazis is fueled, deep down, by the haters' need to see their own hatreds and ambitions mirrored in their enemy's actions. Hamas has an avowedly Hitlerite agenda. The only way to make such an agenda defensible is to convince yourself and others that the Israelis deserve it. Hence, Hamas and its allies insist that when they aim rockets at grade schools and playgrounds, they are resisting the "new Nazis." It brings to mind Huey Long's reported prophecy that if fascism ever came to America, it would be called anti-fascism. Well, with Hamas, Hitlerism comes to the Middle East wearing the mask of anti-Hitlerism.
Posted by Jewu.info at 7:15 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
The UN building

As some of you may know, it is a war crime to inflict damage to civilians in a UN program or building, unless said building was out of UN control and those in it were acting as fighters. In its official statement, the IDF claimed that there were enemy combatants within the building, and that IDF troops were taking heavy fire from the school. Further, while the UN has condemned this act, they have failed to specify who was in the building, besides the few "civilians" that we already know about. As is their policy, Israel has been helping to take care of any who have been injured in the violence.
In general, I simply want to supply all of you with a little more information. First, the media has been very quick to pounce on Israel, by describing Israel's use of force as "excessive," even going so far as to state that Israel is "throwing everything they've got at Gaza" (WBBM CBS News, January 5th, 2009). Second, CNN and CBS, among other news companies, have stated that Israel is "invading Gaza" (Morning of Tuesday, January 6th, 2009). The word "invasion" carries a heavy connotation: that Israel is launching an unprovoked attack on Gaza, and wishes to re-occupy the Gaza Strip. This is not the case. The Israeli government has released several statements, saying that they do not wish to re-occupy Gaza, and additionally, that this operation is in retaliation to the Qasam missile attacks launched by Hamas toward southern Israel.
Posted by Jewu.info at 6:19 PM 0 comments
President Bush and Sen Norm Coleman and me

As President Bush leaves office, and most liklely Sen Norm Coleman most likely losing his Minn reelection bid, we say goodbye to two of them most fervent supporters of Israel ever in US history. It was Sen Coleman who made it possibloe for my meeting with President Bush, detailed at this site with pictures

http://jonathanginsburg.net/bush_obama_etc

God bless them for this holy work-whatever else you think about their governance,
Posted by Jewu.info at 1:12 PM 0 comments
This is not a war against Islam

What are some of the ways that you have found helpful to
both teach and advocate support of Israel and to teach tolerance,
universalism, tzelem elokim??

I am NOT a pie in the sky person. I do not live in a Kumbaya world.
I am NOT, in this post, expressing my view on the current war.

I understand that there is a time for war and a time for peace.

>Aaron Tapper's Abraham's Vision at
http://www.abrahamsvision.org/
They do wonderful work. The board is 50-50 Jewish and Muslim.

>Seeds of Peace may give you some idead at http://seedsofpeace.org/

Abraham's Bridge http://www.abrahamsbridge.org/about.htm

For lot's of organizations, go to:
http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/engagement/resources/groups.html

On Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Masorti-Movement/29629900029#/group.php?gid=52893913335&ref=mf

http://www.ceji.org/

http://jewishmuslim.org/
Posted by Jewu.info at 9:08 AM 0 comments
Pro hamas demo in Florida

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida last Tuesday to videotape a pro-Hamas demonstration. When you click on the link below to this must-see video, keep in mind, this didn't happen in the Gaza Strip - it took place right here in America.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3Xl68kP4wo

meanwhile
from the NYTimes
"Israeli planes destroyed dozens of smuggler tunnels in the south, and Hamas fired some 25 rockets into Israel, one of which crashed into an empty kindergarten in the city of Ashdod, littering the floor with dolls and shrapnel."

Just lucky dozens of Jewish 5 year olds weren't killed

"NYTIsraeli officials said they were not ready to accept any cease-fire proposal that did not guarantee a permanent stop of rocket attacks as well as smuggling of weapons through tunnels under Gaza’s border with Egypt.

Since the operation began, Israeli officials in Washington said, the number of rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza has fallen to about 20 a day from a peak of 80 on Christmas Day. “The situation has obliged them to contract and pull back the rockets,” said Jeremy Issacharoff, the Israeli deputy chief of mission in Washington. “The rate of attrition is important,” he said, noting that Hamas was now launching fewer rockets than Israeli forces had expected."
Posted by Jewu.info at 8:17 AM 0 comments
Monday, January 5, 2009
Jan 5 alert

Prepared for the
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
View this page at www.dailyalert.org
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DAILY ALERT Monday,
January 5, 2009

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In-Depth Issues:

Israeli Intelligence Agencies: Hamas Feels Existential Threat - Roni Sofer (Ynet News)
Israel Security Agency Director Yuval Diskin told the political echelon on Sunday: "The Hamas leadership abroad is stressed, working to obtain a ceasefire and disappointed by the Arab countries failing to stand by its side. The situation of the leadership in Gaza is similar."
"A real threat exists today on the Hamas enterprise in Gaza. The leaderships in Gaza and abroad feel an existential threat."
Military Intelligence chief Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin said, "Hamas understands that violating the lull was a strategic mistake."

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Hamas Using PA Arms to Battle IDF - Khaled Abu Toameh (Jerusalem Post)
Hamas claimed Sunday that it was fighting against IDF troops in Gaza with weapons confiscated from the Palestinian Authority in the summer of 2007.
They said Hamas has all the weapons that Israel, the U.S. and other countries had given forces loyal to Mahmoud Abbas. This includes tens of thousands of rifles and pistols, heavy machine guns, night-vision goggles and bulletproof vests, as well as vast amounts of ammunition.
Hamas had also seized dozens of armored vehicles used by Abbas' forces.
Hamas also claimed that dozens of members of the rival Aksa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah, had volunteered to fight alongside Hamas units.

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IDF Soldier Escapes Kidnapping Attempt in Gaza (Jerusalem Post)
An IDF soldier managed to foil an attempt to kidnap him during night operations in Gaza Sunday, Israel Radio reported.
Soldiers entered a house which they knew was used as a Hamas command center, and discovered entrances to several tunnels.
One of the soldiers followed the gunmen into a tunnel and managed to contain several Hamas fighters in a firefight while underground, before teaming up with his comrades again.
The military assesses that the Palestinian terrorists were trying to lure the soldier to go after them alone into the tunnel in an effort to kidnap him.

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Israel Is Doing the U.S. a Favor By Taking On Hamas - William Kristol (New York Times)
An Israeli success in Gaza would be a victory in the war on terror - and in the broader struggle for the future of the Middle East.
Hamas is only one manifestation of the rise of a terror-friendly and almost death-cult-like form of Islamic extremism.
Israel is doing the U.S. a favor by taking on Hamas now. If Israel were now to withdraw under pressure without accomplishing the objectives of severely weakening Hamas and preventing the reconstitution of a terror-exporting state in Gaza, it would be a triumph for Iran.

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U.S. Jewish Leaders Taste Sderot Trauma - Haviv Rettig Gur (Jerusalem Post)
Leaders of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations on a solidarity visit to Sderot Sunday rushed into a fortified police building following the sounding of a "Color Red" siren as a Kassam rocket hit a few dozen meters from where they held meetings.
"We all live with a sense of suppressed rage," said Kenneth Bialkin, former chairman of the conference.
"You can't look at this and not wonder how the world can stand by and watch as Jews are attacked for being Jews, by people who want to destroy them."
"How do people not understand there is no justification for the course Hamas is taking?"

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Useful Reference:

Number of Wounded in Attacks from Gaza More Than Doubled in '08 - Matthew Wagner (Jerusalem Post)
Rocket and mortar attacks on Israel from Gaza wounded 947 in 2008, compared with 464 in 2007 and 227 in 2006, according to a report by Hatzalah.
A total of 1,683 Kassam rockets fell in Israel.

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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:

Israeli Forces Push Farther into Gaza - Sudarsan Raghavan and Griff Witte
Israeli ground forces backed by air and naval power moved farther into Gaza Sunday, targeting areas from which Hamas fighters are launching rockets. One Israeli soldier was killed and another wounded during a battle near Jabalya. A senior Israeli military officer said, "Most of the resistance we faced is from mortars and other things but not from fierce Hamas fighting." Some of the "other things" were improvised explosive devices. "There are a lot of obstacles on the ground. Hamas is using methods that were imported from Iran and Hizbullah."
Mark Regev, spokesman for Prime Minister Olmert, said the operation would end "when Israel understands that the civilian population in the south of the country will no longer be on the receiving end of Hamas rockets." (Washington Post)
U.S. Remains Firmly Behind Israel - Ben Feller
From the White House to Capitol Hill, U.S. officials remained firmly behind Israel. Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday that Israel did not seek U.S. approval before a ground operation against Hamas in Gaza. "They have said, now, for a period of months...that they didn't want to have to act, where Gaza was concerned," Cheney said. "They had gotten out of there three years ago. But if the rocketing didn't stop, they felt they had no choice but to take action. And if they did, they would be very aggressive, in terms of trying to take down Hamas. And that's exactly what's happened."
Sens. Harry Reid and Dick Durbin - the top two Democrats - and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell all described Israel's actions as understandable. "I think what the Israelis are doing is very important," Reid said. "I think this terrorist organization, Hamas, has got to be put away." Said McConnell: "Hamas is a terrorist organization. Imagine in this country (the U.S.) if somebody from a neighboring country were lobbing shells at our population. We'd do exactly the same thing. I think the Israelis are doing the only thing they can possibly do to defend their population." (AP)
Israel Hinges End of Gaza Operation to Closing Tunnels - Adam Entous and Dan Williams
Israel has conditioned any halt to its Gaza offensive on international backing for new fortifications and monitoring on the Egyptian border to prevent Hamas from rebuilding tunnels and rearming, officials in Jerusalem said. Israel's assault in Gaza has included several air force sorties in which "bunker buster" bombs were dropped, designed to collapse the secret underground passages. The Israeli government has said it wants assurances that they will not be dug anew after any ceasefire. "The issue of rearming is fundamental. We want to prevent Hamas from being rearmed like Hizbullah was after the Lebanon war," a senior Israeli official said.
Israel wants any monitors to be heavily armed and equipped to search and destroy tunnels. "Theoretically, if those 9 miles are denied to Hamas as a resupply route, then Hamas is going to find it very, very difficult to govern, let alone smuggle in Grad and Katyusha rockets," said Matt Levitt, a former senior U.S. Treasury official. (Reuters)
Israeli President: No Ceasefire - George Stephanopoulos
In an interview, Israeli President Shimon Peres rejected international calls for a ceasefire between Hamas and Israeli forces. "The idea that Hamas will continue to fire and we will declare a ceasefire...does not make any sense." "They did things that are unreasonable," he said of Hamas. "They are shooting endlessly without reason or purpose." "We don't intend to occupy Gaza or crush Hamas but crush terror," Peres said. "Hamas needs a real and serious lesson. They are now getting it." ("This Week"-ABC News)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:

Next Stage of Gaza Operation: "Root Canal" for Terror - Hanan Greenberg
Some 40 IDF soldiers were wounded in clashes, and over 50 Palestinian gunmen were killed in the first day of the ground operation in Gaza, according to the Israeli army. In Sunday's cabinet meeting, the ministers were informed that 73% of the 300 rockets fired on Israel in the last week were launched from areas that have now been seized by the army. (Ynet News)
See also The Target: Hamas' Army - Ron Ben-Yishai
Hamas sustained grave blows from the air, yet its leadership has not yet shown willingness to reach a long-term and stable ceasefire agreement on terms acceptable to Israel. The IDF will continue ground operations until a truce is secured. The IDF will focus on causing casualties among Hamas' Izz al-Din al-Qassam fighting force. Another target is the fortified defensive system built by Hamas both below and above ground. In order to raze these targets, the IDF needs to gather additional intelligence - mostly via human sources within the Palestinian population. (Ynet News)
See also Inside Gaza - Yaakov Katz
According to Palestinian sources, Israeli units in Gaza have taken up positions in Sajaya, Beit Lahiya, Jabalya and al-Atatra, which are being scoured for Hamas gunmen and infrastructure. Troops moving through fields and orchards are being led by dogs from the IDF's K-9 unit that are trained to sniff out booby-traps. There has been fierce resistance from well-entrenched gunmen, with anti-tank missiles, mortar barrages, heavy machine gun fire and roadside bombs. (Jerusalem Post)
50 Palestinian Rockets Hit Israel on Sunday, Wound Four - Yanir Yagna and Yuval Goren
Gaza militants shot 50 rockets into Israel on Sunday, including seven rockets that struck Sderot and a Grad rocket that struck Ashdod. Four people were wounded. (Ha'aretz)
U.S. Seeks to Formulate Ceasefire Agreement - Roni Sofer
The U.S. has launched an international effort, which includes Israel, Egypt and the Palestinians, to formulate a ceasefire agreement that would neutralize Hamas' influence in the region, diplomatic sources in Jerusalem reported Sunday. According to Israeli Prime Minister Olmert, Israel is interested in a ceasefire agreement that would include a stop to the rocket fire and the terror emanating from Gaza, as well as to Hamas' military buildup. The release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit will also be stipulated as one of Israel's terms for a halt to the fighting in any agreement.
A senior source in Jerusalem said Sunday, "Contrary to the empty moves initiated by various countries, including the humanitarian ceasefire initiative promoted by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, the American initiative is based on the agreement of the four elements that surround the only geographical territory in the world that is ruled by a terrorist entity - Gaza." The official said that Olmert has made it clear to the Americans and other world leaders that Israel's conditions were not negotiable, and that if they are not obtained through a diplomatic course, they would be secured through the military operation. (Ynet News)
See also Diplomacy to Buy IDF "a Few More Days" - Herb Keinon
The IDF has a "few more days" to carry on with its Gaza offensive and weaken Hamas before facing intense pressure from the international community for a cease-fire, senior diplomatic officials said Sunday. Israel wants time to seriously weaken Hamas militarily, and then put into place a mechanism on the Egyptian border - possibly some kind of agreement that would allow American engineers to help combat arms smuggling - that would keep Hamas from rearming. Israel is not currently interested in linking the Gaza operation to attempts to strengthen Mahmoud Abbas, bring Gaza back under PA control, or bring the PA back to the Gaza border crossings. (Jerusalem Post)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):

Israel's Gaza Dilemma - Max Boot
Achieving total victory in Gaza would require Israel to wage war in the way that America fought Germany and Japan - all out until the enemy has no more capacity to resist. Then it would have to occupy the land and impose a peace at gunpoint to ensure that Gaza could never again be a launching point for attacks. None of this is beyond the Israelis' military capacity. Yet the odds are that they won't do it.
The Russians have inflicted World War II-level carnage in Chechnya since the mid-1990s, and they don't care what anybody else says. But Israel is not Russia - or Algeria or Burma or Syria or any other state that has taken a scorched-earth approach to counterinsurgency in recent decades. For all the accusations of brutality that are routinely flung at Israel's armed forces, their conduct has been exemplary by historical standards. They have shown far less propensity for indiscriminate killing than did European states in the 1950s when confronting insurgencies in such places as Kenya, Cyprus, Vietnam and Algeria.
The tragedy for Israel is that Hamas is the choice of the local people. The odds are that once Israeli troops leave, Hamas will rebuild its infrastructure, forcing the Israelis to go back in the future. The writer is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. (Wall Street Journal)
The Three-State Option - John R. Bolton
Given the current landscape, we should ask why we still advocate the "two-state solution," with Israel and "Palestine" living side by side in peace. Let's start by recognizing that any two-state solution based on the PA is stillborn. Instead, we should look to a "three-state" approach, where Gaza is returned to Egyptian control and the West Bank in some configuration reverts to Jordanian sovereignty. Having the two Arab states re-extend their prior political authority is an authentic way to extend the zone of peace and build on governments that are providing peace and stability in their own countries. "International observers" or the like cannot come close to what is necessary; we need real states with real security forces.
Without a larger Egyptian role, Gaza will not achieve the minimal stability. Objections to this idea will be manifold, and implementation difficult. But either we do better, conceptually and operationally, or Iran will be happy to fill the vacuum. The writer, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, was U.S. ambassador to the UN. (Washington Post)
Israel Is on Firmer Ground Against Hamas - Lawrence Freedman
The current operation in Gaza is a direct consequence of the 2006 war in southern Lebanon. As in 2006, Israel is responding to a cross-border provocation and is fighting in territories it once occupied but then abandoned in the hope of a quieter life. Hamas, long a follower of Hizbullah when it comes to strategy, believed that it too could mount a regular rocket barrage against Israel with impunity. Israel knows that if it fails again, it will have severely reduced any deterrent against future rocket attacks. So in addition to the immediate objectives, this war is about restoring deterrence - and especially the credibility of the IDF. Politically, Hamas has put itself into a position where a ceasefire will be seen as a defeat, because this will require accepting that it must stop firing rockets. The writer is professor of war studies at King's College London. (Financial Times-UK)
Observations:

Israel's Gaza Strategy - Martin Kramer (Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies-Shalem Center)

Unlike the Lebanon war of 2006, this war has been planned in advance, and every stage has been war-gamed. After the Hamas takeover in June 2007, Israel imposed a regime of economic sanctions on Gaza. The West Bank enjoyed an economic boomlet while Gaza languished under sanctions, with zero growth - reinforcing the message that "Islamic resistance" is a dead end.
The Israeli operation is meant to impress on Hamas that there is something far worse than the sanctions - that Israel is capable of hunting Hamas on air, sea, and land, at tremendous cost to Hamas and minimal cost to Israel, while much of the world stands by, and parts of it (including some Arabs) quietly applaud.
Hamas assumes (probably correctly) that its Palestinian opponents fed Israel with much of the intelligence it needed to wage precision warfare against Hamas. There is likely to be a vicious settling of scores as soon as a cease-fire is in place, if not before.
The temptation to "engage" Hamas has grown, which means skirting the Quartet's insistence that Hamas not be "engaged" until it accepts past PA-Israel agreements, recognizes Israel, and renounces armed struggle. Legitimation of Hamas could seal the fate of the "peace process," and give "resistance" the reputation of a truly winning strategy.
Israel is united in pursuing its war of demolition against Hamas. Its aim is not only to stop the rockets from falling in southern Israel, but to move a long stride forward toward a change of regime in Gaza
Posted by Jewu.info at 3:50 PM 0 comments
Friday, January 2, 2009
charles krauthammer on Hamas

Moral Clarity in Gaza

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By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, January 2, 2009; Page A15

Late Saturday, thousands of Gazans received Arabic-language cell-phone messages from the Israeli military, urging them to leave homes where militants might have stashed weapons.

-- Associated Press, Dec. 27

Some geopolitical conflicts are morally complicated. The Israel-Gaza war is not. It possesses a moral clarity not only rare but excruciating.

Israel is so scrupulous about civilian life that, risking the element of surprise, it contacts enemy noncombatants in advance to warn them of approaching danger. Hamas, which started this conflict with unrelenting rocket and mortar attacks on unarmed Israelis -- 6,464 launched from Gaza in the past three years -- deliberately places its weapons in and near the homes of its own people.

This has two purposes. First, counting on the moral scrupulousness of Israel, Hamas figures civilian proximity might help protect at least part of its arsenal. Second, knowing that Israelis have new precision weapons that may allow them to attack nonetheless, Hamas hopes that inevitable collateral damage -- or, if it is really fortunate, an errant Israeli bomb -- will kill large numbers of its own people for which, of course, the world will blame Israel.

For Hamas, the only thing more prized than dead Jews are dead Palestinians. The religion of Jew-murder and self-martyrdom is ubiquitous. And deeply perverse, such as the Hamas TV children's program in which an adorable live-action Palestinian Mickey Mouse is beaten to death by an Israeli (then replaced by his more militant cousin, Nahoul the Bee, who vows to continue on Mickey's path to martyrdom).

At war today in Gaza, one combatant is committed to causing the most civilian pain and suffering on both sides. The other combatant is committed to saving as many lives as possible -- also on both sides. It's a recurring theme. Israel gave similar warnings to Southern Lebanese villagers before attacking Hezbollah in the Lebanon war of 2006. The Israelis did this knowing it would lose for them the element of surprise and cost the lives of their own soldiers.

That is the asymmetry of means between Hamas and Israel. But there is equal clarity regarding the asymmetry of ends. Israel has but a single objective in Gaza -- peace: the calm, open, normal relations it offered Gaza when it withdrew in 2005. Doing something never done by the Turkish, British, Egyptian and Jordanian rulers of Palestine, the Israelis gave the Palestinians their first sovereign territory ever in Gaza.

What ensued? This is not ancient history. Did the Palestinians begin building the state that is supposedly their great national aim? No. No roads, no industry, no courts, no civil society at all. The flourishing greenhouses that Israel left behind for the Palestinians were destroyed and abandoned. Instead, Gaza's Iranian-sponsored rulers have devoted all their resources to turning it into a terror base -- importing weapons, training terrorists, building tunnels with which to kidnap Israelis on the other side. And of course firing rockets unceasingly.
Moral Clarity in Gaza

Aipac update

2008-12-10T12:54:00.000-08:00

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www.aipac.org December 9, 2008
Obama: Iranian Nuclear Weapons Are 'Unacceptable'
Bush Calls Israel America's 'Closest Ally' in the Mideast
Treasury Targets Iranian Oil Company
European Union Upgrades Ties with Israel
Government of Israel Evicts Hebron Squatters
Israel Prepares for Electric Cars

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Obama: Iranian Nuclear Weapons Are 'Unacceptable'
Emphasizing the danger of Iran's nuclear program, President-elect Barack Obama said on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday that Tehran's threats against Israel and sponsorship of Hamas and Hizballah are "contrary to everything" that the United States believes in. "I think we need to ratchet up tough but direct diplomacy with Iran, making very clear to them that their development of nuclear weapons would be unacceptable," Obama said, adding that in order to change Iran's behavior, international sanctions would need to be tightened. Obama emphasized that he is willing to talk to Iranian leaders directly "and let them make a determination in terms of whether they want to do this the hard way or the easy way." Click here to learn about the importance of stringent sanctions against Iran.

Bush Calls Israel America's 'Closest Ally' in the Mideast
President Bush on Friday recalled his administration's work to bring peace to the Middle East and reiterated his personal commitment to the safety and security of Israel. "I was the first American president to call for a Palestinian state, and building support for the two-state solution has been a top priority of my administration," Bush told the Saban Forum. "To earn the trust of Israeli leaders, we made it clear that no Palestinian state would be born of terror... I believe that the day will come when the map of the Middle East shows a peaceful, secure Israel beside a peaceful and democratic Palestine." Bush also stated that Israel was America's "closest ally in the Middle East."

Treasury Targets Iranian Oil Company
The Treasury Department identified the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), as well as two of its Swiss-based international financial and commercial subsidiaries, the Naftiran Intertrade Co. (NICO) and Naftiran Intertrade Company Sarl, "as entities owned or controlled by the government of Iran." The targeted companies play a significant role in financing Iran's energy sector, and Treasury's step may result in Iran's further isolation from the international financial system. The United States has played a leading role in sanctioning Iran for its ongoing failure to comply with international penalties over its illicit nuclear program.

European Union Upgrades Ties with Israel
In a historic move, the European Union on Monday unanimously approved a plan to upgrade relations with Israel, the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported. The improved ties will begin with a first-of-its kind meeting between Israel's prime minister and the leaders of all 27 E.U. member states in Brussels this April. As a result of the decision, Israel's foreign minister will start meeting three times a year with all 27 E.U. foreign ministers, and Israel and the E.U. will hold a strategic dialogue on issues such as the peace process, the Iranian threat, counterterrorism and organized crime. The E.U. also pledged to help Israel integrate into various U.N. agencies and to include Israeli experts in E.U. peacekeeping forces.

Government of Israel Evicts Hebron Squatters
Enforcing a decision by the Israeli government and supported by a Supreme Court ruling, Israeli troops removed some 250 fringe activists from a building in Hebron on Thursday, The New York Times reported. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak dispatched 600 soldiers and policemen to carry out the evacuation, adding that "what was tested today was the ability of the state to enforce its laws and its essence upon its citizens." The United Nations welcomed the Israeli move, which demonstrated the country's ability to confront radical fringe elements in Israeli society. It was also a show of Israel's willingness to take significant steps toward resolving the conflict with the Palestinians. The Palestinian Authority must match Israel's commitment to peace by isolating Hamas, fighting terrorism and laying the groundwork for historic political compromise.

Israel Prepares for Electric Cars
Instead of filling up at the pump, Israeli motorists may soon be able to fill their cars up at the plug, the Associated Press reported. That's the idea behind Monday's demonstration of the parking lot of the future, equipped with stations to charge the battery-powered cars scheduled to ply Israel's streets in 2011. Israel's government has endorsed the project, which aims to blanket the country with electric cars and plugs. The California-based company, Project Better Place, is building the infrastructure to switch Israeli drivers over to battery power. The group has built 400 wired parking spots, mainly in and around Tel Aviv, since it launched the initiative in June.

Video Boston legal Finale and Israel

2008-12-09T12:50:00.001-08:00

Daily Alert

2008-12-09T12:07:00.000-08:00

Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
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In-Depth Issues:

Iran Rocket Arsenal Tripled in 2008 (Jerusalem Post)
Iran has tripled the number of long-range rockets in its arsenal, Israel TV Channel 10 reported on Monday.
According to the report, Iran has over 100 Shihab-3 long-range missiles capable of hitting Israel, up from 30 missiles at the beginning of 2008.
While Iran's ability to strike Israel has long been known, this latest build-up points to an Iranian intent to launch a protracted counter-strike against those who seek to destroy its nuclear program.

Germany Increasing Exports to Iran, Despite Sanctions - Assaf Uni (Ha'aretz)
German exports to Iran are up 10% according to data from the Federal Statistical Office for the first three quarters of 2008.
During the first seven months of 2008, the German government approved 1,926 transactions with Iran, a 63% increase over last year, further cementing Germany's position as Iran's largest trade partner.

Haj Pilgrims Denounce Israel - Ali Akbar Dareini (AP)
Thousands of haj pilgrims to Mecca - mostly Iranians, Lebanese, Iraqis and Bahrainis - held a rally Sunday to denounce the U.S. and Israel.
Called the "disavowal of pagans ceremony," the Iranian-sponsored, anti-U.S. protest is held annually at the haj.

Pakistan Militant Group Builds Web of Western Recruits - Sebastian Rotella (Los Angeles Times)
For years, Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistani extremist group suspected in the Mumbai rampage, has actively recruited Westerners, especially Britons and Americans, serving as a kind of farm team for Islamic militants who have gone on to execute attacks for al-Qaeda, a close ally.
The Pakistani network makes its training camps accessible to English speakers, providing crucial skills to an increasingly young and Western-born generation of extremists.

PA Accuses Al-Jazeera of Favoring Hamas - Khaled Abu Toameh (Jerusalem Post)
The PA has banned Al-Jazeera from Mahmoud Abbas' compound in Ramallah after the TV station failed to carry a live broadcast of a speech by Abbas to the PLO Central Council. Instead, the station broadcast live from Damascus, where Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal was addressing a conference of radical groups.
PA officials accused Al-Jazeera of being biased in favor of Hamas, noting that this was not the first time that the station had served as a platform for Hamas and other radical Islamic groups.
Seven Palestinian reporters have been arrested by Abbas' security forces in the past few months for allegedly expressing sympathy with Hamas.

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Fair Use News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:

* Iran Rejects Obama's "Carrot-and-Stick" Proposal - Nasser Karimi
Iran on Monday rejected a proposal by President-elect Barack Obama that a combination of economic incentives and tighter sanctions might persuade the Iranian government to change its behavior. Obama told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday that the international community could develop a set of incentives that would persuade Iran to alter its nuclear program.
But Iran has rejected past offers of economic incentives by the international community in exchange for scaling back its nuclear activities, a sentiment echoed Monday by Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hasan Qashqavi. "The carrot-and-stick policy has no benefit," Qashqavi said. "It is unacceptable and failed." He reiterated Iran's refusal to suspend enrichment and said the U.S. must recognize Iran's "nuclear right" before the country would dispel concerns about its program. (AP/Washington Post)
* U.S. Oil Firm Sidesteps Sanctions on Iran - Farah Stockman
In the oil fields of Iran, a 2,000-pound drilling tool, called the azimuthal density neutron tool, probes deep under the earth for fresh supplies of crude, the lifeblood of one of the most formidable foes of the U.S. While helping to enrich Iran's economy, the drilling tool also presents a potential risk to American security, were it to fall into the wrong hands. It is powered by a radioactive chemical that scientists say could fuel a so-called "dirty bomb," capable of spreading radiation across many city blocks.
The tool is the type of sophisticated technology that the U.S. has sought for 13 years to prevent from reaching Iran, a country the U.S. government says is financing terrorism with its oil profits. But the device - developed by the oil-services firm Schlumberger in labs in Connecticut and Texas - was brought to Iran through a legal loophole that allows multinational corporations to use foreign subsidiaries to sidestep U.S. sanctions, according to a Boston Globe investigation. Scientists say that if the five curies of americium-241 used in Schlumberger's tool were to be lost or stolen, the material could be combined with TNT to create a crude nuclear device known as a "dirty bomb" that could contaminate an area of many city blocks. (Boston Globe)
* Nuclear Watchdog Head Calls Efforts Against Iran "a Failure" - Borzou Daragahi
The chief of the world's nuclear weapons watchdog organization considers five years of U.S. and international efforts to rein in Iran's nuclear ambitions a failure, as Tehran moves ever closer to obtaining the means to develop weapons of mass destruction. "We haven't really moved one inch toward addressing the issues," said Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency. "I think so far the policy has been a failure." (Los Angeles Times)
* After Israel Objects, Qatar Gives Up Plan for Aid Shipment to Gaza - Dion Nissenbaum
Israel has prodded Qatar, a friendly Persian Gulf nation, into calling off a delegation preparing to transport aid from Cyprus to Gaza. Israel urged Qatar officials to send any Gaza-bound aid via Israel, Israeli government officials said. "The message was delivered, not only to them, but to anybody else that wanted to transfer aid to Gaza, that there is a mechanism on how to do it," said Andy David, a spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry. Israeli officials say they will allow supplies to enter Gaza if and when Hamas prevents Palestinian militants from firing rockets and mortars into southern Israel. (McClatchy)
See also Police Seize Israeli Arab Boat Ahead of Gaza Sail
A boat scheduled to leave Jaffa port on Sunday with several Arab Knesset members and sail to Gaza was seized by the Israel Police early Sunday. (Ynet News)

News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:

* EU Votes to Upgrade Israel Relations - Barak Ravid
The EU's 27 foreign ministers unanimously approved upgrading relations with Israel on Monday, despite vigorous efforts by the PA and Egypt to thwart the move. The first expression of this decision will be a meeting between Israel's prime minister and all the leaders of the EU member states in Brussels this April. In addition, Israel's foreign minister will start meeting three times a year with all 27 EU foreign ministers.
Israel and the EU will also conduct a strategic dialogue on issues such as the peace process, the Iranian threat, counterterrorism and organized crime. Separately, the ministers decided to shelve a proposed action plan for the peace process in 2009, in response to an Israeli request. In addition, the EU pledged to help Israel integrate into UN agencies and to include Israeli experts in EU peacekeeping forces. (Ha'aretz)
* Israel Pardons 45 More Fatah Terrorists - Ali Waked
Israel granted full pardon on Sunday to another group of 45 men belonging to Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. The gesture, made in the framework of last year's amnesty agreement between Israel and the PA, was finalized at a meeting of Israeli and Palestinian officials. (Ynet News)
* Abbas: Israel Never Prevented Palestinians from Making Haj Pilgrimage Like Hamas Does
PA leader Mahmoud Abbas accused Hamas of preventing thousands of Palestinians from making the annual haj pilgrimage to Mecca, Israel Radio reported Saturday. Abbas told reporters in Mecca that Israel had never once prevented Palestinians from making the holy visit. Palestinians wishing to travel to Saudi Arabia through Egypt were not given permits. (Jerusalem Post)

Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):

* Israel's New UN Envoy Sees Cracks in Arab Animosity
Gabriela Shalev, Israel's first woman ambassador to the UN, sees cracks in the longstanding Arab cold shoulder and animosity directed at the Jewish state. When the U.S. and British ambassadors gave lunches in her honor and asked who to invite, Shalev said, "I always asked for the Palestinian observer (Riyad Mansour) - he's very nice and we're friends, more than colleagues - the Jordanian ambassador and the ambassador from Oman." "It's easier for me to connect to them than some of the other ambassadors," she added. "We have a lot in common. I can approach them in Arabic."
At a dinner for new ambassadors, Shalev said Turkey's UN envoy deliberately sat her next to the ambassador from one of the "not so moderate Arab countries," which she refused to identify. "We had a wonderful talk all through the evening," she said. "We talked about peace and the Middle East. We found a lot of things in common." Two days later, Shalev said she saw the ambassador at the UN. "He nodded his head, and he was not as nice and friendly as the evening, and I understand it. Maybe people are watching."
Shalev had some advice for President-elect Obama: Leave the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations to the parties themselves. "We have to deal with our own problems without any pressure - not of the UN, not of the U.S., but it should be bilateral between the parties." (AP/International Herald Tribune)
* Media Ignore Militants' Muslim Identity - Mark Steyn
In the assault on Bombay, much of the media abandoned offending formulations - "Islamic terrorists," "Muslim extremists" - and found it easier to call the perpetrators "militants" or "gunmen" or "teenage gunmen." The veteran British TV anchor Jon Snow opted for the more cryptic "practitioners." At the Habad House, the murdered Jews were described in almost all the Western media as "ultra-Orthodox," "ultra" in this instance being less a term of theological precision than a generalized code for "strange, weird people, nothing against them personally, but they probably shouldn't have been over there in the first place." Are they stranger or weirder than their killers?
The New York Times was being silly in suggesting this was just an "accidental" hostage opportunity - and not just because, when Muslim terrorists capture Jews it's not a hostage situation, it's a mass murder-in-waiting. The sole surviving "militant" revealed that the Jewish center had been targeted a year in advance. (Washington Times)

Observations:

Arab Peace Initiative Can Be a Starting Point, Not a Diktat - Ron Prosor (Guardian-UK)

* It is important to realize that the Arab peace initiative cannot be seen as a "take it or leave it" offer. It cannot serve as a diktat, or replace the need for bilateral negotiations, on both the Palestinian and Syrian tracks. The plan is an interesting starting point for negotiations, but the international community should be under no illusions. Elements of the text are a cause for grave concern as regards the survivability of the State of Israel.
* The demand that Palestinians should be able to relocate to areas inside the borders of the State of Israel jeopardizes Israel's very existence. It is difficult to understand why Palestinians, having created a state of their own, would subsequently insist on sending their own people to the Jewish state.
* Israel's concern over the future of Jerusalem should also not be underestimated. From time immemorial, Jerusalem has been the eternal capital of the Jewish people, and will always remain so. The 1967 borders might provide a reference point for negotiations, but the demographic realities and security concerns of Israel's population must be taken into account.
* The Saudis, Kuwaitis and other Gulf states could do more to encourage the Palestinians towards compromise. Instead of perpetuating unattainable fantasies that have long held back the Palestinian cause, they should help their Palestinian brethren set realistic, attainable goals.
* Three realities must be acknowledged: Israel exists, Israel belongs, and recognizing Israel would be to the benefit of every Arab society. Everyone in the region with the ability to promote this understanding must be urged to do so.

The writer is the Israeli ambassador in Londo

From the Consulate

2008-12-07T06:52:00.001-08:00

Israel Update
Consulate General of Israel to the Midwest
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Chanukah Party presented by Club 1948 - Featuring J.Viewz
Israeli Study Improves Doctors' Reports
Stiller, Rock, Braff enjoy Israel
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David Ben Gurion's Vision & Reality: 60 Years Later
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Mumbai Victims Remembered at Memorial Service in Skokie

Mumbai memorialMumbai memorial
More than 1,000 people gathered at the Holiday Inn in Skokie Wednesday night, December 4, to pay tribute to the victims of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India last week.

Speakers included Rabbi Gedaliah Dov Schwartz, head of the Beit Din (Rabbinical Court) of the Chicago Rabbinical Council (CRC); Rabbi Daniel Moscowitz, regional director of Lubavitch Chabad of Illinois; Dr. Steven B. Nasatir, president of the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago and Deputy Consul General of the Consulate General of Israel to the Midwest, Gershon Kedar.

The following are excerpts from the speech of Gershon Kedar:

"Israel has shown that the most decisive and effective response to terrorism is not deterrence, for how can terrorists willing to commit suicide be deterred? But rather through a pro active synergy of both defensive and pre-emptive activities with intelligence gathering at its heart. And Israel is, of course, ready to share her expertise with all other countries facing scourge of terror.

But it is also poignant to ponder how each and every one of us can meaningfully respond to terrorism. And the appropriate response comes from the very values cherished by the victims themselves--- Life, respect for every human being, love for every fellow Jew and above all Jewish unity. This is what the terrorists wanted to snuff out, but the deaths of the victims command us to promote these values even more. The terrorists want to destroy- we will answer through "tikkun olam."

Terrorists want us to live in continual fear, but we refuse...And we will all carry on celebrating life, and later this month on Chanukah, we will, with the help of Chabad, publicize the victory of light over darkness all around the world."

Read the full text of the speech by clicking here.

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Ministry of Foreign Affairs website - Click for the latest news, official statements, videos, and presentations relating to the current conflict as well as views of the Israel behind the headlines.
Israel and the Palestinian Authority

Economic Surge for Palestinians in West Bank - Yaakov Katz (Jerusalem Post)

There has been an economic surge in the West Bank in the past year, according to an internal Israel Defense Ministry Civil Administration report obtained on Monday. Palestinian unemployment has dropped 3% since the beginning of the year, while average daily wages are up 24%. In addition, since the beginning of the year, the IDF has removed 113 roadblocks and dirt mounds throughout the West Bank, enabling easier travel between Palestinian cities.
The value of the olive harvest jumped from NIS 200 million in 2007 to NIS 517.5 million in 2008. There was also a 10% increase in the number of workers employed in settlements, as well as a 10% increase in permits issued for Palestinians working in Israel.
Intriguing Israeli Study Shows Photos Help Improve Doctors' Reports

Patient Photos Aid Docs Reading Faceless CT Scans (AP)
Imagine sitting in a dark room all day, evaluating CT scans and other medical images on a computer screen but never actually seeing real patients. That's life for many radiologists.

But an intriguing Israeli study found adding photos of patients' faces to the file made these doctors more meticulous when looking at the X-rays. They reported more details and said they felt more empathy for patients who were otherwise strangers.

Adding patients' photos is a simple, low-tech way to reap rewards for both doctors and their patients, the researchers concluded.

The study involved 15 radiologists at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem and 318 patients who agreed to be photographed before undergoing CT scans. The color photos appeared automatically when the doctors opened the patients' computer files.
Entertainment

Hollywood Actors Say They Love Israel

Zach Braff
'Scrubs' star Zach Braff falls in love with Tel Aviv

Ruta Kupfer (Haaretz)
Braff says that when you come here (Israel), "you just feel this amazing sense of community. We hear so much about Israel and politics with the Palestinians and you feel so separate from it. So I really wanted to see for myself." He says he was "lucky" to be able to come and see things firsthand and to talk to Israelis. "As a Jew I think it's really important to come to this place. There is such a tremendous sense of community, tremendous bond for obvious reasons. I don't know if Israelis have a sense of it because they live here, but I love it."

Chris Rock and Ben Stiller Enjoy visit to Israel
BenStiller,ChrisRock
U.S. film producer Jeffrey Katzenberg, left, U.S. actor Ben Stiller, second from left, U.S. actress Jada Pinkett Smith, second from right, and U.S. actor Chris Rock, right, in Israel to attend the Israeli Premier of "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa". (AP Photo)

Actor Chris Rock says Israel is better than Hollywood. Ben Stiller agrees.The two Hollywood stars were in Israel for the premiere of their latest movie, "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa." The premiere was in the coastal Israeli city of Netanya on Saturday. Stiller says it's a good place to roll out a new movie. He said, "This is better than any premiere we have had so far."
Rock expanded on that. He said, "It's much better than Hollywood. They don't like us in Hollywood, but here they love us."

Why Israelis mourn Mumbai

2008-12-05T06:26:00.001-08:00

http://www.tnr.com/images/single_line.gif

Jerusalem, Israel

Gavriel and Rivkie Holtzberg, the young Israeli couple who ran the Chabad
House in Mumbai and were murdered there by jihadists, died bound and
helpless, like those Jewish martyrs disparaged for their quietism by the
Zionist ethos. Ultra-Orthodox Jews, the Holtzbergs never served in the
Israeli army--yet when they were buried on Tuesday, Israeli society mourned
as though they were fallen soldiers. When their coffins arrived at
Ben-Gurion Airport, they were draped in the national flag. Israeli leaders,
including President Shimon Peres, who doesn't usually attend the funerals of
terror victims, came to the Holtzbergs' funeral. When I came into work that
morning, I found the young woman in the room beside mine weeping.

The devastating scene of the Holtzbergs' surviving two-year-old son, Moishe,
calling out for his mother during a memorial service, was repeatedly shown
on TV. But Israelis weren't only mourning the destruction of the Holtzberg
family; they were mourning the loss of national heroes. Newspaper accounts
recalled how Gavriel bribed prison guards in India to smuggle in wine for
Shabbat to an Israeli inmate held on drug charges. Even after they lost a
child to Tay-Sachs disease, the Holtzbergs insisted on remaining at their
post--to continue, as Gavriel explained, "to do mitzvas," fulfill the
commandment to help their fellow Jews.

In embracing the Holtzbergs, Israelis were restoring to the national ethos
the old concept of kiddush hashem, religious martrydom--confirming a process
that began with the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The iconic image of that war was a
photograph of a religious soldier being led into Egyptian activity as he
carried a Torah scroll. That image was so jarring precisely because it cast
an Israeli soldier in the role of a pre-Zionist model of heroism. Since
then, all our wars have ended inconclusively, expressions of the limitations
of power. The more nuanced Israeli attitudes toward heroism are reflected in
Jerusalem's renovated Yad Vashem Holocaust museum, which now not only extols
the secular heroes, like partisans and ghetto fighters, but also those who
responded to dehumanization by maintaining their religious dignity, running
underground schools and prayer groups.

=250x250;ptile=2;kw=ron;kw=politics;kw=tnr;ord=82510960?>

Since the Mumbai massacre, there have been calls here for the Israeli
government to subsidize security at Chabad houses across the globe, seen by
Israelis as extensions of home. "Our Chabad," summed up one headline on an
Israeli news web site. The warmth with which so many Israelis have responded
to Chabad proves--along with the growing popularity of prayer lyrics in
Israeli rock music and of informal "secular" prayer groups spreading in Tel
Aviv and elsewhere--that large parts of Israeli society may be entering a
post-secular phase.

Still, it is doubtful the country would have reacted with the same emotional
intensity had the Holtzbergs been ordinary ultra-Orthodox Jews rather than
Chabadniks. Mainstream Israelis resent ultra-Orthodox Jews for separating
from the state and its obligations even as they demand that it subsidize
their separatism. Chabad neither separates nor demands, but gives. Israelis
encounter Chabad's embrace most often abroad. When our young people just out
of the army travel the most remote corners of the world (because military
service doesn't provide enough dangers and thrills), they invariably
encounter a Chabad house.

Israelis also love Chabadniks for their courage: Rivkie and Gavriel weren't
yet buried when Rivkie's father announced his intention of taking over their
work in the Mumbai Chabad house. Though few Chabadniks are drafted into the
army, they don't avoid danger zones: Chabad activists rush to the front
lines during war, providing religious services and dancing with soldiers to
raise morale. One friend told me about her sister who was serving in a
border post so sensitive that a visitor required special permission from the
general in command of the front: "And then who shows up on Hanukah with
jelly donuts? Chabadniks."

Contrast Chabad's embrace of the Israeli ethos with ultra-Orthodox
anti-Zionists--one of whom, Leibish Teitelbaum, a member of the Satmar
hasidic sect, was killed in Mumbai. Teitelbaum's family demanded that his
coffin not be draped in the Israeli flag, even though his body had been
retrieved and flown home by the Israeli government--a reminder that Jewish
anti-Zionism is less an ideology than a character flaw, a lack of capacity
for gratitude. Chabad defines itself by its love for every Jew; the
anti-Zionists define themselves by the Jews they despise.

Israeli society reciprocated the Teitelbaums' contempt, barely noting that
other funeral. Watching the mutual estrangement that even a common Jewish
death couldn't heal, it felt like one of those moments in Jewish history
when schismatic sects evolve into separate faiths.

Israelis know Chabad's flaws--the cars mounted with the late Rebbe's
photograph and the words "Welcome King Messiah," the replicas built around
Israel of the Rebbe's house in Brooklyn, complete with red bricks chipped in
all the original places. And also Chabad's hardline politics: There was no
territorial compromise, including Israel's withdrawal from Sinai in 1982,
that Chabad didn't vehemently oppose. But many Israelis overlook the
messianic looniness and the political rigidity because they crave a
connection with a form of traditional Judaism that loves them
unconditionally. And though it's rare in Israel's grudging public discourse
to express gratitude, this week at least, Israelis offered Chabad that same
unconditional love in return.

Yossi Klein Halevi is a contributing editor at The New Republic and a senior
fellow at the Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies of the Shalem Center
in Jerusalem.

Aipac update

2008-12-03T15:31:00.001-08:00

www.aipac.org December 3, 2008
Hamas Rockets Strike Gaza Energy Source
Report: Palestinian Economy Improving
Israel Mourns Victims of Mumbai Massacre, Offers Aid
Lawmaker Supports Obama's Call for Ban on Sale of Gas to Iran
Palestinian Authority Considers West Bank State
Israelis Pioneer Laser Treatment for Sealing Wounds

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Photo
Hamas Rockets Strike Gaza Energy Source
Hamas rockets slammed into southern Israel on Wednesday, damaging a power cable transferring electricity to the Gaza Strip, the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported. Wednesday's barrage was the latest in a string of more than 200 rocket and mortar attacks fired from Gaza. Israeli military sources also noted an upsurge in Hamas activity along the Gaza-Israel border, where terrorist cells have planted explosive devices. Though a fragile calm had taken hold along the Gaza border in recent months, Hamas terrorists in the coastal strip have overseen a massive arms buildup and are again using the territory as a base for launching attacks at the Jewish state. Click here to learn about Hamas' terrorist activity in Gaza.
Report: Palestinian Economy Improving
According to a new report by Israel's Ministry of Defense, the Palestinian economy in the West Bank has improved dramatically over the past year, The Jerusalem Post reported. Ministry statistics show a three percent drop in Palestinian unemployment, a 24 percent increase in daily wages, olive harvest revenue jumping more than 150 percent, a 10 percent increase in Palestinians working in Israeli settlements and a 10 percent increase in work permits for Palestinians in Israel. The report, which incorporated data from the Palestinian Authority and the United Nations, attributes much of the improvements to recent concerted efforts by Israel to improve conditions in the West Bank. The report also credits increased cooperation between the Israel and Palestinian Authority to fight terrorist elements such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Israel Mourns Victims of Mumbai Massacre, Offers Aid
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert thanked his Indian counterparts on Sunday for their cooperation and care for Jewish and Israeli hostages during last week's deadly Mumbai terrorist attacks, the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported. Olmert said Israel had provided intelligence assistance and offered aid to Indian authorities in the aftermath of the attacks. "Last week marked one of the worse acts of terror ever to take place in India," Olmert said. "The images of the Jewish victims and the horrific sight of the Chabad house managers wrapped in prayer shawls are shocking and take us back to images from history that we hoped wouldn't repeat themselves. But it seems that the hatred of Jews and Israelis is what spurs these horrible deeds." Some 180 people were massacred in the Mumbai rampage. Seven people, Americans and Israelis among them, were killed at the city's Chabad House, a Jewish center targeted by the assailants.
Lawmaker Supports Obama's Call for Ban on Sale of Gas to Iran
Echoing President-elect Barack Obama, a leading Republican senator has called on the United States to press for an international ban on the sale of gasoline to Iran, a move that would affect Iran's economy immediately. "Iran has vulnerabilities susceptible to pressure from the United States and its allies and we must exploit them before it is too late," Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) wrote in an op-ed. "As an example, despite Iran's tremendous crude oil reserves, it relies on huge volumes of imported gasoline to meet its domestic demand. The Iranian government then subsidizes this gasoline for the Iranian people." Kyl noted that sanctioning Iran in this manner has received the endorsement of President-elect Obama, and would constitute "a possibly game changing dislocation to Iran's economy. Learn more about Iran's dangerous behavior.
Palestinian Authority Considers West Bank State
Top Palestinian negotiator Maen Areikat has indicated that the Palestinian Authority would be willing to establish a Palestinian state in the West Bank alone until the terrorist group Hamas gives up control of the Gaza Strip, The Washington Times reported. "We would prefer to see a situation where there is national unity," Areikat said. "But if we don't agree, the PLO is mandated to continue negotiations." Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in a violent coup in June 2007, faces international isolation until it recognizes Israel, renounces terrorism and accepts previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements.
Israelis Pioneer Laser Treatment for Sealing Wounds
A team of Israeli researchers has developed a new technique to allow surgeons to seal incisions by laser, with less scarring and less exposure to infection, the Web site Israel 21c reported. The new technique, developed by Prof. Abraham Katzir and a team from Tel Aviv University's Applied Physics Group, is called laser-welding. When the laser begins to overheat and risks burning the tissue, the device reduces laser power, and if the temperature is too low to complete a closure, laser power is increased appropriately. "Sutures or stitches are not water tight, and blood or urine can pass through cuts, causing severe infection," Katzir said. Israel has long been at the forefront of developing new and innovative medical techniques.

Iran Inflitrates USA

2008-12-02T13:23:00.001-08:00

A series of talks on a serious subject: radical Islam's infiltration of American culture, finance, education and life.
http://tinyurl.com/6ojnbk

From Richard Baehr

2008-12-02T13:21:00.001-08:00

Daniel Kurtzer is now rumored to be in line to be the Middle East envoy in the Obama administration . Bad choice I think. Kurtzer is an Orthodox Jew but that does not mean he is not wrong about almost everything when it comes to this conflict. Ed Lasky, in his usual thorough manner, examined Kurtzer's latest book on the subject.
http://tinyurl.com/6rxgpu

6. What recession? With tighter security controls in place (the IDF), the economy is growing rapidly in the West Bank. The picture is different in Gaza.
http://tinyurl.com/6pxsyb
http://tinyurl.com/6m382u

Daily Alert Nov. 28 2008

2008-11-28T14:42:00.001-08:00

Prepared for the
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
View this page at www.dailyalert.org
Subscribe
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DAILY ALERT

Friday,
November 28, 2008
To contact the Presidents Conference:
click here

In-Depth Issues:

Behind Mumbai's Terrorist Attacks - Fareed Zakaria (Newsweek)
One misconception is the assumption that these attacks were aimed primarily at foreigners. Look at their targets.
The two hotels they attacked - the Taj and the Oberoi - are old, iconic Indian hotels. It used to be true that these places were affordable only by Westerners, but today they are filled with Indian businessmen.
If the aim was to hit Americans or other Westerners, the big American chains all have hotels there, and there are many more distinctly American targets.
One of the untold stories of India is that the Muslim population has not shared in the boom the country has enjoyed over the last ten years. There's enough alienation out there that there are locals who can be drawn in to plots.
That tends to be a pattern, from Madrid to Casablanca to Bali - some hard-core jihadis who indoctrinate alienated locals they can seduce.
The writer, a Mumbai native, is editor of Newsweek International.

Syria and the Nuclear Cops - Editorial (Wall Street Journal)
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed last week that it had discovered a "significant number" of chemically processed uranium particles at a suspected Syrian nuclear site destroyed last year by Israel.
The IAEA also reported that satellite images of the site taken prior to its destruction had the markings of a nuclear reactor.
So what did IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei do with this information? Why, urge the approval of a Syrian request for a $350,000 feasibility study for a new reactor.
See also IAEA Chief: Will Confront Syria with Imagery of Suspect Site (AFP)
The UN atomic watchdog hopes to confront Syria soon with satellite imagery of a suspect nuclear site bombed by Israeli planes last year, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei said Thursday.
The UN says the remote desert site, Al-Kibar, had been a covert nuclear reactor close to completion.
See also Nuclear Chief "Baffled" as Syria Site Photos Disappear (Irish Examiner)

Israeli Surgeons Weld Wounds Shut with Surgical Laser - Judy Siegel (Jerusalem Post)
A team of applied physicists at Tel Aviv University led by Prof. Abraham Katzir have developed an efficient and safe way to close incisions.
Katzir and his team use a technique called "laser welding" in which biological glue is smeared on the two sides of the incision.
Then a laser warms it at the correct temperature to create a hard "shell" that protects the wound and allows it to heal.
They use a temperature-controlled carbon dioxide laser and special silver halide optical fibers to prevent overheating and burns.

Introducing Israel Studies in U.S. Universities - Interview with Mitchell Bard by Manfred Gerstenfeld (Institute for Global Jewish Affairs)
The anti-Israeli activism on college campuses during the Second Intifada created the incentive among the American Jewish philanthropic community to promote education and scholarship on Israel at universities.
The first two centers for Israel Studies were established in 1998, their initiators driven by the concept that it was important to teach American students about modern Israel.
Israel Studies remained largely neglected, however, until 2004. Since then it has rapidly grown.
There are at present nine Israel Studies centers throughout the U.S. By the end of 2008 about 15 chairs in Israel Studies will have been endowed.
The program for visiting professors from Israel started in 2004-2005 and, in the current academic year, has 27 such scholars teaching on 26 campuses.
See also U. of California to Reopen Study-Abroad Program in Israel - Josh Keller (Chronicle of Higher Education)
The University of California announced on Tuesday that it would end its six-year suspension of study-abroad programs in Israel, and would reopen a program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem next year.

For Researchers: Search the Daily Alert Archive
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This invaluable Internet resource documents the recent history of Israel and the Middle East.
See also israelresearch.org
Insider information on Israel's national security issues - filtered, sifted, and stored for easy retrieval - from the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

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Fair Use News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:

* Indian Commandos Storm Jewish Center in Mumbai - Keith Bradsher and Somini Sengupta
Indian commandos Friday morning stormed the Habad Jewish center that had been seized by terrorists during a coordinated series of attacks on Mumbai. While many of the targets seemed to indicate a focus on tourists and Westerners, most of the victims were Indians. The gunmen appear to have come ashore at the Sassoon Docks, not far from the Leopold Cafe, one of the first places struck Wednesday night. They moved on to the train station, then opened fire on Cama and Albless Hospital. At one point, the gunmen hijacked a police vehicle and opened fire near the Metro Cinema. (New York Times)
See also Cool and Composed, They Killed and Killed - Randeep Ramesh, Duncan Campbell and Paul Lewis (Guardian-UK)
* 10-20 Israelis Among Mumbai Hostages
"There are between 10 to 20 Israeli nationals being held hostage, but it could be more," said Eli Belotsercovsky, deputy chief of mission at the Israeli embassy in New Delhi. (AFP)
See also Brooklyn Rabbi and Israeli Wife Caught in Attacks - Fernanda Santos
In 2003, Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka, moved from Brooklyn to Mumbai, India, to manage a mix of educational center, synagogue and social hall known as a Habad house, one of about 3,500 outposts around the world run by the Lubavitch Hasidic movement. The place soon became a year-round magnet for Israeli backpackers, Jewish businessmen and tourists, as well as for the Iraqi and Indian Jews who live there. Mrs. Holtzberg served visitors coffee and homemade kosher delicacies. Rabbi Holtzberg always offered a helping hand to someone who was sick or stranded. On Wednesday, the Holtzbergs' Habad house became the target of terrorist gunmen. Firing grenades and automatic weapons, the men took the Holtzbergs and at least six other people hostage. (New York Times)
See also India: Holtzberg Toddler Reunites with Grandparents - Hagai Einav
Shimon and Yehudit Rosenberg, the parents of Rivka Holtzberg, who with her husband Gavriel run the Habad center in Mumbai, arrived in India from Israel on Friday morning and were reunited with their two-year-old grandson, Moshe Tzvi, who was rescued from the house the day before by Sandra Samuel, an Indian cook at Habad house. (Ynet News)
* Canada Leads in Pushing UN Censure of Iran - Paul Lungen
A resolution that Canada spearheaded censuring Iran for violations of human rights passed in a UN General Assembly committee last week. The resolution accuses Iran of "torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including flogging and amputations." It criticizes Iran for executing juveniles, killing people by stoning, and discriminating against women and girls. It also calls on Iran to end human rights violations affecting religious and ethnic minorities, among them Jews, Christians, Kurds, Arabs, Sunni Muslims and, in particular, Baha'is. The resolution was co-sponsored by 42 mostly European and North American democracies, plus Israel, Fiji and Micronesia. Seventy members of the General Assembly's Third Committee voted in favor of the motion. (Canadian Jewish News)
See also Iran Furious at Peace Plan Advert Bearing Its Flag and Israel's - Ian Black
Iran has angrily dissociated itself from Arab and Islamic attempts to publicize an offer to make peace with and recognize Israel. Officials in Tehran are furious that the Iranian flag appeared on an advertisement, published in the Guardian and other papers, promoting the Saudi-brokered initiative. The Iranian embassy in London protested that the Islamic Republic objects "to any move taken by some Arab countries to push the recognition of the occupying Zionist regime in any manner." (Guardian-UK)

News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:

* Palestinian Rocket Hits House on Kibbutz - Shmulik Hadad
Palestinians in Gaza fired a Kassam rocket Thursday evening that damaged a house in a kibbutz in southern Israel. Tami Tuchman, 61, whose home was damaged, said she had fled with her dog to their family's bomb shelter when the Color Red rocket alert system sounded at the kibbutz. (Ynet News)
* Hamas Weakening in West Bank - Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel
The achievements of Mahmoud Abbas and Salam Fayyad over the past year and a half, in making the West Bank a much more bearable place to live, cannot be ignored. In Jenin, Nablus and Hebron, armed militants are no longer on the streets, and the general atmosphere of anarchy has faded. And while the economic situation isn't great, it's immeasurably better than in Gaza, under Hamas. Israeli defense sources confirm that PA security forces are close to crushing Hamas' military infrastructure in the West Bank. Hamas has also drastically reduced its money transfers to its charity organizations in the West Bank, fearing the PA will get its hands on the money. (Ha'aretz)
* Jerusalem Symposium Discusses Scandinavian Anti-Semitism - Cnaan Liphshiz
"Norway is the most anti-Semitic country in Scandinavia," Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld, a scholar of Western European anti-Semitism, told a discussion on Scandinavian anti-Semitism and Israel-hatred hosted on Tuesday by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. Gerstenfeld presented cartoons from the Norwegian mainstream press and noted, "There is something wrong with a society which is willing to accept these Nazi cartoons. With a Jewish population of only 1,300, Norway has led the pack in anti-Semitism before, during and after WWII." Zvi Mazel, a former ambassador to Sweden, spoke of a "deep-rooted" anti-Semitism in Sweden, while Dr. Efraim Zuroff, director of the Wiesenthal Center in Israel - which co-sponsored the event - addressed Norway and Sweden's failure to prosecute Nazi war criminals. (Ha'aretz)

Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):

Terror Attacks in India

* Mumbai Attacks Suggest Outside Help - Craig Whitlock and Karen DeYoung
Counterterrorism officials and experts said the scale, sophistication and targets involved in the Mumbai attacks were markedly different from previous terrorist plots in India and suggested the gunmen had received training from outside the country. "This is a new, horrific milestone in the global jihad," said Bruce Riedel, a former analyst for the CIA and National Security Council. "No indigenous Indian group has this level of capability." Several analysts and officials said the attacks bore the hallmarks of Lashkar-i-Taiba and Jaish-i-Muhammad, two networks of Muslim extremists from Pakistan that have targeted India before. The Hindu newspaper reported Friday that at least three of the suspects held by police were members of Lashkar-i-Taiba. (Washington Post)
* India: Homegrown Terror or International Jihad? - Benedetta Berti
India is reeling from the worst series of terrorist attacks in its history. The Deccan Mujahideen, which claimed responsibility, is apparently linked with the Indian Mujahideen (IM), a splinter group of the outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). In the past six months, four IM attacks in major Indian cities claimed the lives of over 140 people. IM's previous attacks consisted of a series of coordinated, simultaneous blasts aimed at causing the highest number of casualties. A senior officer of the Indian Police Service, briefing parliament on the group's September 2008 attack in Delhi, stated: "This group...doesn't attack parliament or police stations. They go directly for maximum chaos and maximum financial damage." Following the Delhi blasts, the IM threatened to hit Mumbai in its next operation.
The highly coordinated and planned nature of the attacks, as well as the terrorists' modus operandi, also suggest the existence of a strong international connection between IM and international as well as regional terrorist groups. The Mumbai operation was qualitatively more sophisticated and deadly and shared several characteristics of al-Qaeda's operational strategy: the choice of targets, the deliberate decision to kill the maximum number of Western citizens, the simultaneous use of suicide missions, as well as hostage-taking. Thus, it is clear that the terrorist organization has received assistance and backing from al-Qaeda-affiliated organizations and has adopted an international jihadist agenda. The writer is a Neubauer Doctoral Fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University. (Jerusalem Post)
* How Not to Deal with Militant Islam - Sadanand Dhume
Over the past four years, Islamist groups have struck in New Delhi, Jaipur, Bangalore and Ahmedabad, among other places. The death toll from terrorism - not counting those killed in Mumbai - stands at over 4,000. India's failure to protect Mumbai offers a textbook example for fellow democracies on how not to deal with militant Islam. The country's antiterrorism effort is reactive and episodic rather than proactive and sustained. Its public discourse on Islam oscillates between crude, anti-Muslim bigotry and mindless sympathy for largely unjustified Muslim grievance-mongering. Finally, India's inability to modernize its 150-million strong Muslim population has spawned a community susceptible to militant Islam's faith-based appeal. (Wall Street Journal)

Other Issues

* Sanctions? What Sanctions? German-Iranian Trade Booms - Matthias Kuntzel
While the U.S. reacts to reports that Iran had enriched enough uranium for a nuclear weapon with concern and calls for tighter sanctions, in Germany it is business as usual. On Thursday, many of the leading lights of German-Iranian trade gathered at a conference in Hamburg on "Iran Sanctions: Practical Consequence for German Firms" to discuss how further to promote German business with Iran. "Even in these difficult times" the conference announcement states, the Chamber of Commerce wants to "support" German firms "developing markets in Iran." "We would be delighted if we could thus contribute to the success of your business with Iran."
One speaker was Norbert Eisenmenger, managing director of the European-Iranian Commerce Bank. As its latest report notes, the bank closed out 2007 "with record earnings yet again." "Net profit doubled...the volume of transactions increased by 35%." The topic "Financing Iranian Business Deals" was covered by Sabine Hummerich, representing Bank Melli Iran, which is fully-owned by the Iranian regime. The 2007-2008 report of Bank Melli's German subsidiary in Hamburg notes that net income increased by 33% over the previous year. In June 2008, the EU placed sanctions on Bank Melli. (Pajamas Media)
See also Berlin Loves Iran - Editorial
As Europe's largest exporter to Iran, Germany has unique leverage over that regime. But Berlin refuses to use it, unwilling to go beyond the relatively soft UN trade restrictions. German exports to Iran are up 14% in the first seven months of this year, according to Germany's Federal Statistical Office. (Wall Street Journal)
* Terrorists Feel Exempt from International Law - David Altman
At the end of the Vietnam War, visiting PLO representatives congratulated the commander of the North Vietnamese army, General Vo Nguyen Giap, on his victory over the American superpower and asked him when he predicted terror organizations would be victorious over Israel. Gen. Giap answered: "Never! You will never be victorious due to lack of determination." Some believe this meeting represented a turning point in the development of Islamic terrorism, which began to educate its society in the sanctity of suicide and initiated the era of suicide terrorism, believing that the more people willing to prove their readiness to die for a cause, the greater the determination and the closer the victory.
Today, a new, different terror army is being developed, one that enjoys the advantages of feeling exempt from any international law or accountability. In addition, they handicap the power of their opponent through exploitation of the claims of internationally accepted values of human rights, correct treatment of prisoners of war, and prevention of harm to civilian populations - though none of these values apply to them, but only to their opponent. The writer is the senior vice president of Netanya Academic College and the deputy chair of the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Strategic Dialogue. (Jerusalem Post)
* Security Fence Makes Vast Difference to Life in Israel - Licia Corbella
Since the security fence was built, there have been no more suicide murders and no more sniping at children walking to and from school in Jerusalem. Khaled Abu Toameh, an Arab Muslim journalist who lives in Israel and writes for the Jerusalem Post, says life was unbearable and extremely dangerous before the fence was erected.
"It's very simple," explains the reporter who once worked for a PLO newspaper. "I live in Jerusalem. I have three children and I can tell you that for three years I was afraid to take my children to the shopping malls here in Jerusalem. For three years if you asked me to meet you in downtown Jerusalem, I would have refused and for three years I was afraid to stop my car at a red traffic light next to a bus because I didn't want to die in a suicide bombing. The suicide bombers killed both Jews and Arabs."
Today, Abu Toameh says he feels much safer and Jerusalem is a bustling city again, instead of the veritable ghost town it became for three years until the barrier was built. "Look, the wall is bad. I don't like walls....But let's be honest, what other choice did the Israelis have?" he asks. "If I were the Israeli authorities, I would write on the wall that this wall was made by Yasser Arafat and Hamas," said Abu Toameh. (Calgary Herald-Canada)

Observations:

The Starting Point for Peace - Lior Ben Dor (Guardian-UK)

* I read with great interest the Guardian's suggestion that president-elect Obama should "tear up" the 2004 letter from President Bush to Ariel Sharon regarding Israel's major settlement blocs within the West Bank (Editorial, Nov. 24). The future borders of the state of Israel will not be determined on the pages of this newspaper. Instead, they will be determined by negotiations between Israel and the legitimate leadership of the Palestinians.
* In 2005 Israel took the initiative as regards peace with the Palestinians by evacuating nearly 30 settlements, including every Jewish settlement in Gaza and more in the northern part of the West Bank. This process cost the Israeli taxpayer $2.5 billion and risked heightening tensions within Israeli society. However, Gaza became a launch pad for rocket attacks against Israeli citizens and terrorist action at our borders. This reality worsened still further after Hamas seized total control of Gaza in a bloody coup in 2007.
* The Israeli public overwhelmingly supports the concept of land for peace, if it brings the reward of greater security with a pragmatic, peaceful neighbor. Evacuation of settlements would be less popular, however, if the consequences are likely to be increased violence against Israel's citizens and the creation of a vacuum to be filled with extremist terror. The precedent of Gaza has increased the skepticism of the Israeli public towards similar arrangements in the West Bank.
* Thus while the 1967 borders are the natural starting point for negotiations, the demographic realities of Israel's population, and the understandable security concerns of the Israeli public, will need to be taken into account. These issues are on the agenda for any negotiated settlement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg

Syrian strike

2007-11-22T09:10:00.000-08:00

Report: IAF strike in Syria also targeted radar station

Aviation Week reports Israel's September strike on Syria targeted radar

station near Syrian-Turkish border. US supplied strategic information
but was not actively involved, says magazine
News Agencies

The United States provided Israel with strategic information about
the Syrian air defense systems prior to the Israeli Air Force strike on

a suspected nuclear site in Syria, the US based Aviation Week & Space
Technology magazine reported Thursday.

According to aerospace industry officials quoted in the report, the US
was monitoring the electronic emissions coming from Syria during the
IAF strike.

Tensions
'IDF aircraft didn't attack' / Ronny Sofer
Syrian minister admits it's unclear whether Israeli planes did anything

more than intervene in Syrian airspace; nonethless, another minister
warns of 'response to Israeli aggression'
Full story
The strike, said Aviation Week, targeted not only the suspected nuclear

reactor being developed at Dayr az-Zawr, but also a Syrian radar
station located at Tall al-Abuad, near the Syrian-Turkish border.

The Israeli fighter jets, reported the magazine, flew over Syria
without alerting Syrian air defenses.

The radar site was apparently hit with both precision bombs and an
electronic signal, which allowed IAF jets to fly through Syrian
airspace undetected.

The report stressed that there was "no active US engagement other than
consulting on potential target vulnerabilities."

The analysts quoted in the magazine said they didn't believe that any
part of Syria's electrical grid was shut down, but did contend that
network penetration involved both remote air-to-ground electronic
attack as well as penetration through computer-to-computer links.

"Offensive and defensive network warfare is one of the most interesting

new areas," said Pinchas Buchris, director-general of the Israeli
Defense Ministry. "I can only say we're following this technology
closely. I doubted this field five years ago, but we did it. Now
everything's changed.

"You need this kind of capability," added Buchris. "You're not being
responsible if you're not dealing with it; and if you can have this
kind of capability, than the sky's the limit."

DAILY ALERT Wednesday, Presidents Conference:

2007-11-21T07:52:00.000-08:00

DAILY ALERT Wednesday,
November 21, 2007

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To contact the Presidents Conference:
click here
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In-Depth Issues:

What Happened to Saddam's WMD? - Caroline Glick (Jerusalem Post)
Former federal prosecutor and the head of the non-governmental International Intelligence Summit, John Loftus, has released a report on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program, based on a private study of captured Iraqi documents.
As Loftus summarized, "Roughly one-quarter of Saddam's WMD was destroyed under UN pressure during the early to mid-1990s. Saddam sold approximately another quarter of his weapons stockpile to his Arab neighbors during the mid-to-late-1990s. The Russians insisted on removing another quarter in the last few months before the war."
"The last remaining WMD, the contents of Saddam's nuclear weapons labs, were still inside Iraq on the day when the coalition forces arrived in 2003. His nuclear weapons equipment was hidden in enormous underwater warehouses beneath the Euphrates River. Saddam's entire nuclear inventory was later stolen from these warehouses."
Loftus then cites Israeli sources who claim that the Iraqi nuclear program was transferred to Deir az Zour province in Syria. Israel reportedly destroyed a Syrian nuclear installation at Deir az Zour.

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

Israel Wants U.S. Security Coordinator Replaced - Herb Keinon and Yaakov Katz (Jerusalem Post)
Senior Israeli government sources said Sunday that Lt.-Gen. Keith Dayton, the U.S. security coordinator with the Palestinians, is ineffective and should be replaced.
Defense officials said that in June - when Hamas took over Gaza - Dayton had already proven that he had "failed" in his mission to strengthen the security forces loyal to Abbas.
"Fatah was overrun in Gaza within a matter of hours, despite having more men and weapons than Hamas," a senior defense official said. "Dayton was supposed to prevent that from happening."

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

NGO Calls to Investigate Torture by Palestinian Police in Gaza (Palestinian Center for Human Rights-Gaza)
A Fatah activist from Beit Hanoun, who was arrested on Nov. 13, stated: "A number of policemen... handcuffed me and covered my head with a sack. They... violently beat me using sticks, especially on my feet, for nearly half an hour. [At] Beit Hanoun Hospital... doctors asserted that I had sustained fractures to the feet."
An activist from Khan Yunis, who was arrested on Nov. 13, stated: "Policemen took me to the interrogation center. They handcuffed and blindfolded me. They then violently beat me."

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

West Bank University Halts Classes over Infighting - Khaled Abu Toameh (Jerusalem Post)
The Bir Zeit University administration decided Tuesday to suspend studies following clashes on campus between supporters of Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
Students said four men from the PFLP attacked a Fatah student in the dorms, wounding him seriously. The assailants used charcoal to burn the student's face. They also hammered nails into the victim's feet.

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

Useful Reference:

Text: UN Security Council Resolution 242 (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)
Forty years ago, on November 22, 1967, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 242, which has provided the main agreed basis for all of Israel's peace agreements with Egypt, Jordan, and the PA.

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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:

49 Parties Invited to Mideast Peace Talks Tuesday in Annapolis - Glenn Kessler
The State Department formally announced Tuesday that the U.S. has invited representatives of 49 countries and institutions - including Saudi Arabia and Syria - to sit down with Israelis and Palestinians in Annapolis on Tuesday in a conference designed to kick-start substantive peace talks in the region. The conference at the U.S. Naval Academy will be "a signal opportunity" to launch bilateral negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, Assistant Secretary C. David Welch said, after "a long period in which there have been no such negotiations."
The central goal is to persuade Saudi Arabia to send its foreign minister to Annapolis, the first time such a senior Saudi official would have joined in a gathering with Israelis. Bush weighed in with his own call to Saudi King Abdullah Tuesday. As a way to entice Saudi participation, diplomatic sources said, the formal invitation also drew on language from the 2003 Roadmap plan for peace that mentions an Arab League initiative promoted by Abdullah. That plan offers diplomatic relations with Israel if it withdraws to the 1967 borders and provides a "just solution" to the demands of Palestinian refugees. (Washington Post)
Russia Agrees to Provide Nuclear Know-How to Egypt
Russia has agreed to provide nuclear know-how and technical expertise to Egypt to help Cairo with plans to build civilian nuclear power stations to meet growing energy needs, Egyptian state media said on Tuesday. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said last month Egypt would build several nuclear power stations. (Reuters)
Tony Blair's Plan for Palestinian Jobs - Tim Butcher
Tony Blair has given the "green light" to initiatives designed to create thousands of jobs for Palestinians in his first major policy announcement as special envoy to the Middle East. In reality, the creation of two industrial zones in the West Bank, one at Jericho and the other near Hebron, were going ahead without the involvement of Blair's new committee, fully funded by Japan and Turkey. Industrial zones have been tried before several times. Millions of dollars in private investment were attracted to two zones in Gaza, but today the one at Erez lies in ruins and the other at Karni has been mothballed after local investors made huge losses. (Telegraph-UK)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:

Israel Approves Provision of 25 Armored Vehicles to PA Security Forces - Hanan Greenberg
Prime Minister Olmert has approved the supply of 25 armored vehicles to the Palestinian security services in the West Bank as a goodwill gesture to Mahmoud Abbas ahead of the Annapolis peace conference. The Palestinians will also receive from Israel two million bullets supplied by Jordan. The Prime Minister's Office denied previous reports that Israel would supply 50 armored vehicles and 1,000 rifles to the Palestinians. (Ynet News)
Israel previously opposed supplying Abbas' forces with armored vehicles, in part because of concern that they might fall into the hands of Hamas or other violent groups. (AP/Ha'aretz)
See also Israel to Allow Gaza to Export Produce to Europe (Jerusalem Post)
Iran, Syria Stepping Up Support of Terrorists - Yaakov Katz
A day after Ido Zoldan, a young father, was gunned down in a Palestinian shooting attack near Kedumim, IDF officers warned Tuesday that Palestinian terrorist groups would continue trying to perpetrate terror attacks in an effort to derail peace talks ahead of the Annapolis meeting. Fatah's Aksa Martyrs Brigades took responsibility for the West Bank shooting attack, saying it was "a protest against the Annapolis conference." Defense officials said there was growing Iranian and Syrian involvement in motivating Hamas and Islamic Jihad to carry out terrorist attacks, including the transfer of funds and instructions. (Jerusalem Post)
Poll: Palestinians in Gaza Support Early Elections, Peace Settlement with Israel
According to a survey of Palestinians in Gaza conducted by Near East Consulting on Nov. 12-14: 77% support early legislative elections (Hamas supporters, 23% vs. Fatah supporters, 99%). If legislative elections were held next week, 54% of Gazans would vote for Fatah, 15% would vote for Hamas. 74% of Gazans support a peace settlement with Israel (Hamas supporters, 33% vs. Fatah supporters, 91%). However, 31% of Gazans believe that Hamas should maintain its position on the elimination of Israel. (Near East Consulting/IMRA)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):

Confidence Building after Annapolis - David Makovsky
The Annapolis launch of a "Roadmap Plus" strategy is likely to put domestic pressure on both Israelis and Palestinians as each side undertakes more obligations. As the parties take on this greater burden, Arab states need to reinforce the progress. For example, when Israel negotiates on core issues, the Arab states must also negotiate with Israel over normalization of relations, as suggested by the third phase of the roadmap. Also, Arab economic assistance to the Palestinians could buffer Abbas and Fayad against any Hamas countermeasures. "Roadmap Plus" obligations should not fall just on Israel; after Annapolis, Arab states could be crucial in protecting both parties from potential backlash. The writer is a senior fellow and director of the Project on the Middle East Peace Process at the Washington Institute. (Washington Institute for Near East Policy)
Level of Representation at Annapolis Offers Leverage to Arab Leaders - Zvi Bar'el
In addition to the question of which Arab states will attend the Annapolis meeting, everyone is waiting to hear about the level of the delegations the Arab states will send. Abbas will find it difficult to present a conciliatory stance if around the table he sees Arab ambassadors and not foreign ministers. This will not only be an insult - it will ensure that he does not diverge one iota from the historical principles of the Palestinian struggle and insist on discussing the conflict's core issues.
The U.S. and Israel are holding two sets of negotiations: one with Abbas, the guest of honor, and the other with the Arab leaders, in an effort to convince them to show up. As such, the Arab leaders are given the legitimacy to present their own preconditions for actually holding a meeting. (Ha'aretz)
Deepening China-Iran Ties Weaken Bid to Isolate Iran - Robin Wright
The rapidly growing relationship between Iran and China has begun to undermine international efforts to ensure that Iran cannot convert a peaceful energy program to develop a nuclear arsenal. At the UN, U.S. and European officials now worry more about a Chinese veto than about opposition from Russia. U.S. and European officials charged Friday that Beijing is deliberately stalling to protect its economic interests. China now gets at least 14% of its imported oil from Iran, making it China's largest supplier. Tehran in turn gets major arms systems from Beijing, including ballistic and cruise missiles and technical assistance for Tehran's indigenous missile program.
"We're presenting China with an untenable proposition," said Ilan Berman, vice president of the American Foreign Policy Council. "We're asking them to unilaterally divest from Iran and not offering them energy alternatives. This is not sustainable for policy-makers whose predominant priority is to maintain and expand their country's growth....It's not that we shouldn't ask them to scale back their relationship, but China has put a lot of its eggs in Iran's economic basket, and a sophisticated American strategy would provide alternatives." (Washington Post)
See also British Aid Mocks Sanctions Threat Against Iran - Jonathan Leake and Sarah Baxter
The British government faces a diplomatic row with America over disclosures that it has provided the Iranian regime with financial support worth about £290m while at the same time calling for sanctions. The money was offered by the Export Credits Guarantee Department to support British firms exporting to Iran, mainly to the country's petrochemical industry. (Sunday Times-UK)
Observations:

The Perils of Engagement - Jeff Robbins (Wall Street Journal)

If history is any guide, next week's meeting in Annapolis will yield unsatisfactory results, Israel will be blamed for failing to make the requisite concessions, and the Bush administration will be criticized for its "failure to engage." The problem is that all too often, those who blame the U.S. for failing to deliver Mideast peace are some of the world's most culpable enablers of Mideast violence - and those who are themselves actually responsible for erecting the fundamental roadblocks to a resolution of the conflict.
It was the Arab bloc, including the Palestinian leadership, that decided to reject the UN's 1947 partition of Palestine into two states, Arab and Jewish, living side by side. Instead it invaded the nascent Jewish state rather than coexist with it, spawning the conflict that has so burdened the world for the last 60 years.
We are also not responsible for the Arab world's choice not to create a Palestinian Arab state in East Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank from 1948 to 1967, when it easily could have done so - before there were any Jewish settlements there to serve as the public object of Arab grievance.
Nor can the U.S. government under President Clinton be criticized for failing to pursue Yasser Arafat with sufficient solicitude between 1993 and late 2000. The Clinton administration was, after all, the most ardent of suitors of the Palestinian leader - only to be forced to watch Arafat reject an independent Palestinian state in all of Gaza and virtually all of the West Bank.
It was the Palestinian leadership, not the U.S., that decided in the fall of 2000 that, rather than accept an independent Palestinian state, its wiser course was to launch a four-year bombing campaign against Israel's civilian population. The result was not merely over 1,100 Israeli civilians killed, but several thousand Palestinians dead, as well as a shattered Palestinian economy and the decision by Israel to begin construction of a security barrier in July 2002.
When Israel withdrew from all of Gaza in 2005, the Arab world had the opportunity for a fresh start there - to create a measure of hope for a population whose suffering long predated any Israeli presence. Instead, the Hamas-dominated Palestinian leadership opted to begin and then intensify an aggressive missile-launching campaign against Israeli civilian centers.
Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries, whose treasuries overflow with petrodollars, are in a position to invest heavily in Gaza, create economic opportunities for its destitute population, and dilute the toxin-filled atmosphere there. They have not done so. The Egyptians are in a position to act decisively to stop the flow of rockets, bombs and other arms from Egypt into Gaza, where they are used to attack Israeli civilians. They have not done so.
The writer was a U.S. Delegate to the UN Human Rights Commission during the Clinton administration.

Selected items from Richard Baehr

2007-11-21T07:43:00.000-08:00

2. China and Britain put mercantilism first, when it comes to Iran. And Ahmadinejad is not the only lranian who wants the great infidel destroyed.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/17/AR2007111701680.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article2890957.ece
http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1614.htm

3. This is almost funny. The US has invited 49 parties to the Annapolis summit, which may last a day or two. Can they get all the photos taken in that time? More important, does Ehud Olmert have the spine to resist pressure from the 47 (let us hope it is only 47) or 48 participating in the pile on? Then again, Olmert seems to be leading the concession charge himself. Jeff Robbins provides some history on Palestinian and Arab missed opportunities for peace. Of course if peace was never the goal, then there were no missed opportunities. Hillel Halkin and Frank Gaffney weigh in on the trap set for Israel.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/20/AR2007112000932.html
http://opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010889
http://www.nysun.com/article/66755
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/FrankJGaffneyJr/2007/11/20/staticidal_zealotry

6. Ralph Peters on what went right in Iraq. And the New York Times (!) publishes a second solid article on the improving situation in Iraq. What is going on? Did Pinch Sulzberger leave early for the Thanksgiving holiday?
http://www.nypost.com/seven/11212007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/iraq__what_went_right_407604.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/20/world/middleeast/20surge.html?ei=5065&en=7e7d43064c067b63&ex=1196226000&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print

8. An Israeli man ( a young father of two) was murdered in the West Bank two days ago in a terrorist hit. If Iran and Syia have their way, he will have lots of company soon. I am sure Syria will now behave responsibly since they have been invited to Annapolis. And Egypt has a funny way of showing their interest in peace- with calls to abrogate the 1979 agreement with Israel. Ehud Olmert has a solution to the West Bank violence - a "good will" gesture of 25 armored vehicles ,and 2 million bullets to be given to the PA.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1195546682609&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1611.htm
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3473864,00.html

9. New advances in womens' right in Saudi Arabia, our ally in the fight against terror (as their PR ads claim). A rape victim gets 200 lashes.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/11/20/saudi.rape.victim/index.html

Between the West Bank and a Hard Place

2007-11-21T07:42:00.001-08:00

Between the West Bank and a Hard Place
by Richard Baehr
inFocus
Fall 2007

After Hamas gunmen routed Fatah forces to seize control of Gaza in early June, Washington became convinced that propping up Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas offered the best hope for Israeli-Palestinian peace. While the West releases funds (U.S. and European primarily, plus funds held by Israel) to Abbas for use in the West Bank, now that Hamas is no longer part of his government, Israel is expected to improve the living conditions of West Bank Palestinians. Abbas and new Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, a man Washington sees as a genuine reformer, are also working to regain control of the West Bank's militias, and to change the PA's corrupt and ossified image among Palestinians.

The current strategy further aims to isolate Hamas in Gaza by limiting assistance to basic humanitarian aid. It is hoped that Hamas will stew in its own juices, and that, over time, Gazans will demand new leadership. In an ideal scenario, Gazans would seek a return to the PA.

In the Middle East, however, ideal scenarios rarely materialize. Several tough choices and potential roadblocks for America and Israel lie ahead.

Assessing Olmert's Mandate
Working with Abbas has been the strategy of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his Kadima party since Olmert assumed power in early 2006 (following Ariel Sharon's debilitating stroke). Indeed, this has been Israeli policy ever since Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasir Arafat died in November 2004. When Hamas won majority control of the PA legislature three weeks after Olmert became acting prime minister, that strategy was stymied; it was impossible to provide financial assistance to Abbas without also funding Hamas. With the Hamas-Fatah split, Israel can again attempt to work with Abbas.

Rather than inventing a new strategy, the United States is following Olmert's lead, shoring up Abbas, and preventing a Hamas takeover of the West Bank. Olmert's mandate, however, should be a red flag for Washington. The embattled prime minister suffers from abysmal approval ratings (3 percent, according to a June 2007 survey, which also indicated that Kadima would suffer a crushing defeat if new elections were held). There is significant risk that America and Europe are backing a prime minister who is well past his prime. This was the case when President Bill Clinton worked with Prime Minister Ehud Barak in 2000 and 2001 to secure a peace deal with Arafat, even as Barak's approval numbers plummeted and his defeat in the February 2001 election appeared certain (Barak subsequently won less than 38 percent of the votes in that election). Washington must avoid mistakes of the past.

Is Abbas Our Man?
While there is general agreement about the dangers of Hamas rule in Gaza, and the potential for even greater danger were Hamas to rule in the West Bank, many high-profile Israeli analysts, notably Caroline Glick of the Jerusalem Post, and Dore Gold, former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, doubt that Abbas is the answer. The loss of Gaza may be an indication that the PA is crumbling. Abbas does not have a solid grip on the West Bank, either. If he loses control, the IDF will be forced to intervene to prevent a Hamas takeover there, too.

Currently, Israel is allowing Abbas time to consolidate his rule, rather than reinforce its positions in the territories. The wisdom of this strategy—waiting for Abbas to succeed—remains to be seen. The longer Israel waits, the more difficult a military intervention could become.

There is also the question of whether American or Israeli support for Abbas would hurt him. In the perverse world of Palestinian politics, the more a leader cooperates with Israel and America, the less he is trusted on the Palestinian street. Thus, Washington and Jerusalem must mute their public support for Abbas, while privately providing him the tools to succeed.

Terror Finance Concerns
Critics charge that funds sent to bolster Abbas will almost certainly meet the same fate as the previous billions in foreign aid to the PA: stolen, or diverted to militias, such as the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a Fatah-linked terror organization. During the second intifada, the al-Aqsa Martyrs launched some of the bloodiest terror attacks against Israel. Notably, the group carried out a suicide bombing at Jerusalem's Moment Café, which killed 11 Israelis in March 2002.

Even as the West and Israel got behind Abbas in July, no less than 200 members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs announced they would continue "resistance to Israeli occupation." When these fighters were denied amnesty (Israel released some 179 other al-Aqsa Martyrs as a gesture of goodwill), they formed the new Yasir Arafat Brigade. Will Abbas and Fayyad fund this new squad? Prime Minister Salam Fayyad specifically endorsed the concept of continued "resistance" to Israeli occupation in late July. That terminology has always been understood among Palestinians to mean "violence."

Clearly, a more transparent record of aid expenditures is crucial. It would also ensure that the new PA does not behave as Arafat did with regard to supporting or condoning violence against Israel. Can the West demand these things while also propping up Abbas?

Can Abbas Change Long-Held Perceptions?
Arab-Israeli violence has continued for nearly 60 years because the Palestinians have always refused to accept the very existence of the state of Israel. Generations of Palestinians have been taught to despise Israel, and that hatred is deeply entrenched. While the exact percentage of West Bankers who feel this way is not known, 70 percent of all Palestinians polled in a recent Pew Global Attitudes Project survey (July 2007) said they approve of suicide bombing attacks against Israel. These views are reinforced by Palestinian Authority-funded imams in West Bank mosques who continue to preach hatred and war against Israel, and in the PA-controlled media.

Can Israel overlook this culture of hate — a culture Abbas cannot reverse overnight, even if he wanted to — in the interest of a stable regime in the West Bank? Israel can take little comfort in the fact that the culture of hate is far worse in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Concessions
Israel has already released 256 Palestinian prisoners, and is considering other gestures of good will for Abbas. This could include removal of West Bank roadblocks, further prisoner releases, and providing weapons to the PA. These gestures could undermine Israeli security if Abbas fails to gain popular support or reform the PA. The IDF might later find it more difficult to retake certain military positions, in the event that Hamas attempts a West Bank takeover. On the other hand, if Israel does not ease some restrictions, West Bankers may challenge Abbas over his inability to get results.

Can Gaza Be Isolated?
Despite the recent Fatah-Hamas battle leading to the creation of two Palestinian proto-states, both West Bankers and Gazans still identify as Palestinian. According to a July 2007 survey by a Norwegian polling organization, no less than 85 percent of all Palestinians seek rapprochement between the two factions. Thus, the two-pronged Western strategy of isolating Hamas in Gaza while jumpstarting Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in the West Bank may run counter to popular Palestinian sentiment.

Looking forward, a contingency strategy will be necessary, should the Gaza isolation policy fail. What happens if Hamas manages to govern capably in Gaza, despite the aid freeze and border shut down? Successful governance by Hamas could persuade West Bankers in a future election that they are better off under Hamas rule than under the PA, especially if the PA is unable to successfully reform itself in the West Bank. Both Washington and Jerusalem must be prepared for this possibility.

Similarly, a plan must be in place for the eventuality that Hamas will not go quietly into the night in Gaza. Islamist movements do not relinquish power willingly. If there were new elections in both Gaza and the West Bank that both parties agreed to, and the PA won a decisive victory, it is highly unlikely that Hamas would cede military control of Gaza and disarm. Thus, even if Abbas manages a successful turnaround of the PA, Hamas will likely retain a strong military presence in Gaza, and perhaps a weaker presence in the West Bank. This will be an Israeli security concern, particularly if rocket fire from Gaza continues. Short of invasion, there is little Israel can do to neutralize this threat.

What Happens If Gaza Gets Worse?
Since the Israeli unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip in August 2005, Gaza has been awash in weapons smuggled from Egypt. Terrorists from various organizations, both Sunni and Shiite, are lining up to assist and train Hamas for violent confrontation with Israel. Numerous reports indicate that operatives from al-Qaeda, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and Hizbullah may have nestled in Gaza, or are training Hamas fighters outside of Gaza.

Can the influence of other rogue regimes and terrorist organizations make the tensions between Hamas-ruled Gaza and Israel any worse? Hamas does not hide the fact that it seeks the destruction of Israel, rather than negotiated peace in any form. By allowing additional terrorist elements into Gaza, Hamas has all but guaranteed future violence, perhaps at levels never before seen.

Regardless of which elements launch attacks against Israel—be they al-Qaeda, Hizbullah, or Hamas—Israeli reprisals against the Gaza Strip will almost certainly inspire sympathy in the West Bank and the rest of the Muslim world. At worst, this could lead to an outbreak of fresh violence in the West Bank, Gaza, and Lebanon, forcing Israel into a multi-front conflict. If either the U.S. or Israel launched strikes against Iranian nuclear sites, a similar multi-front conflict seems assured.

The Way Forward
The consensus following the Hamas victory in Gaza was that a new clarifying moment had arrived for Israel, the PA, and the West. In reality, the situation remains unclear and volatile. The choices will be difficult to navigate. Washington seeks to help foster peace in the region, but is still grasping for a way forward. Israel's current options must include a combination of caution and military readiness, along with help to the PA.

The Gaza crisis has put both Israel and the West between the West Bank and a hard place. Patience, wisdom, and deterrence will be necessary as Washington and Jerusalem venture forward.

Richard Baehr is co-founder and political director of The American Thinker, a web-based policy journal.

Rabbi Jonathan ginsburg

Items from Richard Baehr

2007-11-20T03:16:00.001-08:00

1. Olivier Guitta on Iran's Syrian plan. Caroline Glick sees some
connections between Iran, Syria and Iraq's WMDs. And the sometimes
controversial John Loftus also weighs in on what may have happened to
Saddam's WMDs.
http://www.metimes.com/International/2007/11/19/
analysis_irans_secret_syrian_plan/7451/
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?
cid=1195127544177&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
http://www.israpundit.com/2007/?p=6535

2. Danielle Pletka thinks Condi Rice is buying into diplomacy with
the devil (s). Caroline Glick says the Olmert government (let it
fall) is too.
http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.27120,filter.all/pub_detail.asp
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?
cid=1195127516829&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

3. Egypt is not a moderate Arab state. It is part of the problem in
the region, not the solution. I guess trying to bribe them with $2
billion a year in foreign aid has been a bad bet (kind of like taking
the Bears and 5 and a half points yesterday)
http://www.www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?
GUID=05C1C31E-1F8B-4096-A41E-4C5F5EB64618
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?
GUID=56E2A983-895F-4A10-905D-5F3263C7A7D8
http://www.economist.com/world/africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10147681

4. Steve Emerson on the FBI mole case
http://www.analyst-network.com/article.php?art_id=1176

5. Even the New York Times is reporting that attacks in Iraq are way
down. Does this mean the surge is working? What would Frank Rich
say? How about better late (to get it right) than never (for both US
strategy and Times reporting).
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/19/world/middleeast/19iraq.html?
_r=2&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

6. Hugo Chavez' slapdown by King Juan Carlos of Spain is big news in
the Latin press. This is the way to treat a bully. And by the way,
Chavez now says Venezuela needs to have its own nuclear program (for
peaceful uses of course).
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/18/
AR2007111800945.html

7. Mark Silverberg on the end of the Bush doctrine
http://web.israelinsider.com/views/12365.htm

8. Hamas is looking to move up in class (as far as its military
capability.) I still do not see them as BCS material. Perhaps the
Fighting Illini are.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/124289

9. David Frum with a good summary of the Al Dura affair. Augean
Stables weighs in on same subject.
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=877a8d56-
eda5-4b86-96c6-9e1ab9a07880
http://www.theaugeanstables.com/2007/11/14/gambling-with-a-lie-
enderlin-pulls-a-rosemary-woods/

10. Lots of good stuff in the latest issue of Outpost, put out by
Ruth King and AFSI. In particular I liked the Moshe Sharon article
on the Arab negotiating style. Offer meeaningless promises (to be
broken every time) in return for real things. Israel has fallen for
this, as has Dennis Ross (repeatedly).
http://www.afsi.org/OUTPOST/2007/Outpost_2007_11.pdf

11. A few documentaries worth seeing:
http://www.godandcountry.tv/
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/challenges.php?id=1385550

12. Are any of Paul Revere's descendants around? One if by land, two
if by sea. The British are coming. The British are coming. Or at
least they are leaving Britain. And the Dutch (50,000 to 100,000 a
year) are leaving Holland. In fact, the population transfer going on
in Europe is accelerating.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/global/main.jhtml?xml=/global/2007/11/16/
noindex/nemi116.xml

13. CAMERA has more on the Jews who left Arab lands after the 48 war.
Joan Peters devoted two chapters of her book " From Time Immemorial"
to this subject.
http://blog.camera.org/archives/2007/11/
jews_from_arab_lands_forced_to.html

14. Abbas calls for an overthrow of Hamas in Gaza. And who exactly
will do the job? Would not bet on this one happening soon. Tom
Bevan would not bet on the Patriots getting beaten anytime soon.
Has Tom Brady gotten that much better since he started dating Giselle
Bundchen?
http://voanews.com/english/2007-11-15-voa14.cfm
http://time-blog.com/real_clear_politics/2007/11/watching_greatness.html

Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg

Unicef funds terror training?

2007-11-19T06:24:00.000-08:00

Tricked by UNICEF
>> Financing of Palestinian terrorism makes for one scary Halloween.
>>
>> By Dave Kopel
>>
>> Americans mostly know UNICEF through the "trick or treat for UNICEF"

>> campaigns. The "trick" is on the donors who think that UNICEF is all

>> about helping
>> poor children.
>>
>> UNICEF has been a major financier of Palestinian "summer camps"
which
>> encourage children to become suicide bombers. One such camp is named

>> for Wafa Idris,
>> a female suicide bomber.
>>
>> During the late 1990s, UNICEF served as a propaganda organ of the
>> Saddam Hussein regime. Relying solely on Iraqi government
statistics,
>> UNICEF and the
>> Saddam government co-authored a report asserting that over a million

>> children in Iraq died because of U.N. sanctions. A map on the first

>> page of the report
>> depicted Kuwait as a province of Iraq.
>>
>> UNICEF is the primary funder for the "Palestinian Youth Association

>> for Leadership and Rights Activation" (PYALARA), which UNICEF calls

>> "a major strategic
>> partner in Palestine." Materials produced by the group are
frequently
>> used in schools operated by UNICEF.
>>
>> PYALARA publishes a 16-page newspaper for young people, The Youth
>> Times (TYT). It is distributed at Palestinian universities,
colleges,
>> community centers,
>> and in the many U.N.-operated schools in Palestinian areas.
>>
>> The organization claims that its mission is "expanding awareness of

>> one's roots and identity, environment and culture, as well as of
>> other countries and
>> the world at large." Yet PYALARA's products follow the typical line

>> of terrorist propaganda, in which nothing is the fault of the
>> Palestinians, everything
>> is the fault of the Jews, and there is never any effort to consider

>> the merits of Israel's position on anything.
>>
>> For example, one PYALARA article was admiring a biography of the
>> recently-deceased terrorist Abu Ali Mustafa.
>>
>> Mustafa was the head of the terrorist group the Popular Front for
the
>> Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a branch of Yassir Arafat's
Palestine
>> Liberation
>> Organization (PLO). Mustafa met his demise at the hands of Israeli
>> forces in 2001. In the months before Mustafa's death, his terrorist

>> group had assassinated
>> an Israeli Cabinet Minister, set off three car bombs in Jerusalem,
>> and carried out many other terrorist attacks.
>>
>> Earlier, Mustafa and the PLFP had worked with the Japanese Red Army

>> (a Communist terrorist group) and slaughtered 24 people at Israel's

>> Ben Gurion International
>> Airport. In 1976, the PFLP hijacked an Air France flight. After
>> refueling in Libya, they flew to Entebbe, Uganda, which was, at the

>> time, ruled by the
>> insane, genocidal tyrant Idi Amin.
>>
>> The PFLP hijackers, assisted by Amin's army, demanded that five
>> nations release 53 named, convicted terrorists, or else the plane
and
>> its passengers would
>> be blown up.
>>
>> The Israeli Defense Forces carried out a daring raid on the Entebbe

>> airport, killing the hijackers and their Ugandan accomplices, and
>> rescuing all the
>> hostages. The IDF rescue planes touched down at Ben Gurion Airport
on
>> July 4, 1976.
>>
>> One of the few Israeli casualties in the rescue was Lt. Col. Yoni
>> Netanyahu, whose brother Benjamin would later become Prime Minister

>> of Israel.
>>
>> So what did the UNICEF-funded PYALARA have to tell young people
about
>> the terrorist mastermind Abu Ali Mustafa? That he was "a political
>> leader...whose
>> history prides his nationalistic activism." Mourning the death of
the
>> terrorist, the magazine whined "this is a human being who has a
>> family that awaits
>> his arrival every day." Sympathy would have been better directed to

>> the many innocents who were murdered at Mustafa's direction.
>>
>> Then, in a lie typical of the Palestinian propaganda press, the
>> PYALARA claimed "the Israelis could have turned to Abu Ali Mustafa
to
>> talk peace if peace
>> were what they truly wanted." In truth, Mustafa was always an
adamant
>> foe of negotiations, opposed even to Arafat's strategy of going
>> through the motions
>> of peace negotiations in order to distract attention from his
>> devotion for war.
>>
>> Shortly before becoming head of the PFLP, Mustafa was interviewed by

>> Al-Jazeera. He stated: "We believe the conflict and the struggle
>> against Israel is
>> a strategic [principle] that is not subordinated to any
>> consideration." Thus, "We believe the Palestinian people, both in
the
>> Diaspora and under occupation,
>> have the right to struggle using all means, including the armed
>> struggle, because we think the conflict is the constant, while the
>> means and tactics are
>> the variables."
>>
>> Not that UNICEF blames Israel for everything. Bianca Jagger, in her

>> official capacity as "UNICEF ambassador," has toured the Middle East

>> telling audiences
>> that the United States is the source of evil in the modern world.
>>
>> As for the actual needs of children, UNICEF is sometimes an obstacle

>> to progress. For example, UNICEF has been pressuring Guatemala to
>> stop allowing inter-country
>> adoptions. That is, UNICEF would prefer a child to languish in a
>> Guatemalan orphanage rather than be adopted by a loving family in
the
>> United States.
>>
>> UNICEF's focus on politics and political correctness has come at the

>> expense of saving the lives of the approximately ten million
children
>> under the age
>> of five who die each year from preventable causes.
>>
>> According to UNICEF, the major cause of child poverty in the world
is
>> the free market-even though countries with free markets have vastly

>> lower levels
>> of child poverty than do the kleptocratic, statist economies
extolled
>> by UNICEF.
>>
>> A 2003 report praised the North Korean dictatorship:
>>
>> the particular strength of the DPRK's policy framework lies in its
>> comprehensiveness, integration and consistency in addressing the
>> interests of children
>> and women. It has been aligned with the collective production
system.
>> The Government has proactively broadened and updated its laws and
>> policies on an
>> ongoing basis, also making an effort to harmonize with international

>> innovations and standards.
>>
>> Given UNICEF's affinity for the extreme left, it should be no
>> surprise that UNICEF helps fund the gun- prohibition lobby in
Brazil.
>>
>> The Executive Director of UNICEF is traditionally chosen by the
>> United States (although nominally appointed by the U.N.
>> Secretary-General). All of the
>> abuses described above took place during the tenure of Executive
>> Director Carol Bellamy, who was selected by President Clinton in
>> 1995. In May 2005, President
>> Bush chose former Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman as executive

>> director.
>>
>> While there is no reason to believe that Veneman shares Bellamy's
>> extreme Left agenda, it would be fair to say that she has a long way

>> to go to fix UNICEF.
>> The organization today stills promotes the Brazilian gun prohibition

>> lobby Viva Rio, and funds the pro-terrorist Palestinian Youth
>> Association for Leadership
>> and Rights Activation as one of its "partners" in what it calls "
>> occupied Palestinian territory." UNICEF also "partners" with the
>> Palestinian Red Crescent
>> Society, which uses ambulances to transport terrorists and their
>> weapons, and whose personnel have participated in suicide bombings.
>>
>>
>> UNICEF's executive board includes China (whose forced abortion
policy
>> is neither pro-life, nor pro-choice, nor pro-child) and Bhutan
(where
>> children are
>> among the many victims of the regime's human rights abuses). UNICEF

>> has doled out unaccountable money to the North Korean regime.
>>
>> Under Veneman, UNICEF is not as bad as it was under Bellamy, and
even
>> under Bellamy, the organization performed some good works. However,

>> most people who
>> give money to groups which help children would prefer that none of
>> their donations be used to finance terrorism, the destruction of
>> civil liberties, or
>> tyranny.
>>
>> The good-hearted children who "trick or treat for UNICEF" don't know

>> about UNICEF's sordid allies, of course. So instead of simply
>> rejecting the requests
>> of the children, gently explain that you don't want to give money to

>> UNICEF because dictatorships like China help run the organization,
>> and some of UNICEF's
>> money helps pro-terrorism groups. Then, put a dollar (or five, or
>> ten) in a bag of your own, and tell the children that because of
>> their trick-or-treating,
>> you will be giving more money to a different charity (which you can

>> name for them) which uses all of it money to help children. And if
>> your child's school
>> is contemplating a UNICEF fundraiser, politely encourage the
>> administration to pick a better charity.
>>
>> Dave Kopel is research director of the Independence Institute, in
>> Golden, Colorado.
Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg

Abbas called for the overthrow of Gaza's Hamas rulers -

2007-11-18T14:07:00.000-08:00

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called on Thursday for the overthrow of Gaza's Hamas rulers - his first explicit demand that they be ousted.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Photo: AP
"We have to bring down this bunch, which took over Gaza with armed force, and is abusing the sufferings and pains of our people," Abbas said in a speech.

Rabbi Jonmathan Ginsburg

Be scared of their new techniques

2007-11-18T05:24:00.000-08:00

Governments struggle as militants refine Web tactics
By Alexandra Zawadil Fri Nov 16, 8:54 AM ET
VIENNA (Reuters) - Islamist militants are becoming more skilled at tailoring their message to specific audiences, including women and children, and Western societies are struggling to find a response.

That was the message from a meeting hosted by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) this week, attended by leading experts on Islamist radicalization.
"One of the most alarming trends we found on the Internet recently is what we call 'narrowcasting'," said Gabriel Weimann, professor of communications at the University of Haifa in Israel which monitors 5,800 militant Web sites.
Instead of 'broadcasting' -- trying to reach the biggest possible audience -- the approach is to slice the audience into segments and target each with specific tactics, he said.
"Terrorists are using the Internet to focus on children, very young children, to attract young people to the ideology and later to the way of terrorism.
"When they target children, they do everything any commercial advertiser would do. They use comic books, storytelling, graphics, movies, competitions, prize-winning and so on," Weimann added.
Western security officials have been voicing growing concern about militant 'grooming' of children on the Internet. Last week the head of Britain's MI5 spy service said individuals aged 15 and 16 had been implicated in terrorist-related activity.
WOMEN'S MANUAL
Weimann said al Qaeda was also targeting women, including via an online manual, presented in pink, which educates them in the roles of female suicide bomber or wife or mother to a jihadist 'martyr'.

Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg

Diplomacy won't stop Iran from going nuke

2007-11-16T14:39:00.000-08:00

By Sophie Walker
Fri Nov 16, 2:11 PM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - China has dealt a blow to Western efforts to increase diplomatic pressure on Iran over its nuclear program by dropping out of a meeting to discuss tougher sanctions against Tehran.

ADVERTISEMENT

Russia, which like China opposes further U.N. sanctions against Iran, added fuel to the fire by announcing on Friday that the U.N. nuclear watchdog would soon start inspecting and sealing atomic fuel bound for an Iranian reactor.

The West fears Iran wants to develop atomic weapons but Iran denies this. Tehran says it wants only to generate electricity.

Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg

Israel trivia

2007-11-15T04:40:00.000-08:00

This Week's Trivia:
1. How many seats are in the Knesset?
2. Name an operation that brought many Ethiopian Jews to Israel.
3. What song almost became the Israeli national anthem in 1967?

The answer to the first question is 120
The answer to the second question is the name of a man that helped bring Egyptian Hebrews to Israel a very long time ago (in the bible) solomon
The answer to the third question should be pretty easy. It is the current national anthem. Yerushalayim shel zahav by Shemer

Latest from Richard Baehr

2007-11-15T04:37:00.001-08:00

1. Melanie Phillips on what the 27 minute tape played in a Paris
courtroom today revealed about the Mohammed Al Dura shooting. It was
staged. This French TV hoax, more than any other event, created the
second intifada which led to well over 1,000 dead Jewish Israelis.
What will the New York Times say about this tomorrow?
http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/354621/the-al-durah-blood-
libel.thtml

2. A new study shows there is still great mobility in the American
economy. It is why people want to come here, if they are ambitious
and willing to work hard. Juan Williams describes the growing gap in
black America- between those who always choose to blame the "man"
for their fate, , and those who want to move ahead.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010855
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/13/
AR2007111301831.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

3. Mitt Romney is ahead in Iowa and New Hampshire because he has run
over 14,000 TV spots in these states. Now Rudy Giuliani runs his
first. As a friend says: Game on. It helps to be able to lend your
campaign tens of millions as Romney has.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/11/13/romney-shattering-tv-
advertising-record/
http://time-blog.com/real_clear_politics/2007/11/rudy_hits_the_air.html

4. Jeff Jacoby asks if Israel is a Jewish state, and what it means
that the Palestinians won't accept this
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/
2007/11/14/is_israel_a_jewish_state/

5. John Stossel hears it from the global warming crusaders
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/11/
dont_look_to_government_to_coo.html

6. Ed Morrissey on the coming civil war in Gaza. A Palestinian human
rights group is unhappy with Hamas.
http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/015987.php
http://www.pchrgaza.ps/files/PressR/English/2007/160-2007.html

7. The Saudi king visits the pope and brings a gift- a sword.
Needless to say the Pope is not welcome in Mecca or Medina.
http://www.nysun.com/article/66106

8. The surge against Al Qaeda in Iraq is going well. This is a story
the New York Times prefers you did not know, especially when there
is so much juicy Bernie Kerik stuff to go around that can be used to
smear Rudy Giuliani..
http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2007/11/
targeting_al_qaeda_in_iraqs_ne.asp
Ed Lasky: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2007/11/
the_ny_times_attempted_smear_o.html

9. Islamophobia and anti-Semitism in Europe
http://www.opinionjournal.com/federation/feature/?id=110010859

10. Why is this man in the Israeli cabinet?
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/124246#replies

11. It seems teaching Jewish values has no place in Israeli public
schools
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/124239#replies

12. Another shocker: The Palestinians have not protected Jewish holy
paces in their territory.
http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?
DRIT=2&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=377&PID=0&IID=1923&TTL=The_Palestinia
n_Authority_and_the_Jewish_Holy_Sites_in_the_West_Bank:_Rachel’s_Tomb_as
_a_Test_Case

Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg

a reader responds to Cotton's piece

2007-11-15T04:35:00.000-08:00

.

Rabbi Jonathan,

On Sunday my wife told me to read the Tribune article by Fite, saying that I may want to dispute him since he gave his email address. I didn't get around to reading the piece until today. But first I saw your comments on his article.

As to your response in points 1 and 2, and then 1 through 3, I agree with you completely. However, this was not a response to Fite's commentary in particular as he does not address these points at all, nor does he villify Israel in any clearly biased manner. I reread the article two times. It seems to me that he was motivated by a personal experience of being inconvenienced at a border check point, and extended that to Palestinian humiliation at checkpoints in general, which, in fact, he states as being his mission on this trip. In this sense, his comments may be biased or contrived. Even though it may not be Israel's fault directly, but rather an effective response to terrorist attacks, there can be no doubt that the checkpoint procedures do disrupt the lives of ordinary Palestinians. Yes, he does use the word 'occupation', which we Jews don't appreciate even though it is not untrue in many respects for many years in the past.

I decided to withhold my critical remarks for articles that are truly biased against Israel.

Did I miss the point here? I have no further knowledge of Rev. Fite's political motivation.

My response
Thanks for writing. The purpose of that article is to undermine support for Israel without any context. It is critical to continually point out the reason for the need for those checkpoints, lies in ther failure, over 60 years, of the Arabs and Palestinians to take the opportunity to live in peace and create a state. They had a chance in 47, 48-67, Barak/Clinton etc and all they did was fight, intifada etc. If they chose peace, there would be no checkpoints necessary. Cotton was completely out of context, clearly written to undermine Israel etc

Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg

Balfour, UN 1947 resolution, Declaration of Independence

2007-11-14T15:24:00.000-08:00

BALFOUR DECLARATION (November 1917)
Foreign Office,
November 2nd, 1917.
Dear Lord Rothschild,
I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty's Government, the following
declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and
approved by, the Cabinet:
"His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home
for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this
object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and
religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status
enjoyed by Jews in any other country".
I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist
Federation.
Yours sincerely
Arthur James Balfour
UN General Assembly Resolution 181 (Partition Plan)
November 29, 1947
The General Assembly, 􀀁
Having met in special session at the request of the mandatory Power to constitute and
instruct a Special Committee to prepare for the consideration of the question of the
future Government of Palestine at the second regular session; 􀀁
Having constituted a Special Committee and instructed it to investigate all questions
and issues relevant to the problem of Palestine, and to prepare proposals for the
solution of the problem, and 􀀁
Having received and examined the report of the Special Committee (document
A/364)(1) including a number of unanimous recommendations and a plan of partition
with economic union approved by the majority of the Special Committee, 􀀁
Considers that the present situation in Palestine is one which is likely to impair the
general welfare and friendly relations among nations; 􀀁
11
Takes note of the declaration by the mandatory Power that it plans to complete its
evacuation of Palestine by l August 1948; 􀀁
Recommends to the United Kingdom, as the mandatory Power for Palestine, and to all
other Members of the United Nations the adoption and implementation, with regard to
the future Government of Palestine, of the Plan of Partition with Economic Union set out
below; 􀀁
Requests that 􀀁
a. The Security Council take the necessary measures as provided for in the plan for
its implementation;
b. The Security Council consider, if circumstances during the transitional period
require such consideration, whether the situation in Palestine constitutes a threat
to the peace. If it decides that such a threat exists, and in order to maintain
international peace and security, the Security Council should supplement the
authorization of the General Assembly by taking measures, under Articles 39 and
41 of the Charter, to empower the United Nations Commission, as provided in
this resolution, to exercise in Palestine the functions which are assigned to it by
this resolution;
c. The Security Council determine as a threat to the peace, breach of the peace or
act of aggression, in accordance with Article 39 of the Charter, any attempt to
alter by force the settlement envisaged by this resolution;
d. The Trusteeship Council be informed of the responsibilities envisaged for it in this
plan;
Calls upon the inhabitants of Palestine to take such steps as may be necessary on their
part to put this plan into effect; 􀀁
Appeals to all Governments and all peoples to refrain from taking any action which
might hamper or delay the carrying out of these recommendations, and 􀀁
Authorizes the Secretary-General to reimburse travel and subsistence expenses of the
members of the Commission referred to in Part 1, Section B, Paragraph I below, on
such basis and in such form as he may determine most appropriate in the
circumstances, and to provide the Commission with the necessary staff to assist in
carrying out the functions assigned to the Commission by the General Assembly.* 􀀁
The General Assembly, 􀀁
Authorizes the Secretary-General to draw from the Working Capital Fund a sum not to
exceed 2,000,000 dollars for the purposes set forth in the last paragraph of the
resolution on the future government of Palestine.
PLAN OF PARTITION WITH ECONOMIC UNION 􀀁
Part I. - Future Constitution and Government of Palestine 􀀁
12
1. The Mandate for Palestine shall terminate as soon as possible but in any case
not later than 1 August 1948.
2. The armed forces of the mandatory Power shall be progressively withdrawn from
Palestine, the withdrawal to be completed as soon as possible but in any case
not later than 1 August 1948.
The mandatory Power shall advise the Commission, as far in advance as
possible, of its intention to terminate the mandate and to evacuate each area.
The mandatory Power shall use its best endeavours to ensure that an area
situated in the territory of the Jewish State, including a seaport and hinterland
adequate to provide facilities for a substantial immigration, shall be evacuated at
the earliest possible date and in any event not later than 1 February 1948.
3. Independent Arab and Jewish States and the Special International Regime for
the City of Jerusalem, set forth in Part III of this Plan, shall come into existence in
Palestine two months after the evacuation of the armed forces of the mandatory
Power has been completed but in any case not later than 1 October 1948. The
boundaries of the Arab State, the Jewish State, and the City of Jerusalem shall
be as described in Parts II and III below.
4. The period between the adoption by the General Assembly of its
recommendation on the question of Palestine and the establishment of the
independence of the Arab and Jewish States shall be a transitional 􀀁 period.
Adopted at the 128th plenary meeting: 􀀁
In favour: 33 􀀁
Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Byelorussian S.S.R., Canada, Costa Rica,
Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Haiti,
Iceland, Liberia, Luxemburg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama,
Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Sweden, Ukrainian S.S.R., Union of South Africa,
U.S.A., U.S.S.R., Uruguay, Venezuela. 􀀁
Against: 13 􀀁
Afghanistan, Cuba, Egypt, Greece, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia,
Syria, Turkey, Yemen. 􀀁
Abstained: 10 􀀁
Argentina, Chile, China, Colombia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Honduras, Mexico, United
Kingdom, Yugoslavia. 􀀁
A. TERMINATION OF MANDATE, PARTITION AND INDEPENDENCE 􀀁
13
THE DECLARATION OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE STATE OF
ISRAEL (May 14, 1948)
Text: 􀀁
ERETZ-ISRAEL [(Hebrew) - the Land of Israel, Palestine] was the birthplace of the Jewish
people. Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first
attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and
gave to the world the eternal Book of Books. 􀀁
After being forcibly exiled from their land, the people kept faith with it throughout their
Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the
restoration in it of their political freedom. 􀀁
Impelled by this historic and traditional attachment, Jews strove in every successive
generation to re-establish themselves in their ancient homeland. In recent decades they
returned in their masses. Pioneers, ma'pilim [(Hebrew) - immigrants coming to Eretz-Israel in
defiance of restrictive legislation] and defenders, they made deserts bloom, revived the
Hebrew language, built villages and towns, and created a thriving community controlling
its own economy and culture, loving peace but knowing how to defend itself, bringing
the blessings of progress to all the country's inhabitants, and aspiring towards
independent nationhood. 􀀁
In the year 5657 (1897), at the summons of the spiritual father of the Jewish State,
Theodore Herzl, the First Zionist Congress convened and proclaimed the right of the
Jewish people to national rebirth in its own country. 􀀁
This right was recognized in the Balfour Declaration of the 2nd November, 1917, and reaffirmed
in the Mandate of the League of Nations which, in particular, gave international
sanction to the historic connection between the Jewish people and Eretz-Israel and to
the right of the Jewish people to rebuild its National Home. 􀀁
The catastrophe which recently befell the Jewish people - the massacre of millions of
Jews in Europe - was another clear demonstration of the urgency of solving the problem
of its homelessness by re-establishing in Eretz-Israel the Jewish State, which would
open the gates of the homeland wide to every Jew and confer upon the Jewish people
the status of a fully privileged member of the comity of nations. 􀀁
Survivors of the Nazi holocaust in Europe, as well as Jews from other parts of the world,
continued to migrate to Eretz-Israel, undaunted by difficulties, restrictions and dangers,
and never ceased to assert their right to a life of dignity, freedom and honest toil in their
national homeland. 􀀁
In the Second World War, the Jewish community of this country contributed its full share
to the struggle of the freedom- and peace-loving nations against the forces of Nazi
wickedness and, by the blood of its soldiers and its war effort, gained the right to be
reckoned among the peoples who founded the United Nations. 􀀁
􀀁
14
On the 29th November, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed a
resolution calling for the establishment of a Jewish State in Eretz-Israel; the General
Assembly required the inhabitants of Eretz-Israel to take such steps as were necessary
on their part for the implementation of that resolution. This recognition by the United
Nations of the right of the Jewish people to establish their State is irrevocable. 􀀁
This right is the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate, like all
other nations, in their own sovereign State. 􀀁
ACCORDINGLY WE, MEMBERS OF THE PEOPLE'S COUNCIL, REPRESENTATIVES
OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF ERETZ-ISRAEL AND OF THE ZIONIST
MOVEMENT, ARE HERE ASSEMBLED ON THE DAY OF THE TERMINATION OF
THE BRITISH MANDATE OVER ERETZ-ISRAEL AND, BY VIRTUE OF OUR
NATURAL AND HISTORIC RIGHT AND ON THE STRENGTH OF THE RESOLUTION
OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, HEREBY DECLARE THE
ESTABLISHMENT OF A JEWISH STATE IN ERETZ-ISRAEL, TO BE KNOWN AS THE
STATE OF ISRAEL. 􀀁
WE DECLARE that, with effect from the moment of the termination of the Mandate
being tonight, the eve of Sabbath, the 6th Iyar, 5708 (15th May, 1948), until the
establishment of the elected, regular authorities of the State in accordance with the
Constitution which shall be adopted by the Elected Constituent Assembly not later than
the 1st October 1948, the People's Council shall act as a Provisional Council of State,
and its executive organ, the People's Administration, shall be the Provisional
Government of the Jewish State, to be called "Israel". 􀀁
THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of
the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its
inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets
of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants
irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience,
language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it
will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations. 􀀁
THE STATE OF ISRAEL is prepared to cooperate with the agencies and
representatives of the United Nations in implementing the resolution of the General
Assembly of the 29th November, 1947, and will take steps to bring about the economic
union of the whole of Eretz-Israel. 􀀁
WE APPEAL to the United Nations to assist the Jewish people in the building-up of its
State and to receive the State of Israel into the comity of nations. 􀀁
WE APPEAL - in the very midst of the onslaught launched against us now for months -
to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the
upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation
in all its provisional and permanent institutions. 􀀁
WE EXTEND our hand to all neighbouring states and their peoples in an offer of peace
and good neighbourliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of cooperation and
15
mutual help with the sovereign Jewish people settled in its own land. The State of Israel
is prepared to do its share in a common effort for the advancement of the entire Middle
East. 􀀁
WE APPEAL to the Jewish people throughout the Diaspora to rally round the Jews of
Eretz-Israel in the tasks of immigration and upbuilding and to stand by them in the great
struggle for the realization of the age-old dream - the redemption of Israel. 􀀁
PLACING OUR TRUST IN THE "ROCK OF ISRAEL", WE AFFIX OUR SIGNATURES
TO THIS PROCLAMATION AT THIS SESSION OF THE PROVISIONAL COUNCIL OF
STATE, ON THE SOIL OF THE HOMELAND, IN THE CITY OF TEL-AVIV, ON THIS
SABBATH EVE, THE 5TH DAY OF IYAR, 5708 (14TH MAY,1948).
􀀁
As leader of the Yishuv, David Ben-Gurion was the first person to sign. He was followed
by:
Daniel Auster, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, Mordechai Bentov, Eliyahu Berligne, Fritz Bernstein,
Rachel Cohen-Kagan, Eliyahu Dobkin, Rabbi Yehuda Leib Hacohen Fishman, Rabbi
Wolf Gold, Meir Grabovsky, Dr Abraham Granovsky, Yitzhak Gruenbaum, Rabbi
Kalman Kahana, Eliezer Kaplan, Abraham Katznelson, Saadia Kobashi, Moshe
Kolodny, Rabbi Yitzhak Meir Levin, Meir David Loewenstein, Zvi Luria, Golda
Meyerson, Nahum Nir, David-Zvi Pinkas, Felix Rosenblueth, David Remez, Berl
Repetur, Zvi Segal, Mordechai Shatner, Ben-Zion Sternberg, Bechor-Shalom Sheetrit,
Haim-Moshe Shapira, Moshe Shertok, Herzl Vardi, Meir Vilner, Zerach Warhaftig and

Wrong approach to peace

2007-11-14T12:54:00.000-08:00

Wrong approach to peace

US, Israel ignore leading scholar’s insights about Muslim attitude to
peace deals
Yoram Ettinger

Policy makers in Israel and the United States are premising the
Annapolis Conference on foundations that have led to a series of bloody

collapses in Oslo, Cairo, Hebron, Wye, Sharm el-Sheikh, Camp David 2,
and the disengagement. They are formulating the conference on the
assumption that Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has adopted a
mentality of peace, thus granting yet another victory to the simplistic

world of delusions in the Mideast’s complex reality.

Professor Majid Khadduri, may he rest in peace, from Johns Hopkins
University in the US was the world’s leading authority on Arab
definitions of peace and war, and he noted that they view peace as a
tactical means for achieving their strategic objective – defeating the
enemy. Peace constitutes a temporary break in the ongoing war against
the enemy and/or infidel.

Khadduri’s book, War and Peace in the Law of Islam, clarifies the
meaning of the amazing 1,400-year sequence – since the 7th century - of

wars, terrorism, and the violent violation of agreements, alliances,
and conventions between Arabs, between Muslims, and between Arabs and
non-Arabs.

The insights in the book include the following: “If a catastrophe had
befallen the Muslims, (they) might come to terms with the
enemy…provided that the Muslims should resume the Jihad after the
expiration of the treaty…treaties must be of temporary duration, for in

Muslim legal theory the normal relations between Muslim and non-Muslim
territories are not peaceful, but warlike…If the (leader) entered a
treaty which he was incapable of fulfilling, the treaty was regarded as

void…the Prophet Muhammad has set the classic example by concluding a
(628 A.D.) treaty with the Makkans, known as the Hudayabiya Treaty
(whereby) a peace treaty with the enemy is a valid instrument if it
serves Muslim interests…the Prophet and his successors always reserved
their right to repudiate any treaty or arrangement which they
considered as harmful…Muslim authorities might come to terms with (the
enemy), provided it was only for a temporary period…a temporary peace
with the enemy is not inconsistent with Islam’s interests….”

Meanwhile, Mahmoud Abbas’ textbooks, religious clerics, newspapers, and

official TV and radio stations resonate with Khadduri’s theories day
and night while preaching for the “liberation” of Jerusalem, the
Galilee, Jaffa, Ashdod, and the Negev desert, the destruction of the
Jewish State, glorification of suicide bombers, and Jihad. The
Palestinian educational system, which promotes deep hatred, supports
the main conclusion from Professor Khadduri’s book: The
Palestinian-Israeli conflict is not over the size, but rather, is about

the existence of a Jewish State located in a region defined as an
“Islamic estate” by the Arabs.

‘No permanent compromise is permitted’
Khadduri adds that “Jihad, reflecting the normal war relations between
Arabs and non-Muslims” and says it was “a product of a warlike people.”

He says that while the “concept of Jihad underwent certain changes,
these changes did not imply abandonment of the Jihad duty, it only
meant the entry of the obligation into a period of suspension – it
assumed a dormant status, from which the (leader) may revive it at any
time he deems necessary…No (permanent) compromise is permitted with
those who fail to believe in God.”

The Annapolis conference is premised on the notion of “land for peace”
and the “two state solution,” which constitute a timeout that would
enable the Arab side to improve its positions in this constant war –
just a phase in realizing Jihad’s objectives.

The continued disregard to Khadduri’s theory, which predicted the
lessons of the last 14 years since Oslo, gives Israel’s enemies an
adrenaline boost, radicalizes Arab expectations and demands, pours oil
instead of water on the terror fire, inflames passions in the Middle
East, brings Israel closer to an all-out war under worse conditions,
adds friction points with the US, and minimizes the chances of peace.

This is not the way to prepare a peace conference!

Yoram Ettinger is an expert on Middle Eastern and American affairs and
a former envoy in the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C

Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg

My pro israel videos on youtube.com

2007-11-14T06:25:00.000-08:00

ISRAEL

Bond to Israel with Israel Bonds Jewu 266

Mearsheimer/Walt -shoddy and anti-semitic? Jewu 239

Zionism-The Jewish people's right to Israel Jewu 243

Travel with us to Israel JewU 138

Israel's 59th birthday Happy birthday

Palestinian Refugees "return" wrong
Israel: the greatest country

What can we personally do to help Israel

It's Not Israel's Fault

AIPAC Crucial for America and the World

Refuting Kristof's March 17 NYT piece on Israel

What's Wrong with Jimmy Carter's Book?

Shameful British Boycott

Key issue of the time:Iran Iran Iran JewU 212

From Disvestment watch site

2007-11-13T19:30:00.000-08:00

Introduction to Divestment Watch

Let's face some facts: The purpose of the Divest-from-Israel campaign is to hurt Israel economically. It is being sponsored by Palestinian groups in the United States and around the world as a form of economic terrorism. The campaign itself was created by a consultant to the Palestinian Authority who was, in his own words, key in the negotiations for an independent Palestinian state. The goal of the campaign is to destroy Israel's economy while claiming to negotiate for peace in good faith, which obviously undermines the entire peace initiative.

In essence, the divest-from-Israel campaign is a direct function of the Palestinian Authority, and is therefore a part of the official Arab League boycott of Israel, of which the Palestinian Authority is signatory.

It stands, therefore, in violation of US laws that protect countries that are friendly to the US from foreign boycotts, which is exactly what the Palestinian-based divestment campaign is. A foreign boycott is a state sponsored boycott, and the Arab boycott of Israel certainly fits that bill because it is an official function of Arab League member states.

The US law forbidding participation in foreign boycotts was created to prevent private citizens from creating de-facto foreign policy, since that is the domain of Congress and the President. The divest-from-Israel campaign is a form of boycott, and therefore illegal boycott. The purpose of this website is to give people the information they need to properly combat this assault on democracy, the free market economy and US laws that protect our allies.

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

Divest-from-Israel campaigns have proliferated in the last two years, mostly on college campuses, but also in cities and towns, churches, businesses and non-profit organizations.

These movements have precedents, notably the illegal eight-decade Arab Boycott of Israel, the Zionism = Racism propaganda campaign that began in the mid-1970s with rise of Arab oil power, and worldwide calls to boycott the Jewish state since the outbreak of most recent violence in the Middle East.

Using the rhetoric (and claiming the mantle) of the anti-Apartheid movement of the 1980s, anti-Israel activists have tried to recruit universities, municipalities and other institutions to punish the Jewish state economically and to get these institutions to (wittingly or unwittingly) lend their name and reputations to further a propaganda agenda, singling out Israel as a racist, apartheid state alone in the world deserving economic sanction and separation from "decent" humankind.

The good news is that these movements have found little success. Not a single university has chosen to follow calls for divestment in companies doing business with the Jewish state, and the movement's first major foray into municipalities (the city of Somerville, MA) met with total failure.

Still, the goal of the divestment-from-Israel movement, and similar groups who use the vocabulary of human rights to attack the only democracy in the Middle East is to resurrect through endless attack the "Big Lie" buried a decade ago in the UN: that "Zionism equals racism."

Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg

From Massada.org about Palestinians

2007-11-13T19:17:00.000-08:00

WHO ARE THE PALESTINIANS?WHAT & WHERE is PALESTINE?
Please Note: The terms B.C. (Before Christ or Before the Christian Era) and A.D.("Anno Domini" Latin for "In the Year of Our Lord") have been replaced with B.C.E (Before the Common Era, or Christian, Era) and C.E. (the Common Era) so as to respect all visitors to this site. The terms are interchangeable and both are based upon the Gregorian Calendar.
These and other questions will be addressed more fully as you go through this website. However, there is a preliminary historical fact that must be established now. There has never been a civilization or a nation referred to as "Palestine" and the very notion of a "Palestinian Arab nation" having ancient attachments to the Holy Land going back to time immemorial is one of the biggest hoaxes ever perpetrated upon the world! There is not, nor has there ever been, a distinct "Palestinian" culture or language. Further, there has never been a Palestinian state governed BY Arab Palestinians in history, nor was there ever a serious Arab-Palestinian national movement until 1964... three years BEFORE the Arabs of "Palestine" lost the West Bank [Judea and Samaria] and Gaza as a result of the 1967 Six-Day War (which the Arabs started). Even the so-called leader of the "Palestinian" people, Yasser Arafat, is EGYPTIAN! In short, the so-called Arab "Palestinians" are a manufactured people...a people with no history and no authenticity... whose sole purpose for existence is to destroy the Jewish State!
Israel first became a nation in 1312 B.C.E., two thousand years before the rise of Islam! Seven hundred and twenty-six years later in 586 B.C.E. these first ancient Jews in the Land of Israel [Judea] were overrun and Israel's First Jewish Temple (on Jerusalem's Old City Temple Mount) was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, king of ancient Babylon. Many of the Jews were killed or expelled; however many were allowed to remain. These Jews along with their progeny and other Jews who would resettle over the next 500 years, rebuilt the Nation of Israel and also a Second Temple in Jerusalem upon the Temple Mount. Thus the claim that Jews suddenly appeared fifty years ago right after the Holocaust and drove out the Arabs is preposterous!
Then in 70 C.E. (nearly 2000 years ago), it was the Roman Empire's turn to march through ancient Israel and destroy the SECOND Jewish Temple, slaughtering or driving out much of its Jewish population. Many Jews left on their own because conditions for life were made unbearable in many respects... yet thousands upon thousands stayed and rebelled on for centuries in order to once again rebuild a Jewish Nation in this Holy Land.
Over 3250 years, various Peoples, Religions and Empires marched through Jerusalem, Israel's ancient capital. The region was successively ruled by the Hebrews [Jews], Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Maccabeans, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Egyptians, the Crusaders, Mamelukes, the Turks (who indifferently governed the backward, neglected territory from the 16th century until the British drove them out during World War I) and then once again by the Jews in 1948. None bothered, nor were they in the least bit inclined, to build a Nation of their own... EXCEPT the Jews!
It must be noted that in 636 C.E., when the Arabs marauders came to the land and uprooted even more of its Jews, they did not form any Arab nation there... and certainly not a "Palestinian" nation. They were simply "Arabs" who, as did others before them, moved into a geo-political area called "Palestine!" And remember this one fact... it was not the Jews who "usurped" (a favorite word from the Arab propagandists) the land from the Arabs. If anything, it was the Arabs in 636 C.E. who overran and stole it from the Jews!
No nation, other than the ancient nation of Israel and later again in 1948 with the rebirth of the 2nd Nation of Israel, has ever ruled as a sovereign national entity on this land. A mighty Jewish empire extended over this entire area before the Arabs --- and their Islam --- were even born! The Jewish People have one of the most legitimate Birth Certificates of any nations in the world. Every time there is an archaeological dig in Israel, it does nothing but support the fact that the Jewish People have had a presence there for well over 3,000 years. The national coins, the pottery, the cities, the ancient Hebrew texts... all support this claim. Yes, other peoples have passed through, but there is no mistaking the fact that Jews have always had a continual presence in that land for over 3,000 years. This predates and certain dwarfs any claims that other peoples in the regions may have. The ancient Philistines are extinct. Many other ancient peoples are extinct. They do not have the unbroken line to this date that the Jews have. And if you want to talk religion, fine. G-d GAVE the Land of Israel to the Jewish People. And G-d does nothing by accident!
ANCIENT MAPSThe Kingdom of David and Solomon - 1077 - 997 BCE Kingdom of Herod- 30 BCE to 70 CE Jewish Communities in the Land of Israel -7th-11th Centuries
"PALESTINE?"
The term "Palestine" came from the name that the conquering Roman Empire gave the ancient Land of Israel in an attempt to obliterate and de-legitimize the Jewish presence in the Holy Land. The name "Palestine" was invented in the year 135 C.E. Before it was known as Judea, which was the southern kingdom of ancient Israel. The Roman Procurator in charge of the Judean-Israel territories was so angry at the Jews for revolting that he called for his historians and asked them who were the worst enemies of the Jews in their past history. The scribes said, "the Philistines." Thus, the Procurator declared that Land of Israel would from then forward be called "Philistia" [further bastardized into "Palaistina"] to dishonor the Jews and obliterate their history. Hence the name "Palestine."
One more thing. Very often one hears the revisionists and propagandists finding ancient historical links between the "Philistines" ("Invaders" in Hebrew) and the Arab "Palestinians." There is no truth to this claim! The Philistines were one of a number of Sea Peoples who reached the eastern Mediterranean region approximately 1250-1100 B.C.E. They were actually an amalgamation of various ethnic groups, primarily of Aegean and south-east European origin [Greece, Crete and Western Turkey] and they died out over 2500 years ago! Those Philistines were not Arab... and neither was Goliath! The Arabs of "Palestine" are just that... Arabs! And these Arabs of "Palestine" have about as much historical roots to the ancient Philistines as Yasser Arafat has to the Eskimos!
The ancient, indigenous inhabitants of Palestine are long perished from the earth. Canaanites, Phoencians, and then Philistines, all were dominated by the Israelites before 1060 B.C.E. Most of these cultural identities dissolved completely by the neo-Babylonian age, or, the 6th century B.C.E. Arabs weren’t even in Palestine until the mid-7th century C.E., over a thousand years later, after Palestine’s 1,300-year Jewish history. Arabs later living in Palestine never developed themselves or the land, but remained nomadic and quasi-primitive.
Even the word "Palestine" has no meaning in Arabic - every word in Arabic has some meaning deriving from the Koran, but the word "Palestine" does not. Even the term "Palestinian people" is rather ironic since the letter "P" is non-existent in the Arab language. If anything, the name "Palestine" was associated with Jews. In the years leading up to the rebirth of Israel in 1948, those who spoke of "Palestinians" were nearly always referring to the region's Jewish residents. For example, the "Palestine Post" [forerunner of today's Jerusalem Post] newspaper and the Palestine Symphony Orchestra were all-Jewish. The "Palestine Brigade Regiment" was composed exclusively of Jewish volunteers in the British World War II Army. In fact, Arab leaders rejected the notion of a unique "Palestinian Arab" identity, insisting that Palestine was merely a part of "Greater Syria."
THE RETURN TO ZION A return through both time and space to their ancestral homeland
The Land of Israel was never devoid of Jews, although at times she numbered only in the tens of thousands. This was because the land was virtually uninhabitable when the Jews once again began their God-given right AND duty to return en masse to the land of their forefathers (the Zionist Movement) in the 1880s. The silly rhetoric about a massive Arab presence being overrun by "invading Jews" is quickly dispelled by Mark Twain, who visited the area in 1867. From his book, "The Innocents Abroad"... "A desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds... a silent mournful expanse.... a desolation.... we never saw a human being on the whole route.... hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country."
The Jews did not displace anyone, because very few of the people who were there actually owned the land. Most were absentee owners residing elsewhere. Another fact hardly mentioned by the "new historians" is that the arriving Jews never threw anyone off any land. All land was purchased legally from the original owners... whether they be from "Palestine" itself or elsewhere. Furthermore, top dollar was paid for this land which, in many cases, was uninhabited and hardly more than swamp land and rocky terrain. Only about 120,000 Arabs resided in an area that now comprises the State of Israel, Jordan and the so-called "West Bank" [Judea and Samaria] in between. By 1890, the number of Jews who had settled in Palestine reached 50,000 and, by 1907, numbered 100,000. In Jerusalem alone the Jews numbered more than 25,000, out of a total population in the city of only 40,000 Jews, Christians and Arabs. The Arabs did, however, constitute a majority over the sparsely populated countryside abutting Jerusalem.
1880'sFor more remarkable early photos of the Holy Land click Here
From 1888 until 1915 there were about six locust plagues that made the land nearly uninhabitable. In the 1915 locust plague alone some 40,000 people died and large numbers of Jews and Arabs left the land. Those that returned did not do so until about 1922 when the Zionist money to reclaim the land started coming in and a pipe line was laid. Then both Arabs and Jews started to come in in large numbers.
Palestine's early Jewish Zionists were idealistic pioneers who arrived in pre-state Israel with every intention of living in peace alongside their Arab neighbors and upgrading the quality of life for all of the land's inhabitants. These pre-Israel Zionists (and later, Israelis) had tried to develop peacefully for the dual benefit of Jews and Arabs in the land. But the Arab leadership always, starting in the earliest days, took the low road of insisting that the only solution was for the Jews to get out, even if that meant continued poverty and stagnation. When Arab demands were not met, they always resorted to violence.
The vast majority of Arabs came to the area after these early Zionist pioneers began draining the malaria-infested swamps (above photo) and plowing the land! In doing so, these Jews created the economic opportunities and medical availabilities which attracted Arabs from both surrounding territories and far-away lands! In fact, over 90% of the Arabs migrated there within the last one hundred years. Most of the Arabs in "Palestine" were interlopers and squatters originating from Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq and other lands who simply took possession of pieces of land. So much for their unfounded claims that they have been there since "time immemorial!" These Arabs came from disorganized collections of tribes with a tradition of constantly terrorizing each other and trying to seize land from their neighbors. Many of them were social outcasts and criminals who could not find jobs in their own countries so they searched for their luck elsewhere. Unfortunately, those Arab immigrants imported into the Holy Land their age-old culture of terrorizing neighbors in order to seize land. In fact, today's Arab "Palestinians", let by Arafat and his PLO (sanitized to the PA, or Palestinian Authority...which is nothing more than A Network of Murderers Masquerading As Government!) are still nothing more than street thugs, bullies and 'Little Saddams' found elsewhere throughout most of the most Arab world.
Yet while the returning Jews were highly motivated to restore the land, the Arabs seethed with envy and hatred for they lacked both the leadership to inspire and motivate them for they were, in fact, historical strangers to this land! Unlike the Jews, those Arabs who immigrated there had no ancient attachments to or historical memories of this homeland ... this ancient Land of the JEWS!
The real problem facing those Arabs today is not the lack of a homeland. The historical root-cause of their problem and frustration is the fact that the countries they came from have not agreed to accept them back in. This is why so many of them live, up until today, in refugee camps, in neighboring Arab countries, lacking fundamental civil rights. In their frustration they feel that the only hope and choice they have is to try and steal someone else's country!
In Conclusion:
There was no "Arab Palestinian" history before the Arabs manufactured one shortly after 1948, and then especially after the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War! In an interview with the Dutch newspaper "Trau" (March 31, 1977), PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein said, "The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct 'Palestinian people' to oppose Zionism. It is also been a "conceptual" war for ownership of the term "Palestinian" which has been transferred over to the Arabs whereas, before 1967, "Palestine" has always been synonymous with Eretz Israel and the Land of Israel.
Archeological sites to this very day continue to yield artifacts with Hebrew writing, not some fictitious "Palestinian" or Arabic text! The so-called "Palestinian" Arabs were simply then, as they are now, Arabs no different culturally, historically or ethnically from other Arabs living in any of the 24 Arab countries from which they emigrated. The suggestion that the "Palestinians" are some sub-group of Arabs with their own unique identity is pure fiction! Great propaganda... but still pure fiction! And had not the Arabs continued to brainwash generation upon generation into believing this HISTORICAL HOGWASH about some ancient "Arab Palestinian" ties to the Holy Land, most could have gotten themselves a real life by now with much less bloodshed and suffering for everyone concerned!

Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg

Latest from Richard Beahr

2007-11-13T16:45:00.000-08:00

2. Jonathan Schanzer and Asif Romirowksi suggest that when an Israeli prime minister puts Jerusalem on the table, he is headed out of office. Given that 100 law enforcement officials swooped down to collect documents about Olmert's alleged corrupt activities the other day, he may be headed for jail.http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/11/ auctioning_jerusalem_foretells.html3. Is there a message in this collection of articles: Hamas say they will take over the West Bank if Israel leaves, the PA will not accept that Israel is a predominantly Jewish state (though the West Bank, like Gaza need to be Judenrein), most Palestinians will not give up the right of return, and a significant minority of Palestinians will never accept an end to the conflict with Israel. So why exactly is now the moment for a renewed peace process?http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL0995750 http://www.jmcc.org/publicpoll/results/2007/no63.pdfRick Richman: http://www.nysun.com/article/66277 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/923076.html4. The real story about the Jewish refugees from several Arab countries following Israel's 1948-49 war of independence is slowly starting to come out , after 60 years, and 126 UN resolutions about the smaller number of Arab refugees from that war.http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/ 000/000/014/350mfxhx.asp

Rabbi Jonathan Gnsburg

Cotton's ridiculous piece in the Trib

2007-11-11T14:24:00.000-08:00

Read this and I'll point out the obvious errors and distortions:

A glimpse at a life in line
For Palestinians, a tense daily grind
By Robert Cotton Fite, an Episcopal priest and clinical psychologist who lives in Wilmette
November 11, 2007
: Waiting in line at a West Bank border checkpoint, intimidated by the prison like atmosphere and frustrated by the Israeli soldier denying me passage back into Israel, I got my first real taste of what it's like most days for thousands of Palestinians. ..I don't yet understand how the Palestinian people endure the oppression of an occupation or what it feels like to be a Palestinian. I could always have returned to Zababdeh, called the American Consulate and gotten out. An ordinary Palestinian would have no such advocate, or even, perhaps, an Israeli friend like Harry. cotton.fite@sbcglobal.net

1. None of this ever needed to happen.
a. Nov 1947 the UN voted to partition Palestine to 2 nations, 1 Jewish 1 Arab. The jews agreed. The Arabs fought to exterminate the Jews.
b. Between 1948-1967 the Jordanians controlled the West Bank and Egypt Gaza. If they cared, they could have, on day 1, created Arab state there. It could now be 60 years old.
2. It need not be now this way. Every Israeli Prime Minister in a decade has tried to create an Arab state but The Palestinians continued to try and kill Israels in Intifada 1 and 2 and now daily missiles fired from Gaza. Hamas refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist, or renounce terror. If the Arabs would be interested in life, instead of death, there would be a State for Arabs there, a 22nd Arab state, asap. When Arabs smuggle weapons in ambulances, masquerading as women wearing full length Arab dress, etc, what can Israel do?

It is too bad the Palestinians are inconvenienced this way. Then don't elect terrorists who want to kill Jews as part of their basic platform.

to get the Foreign Ministry of Israel site

2007-11-09T13:43:00.000-08:00

http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa

Vistin Israel? Use this site

2007-11-09T13:35:00.001-08:00

http://www.goisrael.com/Tourism_Eng

Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg

Richard Baehr's latest

2007-11-09T12:22:00.000-08:00

1. I will be in a debate Sunday morning, November 11th at North Shore Congregation Israel , 1185 Sheridan Road , Glencoe which will address the topic of the legality and wisdom of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. . I will be debating Sam Fleischacker of Americans for Peace Now . The event begins at 9:30 AM, with a small breakfast at 9.
2. 10th district Congressman Mark Kirk, Israel's best friend in Congress, will be speaking at North Suburban Synagogue Beth El, 1175 Sheridan Rd., Highland Park, IL on Sunday, Nov. 11 at 7 PM. He will talk about the precarious situation in the Middle East and how Israel's future hangs in the balance between its few friends and its many enemies. Dessert will be served.
3. The Democrats need more Joe Liebermans, and fewer left wing anti-war (any war) attack dogs. Last year the Democrats ran Lieberman out of the party in his Senate primary, and now they hold the Senate due only to his caucusing with them, though elected as an independent. Here is a talk he gave yesterday:
http://lieberman.senate.gov/newsroom/release.cfm?id=287039&&
4. Caroline Glick on America's strategies for victory and defeat
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1192380771302&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
5. A substantive debate on immigration
http://www.www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=2FC5CAFA-7B82-4E0C-8E38-7B4B57B91009
6. David Horowitz describes how the AAUP has formally ended its commitment to liberal education. And then there are the public schools. Wonder why some kids know nothing even before they get to college?
http://www.www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=7C9ADC99-43A8-463F-BC96-3B46613CCBFD
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZDU5MGRlYzQzYjY0MDgyMTY5YTVkOTMwNmU0M2RhNTk
7. Ehud Olmert seems ready for Israel to leave the West Bank. Hamas is also ready. Abbas, on the other hand is not.
http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/105219.html
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1192380765162&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
8. Pakistan on the brink of collapse
Krauthammer: http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=MjMzNjYyNmZhYjg5ODZmYmMzMWZiOGM0ZTg3Y2Y1Yjc
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071109/EDITORIAL04/111090004/1013/EDITORIAL&template=printart
9. Maybe you want to try the local boutique this season instead of the mall, at least if you live in Chicago or LA. I have been saying this kind of attack is in the works for a few years, but don't blame it on me. Not that hard for the bad guys to see what chaos it would cause.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/11/exclusive-fbi-a.html
10 British versus US libel law. Here, if you are libeled you have to prove malice, and falsity by the party that libeled you. There the party accused of libel has to prove it has not done so. . . Guess which set of laws the Saudi sheiks are using to go after their American enemies?
http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10110971

Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg

Churchill and the Jews

2007-11-09T12:08:00.001-08:00

Jewish World Review Nov. 1, 2007 20 Mar-Cheshvan 5768
‘The Kosher Conspiracy’
By Suzanne Fields

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com The wraiths and witches of Halloween have retreated once more to the crevices of youthful imagination, but real ghosts continue to stalk our humanity. None are so spooky as the costumes of the anti-Semites who once more grow bold. When the grim outlines of the Holocaust were first revealed, a mantra of "never again" echoed sympathy for the Jews and translated into support for the state of Israel. Nowhere was this more dramatic than in Europe, where six million Jews died as bystanders insisted they didn't know what was going on.
A new hostility toward Jews is emerging in England, like Germany, one of the most civilized of nations. This time it's difficult to avert the eyes. The anti-Semites of Nazi Germany are easy to characterize as thugs and brutes who threw people and pianos out windows, but other anti-Semites listened to Mozart, Beethoven and Bach while plotting the Holocaust.
In England today anti-Semites read poetry, enjoy fine arts and sip fine wines, sneering at Jews with haughty abandon. Anti-Jewish themes gain acceptability. "In public and private discourse in Britain . . . there is a danger that this trend will become more and more mainstream," a Parliamentary survey warned only last year. Melanie Phillips, author of "Londonistan," documents how rife the Jew-hating disease is in the growing Muslim communities of England. But she shows how it also permeates the elite cultures of the media, the political and academic Left and even the Church of England. The targeting has been recalibrated from the Jewish race to the Jewish state.
"Zionism is now a dirty word in Britain, and opposition to Israel has become a fig leaf for a resurgence of the oldest hatred," she writes in City Journal. "What anti-Semitism once did to Jews as people, it now does to Jews as a people." The old Jew haters wanted the religion to disappear. The new haters want Israel with all those Jews to disappear.
BUY THE BOOK ...

at a discountby clicking HERE.
The ghost of Winston Churchill, who admired Jews for their energy, their intellect and their creative drive, is surely spinning in a narrow English coffin. "He was both a friend in their hours of need and a friend in deed," writes British historian Martin Gilbert in his new book "Churchill and the Jews." It has never been more relevant. America's favorite prime minister couldn't understand why the Arabs refused to learn agricultural techniques from the Jews of Palestine eight decades ago. He couldn't understand why the presence of Jews was considered an injustice to Arabs, nor why certain Englishmen thought they had more to gain from the Arab occupation of the unworked arid land than the Jews who transformed the desert into a vast oasis.
"Why is there harsh injustice done if people come and make a livelihood for more and make the desert into palm groves and orange groves?" Sir Winston asked. "Why is it injustice because there is more work and wealth for everyone? There is no injustice. The injustice is when those who live in the country leave it to be a desert for a thousand years."
He defended the Jewish presence in Palestine as historical precedent. Jews arrived before the Arabs, who arrived as outsiders and conquerors. "In the time of Christ," Churchill observed, "the population of Palestine was much greater when it was a Roman province." The majority in that Roman province were Jews.

Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg

Watch out for new Carter film

2007-11-09T06:43:00.000-08:00

Someone sent me this

Subject: Carter Film to be Released: Should we hand out information telling the truth?

I would like to alert you about the latest (subject to change) danger to American support of Israel and threat against American Jewry.

Next Friday, Nov. 9, a film will open in theaters nationwide (it has already opened in New York and L.A. ) called "A Man From Plains." It is a documentary approx. two hours and 10 minutes long directed by Academy-Award winner Jonathan Demme ("Silence of the Lambs") and financed by the folks who gave the world the movie "An Inconvenient Truth" (Al Gore) that follows Jimmy Carter around on his nationwide book tour for Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.

The film is a total, unadulterated anti-Israel diatribe which seeks to rob us of any claim of our legitimate rights to Judea and Samaria (of course, the film calls those areas the "West Bank") and casts (as does his book) Jewish/Israeli actions outside of the "Green Line" as more horrific and barbaric than that of the South African regime, and perhaps even Genghis Khan. As the same time, Carter is portrayed as grandfatherly, kind, hard-working, gentle, sincere, committed to making the world better, beloved and honest to a fault.

I must tell you that the directors do a very convincing job. All but the most ardent Zionist will leave the theater thinking the worst of Israel and our people, and, since the film is more likely to attract those who are more politically active, many who see the film may be compelled to urge the White House, Congress and the media to "get tough with Israel," to use a euphenism. In fact, in several scenes in the documentary, Carter and those asking questions in assorted Q&A sessions represented in the film make that very point: that the media needs to be more critical of Israel and report all the really bad things Israel is doing to the "Palestinians," and that Israel -- through AIPAC -- has our government and politicians intimidated and wrapped around its little finger.
Carter repeatedly refers to the area as "Palestine;" calls the security barrier a "wall"; talks about roads for Jews only; accuses Jews of stealing land that Palestinians have lived on for generations and cutting down ancient and valuable olive trees, and on and on. There is much footage of Israeli bulldozers uprooting trees and demolishing houses, and sad, tearful Arab faces.

Jews who protested at the Carter book-signing and speeches are shown as practically foaming at the mouth and nasty, while the Arabs are respectful and just want "their" land "back" and peace.

Carter is shown at Camp David making "peace" between Begin and Sadat, building houses in Katrina-ravaged New Orleans , shaking hands and well, walking on water. Yes, the audience is told several times, he reads the Bible every night. It is ghastly.

As you may know, Al Gore's film won an Oscar, and has been shown in public schools as gospel throughout the land.

We can expect at least such a push with this film about Carter.

The film will serve as a "Cliff's Notes" version of Carter's book; the people who did not read it but rather decided to "wait for the movie."

As I said, this film is a threat to US support for Israel and to the safety and security of Jews in America . We dare-not ignore it or think: "It's only a movie."

Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg

Richard Baehr's latest

2007-11-06T12:59:00.000-08:00

1. Middle East Forum reviews some new books:
http://www.meforum.org/article/1794
2. Eli Hertz has written a Mandate for Palestine, a study of Jewish legal rights to the land. If this subject interests you, I will be speaking Sunday morning, November 11th at North Shore Congregation Israel , 1185 Sheridan Road , Glencoe and will address the topic. I will be debating Sam Fleischacker of Americans for Peace Now on the topic of the legality and wisdom of Israeli settlements. A part of the legality argument is in Hertz' s document below. The event begins at 9:15 AM. This is a lefty shul, so I would not mind some allies showing up, or the attendees might think I am the only crazy right winger in their midst.
http://www.mythsandfacts.com/Conflict/mandate_for_palestine/MandateN2%20-%2010-29-07-English.pdf
3. Ruth Wisse thinks Walt and Mearsheimer are wrong- that American Jews are not powerful enough
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/02/AR2007110201659.html
4. Caroline Glick thinks Ehud Olmert and other Israeli leaders have crossed the line into anti-Zionism. Incompetent as well, but that does not explain all that is going on.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1192380742618&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
5. The Powerline writers think the push for Israeli Palestinian peace at this time is delusional. David Samuels does not buy some of Condi Rice's analogies .
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives2/2007/11/018940.php
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives2/2007/11/018938.php
http://www.www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=782D5222-0CC5-4CDE-ABF3-1C403097CDCB
6. Melanie Phillips on the ugly anti-Semitism breaking out in Britain
http://www.city-journal.org/html/17_4_anti-semitism.html
7. Gabriel Schoenfeld say the two accused former AIPAC employees (remember them?) were lobbying, not spying. This is a case that should have collapsed a long time back.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119431884738883588.html
8. Daniel Hannan says Iran wants the bomb so it can use it. Imagine that.
http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=13051
9. Turkish US relations were already in pretty bad shape before Nancy Pelosi decided to play moral crusader and please Armenian Californians.. Now they are even worse.
http://www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=IA40107
10. Has Rupert Murdoch taken over the New York Times? First a decent health care article , and now this on Jewish refugees from Arab countries after the 48 war..
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/05/world/middleeast/05nations.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
11. Want to fight malaria? Burn your Rachel Carson book ,and use DDT
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119423194366082213.html
12. I think Rudy Giuliani can get elected President, if nominated (definitely not assured at this point). . But he might also help elect some other Republicans in states where the Party is comatose. It is no wonder the left wing media is trashing him so hard so early.
http://washingtontimes.com/article/20071105/NATION/111050057/1001
13. Martin Kramer is not too impressed with what Hillary Clinton wrote about Israel in her Foreign Affairs piece (do you really think she wrote it?)
http://sandbox.blog-city.com/hillary_clinton_triangulation_on_israel.htm
Other Events:
You could learn about Israel all day on Sunday, November 11th. My debate at North Shore Congregation Israel is at 9:15 AM. Have a nice leisurely lunch,and then this at 4:30PM:
Sunday, November 11, at 4:30 pm - CAMERA invites you to hear strategy and policy expert Dr. Shmuel Bar on "Challenges for Israel and the West: Islamist Strategy – in Iran and Globally" at Sephardic Congregation, 1819 West Howard Street (just east of California), Evanston. Parking information available. RSVP to Sari@camera.org or 847... (name, phone number, and email address.) $5 suggested donation.
More on Shmuel Bar: http://www.herzliyaconference.org/Eng/_Articles/Article.asp?ArticleID=149&CategoryID=74
After a quick dinner, show up at North Suburban Synagogue Beth El, 1175 Sheridan Road in Highland Park at 7 PM to hear 10th district Congressman Mark Kirk talk about the threats to Israel. One threat to Israel would be if Kirk were replaced after the next election. There is no better informed, harder working, more passionate defender of Israel in Congress than Mark Kirk. Show up, listen and learn, and support him.
.
=Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg

Jews expelled from Arab lands

2007-11-05T07:07:00.001-08:00

Group Spotlights Jews Who Left Arab Lands
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By WARREN HOGE
Published: November 5, 2007
UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 2 — With assertions of the rights of Palestinians to reclaim land in Israel expected to arise at an planned Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Md., a Jewish advocacy group has scheduled a meeting in New York on Monday to call attention to people it terms “forgotten refugees.”
The organizing group, Justice for Jews from Arab Countries, says it is referring to the more than 850,000 Jews who left their homes in Arab lands after the declaration of the state of Israel in 1948.
“This did not occur by happenstance, as is sometimes said,” said Stanley A. Urman, executive director of the group, a five-year-old New-York-based organization. “In fact, we have found evidence that there was collusion among the Arab nations to persecute and exploit their Jewish populations.”
To back the claim, the group has reproduced copies of a draft law composed by the Arab League in 1947 that called for measures to be taken against Jews living in Arab countries. The proposals range from imprisonment, confiscation of assets and forced induction into Arab armies to beatings, officially incited acts of violence and pogroms.
Subsequent legislation and discriminatory decrees enacted by Arab governments against Jews were “strikingly similar” to the actions laid out in the draft law, Mr. Urman said.
In January 1948, the World Jewish Congress submitted a memo with the text of the draft to the United Nations Economic and Social Council. It accompanied the submission with a warning that “all Jews residing in the Near and Middle East face extreme and imminent danger.”
At a meeting two months later, however, Charles Malik, the Lebanese ambassador and president of the council, succeeded in a parliamentary maneuver that ended consideration of the memo. Though the event drew news coverage at the time, it has apparently gone unnoticed since.
The Arab League draft law had been drawn up in response to the Nov. 29, 1947, vote in the General Assembly to partition Palestine into two states, one Arab and one Jewish.
With the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, the status of Jews in Arab countries changed dramatically, because most of those countries either declared war on Israel or supported the war to destroy the new state.
The group cites United Nations figures showing that 856,000 Jewish residents left Arab countries in 1948.
“This was not just a forced exodus, it was a forgotten exodus,” said Irwin Cotler, a former Canadian minister of justice who is scheduled to be the main speaker at Monday’s program to open the campaign on behalf of the Jewish refugees.
For that reason, he said, the main goal of the campaign was to raise public awareness rather than to seek compensation. “It’s not about the money, it’s about the other components of redress, recognition, remembrance and acknowledgment of the wrongs committed,” he said.
He said that a particular focus of the campaign would be the United Nations, where Palestinian concerns got regular attention and Israel was frequently the object of condemning resolutions. “The U.N. has participated in expunging this experience from the Mideast narrative and from the U.N. narrative,” Mr. Cotler said.
The campaign is aimed at assuring that mention of Jewish refugees is included in future General Assembly and Human Rights Council resolutions and commemorations.
The next opportunity would be Nov. 29, the 60th anniversary of the partition vote, which is officially recognized by the United Nations as the International Day of Solidarity With the Palestinian People.
The United Nations says that 711,000 Palestinians left Israel-controlled territory in 1948 and 1949 and that today, along with their descendants, the number of Palestinian refugees is at least four million.
“There is mention, as there should be, of Palestinian refugees, but no mention of Jewish refugees,” Mr. Cotler said of the annual commemoration.
Another objective is to push for early passage of resolutions introduced in the United States Senate and House that say that any explicit reference to Palestinian refugees in any official document must be matched by a similar explicit reference to Jewish and other refugees.
The American-sponsored peace conference in Annapolis is planned to take place before the end of the year to address core issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict like borders, the status of Jerusalem and the Palestinian refugees.
“We want to have this meeting now, in advance of the Annapolis conference, to ensure that this issue is front and center in the international awareness as it should be,” Mr. Urman said.
Daniel Carmon, an ambassador at the Israeli mission, said that while there ought to be a change in attitude at the United Nations, no one expected it to occur soon.
“This has not been forgotten because it does not exist,” he said. “It is a reflection of the dynamic at the U.N.”
Mr. Cotler said a change in perception would help bring the region’s antagonists together.
“I know this may sound Pollyannaish, but I believe that if we allow people to understand the truth of what occurred, then they will be able to recognize the other,” he said. “Right now the other is being demonized.”

Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg

Hollywood and Islamofascists actions

2007-11-04T19:25:00.000-08:00

1. How Hollywood treats Islamofascistic actions---------------------------------------------------------------------- HOLLYWOOD GOES TO WAR Michael Fumento New York Sun, October 25, 2007 Critics have labelled the new movie Rendition a "politicalthriller." Whether it thrills or not is subjective. But "political"?Absolutely. It's merely the latest in an unbroken series of major filmsabout the war on terror that range from those seeking to assure us thatIslamist terrorism isn't the threat we might think, to those depicting theterrorists as no worse than those who fight them-and by implication theAmerican people as a whole. In 1942, Hollywood went to war. It began pumping out countlessmovies designed both to entertain the public and bolster its will to fight.A lot of them were cheap, hokey, or both. But even in a nation thatseemingly needed little reminder of the dastardly attack on Pearl Harbor orthe evils of the Nazis, they kept drilling home the message that we mustpersevere no matter the costs or the duration. Well that they did. PresidentFranklin Roosevelt lived in constant fear that the public would turn againstthe war. . Fast forward that reel to the post-9/11 era. Just how manyHollywood movies (not documentaries) have been made in which the bad guysare Islamist terrorists that do not specifically concern the Sept. 11attacks? If you have to guess, guess "none." Consider the film that came out this June, Live Free or Die Hard.Early on in the story the FBI believes a massive cyber-attack is the work ofIslamists. But it's the Department of Homeland Security that proves to bemore or less responsible.. In one of last year's most critically acclaimedfilms, the severely disjointed Babel, what is treated as a terroristshooting of an American tourist woman in Morocco proves to have beenaccidental. But the Moroccan police, fearful of losing tourist dollars,stage a desperate manhunt that ultimately leads only to the shooting of acute little boy. Consider, too, the odyssey of the conversion of Tom Clancy'smassive bestselling 1991 book, The Sum of All Fears, in which a nuclear bombdestroys an American city, into the 2002 film of the same name. In the bookand the original script, the bad guys were Islamist terrorists. Little did Mr. Clancy know how realistic his choices of villainswere: Federal court hearings in February 2001 revealed that as early as1993, Osama bin Laden offered $1.5 million to buy uranium for a nuclearweapon. But ultimately the Paramount movie depicted the bomber as yetanother comic book character villain, an Austrian neo-Nazi. (Though at leasthe never says, "Vee haff vays uf making you talk!") Mr. Clancy, who unfortunately had no control over the process, tooka swipe at director Phil Alden Robinson on the special features section ofthe DVD. Mr. Robinson, for his part, made the incredible claim on the DVDextra that the change was in the name of realism. In reality, the Council onAmerican-Islamic Relations had lobbied to change the villains and won. "Ihope you will be reassured that I have no intention of promoting negativeimages of Muslims or Arabs," Mr. Robinson wrote to them, "and I wish you thebest in your continuing efforts to combat discrimination." Paramount's CEOat the time, Sherry Lansing, also suggested that she would steer clear ofmovies with Muslim villains.. As for CAIR, former FBI assistant director and chief of the FBI'scounterterrorism section, Steven Pomerantz, has charged that theorganization has "effectively given aid to international terrorist groups."In June federal prosecutors named CAIR an "unindicted co-conspirator" in aplot to fund the designated terrorist organization Hamas. CAIR's 1996publication, The Price of Ignorance, listed "incidents of anti-Muslim biasand violence" that included the trial of Omar Abdel Rahman. Mr. Abdel Rahmanwas convicted of conspiring to blow up the Lincoln Tunnel and other New YorkCity landmarks.. The most one-sided of these films, however, are The Kingdom andRendition. In The Kingdom, Islamist terrorists blow up 200 American men,women, and children. [T]he film is a fairly straight-forward action filmwith a bit of forensics tossed in. Until the last few seconds, that is. That'swhen we discover that the FBI agents, and America as a whole, are really nobetter than the terrorists.. [I]n the film.an Egyptian-born American and"dedicated family man" who is clearly innocent of any wrongdoing. U.S.authorities nonetheless snatch him from American soil and deliver him to acountry where he's horrifically interrogated. The authorities deny anyknowledge of the incident. They are liars and they are torturers-by-proxy.. [Yet] it's hardly the case that Islamists don't make believable andcaptivating villains, much less more believable than evil cyber-geniuses andneo-Nazis. Islamists have killed about 3,000 American civilians on 9/11,killed almost 200 people in the Madrid Train Bombings, and 52 more in theLondon subway bombings. Islamic terrorists routinely explode bombs inmarkets and launch chlorine gas attacks. They build torture chambers andmake and display videos of beheadings in which the victim screams in agonyas his head is sawed off with a dull knife.. As to not wanting to stereotype either Arabs or Muslims, the vastmajority of whom want nothing to do with violence done in Mohammed's name,has it occurred to the Tinseltown terror apologists that nobody suffers morefrom Islamic terror than Muslims themselves?. Whether or not CAIR cares about them, we should. So should themoguls in La La Land. Instead, they're giving us the equivalent of 1943movies equating FDR with Hitler.. (Michael Fumento has been embedded three times in Iraq and once inAfghanistan.)

Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg

Richard Baehr's latest

2007-11-04T18:25:00.000-08:00

Richard Baehr's latest

Thanks to all those who attended my talks on the West Coast and to those have taken the time to correspond afterwards.

1. A surprising article in the New York Times from Gregory Mankiw that rebuts some of the conventional wisdom on American health care. And the British are increasingly unhappy with their national healthcare system.http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/business/04view.html? _r=2&ex=1351918800&en=3d64fb9624df7a4e&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&or ef=slogin&oref=sloginhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/11/04/ nhs104.xml

2. Jim Hoagland, a sensible Washington Post columnist, says that if China and Russia want to avoid an American or Israeli war with Iran, they need to step up the pressure, rather than interfere with sanctions efforts .Gerald Steinberg takes on Mohammed El Baradei, a major enabler of Iran's nuclear program. Aluf Benn on the view of Iran's program from Israel. Bill Gertz on US military capabilities to deal with Iranhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/02/ AR2007110201781.html?nav=rss_opinion/columnshttp://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp? DRIT=1&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=443&PID=0&IID=1906&TTL=Why_Are_the_IA EA_and_Dr._Mohammed_El-Baradei_Protecting_Iran?http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/914858.html http://washingtontimes.com/article/20071019/NATION/110190089/10023.

Three more global warming skeptics, James Lewis, Debra Saunders and John Stosselhttp://www.americanthinker.com/2007/11/ global_warming_as_pathological.htmlhttp://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/11/ polar_bear_pandering.htmlhttp://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/10/ the_globalwarming_debate_isnt.html

4. Bib Netanyahu speaks to American Jewish communal leaders on Annapolis and Jerusalem,http://www.onejerusalem.org/blog/archives/2007/11/post_28.asp

5. Talks from a conference on Israeli missile defensehttp://imda-video-archive.media-line.co.il/Videos-archive-eng.aspx

6 Amir Oren on Israel's military challenges and its capabilitieshttp://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/914590.html

7. Saudi Arabia is not an ally. Repeat 3 times.http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/ article2801017.ece

8. Greg Richards on favorable trends in Iraq. At this point, Iraq is safer than Philadelphia, Atlanta,Washington DC, New Orleans, Detroit, St. Louis and many other American cities. I just noticed that al the unsafe American cities listed are in the NFC,and not the AFC. Is there any hidden meaning to this?The Times of London on the Petraeus curve, which also demonstrates favorable trends, largely unreported in American papers. .http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2007/11/ favorable_trends_in_iraq_1.htmlhttp://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/ article2796318.ece_______________________________________________

Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg

abbas and peace conference

2007-11-01T10:58:00.000-07:00

Editor's notes: Abbas's opportunityDavid Horovitz , THE JERUSALEM POSTOct. 25, 2007Branded an incompetent failure last spring by the Winograd Committee's interim report on the Second Lebanon War, told publicly by his foreign minister that he ought to resign, and since further discredited by the opening of three criminal investigations into alleged financial improprieties, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is nonetheless rising in the polls.Not, it should be stressed, rising high, but moving inexorably out of the abysmal single figures of a few months ago and on through the teens. This is not because the Israeli public is slowly learning to love its prime minister. And though there may be a grudging admiration in some quarters for his sheer bloody-minded determination to retain a job that so much of his electorate so plainly regrets giving him, that's not the secret of his slow float upward in the polls, either.It is, rather, a consequence of Israelis' near-desperate desire for peace - or, more accurately, for a means to sever our connection to the Palestinians. Having concluded years ago that the conflict that had so obsessed his predecessor was unsolvable for the foreseeable future, US President George W. Bush has now U-turned and is engaged in a last-ditch, end-of-second-term bid to secure progress. And since Olmert is making discernible efforts to crown this improbable mission with glory, a proportion of the Israeli public, as so often in the past, is apparently willing to suspend its disbelief, put aside the bitter skepticism born of brutal experience, and give Olmert its backing.With each passing year, the strategy of delegitimizing Israel by depicting it as the recalcitrant holdout against viable compromise with the Palestinians gains more adherents. It was hugely boosted by Yasser Arafat's post-Camp David peddling of a mendacious account of Israeli rejectionism, is now the dominant narrative in most of Europe and, thanks to the efforts of Messrs. Carter, Walt, Mearsheimer et al, is taking an ever-greater grip in the United States as well. (The campaign is enhanced by the rewriting of Middle Eastern history, notably by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to present the establishment and maintenance of the modern State of Israel not as the belated restoration of an ancient sovereign power, but as the implantation of an alien and intransigent entity imposed on a blameless Arab world in order to salve Europe's Holocaust-scarred conscience.)In truth, however, mainstream Israel is prepared to go to extraordinary lengths, and contemplate extraordinary risks, in the cause of a viable separation. When Ehud Barak returned from Camp David seven years ago, having offered to relinquish far more territory than he had previously intimated and to concede a sovereign Palestinian role in Jerusalem, he was met with greater demonstrations of support than denunciation. Since then, Israel has risked rending its own social fabric to drag 8,000 Jews out of their homes in Gaza without even the cover of an accord, and would have reelected Ariel Sharon, with his unstated blueprint for a likely withdrawal from 90 percent of the West Bank, had his own failed health not intervened.Now the Olmert government is publicly contemplating the previously unthinkable notion of a 100% West Bank pullout, with one-for-one land-swap adjustments to maintain the larger settlement blocs. Like Barak before him, the prime minister is openly questioning Israel's need for a united Jerusalem that takes in the Arab neighborhoods. And the peace-parched Israeli public's response is less hysterical opposition than gentle encouragement in the shape of an upturn in the prime ministerial personal popularity ratings.Of all the "final status" issues, it is only on the question of refugees that the government, and public opinion, are holding firm, rejecting the national suicide inherent in a capitulation to the notion of a "right of return" to Israel for millions of Palestinians. Barely 20 years ago, mainstream Israeli public opinion resisted the very idea of Palestinian statehood. Today, the only substantive Israeli objection to a Palestinian state is that it not be achieved, whether by violence or demographics, at the expense of ours.Here is where Mahmoud Abbas and the "moderate Arab states" might be expected to make their voices heard, to mirror the energetic ideas for compromise being floated by the government's indefatigable trial balloonists with conciliatory scripts of their own, most especially on the refugee issue. And yet, mere weeks before the scheduled convening of the Annapolis summit, from the Palestinian side there is only silence.THE PALESTINIAN academic Sari Nusseibeh, formerly Arafat's PLO representative, observed famously some years ago that the primary right that the Palestinians should be seeking was the right to freedom, and that this right took precedence over the claim to a "right of return." Indeed, he argued that the paramount right to freedom would never be achieved so long as their leadership insisted that millions of refugee descendants be granted permission to live within the sovereign borders of the State of Israel.At a large gathering of Middle East politicians, academics, businesspeople and others, a senior Egyptian minister once assured me that the Arab world in general, and the Palestinian leadership in particular, recognized all this, and that the wording of the Arab peace initiatives now being advanced, with their references to an "agreed" solution to the refugee issue, represented the formal reflection of this shift. That word "agreed," he said, indicated that Israel's needs would have to be satisfied in the determination on the fate of the refugees.And yet today, even while Iran terrifies the likes of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia by seeking nuclear clout to reinforce its Islamist ambitions, and as the Islamist Hamas cements its hold on Gaza and looks to repeat the feat in the West Bank at Fatah's expense, neither the moderate Arab leaders, nor Abbas, have been able to bring themselves to make this critical compromise explicit and thus begin to pave a constructive road forward. A road forward that would help save their own regimes by proving the emptiness of the extremists' bleak vision.This week, for instance, Abbas has been touring Muslim states in Asia, and expressing optimism about Annapolis yielding "a concrete outcome that is going to be positive for our people." In the run-up to the conference, he has been confirming, Israeli and Palestinian teams are working on a document that will cover the key final status issues, the refugees included. What he has notably not said, however, is that he is ready to endorse anything similar to Nusseibeh's formulation.Though Abbas is regarded by his Israeli interlocutors as both well-intentioned and committed to a viable two-state solution, the sad fact is that, since succeeding Arafat, he has not proved this. As the first serious stab at peacemaking since the disaster at Camp David seven years ago looms, he, like Arafat in 2000, has chosen not to prepare his people for compromise. He has not made explicit that an accommodation will require concessions on both sides, chiefly including the abandonment of the refugee demand. Unlike Arafat, Abbas has not actively fostered terrorism, but nor has he moved decisively to delegitimize and thwart it.He has intermittently and half-heartedly opposed the Kassam rocket crews, and he has taken very public and very personal offense at Hamas's alleged efforts to assassinate him. But overall, Abbas's term as Palestinian No. 1 has to date been a litany of loss, humiliation and, above all, inactivity. He is the Palestinian leader who rearranged the deck chairs as the Fatah ship went down.He lost half his kingdom to Hamas; he lost his parliament to Hamas; he failed to reform Fatah and thus reverse the Palestinian public's disillusion with his party that so helped Hamas; he failed to curb terrorism even within his own Fatah ranks; he failed to stand decisively against incitement to terrorism in his education system and in his media, and he failed to publicly endorse positions that would render a peace process viable and restore more than a modicum of Israeli faith in the notion of a Palestinian partnership.Israel is not without blame for the pitiful performance of the Palestinian president. Leaving Gaza, though bitterly traumatic, was viewed across most of the political spectrum, deep into the Likud, as vital to Israel's long-term demographic interests. But beating a unilateral retreat from the Strip, rather than coordinating with the far-from-ideal Abbas, meant that the withdrawal was understood by the Palestinians as a vindication of terrorism. Similarly, denying calls from Abbas for prisoner releases, but countenancing large-scale asymmetrical prisoner exchanges with the ruthless extortionists of Hizbullah, represented further reward for hostility and a veritable disincentive to compromise.IT IS not too late, however, for Abbas, and the scheduled convening of the summit at Annapolis represents a perfect opportunity - an opportunity to salvage the beginnings of constructive progress from the engulfing waves of extremism.It is not too late for Abbas, with the support of the purported Arab moderates, to publicly counter Ahmadinejed's rewriting of three millennia of Jewish history and to publicly acknowledge the Jewish historical right to our revived sovereign Middle East homeland. It is not too late for him to endorse the notion of a two-state solution in which Israel is explicitly defined and recognized as the Jewish state. It is not too late for him to publicly stress to his own people that they will never achieve freedom if it is predicated on the demographic destruction of Israel, and that, therefore, the refugee issue will have to be resolved without a "return." (There could be no better exemplar of compromise than the man who was himself born in Safed.)It is not too late for Abbas, in short, to challenge his own people to forego impossible demands in the cause of an accommodation from which they will be the primary beneficiaries.For him personally, such a course would be risky. He would be putting his life on the line. But those who wish to lead their peoples to better futures, those who seek and take on the responsibility of leadership, must be prepared to stand firm in the face of extremism, at whatever personal risk... as reemphasized only days ago by the vicious terrorist attack on the undaunted Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto and by the terrible anniversary we in Israel marked this week.And it's not as though Abbas would be short of friends worldwide anxious to help him steer his people to that better future - to steer the Palestinians toward statehood by setting up a competent judicial authority, effective institutions of government and capable security forces. At present, the prospect of the Palestinian Authority taking responsibility for territory that might be relinquished by Israel is a bad joke. Israel cannot contemplate any such transfer of power - in areas, remember, that are within easy rocket range of Ben-Gurion Airport and the entire heartland of our country - so long as the phrase "Palestinian Authority security force" remains an oxymoron.Abbas, if he were to seize the moment, would be able to accurately depict his push for moderation as a necessary move to marginalize Hamas and its Iranian extremist paymasters, and to counter the coercion and repression, autocracy and inequality of the Islamist vision that Hamas is gradually introducing into Gaza.The likes of Egypt, Jordan and some in Saudi Arabia and beyond, terrified by the emboldening of Teheran, should rush to back Abbas and support any message of compromise. It is their prime interest, too, to see the rapacious Islamists thwarted. Palestinian self-interest requires that Abbas follow this course. Non-Islamist Arab self-interest requires it, too.The impact on the battered, bloodied Israeli psyche would be enormous - quite dwarfing Olmert's current little poll boost from the optimists - even though, it must be stressed, the most dramatic public comments would mark only the beginning of a long road back to sanity. They would represent only the opening words of good intent that would have to be translated into action, notably in a determined, unrelenting assault on terrorism. We've heard many fine words over the years...Nonetheless, Abbas would serve four sets of interests - Palestinian, Israeli, moderate regional and global - if he severed the line from Arafat, defied Hamas and his own radicals by urging international assistance in the battle against terrorism, and issued an unequivocal public rejection of the refugee "right of return" and an endorsement of Jewish Israel as the first step toward reviving a peace process. A win-win-win-win situation, though pregnant with personal risk.Do I think Abbas is going to seize the moment - to tell his own people where their true interests lie? I do not. Whether or not he has the inclination, I don't think he has the guts. I hope he'll prove me wrong.

Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburgwww.jonathanginsburg.net & www.ehnt.orgcybershull + 300 videos www.esynagogue.org www.rabbireflects.blogspot.com www.jewishconversionchicago.com +blog www.prozion.blogspot.com

The Balfour Declaration of 1917 (dated November 2, 1917) was a classified formal statement of policy by the British government on the partitioning of

2007-10-31T15:28:00.000-07:00

The Balfour Declaration of 1917 (dated November 2, 1917) was a classified formal statement of policy by the British government on the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of the World War I.
The letter stated the position, agreed at a British Cabinet meeting on October 31, 1917, that the British government supported Zionist plans for a National home for the Jewish people within Palestine‎ with the condition that nothing should be done which might prejudice the rights of existing communities there.
The statement was issued through the efforts of Chaim Weizmann and Nahum Sokolow, the principal Zionist leaders based in London but, as they had asked for the reconstitution of Palestine as “the” Jewish national home, the Declaration fell short of Zionist expectations.[1]
The "Balfour Declaration" was later incorporated into the Sèvres peace treaty with Turkey and the Mandate for Palestine. The declaration was made in a letter from Arthur James Balfour (Foreign Secretary) to Lord Rothschild (Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild), a leader of the British Jewish community, for transmission to the Zionist Federation, a private Zionist organization. The document is kept at the British Library.

Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburgwww.jonathanginsburg.net & www.ehnt.orgcybershull + 300 videos www.esynagogue.org www.rabbireflects.blogspot.com www.jewishconversionchicago.com +blog www.prozion.blogspot.com

Who needs Israel anyway?

2007-10-30T15:32:00.000-07:00

Who needs Israel anyway?Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2007 03:47:54 -0500Who needs Israel anyway?By Pat Boone

Many Western and European political leaders having heard thedeprecations and the determination to wipe Israel off the face of theearth, from the likes of Palestinian Yasser Arafat, Saudi ArabianOsama bin Laden, Iraq's Saddam Hussein, Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,and so many other power brokers in the region have come dangerouslyclose to deciding that little Israel is the "thorn in the side" ofworld order.The next logical thought is: "Who needs Israel ? Let her be erased,her people dispersed (or whatever), and the Middle East can settlecomfortably into a harmonious Islamic community of states. Problemsolved!"What folly. What suicidal blindness.I just returned from a momentous event in our nation's capital. Anorganization called Christians United for Israel , or CUFI, convened4,000 people from all 50 states in several days of briefings andstrategy sessions, culminating in an exhilarating, rousing rally inthe D.C. Convention Center featuring Jewish leaders and top Christianministers celebrating the things we hold in common and the spiritualbonds that unite us. The next day, several thousand of theparticipants fanned out over Washington and Capitol Hill, lobbyingvirtually every representative and senator on behalf of Israel andits sovereignty.Why? Couldn't we all see this is an exercise in futility, anunnecessary bother that we'd all be better off if Israel didn't exist?No, we all see clearly that the world needs Israel . The whole world.What do I mean? Consider:Israel, the 100th smallest country, with less than 1/1000th of theworld's population, can make claim to an astounding number ofsociety's advances in almost every dire ction!Intel's new multi-core processor was completely developed atfacilities in Israel . And our ubiquitous cell phone was developed inIsrael by Motorola, which has its largest development center in thelittle land.Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology was pioneered in Israel .AirTrain JFK ÃƒÂ¯Ã‚Â¿Ã‚ã€“ the 8.1-mile light rail labyrinth that connectsJFK Airport to NYC's mass transit is protected by the Israeli-developed Nextiva surveillance system.Bill Gates calls Israel "a major player in the high-tech world"; mostof Windows NT operating system was developed by Microsoft-Israel; thePentium MMX Chip technology was designed in Israel at Intel; bothMicrosoft and Cisco built their only R&D facilities outside the U.S.in Israel; and, with more than 3,000 high-tech companies and start-ups, Israel has the highest concentration of high-tech companies inthe world apart from the Silicon Valley.Get this: Israel leads the world in the number of scientists andtechnicians in the workforce, with 145 per 10,000, as opposed to 85in the U.S. , over 70 in Japan , and less than 60 in Germany . Withover 25 percent of its workforce employed in technical professions,Israel places first in this category as well! It goes on and on.The Weizmann Institute of Science has been voted "the best universityin the world for life scientists to conduct research." Israeliresearchers have:Discovered the molecular trigger that causes psoriasis.Developed the Ex-Press shunt to provide relief for glaucoma sufferers.Unveiled a blood test that diagnoses heart attacks ........ ... bytelephone!Found a combination of electrical stimulation and chemotherapy thatmakes cancerous metastases disappear and developed the first fullycomput erized, no-radiation, diagnostic instrumentation for breastcancer!Designed the first flight system to protect passenger and freighteraircraft against missile attack.Developed the first ingestible video camera so small it fits inside apill used to view the small intestine from the inside, enablingdoctors to diagnose cancer and digestive disorders!Perfected a new device that directly helps the heart pump blood, aninnovation with the potential to save lives among those withcongestive heart failure, synchronizing the heart's mechanicaloperations through a sophisticated system of sensors.These are only a few of Israel 's recent contributions to the welfareof the world. There are just too many to list here. Water shortage,global warming, space travel, anti-virus, anti-smallpox, bloodpressure, solar power, paralysis, diabetes, data storage these andhundreds more are being addressed by Israel's scientists. They'repioneering in DNA research, using tiny strands to create humantransistors that can literally build themselves and playing animportant role in identifying a defective gene that causes a rare andusually fatal disease in Arab infants!WHO NEEDS ISRAEL ? WHO DOESN'T ?Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any othernation by a large margin; it has the largest number of startupcompanies globally, second only to the U.S.; it is No. 2 in the worldfor venture capital funds, financing all these advances; its $100billion economy is larger than all of its immediate neighborscombined; and Israel is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East.And while it maintains, by far, the highest average living standardsand per-capita income, exceeding even those of the UK , Israel is thelargest immigrant-absorbing nation on earth, relative to itspopulation. It is truly an unparalleled marvel of our time.So what's the point of all this?Simply that the very idea of eradicating or even displacing Israelfrom its historic home is suicidal to the rest of the world, not justher Arabic neighbors. Though there are ominous biblical consequencespronounced on those who "curse Israel ," there are also wonderfulblessings promised those who "bless" her and we're seeing those real,practical, humanitarian blessings proliferate around the world,blessing all humanity.Stop just for a second and imagine a world today that never knewIsrael . And then go further: Given their living standards,ideologies and attitudes toward all who dare to disagree with them,imagine what our world would be like if Israel 's enemies held sway.Would you rather live in an Iran , Iraq , Syria or Afghanistan ? Oran Israel ?Who needs Israel ? Let's be honest. We all do.

Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburgwww.jonathanginsburg.net & www.ehnt.orgcybershull + 300 videos www.esynagogue.org www.rabbireflects.blogspot.com www.jewishconversionchicago.com +blog www.prozion.blogspot.com

Hamas, Gaza and stopping the shelling

2007-10-30T15:23:00.000-07:00

By Dion Nissenbaum, McClatchy Newspapers Mon Oct 29, 6:59 PM ET
BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip —In the four months since Hamas seized effective control of the Gaza Strip in a brutal military takeover, Israel has cut off the desolate region from the outside world and created a political crisis for the Islamist militant group now leading the government here.
Popular support for Hamas appears to be dwindling as frustration builds.
While Hamas managed to restore a semblance of safety to the Gaza Strip , it has failed to do much more. The Hamas -led government enjoys virtually no international recognition. Israel and the United States have rushed to shore up Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas , who has championed the international campaign to marginalize Hamas .
Now Hamas is confronting intense internal fissures....

Hamad, who until recently served as chief spokesman for deposed Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh , called the Hamas takeover a "serious strategic mistake that burdened the movement more than it can bear."
Other Hamas leaders in Gaza are vowing to stand fast and not let the latest Israeli steps force them to capitulate. But Israel's actions have created rank stagnation that is permeating daily life...
...Things are about to get worse. This week, Israel began tightening the screws, closing one of the two remaining crossings used to transfer food and other supplies in and out of the Gaza Strip .
Despite warnings that the actions could be illegal under international law, Israel intends to let nothing but essential food and medical supplies into Gaza . ..."This is a signal to Hamas and the Palestinian people in Gaza ," said Shlomo Dror , a spokesman for the Israeli government agency responsible for relations with the Gaza Strip . "The only reason we are doing this is to make the lives of the terrorists harder."
Israeli forces guard every exit from Gaza by land, sea and air. The Israeli military continues to stage daily operations to root out Palestinian militants, who fire mortars and rudimentary rockets into neighboring Israeli cities, towns and farms.
... But Israeli officials say the sanctions will end when Hamas cedes power to Abbas and rocket attacks from Gaza come to an end.
"If I were a Palestinian, I would go to Hamas and ask them to stop the attacks," Dror said. "The responsibility is in the hands of Hamas , not ours."

Intra Palestinian abuses

2007-10-23T06:00:00.000-07:00

West Bank and Gaza, a cycle of retribution churns
Fatah, Hamas security forces accused of abusing Palestinian foes
By Joel Greenberg Tribune foreign correspondent
October 23, 2007
SHUYUKH, West Bank - Amer Halayqa recalled that he was rousted out of bed with a punch in the face, then dragged in his pajamas to a prison van that transported him to a Palestinian security center in Hebron, where he was shoved out of the vehicle after being hooded and handcuffed.During more than three weeks of interrogation, he said, he was shackled in painful positions, occasionally beaten and subjected to other abuse.Halayqa, 26, a Hamas follower, had been jailed previously without trial by Israel, but in August he was rounded up by the security forces of President Mahmoud Abbas in a crackdown on the Islamic group in the West Bank. Scores of police and security men descended on Halayqa's village near Hebron, seizing more than a dozen people.
"The Israelis would at least give you time to get dressed and say goodbye to your family," Halayqa said in an interview, recounting his arrest and interrogation. "It's harder to take when the injustice is from your own people and not from your enemy, the occupation."

items from Richard Beahr

2007-10-23T05:50:00.000-07:00

1. Christopher Hitchens thinks Islamo Fascism is the right term. Mike Adams on why the Islamo Fascists get away with hate speechhttp://www.slate.com/id/2176389/http://www.townhall.com/columnists/MikeSAdams/2007/10/22/ why_islamic_fascists_get_away_with_hate_speech2. Stuart Taylor who co-wrote a great book on the Duke lacrosse case, has a sensible take on the current food fight in Congress over the renewal of various governmental eavesdropping programs .http://nationaljournal.com/taylor.htm3. The war in Iraq is going better. Repeat 3 times, , in case you missed this story in the New York Times...Jeff Emanuel : http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/10/ the_surge_is_only_the_first_st.htmlVictor Davis Hanson: http://article.nationalreview.com/print/? q=OGRlOTA5ZTJmZTYyZGRjMTI3MzFmYTdiMmNiYTQ2NmM=Michael Ledeen: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119283901152765565.html4. From one of the great journals in the English language- City Journal, Andre Glucksman on the "progress" from the H-bomb to the human bombhttp://www.city-journal.org/html/17_4_modern_terrorism.html5. Niall Ferguson still sees war as a real possibility with Iran http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe- ferguson22oct22,0,1458042.column?coll=la-opinion-centerRalph Peters on one nuke program down, one to go? http:// www.nypost.com/seven/10222007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/ nuke_nightmare.htm?page=3ABC with news on the Israeli strike on Syra: http://abcnews.go.com/ WN/story?id=3752687&page=1Is America tightening the noose around Hezbollah by negotiating for a military base in Lebanon? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/ content/article/2007/10/21/AR2007102101230.htmlNo shock here- Mohammed El Baradei. says be happy, don't worry, Iran is years away from a nuclear program http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/ iowa/breaking/104795.htmlAnd no shock here either. The very solid Dick Cheney with a warning to iran: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/22/washington/22cheney.html? _r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin6. Not sure if I buy the math on this one- that high immigration and high immigrant birth rates will grow Britain's population by a third . In any case, the caucasian population of Britain is headed down..http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html? in_article_id=488938&in_page_id=17707. Global warming delusionshttp://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=1100107638. Stephen Plaut on the nefarious farm lobbyhttp://www.www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx? GUID=2639D548-83C2-4A61-9BC3-5128F1FA81779. Barry Rubin on illusions that never diehttp://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite? cid=1192380615999&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull10. Jonathan Rosenblum sees problems in the American Jewish community in terms of support for Israelhttp://www.jewishworldreview.com/jonathan/rosenblum_apathy.php3

Lech Lecha Torah portion comments from AIPAC

2007-10-15T07:14:00.000-07:00

Building Confidence – Vayiven sham mizbei'ach "There he built an altar" (Genesis 12:7) Why did Avram pass through the land, only building an altar after God appears to him and promises him the land? Ramban explains that Avram was too scared of the Canaanites to build an altar amongst their overwhelming presence. Once Hashem promises Avram the land, he is no longer afraid. It takes a special kind of strength to take action when doing nothing would be easier. Israel has stated its commitment to pursuing peace with the Palestinians and has repeatedly said that it is willing and desirous to deal with the new Palestinian leadership. Pursuing peace in a responsible manner is the right thing to do, but comes with inherent risks. If the Palestinian leadership continues to take necessary steps to end terrorism and corruption, Israel is prepared for peace. Click here to view the complete Tidbits for Lech L'chah.
Standing Apart Together – Vayageid l'Avram ha'Ivri "And he told to Avram the Hebrew" (Genesis 14:13) Why does the Torah refer to Avram and an Ivri? Midrash (B'reishit Rabbah 42:8) teaches that R. Nehemiah explained Ivri as meaning Avram was a descendant of Ever, an explanation seized on by Radak and others. But the same midrash cites R. Yudah as saying that it means that the whole world was on one side (ever) while Avram was on the other. There is no question that Avram stood apart – not just in his generation, but in human history. Standing apart can be lonely, but it can also be a mark of inner strength and willingness to act rightly even when others act otherwise. The relationship between the United States and Israel reflects the strength of both countries and stands apart in the international community as a uniquely strong, mutually beneficial friendship. Click here to view the complete Tidbits for Lech L'chah.
Still in Captivity – Vayishmah Avram ki nishbah achiv "When Avram heard that his kinsman was captured" (Genesis 14:14) Avram comes to Lot 's rescue in fulfillment of the mitzvah to save the life of an endangered person. In his commentary, Ramban points out that it must have taken Avram a long time to reach Lot and free him because of the great distance traveled. The lesson for us is that we are required to give maximum effort over whatever length of time it takes to save the lives of our brothers and sisters when they are in captivity and danger. Kidnapped Israeli soldiers Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser, and Eldad Regev remain in captivity more than a year after they were taken by terrorists in unprovoked cross-borders raids. As Avram worked tirelessly to free Lot , we must work to free Gilad, Ehud, and Eldad. Click here to view the complete Tidbits for Lech L'chah.

A colleagues view on the Ann Coutler story

2007-10-12T06:38:00.000-07:00

Ann Coutlerhttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21257498/She was originally asked how an "ideal America" would look.. and long =before she went on her rant (with help from Deutsch) she spoke about =this vision of all Democrats being like Joe Lieberman (I somehow recall=that he is conspicuously Jewish). This utopian vision did include a =country where everything was like the Republican National Convention in=New York - proud Christians, friendly, pro American etc. (whichprompted =the question about "Would it be better if Jews became Christians? etc.)She says TWICE that it's okay to be Jewish (that she believes in the =O.T) but that in order to be okay.. Jews have to be PRACTICING to make=it work. She talks about how Christians have a fast track (thoughbelief =in Jesus), but Jews need to practice their faith.While she was hardly diplomatic, after several viewings, I think that =she was baited ... but she frankly put forward some fundamentalist =Christian teaching (insisting, by the way, that Jews go to heaven). =Furthermore, she stated what many of us, as rabbis, are afraid to say ="That we need to PRACTICE to be good Jews", not just have feelingsabout =being Jewish.It's very easy to be swayed one way or another on this topic depending=on how much of this interview you actually read or see, and through =whose perspective this whole thing is being refracted.

Selling Out of Israel?

2007-10-12T06:35:00.000-07:00

*************Jewish World Review Oct. 11, 2007 / 29 Tishrei 5768Selling out Israel on the installment planBy Cal Thomashttp://www.JewishWorldReview.com Name one concession Israel has made inrecent years that has been reciprocated by its sworn enemies. This is not atrick question. There are none.That's why next month's announced "Middle East Summit" in Annapolis, Md.,should be viewed as one more installment payment in the sellout of Israeland of American interests in the Middle East. While the United Statescontinues to struggle to shore up democracy in Iraq, the Bushadministration - like administrations before it - proceeds in underminingthe likelihood that the region's first democracy will endure.At every negotiating session, Israel is pressured into making concessionsfor "peace" and receives more war in response. Mostly this is because of thewishful thinking in the West that has replaced sound policy. Why should thePalestinians make concessions when they are drawing closer to theirobjective of eradicating Israel by throwing stones and bombs andstonewalling negotiations?In an address to the Israeli Knesset, President Shimon Peres reaffirmed theflaw in Western thinking: ".even if there are some who express doubt at theability of the Palestinians to achieve peace, the impression must not becreated that Israel has doubts regarding the need and the willingness toachieve full peace." So it's not about hard bargaining resulting in thepreservation of Israel with defensible borders and the cessation ofterrorist attacks, it's about "impressions"? No wonder Israel's enemies areemboldened as never before.While details of a "joint declaration" by Israel and the Palestinians on afinal status agreement remain secret, some information has leaked. Onereport has Prime Minister Ehud Olmert preparing to divide Jerusalem byallowing Arab East Jerusalem to come under Palestinian control. The holysites, now administered by Israel and open to all (which was not the casewhen Jordan controlled East Jerusalem prior to 1967), would beinternationalized. For 40 years, Israel has provided security for the holyplaces. It is doubtful an international force would do as good a jobprotecting these sites from terrorists (think the Taliban and thedestruction of ancient Buddhist statues in Afghanistan and regular attackson Christians, their churches and schools in heavily Muslim nations). FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO INFLUENTIAL NEWSLETTER Every weekday NewsAndOpinion.com publishes what many in the media andWashington consider "must-reading". HUNDREDS of columnists and cartoonistsregularly appear. Sign up for the daily update. It's free. Just click here.According to one report, "the drafters are planning to call for a withdrawalby Israel to the 1967 lines," thus making Israel more vulnerable than everto heavily armed Arab states and Palestinian enemies and leaving itcompletely exposed to infiltration from the East. Does anyone doubt suchinfiltration would not occur? Would the United States come to the aid ofIsrael should it again be invaded? Probably not since that might hurt our"image" in the Arab world.Infidel Israelis, Americans and Europeans will not dissuade those sworn todestroy Israel. President Bush had promised former Israeli Prime MinisterAriel Sharon he could expect U.S. support to maintain defensible borders. Inthe plan now being discussed, Israel's borders would be indefensible.In all of this, the United States is trying to prop up Palestinian PresidentMahmoud Abbas. But Abbas is a figurehead, manipulated by the terroristorganization Hamas, which virtually controls the Palestinian territoriesthanks to democratic elections. Caroline Glick writes in the Jerusalem Post:"Over the past week, Abbas announced his adherence to maximal Palestiniandemands from Israel. These include the full transfer of sovereignty over theTemple Mount to the Palestinians; the complete surrender of Judea andSamaria to the Palestinians; and an Israeli acceptance of the so-called'right-of-return' that would force Israel to accept millions of foreignArabs as immigrants within its truncated borders."Why should anyone expect anything else when the real intensions of Israel'senemies can be summed up in the "phased plan" for the destruction of Israelexpressed in 2000 by Palestinian Minister of Supply, Abd El Aziz Shahian:"The Palestinian people accepted the Oslo agreements as a first step and notas a permanent arrangement, based on the premise that the war and struggleon the ground is more efficient than a struggle from a distant land . forthe Palestinian people will continue the revolution until they achieve thegoals of the '65 revolution."The "'65 Revolution" refers to the founding of the PLO and the publicationof the Palestinian Charter, which calls for the destruction of Israelthrough armed struggle.So, why is the United States hosting this sellout in Annapolis?

Caroline Glick on the upcoming peace conference

2007-10-08T11:10:00.001-07:00

Jewish World Review Oct. 8, 2007 / 26 Tishrei 5768 In the name of 'promoting peace,' Rice and her Israeli underlingscould foment a new war By Caroline B. Glick Rice and Abbas http://www.jewishworldreview.com/ US Secretary of State CondoleezzaRice is moving boldly down the rabbit hole. This week, Rice is due back inthe Middle East for meetings in Jerusalem and Ramallah. The purpose of herupcoming visit, like her previous ones, will be to pressure the Olmertgovernment and the Fatah terror organization to reach "substantiveagreements" that she'll be able to present to the world at her peace summitin Maryland next month. It is far from clear what American interests Rice is advancing withher unswerving effort to reach a peace accord between Israel and Fatah.Indeed, Rice's efforts are detrimental to US interests in the region. On Tuesday, 77 senators signed a letter to Rice regarding her plansfor the summit. Among other things, the senators called on the Arab states,which Rice hopes will participate, to "recognize Israel's right to exist andnot use such recognition as a bargaining chip for future Israeliconcessions." The senators' warning was well placed. Far from cooperating with theUS, the Arab world is undercutting its policies. Not only are the Arabs -including Egypt and Jordan - distancing themselves from Israel; in a directslap at the US, the Arabs are subverting the US's goal of isolating Hamas.Rather than blackball the jihadist movement, the Arab states led by Egyptand Saudi Arabia are devoting themselves to bringing about a rapprochementbetween Fatah and Hamas. Unfortunately, due to Rice's missteps, the US today has littleinfluence over the Arab states. Washington's primary diplomatic leverageover the Arabs stems from its ability to confer legitimacy on them. The UScould have used this leverage if it had stated from the outset that it wouldonly invite states to the Middle East conference that support the US's goalsof isolating Hamas and accepting Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state. But rather than condition their invitation, Rice and President GeorgeW. Bush made it clear from the outset that they want Arab states toparticipate in the summit. In so doing, the US turned the turned the tableson itself. Now it is the Arabs who by accepting or rejecting the US offerwill confer legitimacy on Washington. Needless to say, in the interests ofsecuring their participation, states like Saudi Arabia and Egypt will not becalled to task for their sponsorship of Hamas or their hostility towardIsrael. So the US has been weakened just by organizing the conference. Yet, ifthere were any chance that the conference next month in Annapolis couldyield real progress toward peace, then at least the Arabs' humiliation ofWashington could be said to have been worth it. Given that since the failed Camp David summit in 2000 the Palestinianshave yet to make one substantive concession to Israel, it is clear that theonly way the upcoming conference can succeed in advancing peace is if thePalestinians make some dramatic concession to Israel. But there is absolutely no chance that the Palestinians will beforthcoming. Fatah Chairman Mahmoud Abbas led Fatah to electoral defeat toHamas in 2006 and to surrender in Gaza in June. The only reason that Abbasremains in power in Judea and Samaria is because the IDF is maintainingsecurity there. The weak, ineffectual Abbas has no ability to agree to Israeli offersthat Yasser Arafat rejected. In addition to Arafat's legacy, Abbas has Hamasto contend with. Any major concessions to Israel would imperil his rule -and his life. Over the past week, Abbas announced his adherence to maximalPalestinian demands from Israel. These include the full transfer ofsovereignty over the Temple Mount to the Palestinians; the completesurrender of Judea and Samaria to the Palestinians; and an Israeliacceptance of the so-called "right of return" that would force Israel toaccept millions of foreign Arabs as immigrants within its truncated borders.Abbas's stances are a reflection of his inability to make any concessionsfor peace. The failure of Rice's summit will directly benefit Hamas, which willbe able to say that as it had warned, diplomacy is pointless. Understandingthis, Abbas himself has let it be known that he is negotiating with Hamas.Then too, ahead of his meeting this past Wednesday with Prime Minister EhudOlmert, Abbas dispatched his representatives to threaten Israel with war. On Tuesday, Abbas confidante and representative in negotiations withHamas Azzam al-Ahmed told reporters, "If we don't prepare well for theconference so that it will result in something positive, the repercussionswill be more dangerous than what happened after the failure of Camp David." Hamas is not the only actor that will be strengthened by the failureof the summit. Anti-American, jihadist forces throughout the Arab world willsimilarly benefit. Like Hamas, they will be able to say, "We told you so."America's humiliation will also weaken liberal democratic voices in the Arabworld. With America perceived as weak and incompetent, they will feelcompelled to join the anti-American bandwagon. RICE IS dragging Israel with her in her madcap descent down thediplomatic rabbit hole - and not for the first time. Rice has a record offorcing Israel to sacrifice its security in the interest of her "peace"processes. In November 2005, Rice coerced then-prime minister Ariel Sharon intoaccepting her agreement on the passages joining Gaza to Egypt and Israel.That agreement denied Israel the ability to prevent terrorists and arms frombeing smuggled into Gaza. This week's Egyptian agreement to allow some 90Hamas terrorists - many of whom underwent military training in Iran andSyria - to enter Gaza was easily implemented in spite of Israeli objectionsin large part as a consequence of Rice's heavy-handed treatment of Israel. So too, Rice forced Israel to agree to have US Lt.-Gen. Keith Daytontrain and arm Fatah forces in Gaza. That disastrous plan led to the indirectUS arming of Hamas when Fatah forces surrendered their weapons to Hamaswithout a fight in June. And of course, Rice was the architect of thecease-fire with Hizbullah last year that has enabled the Iranian terrorgroup to rearm and to reassert its control over south Lebanon. ALTHOUGH THE content of the talks is officially secret, various leaksmake the depth of Israeli concessions clear. Israel is agreeing to transfersovereignty over Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem to the Palestinians and torenounce its sovereignty over the Temple Mount; Olmert and his colleagueshave agreed to surrender more than 90 percent of Judea and Samaria to thePalestinians while destroying most of the Israeli communities there; andIsrael is agreeing to certain "symbolic" concessions regarding the so-called"right of return." In short, Olmert is regurgitating former prime minister and currentDefense Minister Ehud Barak's offers to Arafat at Camp David and Taba fromseven years ago. Many on the Left argue that since Israel offered these concessions inthe past, the fact that the government is returning them to the bargainingtable today is nothing to get excited about. This is untrue. There is a huge difference between the situation in 2000 and today.Seven years ago, Barak's offer of territory was based on the expectationthat in exchange for territory the Palestinians would eschew terror and liveat peace with Israel. Today, after seven years of war that was largelydirected by Fatah, after Hamas's takeover of Gaza and Iran's takeover ofHamas, this expectation is no longer realistic. By offering Barak'sconcessions for a second time, Olmert isn't simply offering land. He issending the message that Israel neither expects nor demands that thePalestinian state live at peace with Israel. Perhaps Israel's greatest diplomatic failure since 2000 has been itsfailure to disavow Barak's offers and remove them from the negotiatingtable. Once Arafat refused Barak's far-reaching concessions and choseinstead to launch a war against the Jewish state, Israel had numerousopportunities to make clear these concession were no longer on offer. Disavowing them is crucial not simply because they are diplomaticallyunwise. They are strategically suicidal. As Israel's experience in south Lebanon and Gaza show clearly, areasthat Israel vacates become terrorist enclaves. Given Abbas's embrace ofterrorism and his political weakness, it is absolutely clear that an Israeliwithdrawal from Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem will render these areas terrorbases as well. Yet here the consequences will be far worse that those ofprevious withdrawals. An Israeli surrender of Judea, Samaria and parts ofJerusalem will divest Israel of the ability to defend itself. Although theoretically attractive, it is impossible to partitionJerusalem between Arab and Jewish neighborhoods because there is nogeographical distinction between Arab and Jewish neighborhoods. Beyond that,if Jerusalem is partitioned, the Arabs with Israeli ID cards will move tothe Jewish neighborhoods and Arabs from Judea will flood the Arabneighborhoods. Far from strengthening the Jewish character of the Jewishhalf of the city, a partition will destroy Jewish Jerusalem. The Jews willflee, and the eternal capital of the Jewish people will be transformed intoan Arab city. As for Judea and Samaria, not only would their handover transform250,000 Israelis into internal refugees, it would leave 80% of the citizensof the truncated Jewish state within mortar and rocket range of thePalestinian state. Moreover, an Israeli relinquishment of the areas willclear the way for Arab armies to enter the Jordan Valley unopposed. The pathfrom there to the Mediterranean is a short and easy one. Given all of this, it is manifestly clear that by succumbing to Rice'sobsession with summitry, the Olmert government is playing with fire. It iscommitting Israel to negotiating positions that deny the country the abilityto demand that the Palestinians come to terms with the Jewish state and liveat peace with it. And it is rendering strategically suicidal seven-year oldoffers the starting point of all negotiations for years to come. On Wednesday, the State Department announced that Rice's conference isbeing postponed until the end of November to give the parties sufficienttime to "prepare the groundwork" to somehow ensure the summit's success.Also Wednesday, Olmert and Abbas reportedly agreed that the conference wouldbe nothing more than the starting point for future negotiations. It can only be hoped that these approaches will be combined. Allnegotiations should be postponed until after the summit, and the summitshould be delayed for weeks, then months, then years. Otherwise, in the nameof "promoting peace," Rice and her Israeli underlings will foment a new war.

From Baehr wrote:

2007-10-07T17:41:00.000-07:00

Richard Baehr <richard@richardbaehr.com> wrote:
.1. The New York Times jumped all over the purported massacre at Haditha, For the Times, this was their Duke story in Iraq- fitting all their biases about out of control soldiers, frustrated by an unwinnable war, finally losing it and turning their guns on innocent civilians. .As with the Duke story, the Times needs to turn its guns on itself. It will never happen.http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2007/10/new-york-times-reports-on- haditha-then.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/06/world/middleeast/06haditha.html? _r=1&pagewanted=print&oref=sloginhttp://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2007/10/ was_haditha_a_deliberate_propa.html2. The Palestinian rockets are getting more sophisticated in Gaza. And Hamas lies in waiting in the West Bank.http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/world/middleeast/07cnd-mideast.html?hp http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite? apage=1&cid=1191257226012&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull3. Are we winning the war on terror?http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.26914,filter.all/pub_detail.asp4. A very pessimistic piece on our conflict with Iran. Mark Hanna says the bad guys are winning.http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/10/ iran_plans_to_checkmate_americ.html5. In Britain, soon it will be OK for some doctor to refuse to treat you for certain conditions, because they do not approve of them. . . Guess which religion these doctors practice? Glad they approve of cancer and heart disease. The BBC feeds this multicultural tolerance.http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article2603966.ece http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cd1916f6-72f7-11dc-b7ff-0000779fd2ac.html6. As the song says, only the good die young. The Randy Pausch story, and the lecture that made the Carnegie Mellon professor famous. This story is almost enough to make me root to see the Steelers in the Super Bowl come January, since that is what Pausch wants. . Almost.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119024238402033039.html http://www.etc.cmu.edu/global_news/?q=node/42 http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_530835.html7. The Ukraine was one of the worst horror show places for the Jews during the Second World War. Ukrainians were among Hitler's most willing conscripts (along with Latvians) to volunteer for "camp" dutyhttp://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/06/world/europe/06priest.html? em&ex=1191816000&en=876567c8e5dfd9e8&ei=5087%0A8. Caroline Glick on Condi Rice's dangerous delusions about a peace conferencehttp://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite? cid=1191257226128&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull9.Bartle Bull has a positive reading on what is going on in Iraq. I think Democrats in Congress will gag if they read this onehttp://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=980410. Christopher Hitchens is not known for his humility (he was the model for the alcoholic British journalist mocked in Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities). . Here he tackles a real tough one- that a US soldier who died in Iraq, decided to enlist based on Hitchens' defense of the warhttp://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/11/hitchens200711? printable=trueÂ¤tPage=all11. Hugh Fitzgerald on Hirsi Alihttp://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/018375.php#moreAnd two event reminders:1. Join To Protect Our Heritage PAC and Moriah Congregation in welcoming Caroline Glick on Oct. 9thTODAY ISRAEL MUST BE DEFENDED ON MANY FRONTSThis promises to be a high level briefing.Deputy Managing Editor of the Jerusalem PostChief Diplomatic Correspondent Makor Rishon News

Irony

2007-10-07T17:25:00.001-07:00

A Yehntta reader sent me this

following article in HaAretzand was wondering whether the world sees the irony inthis:Israel is being called apartheid even though:a) it seeks an "end game" in which it lives in peacewith its Arab neighbors while 20% of its citizens areArabs living in a democracy; while b) the Arabs seek an "end game" in which any possiblePalestinian nation would be substantially Judenrein.JoelRosner's article in HaAretz: Was Desmond Tutu comparing Israel and Hitler?1.A plan to invite Archbishop Desmond Tutu to addressstudents at the University of St. Thomas was canceled,after local Jewish community leaders condemned him asanti-Israel and an anti-Semite. The plan was to havehim as a speaker next year, and it was scuttled byuniversity officials who did not want to offend theJewish community over the Nobel Peace Prize laureate'sviews on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Universityofficials confirmed the story to the press).Julie Swiler, public affairs director for the JewishCommunity Relations Council of Minnesota and theDakotas, told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that Tutu'sremarks were "offensive and hurtful to Jews." Whileshe said she did not consider Tutu anti-Semitic, hisspeech "compares Jews in Israel to Hitler" and "inanother section he questions Jewish faithfulness toGod."Doug Hennes, vice president for university andgovernment relations said that "He [Tutu] has beencritical of Israel and Israeli policy regarding thePalestinians, so we talked with people in the Jewishcommunity and they said they believed it would behurtful to the Jewish community, because of thingshe's said". Hennes said the university does notbelieve Tutu is anti-Semitic, but cited a 2002 speechin which he said Tutu criticized "the Jewish lobby."Hennes also said Jewish groups feel Tutu has comparedthe Israeli policy toward Palestinians to how AdolfHitler treated Jews.

Do it yourself course on Israel-part of our Intro to Judaism course

2007-10-07T12:27:00.001-07:00

SESSION 14: ISRAEL
A: READINGS
BASIC JUDAISM: 91-97
LIVING JUDAISM: PGS 323-355
JEWISH LITERACY: PGS 273-369

MEMORIZATION: HaTikvah

Memorization exercises for conversion class 10-16

Kol odba-ley-vav p'nima, nefeshy'hudi homi-ya, Ulfa-atey, mizrach kadima, a-yin I 'tzion tza-fiya. Od lo avda tikva-teynu, ha-tikva bat sh 'not alpa-yim, Li-h 'yot am chosfi b 'ar-tzeynu, eretz tzion vi-y 'ru-shala-yim..
As long as true Jewish hearts yet beat, and Jewish eyes rum watchfully Eastward, our two thousand year-old hope is not lost: To be a free people in our own land, the land of Zion, Jerusalem, Israel!

C. Videos

Israel's 59th birthday Happy birthday
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9MEKkpYU0A

Palestinian Refugees "return" wrong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSOnq7Q8rRY

Mearsheimer/Walt -shoddy and anti-semitic? Jewu 239
http://youtube.com/watch?v=gfgUididdj8
Israel: the greatest country
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfoMFJ5v3So

What can we personally do to help Israel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOvKW0E0GSg

Zionism-The Jewish people's right to Israel Jewu 243
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBbmuF36N7Q

It's Not Israel's Fault
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fv0xJuVFkS8

AIPAC Crucial for America and the World
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCoiwUhFG0E

Refuting Kristof's March 17 NYT piece on Israel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WOVvThdUBc

What's Wrong with Jimmy Carter's Book?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v14gvJiL7Q

Shameful British Boycott
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJj2jqLu5oI

VALUES
34. Tsedeh Tsedek Tirdof = Pursue justice / the obligation to actively promote justice.
"Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may live and inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you." [Deuteronomy]
"These are the things you shall do: Speak every man the truth to his neighbor, execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates; and let no one devise evil in your hearts against his neighbor, and love no false oath, for all these are things that I hate, saith the Lord." Zechariah 8:16
35. Tselem Elohim = the creation of every human being in the image of God.
"And God created the human being in His image, in the image of God He created him; male and female he created them." [Genesis]

E. TERMS Intro to Judaism terms #14 Israel Jewu 233

1) Spiritual Zionism

2) Political Zionism

,
3) Aliyah

4) Palestinian

5) World Zionist Congress

6) Balfor Declaration

7) British Mandate

8) Chaim Weitzman

9) Jewish Agency

10) Exodus

11) UN Partition Plan

12) David Ben Gurion

13) May 14, 1948

14) Kibbutz

15) Major Cities

16) Holy places

17) AIPAC

18) Israel Bonds

19) JUF

20) JNF

21) Knesset

Visit Israel with us

2007-10-07T12:24:00.001-07:00

Want to go to Israel with us?
Study & Experience the Many Faces of Israel, Celebrate Israel’s 60th Birthday$ 2350+Air/person double occupancy, Space is limited – register now!10 days touring, Round trip air Chicago/Tel Aviv on E1 A1 Airline. 6 Nights Jerusalem – 2 Nights Galilee – 1 Night TelAviv – (2 Nights Elilat – optional) All breakfast, 5 DinnersKabbalat Shabbat at the hotel, and private Friday nightdinner.Tour Massada and swim in the Dead Sea.The Galilee, Golan Heights, Mystical and artistic Tzefat,Haifa, Tiberius, ancient ruins and new mansion of Casarea…Tel Aviv tour, museum and Farewell dinner.Highlights:Shabbat services and kiddush brunch with anIsraeli Congregation.Old City of Jerusalem – Jewish past, archaeology,and city of three religions.New City of Jerusalem – city of today – politics,an everyday life Knessert, Yad Vashem, SupremeCourt, and more.A day in the Judean Mountains – enjoy nature,military, history, and Mini – Israel.Optional extension to Elilat.For more information contact Rabbi Ginsburg 847-675-4141 , rabbi@ehnt.org

Israel Bonds

2007-10-07T12:23:00.000-07:00

Support Israel with Bonds
ISRAELINVESTMENT:Supporting the FutureInvesting in Israel bonds makes us conscious ofour shared faith, responsibility and heritage as apeople. Whether a time of dubious calm orunrelenting terror, we must continue to besteadfast in our financial support for the land andpeople of Israel.Make no mistake about it; your commitment toIsrael bonds is an investment, not Tzedakah. Sinceits inception in 1951, State of Israel Bonds hassecured $25 billion in loan capital. Israel hasrepaid this money to investors who submittedbonds for redemption and has made everypayment of principal and interest on time and infull.

My video on islam

2007-10-07T12:22:00.001-07:00

Islam and Judaism Jew U 198

My new video on Islam was given tis endorsement by a Moslem. Guess I was fair."I thought that your video on Islam and Judaism was very good. I hope that you can do more video on Islam & Judaism so that more people know what is the real situation between Islam & Judaism. Muslims and Jews may differ or disagree on politics but that should not be the reason to hate each other"

Cnn and bias

2007-10-07T12:21:00.003-07:00

Cnn and 3 segments
What do you think about the CNN series on terror?One Rabbi wrote"I see it as an attempt to say that all three religions produce"warriors"and terrorists, and one may not be singled out from the rest. TypicalforCNN, in my opinion. The Muslim segment is IN BETWEEN theJewish andChristian segments, lest we think they put the most egregious offendersfirst or last. Something that won't be shown are the reactions from themainstream in each religion toward the extremists. The overwhelmingmajorityof Jews publicly decry Jewish terrorism, and the same holds forChristianswho generally wish those few extremists who have bombed abortionclinics rotin jail for life. But there could never be a report about how themajorityof Muslims publicly denounce any and all terrorism Muslim terrorism.EvenCarter said last night that while the actions of terrorists (Muslim andanyothers, he added) must be denounced, there wouldn't be any if itweren't forthe settlements. Of course Amanpour could have taken the opportunity toquestion why there is still terrorism emanating from Gaza where thereare noJewish settlements any more, but why make things difficult for Mr.Carter?Muslim extremists behead while shouting AllahuAkbar. Then we could compare the beheadings done by Jewish extremistsandChristian extremists. None"
Posted by Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg

CNN's pro Muslim bias

2007-10-07T12:21:00.001-07:00

CNN's anti Jewish pro Moslem bias
IN DETAIL:"God's Jewish Warriors" vs. "God's Muslim Warriors""God's Muslim Warriors" provided an informative look at various segments of the Muslim world, how they view and practice their faith, their thoughts on women's rights and the role of religion in government, how some Muslims seek to bring about the return of the Caliphate - a Muslim theocracy - and how some Muslims are inspired to commit violence to further their religious goals. There were several Muslims interviewed who spoke out against the Islamist extremism and the danger it poses to moderate Muslims and to the West, and Amanpour did mention that these people now had to have constant protection against attacks from extremists.The 3-part series,"God's Warriors," is ostensibly about the growing number of people around the world who center their life around their religious beliefs and how they want religious law to be the law of the land. Amanpour introduced the series with:"Over the last 30 years, each faith has exploded into a powerful political force, with an army of followers who share a deep dissatisfaction with modern, secular society and a fierce determination to bring God and religion back into daily life, back to the seat of power. We call them 'God's Warriors.' "Since there are very few Jews who are known to want to create a modern day theocracy based on Jewish law, one would assume that would leave Amanpour with a lot of time to explore the beliefs, practices and life stories of devout Jews. Or perhaps to discuss the tensions between religious and secular Jews in Israel regarding religious influence on marriages, divorces and Sabbath activities. One would assume wrong!What is most striking about "God's Muslim Warriors" vs. "God's Jewish Warriors," is the different way Amanpour approaches the two programs. In the "Jewish Warriors", Amanpour focuses primarily on:* blaming Israeli West Bank settlements (and their supporters, called "Jewish warriors" repeatedly by Amanpour) for the violence and discord in the Middle East and even for "inflaming Muslims worldwide," despite the fact that organized Muslim terror attacks against Jews (and moderate Muslims) began in 1920, long before there were any settlements in the West Bank. Long segments are devoted to discussing the settlements' alleged illegality under international law and how Jews who support or live in the settlements are allegedly defying international law. Though authorities such as former Israeli Supreme Court Justice Meir Shamgar and other international legal experts consider them legal, there is no alternative legal expert cited.* focusing on tiny fringe groups and the few individual Jews who pursued terrorism. They are so few in number that Amanpour had to do stories on people who were involved in terror long ago and have since renounced violence or on individuals who planned an unsuccessful attack. Since these few Jewish terrorists are so widely condemned by the settlers themselves and Jews worldwide, one wonders why she felt this topic was relevant.* presenting American pro-Israel activists as allegedly all-powerful scheming bullies, distorting U.S. foreign policy contrary to American interests and ganging up on anyone who criticizes Israel.Meanwhile, in "God's Muslim Warriors," even though Muslim extremists number in the millions and there have been thousands of terror attacks by Muslims across the globe, Amanpour provides very little context on the scope of the violence. A few terrorist attacks are highlighted, similar to the few terrorist attacks that were highlighted in Part One.She has playful discussions with spokesmen of Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood. She points out that they are striving to create a theocracy, but says they are non-violent and makes no mention that they are deeply anti-Semitic, anti-American and support terror attacks on Israelis and violence against Americans in Iraq.In Part One, Amanpour refers again and again -- 20 times -- to "Jewish warriors," clearly a pejorative term in the context of the series. The effect is striking, even jarring, as viewers are reminded time and again that there are distinctly Jewish warriors who present a threat to the world -- expansionists whose "settlements have inflamed much of the Muslim world." (Never mind that among those labeled a "Jewish warrior" is Chanan Porat, a religious Jew residing in the West Bank who explicitly states that "religious belief as a fuel for violence is wrong.")Amanpour also freely uses the term "warriors" in Part Two of the series, but with a difference; she much less frequently directly pairs "warrior" with "Muslim." Thus, while Amanpour harps on "Jewish warriors," repeating the phrase 20 times in the first episode, she refers to "Muslim warriors" just four times in the second program. Why does she utter the words "Jewish warrior" five times more often than "Muslim warrior" when violent Muslims have inflicted thousands of times more death and destruction in the world than violent Jews have?Amanpour devotes two segments (one each) to two young Muslim women who are not described as being involved in anything political, who simply speak about why they wear a head covering, and how Islam enriches their lives. There is no such segment in the Jewish episode. What would have been an appropriate counter-part to American Muslim Rehan Seyam speaking about how her hijab is a public statement of her faith and her belief in the importance of modesty? Perhaps an American Jewish man talking about why he wears a kippah and how Judaism enriches his life. Or a Jewish woman who wears modest clothing, covers her hair and finds comfort and spiritual meaning in her religion.And in contrast to the huge focus on the so-called "Israel Lobby" in "God's Jewish Warriors," in "God's Muslim Warriors," Amanpour doesn't mention the powerful Oil Lobby operating in America and advocating for Muslim, Arab and Palestinian perspectives. She doesn't highlight any of the numerous activist Muslim/Arab organizations that lobby and propagandize to influence American public opinion and foreign policy. Related to this is the minimal discussion or outright omission of several key factors in the rise of Islamist extremism and increased support for terror:- thousands of Saudi-funded mosques and schools built worldwide, including many in the U.S., that spread an extreme supremacist form of Islam. Saudi Arabia has also funded extremist training for those who want to work as Muslim chaplains in the U.S. military and the U.S. prison system. - Saudi-funded Middle East Studies chairs and departments in universities all over the world, including the U.S. - Saudi-funded organizations whose goal is to provide American elementary, middle and high schools with slanted curricula and books about the history of the Middle East and Islam- Saudi-funded student activists and organizations that indoctrinate and propagandize against Israel, the U.S. and for extreme Islamist causes. - extremist websites, online videos, and satellite TV networks that foster Muslim supremacist values and support for terrorism among Muslims across the globe.Instead of examining any of the above reasons for the spread of Muslim extremism, Amanpour includes two highly questionable explanations: reactions to alleged Israeli brutality and feelings of hopelessness. She commendably does mention repressive Arab/Muslim governments as a factor, but doesn't note how these same governments often intentionally use propaganda to fan the flames of hatred for Israel and the West to deflect attention away from their repressive regimes.FLAWSWhile overall, "God's Muslim Warriors" is informative and covers a number of vital topics, there are several flaws:* Amanpour's description of the Muslim Brotherhood as non-violent:"But the group has now officially renounced violence and today's Supreme Guide claims it was never condoned." But this isn't true. According to translations of articles by MEMRI, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Muhammad Mahdi Othman Akef stated "...the bombings in Palestine and Iraq are a [religious] obligation. This is because these two countries are occupied countries, and the occupier must be expelled in every way possible. Thus, the [Muslim Brotherhood] movement supports martyrdom operations in Palestine and Iraq in order to expel the Zionists and the Americans." "If the gates of Jihad in Palestine open before the [Muslim] Brotherhood, we will not hesitate a single moment, and we will be with them on the battlefield." "In Israel, there should be no [differentiation between] a civilian and a member of the military. All are enemies of the Arab homeland and of Islam. They are occupiers and have no right to one handsbreadth of the land of Palestine." "We have no relations with the U.S. It is a Satan that abuses the region, lacking all morality and law." (Memri Special Dispatch Series #655, Feb 4, 2004) Akef has also stated that the Holocaust is "a myth." (BBC News, Dec 23, 2005)* Lack of examination of how widespread support for terrorism is in the Muslim world (other than a mention of one poll about American Muslims). Amanpour says, "Muslims, like people everywhere, abhor terrorism. The small minority who resort to violence is symptomatic of something many of us have failed to understand."While it would certainly be accurate and fair to say that not all Muslims support terror, it is questionable to imply that all Muslims "abhor terrorism" and a small number are compelled to "resort" to violence. According to the Pew Global Attitudes Project poll published on July 24, 2007, the percentage of those surveyed in predominantly Muslim countries who agreed that "suicide bombing and other forms of violence against civilian targets are never justified" ranged from only 6% (Palestinian Authority) to 77% (Indonesia). That leaves a significant number of Muslims who don't appear to "abhor terrorism."After all, most of the winning candidates in the most recent Palestinian legislative election are members of Hamas, a terrorist organization. And who can forget the Palestinians who celebrated in the streets when America was attacked on 9/11? Amanpour herself notes that if Egypt were to hold elections today, the Muslim Brotherhood would "win, hands down". And the Brotherhood praises the terrorists murdering Jews in Israel.* There was also a lack of appropriate follow-up to some inaccurate or highly questionable statements, such as that made by Taji Mustafa, spokesperson for Hizb Ut-Tahrir, an Islamist organization: "Under Islamic rule, under the caliphate, there was stability even in Palestine. Jews, Christians, Muslims lived in harmony under an Islamic political order."Under Islamic rule, non-Muslims lived a life of severe discrimination, humiliation and fear. While some years were more peaceful than others, violence against Jews was a constant thread in the fabric of life under Islamic rule. Discrimination included being forced to wear a special tag on their clothing identifying them as non-Muslims, paying a special tax required of non-Muslims, deferring to Muslims in all situations, such as moving off the sidewalk into the dung-filled street if a Muslim approached where they were walking. In court, the testimony of a Muslim would always be accepted over that of a non-Muslim. For more info and compelling accounts of the hardships suffered by Jews under Muslim rule, click here.For CAMERA's initial analysis of "God's Jewish Warriors", click here. For a transcript of "God's Jewish Warriors," click here.For a transcript of "God's Muslim Warriors," click here.Continue to check CAMERA's Web site for updates on this issue.With thanks,Lee GreenDirector, National Letter-Writing Group

Israel is so interesting

2007-10-07T12:19:00.001-07:00

The Kibbutz is coming back, not as a socialist entity but as a kind of suburban living. NYT Forward had an editorial of Israel's hidden crisis in the huge number of unworking Haredi fanatic men-cause huge numbers of children to live in poverty and do not serve in the armed forces. One started as socialist, hardworking secular movement, the other fanatic non working. Oh Israel is so interesting

Redemption clock

2007-10-07T12:17:00.002-07:00

North Korea says it will shut down nuclear weapon programTICK TOCK Away From REDEMPTION CLOCKIran announces nuclear enrichment. Guess is a nuclear bomb within the year.Prof. Berk told rabbis Aipac lunch that 28% of Israel says they'll leave if Iran has bomb.

Upside thinking about Islam

2007-10-07T12:17:00.001-07:00

Upside down thinking
Reform Jewish leader tells U.S. Muslims that Islam is being demonized By Shlomo Shamir, Haaretz Correspondent and Reuters The president of the Union for Reform Judaism accused American media, politicians and religious groups on Friday of demonizing Islam. Addressing the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America, Rabbi Eric Yoffie said Muslims have been turned into "satanic figures." "There exists in this country among all Americans, whether Jews, Christians, or non-believers, a huge and profound ignorance about Islam ... there is no shortage of voices prepared to tell us that fanaticism and intolerance are fundamental to Islamic religion, and that violence and even suicide bombing have deep Koranic roots," he said.Yoffie said his organization is discussing with Muslim leaders a dialogue and education program in the near future to increase understanding between the two faiths. He said Americans need to know "how far removed Islam is from the perverse distortions of the terrorists who too often dominate the media, subverting Islam's image by professing to speak in its name." Yoffie also called for an end to racial profiling and legal discrimination of any kind against Muslim Americans, and urged North America's Muslims to keep condemning violence committed in the name of Islam until the message sinks in. In his address, Yoffie said "to all those who desecrate God's name by using religion to justify killing and terror, let us say together: Enough." "No cause in the world, and surely no religious cause, can ever justify murdering the innocent or targeting the uninvolved ... You cannot honor God if you do not honor the image of God in every human being; and you cannot get to heaven by creating hell on earth," he said. He's calling for more dialogue. NYT said last time Jews tried this it broke up over Israel. After Yoffie left, today's NYT reports (page a12) "Leaders of American Muslim organizations attribute the growing intolerance to three main factors: global terrorists attacks i the name of Islam, disappointing reports from the Iraq war AND THE AGENDA OF SOME SUPPORTERS OF ISRAEL WHO TRY AND TAINT ISLAM TO UNDERMINE THE PALESTINIANS"UPSIDE DOWN THINKING
1. Who fired 70 missiles from Gaza at Israel on the first day of school, with a tree stopping a missile from landing squarely on the day care center? They say it as retailiation for Israel for killing 3 kids in Gaza the day before in an airstrike. That is after daily missiles from Gaza flying at Sderot. What is Israel to do? Let missiles continue to fly? Stop sendig kisssiles, rearming for a conflict and peace will reign.2. Open up any major newspaper-yesterdays NYT front section, story of Lebanon fighting militant in camps, Chaos in Darfur as arabs fight Arabs, Iran defiant, Iraq, Pakistan militants, etc al on the front page or front section. That Islam based trouble is Jews fault? 3. What are we supposed to do when polls show about 1/3 of US Muslims under 30 think suicide bombing is legitimate?SO OK WHERE IS THE WORLDWIDE MUSLIM CONDEMNATION OF TERROR?

Amazing Facts about Israel

2007-10-07T12:14:00.001-07:00

Interesting Facts about the Israeli Economy

Israel, the 100th largest country, with less than 1/1000th of the world's population, can make claim to the following:
· In proportion to its population, Israel has the largest number of startup companies in the world. In absolute terms, Israel has more startup companies than any other country in the world, except the US (3,500 companies mostly in hi-tech).
· Israel is ranked #2 in the world for venture capital funds, right behind the US.
· Israel has the highest average living standards in the Middle East. The per capita income in 2000 was over $17,500, exceeding that of the UK.
· Israel's $100 billion economy is larger than all of its immediate neighbors combined.
· Israel has the third highest rate of entrepreneurship - and the highest rate among women and among people over 55 - in the world.

Information Technology & Communications:
· With more than 3,000 high-tech companies and start-ups, Israel has the highest concentration of hi-tech companies in the world (outside of Silicon Valley).
· Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation by a large margin - 109 per 10,000 people - as well as having one of the highest per capita rates of patents filed.
· Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the workforce, with 145 per 10,000, as opposed to 85 in the U.S., over 70 in Japan, and less than 60 in Germany. With over 25% of its work force employed in technical professions. Israel places first in this category as well.
· The cell phone was developed in Israel by Motorola, where it has its largest development center
· Most of the Windows NT operating system was developed by Microsoft-Israel.
· The Pentium MMX Chip technology was designed in Israel at Intel.
· Voice mail technology was developed in Israel.
· Both Microsoft and Cisco built their only R&D facilities outside the US in Israel.
· Four young Israelis developed the technology for AOL Instant Messenger in 1996.
· The first PC anti-virus software was developed in Israel in 1979.
· A small Israel company developed a revolutionary electro-optic processor, which operates one thousand times faster than any known Digital Signal Processor.
· An Israeli-developed algorithm enabled NASA to transmit images from Mars.
· Israel hosts IBM's largest R&D facilities outside the United States.
· Warren Buffet’s first and only company purchase outside the U.S. is in Israel, for $4.4 billion.

Agriculture & Environment:
· In response to serious water shortages, Israeli engineers and agriculturists developed a revolutionary drip irrigation system to minimize the amount of water used to grow crops.
· A team of Israeli and US researchers has designed a watermelon-picking robot endowed with artificial vision to do the job of harvesting.
· An Israeli company has developed sensors that pick up signs of stress in plants.
· An Israeli company is providing the technology behind an American all-electric bus for urban use.
· Israeli, American and Canadian researchers are working together to develop nanotech-based solutions to the water shortage in the Middle East.
· Israeli company is developing cotton plants resistant to adverse salinity conditions and drought.
· An Israeli two-flush system has the potential to save billions of gallons of water a year.

Security and Defense:
· According to industry officials, Israel designed the airline industry's most impenetrable flight security. U.S. officials look to Israel for advice on how to handle airborne security threats.
· Israel designed the first flight system to protect passenger and freight aircraft against missiles
· Israeli-developed security precautions have been adopted in Maryland and Washington.
· Israeli researchers have developed an engine-less, nano-RPV (remote piloted vehicle).

Life Sciences:
· An Israeli company has unveiled a blood test that diagnoses heart attacks via telephone.
· The Israeli-developed Ex-Press shunt is providing relief for American glaucoma sufferers.
· An Israeli research team has found that the combination of electrical stimulation and chemotherapy makes cancerous metastases disappear.
· Israeli scientists developed first fully computerized, no-radiation, diagnostic breast cancer tools.
· An Israeli company developed a computerized system for ensuring proper administration of medications, thus removing human error from medical treatment.
· Israel developed the first ingestible video camera, so small it fits inside a pill. Used to view the small intestine from the inside, the camera helps doctors diagnose cancer and digestive disorders.
· Israeli researchers developed a new device that directly helps the heart pump blood, an innova-tion with the potential to save lives among those with congestive heart failure. The new device is synchronized with the heart's mechanical operations through a sophisticated system of sensors.
· Israeli researchers are playing an important role in identifying a defective gene that causes a rare and usually fatal disease in Arab infants.
· An Israeli company has been given a U.S. grant to develop an anti-smallpox first aid treatment kit.
· Israeli microbiologists developed the first passive mosquito-borne West Nile virus vaccine.
· Israeli research indicates lycopene - the red pigment found in tomatoes - lowers blood pressure.
· Israeli stem-cell technology is being used in the U.S. to regenerate heart tissue.
· An Israeli company has developed a insulin device for diabetics to painlessly inject themselves.
· Israeli scientists used strands of DNA to create tiny transistors that can literally build themselves.
· An Israeli company has developed a new device for monitoring coronary disease that will be integrated into future generation of cell phones.
· An Israeli has invented a 'bone glue' that will reduce the need for bone transplants and heal bone defects caused by cancer.
· Israeli scientists have created a DNA nano-computer that not only detects cancer, but also releases drugs to treat the disease.
· Israeli scientists have alleviated Parkinson's-like symptoms in rats.
· Israeli scientists are developing a nasal spray that will provide a five-year flu vaccine.
· Israeli scientists have discovered how to turn mismatched cells into cancer fighters.
· An Israeli-developed device painlessly administers medications thru microscopic pores in the skin.
· Israeli researchers have created a 'biological pacemaker’, which corrects faulty heart rhythms when injected into the failing hearts of pigs.
· Two Israelis won the 2004 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for their work in cancer research.
· Israeli researchers have proven that Prozac can improve the effectiveness of chemotherapy.
· An Israeli-developed elderberry extract is one of America's best-selling flu prevention medicines.
· An Israeli company developed a simple blood test that distinguishes mild and severe cases of MS.
· Israeli research has found that citrus oils may hold the key for asthma treatment.

Israel, Democracy and the Arabs

2007-10-07T12:05:00.001-07:00

Israel, Democracy and the Arabs
Even as Israel is continually attacked and condemned, today the paper reported the Israel's High Court orders rerouting of separation barrier. Dozens of court cases have been filed. The Court "usually rules in favor of the easing hardships caused to Palestinians." That's democracy and a great nation. Contrast that with the horrible abuses, lack of rights and tyranny in virtually all Middle East nations

Israel and Syria and American Jewish ties

2007-10-07T11:53:00.002-07:00

1. Tribune today:Military probes how nukes flew over U.S.A bomber carrying missiles armed with nuclear warheads flew across the central U.S. after the weapons were mistakenly attached to the plane's wing."If we don't do something, in a year those will be real nukes , made in Iran. See my video above.

2.Youth's bond to Israel loosensBy Margaret Ramirez Tribune religion reporter September 6, 2007 Article toolsYounger Jews in the U.S. feel less attached to Israel and even alienated from the Jewish nation, reflecting a major shift in the American Jewish identity that some leaders find troubling, according to a new study released Thursday.Many older American Jews who still vividly remember the horror of World War II and the Holocaust forged a strong connection to Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people. But younger non-Orthodox Jews, especially those under age 35, show far less support and caring for Israel than their elders, said Steven M. Cohen, a prominent sociologist of American Jewry at Hebrew Union College and lead author of the report.The study found this lack of attachment is unlikely to change even as the younger generations age, marry and have children. "That each age group is less Israel-attached than its elders suggests that we are in the midst of a long-term and ongoing decline," the report states.All the more reason our kids need to be encourage to go there, and thank God for the wise philanthropists like Michael Steinhardt, who have donated many millions to offer free trips to 18-26 year olds under the Birthright program.

Israel and Syria

2007-10-07T11:53:00.001-07:00

Tribune today:Military probes how nukes flew over U.S.A bomber carrying missiles armed with nuclear warheads flew across the central U.S. after the weapons were mistakenly attached to the plane's wing."If we don't do something, in a year those will be real nukes , made in Iran. See my video above.2.Youth's bond to Israel loosensBy Margaret Ramirez Tribune religion reporter September 6, 2007 Article toolsYounger Jews in the U.S. feel less attached to Israel and even alienated from the Jewish nation, reflecting a major shift in the American Jewish identity that some leaders find troubling, according to a new study released Thursday.Many older American Jews who still vividly remember the horror of World War II and the Holocaust forged a strong connection to Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people. But younger non-Orthodox Jews, especially those under age 35, show far less support and caring for Israel than their elders, said Steven M. Cohen, a prominent sociologist of American Jewry at Hebrew Union College and lead author of the report.The study found this lack of attachment is unlikely to change even as the younger generations age, marry and have children. "That each age group is less Israel-attached than its elders suggests that we are in the midst of a long-term and ongoing decline," the report states.All the more reason our kids need to be encourage to go there, and thank God for the wise philanthropists like Michael Steinhardt, who have donated many millions to offer free trips to 18-26 year olds under the Birthright program.

Muslim converts?

2007-10-07T11:50:00.001-07:00

Muslim converts?
Osama bin Laden appeared for the first time in three years in a video Friday released ahead of the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, telling Americans they should convert to Islam if they want the war in Iraq to endVSGermans concerned about Muslim converts By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS, Associated Press Writer Fri Sep 7, 1:49 PM ETBERLIN - Fritz and Daniel — two of the three militant Islamic suspects arrested in a purported plot to bomb American targets are as German as their names. The pair allegedly are among the small number of Western converts who have been used by terrorism masters because their ability to blend in is matched by their willingness to become violent, Muslim and non-Muslim experts say.

To read

2007-10-07T11:49:00.001-07:00

to read
WORLD WAR IV The Long Struggle Against Islamofascism. By Norman Podhoretz. 230 pp. Doubleday. $24.95. THE IRANIAN TIME BOMB The Mullah Zealots’ Quest for Destruction. By Michael A. Ledeen. 234 pp. Truman Talley Books/St. Martin’s Press. $24.95.
Posted by Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg

protect Israel from rockets

2007-10-07T11:48:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Why doesn't Israel do more to protect its citizens?
The IDF, who confirmed theattack, said that the rockets were fired from Beit Hanun.These attacks wounded 60 soldiers - could have killed many but wewere lucky. I don't get it. There is no nation on the face of theearth that wouldn't consider this an all out act of war.Some sugestions:alternative response to these shellings should be:1. Create and drop leaflets with the names of 500-1000 of the top Hamasofficials/terrorists and demand that they deliver their bodies, dead oralive to the Israeli border within 24 hours.2. If this isn't done within 24 hours, turn off electricity for all ofGaza3. If this isn't done within 48 hourse, cut off all water4. If this isn't done in 72 hours, start shelling one kilometer perday into the Gaza Strip. The longer they wait, the less their country willremain intact.How many deads Israel's will it take? Hamas is lobbying missiles everyday.But maybe we should let Israel's pros handle this-Ehud Barak, the current Defense Minister and a former Prime Minister isalso aformer Chief of Staff of the IDF and is the most decorated officer inthe IDFbarring none. He is not Peretz. The current Chief of Staff is highlyregarded.The Head of Shin Bet is a highly respected professional.
Posted by Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg at 7:29 AM

Let Osama bin Laden be first

2007-10-07T11:47:00.001-07:00

Let Osama bin Laden be first
"Osama bin Laden urged sympathizers to join the "caravan" of martyrs as he praised one of the Sept. 11 suicide hijackers in a new video that emerged Tuesday to mark the sixth anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. "I nominate him for the first one.

Mearsheimer and Walt

2007-10-07T11:46:00.001-07:00

Mearsheimer and Walt
Tim Rutten, LA Times: "Anyone familiar with the tortured history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will have a hard time recognizing the history Mearsheimer and Walt rehearse. Every hoary old Israeli atrocity tale is trotted out, and the long story of Palestinian terrorism is rendered entirely as a reaction to Israeli oppression. The failure of every peace negotiation is attributed to Israeli deviousness under the shield of the American Israel lobby. There is nothing here of Palestinian corruption, division and duplicity or even of this unhappy people's inability to provide a reliable secular partner with whom peace can be negotiated. At times, the authors simply contradict themselves, asserting -- rather remarkably -- at one point that the United States has nothing to fear from a nuclear-armed Iran and, at another, that the dangerous prospect of a nuke-equipped Tehran is the Israel lobby's fault. Similarly, they write, Al Qaeda would hammer its swords into ploughshares and Osama bin Laden would lay down with the lamb if only the United States would come out from under Israel's thrall and create by coercion a Palestinian state. Baloney. If -- as was long ago proposed -- the Jewish state had been established in Uganda, the Twin Towers still would be rubble."David Remnick, The New Yorker: "Where many accounts identify Osama bin Laden's primary grievances with American support of "infidel" authoritarian regimes in Islamic lands, Mearsheimer and Walt align his primary concerns with theirs: America's unwillingness to push Israel to end the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. (It doesn't matter that Israel and the Palestinians were in peace negotiations in 1993, the year of the first attack on the World Trade Center, or that during the Camp David negotiations in 2000 bin Laden's pilots were training in Florida.) Mearsheimer and Walt give you the sense that, if the Israelis and the Palestinians come to terms, bin Laden will return to the family construction business. It's a narrative that recounts every lurid report of Israeli cruelty as indisputable fact but leaves out the rise of Fatah and Palestinian terrorism before 1967; the Munich Olympics; Black September; myriad cases of suicide bombings; and other spectaculars." Steve Huntley, Chicago Sun Times: "The two go to lengths to try to rebut any suggestion of anti-Semitism in their criticism of the American Israeli Political Action Committee and other pro-Israel groups. But you can't read The Israel Lobby without realizing that whenever two interpretations exist for some action by Israel or its supporters, Mearsheimer and Walt automatically default to the darker view."William Grimes , The New York Times: "The general tone of hostility to Israel grates on the nerves, however, along with an unignorable impression that hardheaded political realism can be subject to its own peculiar fantasies. Israel is not simply one country among many, for example, just as Britain is not. Americans feel strong ties of history, religion, culture and, yes, sentiment, that the authors recognize, but only in an airy, abstract way. They also seem to feel that, with Israel and its lobby pushed to the side, the desert will bloom with flowers. A peace deal with Syria would surely follow, with a resultant end to hostile activity by Hezbollah and Hamas. Next would come a Palestinian state, depriving Al Qaeda of its principal recruiting tool. (The authors wave away the idea that Islamic terrorism thrives for other reasons.) Well, yes, Iran does seem to be a problem, but the authors argue that no one should be particularly bothered by an Iran with nuclear weapons. And on and on." Mark LeVine, Asia Times: "Mearsheimer and Walt seem to know little about the Middle East, Israel's role in US foreign policy, and what are core US goals and strategic interests in the region. They argue that this is a case of the "tail wagging the dog" - a small client state and its allies in the US leading the US government to engage in policies that are manifestly against its interests because of undue political power. But this is nonsense. In fact, it is the other way around." Richard Cohen, The Washington Post: "In the end, Mearsheimer and Walt disappoint. They had an observation worth making and a position worth debating. But their argument is so dry, so one-sided -- an Israel lobby that leads America around by the nose -- they suggest that not only do they not know Israel, they don't know America, either."

Mearsheimer and Walt

2007-10-07T11:45:00.001-07:00

My outline of Gelb's critique of Mearsheimer and Walt book
Leslie Gelb published a great review of the troubling book by Mearsheimer and Walt in the NYT book review section Sunday. Here is MY OUTLINE of his arguments using his words. Dual Loyalties By LESLIE H. GELBPublished: September 23, 2007Jennifer DanielTHE ISRAEL LOBBY AND U.S. FOREIGN POLICY By John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt. 484 pp. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. $26. 1. John Mearsheimer, a professor at the University of Chicago, and Stephen Walt, a professor at Harvard, can’t, because the Middle East is vital and because they’re arguing that the Jewish lobby pushes policy in directions that “jeopardize U.S. national security.” 2. This commentary could not be more serious, and I believe that the authors are mostly wrong, as well as dangerously misleading. Former President Jimmy Carter made similar points, if rather hotly and self-righteously, in his recent book, “Palestine Peace Not Apartheid.” Mearsheimer and Walt, together with Carter and their phalanx of backers at universities and research institutes, have to be answered, not by calling them anti-Semites, but on the merits.3. no one familiar with their extensive scholarship or their lives ever accused them of harboring anti-Semitic sentiments ... until the appearance of their article last year. …“They asked for trouble” — by the way they make their arguments, by their puzzlingly shoddy scholarship, by what they emphasize and de-emphasize, by what they leave out and by writing on this sensitive topic without doing extensive interviews with the lobbyists and the lobbied.Specifics:1. Publishing these one-liners as some kind of evidence is not the stuff of good scholarship.2. Mearsheimer and Walt move on to one story after another, premised on the lobby’s domination of United States policy toward the Middle East. But they rarely back that premise up. 3. There isn’t much discussion about the $2 billion yearly aid package for Egypt. The United States regards this $5 billion as insurance against an Egyptian-Israeli war, and it’s cheap at double the price.4. But instinctively and without being lobbied, American presidents don’t want to gang up on Israel, since virtually every other state does so. While most countries hammer Israel for crackdowns on the Palestinians, they hardly ever criticize Palestinian terrorists or other Arab terrorists and say little about the misdeeds of Arab and Muslim dictators. 5. As for the American government, the record clearly shows that when Israel crosses certain important lines, as when it expanded Jewish settlements into Palestinian areas like the West Bank and Gaza, Washington usually expresses its displeasure in public and, even more so, in private. Mearsheimer and Walt just don’t mention that.6.. More troublingly, they don’t seriously review the facts of the two most critical issues to Israel and the lobby — arms sales to Arab states and the question of a Palestinian state — matters on which the American position has consistently run counter to the so-called all-powerful Jewish lobby.7. But at a deeper level, one ignored by Mearsheimer and Walt, these problems would not disappear or seriously lessen if Washington abandoned Israel. The main source of anti-Americanism and anti-American terrorism is America’s deep ties with highly unpopular regimes in countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt, not to mention the war in Iraq. 8. Similarly, Mearsheimer and Walt mostly dodge the question of how to fix this problem. They don’t want to abandon Israel, they say, but they do want the United States to distance itself from Israeli policies. Does that mean talking to the Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists? These groups are relentlessly committed to violence and to the total destruction of Israel. What is there to talk about? 9. As for pressing Israel to turn over the territories and accept Palestinian statehood now, there is the slight problem of which Palestinians to bargain with — the Hamas leaders, who genuinely have broad support, or the far less popular and far more corrupt Fatah party. Besides, what concessions do Mearsheimer and Walt want Israel to make beyond what it has made? In the closing days of the Clinton administration, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak met almost all Palestinian demands for a negotiated solution and was effectively turned down.10.. historically, the prime effect of the relationship has been to provide Arab leaders and discontented Arabs with an excuse for not putting their own houses in order. I doubt Mearsheimer and Walt believe that if Washington stiff-armed Israel, this would induce Arab leaders to address their real problems or produce peace in the Middle East. 11. Then there is the issue of nuclear weapons and taming the proliferation genie. Yes, Israel’s nuclear ability adds to the hurdles Washington faces. But Mearsheimer and Walt should know that the driving force behind Saddam Hussein’s quest for these arms had much less to do with Israel’s nuclear weapons than with the threats he saw from Iran and the United States. The same is true for Iran today. Like Hussein, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad knows that only the United States can topple him and the regime of the mullahs he represents, and he wants the bomb principally for deterrence.12. America’s central strategic problem in the region — the main reason to worry about future terrorists, nuclear proliferation and energy supplies — is that we need our corrupt, inept and unpopular Arab allies because the likely alternative to them is far worse. There is no reliable and strong Arab moderate force in the Middle East at present. Washington’s long-term goal must be to help build one. Yet Mearsheimer and Walt offer us no counsel on how to do this.13. As it happens, America’s commitment to Israel rests far more on moral and historical grounds than on strict strategic ones. Israel does not harm American security interests to anywhere near the degree that Mearsheimer and Walt claim it does. And the major reality is that despite whatever difficulties the Israeli-American relationship might cause, the United States is helping to protect one of the few nations in the world that share American values and interests, a true democracy. This is the greatest strategic bond between the two countries. (And not to be overlooked is the fact that when push has come to shove, Israel has always defended itself.)14. The inevitable last question is this: Why have two such serious students of United States foreign policy written so weak a book and added fuel, inadvertently, to the fires of anti-Semitism? The answer lies in their treatment of the Iraq war. Their vitriol about the Iraq war — about being so right while others were so wrong — is so overwhelming that they minimize two key facts. First, America’s foreign policy community, including many Democrats as well as Republicans, supported the war for the very same reasons that Wolfowitz and the lobby did — namely, the fact that Hussein seemed to pose a present or future threat to American national interests. Second, the real play-callers behind the war were President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. They hardly have a history of being in the pockets of the Jewish lobby (more like the oil lobby’s), and they aren’t remotely neoconservatives. The more we know, the clearer it is that the White House went to war primarily to erase the “blunder” of the elder Bush in not finishing off Saddam Hussein during the Persian Gulf war of 1991.Now, Mearsheimer and Walt fear that Israel and the lobby will shove the United States into a new war with Iran: “They are the central forces today behind all the talk ... about using military force to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities. Unfortunately, such rhetoric makes it harder, not easier, to stop Iran from going nuclear.” …Meanwhile, plenty of foreign policy experts and politicians now call for “getting Iran.” And by the way, so do the two most powerful men in America, who neither need nor heed lobbying — George Bush and Dick Cheney.Leslie H. Gelb, a former columnist for The Times and the president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, is finishing a book on international power in the 21st century.

Iran and its President

2007-10-07T11:43:00.000-07:00

Cruelty and Mercy 1.Iran
And so we learn:One who becomes compassionate instead of cruel, will ultimately become cruel instead of compassionate, as it is written (I Samuel 22:19): “And Nov, the city of priests, he smote with the edge of a sword.” Is Nov any worse than the descendants of Amalek?!Midrash Rabba, Ecclesiastes 7:16.1. Time to be cruel, not merciful-Iran and bomb-and Sukkot Haftorot The Haftorot during the Festival of Sukkot speak of end times-a huge final battle of Gog and Magog, and final a celebration in Jerusalem at the end when all nations will celebrate Sukkot and recognizes Adonai as God (the final verse of Alenu prayer comes from this Zachariah Haftarah.) Sometimes the events of the world feel like those days.From The Chicago Tribune editorial Saturday:Case closed? You wishFresh from his performance as a human pinata at Columbia University, the Iranian president took the opportunity this week to remind the nations of the world just how much contempt he and his country held for the UN Security Council. In sum, a lot.After two sets of sanctions, and many more deadlines for Iran to suspend its nuclear program, Ahmadinejad dared the nations of the world to stop Iran's nuclear program. He scoffed at the power of the UN Security Council and declared that "the nuclear issue of Iran is now closed." That brought the quick response from the U.S: You wish."The Iranian president is badly mistaken if he thinks the international community is going to forget about the fact that his country is continuing -- against the will of the UN Security Council -- its nuclear research programs," said Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns.And from Germany: "Let's not fool ourselves," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said. "If Iran were to acquire the nuclear bomb, the consequences would be disastrous."One of the sharpest warnings came from France's new president, Nicolas Sarkozy. Allowing Iran to build a bomb, he said, would be an "unacceptable risk to the stability in the region and in the world." In his first major foreign policy speech a few weeks ago, he startled some of his countrymen by asserting that Iran could be attacked militarily if it did not abide by Security Council resolutions to suspend its uranium enrichment program.Whatever Iran does, or doesn't, divulge about its years of deceit is beside the point. Tehran is still running its outlaw nuclear program. It is building and installing centrifuges, enriching uranium and following a path that could lead to the bomb. It is defying the Security Council.Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune

Arafat and murder

2007-10-07T11:42:00.001-07:00

Scott Johnson of the great blog Powerline, wrote this piece, well worth readingHow Arafat Got Away with Murder The State Department covered up his responsibility for the 1973 slaughter of two American diplomats. by Scott W. Johnson http://www.weeklystandard.com/content/public/articles/000/000/013/192ioiwy.

Why this blog

2007-10-07T11:22:00.000-07:00

I just came from a viewing of the important movie Obsession, about radical Islam's desire to destroy the West. Frustrated about not doing more, I decded to start another blog, where I will accumulate my own material and refer you to others that support Israel. Joan Peters, author of the very important book on Palestinians, called From Time Immeorial, was there too. Get that book, its in paperback.

My ten videos about Israel

2007-10-07T11:11:00.000-07:00