Friday, 9 January 2009

SHARIAH (ISLAMIC) LAW = PUNISHEMENT - CRUEL AND USUAL


Exclusive: Cruel and Usual Punishment:


The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Law
The Editors


In her latest book, Cruel and Usual Punishment: The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Law, author Nonie Darwish paints a chilling description of what lies ahead for Western civilizations that continue down the road of political correctness and appeasement as Islamic (Shariah) law creeps its way into free societies across the globe. Darwish, who was born in Cairo, and moved as a child to Gaza with her family, was raised Muslim – her father founding Palestinian fedayeen units which launched terrorist raids across Israel’s southern border. When Nonie was only eight, her father was assassinated by the IDF, after which he was recognized as a shahid, or martyr for Islam. Darwish immigrated to the United States in 1978.

Islamic Law and the ensuing threats to Western civilization are subjects Darwish discusses with a passion and knowledge borne only of one who grew up within it can have. Having left Islam as an adult and having converted to Christianity, she has shared her experiences in Islam with her first book, Now They Call Me Infidel. Now with her second book, Cruel and Usual Punishment: The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Law, she explains in layman’s terms the meaning of Shariah law and the implications that face those who embrace it. Nonie Darwish visited with FamilySecurityMatters.org to discuss the book:


Renee Taylor for FSM: What are some of the implications for Western civilizations of accepting Shariah law into their societies?


Nonie Darwish: Today, Muslims have moved to Europe, America, Australia and Canada. They argued for Shariah law and got it. In England now, they are practicing marriage and inheritance laws. It is important for the West to realize and understand that Islamic law does not give equal rights to all. It discriminates between men and women. There are laws for Muslims, laws for non-Muslims. Women and non-Muslims have much more oppressive laws, giving Muslim men authority over them. If we allow such laws, we will find ourselves approving discrimination in our society between people. That is totally against Western democracy and values, especially the U.S. Constitution. I wrote this book because it is very important for the West to understand what they allow. Shariah law itself was not part of Islam when Mohammed died. It was created by the Muslim heads of state because Islam was moving very fast to conquer many countries. They needed Islamic law to rule over all these lands. It is inspired by the Koran and by the Hadith sayings of Mohammed. All areas of Islamic society are rooted in Islamic law, which is tyrannical law.


Slavery, for example, has never been abolished by Islam. If you read Muslim Shariah law, it is full of regulation of slaves. Sexual slavery of women captured in war is allowed, which was practiced by Mohammed. Even today, sexual slaves are accepted and all over the Middle East. Honor killings are rooted in Islamic law. For example, the murders for which a Muslim will never have punishment: to kill an apostate, to kill an adulterer – which is usually a woman, and honor killings. If you allow the killings of an apostate or an adulteress woman in the form of vigilante justice under Islamic law, you are endorsing honor killing. There are so many laws you cannot imagine that are brutal and unfair. A woman, for example, cannot divorce her husband, only a man can divorce her. I have an entire chapter in my book about the Muslim marriage contract. All of this is to open the eyes of the West to something totally against their own value system and democracy.


RT: With the world at risk, why do you think other countries are not taking the situation seriously? There seems to be a lot of appeasement.


ND: Unfortunately, there is no united policy across the West with regard to radical Islam. I believe the reason is there are so many Muslim countries around the world and many of them are oil rich and use oil as a weapon blackmailing Western countries. Appease them and assimilate them. Under Shariah, one of the major threats of a Muslim head of state is jihad. There is a law in Shariah law that says the head is to move Muslims to establish their religion. He must organize jihad against non-Muslim countries. They must be conquered. Why the West is in denial, I do not know. That is why I wrote the book, to inform the average Westerner what Shariah is. The book deals with all aspects of Shariah, what jihad is, and the obligations of Muslims to kill Jews and Christians and any non-Muslims in the jihad to who do not accept Islam.


That is why, unfortunately, when a Muslim leader stands up for Israel, he is labeled an apostate because he is doing something against his own Islamic law. A Muslim head of state must continue the Jihad against non-Muslim countries, especially those who neighbor a Muslim country. When President Sadat signed a peace treaty with Israel, he was assassinated. The reason was he violated Islamic law which demanded he be at permanent war with a non-Muslim adjacent state. This is happening everywhere. In India, Kosovo, Chechnya. If the West stays in denial, we will see the same in France.


RT: How can the average citizen get involved in understanding Islamic Law and how it is going to affect them and their way of life?


ND: It is very important that we separate the law of Islam from the religion of Islam. You see, a religion is private. When a minority comes to a country, they have a relationship with their god. The minute they begin to enforce a law on that country, that act goes into the realm of politics. It goes into the realm of the law of the land. That also violates our separation of church and state, the separation of mosque and state. The West doesn’t understand that under Shariah law, there is no separation of mosque and state. The mosque is the state and the state is the mosque. The West which prides itself on freedom and democracy, freedom of speech, equal rights for women and minorities, they have to understand that this is not a religious right. Muslims will say you are depriving them of their religious rights. No, you are not. This is political Islam. It has nothing to do with a personal relationship with God. It is about trying to control the country which they have immigrated to. America has fought so hard for women’s rights – are we going to start honor killings? There was an honor killing of two beautiful young girls in Texas by their father who was from Egypt, a taxi driver. He was not caught because he left the country. There are so many horrible laws. We must never think this is a religion because the duty of a religion is to protect you with rights. A religion doesn’t discriminate and torture and that is a violation of your rights, a violation of church and state.


A majority of Muslims are much like everyone else. What I am talking about is not the people – the problem is the law which discriminates and oppresses. There are so many oppressed people in the Muslim world. Look at the eyes of the people in the West Bank of Gaza or in Iraq or Egypt. The bottom line in every society is the law. Under Islamic Shariah law, the testimony of a woman is half that of a man. If a man and a woman go to court, guess who wins? This is what I am talking about – I’m not talking about the people, I’m talking about the law. If people don’t have justice under the law, they are living in a jungle. There are stocks and bonds sold from Islamic countries in American called Shariah finance. The profits from such financial deals go in the pockets of those Muslim countries. They use these profits to enforce Shariah law across Africa and other poor countries.


RT: Do most Muslims outside the political hierarchy understand and support Shariah law? Or would they like to see an end to it?


ND: There are some movements against Shariah, but they are calling them apostates and killing them. Unfortunately, under Islamic law, in all the books of Shariah, to deny Shariah is equal to denying Islam. The penalty is death. That is why there is no feminist movement in the Muslim world. I know two feminists in the Middle East, one in Egypt and one in Baharain. The one in Baharain was advocating divorce. She is now prevented from speaking or writing. The one in Egypt has a fatwah against her and had to leave the country because she could not protect herself.


RT: What do you think it would take to stop the encroachment of Islamic law into the West?


ND: The West must understand what Islamic law is without political correctness. The dictatorships in the Middle East are the creation of Shariah law. The only thing the West wants from the Middle East is an honest transaction of here is our dollars, give us your oil, but the Muslim world wants to blackmail the West to convert it to Islam. It is a very high price for oil.


RT: Why do you think non-Muslims, with all the information out there regarding Shariah law, are ignoring the warning signs?


ND: My book is the first book ever to explain Shariah. hariah books themselves are rarely translated into English and very few people want to go into the legal terminologies. I studied for one year to be able to explain Shariah in a way that it is understandable. I did a lot of quotations from Shariah and explained them. It is all documented. The West must wake up and start understanding because Shariah law says that for Muslims it is obligatory to lie if the purpose of the lie is the furtherance of Islam. Many Muslims don’t even know what Shariah law is exactly. They have lived under it for so many years.


RT: Do you believe that, under any circumstance, Shariah law and Western law can co-exist?


ND: No It is totally opposite and if we allow it among Muslims it is not going to end there.


RT: We have had several instances in the United States where Muslims sued their employers for prayer times during work hours, cab drivers refusing to carry passengers with alcohol….


ND: That is how they operate. You have women who want to cover their faces to get a driver’s license. You cannot bend the rules. The police must be able to look at your face and your license to identify you. So what do they want? They want to completely abolish our laws and put in their own laws. It doesn’t work this way.


RT: How does the “peaceful Muslim”, who says they don’t advocate the violent teaching of the Koran, reconcile their beliefs?


ND: I don’t understand. I personally cannot reconcile my beliefs, which is why I left Islam. It is very clear that Jews and Christians are infidels. The Koran has very derogatory words for them. Muslims are ordered not to talk to them, that they are filth. Some Muslims just do the five pillars of Islam – to pray and to fast… To them, that is their religion, which is very minimal and they are happy with those five pillars. They ignore 99% of their religion and only concentrate on the prayer. When something like 9/11 happens, they are silent because they know if they speak out against Jihad, they become apostates. That is why so many Americans are left wondering why are they silent. As much as they might be good people and citizens, they don’t commit crimes, by being silent against the tyranny of radical Islam, they are really feeding the monster. They are not standing up against it.


RT: What are your thoughts on the situation in Israel and what do you think Israel must do to stop Hamas?


ND: It is rooted in Shariah. Why is it an eternal problem for Muslims? Why do they want to destroy Israel? Many Muslims don’t want to tell you the truth. They don’t want to tell you it is their intention to destroy Israel completely. Jews have rooted themselves under Islam. Islamic law does not want them to govern themselves in the Middle East. Muslims these days don’t want to say it is their holy laws to totally eradicate Israel. They complain of occupation. Israel left Gaza. In response, Gaza took all their missiles to the border and started bombing Israel again. This is something the West doesn’t understand. At the end of every Friday prayer, I used to always hear that the Jews and the Christians must be destroyed. This is something we grew up hearing every day. It is such a radical system.


RT: Is there anything we haven’t touched on that you would add for our readers?


ND: The dynamic of the Muslim family, because of polygamy, is very different. Giving one man/one woman marriage has given them [women] respect and honor. If you start giving away the one man/one woman marriage in the West, we give away our future. The reason the Muslim world is so angry is because the Muslim marriage has no dignity and it humiliateswomen. A Muslim woman is so insecure in her marriage and there is no trust between the family members. That is why the Christian marriage and family unit is the most blessed thing America has.


RT: Thank you so much, Nonie, for your valuable insights into Shariah Law and how it threatens us right here in America, too. We are most grateful to you for your candor and courage.


ND: Thank you.


The book is titled Cruel and Usual Punishment: The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Law, Cruel and Usual Punishment: The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Lawavailable from Amazon.com and other booksellers. For more, visit www.arabsforisrael.com.
taken from B'NAI ELIM (http://bnaielim.blogspot.com/)

Roadside Rambles: Rally- Part III

Roadside Rambles: Rally- Part III

Roadside Rambles: Rally- Part II

Roadside Rambles: Rally- Part II

Roadside Rambles: Rally- Part I

Roadside Rambles: Rally- Part I

WHAT HEZBULLAH CAN TEACH US ABOUT HAMAS



The Rambam (Maimonides), the 12th century rabbinical giant, outlines the stages one must go through to do Tshuva, repentance. Among others stages, one must recognize what one has done wrong, sincerely regret it, take upon oneself never to repeat the transgression and be tested. It's that last stage which is interesting: it cannot be said that a sinner has truly repented until he or she has withstood the temptation of doing it again.


I mention this for what it tells us about human nature. NOT because I regard Hezbullah as having done repentance of any sort.


However: it was a telling event, this morning, when someone not from Hezbullah shot katyushas at Nahariya.


At the end of the war of summer 2006 Hezbullah celebrated its great victory over Israel. That in itself proves nothing. Nasser's Egypt celebrated its victory on the 7th day of the Six Day War: so what. And in Gaza, even if the IDF ends up killing all of the Hamas fighters but leaves three fellows still alive, they'll loudly declare victory. Hezbullah's claim in August 2006, however, was more than hollow declarations, in that the war really had been something of a draw.


After the celebrations, however, there were indications Nassrallah had a clearer idea of reality than he'd been pretending. He admitted in an interview that had he foreseen the vehemence of the Israeli onslaught he'd never have provoked it. He lives underground, rarely appearing in public. Most interestingly, the past two weeks he has been fulminating against Israel (and Egypt), but fulminations are sterile. For all his bravado, he never lifted a finger to assist Hamas when they could have used it.


Michael Totten suggests we read Tony Badran's analysis of what happened today, and since Badran knows about Lebanon and I don't, I won't argue with him when he says Hezbullah had to know about the intention to shoot those katyushas this morning. However, his thesis seems to be that the Iranians had to have somebody make some gesture from Lebanon, so they chose a minor player to make a minor gesture in a way that would give major deniability. This suggests a wariness in provoking Israel that is very healthy. It stems, I'm guessing, both from the pain inflicted in 2006, and the frightening demonstration this time that Israel has gotten its act together.

It's a bit weird to read a rocket attack on Israel as a positive sign, I admit, but the world is often a weird place, since it's populated by people.


All of this has been an introduction to some thoughts about the cease fire in Gaza which seems to be approaching, one way or the other.


I'm in favor. As a matter of fact, I'm in favor irrespective of the minutiae of the details of the agreement, although I hope the details will be the right ones. The reason I'm almost automatically in favor, however, is that it looks like this time we won, and the important players all know it.


The single most important player is Israeli society. We proved to ourselves that after the fiasco of 2006 we got back on our feet and proceeded to fix what needed fixing; having done so, we regained the confidence to defend ourselves efficiently. Since our enemies aren't about to disappear, our renewed confidence in our abilities is very important.

The second important player is Palestinian society. This is the second time in six years that we've demonstrated to them the limits of our patience, and our ability and willingness to act very forcefully when they cross those limits. I'll say it in the most black-and-white way possible: When we really get fed up we're very nasty, we're united in being nasty, and world opinion washes off our back like water off a duck. Yet the Palestinians, unlike the rest of the world, see us close up. Listen to all those Gazans as they damn us when we kill civilians. They keep on saying things like "the Israelis see we're civilians, they knew it's a school, how come they didn't behave as expected and refrain from shooting?" You've never heard Iraqi or Afghanistani victims using that sort of reasoning when mourning their dead.


The Palestinians have thus seen us close up for worse but also for better, and may have a clearer understanding of us than the world's media does.


My point is that the relative tranquility in the West Bank these past two weeks as we've been pummeling Gaza must mean something; moreover, if you listen to Avi Issacharoff and others who know what they're talking about, it may just be possible that many Gazans, too, have understood that Hamas is never going to lead them anywhere they'd like to go. If they follow the Hezbullah model, this may mean they'll continue to fulminate, but they'll hesitate to shoot. Palestinian laws mandate Palestinian elections sometime this year. I don't know if Hamas will allow them to happen, but if they do, perhaps they'll lose?


The final major player is Barack Hussein Obama. Ultimately, should it ever come to it, Israel can and will resist even an American president if he tries to force us to do something we really don't want to do. As I never tire of saying, the Jews are the oldest living group in the world because they insist on it; as a general statement, however, it hasn't hurt that they've often had a good understanding of power structures around them.

When it comes to forging reality, the Guardianistas are impotent. They pontificate, but no-one listens. The same goes for the UN, the EU, and the International Boy Scouts. Not so the President of the United States. He does make a difference. I don't know what the events in Gaza mean for Obama, any more than any of you do. We'll have to wait and see.

taken from : Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations (http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/)

A COUNTRY AT WAR




Israel is at war. Battling to destroy Hamas, a band of evil people bent on killing and destroying as many Jews as they can. What does a country at war look like? How do people feel? What are Israelis’ reactions to the situation where thousands of soldiers are called up to the front, and where the Jew-haters fire missiles into areas that are closer and closer inland? (The fact that they have been firing missiles onto Jews and their homes, kindergartens, shops, streets for years, even before the Disengagement, and why this has not really bothered most people, is for another time.) I’ll give you a taste of what it’s like to be living in a country that’s at war.


Everywhere you go, you hear people worrying about the ‘Southerners’ - the Israelis who live in the south of Israel, which is the main focus of the missiles from our enemies in ‘Aza (Gaza).


When the news comes on on the news, the bus driver turns up the volume, and everyone is totally silent until it’s over (that’s really something for a busful of Israelis)


Army Radio played ‘Shir Lama’alot, Esa Einay el Heharim…’ (’A Psalm of Ascents; I raise my eyes to the mountains…’) the other day, in support of the soldiers and the residents of the south, and perhaps as some sort of prayer for them.


I also heard Army Radio broadcasting a short interview with the mother of a soldier who had been injured in the war. Her main message: it was miraculous that he was only injured as much as he was injured: thank G-d.


Everywhere you go, you see banners and posters declaring support of the IDF and of the residents from the south.


Also on the radio: a software company started a website where families from the south can be paired up with ‘adopting’ families from other areas, so that they can get some peace and quiet from the terror and anxiety and worry of living in a place where at any moment a missile could land on your roof or head. Families can apply anonymously if they wish.


An initiative of the Chief Rabbi of Rechovot pairs volunteers with soldiers who are in the battlefield, where the volunteer gets the soldier’s Hebrew name, and prays and does Mitzvot as a merit of protection for that soldier. (Want to participate? Send an email to maortlmo@gmail.com )


Organizations are bringing southern residents into the centre of the country for visits, to stay for a while, to take their minds off the situation… Individuals are actively getting involved too.
People are praying for the soldiers’ safety and success, and for the safety of the residents of the south.


I feel a sense of great unity of purpose amongst Israelis of all types and leanings, in the justice and necessity of this war.


Do you have a special story about the war, about a heartwarming response to the situation of the Israelis in the south, or about a strong supportive gesture for the soldiers? Add it in a comment!
May our beloved soldiers succeed in stamping out all evil in ‘Aza, and in destroying our enemies. May they bring calm and tranquility over all of our Land, and may G-d protect and safeguard our soldiers and all our brothers and sisters, precious Jews, especially those in the south, within range of the missiles that our enemies are firing at us.
taken from : Tzipiyah.com

HEROES






“AFTER WATCHING the rosh yeshiva of the high school being interviewed about their son, the Netanels go into their house. I am left standing outside alone with Yonatan’s father, Rabbi Amos, and what am I going to say? Anything I can think of is just going to demean the worth of their beautiful child. But thank God the tears come and I break down and he holds me. So instead of me comforting him, he comforts me.



“God does not give us trials we cannot withstand. The ways of the Redemption are hidden from us, but it’s still the Redemption.”



Some call them simpletons, but those who know them can only thank God that people like these exist in our world. “


taken from : Tzipiyah.com

UNIVERSAL TORAH : VAYECHI

UNIVERSAL TORAH: VAYECHI

By Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum


Torah Reading: VAYECHI Gen. 47:28-50:26. Haftara: I Kings 2:1-12.


AND JACOB LIVED.


"And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years" (Gen. 47:28). These were "good" years (17 is the gematria of TOV = "good") as opposed to the first one hundred and thirty years of Jacob's 147-year life. The first hundred and thirty years were riddled with suffering. Through the suffering Jacob endured while struggling to build his family, the House of Israel, he rectified Adam's 130 years of separation from Eve (see Rashi on Genesis 4:25), during which Adam wasted his seed and created demons, instead of peopling the world with Bney Adam.

G-d's first command to Adam was "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and conquer it" (Gen. 1:28). As explained by Rabbi Nachman (Likutey Moharan II:7), this commandment is fulfilled not by producing anthropoid monsters but by giving birth to, raising and educating true Children of Adam, who bear the TZURAH ("form") of ADAM, who was made "in the image of G-d".


Ever since Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, their generations were flawed. Cain killed Abel, Canaan sodomized Noah, the Sodomites wanted to sodomize the angels, the kings of Egypt and of the Philistines and the crown prince of Shechem kidnapped women, Ishmael lived by the sword, Esau was a rapist.

Only Jacob was SHALEM, "Whole" or "Perfect" (Gen. 32:18): Jacob bore the true TZURAH of ADAM, of whom it is said: "And upon the likeness of the throne was a likeness having the appearance of ADAM upon it from above" (Ezekiel 1:26). When man perfects himself, G-d shines through him and is thus revealed in the world.


Jacob is sometimes called Yaakov, sometimes Yisrael. Yaakov is "small" ("Yaakov her SMALL son" Gen. 27:15; "How will Yaakov rise, for he is SMALL" Amos 7:5). In his "small" aspect -- his time of struggle and suffering (MOCHIN D'KATNUS, "constricted consciousness") -- Jacob signifies that the revelation of G-d is as yet incomplete and is still proceeding in stages. But Yisrael, Israel, is Jacob's name of greatness -- "for you have struggled with G-d and with men and you have prevailed" (Gen. 32:29).In his "great" aspect (MOCHIN D'GADLUS, "expanded consciousness") Jacob -- Israel -- signifies that G-d's greatness is revealed and manifest in the world.


This was the case at the time of the Exodus from Egypt and the Giving of the Torah, when the entire world shook with G-d's self-revelation. It was the case during the reigns of King David and his son Solomon, who built the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. And it will be the case again in the near future, when G-d's House of Prayer for All the Nations will stand in the center of the world on Mount Moriah in the Holy City of Jerusalem. [The intensity of the hatred in much of the world today for all that goes by the name of Israel signifies how far the world is from HaShem. But "the people that go in darkness will see great light and those who dwell in the land of the shadow of death, light has shone upon them" (Isaiah 9:11).]


Our parshah of VAYECHI puts the seal on the first of the Five Books of Moses, the book of Genesis (Bereishis), portraying Jacob, the rectified Adam, in his "good" years at the end of his life. They are good years, because Jacob is now reunited with Joseph, who is in his place of true glory ruling over Egypt. Jacob's main love was essentially for Rachel. It was for her that he served Laban, and it was because Joseph was Rachel's firstborn that "Israel loved Joseph out of all his sons" (Gen. 37:3). While Leah signifies the "hidden realm", Rachel signifies G-d's glory revealed in and through this world. This comes about when Jacob-Israel (=ADAM, the Soul complete with its Nefesh, Ru'ach and Neshamah levels) conquers Esau (=the Serpent, ASIYAH, the realm of material activity), using this world to build a sanctuary for G-d.


Our parshah of VAYECHI also contains a number of specific allusions to the Temple in Jerusalem, as in Jacob's blessing to Judah (Gen. 49:11) and especially his blessing to Benjamin (ibid. v. 27). The Temple Altar stood in the territory of Benjamin, son of Rachel. Thus in Jacob's funeral procession, his twelve sons carried him up to the Land of Israel in the same positions in which their descendents the twelve tribes encamped around the Sanctuary in the Wilderness. Jacob and his sons, the House of Israel, are the Sanctuary in which G-d dwells in the world. "And I will dwell within them" (Exodus 25:8).


* * *


HEAR O ISRAEL!


Jacob spent the final "good" years of his life fulfilling the commandment to be spiritually fruitful -- by educating the young, especially his grandson Ephraim (see Rashi on Gen. 48:1: "Ephraim was habitually with Jacob learning"). Jacob'sfinal blessings, will and testament to his sons, with their harsh chastisements, were also intended to be educational.


According to tradition, "At the time when Jacob our father assembled his sons in Egypt at the hour of his death, he commanded and spurred them on in the unification of the name of G-d and that they should follow the path of HaShem that Abraham and Isaac his father walked. He asked them and said, 'My sons, maybe someone among you is flawed and does not stand with me in the Unification of the Name.?' They all answered and said, 'Hear Israel HaShem our G-d HaShem is One' -- that is, 'Hear from us, our father Israel, HaShem our G-d HaShem is one'. The old man answered 'Blessed be the Name of the Glory of His Kingship for ever and ever!' And this is why all Israel has the custom of repeating the expression of the praise used by Israel when he was an old man after this verse". (Rambam, Laws of Recital of Shema Ch. 1:4).


* * *


JACOB'S BLESSINGS


Jacob's death-bed blessings to his sons contain some of the most beautiful flights of Biblical poetry. It is noteworthy that Onkelos, author of the best-known Aramaic Targum (= "translation") of the Five Books of Moses, departs here from his usual practice of giving the simplest, clearest PSHAT (= "simple meaning") of the Biblical text except where DRUSH, Midrash, "searching out" beneath the surface is absolutely indispensable. However here, as in the case of some other highly poetic passages (the Song at the Sea, Bilaam's blessings, the Song of Moses -- HA-AZINU -- and his final blessings), Onkelos felt obliged to introduce MIDRASH into his Targum in order to bring out the essential meaning of the text, which contains allusions to all historical periods and especially the time of Mashiach.


Thus it is Onkelos who informs us that SHILOH (Gen. 49:10) is Mashiach. The Tribes are compared to various animals. Judah is a lion, Issachar is a wide-boned donkey, Dan is a serpent, Naftali a gracious hind, Benjamin a preying fox. In the case of Jacob's children, the animal qualities are elevated in order to destroy the wicked and give the victory to G-d. Thus Onkelos translates Gen. 49:14-15 as: "Yissachar will be wealthy in possessions and his inheritance is between the boundaries. And he saw that his share is good and that the land produces fruits. And he conquered the territories of the nations and destroyed their inhabitants and those who remain of them will serve him and pay him taxes." Onkelos translates the blessing of Benjamin (v. 49:27: "Benjamin is a preying fox, in the morning he devours the prey, in the evening he divides the prey") as: "In the land of Benjamin the Shechinah will dwell (= TISHREI) and in his inheritance the Holy Temple will be built, in the morning and in the afternoon the priests will offer sacrifices and in the evening they will divide the rest of their portions from the other offerings".


Onkelos himself was a GER TZEDEK ("righteous convert"). He was the son of the sister of the Roman Emperor Titus." It is said that before Onkelos converted, he raised the spirits of Titus, Balaam, and Yeshu from hell in order to find out the truth. All three confirmed that the nation of Israel is held in the highest repute in the world to come (Gittin 56b, 57a). Onkelos learned Torah from Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus ("Rabbi Eliezer the Great") and Rabbi Yehoshua, who were outstanding students of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai and were also the teacher-partners of Rabbi Akiva. Onkelos' Targum is the first and most authoritative "commentary" on the Torah.

* * *

AND THE DWELLER OF THE LAND OF THE CANAANITE SAW.

When Joseph went up with his brothers to bury Jacob, "they came to the threshing floor of Atad (= bramble)" (Gen. 50:10). According to Rashi, "It was surrounded by brambles. All the kings of Canaan and princes of Ishmael came to war, but when they saw the crown of Joseph hung on Jacob's ARON (= Ark), they all stood and hung their crowns and surrounded him with crowns from the threshing-floor which was surrounded by a fence of brambles.

The kings and Canaan and princes of Ishmael were confounded by the ARON, the holy ark of Jacob, crowned with the crown of Joseph.


According to tradition, this took place on during Chanukah-time. Jacob's HISTALKUS (ascent) was on 15th Tishri, the first night of Succos. The Egyptians wept for him seventy days, upon which Joseph and his brothers went up to Israel to bury him. The seventieth day after 15th of Tishri is 25th Kislev, the first day of Chanukah. The initial letters of the four Hebrew words in the verse "and the dweller of the land of the Canaanite saw" are the permutation of the name of HaShem that holds sway in the month of Kislev (see Kavanos of Rosh Chodesh Musaf prayers).
There is an integral conceptual connection between Jacob's funeral procession and Chanukah, which is the time of the inauguration of the Temple. Jacob's twelve sons, the holy House of Israel, under the leadership of Joseph the Tzaddik, were taking Jacob -- the archetypal House-Builder -- to his final, eternal house and home in the Cave of Machpelah, the resting place of Adam and Eve as well as the patriarchs and matriarchs.


The funeral procession was a "rehearsal" for the formation in which the twelve tribes would would bring the Ark of the Covenant up from the wilderness and into the Holy Land. This is paradigmatic of the building of the Holy Temple, the House of G-d on the spot where Jacob had his dream of the ladder: "This is none other than the House of G-d and this is the Gate of Heaven" (Gen. 28:17). That place is alluded to in the opening word of the Torah, BEREISHIS, the letters of which, when re-arranged, spell out BAYIS ROSH, the House that is Head (=Tefilin shel Rosh). It was to that place that Joseph promised his brothers that they would return from Egypt: "G-d will surely redeem you and bring you up from this land to the Land which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob" (Gen. 50:24).


CHAZAK! CHAZAK! VE-NIS-CHAZEK!"Be strong! Be strong -- and we will be strong!"


Shabbat Shalom!


Avraham Yehoshua Greenbaum


--AZAMRA INSTITUTEPO Box 50037 Jerusalem 91500 IsraelWebsite: www.azamra.org

Thursday, 8 January 2009

The Barnyard: The Real Issue: Gaza is Jewish#links#links

The Barnyard: The Real Issue: Gaza is Jewish#links#links

Israel Matzav: Video: IDF soldiers with captured weapons and terrorists#links#links#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Video: IDF soldiers with captured weapons and terrorists#links#links#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Video: How Hamas operates within a civilian population#links#links#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Video: How Hamas operates within a civilian population#links#links#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Nizar Riyyan's suicide complex#links#links

Israel Matzav: Nizar Riyyan's suicide complex#links#links

Israel Matzav: Breaking: Concern over Katyusha fire on Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria#links#links

Israel Matzav: Breaking: Concern over Katyusha fire on Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria#links#links

Israel Matzav: IDF warns Philadelphi corridor residents to flee#links#links

Israel Matzav: IDF warns Philadelphi corridor residents to flee#links#links

Israel Matzav: Video: Hamas Lebanese rep urges loyal 'Israeli Arabs' to shake Israel's foundations#links#links#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Video: Hamas Lebanese rep urges loyal 'Israeli Arabs' to shake Israel's foundations#links#links#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Video: Grad Katyusha rocket hits Be'er Sheva#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Video: Grad Katyusha rocket hits Be'er Sheva#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: A meaningless 'acceptance'#links#links

Israel Matzav: A meaningless 'acceptance'#links#links

Israel Matzav: Muslims have drawn up "hit list" of British Jews#links#links

Israel Matzav: Muslims have drawn up "hit list" of British Jews#links#links

Israel Matzav: Venezuela expels Israel's ambassador#links#links

Israel Matzav: Venezuela expels Israel's ambassador#links#links

Israel Matzav: UNRWA lies, denies terrorists' presence in Jabalya school#links#links

Israel Matzav: UNRWA lies, denies terrorists' presence in Jabalya school#links#links

Israel Matzav: Concerned about Obama's concern#links#links

Israel Matzav: Concerned about Obama's concern#links#links

Israel Matzav: Ankara: Terror on the basketball court#links#links#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Ankara: Terror on the basketball court#links#links#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Shocka: 'Palestinians' using Israeli warnings to 'organize' human shields#links#links#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Shocka: 'Palestinians' using Israeli warnings to 'organize' human shields#links#links#links#links#links

COLE PLUMBS NEW DEPTHS : ISRAELIS TO BLAME FOR 9/11



I have a low opinion of Professor Juan Cole, but he has earned it with the sweat of his brow. I even have a special tag for him (Juan Cole), so if you really want to spoil your afternoon feel free to click on it. Today he has another long and wearisome post generally on a par with his standard scholarship. I wouldn't bother you with it were it not for the first few paragraphs:


In 1996, Israeli jets bombed a UN building where civilians had taken refuge at Cana/ Qana in south Lebanon, killing 102 persons; in the place where Jesus is said to have made water into wine, Israeli bombs wrought a different sort of transformation. In the distant, picturesque port of Hamburg, a young graduate student studying traditional architecture of Aleppo saw footage like this on the news [graphic]. He was consumed with anguish and the desire for revenge. As soon as operation Grapes of Wrath had begun the week before, he had written out a martyrdom will, indicating his willingness to die avenging the victims, killed in that operation--with airplanes and bombs that were a free gift from the United States. His name was Muhammad Atta. Five years later he piloted American Airlines 11 into the World Trade Center. (Lawrence Write, The Looming Tower, p. 307: "On April 11, 1996, when Atta was twenty-seven years old, he signed a standardized will he got from the al-Quds mosque.l It was the day Israel attacked Lebanon in Operation grapes of Wrath. According to one of his friends, Atta was enraged,and by filling out his last testamentd during the attack he was offering his life in response." ).


On Tuesday, the Israeli military shelled a United Nations school to which terrified Gazans had fled for refuge, killing at least 42 persons and wounding 55, virtually all of them civilians, and many of them children. The Palestinian death toll rose to 660. The Israelis say they took fire from one of the schools. Was it tank fire?


You wonder if someone somewhere is writing out a will today.


Let's assume for a moment, merely for the purpose of the intellectual exercise, that what he has just written is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Bear with me, just for the moment.


What Cole has just told us is that his mind can live with the explanation that Mohammad Atta murdered thousands of people in New York, because five years earlier he'd been absolutely and totally furious at an Israeli killing of one hundred people in Lebanon. Moreover, Cole implies, it is well likely that another act of Israeli killing today will have a similar result sometime down the road. Furthermore, he then goes on, he's telling us this because the Obama administration must stop the way Israel is purposefully putting Americans in danger merely because Israelis are that kind of people.


In 1348 Europe was stricken by its first wave of Bubonic Plague, in which about a third of the entire population perished. Among the millions of dead there were entire communities of Jews, but they didn't have time to die from the plague; they were murdered by their neighbors who were convinced they must be poisoning the wells. Eventually the rampaging murderers desisted, when they managed to notice that when left alone, the Jews were dying from the plague just like everyone else. In spite of their terror and hate, they were able to observe reality and make rational judgments - well, after a while. In the 15th century.


In the 21st, Professor Cole doesn't have the terror, ensconced in Ann Arbor Michigan, he's got only the hate. But then, neither does he have the ability to observe reality and make rational judgments.


Not to mention moral ones.


taken from : Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations (http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/)

ISRAEL'S SPIRITUAL MIGHT



Written by: Avital

As our boys defend our homeland, possibly with their lives, in the Gaza strip, we all must stop and take a few minutes to say Tehillim for them, or add a personal prayer for them into our daily routine. For the skeptics who don’t see how prayer can help such a situation, allow me to offer an example that might illustrate the power of prayer.


A friend related this short Dvar Torah to me today, and it struck a chord with me: Two of the most well known celebrations in the Jewish calendar are Purim and Chanukah. On Purim, we remember how Haman tried to wipe all the Jews in the Persian kingdom off the face of the map. He did not care if this Jew was assimilated or didn’t believe in Judaism, he wanted to physically kill out every single trace of Judaism he could. On Chanukah we remember how the Greeks tried to assimilate us. Our life was not their desire, just our culture. As long as we acted as Greek as we could, they were happy. They wanted to destroy Judaism not physically, but spiritually. On Purim, we combated Haman’s physical threat to our existence with prayer, fast and a slew of spiritual acts. On Chanukah, the Maccabim raised their weapons and waged war on the Greeks.
In both stories, the Jews were not destroyed. After all, here we are, reading Tzipiyah.com! Interesting to note that in both stories, the Jews successfully overcame their enemies with the force opposite that of the threat. When we were physically intimidated, we fought back with prayer, with spirituality. When we were spiritually intimidated, we fought back with war, the physical.


As a physical war wages on in the Middle East, as our boys put their lives on the line to protect those of the citizens of Israel, perhaps what we need to gain an edge is the force opposite that of the threat. Perhaps, to combat the physical attacks on our lives, we need some spirituality. Some prayer?


And, on another spiritual note, we are about to commemorate Asarah B’Tevet, the day that the Babylonian army laid siege to Jerusalem, eventually leading up to the destruction of the first Holy Temple. We commemorate this day spiritually, with fast and prayer. Over the course of the day, every time you get a pang of hunger, a desire to break the fast, if it really isn’t an emergency, think of our boys, risking their lives, and in their merit, overcome the hunger! Persevere as they are trying to do for us. A few hours without food is comparatively a small gesture for us to do for them.


May we soon see the end of this hardship, and may we merit seeing the light pierce this heavy, heavy darkness. May we witness the coming of Mashiach, Bimhera BiYamenu, Amen!


taken from : Tzipiyah.com

Wednesday, 7 January 2009

STANDING FOWARD TO SERVE



Tens of thousands of reservists have been mobilized. Under normal circumstances some of them must be abroad, others sick, still others can't be bothered and will find some plausible excuse to get them off, and so on. They're all in the middle of their normal lives, and would prefer not to be torn away from their studies, vocations, families and routines to go and get shot at by fanatic murderers.


The army knows all this, which is why reserve units generally call up a larger number of men than they'll really need, and balance the numbers.


The news broadcast earlier this evening (sorry, no link) told that more than 100% have responded, including many who weren't called but came; hundreds have been sent home.


Although additional units are still be called up. Meir called a couple hours ago to say he's been told to expect to be called later this week.


Bloggers who google until they find obscure sources that prove Israeli's resolve is flagging, take note.


taken from : Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations (http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/)

TENTH OF TEVET : ON DETERMINATION AND RESOLVE




Today is the 10th of Tevet, the Hebrew month which according to the ancient, Biblical way of counting, is the tenth month of the year. As in


And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built forts against it round about. (Jeremiah 52 verse 4)


If you prefer to use the Gregorian calender, that would have been January, 588 years before the counting began. After six months of siege Jerusalem fell and the temple was destroyed. Later it was rebuilt, and served as the center of the Jewish world for another 600-some years. I don't know when the tradition marking the Tenth of Tevet as a day of fasting and mourning began, but the Talmud gives Rabbi Akiva's opinion on it, and he was in the first generation after the destruction of the Second Temple, say, about the year 100 (though no-one was counting that way yet).


One way or the other, this Tenth day of Tevet has been a day of fasting and communal mourning for more than 1,900 years, commemorating an event that happened 2,597 years ago, about a mile from where I sit right now.


I'm not going theological on you, don't worry. There are religious blogs out there of all sorts and types, some of them make for interesting reading, but this isn't one of them. This is a political blog written by a lapsed historian. As a historian, it's interesting to note living traditions with pedigree of millenia. Especially when they have such burning urgency to them.


For 1,700 years most Jews fasted on the tenth of Tevet. Occasionally they'd add a layer of meaning to the day. One was as the annual day of commemoration for anyone whose date of death was unknown. In the late 1940s hundreds of thousands of Jews needed it, and the Tenth of Tevet became an early version of Holocaust Commemoration day. Yet it was preferred mostly by orthodox Jews, who needed a day on which to say Kaddish. Secular Jews who didn't feel that need, didn't relate to the date, and after a number of years of fascinating political haggling the Knesset enacted Yom Hashoah, the official Holocaust Commemoration Day. The Haredi still prefer the Tenth of Tevet.


The story of the Tenth of Tevet demonstrates one of the supreme ironies of Jewish history: that for almost 2,000 years it was religious belief that preserved the dream of returning to the ancestral homeland, using many traditions including fast days for mourning long-long-gone events; no sooner had majority of Jews modified or abandoned their religious tradition it was secular Jews who invented Zionism and determined to come back (though of course there had been some Jews here all along).


A blog post is the wrong place to describe how all that happened, but it actually can be summed up very pithily. The Jews are the longest-living cultural group in the world except perhaps the Chinese; unlike the Chinese they spent long periods spread as a minority in many lands, often (though not always) under severe persecution. The reason they survived was because they were determined.


Here's how it works on this Tenth Day of Tevet, 2009.


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


Last night we went to hear a lecture by a retired medical professor with whom I'm friendly, in spite of his being 30 years my senior. His theme was the contribution of German academia to the crimes of Nazism. As the public came in we chatted, and I asked if I'd see his son, Efraim, a 40-year-old budding history professor whom I taught when he was in high-school. No, he told me, his voice quivering, Efraim (a father of four) has been called up with his reserve paratroop unit, and they're preparing to join the younger men in Gaza.

When he got up he started by dedicating his lecture to the memory of his father, Efraim, who had been murdered in Budapest on the tenth of Tevet, 1945.


About 11:30 this morning, as I was leaving a meeting, my wife called: Nitai Stern was killed in Gaza last night. 12 or 13 years ago Achikam and Nitai had been best friends, who often spent the nights at each others house, talking for hours after bedtime. They went to different high schols, and eventually we moved to a different part of town and they drifted apart, but Achikam still often goes back to the old neighborhood and Nitai was still part of his old group. Achikam can't go to the funeral, so we went in his stead.


Near the end of the ceremony Reuven, Nitai's father, got up to speak. What does a father say on the grave of his son? What can he possibly say?


He read Psalms. The ones about warriors, and the ones about mourning. His voice was strong despairing and clear. Then he said "I'm going to sing now, and you can sing with me"
תהה השעה הזאת
שעת רחמים
ועת רצון
מלפניך


The final prayer of the Yom Kippur service:
May this hour
Be an hour of mercy
And a moment of goodwill
From You


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


Newsflash:
To the Palestinians: we'd love to live in peace alongside you, but if not, you'll never ever beat us.
To the antisemites of the world: our distant descendants will still be here, tut-tutting over your malice, centuries after your own descendants won't even remember who you were.


That's how we've done it so far, and that's how we'll do it still.


taken from : Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations (http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/)

PROPORTIONALITY AND WAR



I know a thing or two about Just War theory, and even once wrote a book about its application in the Israel-Arab conflict. I find it hard to sleep these days, so I've spent the predawn hours carrying out a little experiment. Since by now there seem to be thousands of readers of this blog, I earnestly invite any of you who wish to join me in this, to strengthen or weaken my findings, either way. I'm serious, not facetious.


As is customary when Israel goes to war, the media fills up with pseudo-learned discussions of proportionality, just-war theory, and sermons of self-anointed human rights organizations. I'm interested to investigate whether this phenomenon happens all the time but I notice only when Israel is the target, or perhaps something else is going on. So I've gone to various news-related web sites, and have used their own search engines to seek proportionality war, a combination which seems plausible, wouldn't you agree? There undoubtedly are other possible searches one could use, and it would be possible to dig deeper than what I've done, so that's where the rest of you are invited to pile in and prove me right or wrong.


The New York Times search engine:The first 20 results contain six articles about Israel's actions in Lebanon in 2006 or Gaza now. Three are from the 1970s, and talk about Vietnam; a fourth, from 2003, reviews a film about Vietnam. The rest, so my impression after skimming over them, focus one way or another on the war in Iraq, though interestingly they're concentrated in the second half of the list. Vietnam trumps Iraq and Israel trumps Vietnam when you look at the order of appearance.


The Guardian (and note, here I arranged the results using their "most relevant first" function):Like in every other aspect, the Guardian and I see the world differently; even their search engine. Else how to explain that the first seven (!) have nothing to do with the matter, but include articles about the tour de France, private schools, and downloading a book by Cory Doctorow. The next six seem to deal either with Afghanistan or terrorism in Britain. The next seven items all deal with Israel.


The BBC:
Seven items seem to be about the War on Terror, including the first three. Four (all in the first ten) are about a film on Vietnam. three are about Israel. The rest I can't explain (more teachers and schools).


The Economist:
Their search engine, thankfully, doesn't send results merely for the purpose of showing results. So my query gave only 7 results. Four are about Israel. One is a book review of a relevant book (which sounds good), and the last two - well, I'm not sure why they got onto the list.


The Independent:
Their search engine is even stranger than that at the Guardian: ten of the first ten items had nothing to do with the matter (though there is one item about how an Israeli shipping magnate, Sammy Ofer, donated money to rebuild the Cutty Sark).


OK, enough for this morning, there are other things to do in life besides blogging. Before signing off, however, a quick summary:
1. Israel is disproportionally represented. Surprise.
2. More nuanced searches are required, since each media outlet uses different terminology. A website that rants only about Israeli crimes, never about its proportionality or lack of it in waging war, won't register in my search parameters. Ergo, comparisons need to address the varying vocabularies in different organizations and over time.
3. I didn't see any mention of Russia, nor or the Iraq-Iran war (remember that one? With more than a million dead?), nor of anything beyond the same recurring three: Israel's wars, America's and Britain's. Given that the publications I looked at were American or mostly British, this means the only foreign country, seen from the perspective of the publications, was Israel.


Please feel free to broaden the search.


taken from : Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations (http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/)

BEYTSIM...??? WHAT'S BEYTSIM !....



Wow! Israel has its beytsim back!


By Arlene Peck


For the past couple of years, I haven’t felt like even reading the paper. Not only because the news was so bad but there has been absolutely no leadership. Not here in America and, especially not, in Israel. That, folks has bothered me.


Finally, the politicians, not statesmen, who have been at the helm in Israel, seem to have awakened. I was astounded to see that, finally, they remembered the ‘rule of retaliation’. Someone must have told them that a country that is being attacked by vicious terrorists, day after day, year after year, actually has the right to fight back.


The timing of their incursion into Gaza was brilliant! Everyone has been so busy in celebrating their holiday season that I can hardly find any news about what’s happening in the Middle East on the evening news.


However, I have also noticed that many of the journalists who have been reporting on the “war in Gaza” have Arab names and are anything but impartial in their reporting. I find their reactions so predictable they are almost comical. For instance, today’s LA Times had an article written by two Arab journalists who wrote, “the mounting toll of civilians has alarmed world leaders. Prompting what they call a disproportionate response to Hamas attack and to urge renewal of a truce that “unraveled’ last month.” Let’s see, how did it ‘unravel’? Could it be that Hamas absolutely, positively refused to stop the terrorist attacks or to stop lobbing their steady stream of missiles into nearby Israeli towns? And, the benevolent guys from the United Nations were thrilled when their leader, Secretary-General Ban Ki-mon was quoted as saying, “I have continuously stressed the need for a strict observance of international humanitarian law”. I don’t think so. This group is usually ready to pass out sweets and candies whenever Israel is attacked. In six years, I don’t remember one comment, much less ‘demand’, that the Palestinians stop their constant bombing of Israeli towns. Do any of your remember any of their emergency meetings? The only difference is the Israelis do everything they can to avoid hitting civilians. While the Palestinian enemy set up shop and mortars in the middle of busy civilian streets, hospitals and schools. The mosques that I’m delighted to see are finally being bombed are usually weapons warehouses. Frankly, I don’t give a diddly-squat. As ‘politically incorrect” as I tend to be I’d move them all out and keep the lights turned off. The only humanatarian aid I’ve give would be to help them pack and get out. Transfer? It’s not the dirty word it once was and, I’m all for it!


Frankly, I find it difficult to feel any remorse for a people who elect an organization with its goal of destroying Israel. It doesn’t bother them, however, that Hamas won the Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006, yet Western governments have shunned them as a terrorist organization. Not the least because of their constant refusal to change their charter devoted to the demise of Israel or to formally accept Israel’s right to exist.


When I say these people are savages, I know from which I speak. I was in Beirut for a few weeks during the Lebanon War in June of 82. And again to Gaza as a journalist posing as a “Christian writer” because sometimes I’m too curious for my own good. The impression that I gained from that ‘rat hole’ was the boredom and hate-filled eyes of the children. Truly, I have never seen such 'old eyes' in kids in my life. All the teenagers seemed to have to do was burn tires. I remember, I drove in with an Arab cab driver and even his car was stoned. And speaking of that, the older ones were sitting around everywhere smoking that ‘laughing water’. I believe they are trained from birth as terrorists. I remember when Egypt was offered Gaza and they didn’t want it because they knew what trouble these people are.


Obama says he is a strong alley of Israel despite rumors that he would be more receptive to the Palestinian position. During the election, I was appalled that the Jewish community here was the financial base of his success. I won’t even go into my disgust that I felt about the Israeli community here who told me non-stop how politically incorrect I was. It was an election that you lost friends over. Now, nothing would make me happier to say that I was wrong. It’s happened beforeJ my being wrong that is.


But, one thing I’m sure of. That being, that no matter what, Israel shouldn’t give any credence to what the world has to say when it comes to the Jewish state defending itself . I know what would happen if the residents of Tiajuana would suddenly start lobbing rockets into SanDiego.


Amazingly, I know that what ‘they’ think is always such a big issue. And, I’ll admit, a few years back it was a big concern. But that, folks, were before the rest of the world found out what the Jews have known about the culture of Islam for a long, long time. Then, the news reports and radio talk shows were dominated by the ‘plight of the poor Palestinian’. Since then, however, the Sunday people have experienced the terrorists attacks also and now realize what a cruel and barbaric nation we’re dealing with in this war.


Instead of hearing about the use of ‘excessive’ force, I’m listening to the reporters and call-in stations expound on how every country has the right to defend itself. Even Israel! I’m not hearing a lot of sympathy for the Arab side this time around.


And, the same way that I could even be wrong about Obama, who knows? Olmert, a man disgraced bycorruption charges has surprised me. Maybe the Three Stooges learned from the past war in Lebanon. At least, so far they’ve seemed to put a muzzle on Peres. “This is something I never even dreamed of (said a Gazan who only gave his name as Samch).”We expected some retaliation from Israel, but not like this.” Well, to tell the truth, neither did I. But I couldn’t be more delighted. Israel finally has her beytsim backJ


You may also want to view this exclusive interview with Wafa Sultan on U-Tube by Arlene Peck:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haDnKKpI2yU
TAKEN FROM : b'nai elim (http://bnaielim.blogspot.com/)

HYPOCRITICAL ANTI-ISRAEL MEDIA EXPOSED



Hypocrisy of anti-Israel Headlines Exposed!


by Steven Shamrak


Israeli Ambassador Gabriela Shalev recently announced that : "The main goal is to destroy completely this terrorist gang, which makes people on both sides of the border, in Gaza and in Israel, suffer daily." Nothing wrong with the annulling of Hamas as another Islamic terrorist organization, but we must not forget that it is the population of the PA controlled territory, which elected Hamas to lead them. The unwillingness of the so-called Palestinian population, in Israel or the territories, to live in peace and their support for terror against Jews is the main problem!
The 'Coalition of the Willing' has been trying for seven years to destroy al Qaeda. Surprisingly, there are no UN resolutions of condemnation of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, in spite of heavy casualties among civilians, or calls for restraint and negotiating peace with Taliban or al Qaeda. We must remember the reason why Americans are still dying in Iraq: the population of Iraq had hated Sadam, but they hate us, Western democracy and the Crusaders, even more!
"UN demands international action to stop Israeli strikes on Gaza" - For many years 'Ugly Nothing' and other international organizations, as well as governments, were peculiarly mute when Israel was under continuous attacks from Gaza. There were no condemnations or call to end them. There are 192 members of the UN. Israel is only country which is not allowed to defend itself!
"UN chief calls for ceasefire as Israel pounds Hamas targets" - Was the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon so prompt when for several years Hamas terrorised Jews in Israel with daily rocket and mortar fire?
"Syrian-Israeli Negotiations Halted" - There were no negotiations! Syria demanded the return of the Jewish Golan Hights without any commitment of ending support of terrorism or even peace with Israel! Both sides just played the PR game of 'Peace Negotiation'.
"Top PA negotiator: No peace talks with Israel during Gaza assault" - Daily rocket attacks, suicide bombings, rock throwing and kidnappings - This is the peace process that Israel has endured from the PA. There is no difference between these two terrorist organizations: Hamas and Fatah. Hamas is targeting support from the Islamic world, Fatah has mastered the better PR spin, aiming at the Western countries.
"UN official says Israel attacked during lull." - What an idiotic comment! It would be difficult to start major military operation precisely at the time when Hamas chose to send another wave of rockets.
"Good Question: Why Is Israel Bombing Hamas?" " For many years nobody asked why Hamas attacks civilian population in Israel.
Creating Human Disaster Artificially. "Egyptian border guards have opened fire on Palestinians who breached the border to escape Israel's assault on Hamas in the Gaza Strip." - As usual, no international outcry!
Food for Thought. by Steven Shamrak
The only reason why Israel is losing support of Jews and non-Jews world-wide, even conservative ones, is because no one likes to be associated with a 'Loser' who is able but unwilling to fight back and defeat the enemy!
Mosque was a Rocket Warehouse. The IDF has released images of a mosque exploding in a fireball after being hit by a missile...proof say authorities that Hamas has been storing rockets in their mosques, sure that Israel would not hit a religious institution.
Sane Voice of the True Friend. The Czech Republic has backed Israel's right to defend itself. Czech foreign minister Karel Schwartzenberg said ''Hamas has progressively stepped up its rocket launchings onto Israel since the end of the truce, and the situation is unacceptable.'' (This is the same country which helped Israel to win the War of Independence by supplying weapons during the international anti-Semitic blockade of Israel in 1948 while the world waited indifferently for the second Holocaust which was planned by the advancing Muslim states.)
Listen Hamas and Leave. Hamas has called, on Hamas TV, on Egyptians and Jordanians living in Israel to leave the country. The radical Islamic group has repeated threats to re-commence suicide attacks. (The The same calls were made in 1948, in order to make killing of Jews easier for advancing Muslim armies! Yes, all of those so-called Palestinians, including the Jordanians and Egyptians, Syrians, Bosnians from the western Balkans , Circassians from the northern Caucasus, Iranian and others who live in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, and who have been occupying Jewish land.)
Air Force Hits over 40 Tunnels. The Israel Air Force said on Sunday evening that it hit 40 of the hundreds of smuggling tunnels under the Philadelphi Route along the Gaza-Egyptian border near Rafah.
The Fifth Column Must be Removed. Since the start of military action in Gaza, more than 150 Israeli Arabs have been arrested in the north of the country for violent protests.
Emotinal Blackmail. An Egyptian newspaper has reported that kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit was wounded in an Israel Air Force attack on southern Gaza. The extent of his reported injuries was not reported, and there were no other confirming sources. (No "Proof of Life" has been given and during the two years no international representative has been allowed to visit Gilad!)
Quote of the Week: " If someone was sending rockets on my house where my daughters were sleeping at night, I would do everything to stop it, and I would expect Israelis to do the same thing." - President-elect Barack Obama, July 2008. - Must we trust his words, spoken in the heat of an election campaign, and wait for another flip-flop spin?
Soldier Charged for Self-Defence. Army corporal Nachum Ben-Yaakov has been charged for making threats and for firing his weapon in the air twice when surrounded by hostile Arabs during a disturbance between Jews and Arabs next to Hevron. (Soldiers who sadistically had bitten Jews during the army assault on the "Peace House" were taped, but not charged by the army. Since when has the IDF become the protector of the enemies of Jews? Stop this legal terrorisation of IDF Soldiers for fighting our enemies! Put Olmer, Barak and Livni on trial for fighting Jews and destroying Israel's future!) Injustice Under the Cover of War. The judge of the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court dismissed the indictment of Yassam Special Forces officer David Atyah, the first police officer to be indicted for the violent evacuation of Jews from the expanded community of Amona, located near Ofra. The Yesha Human Rights Organization responded to the dismissal of charges against the Yassam officers that the judge's decision is a mockery of the severity of police brutality violations.
Hamas Leadership of Cowards. Shin Bet head Yuval Diskin said at a security cabinet meeting that some Hamas heads are hiding in hospitals in Gaza and even disguising themselves as doctors, in order to melt into the general population. ( They use an ideological demagogy to agitate anti-Israel feelings among so-called Palestinians and are perfectly happy for more civilians to die for the fake cause! They - Hamas, Fatah. Hisbollah, Iranian government, Al Qaeda... - do not care about the Geneva Conventions and have cynically been using dead civilians to draw sympathy from an anti-Semitic or brainless international community.) Negotiations, What Negotiations? "Why would we continue with these negotiations?" said Abbas, whose 'moderate' Fatah movement lost authority in Gaza after Hamas took control of the coastal territory by force in June 2007, but still undemocratically holds on to power in Judea and Samaria. "We will not hesitate to end them if they continue to be a cover for Israeli aggression." ( For 15 years, since the Oslo agreement, Israel has been negotiating with terrorists being under fire. This political idiocy must end now and the government should stop being a political wimp!) Hypocrisy of the 'Loaded' Headlines:
"Killing a two-state solution" - Editorial, The Guardian - It is impossible to kill something that has never been alive. For the enemies of Israel, Islamic and anti-Semitic ones, the 'two-state solution' is just a step toward the destruction of the Jewish state!
"Lack of condemnation as good as approval for Israel" independent.co.uk - This not approval but an embarresment, created by continuous international anti-Israel policy and years of silence while Israel was under endless rocket attacks from Gaza!
Half-Hearted War Again. Defence minister Ehud Barak has given the green light for humanitarian aid to cross into Gaza. Some 80 trucks carrying food and medical supplies passed through the Keren Shalom crossing. (Name any other country which has done this in the heat of initial military action against the enemy?) Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said ''Israel has not learned its lessons from the war in Lebanon.'' He added, ''the goals are not clear, and the air force acting alone cannot win the war." (This enemy of Israel is right! They know well the gutless habits of the current Israeli government.)
Massacre in Congo.
Ugandan rebel group the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has massacred close to 500 villagers in the Democratic Republic of Congo since Christmas. The LRA, which has plagued northern Uganda for 20 years is now threatening villages in Congo, Sudan and the Central African Republic. The United Nations refugee agency says villages are being set alight, women raped and children abducted.
On Dec 26 2008, the LRA guerrillas massacred dozens of people in a church, according to Ugandan military sources and aid workers. The guerrillas used machetes, swords and clubs to kill the people - amongst them women and children. (This atrocity is being committed at the same time as Israel began its anti-terrorist operation in Gaza. Interestingly, there is no international condemnation, outcry from the world press or the UN Security Council emergency special session! Is this indifference of the world to the suffering of the people of Africa a manifestation of international racism? Why is there such a "disproportionate" preoccupation with Israel? Is it a deep brotherly 'love' for Jews?)

Note: This independent editorial letter is published by volunteers. We present politically incorrect, alternative to mainstream media Zionism point of view. We need your support: via PayPal (Visa or MC) or $18, $26, $36 , $60, $180 Please, visit our site www.shamrak.com


taken from : B'NAI ELIM :(http://bnaielim.blogspot.com/)

ON ISRAEL :TAKING DEFENSIVE ACTION

On Israel: Taking Defensive Action


Frank Gaffney, Jr.


Ever since Israel launched its air campaign last month against targets associated with the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip, politicians, diplomats, military experts and pundits have been consumed with a debate over whether the Israeli assault was legitimate. The final judgment about the legitimacy of Israel's Operation Cast Lead may ultimately be determined not by the grounds for that assault or its conduct. Rather, it may depend on how this conflict ends. History is, after all, written by the victors.
To be sure, for many in this debate, the question seems to turn largely on whether the Jewish State has taken justified – and justifiable – "defensive" action or whether it engaged in an unwarranted "offensive" attack, whose brunt is being unfairly borne by innocent Palestinian civilians. For others, the issue has been whether Israel's now combined air-, sea- and ground-assault was "proportionate" to the rocket and mortar attacks it has suffered.


By any reasonable definition, Israel's operations in Gaza are defensive in that they are a response to the roughly 8,000 rocket and mortar rounds that Israeli sources say have been fired from the Strip into the southern part of their country over the past eight years. These attacks increased after Israel withdrew in 2005 from this tiny bit of forlorn real estate with its teeming masses living in deplorable conditions – thanks as much to Arabs who refused to resettle Palestinians elsewhere as to Israelis trying to contain suicide and other attacks from that quarter.


In 2008 alone, Israel was subjected to more than 3,000 incomings – before, during and after the six-month "cease-fire" between Israel and Hamas brokered by Egypt last summer. In fact, that so-called cease-fire amounted to nothing more than a hudna, a short-term truce associated since Mohammed's time with a tactical suspension of hostilities that is used by the Islamic party to regroup, rearm and prepare for the next stage of murderous hostilities. Despite virtually daily incoming rounds from Gaza during the cease-fire, Israel rarely responded, affording Hamas the opportunity to follow the example of its Lebanese Shia counterpart: the Iranian-backed terrorist group, Hezbollah.


As calls for a new cease-fire in Gaza intensify, it is instructive to recall the repercussions of the insistence by the "international community" that the Israelis halt their efforts in the summer of 2006 to prevent what the media misleadingly calls Hezbollah "militants" from raining death and destruction on civilian communities in northern Israel: The self-styled Lebanese Army of God has reconstituted its terrorist infrastructure, acquired a vast new arsenal from Iran, Syria and China and consolidated its position politically.


It would be foolish in the extreme, based on Hamas' performance during its last hudna, to expect those Palestinian terrorists to do otherwise if they are allowed to survive, thanks to the international imposition of yet another "cease-fire."


Today, there are roughly a million Israelis within range of the rockets and/or mortars in Hamas' arsenal. Inevitably, all other things being equal, the lethal capabilities available to terrorists who vow to destroy Israel – and who, by the way, cry "Death to America" with equal vehemence – will only grow.


Such will surely be the case if the Israeli government not only agrees to a new cease-fire that leaves Hamas in place but, far worse, allows international monitors to be installed in the Gaza Strip. While the ostensible justification for the Israelis to accede to the presence of such foreign observers would be to ensure that Hamas does not engage in further attacks against Israel, in practice they wind up playing a very different role. If history is any guide, these monitors will serve as shields for Hamas' terrorist build-up and operations, not an impediment to them.


Such has been the experience, for example, with United Nations forces in southern Lebanon, European Union monitors who were deployed for a time at the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza and even U.S.-led multinational forces deployed to monitor the demilitarization of the Sinai. In each case, activities threatening to the security of Israel have taken place under the noses of the observers. The latter have typically looked the other way, reserving their vigilance and condemnations for any evidence of Israeli infractions.


With Israel's successful – and, yes, proportionate – insertion of ground forces into Gaza, it is in a position to dictate terms. Unlike Hezbollah in Lebanon during the 2006 war, Hamas is cut off from resupply. It cannot now be rearmed by sea or via underground tunnels; electricity, water, phone service, medicine and food are only available at the sufferance of the Israelis.


Hamas has brought the Palestinian people nothing but grief. Unless it is saved by foreigners – including some like the European Union and United States who have condemned the organization as a terrorist group – Hamas may be unable to maintain its control over Gaza, let alone extend it to the West Bank and Jerusalem.


The last thing the Jewish State should do is jeopardize the legitimacy, let alone the strategic benefits, of its defensive campaign in Gaza by leaving Hamas in place behind international shields. The Shariah-adherent Hamas cannot and will not abandon its oft-stated determination to destroy Israel and the Jews. Allowing it to live and fight another day is to ensure that fewer Jews, and probably other freedom-loving people, will be left to do so.


FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. is president of the Center for Security Policy and a columnist for The Washington Times. Feedback: editorialdirector@familysecuritymatters.org.


taken from ; B'NAI ELIM (http://bnaielim.blogspot.com/)

Israel Matzav: How Hamas wins by losing#links#links

Israel Matzav: How Hamas wins by losing#links#links

Israel Matzav: IDF Captain tells BBC Israel has no choice#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: IDF Captain tells BBC Israel has no choice#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: 'I wish I could bite the heads off Jews with my teeth'#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: 'I wish I could bite the heads off Jews with my teeth'#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Egypt bars doctors from entering Gaza Strip#links#links

Israel Matzav: Egypt bars doctors from entering Gaza Strip#links#links

Israel Matzav: Operation Cast Lead's Qana moment?#links#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Operation Cast Lead's Qana moment?#links#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: IAF planes over Lebanon?#links#links

Israel Matzav: IAF planes over Lebanon?#links#links

Israel Matzav: IDF gets another big fish; Hamas kills 'collaborators'#links#links

Israel Matzav: IDF gets another big fish; Hamas kills 'collaborators'#links#links

Israel Matzav: The difference between Hamas and the Nazis#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: The difference between Hamas and the Nazis#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Video: What really happened in the Middle East#links#links#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Video: What really happened in the Middle East#links#links#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Dear World, If you are bothered by us, here is one Jew in Israel who could not care less#links#links#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Dear World, If you are bothered by us, here is one Jew in Israel who could not care less#links#links#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: It's not a 'peace process,' it's a war#links#links

Israel Matzav: It's not a 'peace process,' it's a war#links#links

Israel Matzav: Hamas shows its concern for civilians#links#links

Israel Matzav: Hamas shows its concern for civilians#links#links

Israel Matzav: Hamas threatens to target Israeli and Jewish children#links#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Hamas threatens to target Israeli and Jewish children#links#links#links#links

Tuesday, 6 January 2009

BLOCKING THE MEDIA



After Jordan's King Hussein violently ejected the PLO in September 1970, while killing thousands, they trooped off to Lebanon which they promptly destabilized and assisted into a bloody civil war. The war went on for about a decade, and tens of thousands of civilians were murdered. Eventually the Israelis invaded, in 1982, and while this was one of Israel's darkest chapters, forcing the PLO out of Lebanon went a long way towards ending the Lebanese civil war, which wound down shortly thereafter.


Most of the years the war had interested the world only to a limited extent. Thomas Friedman relates, in From Beirut to Jerusalem, how he understood he had to get out when he spent one evening cowering under fire in the middle of Beirut knowing his editors back at the New York Times wouldn't feel there was enough interest in the story to publish it. (P. 244)


Then, in the summer of 1982 Israeli troops battled into Beirut. They were followed, of course, by the cream of the world's media, raring to tell. By this time I was very painfully disillusioned by the IDF's actions, but I remember pinching myself as the media drove around Beirut showing the world how the Israelis had destroyed the city. A decade of destruction being laid at the doorstep of ten days of Israeli violence. "This can't be happening", I remember assuring myself, but of course it was. "Surely no one believes this shit?!?!?" but of course they did; indeed, they lapped it up.


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


Unlike the general chaos of the second war in Lebanon in 2006, this time Israel seems to be functioning mostly in an orderly and systematic way (though they still haven't figured out how to operate the sirens in Beer Sheva, for whatever reason. Maybe next month.)


One of the many differences is that this time the media - Israeli and foreign - is being kept away from the operation zones. Only al-Jazeera, which had reporters in place from the local population, is broadcasting away, but there are still people in the West who don't buy stories from al-Jazeera unless they appear also on CNN. (Juan Cole relies mostly on al-Jazeera, which probably explains why he's so factually-challenged).


Blocking the international press corps runs the danger of having them peeved at you, but on balance I think Israel's decision so far has been vindicated by the result, as the media would hardly have been in the position to explain what's going on.


I've spent some six years of my life in the army, cummulatively, between the ages of 18 and forty-plus. When I was in my thirties I began applying the insights I was acquiring for my doctoral research regarding large bureaucracies to what I was seeing in the IDF, to the great befuddlement of my commanders who didn't know what I wanted of them. As a voting citizen I've always made it a point to understand what is going on, how we're wielding our power and when and why we abuse it. As a historian I've gone back to periods I don't remember, or remember from a personal perspective, and I've tried to re-imagine what was going on and why. You may see this as arrogant, but I really do think my ability to understand what's going on is better than, say, that of Christine Amanpour, in spite of the dozens of hot spots she has flown into over the years, and then flown out of.


And yet, although for the past ten days I've been focusing intensely and extensively on this operation, it's only in the past two or three days that I feel I'm beginning to understand what is going on; even now there are large gaps in the picture, and lots of fog of war. The possibility that reporters with deadlines to meet - even Israeli ones, all the others even more so - could march into the battle zone and have anything useful to tell us, is, frankly, remote. The best they'd be able to do is point at ruble, recent or not, and breathlessly tell about the tremendous havoc the IDF is wreaking; then they'd troop off to the Shifa hospital in Gaza ind interview the civilian casualties (alas, there are many of them) without ever recognizing which of the uniformed personnel are hiding Hamas leaders, nor where the steps down to the bunker are.
taken from : Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations (http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/)

PHOSPHORUS REPORTING ?



The top headline at the Times of London tells that "Israel rains fire on Gaza with phosphorous shells", followed by a dramatic picture of two shells exploding over Gaza.


So far, so bad. Especially if you look at the web-page, tut-tut over how barbaric those Israelis are and go on to the sports section. If you read the article, however, the picture becomes murkier.


Israel is believed to be using controversial white phosphorus shells to screen its assault on the heavily populated Gaza Strip yesterday. The weapon, used by British and US forces in Iraq, can cause horrific burns but is not illegal if used as a smokescreen.


Ah. So while Israel may be barbaric, it's not more so than the British and Americans. Meanwhile,


The Israeli military last night denied using phosphorus, but refused to say what had been deployed. “Israel uses munitions that are allowed for under international law,” said Captain Ishai David, spokesman for the Israel Defence Forces.


Personally, I'm not convinced, one way or the other. I'm not enough of an expert on these things to know if there is more than one type of ordinance with the same effect. I hope our military spokesman isn't lying, especially as there doesn't seem to be any reason to: if those international legislators forbade the use of phosphorous as a weapon of war but not as a smokescreen or for illumination, there must be a reason. But what it might be?


The Geneva Treaty of 1980 stipulates that white phosphorus should not be used as a weapon of war in civilian areas, but there is no blanket ban under international law on its use as a smokescreen or for illumination.


A statement, not an explanation. So far as I know, the reason it is permitted to use phosphorous as an aerial smokescreen, is that it burns up before it reaches the ground if it exploded high enough. The Times doesn't explain, but does helpfully tells us how criminal Israel's behavior would be if it were doing what it isn't doing:


Charles Heyman, a military expert and former major in the British Army, said: “If white phosphorus was deliberately fired at a crowd of people someone would end up in The Hague. White phosphorus is also a terror weapon. The descending blobs of phosphorus will burn when in contact with skin.”


taken from : Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations (http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/)

CIVIL AND RATIONAL DISCOURSE



There has been a dramatic uptick in the number of visitors to this blog over the past few days - and yes, a major increase in the rate of postings, too: part of my way of dealing with Achikam's going into combat, I suppose; a sort of "reserve duty", now that I've passed the age of mobilization myself. Hopefully the need will soon pass, and I'll go back to the occasional blogging for the occasional reader. In the meantime, however, it appears that Powerline, Meryl Yourish, and - peculiarly - reddit.com, have been sending people here. My thanks to them.


I like to think of myself as an enlightened and rational person; I prefer enlightened and rational discussions over rants. As a number of long-time readers will testify, I don't censor comments of readers who disagree with me, and occasionally I engage in sharp exchanges with them. I do however try to remain civil, and request of all commenters, from whichever side, that they do so also.

taken from : Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations (http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/)
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