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Friday, 17 July 2009
Thursday, 16 July 2009
Israel Matzav: Ariel Sharon's legacy
Ariel Sharon's legacy
The Sharon family has wisely decided that they do not want Ariel Sharon's legacy - he's been in a coma since suffering a stroke in January 2006 - to be the expulsion of Jews from Gaza in the summer of 2005. According to the mayor of the city of Ariel, Ron Nachman, the family has asked that the city officially be named after Ariel Sharon. The city of Ariel is located in Samaria. Israel Matzav: Ariel Sharon's legacyAriel Mayor Ron Nachman told IMRA today that the city council decided to honor the request of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's family and is naming the city after Ariel Sharon.
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Human Rights Watch Hopes No-one Is Watching
Human Rights Watch Hopes No-one Is Watching
David Berenstein, a law professor at George Mason University, writes in the Wall Street Journal that an official of Human Rights Watch used the organization's anti-Israeli positions as a fund-raising pitch in Saudi Arabia.
Finally, some would defend HRW by pointing it that it has criticized Saudi Arabia's human rights record rather severely in the past. The point of my post, though, is not that HRW is pro-Saudi, but that it is maniacally anti-Israel. The most recent manifestation is that its officers see nothing unseemly about raising funds among the elite of one of the most totalitarian nations on earth, with a pitch about how the money is needed to fight "pro-Israel forces," without the felt need to discuss any of the Saudis' manifold human rights violations, and without apparent concern that becoming dependent on funds emanating from a brutal dictatorship leaves you vulnerable to that brutal dictatorship later cutting off the flow of funds, if you don't "behave."
Jeffrey Goldberg found the allegation hard to believe, since if it was true it would severely compromise HRW. So he did what fine journalists used to do but don't always anymore: he asked Kenneth Roth, the boss of HRW. And then asked again. And again. Quite persistently, and not allowing Roth to weasel out of the issue. He presents most of the correspondence, and eventually admits that, yes, HRW is essentially guilty as accused.
Read the whole thing, as Glenn Reynolds often says.
taken from Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations
September 13th
September 13th
September 13 1993 was the day on which the first Oslo Agreement was signed, on the lawn of the White House, amid great hopes for a better future that were eventualy to lead to great suffering and widespread death of innocents. How symbolic, then, that it was a September 13th, this time 2008, on which Israel's Prime Minster offered the Palestinian President more than he was mandated to offer; and the Palestinian turned him down.
I've written about this before, as the story has been coming to light over the past few weeks. Aluf Benn, however, has the most detailled description I've seen so far, and it should be widely read.
I've written about this before, as the story has been coming to light over the past few weeks. Aluf Benn, however, has the most detailled description I've seen so far, and it should be widely read.
Political debate aside, the essential lesson from Olmert's proposal is that the parties' stances have hardly changed since the failures of Camp David and Taba. Nine years of war, diplomatic standstill and thousands killed on both sides have not softened them. The Palestinians have not given in and Israel has not broken. Apparently a compromise can be reached on borders, but Israel does not want Palestinians to return to its territory and the Palestinians want the Temple Mount. Neither side is prepared to give up its national symbols and tell its people that the pledges of the past - "we will return to our villages in Palestine" and "united Jerusalem in Israel's hands forever" - were just illusions.
Benn is not being accurate. Israel - or rather, Olmert, speaking within his legal brief but well beyond any public one - did change Israel's position. He was willing to relinquish Israeli control over any part of the Old City in Jerusalem, a position taken by no one previously. The Palestinians, on the other hand, are still exactly where they were when they rejected having a sovereign state in the summer of 2000: There has to be a Right of Return (=no Jewish Israel), and they must be in full control of the Haram al-Sharif because it isn't the Temple Mount (=no Jewish historical legitimacy, and rejection of the fundamental tenet of Zionism).
Clarity.
Clarity.
taken from Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations
The CIA Kills People (or not, actually)
The CIA Kills People (or not, actually)
There seems to be a new issue for folks to get worked up about: the CIA wilingness to discuss assassinations of Al-Qaeida leaders after 9/11.
I admit to being a bloodthirsty barbarian. Having said that, it seems to me the whole discussion is an exercise in hypocrisy. As even the summary in the NYT correctly notes, such assassinations aren't necessarily so horrible:
I admit to being a bloodthirsty barbarian. Having said that, it seems to me the whole discussion is an exercise in hypocrisy. As even the summary in the NYT correctly notes, such assassinations aren't necessarily so horrible:
Current and former officials said that the program was designed as a more “surgical” solution to eliminating terrorists than missile strikes with armed Predator drones, which cannot be used in cities and have occasionally resulted in dozens of civilian casualties.
I liked that euphemism: drone attacks have "occasionally" resulted in "dozens of civilian casualties". As regular readers will know, the numbers are more likely to be thousands, and not so occasionally, either. Still, the reality of war is far removed from most people's world, while theorizing about it can be done by anyone with a propensity to chatter:
But any targeted killings make many international law specialists uneasy. Hina Shamsi, an adviser to the Project on Extrajudicial Executions at New York University, said that any calculation about inserting a kill team would have to consider: the violation of the sovereignty of the country where the killing occurred; the different legal status of the C.I.A. compared with the uniformed military; and whether the killing would be covered by the law of war.
“The issue is a complex one under international law, and it encompasses all
of the contentious issues of the years since 2001,” Ms. Shamsi said.
International law. The ultimate arbiter of human relations.
taken from Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations
Monday, 13 July 2009
PATTONS SPEECH
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"Men, this stuff that some sources sling around about America wanting out of this war, not wanting to fight, is a crock of bullshit. Americans love to fight, traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. You are here today for three reasons. First, because you are here to defend your homes and your loved ones. Second, you are here for your own self respect, because you would not want to be anywhere else. Third, you are here because you are real men and all real men like to fight.
When you, here, everyone of you, were kids, you all admired the champion marble player, the fastest runner, the toughest boxer, the big league ball players, and the All-American football players. Americans love a winner. Americans will not tolerate a loser. Americans despise cowards. Americans play to win all of the time. I wouldn't give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. That's why Americans have never lost nor will ever lose a war; for the very idea of losing is hateful to an American."
The General paused and looked over the crowd. "You are not all going to die," he said slowly. "Only two percent of you right here today would die in a major battle. Death must not be feared. Death, in time, comes to all men. Yes, every man is scared in his first battle. If he says he's not, he's a liar. Some men are cowards but they fight the same as the brave men or they get the hell slammed out of them watching men fight who are just as scared as they are. The real hero is the man who fights even though he is scared. Some men get over their fright in a minute under fire. For some, it takes an hour. For some, it takes days. But a real man will never let his fear of death overpower his honor, his sense of duty to his country, and his innate manhood. Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge. It brings out all that is best and it removes all that is base. Americans pride themselves on being He Men and they ARE He Men. Remember that the enemy is just as frightened as you are, and probably more so. They are not supermen."
"All through your Army careers, you men have bitched about what you call "chicken shit drilling". That, like everything else in this Army, has a definite purpose. That purpose is alertness. Alertness must be bred into every soldier. I don't give a fuck for a man who's not always on his toes. You men are veterans or you wouldn't be here. You are ready for what's to come. A man must be alert at all times if he expects to stay alive. If you're not alert, sometime, a German son-of-an-asshole-bitch is going to sneak up behind you and beat you to death with a sockful of shit!" The men roared in agreement.
When you, here, everyone of you, were kids, you all admired the champion marble player, the fastest runner, the toughest boxer, the big league ball players, and the All-American football players. Americans love a winner. Americans will not tolerate a loser. Americans despise cowards. Americans play to win all of the time. I wouldn't give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. That's why Americans have never lost nor will ever lose a war; for the very idea of losing is hateful to an American."
The General paused and looked over the crowd. "You are not all going to die," he said slowly. "Only two percent of you right here today would die in a major battle. Death must not be feared. Death, in time, comes to all men. Yes, every man is scared in his first battle. If he says he's not, he's a liar. Some men are cowards but they fight the same as the brave men or they get the hell slammed out of them watching men fight who are just as scared as they are. The real hero is the man who fights even though he is scared. Some men get over their fright in a minute under fire. For some, it takes an hour. For some, it takes days. But a real man will never let his fear of death overpower his honor, his sense of duty to his country, and his innate manhood. Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge. It brings out all that is best and it removes all that is base. Americans pride themselves on being He Men and they ARE He Men. Remember that the enemy is just as frightened as you are, and probably more so. They are not supermen."
"All through your Army careers, you men have bitched about what you call "chicken shit drilling". That, like everything else in this Army, has a definite purpose. That purpose is alertness. Alertness must be bred into every soldier. I don't give a fuck for a man who's not always on his toes. You men are veterans or you wouldn't be here. You are ready for what's to come. A man must be alert at all times if he expects to stay alive. If you're not alert, sometime, a German son-of-an-asshole-bitch is going to sneak up behind you and beat you to death with a sockful of shit!" The men roared in agreement.
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PATTONS SPEECH
Israel Matzav: Obama is letting Hamas become like the Taliban and al-Qaeda
Obama is letting Hamas become like the Taliban and al-Qaeda
'Palestinian' journalist Khaled Abu Toameh explains how the Obama administration is getting things all wrong in the Middle East and allowing Hamas to become like the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Israel Matzav: Obama is letting Hamas become like the Taliban and al-QaedaThanks to the Obama Administration's new strategy regarding the Middle East, the entire world now seems to be obsessed with the issue of the settlements as if they were just now being established.
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Israel Matzav: How the media chooses 'Israeli supporters' who are far left of the mainstream
How the media chooses 'Israeli supporters' who are far left of the mainstream
While this is a Russian network and not an American or European one, it's still English-language media and it's a seemingly unbiased report.
Let's go to the videotape and then you can let me know what you think of the person they chose to represent Israel's interests and I can tell you a bit about him (note the 'even Rahm Emanuel comment, as if Rahm Emanuel isn't willing to sell his birthright to get ahead).
Let's go to the videotape and then you can let me know what you think of the person they chose to represent Israel's interests and I can tell you a bit about him (note the 'even Rahm Emanuel comment, as if Rahm Emanuel isn't willing to sell his birthright to get ahead).
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Israel Matzav: How the media chooses 'Israeli supporters' who are far left of the mainstream
Israel Matzav: UK imposes partial arms embargo on Israel
UK imposes partial arms embargo on Israel
It's not as bad as it could have been, but it's still a very bad precedent. Britain has imposed a partial arms embargo on Israel because of its use of British weapons and ammunition in Operation Cast Lead. The embargo followed a government review of all British defense exports to Israel, which was announced three months ago. In total, the telegram said, Britain reviewed 182 licenses for arms exports to Israel, including 35 for exports to the Israel Navy. But it ultimately decided to cancel only five licenses, all relating to the Sa'ar 4.5 ships [pictured. CiJ]. The licenses in question apparently cover spare parts for the ship's guns.
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Israel Matzav: UK imposes partial arms embargo on Israel
Israel Matzav: Israel rejects Solana call for imposed 'peace'
Israel rejects Solana call for imposed 'peace'
Israel has rejected as 'dangerous' a call made on Saturday by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana for the United Nations to impose terms of 'peace' on Israel if it does not succeed in reaching an agreement with the 'Palestinians' by a date determined by the UN. Israel Matzav: Israel rejects Solana call for imposed 'peace'"Resolutions 242 and 338 of the United Nations, the roadmap [peace plan] and agreements between Israel and the Palestinians all cautiously determine that the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will only be reached through negotiations by the sides," the [foreign] ministry said in a statement.
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Israel Matzav: The more things change, the more they stay the same - Part 2
The more things change, the more they stay the same - Part 2
On Friday, I posted a 50-year old video of an interview with then-Israeli ambassador to the US and the UN Abba Eban. I titled the post The more things change, the more they stay the same, because the charges Eban was being called to answer were so remarkably similar to the charges made against Israel today.
This post is also entitled The more things change, the more they stay the same, but this time we are going to look at the flip side. We are going to look at how little the aims of the PLO and Fatah have changed over the last sixty years.
The video you are about to watch is the first part in a six-part series on al-Jazzeera about the history of Fatah and the PLO. The first thing I want you to notice is the date of the PLO's founding, which happened before the 1967 war. That ought to be enough to prove to you that the PLO's goals - which have never been changed - are to destroy the Jewish state of Israel and not just to create a 'Palestinian' state.
This post is also entitled The more things change, the more they stay the same, but this time we are going to look at the flip side. We are going to look at how little the aims of the PLO and Fatah have changed over the last sixty years.
The video you are about to watch is the first part in a six-part series on al-Jazzeera about the history of Fatah and the PLO. The first thing I want you to notice is the date of the PLO's founding, which happened before the 1967 war. That ought to be enough to prove to you that the PLO's goals - which have never been changed - are to destroy the Jewish state of Israel and not just to create a 'Palestinian' state.
Israel Matzav: The more things change, the more they stay the same - Part 2
Israel Matzav: Abu Bluff follows in Sarkozy's footsteps
Abu Bluff follows in Sarkozy's footsteps
Two weeks ago, French President Nicolas Sarkozy called on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to replace Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman with the opposition leader, the pliable Tzipi Livni. Now, 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Israel Matzav: Abu Bluff follows in Sarkozy's footsteps"Abu Mazen [Abbas] isn't exactly legitimate, hence neither is his new demand, or suggestion, to replace Lieberman with Tzipi Livni. I see such advice as a blessing. His demand to cease settlement construction is nothing more than an expression of his distress and incompetence," he told Israel Radio on Monday, noting that the lower Abu Mazen's legitimacy drops, the harsher his demands become.
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Israel Matzav: House defies Obama: Passes Iran sanctions
House defies Obama: Passes Iran sanctions
By an overwhelming vote, the US House of Representatives has added a provision to the annual foreign aid appropriation imposing limited sanctions on Iran. The measure was sponsored by Howard Berman (D-Cal.), Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Dan Burton (R-Ind.) and the vote in favor of it was an overwhelming 318-106. Israel Matzav: House defies Obama: Passes Iran sanctionsWhile the Senate version - likely to be approved later this month - doesn't contain the Iran sanctions language, the House vote still gives a boost in entering the compromise version which the full Congress will ultimately need to vote on, expected some time this fall.
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Israel Matzav: Syria won't set border with Lebanon
Syria won't set border with Lebanon
Do you remember how the US and 'our friends the Saudis' were 'pushing' Syria to demarcate its border with Lebanon, so that they could push Israel to give the strategic Mount Dov (Shaba Farms) area to Lebanon and thereby 'take away' Hezbullah's raison d'etre (as if that's the only reason Hezbullah exists)? Well, I'm sure you'll all be shocked - just shocked - to hear that as I predicted, the Syrians just said no.
Israel Matzav: Syria won't set border with LebanonThe Syrian representative, Bashar Ja'afari, sent a series of letters to the UN stipulating that Syria considered the defining of a future Syrian-Lebanese border, especially regarding the Shaba Farms, unfeasible until Israel withdrew from the entire area, the Israeli-Arab news Web site Al Arab reported Sunday.
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Israel Matzav: 'Democracy in action': Abu Mazen and Fayyad to stay in office until (at least) 2012
'Democracy in action': Abu Mazen and Fayyad to stay in office until (at least) 2012
Rather than risk losing another election to the Hamas terror organization, the 'good terrorists' from Fatah will likely postpone the election currently scheduled for January 2010, maybe all the way to 2012. That will leave 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Read All at :
Israel Matzav: 'Democracy in action': Abu Mazen and Fayyad to stay in office until (at least) 2012
Israel Matzav: Obama to meet 'Jewish leaders'; UPDATE: Jewish leaders seen as 'Right-wing' excluded
Obama to meet 'Jewish leaders'; UPDATE: Jewish leaders seen as 'Right-wing' excluded
President Obama is to meet with 'Jewish leaders' at the White House on Monday amidst what's being described as 'concern' over the administration's unbalanced policy toward Israel. But no need to worry. Continuing in the finest tradition of many American rabbis, many of these 'leaders' will be more than happy to sell Israel out. Israel Matzav: Obama to meet 'Jewish leaders'; UPDATE: Jewish leaders seen as 'Right-wing' excluded"American Jews more or less agree with the president on settlements, but it's the focus on criticizing Israel that's disconcerting," said an organization leader who will be attending the meeting.
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Israel Matzav: 'Our goal has never been peace. Peace is a means; the goal is Palestine'
'Our goal has never been peace. Peace is a means; the goal is Palestine'
The PA will resume violence and terror against Israel when Fatah is "capable," and "according to what seems right," Fatah activist Kifah Radaydeh says in a PA TV interview. She states openly that peace is not a goal for Fatah:
"It has been said that we are negotiating for peace, but our goal has never been peace. Peace is a means; the goal is Palestine."
Radaydeh says that "armed struggle" has not been ruled out and will continue, depending on how "capable" the PA forces are.
"It has been said that we are negotiating for peace, but our goal has never been peace. Peace is a means; the goal is Palestine."
Radaydeh says that "armed struggle" has not been ruled out and will continue, depending on how "capable" the PA forces are.
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Israel Matzav: 'Our goal has never been peace. Peace is a means; the goal is Palestine'
Israel Matzav: Abu Mazen: 'A settlement freeze is Obama's condition, not ours, but we'll abide by it'
Abu Mazen: 'A settlement freeze is Obama's condition, not ours, but we'll abide by it'
Before Sunday's weekly cabinet meeting in Beer Sheva, Prime Minister Netanyahu invited 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Israel Matzav: Abu Mazen: 'A settlement freeze is Obama's condition, not ours, but we'll abide by it'"Let's make peace - both diplomatic peace and economic peace," Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting in Beersheba that was held there as an act of solidarity with the Negev capital. "There is no reason why we can't meet, the Palestinian Authority president and I, anywhere in Israel, and since we are in Beersheba, I say, let's meet here.
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Obama's Got it Wrong
Obama's Got it Wrong
While I was prancing around the US last week, not reading any of my usual time-sinks, life went on. So today I saw this item by Barry Rubin which called my attention to this article from last week by Aluf Benn.
I suppose you might perhaps classify Rubin as right-of-center; not Benn, writing in Haaretz. No way. Which is why his analysis of all the things wrong with Obama's current "settlements must stop" policy is so interesting and compelling. Benn is not merely describing. He's describing and agreeing.
I suppose you might perhaps classify Rubin as right-of-center; not Benn, writing in Haaretz. No way. Which is why his analysis of all the things wrong with Obama's current "settlements must stop" policy is so interesting and compelling. Benn is not merely describing. He's describing and agreeing.
The administration's pathetic attempt to deny the existence of understandings with Israel on construction in the settlements only bolstered this impression. It was possible to blame Israel for violating its promises, or to say that the policy had changed and to explain why, but not to lie.
I'm of the camp willing to cut the Obama administration some slack on their diplomacy of winning hearts by respectful gestures. I doubt it will work, and I hope that once it doesn't they'll recognize the significance of the failure, but I don't see the harm in trying. Learning through experience is the best way there is. At the end of the day, however, the purpose of the new diplomacy is to have results. By alienating the large segment of Israeli society who are his natural allies, Obama is needlessly reducing the chances of his own success.
The purely anecdotal evidence I came across in the States last week was that it's not only Israel's Left he's alienating. A number of American Jews who voted for him told me they're uncomfortable with what he's doing. Or, as one of them said, "I wonder if Rahm Emanuel has different positions than I thought he had". Regarding America, this is purely anecdotal, at this stage. Regarding Israel, perhaps not.
The purely anecdotal evidence I came across in the States last week was that it's not only Israel's Left he's alienating. A number of American Jews who voted for him told me they're uncomfortable with what he's doing. Or, as one of them said, "I wonder if Rahm Emanuel has different positions than I thought he had". Regarding America, this is purely anecdotal, at this stage. Regarding Israel, perhaps not.
taken from Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations
On the Determination to Succeed
On the Determination to Succeed
The top Economist correspondent to America,who writes a weekly column about the country, has gone back home. His (or her? You can never know with the Economist) final column is here. The thesis: America is somtime admirable, othertimes not. Yet it has a genius for climbing out of the bad spots and creating great things.
But there is fortunately a more solid reason for optimism. That is the country’s
taste for entrepreneurial capitalism, a taste that arrived with the first
settlers and is becoming an ever greater resource, as the global economy is
shaken by wave upon wave of disruptive technologies. America still has a genius
for incubating entrepreneurs and giving those entrepreneurs the wherewithal to
turn bright ideas into global behemoths. America’s biggest company, Wal-Mart,
was founded only in 1962; its sexiest, Google, was conceived in a Californian
dorm room at about the time that your columnist arrived on these shores. Even as
de Tocqueville despaired about the future of his half-adopted country in the
1840s and 1850s, the likes of Carnegie and Rockefeller were about to unleash the
greatest productivity miracle the world has seen. That is the America that still
promises much.
I've been wandering around the US for an intensive week now; tomorrow I'll make my way home,though given the distance this will take a bit. America is a rather glum place these days - though, if my anecdotal impressions have any value, it's not a terminal glumness. The people I talked to were all pessimistic in the short term but I didn't see anyone desist from making plans for the mid- and long-term. If you wish to see a society which has lost its fundamental vitality, go to Germany, or Austria, and probably many other places in Western Europe (not Poland).
This profound determination to work things through and come out intact on the other side seems to me a source of America's firm support for Israel: both sides recognize cultural commonalities, and these create affinities.
taken from Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations
Don't Tell, So We Won't Be Bothered
Don't Tell, So We Won't Be Bothered
Look at this report, from the BBC. It's about how the Pakistanis have perhaps won this round in their war against the Taliban; then again, perhaps they haven't.
See if you can spot what the reports isn't telling us.
That's right. Not a word, not a single word, about the possibility that any civilians were harmed. True, two million of them (2,000,000) fled their homes and are still refusing to go back, preferring to live in tents than to brave living in their homes and towns; but this has nothing to do with any civilian casualties their own army might have caused. Not at all.
And in this case, the BBC is at least mentioning there was an event, even while willfully lying about its essence.The rest of your media isn't even noticing the event. After all, a foreign people in a faraway land, who can be bothered.
See if you can spot what the reports isn't telling us.
That's right. Not a word, not a single word, about the possibility that any civilians were harmed. True, two million of them (2,000,000) fled their homes and are still refusing to go back, preferring to live in tents than to brave living in their homes and towns; but this has nothing to do with any civilian casualties their own army might have caused. Not at all.
And in this case, the BBC is at least mentioning there was an event, even while willfully lying about its essence.The rest of your media isn't even noticing the event. After all, a foreign people in a faraway land, who can be bothered.
taken from Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations
Murkier and Murkier
Murkier and Murkier
The case of the alleged AIPAC spies that eventually collapsed a few months ago was always murky and strange. Haaretz has now interviewed Larry Franklin, the Pentagon analyst who was convicted of leaking classified documents to the AIPAC staffers Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman; the story just keeps getting wierder. Franklin, a Catholic, was set up to trip the AIPAC men by feeding them a false document telling about an imminent threat to Israeli agents in Iraq; the way he tells it, this was the culmination of years of investigation which can only be decribed as antisemitic.
The case, as long as it was active, was used by many in the Walt-Mearshiemer section of the American public (and blogosphere), as an indication of the pernicity of the Israel Lobby and the danger it poses to America. If they were intellectually honest, those people, they might now want to engage in a spot of investigation in the opposite direction, and ask themselves if it's possible that antisemitism can still be a motivating force for an American federal agency - a very serios allegation, I would think.
The case, as long as it was active, was used by many in the Walt-Mearshiemer section of the American public (and blogosphere), as an indication of the pernicity of the Israel Lobby and the danger it poses to America. If they were intellectually honest, those people, they might now want to engage in a spot of investigation in the opposite direction, and ask themselves if it's possible that antisemitism can still be a motivating force for an American federal agency - a very serios allegation, I would think.
taken from Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations
Can't Find it on the Map
Can't Find it on the Map
The admirable folks at Just Journalism have put up a spot of research comparing British media's covering of Israel's attack in Gaza and the Sri Lanken victory over the Tamil terrorists. Unsurprisingly, with the exception of the London Times, the British outlets surveyed all told their readers how horrendous the Israelis are to a far greater extent than they did about the Sri Lankens. And the sun kept on rising in the East, for that matter.
When I read the report, I had different comments.
1. the NGOs on the ground in Sri Lanka actually did their best to report. So the media had the information and made a purposeful decision not to do much with it.
2. The comparison between Israel and Sri Lanka is only of limited use. And, as everyone knows, the numbers of civilians killed in Sri Lanka was dramatically higher than the Palestinian casualties, partially because the Sri Lanken army never even pretended it was trying not to hit civilians. (Sri Lanken civilians, by the way). (What do you mean, "not everyone knows"?)
3. While I really have no argument with the Just Journalism gang, it is worth noticing the set they chose for comaprision. What about, say, civilians being killed in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Darfur, South Sudan, refugees being towed out to sea by the Thai navy and dumped there, and other such atrocities which somehow generated less attention than the Sri Lanken case?
When I read the report, I had different comments.
1. the NGOs on the ground in Sri Lanka actually did their best to report. So the media had the information and made a purposeful decision not to do much with it.
2. The comparison between Israel and Sri Lanka is only of limited use. And, as everyone knows, the numbers of civilians killed in Sri Lanka was dramatically higher than the Palestinian casualties, partially because the Sri Lanken army never even pretended it was trying not to hit civilians. (Sri Lanken civilians, by the way). (What do you mean, "not everyone knows"?)
3. While I really have no argument with the Just Journalism gang, it is worth noticing the set they chose for comaprision. What about, say, civilians being killed in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Darfur, South Sudan, refugees being towed out to sea by the Thai navy and dumped there, and other such atrocities which somehow generated less attention than the Sri Lanken case?
taken from Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations
Intermarriage: Great Mourning Among The Jews
Intermarriage: Great Mourning Among The Jews
21 of the Fourth Month 5769
No, the title is not a reference to the recently invented concept of mourning practices during the "Three Weeks" between the Fast of the Fourth Month (17 b'Tammuz) and the Fast of the Fifth Month (9 b'Av).
Clinton’s Top Muslim Aide to Wed Jewish Congressman
Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu, 21 Tammuz 5769/July 13, 2009
(IsraelNN.com) Brooklyn, New York Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner will marry outside the Jewish religion to Huma Abedin, a Muslim woman who is considered one of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s top aides, the New York Daily News reported.
The intermarriage rate in the United States is estimated to be approximately 50 percent and has been one of the strongest forces that has diluted Jewish identity and support of a strong Israel.
This report immediately brought to mind a verse from Megillath Esther. During the chanting of the this megillah on Purim, many Ashkinazim have the custom of chanting the last part of this verse using the mournful ta'amei hamiqra* (music) used to chant Eikhah (Lamentations) on the Fast of the Fifth Month, to emphasize the gravity of what is taking place at this point in the story.
Esther 4:3
...there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
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EsserAgaroth: Intermarriage: Great Mourning Among The Jews
Netanyahu's "Nazi Language"?
Netanyahu's "Nazi Language"?
Comparing Israel to the Nazis or attempting to draw false parallels with the deliberate genocide of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust is a tactic regularly deployed by anti-Israel activists despite being classified as anti-Semitism under the EU's own working definition.
Two recent incendiary headlines illustrate this point by implying that Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has adopted "Nazi language," thus contributing to the false and insulting impression that Israelis behave like Nazis:
- Netanyahu turns to Nazi language - The Guardian
Netanyahu's "Nazi Language"?
The Joker and Personal Growth
The Joker and Personal Growth
A Streetcar Named Desire…
“In the film A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche DuBois, sliding into insanity, is one of the greatest and most challenging roles available to an actress. In recent years, Ann Margret lost ten pounds and grew depressed and anxious playing Blanche. Jessica Lange got panic attacks.”
- National Public Radio, All Things Considered
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The Joker and Personal Growth
Sunday, 12 July 2009
Esser Agaroth: Good Zionists, Bad Zionists
Yoel Meltzer, 18 Tammuz 5769/July 10, 2009
Esser Agaroth: Good Zionists, Bad Zionists
"Arabs don't make such trivial distinctions."
One of the unwritten laws of war is that the winning side is allowed to do as it pleases after the cessation of hostilities. This law is even more relevant when the victor turns out to be the side that didn't initiate the war, or didn't want the war to occur in the first place.
Thus we find Israel, after its victory in a war that it initially tried to avoid in 1948, utilizing its victory to expand its territory. For several years after this war, new communities started to appear on the map, such as Ashdod in 1956, Karmiel in 1964, Dimona in 1955 and Arad in 1962 (to name just a few).
Then, nearly 20 years later, and faced with the prospect of an Arab onslaught, Israel was forced to fight another war in 1967. Like the war in 1948, that war resulted in a decisive victory for Israel. Then, once again, as it had done after its 1948 victory, Israel utilized this victory to embark on a campaign of expanding its territory. New communities started to dot the map, such as Kiryat Arba in 1972, Kedumim in 1975, Karnei Shomron in 1977 and Efrat in 1983 (to name just a few).
Read All at :
One of the unwritten laws of war is that the winning side is allowed to do as it pleases after the cessation of hostilities. This law is even more relevant when the victor turns out to be the side that didn't initiate the war, or didn't want the war to occur in the first place.
Thus we find Israel, after its victory in a war that it initially tried to avoid in 1948, utilizing its victory to expand its territory. For several years after this war, new communities started to appear on the map, such as Ashdod in 1956, Karmiel in 1964, Dimona in 1955 and Arad in 1962 (to name just a few).
Then, nearly 20 years later, and faced with the prospect of an Arab onslaught, Israel was forced to fight another war in 1967. Like the war in 1948, that war resulted in a decisive victory for Israel. Then, once again, as it had done after its 1948 victory, Israel utilized this victory to embark on a campaign of expanding its territory. New communities started to dot the map, such as Kiryat Arba in 1972, Kedumim in 1975, Karnei Shomron in 1977 and Efrat in 1983 (to name just a few).
Read All at :
Esser Agaroth: Good Zionists, Bad Zionists
UNIVERSAL TORAH: PINCHAS
UNIVERSAL TORAH: PINCHAS
By Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum
Torah Reading PINCHAS, Numbers 25:10-30:1.
Haftara: Jeremiah 1:1-23.
PINCHAS, PRINCE OF PEACE
"Pinchas son of Elazar son of Aaron the Priest turned away My wrath from upon the Children of Israel in his zealousness. Therefore say: I hereby give him My Covenant of Peace" (Numbers 25:11-12).
The opening verses of our parshah of PINCHAS follow immediately after the account of Pinchas' heroic act given at the end of last week's parshah, BALAK. The Prince of the tribe of Shimon was publicly flouting Moses' authority by taking a Midianite princess for himself in front of his brothers, in front of Moses and in front of the whole Assembly of Israel. His claim was that if Moses could marry the daughter of the Priest of Midian, why should he not also be allowed to take a Midianite woman?
The humble Moses was speechless. The meaning of his marriage with Tzipporah was to exalted to be explained in a public forum. Nobody could remember the halachah. In the consternation over this public scandal, the law was concealed from everyone's eyes. Everyone was weeping. The Prince of the tribe of Shimon was publicly flouting the prohibition against intermarriage by taking a Midianite princess into his tent, and political rectitude was saying "Let them". The aim was to open the floodgates to casual relations with people of all nations without discrimination, leading to intermarriage, assimilation and the erasing of all boundaries between holy and profane.
There is profound irony in this challenge to the authority of Moses, the Levite. It was Jacob's second-born, Shimon, who had joined his next younger brother, Levy, in the act of zealousness that earned them the anger of their father (Genesis Chapter 34, see UNIVERSAL TORAH #8 VAYISHLACH). This was the vengeance on the inhabitants of Shechem for the kidnapping of their sister Dinah. The inhabitants of Shechem had agreed to become circumcised, but for the wrong reason: it was not the Covenant of Abraham that they wanted, but the Israelite girls.
The present challenge to the Covenant of Abraham came from the wicked Bilaam, who advised Balak, king of the Moabites, that the way to undermine the holiness of Israel was by enticing the Israeli boys with their girls, who would then pull out their idols and make the Israelites worship them. Ironically, in this test, the Prince of the tribe of Shimon uses his characteristic trait of GEVURAH in zealous championship of complete personal freedom, challenging Moses' Levitical zeal for the Covenant -- which imposes restraints on the satisfaction of our physical appetites -- and Moses was speechless.
Only Pinchas remembered -- young Pinchas, the son of Elazar, who was now High Priest after his father, Aaron. Fear was keeping everyone else's mouths gagged as the true Israelite code of morality was publicly mocked. Pinchas himself was in a minority of one. He was in mortal danger of being publicly lynched for daring to challenge contemporary political rectitude. Even so, he courageously took up his spear, went straight into the tent after them and pierced the two of them in the act through their private parts, bringing them out thereafter on the spear to show everyone.
The law that Pinchas championed is stated clearly by RAMBAM (Maimonides) in his Code. "An Israelite who has marital relations with an idol-worshipper from one of the other peoples or an Israelite woman who has marital relations with an idol-worshipper are liable to 40 lashes by Torah law. The Torah forbids only marriage, but one who has casual relations with a non-Israelite is liable to the penalty of lashes by rabbinical decree because it leads to marriage. Anyone who has relations with an idol-worshipper, whether in the context of marriage or casually, if he performed the act publicly, i.e. in front of ten or more Israelites, IF THE ZEALOUS ATTACK AND KILL HIM, THEY ARE PRAISEWORTHY AND VALIANT and this is a Law given to Moses on Sinai, and the proof is what Pinchas did to Zimri."
This particular law about zeal is hedged with numerous qualifications: the zealot may only strike them at the moment of the act. If the zealot came to the Rabbinic Court and asked permission to kill, they do not give such a ruling. (Mishneh Torah, Issurey Biyah, Forbidden Relationships ch. 12, 1-8).
It is forbidden to take the law into one's own hands. Only a person of the supreme purity and saintliness of Pinchas could do what he did. The point is not to legitimize killing, which has already gotten completely out of hand in the sad, bullet-torn, explosion-shattered world in which we live today. Far more important is to understand the actual severity of the crime for which the Torah allows a saint like Pinchas to single-handedly kill the perpetrators when this is absolutely necessary at that moment for the honor of G-d and the sanctity of the People of Israel. In the words of RAMBAM: "This practice (of casual relations and intermarriage) causes one to become attached to the idolaters, from whom the Holy One blessed be He has separated us, and to turn away from HaShem and betray Him" (ibid.)
Pinchas' valor lay in standing up for what is right and true even though it flew in the face of the prevailing orthodoxy, and he was in mortal danger of getting lynched. Pinchas did not flinch from stating the Torah law, even when it was unpopular, and for this he was given G-d's Covenant of Peace.
Our age is obsessed with the search for peace. How ironic that the more everyone runs after peace, the more it eludes us. Every plan that is supposed to bring peace seems to lead only to further strife and violence. Could it be that those who are so zealous for peace would be more effective if they were to apply their zeal to the search for G-d and His Torah? The authentic Israelite pathway to peace is recited daily at the end of the morning prayers: "Rabbi Elazar said in the name of Rabbi Chanina: The students of the wise increase peace in the world, as it says: 'And all of your children are students of G-d, and great is the peace of your children'. Read the Hebrew word for children in that verse not as BANECHA, 'your children', but as 'BONECHA', your BUILDERS!' " The way to build true peace is through studying and keeping the Torah.
* * *
INHERITING THE LAND
Approaching the end of the forty-years in the Wilderness, the new generation of the Children of Israel stood assembled in the plains of Moab near the Jordan River, facing Jericho, poised to enter the Promised Land. The land was to be divided among those counted in the census that G-d now commanded Moses to take. As we approach the conclusion of the Book of Numbers and come towards the Book of Deuteronomy, the theme of the Land of Israel and how we are to live in it becomes increasingly prominent. One of the first lessons we learn is from the fact that the land is to be divided fairly among all the people. The vision is one of a nation of equal, independent homestead owners possessing family pride as opposed to one in which a minority of wealthy property-owners exploit and manipulate a migrant population lacking strong family roots, alienated and cut off from the land.
In Torah law, land is considered the best and surest property -- movables (let alone paper wealth) cannot compare. While sale and purchase of land takes up a sizeable part of Torah law, the sages counseled not to part with land whenever possible, and certainly not ancestral land. Land should be held and transferred from generation to generation. Our parshah introduces the Torah law of inheritance (see also Deuteronomy 21:16ff). The law was given by G-d to Moses in response to a question raised before him concerning inheritance by daughters. The question was raised by the daughters of Tzelaphchad, who had died of his own sin in the wilderness leaving no sons. They asked for their father's share of the land to be given to them so that his family name should not be diminished among his brothers.
The daughters of Tzelaphchad longed and yearned for the Land of Isr. They could not bear the thought that their family would not have a part and a share in the land.
In the words of the Midrash: "When the daughters of Tzelaphchad heard that the Land was to be divided among the males but not the females, they all gathered together to take counsel. They said, 'Not like the love of flesh and blood is the love of G-d. A person of flesh and blood has more love for the males than the females, but He who spoke and the world came into being is not that way. Males. females. His love is for all! As it is written: 'His love is over ALL His works' (Psalm 146)
The Midrash continues: " . "Rabbi Nathan said: The power of women is more beautiful than the power of men. The men said, 'Let us appoint a head and return to Egypt' (Numbers 14), but the women said, 'Give us a share of the land' (Numbers 27:4)."
* * *
THE MANTLE OF LEADERSHIP
Land may pass from father to son (or daughter) but leadership must pass not by inheritance (unless it is genuinely deserved) but from a true leader only to a true student. As we start to approach the end of the Torah, issues relating to the end of life (such as inheritance) are more to the fore. This is the case in our parshah, where Moses is instructed to ascend the mountain to see the Land for which he so yearned, after which he was to die.
Characteristically, Moses' first thought at that moment was not for himself but for those he would be leaving behind. "And Moses said to HaShem: Let HaShem, the G-d of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the Assembly, who will go out before them and come in before them and who will bring them out and bring them in, and the Assembly of HaShem will not be like a flock that has no shepherd" (Numbers 27:15-17).
The appointment of Joshua as Moses' successor to lead the Children of Israel into the Land of Israel involves the mystery of SEMICHAH, the "laying on of hands" whereby the Master gives Torah authority to the Student. Joshua deserved this because of his assiduous devotion to Moses and his constant study of the Torah: "He had been Moses attendant from his youth" (Numbers 11:28) "and his attendant Joshua the son of Nun was a lad who would not move outside the tent".
[Rabbi Nachman of Breslov explains the mystery of SEMICHAH and how the "hand" signifies the transfer of wisdom in Likutey Moharan Part I, Discourse 61 #2.]
* * *
"AND THE LAND WILL GIVE ITS PRODUCE"
Directly after the account of the appointment of Joshua to lead the Children of Israel into the Land, the Torah enters into a lengthy section detailing the sacrifices in the Temple every day, on Shabbat, on the New Moon and on each of the festivals throughout the year. The juxtaposition of the two sections is explained in the commentary of RAMBAN, (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, Nachmanides). "Having said, 'Among these you shall divide up land', G-d completed the exposition of the law of the sacrifices that they should perform in the land."
There is an integral connection between the inheritance of the Land and bringing sacrifices to the Temple every day, every week, every month and on every festival. The Temple is at the very center of the land in all three dimensions of existence: time, space and soul. The souls of the people who inhabit the land must to be focussed on the Temple both in terms of time and space. In terms of time, they must be focussed on the Temple through the services that must be performed at specific junctures in time: in the morning and afternoon (times of the daily sacrifices), on the Sabbath, on the New Moon, and particularly on the three pilgrim festivals, when the whole nation must come up to Jerusalem.
Space is intimately bound up with these very services in the Temple at these various junctures in time. This is because the Temple services are centered on the produce of the Land. Our parshah details the various sacrifices of lambs, oxen, wheat, oil and wine on the Temple Altar daily, on Shabbat, the New Moon and all the Festivals. The regular offering of these token gifts culled from the produce of the Land elevates and brings blessing to all of the fruits of the Land.
Unique among the offerings on the Altar are those on the festival of Succoth ("Tabernacles"). On the first day, the offerings included thirteen oxen, on the second day twelve, and so on. The total number of oxen offered on the seven days of the festival was seventy, corresponding to the seventy nations of the world, for whose blessing and welfare Israel is also charged with responsibility. It is our prayer that both Israel and the nations will quickly realize that peace and blessing will come only from the Temple services and not from empty peace plans.
On Succoth even the humblest of all has its place on the Altar: water. The Midrash tells us that at the time of creation, the waters cried out to G-d that everyone has a place on the Altar -- oxen, sheep, wheat, barley, oil, wine. All except for water. The waters threatened to engulf the world until G-d promised them that on the festival of Succoth, Israel would offer a libation of humble water on the Altar, accompanied by SIMCHAS BEIS HASHO-EVA, "the Joy of the Water Drawing", which was so great that it brought people to prophecy.
The water libation on Succoth is not written explicitly in the Torah but only allusively. Three seemingly minute anomalies in the Hebrew phrasing of the laws of the offerings of the second, sixth and seventh days of the festival of Succoth, enable us to trace the letters of the word Hebrew word MAYIM -- WATER -- running through the Hebrew text (see Rashi on Numbers 29:18).
May we constantly drink the waters of the Torah, "and this book of the Torah will not move from your mouth, and you shall meditate in it day and night in order to guard and perform all that is written in it, for then you will have success in your paths and then you will be wise" (Joshua 1:8).
Shabbat Shalom!!!
Avraham Yehoshua Greenbaum
--
AZAMRA INSTITUTE
PO Box 50037 Jerusalem 91500 Israel
Website: www.azamra.org
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Monday, 6 July 2009
Israel Matzav: 'Our friends the Saudis' behind Iraqi terror?
'Our friends the Saudis' behind Iraqi terror?
'Our friends the Saudis' are behind the recent terror attacks in Iraq according to Iraqi sources cited in a report issued by MEMRI. The reason is that Iraq's government is dominated by Shia and the Sunni Saudis won't accept it. Israel Matzav: 'Our friends the Saudis' behind Iraqi terror?Saudi King 'Abdallah refused to meet with Al-Maliki on the periphery of the March 30, 2009 Doha summit, on the grounds that Saudi Arabia was "not sure that true conciliation has indeed been achieved in Iraq" and that "Al-Maliki has not kept his promise to appease all political forces in Iraq and to involve them [in the political process]." [1] This statement is a manifestation of the conflict between the Saudis and the Shi'ite Iraqi government, with the Saudis having set themselves up as protectors of Iraq's Sunni minority.
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Israel Matzav: Why the 'Palestinians' are dependent on foreign aid
Why the 'Palestinians' are dependent on foreign aid
And you thought it was because of the corruption and the fact that their 'leaders' refuse to resettle the 'refugees.' Not according to the European Union:Read All at :
Israel Matzav: Why the 'Palestinians' are dependent on foreign aid
Arab “night sweats ”
Arab “night sweats ”
July 6, 2009 6:30 AMby Dan Diker Journalist
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s recent policy speech at Bar Ilan University in which he underscored Israel’s character as a Jewish State and beseeched the Palestinian Authority to recognize the Jewish State has triggered a fast spreading rumor in Arab capitals. They are convinced of an Israeli government plot to cancel the Israel’s Arab minority right to vote as part of a larger plan to transfer Arabs eastward to the West Bank and even to Jordan.
Two Arab diplomats spoke separate meetings this past week of their fear that Netanyahu’s determination to ensure Israel’s Jewish character would result in Israel’s renunciation of the political rights of Israeli’s Arab minority. A Middle East based US diplomat confirmed the Arab fears, noting he has received emails and phone calls. The roots of this complete Arab misconception of Israel’s Jewish character may reveal less about Israel and more about Arab and Muslim political culture.
Arab colleagues noted that the Islamic Republic of Iran, and not their own Sunni Arab Muslim states, was the model for what they estimated Israel would emulate to ensure its Jewish character. Netanyahu, they reasoned, would surely not have mentioned Israel’s Jewish character half a dozen times in the June 15th Bar Ilan speech had he merely intended to refer to its current identity as a Jewish and democratic state. Rather, they asserted, he would necessarily sacrifice Israel’s democracy to assert its Jewish “DNA”, just as Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s “mullocratic” enforced Sharia law as the shaper of Iran’s Islamic character.
It was a virtually impossible task to explain to Arab friends that Netanyahu’s emphasis of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state reflects the continuation of the state as it is today, and does not foretell radical changes to its free and democratic character. Israel is, in fact, the only state in the Middle East whose laws guarantee democratic freedoms and civil rights for all minorities.
“That is the point!” they retorted. “Israeli government ministers have spoken recently of Israeli Arab civil rights and purposely ignore mentioning Arab political rights. To them, this meant that Israel was about to rescind the Arab Minority’s right to vote. The election fraud in Iran provided the recent psychological context. The growing Arab suspicion is that the apparent focus on civil rights and omission of “political rights” in statements by Israeli leaders prophesied another looming disaster- a political Nakba -for Israeli Arabs. Add to this Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s demand for all Israelis to pledge allegiance to the flag, and his suggestion that Israel redraw its map and swap heavily populated Arab towns in northern Israel for Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria (West Bank), and fears are fed of a larger Israeli conspiracy to carry out a major population Arab transfer.
While all this may seem silly, it is gaining traction in Arab circles; moreover, Israeli leaders have been completely unaware of what is percolating. This week Arab fears were inadvertently ratcheted up a notch. In an off-record briefing, a senior Israeli government official spoke of protecting Israel Arab “civil rights” in the Jewish state while denying Arab “national” rights such as supporting enemy groups such as Hizbullah in Israel.
The senior official also neglected to mention the notion of Arab political rights. When pressed on the omission, he clarified that these clearly included political rights to vote and participate in Israeli Arab political parties that Arab and Druse citizens of Israel have long enjoyed in Israel. In fact, an Arab MK Ghaleb Majadle, served as Minister of Sport and Culture in the previous Olmert government while Arab MK Dr Ahmad Tibi, a former advisor to Yasser Arafat, served as a deputy Knesset speaker.
But Arab diplomats have remained unconvinced that Israeli Arabs are politically secure in Israel. And now they believe the Israeli plot has a new dimension. They have begun to weave the Jewish State conspiracy against Israeli Arabs to a larger Israeli plan to transfer West Bank Arabs to Jordan.
As proof, they point to Israel’s erection of the anti-terror fence in the West Bank as well last month’s Knesset’s approval of a preliminary agenda item brought by Dr. Arye Eldad of the conservative National Union party that proposes Jordan as the Palestinian state.
The proposal passed by a healthy margin of 53 to 7. The surprise approval relied on Likud and right wing votes but also included support from Defense Minister Ehud Barak and five other members of his Labor party. Even five members of Kadima, the main opposition party, also voted in favor of the “Jordan is Palestine” proposal. The resolution had no legislative meaning; it was merely raised as part of the day’s call to order. Analysts further attributed the unexpected support by left wing parties to the result of reigning confusion in the plenum due to the scores of bills up for vote.
However, this did not help Israel’s Ambassador to Jordan, Yaakov Rosen, who was immediately summoned to the Jordanian Foreign Ministry to explain why it appeared to Jordan that Israel is still embracing the “Jordan is Palestine” solution as the alternative homeland for Palestinians.
These latest Arab “night sweats ” over Netanyahu’s re-branding Israel’s Jewish identity suggest that his strategy may be a very appropriate one in the context of Middle Eastern political culture, where conspiracy theories between Arab states are as common as hummus and pita bread. That means Israel is back in the Middle East clubhouse. The upside for Israel of political conspiracy chatter is that it also inspires a healthy dose of fear and uncertainty among otherwise overconfident neighbors.
In hindsight, Israeli Concessions to Palestinians at Oslo I, Oslo II Camp David, the Road map, the Gaza withdrawal, and the Annapolis peace process have severely debilitated Israel’s reputation among other Arab neighbors. Since 1993 and Oslo, the Arab world has increasingly seen Israel as the “kid on the run,” weak, and unsure of its rights. Israel’s premature withdrawals from Gaza and Lebanon before winning those wars, launched upon it by Iran and its proxies, further intensified this view.
Netanyahu’s asserting Israel’s ancient Jewish identity, its rights and non-negotiable security requirements, while extending a hand of compromise to regional leaders, represents a firm step forward for Israel to recover its position of strength as a central regional player. Arab conspiracy chatter also indicates that they know well that the Jewish State is the only unofficial member of the Middle East Arab clubhouse that has been willing to get bloody fighting Iran and its proxies and if necessary, is prepared to do it again.
Two Arab diplomats spoke separate meetings this past week of their fear that Netanyahu’s determination to ensure Israel’s Jewish character would result in Israel’s renunciation of the political rights of Israeli’s Arab minority. A Middle East based US diplomat confirmed the Arab fears, noting he has received emails and phone calls. The roots of this complete Arab misconception of Israel’s Jewish character may reveal less about Israel and more about Arab and Muslim political culture.
Arab colleagues noted that the Islamic Republic of Iran, and not their own Sunni Arab Muslim states, was the model for what they estimated Israel would emulate to ensure its Jewish character. Netanyahu, they reasoned, would surely not have mentioned Israel’s Jewish character half a dozen times in the June 15th Bar Ilan speech had he merely intended to refer to its current identity as a Jewish and democratic state. Rather, they asserted, he would necessarily sacrifice Israel’s democracy to assert its Jewish “DNA”, just as Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s “mullocratic” enforced Sharia law as the shaper of Iran’s Islamic character.
It was a virtually impossible task to explain to Arab friends that Netanyahu’s emphasis of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state reflects the continuation of the state as it is today, and does not foretell radical changes to its free and democratic character. Israel is, in fact, the only state in the Middle East whose laws guarantee democratic freedoms and civil rights for all minorities.
“That is the point!” they retorted. “Israeli government ministers have spoken recently of Israeli Arab civil rights and purposely ignore mentioning Arab political rights. To them, this meant that Israel was about to rescind the Arab Minority’s right to vote. The election fraud in Iran provided the recent psychological context. The growing Arab suspicion is that the apparent focus on civil rights and omission of “political rights” in statements by Israeli leaders prophesied another looming disaster- a political Nakba -for Israeli Arabs. Add to this Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s demand for all Israelis to pledge allegiance to the flag, and his suggestion that Israel redraw its map and swap heavily populated Arab towns in northern Israel for Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria (West Bank), and fears are fed of a larger Israeli conspiracy to carry out a major population Arab transfer.
While all this may seem silly, it is gaining traction in Arab circles; moreover, Israeli leaders have been completely unaware of what is percolating. This week Arab fears were inadvertently ratcheted up a notch. In an off-record briefing, a senior Israeli government official spoke of protecting Israel Arab “civil rights” in the Jewish state while denying Arab “national” rights such as supporting enemy groups such as Hizbullah in Israel.
The senior official also neglected to mention the notion of Arab political rights. When pressed on the omission, he clarified that these clearly included political rights to vote and participate in Israeli Arab political parties that Arab and Druse citizens of Israel have long enjoyed in Israel. In fact, an Arab MK Ghaleb Majadle, served as Minister of Sport and Culture in the previous Olmert government while Arab MK Dr Ahmad Tibi, a former advisor to Yasser Arafat, served as a deputy Knesset speaker.
But Arab diplomats have remained unconvinced that Israeli Arabs are politically secure in Israel. And now they believe the Israeli plot has a new dimension. They have begun to weave the Jewish State conspiracy against Israeli Arabs to a larger Israeli plan to transfer West Bank Arabs to Jordan.
As proof, they point to Israel’s erection of the anti-terror fence in the West Bank as well last month’s Knesset’s approval of a preliminary agenda item brought by Dr. Arye Eldad of the conservative National Union party that proposes Jordan as the Palestinian state.
The proposal passed by a healthy margin of 53 to 7. The surprise approval relied on Likud and right wing votes but also included support from Defense Minister Ehud Barak and five other members of his Labor party. Even five members of Kadima, the main opposition party, also voted in favor of the “Jordan is Palestine” proposal. The resolution had no legislative meaning; it was merely raised as part of the day’s call to order. Analysts further attributed the unexpected support by left wing parties to the result of reigning confusion in the plenum due to the scores of bills up for vote.
However, this did not help Israel’s Ambassador to Jordan, Yaakov Rosen, who was immediately summoned to the Jordanian Foreign Ministry to explain why it appeared to Jordan that Israel is still embracing the “Jordan is Palestine” solution as the alternative homeland for Palestinians.
These latest Arab “night sweats ” over Netanyahu’s re-branding Israel’s Jewish identity suggest that his strategy may be a very appropriate one in the context of Middle Eastern political culture, where conspiracy theories between Arab states are as common as hummus and pita bread. That means Israel is back in the Middle East clubhouse. The upside for Israel of political conspiracy chatter is that it also inspires a healthy dose of fear and uncertainty among otherwise overconfident neighbors.
In hindsight, Israeli Concessions to Palestinians at Oslo I, Oslo II Camp David, the Road map, the Gaza withdrawal, and the Annapolis peace process have severely debilitated Israel’s reputation among other Arab neighbors. Since 1993 and Oslo, the Arab world has increasingly seen Israel as the “kid on the run,” weak, and unsure of its rights. Israel’s premature withdrawals from Gaza and Lebanon before winning those wars, launched upon it by Iran and its proxies, further intensified this view.
Netanyahu’s asserting Israel’s ancient Jewish identity, its rights and non-negotiable security requirements, while extending a hand of compromise to regional leaders, represents a firm step forward for Israel to recover its position of strength as a central regional player. Arab conspiracy chatter also indicates that they know well that the Jewish State is the only unofficial member of the Middle East Arab clubhouse that has been willing to get bloody fighting Iran and its proxies and if necessary, is prepared to do it again.
taken from B'NAI ELIM (Sons of the Mighty)
Israel Matzav: Second Temple-period quarry exposed on Jerusalem's Shmuel HaNavi Street
Second Temple-period quarry exposed on Jerusalem's Shmuel HaNavi Street
A Second Temple-period quarry was exposed during excavations on Jerusalem's Shmuel HaNavi Street on Monday. Here are some pictures.
Here are the details. An ancient quarry, c. 1 dunam in area and dating to the end of the Second Temple period (c. 2,030 years old), was uncovered in excavations being conducted on Shmuel HaNavi Street in Jerusalem, under the direction of Dr. Ofer Sion and Yehuda Rapuano of the Israel Antiquities Authority, prior to the construction of residential buildings.
Dr. Ofer Sion, the excavation director on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, believes, “The immense size of the stones (maximum dimensions: length 3 m, width 2 m, height 2 m) indicates it was highly likely that the large stones that were quarried at the site were destined for use in the construction of Herod’s magnificent projects in Jerusalem, including the Temple walls. It seems that a vast number of workers labored in the quarry where various size stones were produced: first they quarried small stones and when the bedrock surface was made level they hewed the large stones. The stones were quarried by creating wide detachment channels that were marked by means of a chisel which weighed c. 2.5 kilograms. After the channels were formed the stones were severed from the bedrock using hammers and chisels”.Read All at :
Israel Matzav: Second Temple-period quarry exposed on Jerusalem's Shmuel HaNavi Street
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