This is Israel

Happy New Year from the IDF

2012-01-01T07:54:00.001+02:00

Israel - Forever Making a Difference

2011-11-23T08:30:00.001+02:00

Gilad Shalit - a Song and a Message for Him

2011-10-21T09:42:00.001+02:00

I've been waiting for the video I wanted to post. I thought it would be with a lot of pictures and few words, but I was wrong.

This is sung by Arik Einstein and Guy Bocati - the pictures are there, but the words are better...Hebrew singing - English translation...

Stop the Release of Ahlam Tamimi

2011-10-15T20:42:00.002+02:00

Dear friends,

Please pass this heartfelt request along urgently to your contacts. It's a request to sign a petition, online here:
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/remove-ahlam-tamimi-from-the-list-of-terrorists-to-be-f.html

Under normal circumstances, requests to sign a petition are unlikely to lead to any significant outcomes. In this case, we are hoping to do something important.

The petition asks for the removal of one specific name from the list of more than one thousand terrorists, including hundreds of convicted murderers, to be published by the government of Israel tomorrow, Sunday. That list is the basis of a transaction by which Israel will get back Gilad Shalit, held hostage by the terrorists of Hamas for more than five years. The deal involves Israel throwing open the gates of its top-security prisons and issuing wholesale pardons. My wife Frimet and I have expressed our principled objection to the deal. While others are busy trying to stop it in the courts, we are focusing our energies on one specific person, and getting her off the list.

Her name is Tamimi. An article in today's New York Times [ http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/15/world/middleeast/israel-prisoner-swap-touches-old-wounds.html ] provides some background:

Among those is Ahlam Tamimi, a 31-year-old woman who was a key figure in the pizzeria attack. She is often described as the driver of the car that brought the suicide bomber to the Sbarro restaurant and killed 15 people. But the Roths say her role went far beyond that, to the actual planning of the attack. In interviews from prison, Ms. Tamimi, who was a journalist, has told of having brought the suicide bomber to Jerusalem and then going on Palestinian television’s afternoon broadcast to announce the news of the attack without acknowledging her involvement. “I’m not sorry for what I did,” she told an Israeli news organization in 2006. “I will get out of prison, and I refuse to recognize Israel’s existence. Discussions will only take place after Israel recognizes that this is Islamic land.”

The Roths said their anger over the prisoner exchange was focused on Ms. Tamimi, who is being sent to Jordan. She is young, fervent and charismatic, Mr. Roth said, and proud of what she did. In a documentary on Palestinian prisoners, she was asked whether she knew how many children had been killed in the attack. She did not. When told the number was eight, she smiled.
There is a fuller background about the circumstances in which our daughter was murdered on the Keren Malki website: http://www.kerenmalki.org/Sbarro_Massacre.htm

And there are many articles on the web tonight showing her family and supporters celebrating her impending return to freedom and to a full and active life as a heroine and inspiration.

Even if you do not normally sign petitions, or pass them along to friends, we ask you to seriously consider signing this one. Once again, it's online here:
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/remove-ahlam-tamimi-from-the-list-of-terrorists-to-be-f.html

Time is very limited. We really only have until Sunday (16th October) to get a significant number of signatures. If we succeed, we can then put pressure on the Prime Minister's Office and the Justice Ministry and publicize this in the media.

Finally, allow me to mention that Keren Malki, the not-for-profit we created in our daughter's memory in 2001, does very important work in our murdered daughter's name for the benefit of families raising a special-needs child. Your support for that work will be much appreciated. More at www.kerenmalki.org

Thank you for reading this far. Together with our friends and their friends, we hope - despite the odds - to do something constructive in the face of the terrible transaction being done with the terrorists of Hamas.

Arnold Roth

Hungry? An interesting way to order!

2011-08-05T07:47:00.001+03:00

The Truth of the West Bank

2011-07-18T21:03:00.001+03:00

Please share!

This is Not Israel - Syria Again

2011-07-04T12:01:00.001+03:00

This is an incredible video - a blogger is videotaping what is happening near where he is - you can hear gunfire. He moves the camera, almost frantically searching for the source of the gunfire. And then he finds the shooter - a soldier of the Syrian army. He focuses, just in time to see the soldier take aim at him...and kill him. This is Syria.

Why Israel MUST Stop the Flotilla

2011-06-29T07:09:00.002+03:00

For once - so smart - for all to understand.

Spoken in Arabic with Hebrew and English subtitles. You can't get more clear than this message from the IDF to those on the flotilla and around the world!

This is NOT Israel - About Syria

2011-06-26T14:22:00.001+03:00

Don't Say You Weren't Warned

2011-06-05T15:47:00.001+03:00

Jerusalem Day - United, Undivided, Ours...

2011-06-01T12:50:00.000+03:00

The real transcript of the capture of the Old City, 1967

The Old City - the Western Wall - is in our hands, forever

Gilad...in Video...

2011-05-27T10:35:00.000+03:00

This video was taken in September, 2009 - almost a year and a half ago. It is hard to believe we are coming up on the FIFTH anniversary of his captivity...hard to believe the world has allowed this to go on for so long.

This is an injustice. This is an outrage. This is not something that Israel can fix because Israel did nothing wrong. Hamas terrorists crossed into Israel, attacked and murdered Israeli soldiers and kidnapped Gilad Shalit. Israel has offered ridiculous amounts of security prisoners and still Hamas demands their murderers freed... all of a boy of 19...20...21...22...23...and soon 24 years of age. They have stolen his youth, his freedom. Don't let them steal his life.

Israel's pre-1967 Borders - what would it really mean for Israel

2011-05-27T09:09:00.001+03:00

Pictures certainly say it better than words...

Billboard for Gilad Shalit

2011-05-27T09:02:00.000+03:00

A campaign is starting to purchase advertising space near the United Nations. A simple but clear message - FREE GILAD SHALIT!

I got this note on one of my blogs and decided to share it here as well - if you can help, please do:

I am trying to raise money to fund a billboard in NY City near the UN building saying "Free Gilad Shalit." Please help me get the word by telling people about my effort and posting this link to my campaign (where donations can be made):
http://epicstep.com/campaign/231/free-gilad-shalit/

I spoke with the Shalit family's campaign manager and they are supportive of this effort. My name is Gal Sitty. Search for my billboard effort at "Free Gilad Shalit Billboard" for more info, if you want to verify this.

Timeline of the Mavi Marmara and Flotilla

2011-05-23T18:40:00.000+03:00

Takes 20 minutes - best 20 minutes you could spend to understand how planned this was...how they wanted violence...and we did not:

Is a cemetery sacred ground?

2011-04-10T08:50:00.003+03:00

If it is, do you think it should be used as a place from which to launch rockets at civilians?

(Video of terrorists preparing a rocket launcher and then covering it up...in the middle of a cemetery.)

If it isn't, I assume the world will not complain when we blow it up...

A Beautiful Video of Israel

2011-04-03T10:01:00.000+03:00

A beautiful video of our love for Israel - amazing photos - not the many colors of the berets on the soldiers - so many units, one love. Israel

To the Far Reaches

2011-03-30T12:59:00.000+02:00

Have you ever been to Mt. Hermon? I've seen it from the distance but only climbed (drove) up once. It's amazingly far from most areas of Israel - far to the north, in the north of the Golan Heights and it towers above the rest of Israel.

Security-wise, it is a vital element of Israel's defense. Atop Mt. Hermon, it is very cold, freezing...much of the year. An amazing organization, Yashar Lachayal (www.yasharlachayal.org) delivered Purim gifts (shlach manot) to the combat soldiers stationed there. They say a picture speaks a thousand words - this one does!

And the amazing part is that all donations - every shekel or dollar donated, goes directly to the soldiers to buy them warm clothes, treats like the ones you see above, even basketball courts to give them exercise and fun during their off hours. They focus on combat soldiers, needy soldiers (buying them ovens, refrigerators, whatever they need) and on lone soldiers (visiting them, helping them, sending them special gifts).

What these soldiers give to Israel cannot be measured. What Yashar Lachayal gives to the soldiers is a measure of comfort and thanks for their hard work. And what the soldiers give back to Yashar Lachayal and all those who donate to this worthy cause - can be seen in the smiles, the many letters thanking them for their tireless work. You can learn more about Yashar Lachayal and their amazing work on their website and you can follow them on Facebook!

What Can You Say to This One

2011-03-27T09:00:00.000+02:00

other than, "Amem" or "Please, God, please, make this the last time...

News Flash...

2011-03-23T18:49:00.000+02:00

News flash:

Unbelievable news - did you hear?

A family in Laredo, Texas was massacred in their sleep, and then a bomb hit bus #74 outside the D.C. convention center injuring dozens and killing at least one. And on the same day, dozens of rockets and missiles continued falling in Fairfax, Virginia.

Do I have your attention?

Is this completely insane and far fetched?

Then why is it allowed to be commonplace in Israel??????

(thanks to Arnie for this important reality check)

Dear Palestinian Civilian

2011-03-23T09:18:00.002+02:00

I want to tell you, from the other side of the divide in which we live, that I care. I care about you, your children, your wife or your husband. I care about your parents, your grandparents. I care about your future and that of your children and grandchildren and generations to come.

I care because I am a human being, a mother of beautiful sons and daughters that I love beyond measure. I care because I know that locked into the future of your family, is the future of mine. I am not stupid. I am not racist. I am not filled with hatred and a desire for revenge. I live on a hilltop that never knew a house before mine was built here. No Arab homes were destroyed to build my beautiful neighborhood; no Arabs suffered its loss. It was a barren, empty hilltop, owned by us thousands of years ago, then the Romans, then the Turks. The Jordanians got it from the British; and we liberated it back to our control in 1967, when the Jordanians refused our request to stay out of the war.

We fight with our brothers, they told Israel in 1967, and they did. They fought, and lost this piece of land, where no one lived, no village, nothing. People came to live here in the mid-1970s and have been building ever since. There are almost 45,000 people who live around me here on these hilltops surrounded by light and desert.

I love my house, with its large windows and the sun streaming in early in the morning. In the far distance, I can just barely see the Dead Sea; closer, so much closer, is the beginnings of the enchanting city of Jerusalem just a few kilometers away. But as much as I love my home and my city, if someone were firing rockets from a nearby house, I would run. I would grab my children and run as fast as I could. This isn't about rights; this is about life.

I cherish my husband and my children above all that I have, all that I am. I would run to the very corners of this country (but no, not beyond those corners). A bit over 2 years ago, the unthinkable happened. My son was serving in the army, as all young Israeli men do, and he was ordered to the border with Gaza.

Over a hundred rockets had been fired at Israel in a single month. The situation was intolerable. He was ordered to fire artillery into Gaza - at pinpoint targets where rockets were being fired at us; where mosques and hospitals were being used to shelter weapons and explosives.

Now again, just two years later, as he predicted when Israel stopped the Cast Lead war, your people are again firing on our cities. This morning - Beersheva; last night Ashdod and Ashkelon. It is impossible. It is intolerable. Even Israel, even Israel cannot withstand this barrage.

Yesterday, rockets were fired and our tank division immediately returned fire at the source of the incoming attack. These mortars and rockets you fire at us are incredibly portable. If we don't respond in seconds, like animals, your fighters will tunnel underground. We fired and hit the launchers, but 12 civilians were apparently also hit. And so I ask - not why you fired on us. I know the answer to that - it is the same culture that allows you to slit the throat of a 3-month old baby and stab a 3-year-old in the heart. It is the culture of the suicide bomber who carefully places himself between families hoping to maximize the dead. No, I know why you fire on us.

I know why we fire back too. We are trying to stop you, to protect our babies, our families. We cannot stand the cruel murder of another Hadass. Our hearts broke and continue to break. No, even Israel cannot allow this. So, I understand why we fired back at the rocket launchers yesterday.

What I cannot for the life of me understand is why your civilians are near the rocket launchers. So dear Palestinian civilians - we will do our best to avoid hitting your homes, unless you allow them to be used as rocket launchers. We will do our best to avoid hitting your mosques, unless you hide explosives there. We will do our best, but the wind and the earth, the inconsistencies of war, make it impossible that we can be accurate 100% of the time.

No, I won't point out the obvious, that your goal is to target our children while our aim is to avoid yours. I won't quote Golda Meir and her now-famous comment that this endless war will end when you love your children more than you hate us. I won't speak of your incredible hatred or your culture of martyrdom and death.

I will ask only one thing. It is logical. It is reality. If you live near a place being used as a rocket launcher, please run away. Please move. There is no other option. We cannot allow you to launch rockets at Beersheva. Don't you realize 185,000 people live there? Ashdod, Ashkelon. No, this is not possible. Sderot has suffered enough. So, Palestinian civilian, if you are truly innocent in this, truly a civilian who loves your family - go the very corners of your neighborhood. Move away from the rockets because they will be stopped.

My oldest son took part in a war to stop the rockets two years ago. We had a partial success. You continued to fire, but at least it wasn't every day and certainly not a hundred in a month...until now. But now, once again, your people are attacking in numbers we cannot ignore and should not be expected to endure. Even one rocket is wrong and it is not right that we let you get away with even that. But yesterday and today, this morning and now. That we have to close the schools of an entire city to keep our children safe is not acceptable. At midnight in Ashkelon; at 5:30 a.m. in Beersheva. No, not acceptable.

So all that leaves is an endless cycle of your attacking and our responding. We will do our best but you have a responsibility too. During the Second Lebanon War, which began after Hezbollah crossed into Israel and kidnapped two of our soldiers, our ambassador to the United Nations said something so simple and yet so profound. I offer you his words, please take them to heart.

"Sometimes," Dan Gillermann said, "sometimes when you sleep with a missile, you don't wake up."

I want you to wake up in the morning and see the beauty of the sun, as I do now, as it shines through the thick clouds over this mountain where I live. I want you to live because ultimately, your future is tied to mine and those of my children. But whether you live or die, whether your family is safe or not, depends as much on you and the decisions your duly-elected government makes, as it does on mine.

It is the nature of a government, at least ours, to protect its people. If you want to wake up to the sun tomorrow, make sure you are not near those rocket launchers today.

I Gotta Feeling - from St. Petersburg Hillel Students

2011-03-17T11:05:00.002+02:00

Enjoy...

A Letter to Obama from Aliza

2011-03-17T07:28:00.000+02:00

This is a letter written by a young woman. I don't know her - and yet I do. She is 20 years old, she lives in America. She is Jewish. She shares a first name with my youngest daughter - and more, she shares a collective memory, something that binds her to us, and us to her. She lives far from the tragedies of the Fogel family. This message shows that through the distances of miles and time, this horrible terrorist attack should touch us all.

A Letter to President Obama from a Young American Jewish Woman

Dear President Obama,

I am writing to you about the unspeakable and horrific acts of terror that took place in the settlement of Itamar in Shomron on the West Bank of Jersualem on Friday night, March 11, 2011. Udi, 36, his wife Ruth, 35, and their children Yoav, 11, Elad, 4, and Hadas, 3 months, were all stabbed to death in their homes. I am sure you are well aware of the attacks and the terrifying details of that sadistic massacre. I am writing to ask you what America, our brave and beautiful country, plans to do about it.

I am a Jewish American, born and raised in the United States. I love my country with all my heart and am a very patriotic citizen. However, I love Israel with all my heart as well, as the Jewish people are my brothers and sisters. This innocent family was murdered in their own homes, slit by the throat and in the heart, some while asleep and some while awake, witnessing their own extermination. This is the type of horror that one cannot even bear to imagine. Three children, who G-d chose to carry on their family’s legacy, survive them. The type of horror these young children now live with is also something one cannot even bear to imagine. Although bombs and chemicals are atrocious, the personal nature of this attack makes it indescribable and abominable.

I have been in Israel twice in my life, on a vacation and a ten-month deferment when I studied abroad two years ago. I have seen the landscape of the country and seen the heartbeat of this illustrious and indestructible nation. I have lived in America my entire life. I have seen the greatness and strength of this country, and the unyielding power we hold in the world. It is time for America to step up and take a stand. It is time for the media to condemn these actions. It is time for the world to take note and pay attention to the fear and terror that is occurring in homes and cities far away from theirs. It is time to start publicizing heinous crimes and report the truth. When will enough be enough?

To stand and watch is to align yourself with terror.

To quote Martin Niemöller’s famous poem:

First they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for me—and by then there was no one left to speak out for me.

I am speaking out now in the hopes that my voice can be heard. I stand behind my people, as I hope my President does for his.

Sincerely,
Aliza Falick, 20

A Video of Truth - I am Israel

2011-03-02T19:56:00.002+02:00

All the words that need to be said - are in the video - please watch and send a link to your friends!

This is NOT Israel - about Egypt

2011-02-13T03:56:00.001+02:00

I rarely do this, but could not resist posting this email I got from a friend.

The Egyptian media organization Al-Masry Al-Youm reports that about 1000 people entered the museum, but most looting was confined to the gift shop. Chairman of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Zahi Hawass told TIME

"I'm glad that those people were idiots...They looted the museum shop. Thank God they thought that the museum shop was the museum."

This may or may not be Egypt - it certainly isn't Israel.

Remembering the Moment We Went to Haiti

2011-01-13T01:21:00.000+02:00

A year ago, a devastating earthquake struck Haiti and the world looked in horror at the catastrophic results. We now know that in an absurdly short period of time, perhaps even in those first few minutes, Israel begin to mobilize its crew. The planes were loaded within 8 hours; a 15 hour flight, and another 8 hours until the field hospital was set up; the rescue workers ready to go save lives.

This is the last photo taken - moments before the team left Israel. They left in sunshine and landed in a hell beyond their worst nightmares. They made us so proud then; they make us so proud now.

Murder of 77,000 Iranians?

2011-01-09T23:22:00.000+02:00

Between the Saudi arrest of a vulture, the Egyptian accusation against the sharks, one has to wonder what other insanity could possibly plague the Arab world? And now we know.

According to Israel National News, the Iranians are blaming Mordechai and Esther, the heroes of Purim for murdering 77,000 Iranians. Now, according to my book (it's called a megillah and comes in a scroll, but I've got the book version), I don't recall any 77,000 and I sure don't remember seeing the word "Iran."

And there's that little issue of self-defense.

And there's that little plot of destruction by Haman in which he promised to kill all the Jews.

But, if you can crown a vulture as a spy and say a shark attack is a Zionist plot, I guess you can blame people who have been dead and gone hundreds of years...for murder.

It fits, in some sick and demented way. My only question now is which Arab country will vote to condemn Israel for the "massacre" and how many votes it will pass by.

LATMA's The Bomb

2011-01-07T08:39:00.001+02:00

Listen world, just listen!

Wisdom from an almost 11-year-old

2011-01-05T23:06:00.000+02:00

My daughter should have been sleeping, but she came out of her room a short time ago and I showed her the picture of Israel's latest "spy" and told her of the Saudi conclusion that a vulture they captured was actually a Zionist spy.

"I don't think he's a spy. How can he be a spy if he can't even talk? It's a bird! I'll find a bird and say it's a spy?"

There you have it - my almost 11-year-old is smarter than the entire Saudi Arabian police and security forces!

The Shark, the Jellyfish, and the Vulture

2011-01-05T21:58:00.000+02:00

I'm sure that these three animals have little in common and weaving them into a coherent story would be hard, but leave it to the Arab world to succeed where no one else could.

It all began with the sharks that plagued Sharm-el-Sheik. Four times they attacked bathers in the waters and while it apparently didn't occur to the Egyptians to close the beaches, they did want to rush to offer blame. And, who else could it be but the Zionists? Mossad? "What is being said about the Mossad throwing the deadly shark in the sea to hit tourism in Egypt is not out of the question. But it needs time to confirm," Mohamed Abdel Fadil Shousha.

According to Mustafa Ismail, an Egyptian diving instructor, in an interview which aired on Egyptian TV in December 2010, Israelis are not only responsible for somehow redirecting sharks toward Egypt, but also for the migration of jellyfish - Zionist jellyfish, perhaps even Mossad jellyfish!

And now, if that isn't bizarre enough - the Saudis have confirmed the plot and even arrested a suspect - the vulture. That's right. A vulture tagged by Israeli scientists flew to Saudi Arabia, which, considering you can see it from Eilat, isn't really that far away. The vulture was caught red handed...or maybe red tagged with the evidence.

You can't pull anything over those Saudis...there's a tag from Tel Aviv University showing the bird is part of a science study on migration. It is, after all, a natural jump to assume the bird was spying, right?

Honestly, I just can't figure out how they thought this one up!

This Thing With Orange...

2010-12-27T08:52:00.001+02:00

"This thing with Orange is killing me" These are the words spoken by a husband in the early morning hours to his wife as they lay in bed sleepless and upset.

"How can I call you?" These are the words spoken by a young child to her mother in the first moments after she awakens. She calls me every day when she comes home from school. It is the price we pay for my being a working mother - those first minutes when a child runs in the house and tells her mother about her day usually take place in a telephone call.

"This is impossible," says Shmulik. "I have to have a phone to call S. and other officers and commanders." He was stranded today without notice when Orange suddenly closed our phone lines after months of ignoring our requests by email and phone for a meeting to explain how, how in God's name they were sending us monthly bills almost three times what it should be.

Nowadays, soldiers need their phones as a necessary part of their service. It is expected, if not required. When a soldier goes home from basic training, he needs to call his commanding officer or send him an SMS to confirm he arrived safely. If he is going to be late or has any problem - he has to call his commanding officer. Even during the Gaza War, communication that wasn't on encrypted phones was shortened enough to confuse but get the message across.

"I need you here," Elie once told his commanding officer. It was enough. It looked like something was happening on the Lebanese side of the border but Elie didn't have an encrypted phone to explain that he could see enemy forces moving nearby. It was enough - done on an unencrypted phone - our phone (no, not Orange, but Cellcom before we had the great misfortune to believe Orange could offer better service).

And when not in war, the army runs excercises - imagine, at this moment, you have just been called to war, that your unit has been mobilized. How fast can you reach your men? How fast can they be notified and ready to move? The army needs to know. And so more than once, Elie "mobilized." In the distant past before cellphones - the operatrion was not completed until the soldiers reached the base. Now, with cellphones, it is easier - pretend you've been mobilized. Call me back "as if" you'd gotten that call.

Every morning, I am the family alarm clocik. For some reason that is beyond my understanding, most of our family cannot wake up without my calling them. They go back to sleep - it can't be serious if Ima didn't call. With a family plan (at least we had one with Cellcom and arranged one even if Orange wasn't honoring it in the actual numbers and bills), it means I can gather clothes and begin dressing even as I call and wake them.

The only exception to this "Ima wakes us" rule is the soldier who must leave hours before. He will rise and leave on his own - but the rest wait for their mother. I could force the issue, but I don't. In the length of a life lived, what harm is there in these few years where I speak the first words to them each morning? "Good morning, my lovie," I say to my daughter. Why shouldn't she awaken to those words?

This morning, after Orange shut our phones without warning, I got out of bed and did it the old fashioned way. My feet are cold, for not having put on slippers and I want so much to crawl back into bed and desperately try for those last few minutes of sleep before my day begins and yet I come here to my computer.

I am angry at an insensitive phone company that forces my family, workers and friends, to face this day without the convenience of a phone. Writers are heading out to meetings - without phones. Mothers will not be able to reach their children. The alarm company cannot reach me to confirm that all is fine when the earliest to arrive in the office disarms the alarm. They may well send someone down to check the place.

An elderly couple will head up to Haifa in two hours - without phones. My mother teaches at the university there; my father enjoys the campus and wanders around until my mother calls him and tells him she is finished. Except today, she can't call him. He sometimes gets distracted with the views, or sits and ignores the time as he drinks coffee and reads a newspaper. My mother broke her hip many years ago and her leg a few years ago. She has weak bones - and today, she won't have a phone with her. |I am angry - and rightly so - you don't cut off the phone of two elderly people who don't speak Hebrew nearly well enough.

My son heads back to the army. He wants to call Pelephone today and take that deal they offered him. It is a special discount for soldiers - it includes hundreds of minutes of free time between army numbers. He is fed up and angry - and rightly so. You don't cut off a soldier's phone without warning.

My daughter will come home today - a young girl wanting to call her mother. That at least, I can solve. She was afraid yesterday when it was getting dark and she didn't have my office phone number - why should she when she has her own phone and she knows my number. But it didn't work yesterday - suddenly, without warning and so she was smart. She went to the neighbors and the neighbor sent me a note on Facebook. Today, at least, I have taken care of her. She has my office number - thanks to landlines and Bezek. She, at least, I can help.

And then there are those words my husband spoke to me a few hours ago; a whisper of a man who is sick and tired of trying to get a massive, insensitive, greedy corporation to listen. "This thing with Orange is killing me." Never more than now have I regretted signing the contract with Orange a year ago.

I opened a special blog to keep this issue away from this one. But who wants to read about how yet another large corporation is cheating yet another person? A Soldier's Mother has been going now for more than 3 years and I wanted to keep this blog about that and not about this...until yesterday when that and this collided.

We have been suffering with Orange for more than a year since we signed that contract and have been fighting ever since. The issues are complex - broken promises, over-billing, equipment not received, lines not opened. The simplest solution would have been a meeting with Orange to explain the bills. We tried that once with the head of the Jerusalem Business office - he came for a few hours - sat talking to his office on the phone making adjustments to the bill and decided, on his own, without explanations, what we were entitled to.

He canceled 17 lines and offered a compromise amount of 10,000 NIS credit if we'd forget the whole mess and just move on. Move on to what? How did you get to 10,000 NIS? Why can't you go phone by phone and discuss it? We asked him. He was in a rush to leave to his next appointment.

"After you pay," he said.

"Pay what?" we asked him.

He could not or would not answer. How do you pay a bill when you don't know what you are paying for? When even the company can't unravel the lies. The most honest truth was the one that one Orange representative gave us, "If we gave you what Gal promised, the company would lose money." But Gal was their representative, set on making the deal, giving us the SIM cards and getting his commission. Gal has long since been removed from the picture - if only we were so lucky.

This thing with Orange is killing my husband, leaves my daughter without a convenient way to contact her mother, leaves a soldier without a phone and a way to contact his family, his fiancée, his commanding officer. This thing with Orange leave two elderly people without communication for the next few hours. This thing with Orange is an outrage.

JibJab Offers Obama's Goodbye to 2010

2010-12-23T10:04:00.000+02:00

LATMA\s Brilliant Contribution - We Didn't Start the Fire

2010-12-18T22:37:00.001+02:00

The Jews and the Jaws

2010-12-12T21:06:00.000+02:00

I have long believed that what you can't cry about...you have to laugh about. This is a perfect example. Thanks to the Colbert Report for this one!

The Colbert Report

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March to Keep Fear Alive

A Last Look at the Carmel Fire

2010-12-05T21:20:00.003+02:00

Few words could be added to the pictures here...and so all I will add is a prayer that their memories be blessed and their sacrifice be forever remembered.

This is Terrorism

2010-12-05T08:13:00.003+02:00

Elie said those words in anger last night as we watched the flames consuming our land, our precious and beautiful land. Many decades ago, a representative of Burma came to Israel. Burma is, apparently, a land covered in trees. To find place for the growing population, they have an aggressive deforestation plan, to rid the land of the trees so that people can live.

The representative of Burma came and was so impressed by our wide open spaces with no trees, that he commented on how amazingly successful our deforestation plan was. In reality, according to history, our "deforestation" plan is thousands of years old, and never really ours. When the Romans came to our land more than 2,000 years ago, destroyed the Holy Temple and took many of our people into slavery, they salted the earth, to curse it and make it barren.

There are many statistics. If I were trying to be thorough, I would do research and point to sites to prove the numbers I say here - perhaps later I will add them. For now, I'll tell you that I remember hearing that only Israel, of all the nations in the world, has MORE trees today than 50 years ago. We have no deforestation plan. It is our love of the land that drives us, year after year, to plant new forests and trees, to care for them, to cherish them.

We have lost over 5 million trees. The tragedy of this knocks us to the ground. If you are not Israeli, I do not know if you can comprehend the incredible agony of the heart that we Israelis are feeling today. We take such pride in our forests, our trees. They are an expression of our love. It causes such pain to watch them burn, hour after hour, day after day, as the flames are fanned by the winds. I could say the same and more at the thought of the 41 people who have been killed in this fire, the wounded, the homeless. More than trees, these are people and yet both the people and the land break our hearts.

Two stupid, careless boys from a Druze village have been arrested for setting the fire. What they were doing was definitely illegal - burning garbage in a forest. Was it deliberate? We don't yet know. In all honesty, few think it was deliberate, few want to believe it possible. Elie calls it terrorism - it is his love of the land that brings this harsh verdict, but there is more.

In the last 48 hours, there have been more than 20 arson attempts by Arabs to set fire to our land - the latest this morning near Jerusalem. They know that from all over the country, firefighting equipment has been sent north. Little remains to protect other areas. It is all we have to give. Countries around the world, even those that still call themselves enemies - Turkey, Egypt, Jordan...have joined the Greece, Cyprus, Italy, France, Russia, the United States - forgive me if I have forgotten someone, we are so grateful.

The thought of so many coming brings tears to my eyes. A part of me says it is only right - we have flown the world to help others, to Kenya, to Turkey, to Haiti, to Indonesia, and beyond. Again and again, it is only right that they come and help us. But this isn't about right or wrong. It is about the beauty of it all.

They come to our land to help us. We are so grateful. Tomorrow will be time enough for politics and an accusing finger. Perhaps our government, this one and previous ones, should have done more. Perhaps this minister or that one. I don't focus on that now.

For now, I listen only to reports from the north. I need to know all the details - are they safe, these firefighters of ours and theirs? Do they have enough water to fight this? Is the wind endangering them? How soon can the planes take to the air and help?

Again and again, I check the news. Again and again, I hear of more arson attacks. I am left with one burning thought - if someone intentionally sets fire to the land, it is obscene for him to then claim that he loves it.

You do not intentionally burn trees and acres and acres, dunams after dunams, of a land you love. Those who love this land, are those who have spent days fighting these fires. I see it in their eyes, as they tell the story to reporters. The overwhelming heartache, the sadness, the damage.

And there is one more thing in their eyes - something the Arabs forget to easily, something they are blinded from seeing now...and for the last 60 years. We love this land. We will replant. We will rebuild. This was terrorism and for all of our lives, we have answered terrorism with the one thing that can stop it - determination. We will plant. We will build.

Why there will be no peace in the Middle East

2010-11-09T20:34:00.002+02:00

When you start this young, what hope can there be?

Abraham Calls to Me

2010-10-29T09:20:00.002+02:00

Every once in a while (perhaps more often than I let myself believe), I take the liberty of writing not just as a soldier's mother, but as an Israeli, a Jew. I could tie this in with the blog, and I will, a bit, but for now, let's start with history.

The thing about history is that there are often sides, shades, and personalities that we can only imagine. The longer between the event and the reporting, the harder it is to imagine, to believe, to know. Sadly, this is what is slowly happening with the Holocaust. As we move into a generation that knows no survivors, the fact that there are films, videos, direct testimonies of those who did survive, physical evidence that corresponds and confirms all that they say and said - still there are those who would twist, deny, inflame.

Imagine now, that the history happened thousands of years ago, and not merely a few decades ago. Imagine a man who married a woman and they have a child. That child marries and has two sons. One of those sons marries not one, but two women. One of those dies young and is greatly mourned. The second is buried in the same place as the first man and his wife, the second man and his wife, and her own husband, the child of the second man.

So far, other than there being a man who married two wives, our story is common enough that it takes little imagination.

But the man was named Abraham and his wife was Sarah. In the technical writing terms I often live by, Abraham revolutionized the world - perhaps the first of so many great Israeli/Jewish discoveries and innovations that have graced the world. There was no US Patent Office, but his idea was certainly unique. If you can fashion stone into a figure, calling that figure "God" is absurd.

Abraham's patented system of global management was simple - recognize the Power...where the Power really is. When Abraham's wife died, Abraham did something else that is well documented and stands through time. He buried her, we all know that - but more. He refused the gift of her burial place. He demanded to purchase the land and so, in effect, the Bible that documents this transaction proves a legal and binding land contract in which Abraham purchased what is now called the Cave of the Patriarchs, in Hebron.

There, he was buried. His son, Yitzchak with his wife Rifka; his grandson Yaakov, and his wife Leah. I have always felt sad that Rachel lies alone and yet her grave, its location and presence were important enough to have been separate. That Yaakov loved her was enough.

All this was written, explained, documented, in the first book of the Torah. This week, we read Chaye Sarah - the life of Sarah...in which she dies. A contradiction, the name, with what happens. I'll let scholars and Rabbis explain more, but let me tell you that Hebron, and especially Ma'arat HaMachpela (the Cave of the Patriarchs) has always been a place that touches me, calls to me, and soothes me.

I’ve been there when almost no one has been there; I’ve been there when it was so crowded, you could barely move. I’ve been there in the early evening, mid-day, more than once in the morning. I’ve been there as I watched two people wed, and I’ve said prayers for the sick there.

Each time, the feeling is the same. I’ve come home. I’ve come to the grave of my grandparents, a direct link, a connection. I have the right to pray there, to ask them to intercede on my behalf because I am theirs, they are mine.

This Shabbat is the anniversary of Sarah’s death and so thousands, literally thousands, will go to Hebron to be there to commemorate this day, this life, this death, this start of our people, this continuance. Of all the times I have been there, this is the one time I have never been. So natural and yet each year there was a reason, a delay, something else or even nothing else.

This time, almost 80 members of our community are going to Hebron – amazingly enough, to camp out in tents across from the Cave of the Patriarchs. What an amazing opportunity to be there, to share this moving day with so many. I can’t wait to go. I’ve got brownies cooking, carrots steamed, a noodle casserole in the oven. It will be a huge communal meal and, as usual, I already know I have gone overboard.

It doesn’t matter – Abraham calls to me.

And to tie this in, Chaim called mid-week. I don’t even remember about what and I asked him about Shabbat. It’s a way of leading in to him telling me if he can/wants to come without putting any pressure on him.

“I’m going to Hebron for Shabbat,” he told me.

“Me too,” I answered excitedly.

“Yeah, but I’m staying in a tent across the street from Ma’arat Hamachpela,” he responded back.

“Me too,” I answered back so happy.

In the end, Chaim had planned to sign up for the communal meal but by the time he got through, it was sold out. Chaim called to ask what we had planned in terms of food and so, he is joining our community as our “son” – Chaim and another friend.

Elie and Shmulik aren’t into this camping out in the wilderness part of it all and are staying home; sharing one meal with their older sister, another here in our home, perhaps with friends. We have friends who went to Hebron yesterday and set up the community’s “perimeter.” We sent down extra tents; I am chilling a beer for Chaim.

Abraham calls to me, as he often does. “Come,” he says to me, “come and give respect to your mother, to Sarah, my wife.”

I will go and pray there – for RifkA bat Teirtzel, for Elie’s friend Re’em. I will pray for the sick of Israel…and the healthy. I will pray for my daughter and her husband that all their dreams come true; I will pray for Elie and the path he has begun since leaving the army. I will pray for Shmulik, for his safety in the army and for his future with the bride he will soon take. I will pray for Davidi, that the years and his teachers be kind to him as his path is forged and his personality developed. I will pray for my little Aliza, who every day gets bigger and bigger and just had her first “babysitting” job.

I will pray for my husband and our life together. And in the midst of all this, I will thank Abraham and Sarah for creating the nation and the path to this day, to this land, to this place. Somewhere, the reality of what we know parts from the imagination we have. There is archeological and historical evidence for much of what occurred in the Bible. Where science stops, belief and faith continue. Beyond belief and faith, I guess, is imagination.

I imagine a great love in Abraham for his wife, Sarah and all he built with her. It is there in his buying the Cave of the Patriarchs so that no one can ever lay claims to that land. It is, in some sense, the oldest recorded land deal, and we have the deed, right there in every Bible.

I hear Abraham calling to me. They are waiting for me and I will go. I will sleep the night in a tent across from where they rest. To show my respect, to show my faith, to show my love. Me…and tens of thousands of their other children. We are the people of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rifka, Jacob, Rachel and Leah.

Shabbat shalom.

I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains

2010-10-17T19:51:00.000+02:00

A Song of Ascents. - Psalms 121
I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains: from whence shall my help come?
My help cometh from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved; He that keepeth thee will not slumber
Behold, He that keepeth Israel doth neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD is thy keeper; the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.
The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
The LORD shall keep thee from all evil; He shall keep thy soul.
The LORD shall guard thy going out and thy coming in, from this time forth and for ever.

The Wisdom of a Man

2010-10-17T08:53:00.000+02:00

Someone posted this quote to Facebook today - the wisdom...the incredible wisdom of these words stands the test of time:

"Israel was not created in order to disappear - Israel will endure and flourish. It is the child of hope and the home of the brave. It can neither be broken by adversity nor demoralized by success. It carries the shield of democracy and it honors the sword of freedom."

Thank you to President John F. Kennedy for his words. If only the world would be smart enough to realize how right he was, so long ago.

Obama on LATMA...

2010-10-14T14:13:00.000+02:00

Can't add much to this one...

Free Gaza...

2010-09-28T14:46:00.002+02:00

Jumbled News and A Clear Message of Triumph

2010-09-27T10:30:00.002+02:00

Sometimes, the news jumbles together and you wonder how it is possible not to learn a lesson from the very clear path it builds for you. There is a truth, even in the lies our enemies tell. A truth so bitter, so real, that our leaders refuse to listen, even if it means our deaths.

As I drove to work recently, I listened as the news reported that Abbas was telling Israel that we had to choose between peace and settlements. It is a formula that might make sense, if it was the settlements that prevented peace. It is a lie that might fool the most ignorant but for those who understand that we have not built for 10 months while Abbas made no effort to make peace, it is yet another abomination. We have done so much; Abbas has done nothing but avoid negotiations, set preconditions, and spin truths into the most horrid of lies.

For 10 months, we caved into Obama; to the US, the UN, the EU, and worst of all, our own desperation to believe that peace can be shoved down the throats of the Palestinians despite their very clear message that they worship death and violence, not peace and harmony. For 10 months, Netanyahu wanted us to believe the impossible – that you can dance alone to a tune only he hears; that you can convince those who seek to confuse, that honesty is the better road. For 10 months. For 10 months there was nothing. Nothing but rockets, stone throwing attacks. Nothing but accusations, preconditions, demands.

So, having done nothing but wait until the last possible minute to even agree to talk to Israel, the Palestinians are now positioning themselves to say that it is Israel that has not done enough, not cared enough, not sacrificed enough. It’s true, they laugh to themselves, for 10 months nothing…and for how much longer can we watch Israel dance while we laugh on the side? I have no sympathy for the Americans who come to the party so disastrously ignorant. I have no compassion for the Blairs of the world who cannot comprehend a world, a culture that raises its children to martyrdom. We are finished, I want to scream at Abbas. Your lies won’t work. But they do, and I am left to wonder, again and againt.

Obama – for God’s sake…how stupid can you be? How can you look at our country and believe we have not done all we can. Now in these last 10 months? Five years ago when we destroyed the homes of 10,000 people for nothing? You want us to give more? Tell that to the orphans, the widows, the bereaved parents.

Abbas says Israelis much choose. The anger encompasses the brain at times, chokes you beyond words.

That was the morning. In the afternoon, there was a conversation with an Israeli aboard a boat heading to Gaza – a flotilla with a message; he said. And what, the newscaster asked, what was the message? My mind flashed, as it often does, to Gilad Shalit – it makes sense – they are trying to grab the attention of the world to focus on Gilad. They sail to gain the attention of the world, to turn it to the cause of the naval blockade – the ongoing, illegal captivity or our son, Gilad.

I was so busy hoping they would succeed, it took me a few moments to realize the treachery, the deceit, the horror. No. Not Gilad – not for these publicity-hungry, self-hating Jews who dared to talk of “true Judaism” as they desecrated Jewish law, ignored it, debased it. They want to show their solidarity, these stupid idiots, with the beleaguered Palestinians; they want to break the naval blockade and declare themselves heroes. They dare Israel to stop them – in the name of Judaism because those who sailed in the name of Islam already failed. But there is no difference between the Judaism of these people and the Islam that pushed the last flotilla to violence. I would not trust these self-proclaimed “peace activists” any more than I trust the last group of thugs.

They sail for the Palestinians, but not for Gilad. The anger grows as an ache deep inside; how blind, how naïve, how destructive, how wrong.

And then in the evening, I got a call from my son who was with the army in Hebron hours before. He is fine. He’s left the city, though he may go back. Slowly the mind takes in the information. Another shooting attack; indiscriminate; meant to kill. Another pregnant woman – but this time a miracle. Though the woman was shot, her husband was able to continue driving until he got her to help; she delivered her son in health and safety – a miracle.

What lessons do we learn this day of such jumbled news? So many confused thoughts; so much anger. The journey of the day took me through the feeling that the world will fall, yet again, for Abbas’ lies and Palestinian propaganda and past the idiocy of those who are blind enough to help our enemies but care nothing for our own. It ended with the wails of a newborn baby boy, born of a terrorist attack that might easily have claimed his life and those of his parents. But a birth, a joy, a message that comes clear and washes away the anger. Tell your lies, follow the wrong path, but know that at the end of the day, there is a rebirth, a dedication.

I don’t know what the parents will name this child – perhaps Baruch, for blessing – for truly he is blessed. Perhaps David, who led his people in strength and war. Or Chaim, for he lives to triumph and show the world the determination of his parents and his people.

Or perhaps, though it is not my place to name him – perhaps they will call him Israel. I hope they will – for it was Israel that rejoiced in his birth last night as we put aside the anger and the lies to celebrate the most important part of our religion – life.

May God bless this baby boy, son of Netta Zucker. May he be welcomed into the covenant of Avraham, Isaac, and Jacob and may he be granted a long and happy and healthy life here in our land…the land that will remain ours, despite Abbas, Obama, the idiots on the flotillas, past, present and future.

May God bless this boy with life.

Dear World

2010-09-17T10:39:00.000+02:00

In a few short hours, we, the Jewish people, will withdraw from your presence. We’ll ask you to leave us to ourselves in peace. We have had enough of all you speak of, all you hold hear. For the next day or so, we turn ourselves inwards, to the people we are, to the God we worship.
We have done much for you this year, sacrificed too much. We have lost friends and loved ones, too young to die and we ask ourselves “Why? For what?” But now we have to make peace with the truth. We did not sacrifice these to you, nor even to the mythical god you call peace. No, we simply are living God’s plan and for some reason we cannot fully understand, it was God’s will that these people fall to the Arab knife, gun, rock, explosion, attack, terror.
This past year, we did not build in our land – that too was a sacrifice you demanded and we offered but tomorrow, we return to ourselves. The European Union wanted to come talk to us today and feels snubbed that we refused. We offered alternative days and like the petulant children they are, they refused. We will talk to you today, or not at all, they cry out in their temper tantrum.
For once, we are united. We are the adults we should be. Whatever you want, we explain to them. There really are things more important, more crucial, than a bunch of EU representatives who demand to come hours before our holiest day. For once, we are above that.
This week, Secretary of State Clinton came to our land and instructed us, yet again how we should behave before the Arab world. We were bombarded with missiles and mortars, even some containing illegal chemicals and the world and Hillary Clinton were silent about these abominations. This week, they were silent and we allowed this – this too was a sacrifice you demanded and we offered. But for once, we are united. We are the nation we were meant to be. Whatever you wanted, we explain to Hillary Clinton, but no more. There really are things more important, more crucial, than the approval of Hillary Clinton and Barack Hussein Obama.
Once before, we were attacked on this holy of holy days and so tomorrow, our soldiers, our sons will not stand down. Many will not come home. They will stand there and fast, guard our borders so that we can negotiate the most important of deals, the most precious requests we place before the Almighty.
Dear World, there is nothing you can do to us, that God cannot do worse. There is no fear greater than our not being granted His blessings for the year to come and so tomorrow, we leave you to return to Him. Our airports close in a few hours – you cannot enter our land and we will not leave. Our radios and televisions stop – it is not the time for entertainment and frivolous activities. We speak of our lives, our futures, and those of our children.
Yes, we impose a closure on the Arab population and that infuriates the so-called human rights organizations who fail to understand that we too have a closure on ourselves. There is no work in Israel tomorrow – not for the Arabs, and not for the Jews. We have more important things to do, to consider, to repair.
Dear World, for once we do not ask your understanding, we do not ask for your forgiveness. For once each year at least, we turn in the proper direction – to our holy city Jerusalem and to our God. Forgive us for our sins, we beg You. Remember our land and all You have given to us. For once, God, believe that we understand and are focused properly. They can do nothing to harm us because we give You our faith, our love, our beliefs, our future.
May we all be written in the Book of Life and inscribed for a year of peace and health and happiness and growth and may we understand that it is that blessing that will grant us a year of peace – that, and nothing else, and no one else. G’mar hatima tova.

The Anger of an Infidel

2010-09-03T14:56:00.000+03:00

There is an anger, so deep and vast, that it can choke you. It comes and goes without much warning, much like the terror attacks that cause its rebirth. It is a feeling of confusion, of wonder. How, you want to cry out. How can you be so stupid? How can you be so blind? How could you think this was anything but inevitable? Why? Why didn't you think? Why didn't you do something to stop it? Worse, why did you do something to cause it to happen now?
You can’t say you didn’t know. It’s happened so often, each time, really. The inevitable outcome of all attempted "peace" negotiations is death. Harsh though that sounds, that is reality. If you offer a hand to the Palestinians, there will be much conversation and discussion among the Arabs. Stupidly, the world, the western world, the United States, the State Department, even our out stupid, stupid leaders, will think the Arabs are discussing our latest offerings and the talks that will take place.

They will dream of peace and international fame for each of them. They will imagine the spotlights shining as the world deems them the ultimate peacemakers. They will dream of Nobel Prizes and going down in the history books. It’s true. The Arabs are discussing something, but the world is too stupid, too blind, too naïve and too ignorant to understand or accept that what the Arabs ARE discussing, what they are planning – is how to cut off that hand that the world demands we reach out.

That hand offered in peace is an abomination to their culture. It is the hand of an infidel, they will whisper among themselves. Easily ignored, even laughed at. How stupid these infidels are, let us offer them the peace of Mohammed. We can agree to anything. There is no dishonor in betraying a hand offered to an infidel, an agreement made with these non-Muslim leaders.
Perhaps even stronger, the greater the lie, the more impressive, the more powerful, the more manly, is the Arab leader that pulled off the ruse. That conned the infidel into making the deal. How much sweeter the deal, how much weaker the opponent, when you can get them to offer something for nothing but words. Stupid infidels.
There is an anger that burns inside me that so many of my own people refuse to understand this; that many say we settlers are the cause. The Arabs have murdered a pregnant woman. Shot her as she drove with her husband, and then again in the head to crown their victory. The agony incapacitates; the pain overwhelms and so the world rationalizes. Wait, it’s bad, but wait, she lived where? She makes her home over there? Ah, six children she had…she must have been one of those. Religious. Right-wing. Settler. Labels meant to separate when the only really important label here is the one the Arabs have given us. She was murdered because she was an infidel, like you, like me. Like so many of us.
We settlers can ask a simple question, a most logical one - if it is the SETTLERS that stopped peace from happening, why was there no peace in 1966 before there were any settlers or settlements? Why did we not all bask in the sunshine of peace and humanity in 1949 when the Arabs had more land than they are supposedly willing to settle for now? The answer, of course, is so obvious. We are all settlers – each and every one of us Israelis. We settled Tel Aviv as much as we settled Har Bracha and Beit Haggai. This week, it was two parents from Beit Haggai; next week, it could as easily be parents from Netanya. Why can’t you understand that in this battle, we are all settlers, all infidels?
Why, oh why, do you believe that the Arabs will not return, again and again, to the gun, to the bomb, to the rock, to whatever they can use to destroy in anger, the infidel among them. The reality is so simple. We Israelis dared to claim our homeland, which rests deep in the midst of their world. We dare to breathe the air Allah meant for them, to drink the water Allah intended they have alone. We are unworthy. But the stupidest, saddest, most infuriating question of all is why, oh why do you think that I am the infidel alone and you are not?
This week was a terrible one for Israel. No, wait. There are two Israels. One born of a drive to settle our land, to love it, to plant in its soil and one born of a need to smile before the world and assimilate into it. It is a drive to be like you out there, to pierce our bodies wherever you do, to dress as you do, to be all that you are, lest you think we are different.
To the Moslems, we are infidels; to much of the rest of the world, we are idiots. We were idiots this week and we have paid a horrible price for our stupidity. Three families lay in pain and ruin; seven more orphans added to our nation. An unborn child lost to us in the womb of his murdered mother. A beloved teacher gone. Seven orphans.
A couple graced with life, marvel the miracle that allowed them to escape death when 10 bullets riddled their car. A family ponders the life of a young girl, now wounded in moderate condition with doctors warning there may be permanent damage. All she did was drive in her parents car when an Arab decided to launch a large rock at the car, and hit her in the head. There, in the blink of an eye - five families' lives are forever changed.
All while far away, our leader dances before the world. You are my peace partner, he lies to Mahmoud Abbas. While we are burying our dead and caring for our wounded, the stabbing pain turns to boiling anger.
It is not that we are settlers - it never was. It is, if we are to be brutally honest, not even that we are Israelis. The bitterest pill to swallow, the reason why it is accepted with a sad nod that a pregnant woman and her husband, a teacher, and a newly-married young man, can be shot in the head and leave her children orphaned, is that we are Jews.
It isn't politically correct in this advanced year of 2010, in the early part of the 21st century. Anti-Semitism is from the dark ages of World War II. We are so much more advanced, so much more civilized. We, the world tells us, are no longer anti-Semites, not that we admit to ever being. No, we are anti-Israel and that is politically accepted, even praised.
But what of those Jewish mothers that we buried this week? Ah, it presents a problem to the world unless we can excuse it. Wait, they were settlers, weren't they? They chose to live on that other side of a line drawn in the land. Extremists, explains US Department of State Crowley, extremists on both sides are trying to stop the peace process.

And so the anger returns. Dear Mr. Crowley, what exactly did the Israeli side do to torpedo your peace talks in Washington? We sent you our idiot leader to stand there and say that he has a peace partner, and we buried our dead.

And after doing all this, the pain and anger rise to choke us because we watch as the world moves on to other things, while seven orphans never will. And somewhere, deep in the midst of this anger is the amazing bewilderment. Perhaps, after all is said and done, we really are as stupid as the Arabs believe us to be, we infidels of Islam.

What Happens When an Israeli Enters Kalandia or an Arab enters Kfar Sava?

2010-08-29T17:18:00.000+03:00

What happens when an Israeli enters Kalandia is this:

Two couples and their five children, the oldest aged six and the youngest 11 months, in two different cars accidentally made a wrong turn this past weekend. They passed a checkpoint, but soldiers were only checking who was trying to enter Israel, not those trying to enter Kalandia, a Palestinian city moments away from Jerusalem. They realized their mistake almost immediately - so apparently, did the Arab residents of the city. As reported by YNET:

Said one Israeli father: "A minute after we passed the checkpoint we saw cars with blue license plates and realized we were at the wrong place. We made a u-turn but then the Palestinians realized we were Israelis. I locked the doors, but my brother-in-law didn’t make it on time. They opened his car doors, threw stones and started climbing on his car. We ran, we couldn’t drive towards the exit, but we realized we had to stay in motion. We drove back and forth at least five times."

His wife continued: "A few moments earlier we dropped the kids onto the car floor. Had the child still been sitting there, you would have been publishing his picture today. We prayed, they knew we were there and they waited for us each time we drove passed. They had giant rocks and murder in their eyes. It's not fear, its crazed horror one cannot imagine. I was afraid they'd yank the kids out of the car."

Two important facts need to be added: the families were in contact with the IDF, which apparently chose not to go in and get them out but rather waited while staying in contact and trying to get them out via other avenues. One must assume they were afraid a full riot would further endanger the families. Second point - one of the men had a gun with him. He chose not to open fire believing that was best for everyone.

And the second question - what would happen if two Arab families entered Kfar Sava, an Israeli town?

The answer is that they would be able to go shopping, have lunch, and return home safely. That, dear friends, is the Middle East in a nutshell.

Obama Coming to Israel?

2010-08-29T11:27:00.001+03:00

President Barack Hussein Obama has announced that he is now willing and interested in coming to Jerusalem. My first thought was to beg him not to come. Jerusalem is a very old city and, to be honest, not well planned. Some cities and schools cancel for snow days; we have big-shot days. These are days when foreign visitors come to our capital and in so doing, honor our country while incapacitating the city for hours.

Generally, we don't mind it. We accept it as part of living in this beautiful city, the capital of our country. But now I hear Obama may want to come to Israel. My first thought was to tell him not to bother. I have no faith in his politicking. I have no belief that his grandstanding is good for Israel. I have heard his message and am not interested. He says he wants peace for this land. But only on his terms, and his terms are dangerous for Israel. So, my first thought was to tell him not to come; my second thought was to tell him what to see.

I have no doubt the government will take him to the Western Wall, there to snap his picture looking serious and devout. They'll take him to Yad VaShem, there to look sad and contemplative. But these are not the places I would have him see, not the people I would have him meet.

If you want to really understand Israel, President Obama, here are the places you must see:

Masada at dawn, as the sun rises above our country. Masada is a part of our psyche and it would do you good to understand this. Stand up there and look around at that desolate mountain top and understand our history, our connection, our determination and yes, our desperation. We will not surrender our country to those who would destroy not just the State, but the culture and religion we cherish. We are Jews. We have stood on this land and chosen to die rather than be enslaved by foreign and alien values.
Nitzan. This is where the people from Gush Katif have settled temporarily. Little more than a refugee camp, Nitzan is the single best example of why unilateral moves are meaningless and destructive to Israel. Nitzan is the fulfillment of Ariel Sharon's dream of peace and I have little doubt that another Nitzan will be the result of your peace dream.
Golan Heights. Before you pressure Israel to surrender the heights, see the land of Israel laid out before your eyes, there in the valleys below. Understand the strategic significance of the pressure you would place on us and the murder and damage that the Syrians could so easily achieve if this small but important land buffer were ever to be placed in their hands.
Maale Adumim. Come see the wonder we have built from barren desert lands. See the thriving mall, a city of more than 40,000 people, the incredible flower beds and palm trees that blow gently in the wind. Come see the schools that fill this city, for thousands of children of all ages and understand the absurdity of a line drawn in the sand 62 years ago; one that lasted only 19 years and has been meaningless for more than 40.
Abu Ghosh and Daliat HaCarmel. Come see these thriving cities: one Arab, one Druze. See that we can live with our neighbors, when our neighbors choose to live with us. See city streets filled with Israelis shopping and visiting and understand that it is not we who are the obstacles to peace here.
Hadassah Ein Kerem, Shneider Medical Center, Soroka Hospital - it doesn't matter which one. Go to one of our hospitals and greet the patients there. Try the children's wards and see the love our nurses and doctors give to all our patients - Arab and Jew alike; Palestinian and Israeli. Think, President Obama - think of one hospital in any Arab country where you are likely to find anything that compares to the wondrous generosity of an Israeli hospital. You can't, of course, and you likely never will.
Drive along the Security Fence: You will learn something amazing, something you probably don't know. The Security Fence, for most of its distance, is not a wall at all. Much aligned and misinterpreted by many, the Security Fence becomes a wall only in areas where the proximity between Palestinians and Israelis puts Israelis in danger. There, in those areas, you will see how close Arab homes are to the wall and perhaps someone will point to the place where Israelis have been injured by rock-throwing, and perhaps, perhaps, someone will mention little Noam and the exact place where the little 7-year-old girl was when she was murdered as her father drove. Her 3-year-old sister was badly injured in the attack, along with her brother and grandfather. And if you go there, though I doubt your security forces would allow it, maybe you will understand why the wall is sometimes a fence and the fence is sometimes a wall.
The Temple Mount: I'm sure they will take you to the Western Wall, clear the place so no one will see you except for that all important photo-op looking up to the heavens beside the wall, or stuffing a piece of paper into the crevices of the ancient retaining wall of our holiest site. But I'd rather they take you up to the Temple Mount itself. From there, see the freedom of religion the Arabs have up there and more, notice that it is one of the few places in our land that have been declared Judenrein - Jews can only go up there at certain times of the day, their every move limited. Not a single prayer can be said up there on our holiest of holy sites lest we inflame the anger of the Arabs. This is the people you would have us make peace with, President Obama - a culture that cannot even tolerate the whispered prayers of another's religion.
Kayaking: By now, after these many heavy sites, you must think we are a most serious nation, President Obama and maybe you too need a break. So go kayaking on the Jordan River - we all do it in the summer and early fall. It is our relaxation, our fun. But even here, there are things for you to see. Look at the people and how they love this land, how they marvel at it beauty and take whatever time they can to hike, swim, walk, climb here. Watch how the people call to each other - though most have never met. They will help you if you need it, steer your boat in the right direction, fish out an oar or fallen hat. If you forgot plates for a meal, ask someone and if they have extra, they will give you. Matches, even food. If you see a group of soldiers, watch how people come up to them and offer them cold water, snacks, smiles. Watch Obama, watch a people who have a connection beyond any you could ever imagine.
Eilat's shoreline: I doubt they'll let you go snorkeling, though we have some amazing underwater sites, but just stand on the shore and gaze towards Jordan. Look at the crystal clear waters. This is another of our greatest treasures and another place we flock to for vacation and relaxation. Across the water, you'll see a huge Jordanian flag flying over the Jordanian city of Aqaba. It was a gift from the people of Israel. Notice how close the Jordanian city is, close enough to get hit by rockets aimed at us. Close enough to see Egypt, from where the rockets were fired. Look there in the distance - not so far, but a world away. That's Saudi Arabia over there. This is such a small geographical area and yet it is so packed with history and reality. When you want to start drawing lines on a map, maybe seeing how close we are to our neighbors might have some impact.
Mt. Herzl Cemetery: This is one of our military cemeteries here. For you, ask them to close a section and go by yourself. Look at the names, look at the years they died and calculate their ages. This is what this never-ending war has cost us. We do not need you to preach to us the importance of peace. We live it, we face it. It haunts us and devastates us. We want no more of our sons to die. We want peace more than you. Your telling us that this is the time is an abomination because we know you are wrong. You are wrong because you are too stubborn or blind to accept that one nation cannot make peace alone. And we are alone, Mr. Obama, more alone now that you are president.
Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron: No, I know that your security forces would never let you go there and yet, I wish you could. For one simple reason. Stand there before the graves of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Sarah, Rifka, and Leah. Stand there and understand. This is our land. We were given it by God and even you can't take it from us. Abraham bought the land where he is buried - it is probably the oldest documented real estate deal in history. He bought that land to bury his wife and his children, in the land that God gave to us. You don't have to agree. You are a dot in the history of man; long after you are gone, we will be here in this land - as we always have been, as we always will be. Go to the grave on Abraham and maybe there, finally, you will understand. Yes, they built a mosque on Abraham's grave, as you would likely have them do near the grounds of the World Trade Center, but we as a people have outlived the ancient ones and the modern ones. You can come as a friend or you can come as an enemy. You can come as a Christian; you can come as a Muslim. It makes no difference why you come or when. It matters only that we will be here - always.

There are so many places to see in this amazing land but if you are going to come, President Obama - see the real Israel and meet the real Israelis. If you are coming for the oh-so-pure and political, please don't come. I hate to have to cancel class and I can't stand the traffic and you won't learn anything anyway. So really, please don't bother us or yourself. Stay in Washington and keep telling us how to make peace here. It will be as meaningless as your coming here, but at least you'll save the gas and our inconvenience.

A Letter to Gilad

2010-08-29T08:45:00.000+03:00

Dear Gilad,

Today was your 24th birthday. A day you should have spent with your family. Today was also my husband's birthday. Yesterday, my youngest two children wrote their father letters and when he left for the synagogue, we slipped the letters under the plastic lining of the table so that as he ate his dinner with his family, letters of love and good wishes surrounded him.

This afternoon, we gave him presents and birthday cake and best wishes for a happy and wonderful birthday. He starts this new year as he spent his last one - together with his family, surrounded by his sons and daughters, having built a life, a home, here in his land.

Today, Gilad, you weren't home. Your friends, those who served with you, have mostly left the army, as you probably would have if you had not been taken that fateful day in 2006. It has been more than 1,525 days since you have been taken. Your family waits for you, living in some strange limbo that is almost as bad as death, and so much worse than any other nightmare one could imagine.

I feel guilty when I think of you, Gilad. My son went to the army a year later than you, and already he has finished and a second has begun. I watched my son serve for three years - all while you were in Gaza, held there in silence and pain. I went to each ceremony and thought how blessed I was, how lucky, and each time, as I stood there watching so many soldiers, I thought of you, of where you are. I watched as my son went to war and prayed that each artillery shell they fired at Gaza would not hurt you. I prayed you would be safe...even more, I prayed and prayed and prayed that a soldier would turn some corner in Gaza, enter some building, and find you and bring you home.

I have no words I could offer your mother and father, your brother and sister, your grandparents, a nation that wants you home desperately. Sometimes, I am a child and I want to stomp my foot and demand that Israel send in troops and bring you home. But the adult in me knows that if this were possible, you would already be home.

Sometimes, I am a mother, and I want to demand my country, our country, do all it can, release all it can, to bring you home. But the adult in me, the Israeli in me, knows that this is not possible. Even if it were to actually bring you home, and there is no guarantee that it would, it means many others will die. Those who are released will see it as a victory, and plan more attacks. This has happened so many times in the past - released terrorists are caught again after they have killed again. It is a surrender to terrorism and so many others, soldiers like you, tell me that it isn't the way.

Sometimes, I wonder if you know how many people are praying for you, if you have given up hope. In my weakest, most frightening of moments, I wonder if you were one of my sons, would you know that I would walk to the ends of the earth to try to save you - as your mother and father are doing. And if you were mine, would I have the courage, as your parents have had, to rise each morning and keep fighting for you, even against people like me, who believe we must find a way to bring you home without surrendering 1,000.

Gilad, I don't even know if you know that today is your birthday, that you are 24-years-old. This is your fifth birthday in captivity. Each year we pray it will be the last, and yet this is the fifth. So much has happened to me in these past years - my daughter's marriage, two children finishing high school and going into the army, we moved houses, bought cars and sold others. So much and still you remain where you are.

Others who went into the army with you, boys your age are getting married and starting their studies or traveling the world while you remain in limbo, a day older, but not a day happier. I don't know if you are a day closer to coming home and perhaps that is the worst of all tortures.

Gilad, dear Gilad. You are an innocent in all of this. You chose to serve your country, demanded that they put you in a combat unit when you could have been assigned to something easier. You were on our side of the border when they crossed into Israel and grabbed you. You'd fired no weapons, done nothing wrong. I hope the strength that drove you to want to serve as a combat soldier is still with you, that you know that your parents, all Israelis, pray for you every day and long for you to come home.

And Gilad, I have to confess, too, that I don't have a yellow ribbon on my car as many Israelis do. You probably don't know about the yellow ribbons - they are a sign of missing you, a sign that so many think of you and have not forgotten you. I wanted to put one on my car, but it didn't make sense to me because those that hold you will not care about my car.

I've put ribbons on my car in the past - but it was because I wanted to send a message to my government, our people and I knew that as the government and others saw the ribbons on my car and on other cars, we could bring about a change. If not a change, at least we were making a statement. An orange ribbon because I believed the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza would lead to more suffering and I believe it led to where you are now, the Lebanon War, and even the Gaza War.

The orange ribbon on my car was put there to beg the government not to take unilateral actions, not to surrender to world pressure. Destroying those communities in Gaza would not bring peace - and it didn't; it would bring rockets onAshkelon and Ashdod and Beersheva - and it did. It gave them the courage to try to kidnap an Israeli soldier - and they did.

I put a gold ribbon on my car to remind my government thatJerusalem is holy and that it is ours. I don't know if the government will listen or surrender to international pressure. But at least the ribbon is there to remind people as they go about their lives.

And then your parents asked us to put a yellow ribbon on our car - so many did. But then I listened to what they were saying, where they were protesting. Your amazing parents walked, Gilad - for days and days - to remind the world where you are and where you belong. My heart broke for them, as it does so often and I thought of the yellow ribbon. Thousands joined them - each was a message to you, Gilad and it was a message that I agreed with. It was a message to our government too - and that was my problem.

I listened and knew that I could not put that ribbon on my car because it was tied to the message of bringing you home at all cost, releasing all the prisoners being demanded. If it were to tell Hamas enough already - release Gilad or they would suffer as they have never suffered before, I'd have put that ribbon on - and most of Israel would have as well.

But Hamas has demanded 1,000 prisoners for you, Gilad, terrorists and murderers who will kill again. They want us to release them to just beyond our borders, not to some foreign and distant shores, but to porous borders that can easily be crossed and violated. We can't Gilad. As much as we want you home - the key to bringing you home does not rest inJerusalem. The answer is not here. The question your parents pose to our government is wrong, the address is wrong. You aren't in Jerusalem; you aren't held by our government and the key to your release is in Gaza with you.

I'm sorry that my government continues to supply Gaza with electricity and water and fuel, while you remain a captive there. Most of all, I'm sorry that you aren't home, contemplating marriage to some wonderful girl, planning out the greatest of all trips, or figuring out what you want to major in.

So Gilad, today you turned 24. There was no cake for you, no presents you could unwrap and marvel over and today again, I didn't put the yellow ribbon on my car. I'm sorry, Gilad. Sorry that you aren't home; sorry that the world doesn't do enough to demand it. I'm sorry, Gilad - for the hypocrisy of the nations of the world, who are cowards enough to abandon a 19-year-old boy and sit in silence as the years pass.

The only birthday wish I can give you is that this be your last birthday in Gaza and that soon, very soon, you will be free to dream and fulfill all life should be offering you.

With love and prayers that you come home soon,
A Soldier's Mother

well - this is cool - Jerusalem ferris wheel...

2010-08-24T18:36:00.001+03:00

I've always loved Ferris Wheels...have you? If you do - come to Jerusalem to go on what might well be the world's largest!

This is How We Were Raised

2010-08-21T21:29:00.000+03:00

India is, for many young Israelis, the dream vacation that awaits them after the army. They finish three years of national service, perhaps work for a few months and then travel. India is about the most opposite you can get from the army. Where the army is all about routing and discipline, India is about freedom. Sleep when you want, go where you want, eat what you want. Freedom.

What that means, sometimes, is Israelis getting into trouble...and sometimes, being involved in national or natural disasters beyond their planning and imagination. Thus it was with the tsunami years ago; thus it is with the massive flooding now taking place in India and its neighboring countries. The Foreign Ministry of Israel is among the most dedicated in the world to following after our citizens. Special units are ready for anything, anywhere.

When the flooding became apparent, the Foreign Ministry began plans to evacuate some 600 trapped Israelis. When the planes arrived, an amazing thing happened. Not all Israelis agreed to come home. In fact, 30% decided to stay and help. "Some helped lift boulders and evacuate the rubble from the streets. Israelis make up half of all the foreign volunteers, which is truly impressive," says Irit Shneor.

But the true message that came from the Israelis who chose to stay was an even more basic one, "This is how we were raised," says Matan Golan. Yes, this is how they were raised and this is how, yet again, they make us proud.

Britain...are you concerned?

2010-08-17T01:42:00.002+03:00

Maybe you should be....

I am Israel

2010-08-15T21:26:00.002+03:00

It doesn't get better than this. History explained...

Would There Be Peace If...

2010-08-04T17:51:00.000+03:00

I have listened to so many suggest that if only Israel would compromise, if only Israel would talk, if only Israel...if only Israel...

...then there would be peace.

Do you really believe that?

Doesn't Get More Truer than This?

2010-08-01T23:16:00.003+03:00

Sometimes pictures do say so much:

A Song For Gilad

2010-07-13T15:43:00.000+03:00

The power of YouTube is often its ability to allow people to share their thoughts and prayers with others. Sometimes funny, sometimes ... sometimes so heartbreakingly serious

A Song for Gilad Shalit - four years in Gaza. It's time for him to come home...time to stop catering to Hamas until they release him.

When Music Makes Sense....Only Israel

2010-07-12T11:02:00.000+03:00

I wish I had a better sense of music - better able to carry a tune. Sometimes, most of the time, definitely this time - it is the words that mean so much. Beautifully written, intelligently designed to show the real situation - but words are incredibly accurate...if only, if only the world would listen - only Israel!

Placing an Accent on the UN's Accomplishments

2010-07-09T08:07:00.000+03:00

Ever wonder what the UN is really doing?

Ever want to explain to someone why it is so incredibly absurd? The funny part is that if you take what the UN does and explain it in a British accent...well, I'm hoping even the rest of the world can see the absolute absurdity.

This is no laughing matter - and yet, this excellent video will give you a great laugh. Enjoy:

Things Permitted to Other Nations

2010-07-04T00:15:00.000+03:00

Got this from a friend as an email, checked it on the Internet...amazed I had never seen it before...have you?

I have long known of the double standard applied to Israel. I marvel only how few outside our country realize the absurdity of it all. A friend sent this to me recently. I must admit, I have never seen it before and yet it s 42 years old. Amazing in its simplicity, in its honesty. The words, written so long ago, are more true today than ever before.

ISRAEL'S PECULIAR POSITION...by Eric Hoffer
Los Angeles Times/5/1968.

The Jews are a peculiar people: things permitted to other nations are forbidden to the Jews. Other nations drive out thousands, even millions of people and there is no refugee problem. Russia did it, Poland and Czechoslovakia did it. Turkey threw out a million Greeks and Algeria a million Frenchman.

Indonesia threw out heaven knows how many Chinese and no one says a word about refugees. But in the case of Israel, the displaced Arabs have become eternal refugees. Everyone insists that Israel must take back every single one. Arnold Toynbee calls the displacement of the Arabs an atrocity greater than any committed by the Nazis.

Other nations when victorious on the battlefield dictate peace terms. But when Israel is victorious, it must sue for peace. Everyone expects the Jews to be the only real Christians in this world. Other nations, when they are defeated, survive and recover but should Israel be defeated it would be destroyed.

Had Nasser triumphed last June [1967], he would have wiped Israel off the map, and no one would have lifted a finger to save the Jews. No commitment to the Jews by any government, including our own, is worth the paper it is written on. There is a cry of outrage all over the world when people die in Vietnam or when two Blacks are executed in Rhodesia. But, when Hitler slaughtered Jews no one demonstrated against him.

The Swedes, who were ready to break off diplomatic relations with America because of what we did in Vietnam, did not let out a peep when Hitler was slaughtering Jews. They sent Hitler choice iron ore, and ball bearings, and serviced his troops in Norway. The Jews are alone in the world.

If Israel survives, it will be solely because of Jewish efforts. And Jewish resources. Yet at this moment, Israel is our only reliable and unconditional ally. We can rely more on Israel than Israel can rely on us. And one has only to imagine what would have happened last summer [1967] had the Arabs and their Russian backers won the war, to realize how vital the survival of Israel is to America and the West in general.

I have a premonition that will not leave me; as it goes with Israel so will it go with all of us. Should Israel perish, the Holocaust will be upon us all.

Dry Bones on the Flotilla

2010-06-24T19:41:00.000+03:00

My love affair with Dry Bones goes back more than 25 years...to a time when Yaakov Kirschen came to Columbia University and challenged me to make aliyah. He threw out his telephone number and told me to call him when I finally made aliyah.

He was so right, in so many ways - it took me more than 10 years to finally get here...and I came, as he predicted would happen if I remained in America, with a husband and my three children. And yet, I still like to believe that I won the aliyah challenge...I was, after all, finally home. I never managed to call Yaakov Kirschen to tell him I'd arrived; and I'm not sure even the few times I've met him here, that I actually told him that I was the one he'd challenged and that I'd won. But I did write about it; and the Jerusalem Post even published the article.

As always, Dry Bones shows such intelligence, such clarity of thought...here's Dry Bones on the Flotilla (I hope Yaakov will not mind my republishing this here - with citation, if not permission....I put a link and will remove it if asked...otherwise, hopefully, with implicit permission).

Arabs, YES! Zionists, NO!

2010-06-22T20:47:00.000+03:00

Okay, now that I have your attention with that horrible title - imagine seeing it plastered to a street sign in Jerusalem, our holy city, the capital of our Jewish nation. That's right...there it was (picture coming soon). So the Haredim (Ultra-Orthodox) protested again today. To emphasize their opinions, they dumped garbage on the streets of Jerusalem and burned those garbage cans again.

I had a meeting near one of these neighborhoods. My first impression as we drove through the streets was of the garbage, strewn on the sides, piled on the sides and even sometimes in the middle. Then I saw the "carcasses" of the garbage cans...all that remains is the twisted metal, the plastic having melted away completely and the garbage left to be scattered. What disrespect, I thought to myself - of our beautiful city, our holy land.

Last week, they had a demonstration. I walked through the crowd on my way to make some purchases. There they stood on the high wall that surrounds the cemetery. There they congregated to watch the huge protest rally...what disrespect, I thought to myself. Of the dead who lie there in eternal rest, here in the holiest of holy cities.

They are saying it isn't about racism, but rather a battle between the arrogance of a judge who dared to declare the law was above man, or at least their rabbis. There are those who say this began as racism and certainly the words of one mother, saying "In any case, we won't agree to unite the (Ashkenazi and Sephardic) classes" implies that it remains an issue of racism.

When the demonstration was over last week, massive crowds drifted away...many taking buses to get home. Buses...of the Zionist state they condemn, on the roads built by the Zionist state. They paid for the buses with the Zionist money and when they got home, as evening arrived, they turned on the lights in their homes - powered by electricity from the Zionist state.

From outside our borders, they send flotillas filled with those who hate this land. But worse, so much worse, are those who dare, in our holy city, to put up a sign that says, "Arabs YES, Zionists, NO!." Not so many years ago, there were Arabs who tried to blow up those very buses they took from the demonstration. I was filled with fury when I saw the sign. I was filled with disgust.

My first thought was to ask Egged to write, "ZIONIST BUS" on all those green buses these people regularly use; to ask the government to write "ZIONIST GARBAGE SERVICE" on the trucks that pick up the refuse in these neighborhoods. As we drove away, my mind was cluttered with all the thoughts of what they take from this land and how little they give back in any concrete sense.

I have used up all the arguments, argued them from all sides. Yes, I believe that our army fights with the weapons we give them...and the prayers we say for them. But who are we kidding? Do you think these people who post signs that say, "Arabs YES, Zionists, NO" are praying for the Zionist army?

I am not foolish enough to believe that all of the Haredim support a sign that would encourage our enemies and show a preference for them over the very government and institutions who provide them with their medical care, support for their schools, transportation, water, electricity and more. And yet, as I stood there staring at that sign, plastered to our city, I saw no Haredi person try to remove it in shame. I saw none come over and say to me, "we don't feel that way; it's wrong that someone put it up there."

And I thought to myself, what disrespect to our people, our land and yes, to the very God they claim to serve. I think in a very real sense, this debate about Emmanual is filled with more wrongs than rights; more exaggeration than fact...even more bluster than real racism. I think the parents were wrong, the school was wrong, the courts were wrong and the parents were wrong again.

Our religion does not preach that our rabbis are infallible or above the law...God's or man's. More, our religion is based on respect - respect of people, respect of property, respect for the dead, and respect for the living. There was no respect last week in the streets of Jerusalem as tens of thousands of protesters caused massive delays, littered the ground, trampled the cemetery walls, and cursed the Zionist hand that helps make their lives tolerable here.

Yes, blessings come from God, but the electricity comes from the Electric Company, the buses come from Egged. The garbage they threw on our city will be picked up by our sanitation workers and those signs of hatred will be scrubbed away.

But the next time a Haredi man comes over with his hand out asking for a donation, I will ask him if he really wants my Zionist money. Perhaps this is still the anger talking. Perhaps tomorrow I will be calmer. For now, I think of the tremendous disrespect I saw today, on the streets of Jerusalem, on the walls, and in their hearts.

Guest: Why We Should Be Angry at Emanuel

2010-06-22T15:16:00.000+03:00

Occasionally, we are happy to present guest bloggers. Here's an interesting and challenging view of the recent Emanuel situation that was sent to us. Reprinted with the permission of the author.

Why We Should Be Angry at Emanuel
By Menachem Lipkin
June 22, 2010
I recently read an article on the Cross Currents blog by Rabbi Dovid Landesman titled "We Are All Emanuel". His basic thesis, and this has been shared by many of late, was that the Emanuel case highlighted the conflict between the state of Israel and Torah values and, of course, in such a conflict we must all side with Torah Values. Some have gone to great lengths to either support or critique the court's decision. While others have cast this case and its outcome as a modern day pogrom. Still others have used it to highlight the nefarious nature of the Supreme Court and its predilection to advance a leftist, anti-religious agenda.

While all of these issues may be worthy of discussion in the abstract, I think that they all miss the most fundamental point. To put it in science fiction terms, this timeline should never have existed. The players in Emanuel, literally, elevated a school yard spat into a national crisis. The issue surrounds a Beit Yaakov school, a member of a system of education that is supposed to be known for its piousness and fidelity to Torah values. Yet somehow, these self-avowed "tremblers before God" managed to make a mockery of His name throughout the entire world.

Most orthodox Jews, even while not necessarily agreeing, understand the nuances that are common within their world. To that end, they rarely have an issue when a school is founded based on those nuances. However, most of the world has no appreciation for these minor differences we often use to subdivide ourselves. To them we all represent Torah and thus there's little understanding when one group literally walls off another. That this issue needlessly spilled into the public arena is an embarrassment for all of us.

When living in a place where secular law is paramount, pious people are mandated to solve their internal religious issues with their own religious courts. That this case was allowed to move beyond that arena is the foremost reason we should be angry at Emanuel. Beyond that, every step of the way there seemed to be another calculated action to make us all look foolish. There was very little civil behavior in the civil courts. Esteemed Rabbis speaking at the rally admonished those who would let this issue rise to the secular courts. Where was this Rabbinic leadership before it got to the courts? Where was the leadership in Emanuel? Where was the wisdom that is supposed to come along with piety that should have resolved this issue at its very inception? Where was the sensitivity to one's fellow, a primary Torah value, that should have guided both sides to be sensitive to each other's needs?

Especially at this point in history when the state of Israel has become like the hated "Jew" of the 1930's and we face the most serious threat to our existence since WWII, it is simply unconscionable that this issue was allowed to reach the world stage. It's totally irrelevant whether you believe it was the Supreme Court that was being foolish, Emanuel's residents, or both. Looking in from the outside we're all Jews in a Jewish state. I don't know how many of you peak into social media like Facebook and Twitter, but this has become pure fodder for the anti-Semites of cyberspace. Regardless of the merits of the case, it is being framed by them as one where "huge masses of Israelis protest in support of racism". Note, to them we are not Chareidim, we are not orthodox, we are all Israelis. Since today's Israeli is yesterday's Jew, this school yard spat has now disgraced every Jew in the world.

I'm angry at Emanuel. We all should be angry at Emanuel for creating a timeline that should never have existed. Far from supporting them by attending rallies and the like, we should be demanding an apology.

When You Can't Cry...

2010-06-21T16:54:00.000+03:00

You are forced to laugh. Yet another brilliant production from LATMA - probably the organization best handling Israel's PR in the world. Okay, perhaps that is an exaggeration...or, perhaps not.

Speaking of exaggerations - please enjoy this - I certainly did.

When Humanitarian Aid Is Really the Goal

2010-06-13T14:26:00.000+03:00

I recently received this note about an organization whose primary function is not making a political statement but rather honestly distributing humanitarian aid. They had their aid delivered, promptly, politely, non-violently...but then again, their goals were honorable and well intentioned. Like many, it appears they were deeply angered by the "freedom" flotilla's propaganda campaign and the violent repercussions that resulted from their placing armed thugs on the Mavi Marmara.

Friend Ships, our aid organization that owns humanitarian ships made two trips to Ashdod Israel with our ship, Spirit of Grace and an all-volunteer crew. 5000 tons of supplies was delivered per ship. We brought aid to the Palestinians in the West Bank, to Bethlehem and to Gaza- for distribution to Palestinians and Israelis. On both trips, our cargo was simply looked over, checked for items of destruction and released, a simple process. From our experiences all over the world, Israel was one of the best. There is no need to take subversive actions or try to break Israel's security and we found it to be trouble free do go through the proper procedures. We look forward to more trips to Ashdod.

Don Tipton, Founder & Executive Director Tel #337 263 8488

Lake Charles, LA

Friend Ships www.friendships.org

Poor and Starving in Gaza? Not even close

2010-06-10T19:12:00.001+03:00

I could quote the number of truckloads that are allowed into Gaza daily; I could quote figures in the billions of donations sent/wasted on Gaza that has been used to buy missiles rather than build hospitals and parks and schools.

But they say a picture speaks a thousand words and so here are a few thousands words in images. Dear World...the Gazans are NOT starving and your aid is misplaced. Send it to the people who really need it...

Note the variety, the quantity.

Notice the smile, the crowds of people - do they look unhappy? Do they look oppressed?

These are the beaches - note the Palestinian flag flying. Poor Palestinians?

These shoppers do not look poor; nor do they look oppressed. There seems to be ample clothes on sale here (you don't see anyone grabbing desperately for limited supplies, do you?) and happy faces all around. Perhaps...just perhaps, the concept of a humanitarian crisis is really a front for political purposes. It is, one must assume, yet another "big lie" attempt to rewrite the facts on the ground. Well, the facts are clear...and apparently they are for sale in Gaza - along with plenty of clothes, children's toys, food, spices, vegetables, and so much more.

The Truth of the Flotilla

2010-06-06T15:19:00.000+03:00

If a picture speaks a thousand words...a video must speak 10,000. Here you can see, in living color - the truth of what happened on the "Freedom" Flotilla. These are the weapons of peace activists? These are the tools of humanitarians?

No - these are the tools of terrorists and thugs, mercenaries found with thousands of dollars in blank envelopes in their pockets and no identification (the Turkish commander confirms these trained killers with sophisticated communications devices had tossed their IDs over board):

The Truth that Never Comes to Your TV

2010-06-04T11:18:00.002+03:00

My personal thanks to the talented people who made it. All honor to you!

We Con the World!

Boycott Israel...Please

2010-06-02T09:52:00.001+03:00

Yes, for those who want to boycott Israel - now you've got a brave and wonderful opportunity. And the cost...well, you'll just have to put up with a slower computer. As Techcrunch writes, this software "monitors your PC to find the things that are likely most annoying to users. For example, it tracks down printing problems, crashy apps, resource hogs — all the good stuff."

Oh well, I'm sure it's a small price to pay for your beliefs.

Soluto has developed software that monitors your PC for things that are likely to annoy users — printing problems, crashy apps, resource hogs, and those frustrating applications that randomly cause your mouse to become useless for a few seconds at a time. It records which applications were running at the time of the hiccup, and analyzes low-level events to track things users aren’t even aware of, like which applications are competing for memory.

Even better: if a user somewhere in the world consistently has issues with a certain application and then makes a change that fixes it, Soluto can then tell other users who have had the same problem about the fix.

Read more: http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/26/techcrunch-disrupt-winner-soluto/#ixzz0pPybw6No

The Truth about the Flotilla

2010-05-30T00:10:00.000+03:00

The truth about the flotilla now seeking to approach Gaza's shores is that it has nothing to do with humanitarian aid and everything to do with propaganda. The truth is that Israel has been delivering humanitarian aid on a weekly, and even daily basis, consistently and almost without interruption, even during the Gaza War.

The truth is that there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza...other than a lack of humanity. Their duly elected leadership lacks humanity for its own people and so supplies that are delivered to Gaza are not correctly distributed and they lack humanity for Gilad Shalit and his family. They have no qualms about violating international law, ignoring Gilad's right as a prisoner of war to have communication with the International Red Cross and his family.

The truth about this flotilla is that it is not seeking to bring humanitarian aid to an area that is lacking it - were that true, they would not have ignored so many other places desperately needing such supplies. Where was this flotilla, these so-called human rights activists when it came to the natural disasters in Haiti and elsewhere? They were, as they are now, too busy plotting their self-glorification and espousing their hatred of Israel to care.

The truth is that this flotilla wants attention and so they did not arrive on Friday to Gaza, nor did they arrive on Saturday, not even Sunday - now they say on Monday because they know that there is no story. Israel has already said it will be more than happy to deliver the supplies, as they always do...through legitimate and secure avenues. But the flotilla wants attention and so they continue.

They were asked to take something to Gaza for Gilad Shalit - they refused. Only when they realized that this was a propaganda mistake did they apparently seem to change their minds. Either way, they will not reach Gaza and so the point is a moot one.

The truth of the flotilla is that it floats on lies and propaganda. The world may fall for it, after all, they have fallen for so much. One of my sons said he hopes a Hamas rocket hits one of the boats and sinks it...he is angry that more than ten rockets and mortars were fired at Israel this week, and still all attention goes to these silly people on these silly boats.

One friend suggested that the leader of the boat, one who claims Israeli citizenship, though he doesn't live in Israel, should be arrested. It is, after all, illegal for an Israeli to enter Palestinian areas because that endangers their lives and the troops that must quickly be assembled to extricate them before they are lynched by local Palestinians mobs.

One Israeli organization has countered the flotilla with a flotilla of our own, sending out ships to meet and greet the original flotilla with signs of "Free Gaza from Hamas."

The truth of the flotilla is that it sails on a meaningless journey, will accomplish nothing, and will not impress any who understand that there never was a humanitarian crisis and therefore no reason but self-promotion. In reality, the flotilla sinks itself no matter what happens when the boats finally decide to really try to approach Gaza.

Perhaps Israel's navy will stop the boats, but the mission itself was a non-starter from the beginning and has accomplished nothing along the way.

Harry Chapin's "The Rock"...and Israel

2010-04-25T13:21:00.000+03:00

I saw this news article on Israel National News today and thought of Harry Chapin's song, "The Rock"

Harry Chapin's song had levels of meaning beyond the physical...

The rock is gonna fall on us, he woke with a start
And he ran to his mother, the fear dark in his heart
And he told her of the vision that he was sure he'd seen
She said: "Go back to sleep son, you're having a bad dream!"

Silly child--
Everybody knows the rock leans over the town
Everybody knows that it won't tumble to the ground
Remember Chicken Little said the sky was falling down
Well nothing ever came of that, the world still whirls around

"The rock is gonna fall on us," he stood and told the class
The professor put his chalk down and peered out through his glasses
But he went on and said; "I've seen it, high up on the hill
If it doesn't fall this year then very soon it will!"

Is the rock going to fall?

Crazy boy--
Everybody knows the rock leans over the town
Everybody knows that it won't tumble to the ground
We've more important studies than your fantasies and fears
You know that rock's been perched up there for a hundred thousand years

"The rock is gonna fall on us." He told the magistrates
"I believe that we can stop it but the time is getting late
You see I've done all the research my plans are all complete."
He was showing them contingencies when they showed him to the street

Just a madman--
Everybody knows the rock leans over the town
Everybody knows that it won't tumble to the ground
Everybody knows of those who say the end is near
Everybody knows that life goes on as usual round here

He went up on the mountain beside the giant stone
They knew he was insane so they left him alone
He'd given up enlisting help for there was no one else
He spent his days devising ways to stop the rock himself
One night while he was working building braces on the ledge
The ground began to rumble the rock trembled on the edge

"The rock is gonna fall on us! Run or you'll all be crushed!"
And indeed the rock was moving, crumbling all to dust
He ran under it with one last hope that he could add a prop
And as he disappeared the rock came to a stop

The people ran into the street but by then all was still
The rock seemed where it always was or where it always will be
When someone asked where he had gone they said: "Oh he was daft.
Who cares about that crazy fool." And then they'd start to laugh

But high up on the mountain
When the wind is hitting it
If you're watching very closely
The rock slips a little bit

Well, apparently Israel has decided that the rock won't fall:

The Israel National Roads Company, in cooperation with a company called Tamar which specializes in advanced excavation techniques, will carry out a controlled explosion to smash a huge rock which poses a threat to motorists on Road 40. The rock, weighing some 800 tons, is located on a cliff 40 meters above the road, in the area between the Ramon Crater and Eilat.  

According to experts, the rock is not in any immediate danger of falling and in fact may well remain in place for hundreds of years - but, they said, it is also possible that a slight earthquake or windy weather will cause a dangerous collapse. Due to the possible danger posed, a decision has been made to remove the rock, the company said

.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/185025

Memorial Day in Israel

2010-04-18T16:42:00.000+03:00

We remember our fallen...this day as we do all days. Below is a video of the General Gabi Ashkenazi visiting the grave of Eliraz Peretz, the last soldier to fall this year...

May his family be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem and may this family, that has known such sorry, be comforted among the mourners of Zion.

A Message to the British Advertising Standards from the Muqata

2010-04-15T10:57:00.000+03:00

Got this from Jameel at the Muqata - as happens almost all the time (okay, I can't think when not), Jameel speaks for so many of us:

Attention: British Advertising Standards Authority

Sir,

I would like to lodge an official complaint regarding misleading travel advertising in the United Kingdom.

On the official website for Britain's national tourism agency, "Visit Britain" (http://www.visitbritain.org), there is a listing under the title of "Visit Britain" for the "Northern Ireland Travel Guide."

http://www.visitbritain.us/destinations/Northern-Ireland/

I find it somewhat misleading to imply that Northern Ireland is part of Britain, when the status of the occupied territory of Northern Ireland is the subject of much international dispute.

Might I suggest that the travel website "Visit Britain" should be renamed, "Visit British Isles"? Or perhaps it should be made explicitly clear that while England claims that Northern Ireland is part of "Britain", the self-determination of Northern Ireland disputes that claim.

I find the "Visit Britain" website mildly offensive, especially in light of your complaint lodged against Israel's inclusion of their capital city, Jerusalem, in a travel advert.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israel-tourism-advert-featured-picture-of-occupied-territories-1944066.html

I therefore request that you kindly find the VisitBritain website in breach of truthfulness guidelines, consistent with that earlier ruling.

Sincerely,

Jameel Rashid

CC: British Foreign Office,
MK Danny Ayalon, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs,
The Independent,
Yediot Achronot,
Jerusalem Post

--
Visit Jameel at his informative, amazing, and always challenging blog: http://muqata.blogspot.com

The Arrogance of Kam

2010-04-09T12:05:00.001+03:00

My mind has been filled, like much of the news, with what Anat Kam, the 23-year-old “journalist” did with documents she stole during her army service. I’ve spoken to many people about it, to regular Israelis, to friends, to family, to soldiers. And as I thought…I remembered something.

About three years ago, the US Consulate in Jerusalem decided to hold an auction, selling off used furniture, computers, file cabinets, etc. Our company was about to establish a Training Center in Har Hotzvim and this seemed like the perfect opportunity for us to furnish and decorate the new offices. Items were organized in Lots. If you wanted the computers, for example, you had to bid on all of them. We put bids on several Lots of items and a short time later learned that we had “won” on the Lot of file cabinets.

When we had the cabinets in place, I was shocked to discover hundreds, even thousands of documents. Some stamped “Secret.” When piled on a table, the stack reached over a meter high. There were social security numbers of US Marines who had served in Israel; travel instructions and documents; proposals for programs the US supported in Israel (joint Israeli-Palestinian projects; Peace Now projects, etc.). There were pictures of Arafat shaking hands with US diplomats, and much more.

My first thought was to call the Consulate and ask how they could be so stupid. I had Mohammed’s number – he was the one in charge of the sale and, I would assume, the one responsible for having prepared the items for sale. In the end, I closed the cabinets and decided to think what to do.

More time passed than I care to admit. The documents were shoved behind hundreds of plastic cups, coffee, sugar. Life goes on here in Israel at an incredible rate and with work, five children (one who got married, one who entered the army), my thoughts didn’t return to the documents for a long while.

Ultimately, for the good of the US, as Anat Kam would most assuredly say, I was given a contact at Fox News. They promised not to use, publish, or release any document. Their angle was the incredible incompetence and stupidity that could have led to a major security breach.

Fox News aired the report, but before they did, they contacted the US Consulate for a comment. Years later, they still had no idea they’d compromised themselves. At first they denied it, but in the face of a faxed copy of some of the documents, they had to admit their mess up.

Two American representatives came to my office, after checking their records, and demanded the files. I didn’t like their attitude; or their threats. They went to the Israeli police, who came and demanded the files. They said that I was holding stolen property; so I showed them the receipt that I had bought it. The Israeli police decided to be judge and jury; threatening me with arrest if I didn’t give them the documents. I again showed them the receipt from the US Consulate – there had been no theft, no treason. Any damage that might have been done, was done because of the sheer incompetence of the US Consulate who was now harassing an Israeli citizen to cover up their negligence.

I decided in the scope of things, my point had been to make the US Consulate realize what they had almost allowed to happen with their carelessness. There had been no security breach…because I didn’t allow it. Never were the social security numbers published; never the travel details and tax information compromised. The only thing Fox News focused on was the fact that the documents had been left in the cabinets and never on specific details of what was in the documents themselves.

This is where it gets interesting and relevant to today. I gave the Israeli police the papers, feeling that they would thus be my witness to their having been returned. They immediately turned them over to the Americans, but still it wasn’t good enough for them and so the Israeli police continued to do their bidding.

I was called down to the police station and interrogated. “I’ve given you the papers, what more do you want?” I asked the police. They told me I had to come down and so I did.

Did I have any more papers? I was asked and threatened. Would I sign a paper saying I had given them all over? Would I sign a paper promising not to do anything more with them. I’ve gone to Fox News, you idiots, I wanted to say. What more could I do? My goal was never to damage the US security; only to show how they themselves had compromised their own people.

“Why is it,” I asked the Israeli police, “that when the Americans ask you to jump, you simply ask them how high?” The policeman smiled at me and said, don’t be right, be smart. I have always hated that phrase.

Out of my own good will, I had returned them. If the Americans wanted to pursue this, let them – to their own embarrassment. I was finished, I told the Israeli police. Tell the Americans they should count themselves lucky that I bought those papers and not someone else.

This all came back to me as I heard about the recent scandal with Anat Kam. In this case, there was no error – she went looking for these documents. She stole them, violating the trust of the nation of Israel, her superior officers and more. To work in that office, she must have passed extensive security checks and promised not to violate the trust. All this she broke and one can only assume that her motives were as dirty as her actions.

If the Israeli justice system was prepared to charge me with theft of documents I had never stolen, they certainly should be charging Anat Kam with that and much more. The media is quick to defend Kam as their darling representative. What she did was reprehensible and wrong. Whatever those documents contained, there seems to be no question that she stole many related to sensitive operations that have nothing to do with anything beyond the security of Israel and the safety of our citizens and soldiers.

The sheer arrogance of this young woman thinking she has a right to endanger our nation, or the intelligence to even know if she has done this, is staggering. Truth is not built on lies; honor is not built on dishonorable acts. There is no honor here, no whistle blowing, no integrity. This is a woman who wanted her time in the lime light. She approached different journalists until she found one willing to trade with her, willing to profit for his paper over the honor and safety of our people. Anat Kam got her fame; now it is time for jail.

In my case, the documents were returned with no security compromise, no theft, no dishonor, and certainly, no blackmail or bribery.

The Israeli police assured me that they were prepared to follow the instructions of the US Consulate and file charges against me (for a theft that did not exist, against documents that were returned and never compromised). I assume in this case that the Israeli police will do no less for the State of Israel than it was prepared to do for the United States Consulate.

A Vision of an Art Sale

2010-03-23T10:03:00.003+02:00

I’m often asked on various social media networks about my political stand, where my sons are, what beliefs I have in the future. Recently, a series of emails and Twitter conversations got to me. One cousin in America, who supported Barack Hussein Obama, argues that Obama isn’t anti-Israel and that my claims that Obama is blackmailing Israel are unfounded. He quotes relatives who lived in Palestine in the 1920s and 1930s but refuses to acknowledge today’s realities.

From my perspective, I see that Obama wants Israel to toe his line and has canceled sending Israel necessary military equipment until Israel buckles. Sounds like blackmail to me. Obama is demanding Israel stop building in Jerusalem, something Israel never promised to do because it is on Obama’s agenda, not ours. Sounds anti-Israel to me.

And a gentleman from Brazil who says he is left-wing, offers me a choice: withdraw from a good portion of our land, establish a bi-national state, or become an apartheid state. I rejected his options…each and every one of them. We have given good land, only to get rockets; we know what a bi-national state will bring us, and Israel is nothing like the apartheid South Africa once was…with 10% of the Knesset being Arab, with Israeli Arabs having all the same rights we have – the right to travel anywhere in our country, the right to vote, the right to education and government funding.

The Brazilian gentleman asked me if I see a light at the end of the tunnel. After I answered, he asked me if I would be willing to trade land for these visions and I explained that his question was absurd. It’s like going into an art gallery and asking to buy a painting that isn’t for sale in a place you know believes in bargaining.
The owner steps us and says it isn’t for sale, but what is the most you would pay? If you answer $1,000, you know that should the owner decide to sell, he will begin at $1,000.

The opening bid is the one you last state and you can never go back and offer $800. Your final bid becomes the opening one, the final price so much higher than you can afford to pay…or more likely, the sale will never be made. People ask me if I would agree to trade land for some distant peace…and my answer is simply “is the painting even for sale?”

And finally, the man from Brazil who speaks Hebrew and loves this land and wishes my sons well; a man who prays for a day when his sons and mine can play soccer on a field with Palestinian children, asked if I had a vision. It isn’t often I let myself dream of what the future could hold. For what purpose, I ask myself, when there is no chance of a peace agreement while Israel has no partner, what is to be gained?

And then I realized that because we don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel, doesn’t mean we lack hope. Perhaps it is our error, that we often don’t explain to the world that yes, we do have a vision of the world we dream of, the one that could come…if the Palestinians allow it.

So here is my vision – of a time when the painting is on sale…when the Palestinians seriously want peace and an end to this endless war. I dream of a day:

-- when Muslim extremism ceases to exist and Islam doesn't consider non-Muslim "infidels" worthy of death and terror.

-- when Palestinians recognize Israel is too strong to be destroyed and are willing to live WITH it permanently on viable borders that aren’t simply a staging ground for their next war.

--when Palestinian mothers say to their husbands and government - enough. We won't lose any more sons. Stop the terror, stop the rockets and go talk.

-- when the world says to the Palestinians (and Iranians) - NO, you cannot continue. WE will stop you. Israel has the right to live, a right to land, a right to peace and until you negotiate, we will not give you, we will not support you, we will not back you and we will not arm you.

-- when, God willing, my third son doesn't have to be a soldier as my first and now my second has to, or a time when my sons’ closets aren’t filled with green clothes, when there are no bullets in my home and no talk of violent attacks or incoming rockets.

I dream of a day, perhaps, when I can get in my car and drive to Amman for shopping after lunch in Jerusalem - and see not a gun or a fence along the way. And perhaps I’ll stay in Amman overnight, perhaps not. The consideration will be what I want to do and not my Israeli passport, security and safety.
I dream of a day when my children don’t look and wonder at the person who walks in the restaurant because there is no fear of violence.

I dream of a day when I can wander the hills of my land without concern for guards and escorts, when a mountain or field calls to me through the car window and I can stop the car and not have to think if it is near an Arab village…or a firing range.

No, I explained to my Brazilian friend – I do not see a light at the end of this tunnel we are in but I know what the world outside the tunnel would look like. We who live in this world are not without vision or hope. We are simply realistic enough to understand that desperation does not make reality; that wanting peace is wonderful, unless the other side does not…and then it becomes a weakness they exploit.

The underlying truth here is that we who pride ourselves on being on the Right side of this great debate of our lives and realities are no less interested in peace and security than those on the Left. We dream, as you do, of a day when there will be peace, when our sons will not have to guard our borders with such vigilance. We yearn for the days when rockets stop and guards are no longer needed at malls and restaurants and airports.

The difference is not in the dreams and hopes we have for the future of our nation, but rather in the path we think we must take to get there. We know that appeasement and surrender simply whets the appetites of our enemies, feeds their thirst to have it all.

We have tasted of the bitter waters of surrender, unilateral actions, and land trades and find today’s reality is a direct result of these desperate and incorrect policies. Tomorrow’s peace will come only when today’s partners want it. Until then, the painting isn’t even for sale so talk of what we will pay is not only premature, it is potentially suicidal and most definitely bad politics.

Will Gilad have matzoah this Passover?

2010-03-20T23:02:00.000+02:00

The right to have bread, says the Arab prisoners in Israel - is a human right. They feel that just because Jews don't eat bread for seven days, substituting it for matzoah, why should they suffer? They forget that they are in prison, convicted of all manner of crimes - from violent acts of murder, attempted murder and more, to stealing all manner of property. Unlike Gilad Shalit, they had their day in court. Unlike Gilad, they have lawyers who represented them, media that covered their story, and families that can visit them.

So these prisoners think it is their right to have bread and in fact, in all Arab prisons, they do. Only in the prisons that are mixed with Jewish and Arab populations are the entire prisoner base served matzoah in place of bread. There are issues in religion of choice and obligation. Muslim prisoners have the choice to eat bread or not on Passover; Jews do not. They will not violate their religious practice if they eat matzoah for a week while our prison, Gilad Shalit, held captive for almost four years now, will violate his religion if not supplied with matzoah.

After reading about the Arab prisoner demands, I thought of Gilad - what of his right - to lawyers, to his family - even to the simple right of fulfilling his religion's tradition of eating matzoah on Passover. Let the Israeli government answer - until we know that Gilad be able to fulfill his obligation to eat matzoah, don't talk to us of your "right" to have bread.

And to a much larger sense, Passover and matzoah are symbols of our being free - denying Gilad's freedom is an international crime. If Arab prisoners, charged, tried and convicted...are entitled to bread, Gilad should be entitled to so much more.

Free Gilad Now!

A Man Just Died

2010-03-18T12:32:00.001+02:00

That's right - as I sit here working ... a rocket was launched at my country, as two were yesterday, one the day before. Two days ago, it was two people treated for shock, before that, a direct hit on an empty warehouse. The building destroyed, but thankfully no one was hurt. And so it continues.

Until this morning when a man, a foreign worker who came from far with the hope of earning money and perhaps returning to his family...got up and went to work in the fields of our country. He works in a hot house, growing wonderful produce in a land of sunshine and little water. And a rocket slammed into the hot house...and he died. It would be, I think, more appropriate to say he was killed, to say he was murdered. Yes, that's what I'll say - this morning a man was murdered in my country because in a nearby place there is a people and a culture that finds it acceptable, even holy, to murder.

I don't yet know the man's name - I do know I never met him and never will. His body, or what is left after being hit by a rocket hard enough to kill, will likely be returned to his family - the end of a dream, a nightmare just begun.

And in a far off land, President Obama may or may not hear of this attack; he may or may not think of that poor man's family, of the agony of that innocent family. No, sadly, President Obama is more upset about Israel building in our own capital and of our rebuilding a synagogue in the exact location in which it was destroyed by other Arab violence and hatred.

A man died today - and President Obama is calling on Israel to work towards peace. The irony, the stupidity, the misguided righteousness is enough to make you sick.

I

John McCain's Brother...on Israel and the Jews

2010-02-23T18:27:00.001+02:00

Once again, someone has sent me an interesting article via email with no clear source and yet I found the contents compelling enough that I believe it worth posting...if someone has a source, it would be appreciated...if someone believes I have violated their copyright, please let me know and I'll update, delete...whatever. In the meantime, this stands as a testimony to one man's understanding of Israel and the Jews...if only Washington's current administration were nearly as perceptive. Perhaps someone will contact me and say this is a hoax and Joe McCain didn't write it. I hope he did - but even if he didn't...someone did and the words are not only true...they are likely prophetic.

Joe McCain on Israel and the Jews

There is a lot of worry popping up in the media just now -- 'Can Israel Survive?' Don't worry about it. It relates to something that Palestinians, the Arabs, and perhaps most Americans don't realize -- the Jews are never going quietly again. Never. And if the world doesn't come to understand that, then millions of Arabs are going to die. It's as simple as that.

Throughout the history of the world, the most abused, kicked-around race of people have been the Jews. Not just during the holocaust of World War II, but for thousands of years. They have truly been 'The Chosen People' in a terrible and tragic sense.

The Bible story of Egypt ’s enslavement of the Jews is not just a story; it is history, if festooned with theological legend and heroic epics. In 70 A.D. the Romans, which had for a long time tolerated the Jews -- even admired them as 'superior' to other vassals -- tired of their truculent demands for independence and decided on an early 'Solution' to the Jewish problem Jerusalem was sacked and reduced to near rubble, Jewish resistance was pursued and crushed by the implacable Roman War Machine -- see 'Masada'. And thus began The Diaspora, the dispersal of Jews throughout the rest of the world.

Their homeland destroyed, their culture crushed, they looked desperately for the few niches in a hostile world where they could be safe. That safety was fragile, and often subject to the whims of moody hosts. The words 'pogrom', 'ghetto', and 'anti-Semitism' come from this treatment of the first mono-theistic people. Throughout Europe, changing times meant sometimes tolerance, sometimes even warmth for the Jews, but eventually it meant hostility, then malevolence. There is not a country in Europe or Western Asia that at one time or another has not decided to lash out against the children of Moses, sometimes by whim, sometimes by manipulation.

Winston Churchill calls Edward I one of England's very greatest kings It was under his rule in the late 1200's that Wales and Cornwall were hammered into the British crown, and Scotland and Ireland were invaded and occupied. He was also the first European monarch to set up a really effective administrative bureaucracy, surveyed and censused his kingdom, established laws and political divisions. But he also embraced the Jews.

Actually Edward didn't embrace Jews so much as he embraced their money. For the English Jews had acquired wealth -- understandable, because this people that could not own land or office, could not join most of the trades and professions, soon found out that money was a very good thing to accumulate. Much harder to take away than land or a store, was a hidden sock of gold and silver coins. Ever resourceful, Edward found a way -- he borrowed money from the Jews to finance imperial ambitions in Europe, especially France . The loans were almost certainly not made gladly, but how do you refuse your King? Especially when he it was 'Edward the Hammer'. Then, rather than pay back the debt,

Edward simply expelled the Jews. Edward was especially inventive-- he did this twice. After a time, he invited the Jews back to their English homeland, borrowed more money, then expelled them again.

Most people do not know that Spain was one of the early entrants into The Renaissance. People from all over the world came to Spain in the late medieval period. All were welcome -- Arabs, Jews, other Europeans. The University of Salamanca was one of the great centers of learning in the world -- scholars of all nations, all if elds came to Salamanca to share their knowledge and their ideas. But in 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella, having driven the last of Moors from the Spanish Shield, were persuaded by the righteous fundamentalists of the time to announce 'The Act of Purification'. A series of steps were taken in which all Jews and Arabs and other non-Christians were expelled from the country, or would face the tools and the torches of The Inquisition. From this 'cleansing' come the Sephardic Jews -- as opposed to the Ashkenazis of Eastern Europe. In Eastern Europe , the sporadic violence and brutality against Jews are common knowledge.

'Fiddler' without the music and the folksy humor. At times of fury, no accommodation by the Jew was good enough, no profile low enough, no village poor enough or distant enough.
From these come the near-steady flow of Jews to the United States . And despite the disdain of the Jews by most 'American' Americans, they came to grab the American Dream with both hands, and contributed everything from new ideas of enterprise in retail and entertainment to becoming some of our finest physicians and lawyers. The modern United States , in spite of itself, IS The United States in part because of its Jewish blood.

Then the Nazi Holocaust -- the corralling, sorting, orderly eradication of millions of the people of Moses. Not something that other realms in other times didn't try to do, by the way, the Germans were just more organized and had better murder technology.

I stood in the center of Dachau for an entire day, about 15 years ago, trying to comprehend how this could have happened. I had gone there on a side trip from Munich, vaguely curious about this Dachau. I soon became engulfed in the enormity of what had occurred there nestled in this middle and working class neighborhood.

How could human beings do this to other human beings, hear their cries, their pleas, their terror, their pain, and continue without apparently even wincing? I no longer wonder. At some times, some places, ANY sect of the human race is capable of horrors against their fellow man, whether a member of the Waffen SS, a Serbian sniper, a Turkish policeman in 1920's Armenia , a Mississippi Klansman. Because even in the United States not all was a Rose Garden.

For a long time Jews had quotas in our universities and graduate schools. Only so many Jews could be in a medical or law school at one time. Jews were disparaged widely. I remember as a kid Jewish jokes told without a wince - 'Why do Jews have such big noses?'

Well, now the Jews have a homeland again. A place that is theirs. And that's the point. It doesn't matter how many times the United States and European powers try to rein in Israel, if it comes down to survival of its nation, its people, they will fight like no lioness has ever fought to save her cubs. They will fight with a ferocity, a determination, and a skill, that will astound us.
And many will die, mostly their attackers, I believe. If there were a macabre historical betting parlor, my money would be on the Israelis to be standing at the end. As we killed the kamikazes and the Wehrmacht soldaten of World War II, so will the Israelis kill their suicidal attackers, until there are not enough to torment them.

The irony goes unnoticed -- while we are hammering away to punish those who brought the horrors of 11 September here, we restrain the Israelis from the same retaliation. Not the same thing, of course -- We are We and They are They. While we mourn and see the September 11th, we don't notice that Israel has a September 11th sometimes every day.
We may not notice, but it doesn't make any difference.. And it doesn't make any difference whether you are pro-Israeli or you think Israel is the bully of the Middle East . If it comes to where a new holocaust looms -- with or without the concurrence of the United States and Europe -- Israel will lash out without pause or restraint at those who would try to annihilate their country.

The Jews will not go quietly again.

Joe McCain

My Stones…Which Were Never Mine

2010-02-05T13:23:00.004+02:00

Four years ago, I went around Gush Katif in its last days and as I visited each settlement for what I knew would be the last time, I went into each synagogue…and took a stone. Sometimes it was a piece of the floor, now broken as the holy ark and benches were removed; sometimes a piece of the decorative wall outside that welcomed people as they arrived for prayer.

The first stone came from Kfar Darom. The second from Moshav Katif…and so it went. I quickly realized that if I didn’t write the name of each place on the stone, I would never remember where it came from and so my friends gave me a pencil and with that I wrote the names. Netzer Hazani, Atzmona, Ganei Tal…and so it went. I didn’t tell anyone about the stones. I don’t know why exactly, only that I felt that I had stolen something precious, something that wasn’t mine and yet, had I left it there, it would be lost to all of us.

In Kfar Darom, someone had left a picture of the Lubavitcher Rebbe on the floor in the synagogue. I took that too and put it with my other pictures – there was no shame there, but the stones were carefully wrapped and kept in a box. They sat there more than two years while I pondered what to do with them.

I thought of donating them to a local synagogue, but changed my mind. I thought of somehow building it into the concrete and stones of the home I am building, but changed my mind. I lent them once to my city for a display of items in honor and memory of Gush Katif, and worried frantically until they were finally returned.

At a loss as to what to do, who to ask, what to say…I kept inside me this painful feeling that I had done something wrong…that in the midst of the horrible suffering of so many people, 9,000 people and communities…I had taken something without permission. Would anyone really care that I had a bunch of stones when lives had been torn apart? My mind went over and over what I had done. Why? Why had I taken them? There was no one left to ask, when I took the stones. And had I not taken them, they would simply have been left to be abandoned by the Israeli government, desecrated by the Palestinians. So logical and yet nothing brought me comfort or lessened my shame.

One day while driving, I thought of Rachel Saperstein. She and her husband had welcomed me to Gush Katif a number of times. I went there with foreign guests, journalists, and Rachel and Moshe explained why expelling the Jews and destroying Gush Katif was meaningless, stupid, and dangerous. They welcomed my parents and my daughter and me when I made a more personal visit, and Rachel answered the phone when I called her. And while I had collected stones, Rachel had gone on to create Operation Dignity – a meaningful and real way to help the people of Gush Katif, with dignity and honor…and I had collected stones.

Deeply embarrassed, I told her about the stones…and she was enthralled, excited, grateful. How can you thank me for stealing from you? I wanted to ask her and not once did she make me feel that I had desecrated, destroyed, stolen. She did the rest. Rachel called and arranged for someone to take the stones.

“Please, don’t use my name,” I told them. They didn’t really understand but they respected my request and came and took the stones. It was so hard for me to part with them. I asked them to take care of them, silly, I said to myself. They are holy, I wanted to tell them – all that is left of so many beautiful synagogues.

I imagined what could be done with the stones, but didn’t suggest. It wasn’t my place, my suffering, my synagogues that had been destroyed…and they weren’t really my stones. A talented artist could build something, a memorial to the synagogues. Something to share with others, something to remember and to stand. Something holy. Something precious.

A few days ago, someone called me and invited me to a special event honoring those who had helped the communities of Gush Katif during and after the expulsion. I was a bit embarrassed – what had I ever really done to help them? I’d tried but hadn’t really accomplished anything. I never thought once of the stones when they called. It was the dedication of a Legacy Center, directed by Mochi Better to remember and educate people – and three artists were commissioned to create beauty out of sadness. Ayala Ben-Simchon and Anat Yaakov decorated some of the wall, and Ayala Azran from Neve Dekalim, now in Ein Tzurim was given the stones with which to create an everlasting remembrance for the synagogues and for Gush Katif. In one artistic piece, she captured the sea and the trees, and the communities…the synagogues…with a piece from each one, a stone, my stones.

My stones which were collected after all the people had been taken away. My stones which I took, without permission and kept in a box waiting to understand what I was meant to do with them.

My stones…which were never mine…have been returned to the amazing people of Gush Katif and they have been turned into a thing of beauty, as once these same people had turned all of Gush Katif into such beauty. Even in my wildest imaginings, I could not have pictured the symbolism and intricate work that the artist managed to add. Ayala created a lasting memorial.

Somehow knowing that those precious stones had been returned and were now back with the people of Gush Katif brought back again the sadness of those times when Israel unilaterally and insanely imagined it could make peace alone. It also brought a strange sense of peace…which also shames me. The people of Gush Katif are not home. For more than four years, Israel has refused to properly see to their needs after so improperly destroying all that they had built. Until the people of Gush Katif are properly settled and allowed to channel all the energy and creativity and love that is so much a part of them into rebuilding, the stones will never really be at peace.

I long to see the stones again, to touch them, to apologize. I guess I shouldn’t apologize for taking them from Gaza. There they would have been as abandoned and desecrated as the rest of the stones from which they were taken. But I will apologize for there having been a need to take them. I will apologize for the indignity of having been stored in a temporary box for two years, as the people of Gush Katif have been “stored” for four years now. And I will finally part from my stones, knowing that their future, like their past, is now once again back with the right people, the good people, of Gush Katif.

Understanding the Truth of What Terror Is

2010-02-04T15:02:00.001+02:00

Palestinians shot a rocket as Israel yesterday. For all intents and purposes, they again missed their target...whatever that might have been this time. Palestinians also launched explosive barrels against Israel's shore lines. For all intents and purposes, they again missed their target...whatever that might have been. The devices - three so far and counting, were all found and neutralized. A miss. Again.

Because this new water warfare is a bit unique, it garners a bit of international attention but for all intents and purposes, the explosives were oh-so-boringly disarmed. No spectacular explosions; no blood; no deaths and so, sadly, no real news as far as much of the world is concerned.

The world is blasé about the rockets that keep raining down on us. Yesterday, another rocket - the 20th rocket in a period of 34 days. The rocket crashed down near a city of 25,000 people. Certainly, Hamas cannot control the rockets - proof in the fact that they keep missing. But...because they cannot be controlled, because they are launched indiscriminately, they bring with them terror.

There is no miss when it comes to terror - and that is the point that must be made.

A miss doesn't make the news but that doesn't mean anything on the scale of what is really important. Twenty times in the last month, close to one million people have been terrorized by rockets.

In the last few days, all of Israel has been warned - avoid the seashore and if you go, beware. If you see a suspicious object...it could be a bomb. Can you relate this idiocy to your life - you who live far from such a concept?

When I was young and wanted a day of freedom, it was to the beach I went. I have always felt so close to the water, so touched by the majesty and power of that place where water meets land. Two years ago, I asked my youngest daughter what she wanted to do on her last day of vacation. Elie was in the army, her older sister in her first year of marriage. My youngest child picked the sea and so we went (A Candle and a Wave). I watched her dance among the waves, enthralled as I have always been. Today, in fear, there are many who are not going to the beaches; the army has told us to stay away while they comb the waters of our shoreline. Boats have been warned as well. This too they would take from us, if we let them.

What amazes me is how the shades of terrorism never seem to include terror. Attacks are measured only in bodies and blood - but what of the terror itself? What of the family who avoids the beach, the mall, the buses today because they are afraid? What of the child who walks and is afraid on his way to school because he knows that a Color Red might sound and he has to run and hide and only has 15 seconds?

What of the mother who plays in the park with two of her children and wonders if she can, within 15 seconds, get to both and safety as well? All these are facets of terrorism too easily ignored.

That the Palestinians missed murdering innocents in Sderot yesterday and the day before and eighteen other times this past month, is a blessing, a miracle, a gift. The fact that alert Israelis are finding these water bombs before innocents find them is a blessing, a miracle, a gift. It is wrong to ignore the horror, the terror, the indignity, the murderous intent...simply because, by the grace of God and our security forces, the Palestinians have, once again, missed their targets.

Israel Responds to Goldstone

2010-02-01T08:03:00.000+02:00

Few nations would take the time to investigate and respond to an investigation so misguided and poisoned, so biased and partial. The fact that Israel investigated and took the time to respond says much for the true nature of Israel. The response to Goldstone is long, but then again - Goldstone wasted no effort when using (and abusing) words. It was facts that were missing from his report, not words.

For those who don't have the time to review Israel's entire document, here are a few of the main highlights the Goldstone and his ilk ignored:

Israel is a democracy, with a well-developed legal system. Even though it has confronted constant and existential threats from neighbouring states and non-state actors, Israel stands committed to the rule of law.
Under Israel’s Basic Law for the Military, the IDF is subordinate and accountable to the civilian Government. Like any other governmental authority, it is subject to the rule of law, including the applicable rules of international law.

The report goes into extensive detail about Israel's chain of command and accountability. Needlessly and yet thoroughly, it compares itself to other democracies and shows the military is not, and was not, above the law. The important information regarding Gaza then begins. Again, for those who won't read the entire document, here are its main points:

The deliberate strategy of Hamas to blend in with the civilian population made it difficult for the IDF to achieve the objective of the Gaza Operation – reducing the threat of deliberate attacks against Israeli civilians.
The IDF undertook strenuous efforts to minimise such harm. It intensively trained its personnel on the requirements of the Law of Armed Conflict. It delayed, diverted, or refrained from attacks to spare civilian life. It provided numerous and varied types of concrete warnings before launching attacks. Nevertheless, Israel’s efforts to comply with the Law of Armed Conflict do not lessen its regret for the loss of innocent lives and damage to civilian property.
On 20 January 2009 – just two days after the conclusion of the Gaza Operation – IDF Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Ashkenazi ordered five special command investigations into a range of allegations raised by international and non-governmental organisations and various news media.

This means, long before Goldstone stuck his egotistical nose into events, the IDF fully investigated all claims it received or uncovered. Disciplinary actions were taken against any infractions found, corrections were made to procedures that might not have been followed and lessons were learned. Certainly, no sane human being can think Hamas or any Palestinian organization likewise investigated its actions during and prior to the Gaza War and yet Goldstone felt justified in finding faults with Israel because, as we all know, he had his own agenda, his own prejudices. He allowed the fact that he was born as a Jew to be used (and abused) to propel himself into what he assumed would be further glory.

But to continue....

Following the U.N. Board of Inquiry’s examination, and notwithstanding certain reservations it had with some aspects of the Board’s report, Israel entered into a dialogue with the United Nations to address all issues arising from the incidents examined. On 22 January 2010, the Secretary General thanked Israel for its “cooperative approach” in these discussions and confirmed that all financial issues relating to these incidents had been satisfactorily concluded.

This means - long before Goldstone...Israel took action to resolve and correct any mistakes made in the heat of war...and this also means that Goldstone's appointment and subsequent findings were the result of politics and political maneuverings...certainly not justified by Israel's lack of action. There was no reason to participate or cooperate with the Goldstone Commission because the Goldstone Commission's mission was flawed and biased from the start AND, Israel had already gone further and deeper on its own to investigate the war.

But to continue...

Goldstone suggested, claimed, inferred, that Israel had used white phosphorous. Israel's investigation of all military records shows "With respect to exploding munitions containing white phosphorous, the
Military Advocate General concluded that the use of this weapon in the operation was consistent with Israel’s obligations under international law."
With respect to smoke projectiles, "the Military Advocate General found that international law does not prohibit use of smoke projectiles containing phosphorous. Specifically, such projectiles are not “incendiary weapons,” within the meaning of the Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Incendiary Weapons,108 because they are not primarily designed to set fire or to burn. The Military Advocate General further determined that during the Gaza Operation, the IDF used such smoke projectiles for military purposes only, for instance to camouflage IDF armor forces from Hamas’s antitank units by creating smoke screens."

There is so much more...I'll try to cover it in future posts, but what encourages me and impresses me is the depth of detail posted and more, the fact that long before the United Nations wasted its time and efforts in bringing in Richard Goldstone and his prominent ego, Israel had already investigated itself and answered properly.

Yes, there are accidents and mistakes in war - that's part of what makes it war. There are innocents that died - but where Richard Goldstone's ego easily overpowered his intelligence was in his failure to note the fundamental difference between Israel and the enemy it fought in Gaza. His unforgivable failure was that he did not note that OUR target was Hamas while trying our best to avoid innocent non-combatants, while Hamas' target were innocent Israelis and if they managed to hit soldiers too - all the better.

There will be no accountability in Gaza - only smiles for those innocents the murdered and regret for those rockets they launched at Israel that failed to hit their mark. The Israeli response to Goldstone's commission is well delivered and will be ignored by the likes of Goldstone because it isn't the conclusion he was paid to deliver.

Open Letter to Barack Hussein Obama

2010-01-29T11:05:00.000+02:00

I received this recently and was so impressed, I decided to post it here. Full credit goes to the authoer cited below. These are her words, her concept...and the thoughts and messages many of us would like to send to President Obama as well. With thanks and full credit, I wish to share:

An Open Letter to President Obama

by Brigitte Gabriel

Dear Mr. President,

You face difficult challenges in matters such as achieving peace in the Middle East and protecting America from the threat of radical Islam and terrorism. These are challenges that have vexed past presidents, going as far back as our second president, John Adams. I have no doubt you appreciate both the gravity of these challenges and the enormous obstacles that exist to solving them.

I also have no doubt that you and your staff understood that, no matter what you said in your speech last Thursday in Cairo, there would be those who would take issue with you. That is always the case when attempting to solve problems that are as deep and emotionally-laden as these challenges are.

I am assuming it is your sincere hope that the approach you have chosen to take, as evidenced by what I’m sure was a carefully crafted speech, will ultimately prove successful. However, it pains me to say this sir, but, while you said in your speech that you are a “student of history,” it is abundantly clear that, in these matters, you do not know history and thus, as Santayana noted, you are doomed to repeat it. In doing so your efforts, however well-intentioned they may be, will not produce what you profess to hope they will produce.

A wise man once said that if you start with the wrong assumptions, no matter how logical your reasoning is, you will end up with the wrong conclusion. With all due respect Mr. President, you are starting with certain assumptions that are unsupported by history and an objective study of the ideology of political Islam.

You began in your speech by asserting that “tensions” exist between the United States and Muslims around the world, which, of course, is correct. Unfortunately, you then proceeded, incorrectly, to lay virtually all the blame for these tensions at the feet of America and the West. You blamed western colonialism, the Cold War, and even modernity and globalism.

A student of American history, who is not trying to reconstruct it to fit a modern politically correct narrative, would state that tensions between America and Muslims began with the unprovoked, four-decades long assault by the Muslim Barbary pirates against American shipping in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. I find it telling that you mentioned the Treaty of Tripoli in your speech but ignored the circumstances that led to it. That treaty was but one of numerous attempts by the United States to achieve peace with the jihadists of the Barbary Coast who were attacking our shipping and killing and enslaving our citizens and our soldiers – and who by their own admission were doing so to fulfill the call to jihad.

These jihadists were not acting to protest American foreign policy, which was decidedly isolationist, and there was no state of Israel to scapegoat. They were doing what countless Islamic jihadists have done throughout history – acting upon the hundreds of passages in the Qur’an and the Hadith that call upon faithful Muslims to kill, conquer or subjugate the infidel.

A student of world history would know that, for all the acknowledged evils of Western colonialism, these evils pale in comparison to the nearly 14 centuries of Islamic colonialism that began in Arabia under the leadership of Mohammed. The student of history would know that Islamic forces eradicated all Jewish and Christian presence from Arabia after Mohammed’s death, and then succeeded in conquering all of North Africa, most of the Middle East, much of Asia Minor, and significant portions of Europe and India – eventually creating an empire larger than Rome’s was at its peak.

The number of dead and enslaved during these many centuries of Islamic imperial conquest and colonialism have been estimated to total more than 300 million. What’s more, the wealth of many of the conquered nations and cultures was plundered by the Islamic conquerors, and millions of millions of non-Muslims who did survive were forced to pay onerous taxes, such as the “jizya,” a humiliation tax to the Islamic caliphs. Indeed, in some areas Christians and Jews were made to wear a receipt for the jizya around their neck as a mark of their dishonor.

These facts have not been invented by Christian or Jewish historical revisionists, but were chronicled by Muslim eyewitnesses throughout the past 14 centuries and are available to be researched by any person seeking an objective understanding of how Islam spread throughout the world.

You say in your speech that we must squarely face the tensions that exist between America and the Muslim world. That is a laudable notion with which I agree, but by casting Islam as the historical victim and the West (and by implication, America) as the aggressor, you do not face these tensions squarely, but alleviate the Muslim world from coming to grips with the jihadist ideology embedded in its holy books and acted upon for 1,400 years.

Even worse, you empower and embolden militant Islamists who regard your gestures as signs of weakness and capitulation.

The issue is not that all Muslims are terrorists or radicals or extremists. We all know that the majority of Muslims are not. We also know that many peace-loving Muslims are victims of Islamist violence.

The issue is this: what drives hundreds of millions of Muslims worldwide to call for the death of Jews?

What drives millions of Muslims to riot, destroy property, and take innocent lives in reaction to the Danish cartoons?

What drives tens of thousands of Muslims to demand the execution of a British teacher whose only “crime” was allowing her students to name their teddy bears “Mohammed”?

What drives countless Muslims worldwide to actively participate in, or fund, or provide nurture to, terrorist organizations?

What drives Muslims in mosques in America to proclaim and distribute materials that call for hatred of and the destruction of infidels?

What drives entire Islamic countries to prohibit the building of a Christian church or synagogue?

To assume, as you apparently do, that what drives these actions is not an ideology embedded in the holy books of Islam, but rather other “root causes,” most of which you lay at the feet of America and the West, is at best naïve and at worst dangerous.

Lastly, I must address your statement that “Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance.” Unfortunately, the examples you gave are the exception rather than the rule.

Historically speaking, I seriously doubt the Egyptian Copts, the Lebanese Maronites, the Christians in Bethlehem, the Assyrians, the Hindus, the Jews, and many others who have been persecuted by Islamic violence and supremacism, would agree with your assertion.

For instance, Christians and Jews became “Dhimmis,” a second class group under Islam. Dhimmis were forced to wear distinctive clothing; it was Baghdad’s Caliph Al-Mutawakkil, in the ninth century, who designated a yellow badge for Jews under Islam, which Hitler copied and duplicated in Nazi Germany nearly a thousand years later.

I witnessed first-hand the “tolerance” of Islam when Islamists ravaged my country of birth, Lebanon, in the 1970’s, leaving widespread death and destruction in their wake. I saw how they re-paid the tolerance that Lebanese Christians extended toward them. My experience is not an isolated one. When you make an unfounded assertion about the “proud tradition” of tolerance in Islam, you do a great disservice to the hundreds of millions of non-Muslims who have been killed, maimed, enslaved, conquered, subjugated or displaced – in the cause of Islamic jihad.

Mr. President, those of us like me who are ringing the alarm in America about the threat of radical Islam would like nothing better than to peacefully co-exist with the Muslim world. Most Americans would like nothing better than to peacefully co-exist with the Muslim world. The obstacle to achieving this does not lie with us in America and the West. It lies with the hundreds of millions of Muslims worldwide, including many of their spiritual leaders, who take seriously the repeated calls to jihad in the Qur’an and the Hadith. Who regard “infidels” as inferior and worthy of conquering, subjugating and forcibly converting. Who support “cultural jihad” as a means to subvert non-Muslim societies from within. Who take seriously the admonitions throughout the Qur’an and the Hadith to convert the world to Islam – by force if necessary – and bring it under the rule of Allah.

Unless you are willing to courageously and honestly accept this, your aspirations for worldwide comity and peace in the Middle East are doomed to fail.

Sincerely,

Brigitte Gabriel

Brigitte Gabriel is the New York Times bestselling author of They Must Be Stopped: Why We Must Defeat Radical Islam and How We Can Do It. She is the founder and president of ACT! for America, www.ActforAmerica.org .

Israel rescue teams return home

2010-01-27T18:01:00.001+02:00

The video says so much; so much more than words. The medical equipment that saved lives returns with our doctors and nurses and rescue to teams. It leaves behind a land that must come to terms with one of the worst natural disasters in recent years. The words of the Israeli commanding officer explain all there is to say:

Today, Tuesday, the 26th day of January, the IDF hospital in Haiti is finishing its assignment. We came to #Haiti to assist, to save lives, to reach out, but above all - to give hope. We are here to show that even in the toughest of situations one can still be a symbol of hope, wherever he is. We cannot stand aside.

We represent the IDF, the people of Israel, the State of Israel. Few others have this strength, this willingness, this determination to help. You did this as human beings, in the spirit of the IDF and the values of the Medical Corp. I am proud of you. I salute you

The IDF leave behind leaving 1150 blankets, 30 tents, 500 mattresses, 200 sleeping bags, bandaging gear, surgery equipment, incubators and kitchen equipment. They take with them a 5-year-old boy in need of complex heart surgery.

They take with them the scenes and memories and leave behind the gratitude of many. Where they were, where they are, and where they go as they return home - in all places, they have our love.

Haunted by a Phrase

2010-01-24T12:45:00.000+02:00

Remember that in the final choice, a soldier's pack is not so heavy a burden as a prisoner's chains.

~ Eisenhower

I read this line this morning and my first thought was of Gilad Shalit. It is so true - what a heavy burden Gilad and his family have borne for more than three years, more than 1,300 days. I am, as I think of Gilad, haunted by this simple phrase...

A Baby Named Israel (A Haiti Story)

2010-01-17T21:26:00.000+02:00

Perhaps this video speaks for itself. In the midst of the horror of a national tragedy in which tens of thousands of people (if not more) have lost their lives and a country is devastated beyond the human mind's ability to grasp, comes an amazing story of life and hope...with the help of one woman wounded, God who enabled her to survive...and a willing team of Israeli doctors.

A baby is born...and for all his life, will carry the name of those who cared, those who came half way across the world to help him - introducing...Israel.

Customer Service in Israel

2010-01-17T14:05:00.000+02:00

It's almost a national joke. Everyone complains about customer service in Israel - mainly that all too often, it seems that there isn't any. I recently wrote about the Jerusalem Post (still unresolved) and others on an email group list joined in with their complaints about government agencies, health funds, telephone, etc.

And I wrote this response and decided I liked it enough to post it here:

Customer service - it differs from company to company, day to day, industry to industry. I walked into a small store years ago in the middle of Jerusalem to try clothes on with my daughter. We were there longer than we expected. She was in the dressing room...the meter was running out. I didn't know what to do...bombs were exploding, you see - in Jerusalem and elsewhere almost every day. What would I do if my daughter and I were separated...stupid, right? Should I leave her? Should I just get the darn ticket?

I looked at the storekeeper; I need to put money in the meter, I explained. This is a man who had seen it all...so many times...he understood immediately. Go, he told me. I'll keep her inside here. Don't worry.

I ran to the car listening for an explosion; threw in my change listening for an explosion and ran almost the whole way back - listening for an explosion. Is that customer service? I don't know...but that is so much Israel.

I made an appointment with an event planner at the Kotel last January to guide us through my youngest son's bar mitzvah. We finalized the time in the morning - a busy morning when there would be dozens of bar mitzvahs because it was a Thursday...the week when many American yeshivot have off and their parents come here with their bar mitzvah-age children. But then Israel went to war...my oldest son was called down to Gaza and everything started going crazy. I had to deal with a bar mitzvah...who could think about that in the midst of everything else?

The organization called me up wanting to confirm 8:15 a.m on Thursday morning. I started to cry. My son is near Gaza, I explained. He might be able to come home. The war should end...maybe...but if they don't let him come home before, maybe they'll give him a few hours, but there's no way he could get to the Kotel by bus in time...I might be able to drive down there and bring him back for a few hours...but I don't know if I can get there and back before 8:15 a.m. Traffic...I don't know. And the woman said - go...and don't worry. And when you get there - whatever time, we'll do this. Is that customer service? I don't know...but that is so Israel.

I would put these two events above all the Bezeks and Jerusalem Posts and Kupat Holim stories.

To me, it all boils down to one issue - I'd take the worst customer service in Israel...just to have the joy of living here. I'll fight Jerusalem Post (who has now confirmed that we canceled in February but hasn't confirmed they are returning our money). I'll fight kupat holim or Bezeq. Sometimes, I'll win...sometimes I'll lose.

And when I lose - I'll think of the storekeeper and the event planner because really, what they gave me is worth more than whatever money other companies may succeed in cheating me out of along the way.

Haiti and Israel

2010-01-16T22:36:00.000+02:00

In 1947, the fate of the future state of Israel teetered precariously. It was thought to come down to three votes...one was Haiti. The nation of Haiti voted for the Partition Plan - a call for the establishment of a nation for the Arab population...and the re-establishment of a nation for the Jewish population that had been sent into exile and had, in recent years, rejoined the remnants of the small Jewish community that had never left.

Israel was created in May, 1948 to the joy of Jews around the world, and the seemingly ever-lasting hatred of the Arabs. Israel and Haiti established full diplomatic relations, but beyond that, we are worlds apart in many ways.

A devastating earthquake shattered heavily populated areas of Haiti just days ago. Israel immediately began preparations to do what it has done repeatedly - in Kenya, Turkey, Indonesia and elsewhere. Teams of doctors have left Israel to set up a field hospital and care for the wounded; our Homefront Command has already sent a delegation to help in the search and rescue.

And on the side, another effort, quiet and modest, is taking place. We are searching for our own. How many Israelis are missing; how many Jews. Immediately but quietly - aware of the massive devastation, we learn there are were 8 Israelis missing - all have now been located safely. This hasn't stopped the amazing effort to help others...it just quiets a small place in our hearts as we once again turn to help others.

Jerusalem Post Subscriber Abuse Story

2010-01-13T15:41:00.000+02:00

This was sent to us recently:

WARNING TO CURRENT AND FORMER JERUSALEM POST SUBSCRIBERS:

If you canceled daily delivery of the Jerusalem Post (or for that matter, any delivery related to this organization)...check your bank and credit card statements. Last February, we suddenly realized we hadn't been getting the Jerusalem Post for a long time...during the entire Gaza War and even before. We waited a day - and sure enough...no paper. We called them up and told them. We explained that while our son was in Gaza, we were preoccupied and getting minute by minute news on the Internet. Who noticed we weren't getting their paper? I had other things on my mind! Their initial response was that they offered to send us the day's paper. Bully for them...we demanded a refund. They offered a week's refund. We told them we could confirm, without question, not having received it from before the war, through the current date - minimum of 6 weeks.
I told them I wanted them to check with the delivery person. A day later, they called back and said they did and he was telling them he delivered it every day. Lies...We said - we've been customers for 6 years; we want to speak to that delivery person and hear where he thinks he's delivering the paper...no response; they refused. We said, if you won't credit us...cancel the subscription - that was back in March after we spent many days trying to get them to fix the problem. They refused to credit more than a week. We told them to cancel EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.

Well, today, 8+ months later, they called their "active customers" to make another offer. I said, "we aren't active customers."

Turns out - they have been charging our credit card for the last EIGHT+ months...SIX of which, we haven't even been living in the same house where we used to get delivery. The house we rented then is still empty...no one lives there - and amazingly enough, there is no stack of delivered newspapers - not a single copy, never mind an eight-month build up.
I told this to the Jerusalem Post representative...he said they can cancel the paper, if I want. I said, "CANCEL WHAT???"
Yes, that's right - we are entitled to sue them, if we want, says the customer representative, but they can't give us credit for the money they stole from us.
I wanted credit for six-eight week during which time they did NOT deliver a paper back in Dec/Jan of last year. That would have amounted to a credit of less than 300 NIS. Instead, their stubborness cost them 1,760 NIS and counting...or should have if they did as we told them to do. So, for the last 10 months or so, they have been taking our money despite our having cancelled...and supposedly have no record of all the mess back in Dec/Jan - several calls with many people about our complaint, our follow-up and the final decision to cancel in March, 2009.

I can tell you that I will not be buying the Jerusalem Post this week. I am furious at such a blatant attempt to steal money from clients. The fact that all our complaints and conversations were not recorded in the record, including our demand to cancel back in March is a major indication of how bad the situation must be there.

If you cancelled the Jerusalem Post any time recently, I strongly suggest you follow up in writing to them - and even then, don't trust them to follow up. Cancel with your bank. Apparently non-delivery of services means nothing to the Jerusalem Post and pointing out that we moved from the house they were supposedly delivering it to over 6 months ago delivers nothing. Our former neighbors certainly would have told us if the paper was there; our former landlord would have come screaming. I have been past the old house...nothing.
I am completely disgusted with the attitude of the Jerusalem Post. So, if you cancel - do it in writing- even a registered letter and follow up by canceling your credit card or bank order. Do NOT trust them to honestly stop pulling money from you if they can.

I'll let you all know if the situation changes, but in the meantime, I'm still waiting for some manager to get back to me. Yeah, apparently, I can hold my breath.

A VERY Former Jerusalem Post Subscriber

Bloggers to Watch in 2010

2010-01-13T11:36:00.001+02:00

In the world of Jewish and Israeli bloggers, there are so many amazing blogs to watch in the coming year. There are those who are on the cutting edge of reporting what is happening, those who present challenging and interesting stories in a way that touches and explains, and those who simply defy all supposed rules of journalism to simply show Israel as it really is - through humor, through love, through the lens of a normal day.

Bloggers to watch...who report fast and accurately:

The Muqata (http://www.muqata.blogspot.com/)
Israel Matzav (http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/)
IsraellyCool (http://www.israellycool.com/)
Life in Israel (http://lifeinisrael.blogspot.com/)

Bloggers to watch...who simply write about Israel:

A Soldier's Mother (http://www.israelisoldiersmother.blogspot.com/)
A Mother in Israel (http://www.amotherinisrael.com/)
This Ongoing War (http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.com/)
Treppenwitz (http://bogieworks.blogs.com/treppenwitz/)
What War Zone (http://www.whatwarzone.com/)

How Small is Israel?

2010-01-11T11:17:00.000+02:00

Our adopted son #2 told us about an adorable site filled by people posting some pretty funny stuff. Most are just cute...some cross the line. It's a cute site. It has thousands of such posts...where people do something and it backfires or someone says something that they meant as a compliment, but was an incredible insult, if they would have just taken the time to actually think.

The site is www.fmylife.com (read it at your own risk).

The posts are sorted by many factors...one is by country. I clicked on Israel to see what sort of things were posted by my fellow countrymen (and women). I expected to see a drop-down list of countries, instead I was presented with a world map. I slid the cursor across the face of the world...Turkey...Jordan...Egypt.

I'd missed Israel...I tried again - Saudi Arabia...Egypt...Jordan. No matter how I tried, I couldn't see Israel. I've been on sites before that intentionally left out Israel...and I began to think this was the same.

And then, somehow, I managed to place the cursor just so...a fraction of a millimeter on the scale of that map was enough to render Israel all but invisible.

That, I realized, is how small Israel really is.

A Message to Our Arab Neighbors: From Danny Ayalon

2009-12-21T16:32:00.000+02:00

Since the re-establishment of our state, Israeli leaders have sought peace with their Arab neighbors. Our Declaration of Independence, Israel’s founding document that expressed our hopes and dreams reads, “We extend our hand to all neighboring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighborliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help.”

These words are as true today as when they were first written in 1948. Sadly, 61 years later, only two nations, Jordan and Egypt, have accepted these principles and made peace with the Jewish State.

Recently the Israeli government has made significant steps to restart negotiations with the Palestinians and reach out to the Arab world. In his Bar-Ilan speech in June, Prime Minister Netanyahu clearly stated his acceptance of a Palestinians state living side by side in peace and security with the State of Israel. My government has removed hundreds of roadblocks to improve access and movement for Palestinians and has assisted the facilitation of economic developments in the West Bank, through close cooperation with international parties to expedite projects and remove bottlenecks.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, a right-wing government has, in an unprecedented move, declared it would refrain from building new settlements in the West Bank. All of these moves taken together amply demonstrate Israel’s willingness for peace.

This Israeli government is also committed to extend a hand to all of our Arab neighbors, its leaders and its citizens, to join together to face some of the major challenges facing us all in the coming years.

For the first time in many years, we find ourselves on the same side in seeking to quell and defeat the forces of extremism and destruction in our region. While many see the threat from Iran directed solely at Israel, we in the region know differently. Together, we understand the menace that emanates from the extremist regime in Tehran.

A regime that seeks to export its extremist ideology across the region and beyond, while arming terrorist groups that seek to destabilize moderate Sunni regimes and aiming for hegemonic control of the Middle East and far beyond.
The Iranian regime has many tentacles spread out across the region sowing destruction and despair amongst the people.

The enemy of the people of Lebanon is not Israel, but Hizbullah. The enemy of the Palestinian people is not Israel, but Hamas. The enemy of the Egyptian people is not Israel, but militant Islamist opposition groups. All of these groups, and many others, receive their commands from Iran, who wish to control and suppress any aspirations the region has towards freedom and advancement.

Iran seeks to hold an entire region, including its own people, to ransom and keep it engaged in conflicts orchestrated and directed from Tehran. Whether it is in Morocco, Iraq or Yemen, Iran is constantly interfering with Arab sovereignty for their own nefarious gain. Israel and its Sunni neighbors alike are in the sights of Khameini, Ahmadinejad and their minions.

If Iran is able to attain nuclear weapons, the situation becomes inexplicably and inexorably worse. The Iranian regime has demonstrated that if feels unrestricted in its ability to dominate our region, a nuclear umbrella will only embolden its acolytes to act unrestrained to the detriment of us all. Only together can we face this threat and remove it.

Another issue that entails mutual political will to overcome is the threat of climate change to our region. Many reports and organizations are pinpointing the Middle East as an area that will suffer gravely as rain falls even more infrequently and temperatures rise.

Recently, the leading international scholars on climate change met in Copenhagen and released an important report on this issue. They claimed that climate change will exacerbate conflicts and increase strains and violence among competing groups. We are already witnessing water rights and growing desertification as underlying reasons for the intensification of conflicts in our region.

“Making the desert bloom” has been a core component of the Zionist ethos and successes throughout the decades. Israel has been able to turn desert into arable land and barren landscapes into forests. We constantly share our agricultural miracles with our friends in Africa and Asia and it is for this reason that many countries of the developing world have sought partnership with Israel in addressing their own agricultural challenges.

However, as Israel’s founding fathers wrote in 1948, Israel is prepared to do its share in a common effort for the advancement of the entire Middle East. Our partners in peace, Jordan and Egypt, and especially the Palestinian Authority, bear witness to our endeavors in this direction. Israel has actively cooperated with Egypt on the “Mubarak Project” for the establishment of an irrigation demonstration system in Nubariya and annually trains hundreds of Jordanians in Israel in fields such as sustainable eco-friendly agricultural methods.

For us to be able to face these and many other challenges, we need to break with the paradigms of the past. The Jewish people are here because of our historical, legal, moral and national rights.

Those naysayers who can not countenance a Jewish political presence in the region will doom all of us to many more decades of conflict and instability. It is time for courageous leaders to emanate from the Arab world as did Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1979 and Jordan’s King Hussein in 1994 and recognize that peaceful coexistence is far better for all of our people than enduring conflict and enmity.
We recognize that the Arab Peace Initiative is an important document, and is welcomed in Israel as a crack in the denial of an Arab recognition of Israel. However, like the Palestinian Authority’s dictates to Israel on the peace process, it remains frozen in 1993.

Since the historic handshake between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat on the White House lawn, Israel has taken major strides both politically and strategically towards the Palestinian position.

Both in 2000 at Camp David and in 2008 during the Annapolis process, Israeli prime ministers offered the Palestinians everything possible for peace and on both occasions the Palestinian leadership rejected these offers. The Palestinian Authority, like the Arab Peace Initiative, is still holding to its maximalist positions and has not moved an inch towards Israel since 1993. These positions are obviously untenable for peace and reflect a worldview that ignores Israel’s significant gestures and seeks to enforce a solution that will mean the end of the Jewish State. Recent Palestinian and Arab League declarations only enforce this view.

It is surely time to look to the future and break with former intransigence to create a better future for all the people of the region. Israel has gone very far and is prepared to do its part, but we must be met by a willing partner. Without this, the region is doomed to more conflict and will negate the unity of purpose in the Middle East that is necessary to face the mounting challenges from without and within.

From Danny Ayalon is the Israel Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
This was released to the Saudi newspaper media and is now appearing on many Israeli sites.

Defiance...Israel Style

2009-12-17T20:06:00.000+02:00

Let me introduce my country to you. Israel. We've been hit by 12,000 rockets in 8 yrs. One artist has done something amazing. He's collected rockets and sculpted them into roses. Buy a rose, and part of the proceeds goes to building shelters.

Israel: From rocket to rose...to shelter:
http://www.rocketsintoroses.com/products.html

Amazing! Simply amazing. If you can donate to this cause, and buy a rose...or join together with others...it would be amazing. I think I'm going to start a fund and save up for one for myself. What an incredible statement. Each rose has a stamp indicating the date and location or the rocket attack from which it was sculpted.

IDF to the People of Israel on Chanukah

2009-12-16T13:41:00.000+02:00

Three of Israel's top generals delivered messages to the people of Israel on Chanukah. They were messages of concern, of serious and deliberate thought. Israel is at an important time in its history and amazingly enough, more than 61 years into our history, still in danger. During one of Israel's happiest holidays, it was, as Gabi Ashkenazi pointed out, a "somber" message indeed.

Here's what they had to say:

IDF Chief of Staff Lieut-Gen Gabi Ashkenazi said “The situation can change. It can be in these days or in the days to come. We harbor no illusions and we are sober.”

"Whether it is a matter of months or years,” said Maj-Gen Yoav Galant, Head of Southern Command, “we see the ill-boding clouds in more than one place. We need to utilize the time that we now have in order to prepare – for war or for smaller threats.”

Military Intelligence Chief Maj-Gen Amos Yadlin said “Syria, Iran and Hizbullah have the ability to threaten Gush Dan [Tel Aviv area]. Our enemies do not rest for a moment. Even the lecture hall we are in is now under threat of steep-trajectory fire from three different fronts.Taking Damascus out of the circle of hostility and ending its support for terror will reduce the threat on Israel. In 2009 Iran accumulated enough uranium for building its first bomb at the enrichment facility at Natanz, but at a level of enrichment that is lower than that needed [for a nuclear bomb]."

Statement from PM Netanyahu's Bureau on UK's Arrest Warrant

2009-12-16T12:25:00.002+02:00

Statement from PM Netanyahu's Bureau

(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu views with utmost gravity the attempt to issue an arrest warrant in Great Britain against Opposition Leader MK Tzipi Livni.

The Prime Minister said this morning (Tuesday), 15.12.09: "We will not agree to a situation in which Ehud Olmert, Ehud Barak and Tzipi Livni will be summoned to the defendant's bench. We will not agree that IDF commanders and soldiers, who – heroically and in a moral fashion – defended our citizens against a brutal and criminal enemy, will be condemned as war criminals. We reject this absurdity outright."

Prime Minister Netanyahu instructed National Security Adviser Prof. Uzi Arad to deliver a clear message on this issue to British Ambassador Tom Phillips. Accordingly, Dr. Arad spoke with Ambassador Phillips and made it clear to him that the Government of Israel expects the British Government to act against this immoral phenomenon which is trying to impair Israel's right to self-defense.

John Demjanyuk - May the Sins of your life haunt you forever

2009-12-04T00:10:00.000+02:00

I know that going to many sites is just going to annoy me. Why? Why did I bother reading the CNN posting about the Demjanyuk trial? I can't answer that...but I will answer the many, many comments that spoke of a frail man, a poor, hunted man...and other comments that border on, and even cross all lines of decency into the realm of anti-Semitic.

So, here is my view:

I have no mixed feelings, no hesitation, no doubts. That this man escaped justice for a quarter of a century does not mean he is innocent. He is old and he is frail...well, his victims never got the chance to be either.

I want to see him stand trial...and if he can't stand...let him sit there.

I want to see the trial continue - even if the man drops dead in the middle.

I want to see the evidence spoken out loud; his crimes detailed.

I want him to be sentenced to spend the rest of his cursed life in prison - in bed, in a chair, I don't care.

No mercy...no forgiveness? It's a question - and my answer is - as much as he showed his victims.

I want to thank those who offered intelligent comments above...and shame on those who used this forum to spout yet more anti-Semitic drivel (rmartin, for example).

If to save his own life, he had to help murder 27,000 people (and I believe, actually, the number is 29,000, not 27,000...than his life should have been forfeited. He had no right to life by choosing to kill others.

You do the crime...you do the time...whether it was last week or last century. May John Demjanyuk never have a sleep-filled night in this world or in the next. May he be haunted by his crimes and know that long after he is dust...the children of those who survived will curse his memory and dedicate their lives to preventing others from committing similar crimes.

With Pride and Determination

2009-11-28T21:21:00.000+02:00

An Open Letter to Bibi Netanyahu from a Former Likud Member

By: Paula R. Stern

One of the first things I did in the early years after making aliyah more than 16 years ago, was join the Likud party. It was the party of Menachem Begin; it was the party of strength. It was a party not afraid to make peace and not afraid to wage war. It did both with pride and determination. From Menachem Begin, the torch was handed to Ariel Sharon.

He stood gazing at the Mediterranean from a hill a few minutes from my home and explained that it would be insane for Israel to pull out of Samaria (Shomron). “You don’t surrender the hills,” Sharon said that day.

I voted for Sharon, as I would have voted for Menachem Begin if I had managed to come to Israel at a younger age. With pride and determination. I gave him my vote because I believed he would uphold the vision of the Likud party – strength, honor, and an unwavering commitment to the land and people of Israel.

Sharon lied. Beyond the corruption that he and subsequent Israeli leaders have shown, Sharon committed the worst sin imaginable in political life. He betrayed his followers. He stole my vote and used it to evacuate Gush Katif. He did it with malice and cruelty, to a people who had supported him, trusted him.

I vowed to quit the Likud but friends convinced me that the worst of the party had pulled themselves out into Kadima and that the Likud that remained would return to its roots. I wanted desperately to believe. One last time, I listened to the voices who spoke of party strength and vision, a commitment to the land of Israel and the future.

I believed and voted for Bibi Netanyahu as the only viable candidate to save us from worse and almost immediately after my vote, I realized that I had been wrong. The dream of the Likud is gone. Lost. Betrayed. Gone.

A few months ago, I called my bank and canceled my membership in the Likud. “Not with my vote,” I told my friends. Whatever Bibi Netanyahu will do, it won’t be with my support.

Tonight, he betrayed the Likud members, as surely and as completely as Ariel Sharon betrayed the residents of Gush Katif and northern Shomron. With pride and determination, I tell you, Bibi, you do not have my support. You do not have my vote and you do not have my faith.

We have no peace partner. You know this, you have said it enough times. But you will do this – stop building in our land, in exchange for promises of American support from Barack Hussein Obama. What a fool you are and what a fool you have made of Likud.

But this time, it was not with my support. This time, Likud veers to the left and I continue on the path that Menachem Begin and others proposed years ago. There will be peace when the Palestinians accept who we are, what we are, and where we are.

All you do, as Sharon and Rabin did before you, means nothing if you can’t accept that simple fact…and more, if you lack the courage to explain it to the world. The closer you convince the world we are to this imagined peace you seek, the sooner bombs will start exploding in our streets. Hamas will push you back to sanctions and actions so that they can cry their tears and demand world condemnation.

And when the bombs explode…you’ll order a closure to try to prevent further attacks. And the world will condemn us again – as they did the last time, as they always do. This freeze means nothing other than your complete lack of courage.

You shame the Likud party; you shame Menachem Begin. Without doubt, Ariel Sharon and Yitzchak Rabin would take pride in what you’ve done tonight because in the end, what mattered to them, what matters to you, is what the world says, what the Americans think.

And so, you have betrayed your supporters and followed well in the paths of other recent Likud leaders. But what you haven’t done, is shame me because I disengaged from Likud, I left, I surrendered the party to you, but not the land.

As the old adage goes: Fool me once, shame on you – that was Ariel Sharon. Fool me twice, shame on me. You didn’t fool me, Bibi – I left Likud and in my leaving, I take my pride, my determination, and my love of the land of Israel.

There are words that become associated with people. Neville Chamberlain will forever be tied to the word “appeasement”. Ariel Sharon will be remembered for betraying his followers and you, Bibi, will be remembered for your stupidity.

Release of a Daughter's Killer to Free a Son

2009-11-23T12:29:00.000+02:00

I received this from a friend. I cannot imagine their pain. How do you choose between the agony of one set of parents versus the agony of another set? Can Gilad's parents stand if it their son is not freed? Can Malki's parents stand it if her killer is?

What message do we send when we release 1,000 prisoners for one young man, no matter how precious he is to all of us? Will the release of Ahlam Tamimi and the others come to haunt us in the future with more violence and death?

Malki Roth was a beautiful, innocent teenager who went out for pizza with her friends on a lovely summer day in Jerusalem. We have no words we can offer to comfort her parents this day and likely none that we can use in the future when Tamimi and others like her return to their violent ways.

Tamimi was sentenced to 16 consecutive life terms for her participation in the murder of Malki and the others at the Sbarro Pizzeria that horrible day in August. She served but 5 years for her crimes. There is no justice in this, no comfort - only pain.

How to you free your daughter's murderer to save your son? How can you bear to break a vow to her that justice, at least, will be served?

How do you leave your son alive for years, held prisoner and abused and alone without breaking your heart and your vow to him? I have no answers, only deep pain for all the parents, for all of us. There is no victory here, no win-win situation.

From Frimet and Arnold Roth...on the murderer of their daughter, Malki

Dear friends,

Earlier today, we sent a letter to the cabinet members of the government of Israel. The following is an English translation of what we wrote to them.

Like the rest of the Jewish nation, we yearn to see Israeli hostage Gilad Shalit back home with his long-suffering parents as soon as possible.

But it is with indescribable pain that we read about the impending mass release of the convicted murderers of Israeli civilians and soldiers. Those of us who still personally feel the agony of the terror attacks of the last few years have failed to motivate our leaders to free Gilad Shilat via alternative means.

Among the prisoners to be released will be the convicted mass murderer Ahlam Tamimi [ http://www.kerenmalki.org/Sbarro_Massacre.htm]

And among the victims whose sacrifices will be denigrated is our precious child, Malki [ http://www.kerenmalki.org/A_Beautiful_Life.htm]

Tamimi is unique in several ways. As such, she should be treated differently from other convicted murderers.

While she is a woman, and for this reason accorded relatively compassionate coverage by the media, Tamimi is a far more prolific murderer than most of the men she will accompany. She slaughtered seven men and women and eight babies and children in cold blood. Tamimi personally led the suicide-bomber, Al-Masri, right up to entrance of the target she herself selected, Jerusalem's Sbarro restaurant, made a hasty getaway to save her own skin, and then, in effect, "fired her weapon". Few of the prisoners on Hamas' demand list were so intimately involved in the terror attacks for which they were convicted and sentenced. Those who were, usually died in the attack.

Tamimi was sentenced to 16 consecutive life sentences, and has been in prison for five years. Few of the murderers Israel has agreed to release have spent so brief a period behind bars.

She has enjoyed the notoriously comfortable conditions that Israel lavishes on female Palestinian prisoners, including: the freedom to dress in clothes of her choice - she swapped her secular garb for Muslim fundamentalist scarf and robe; the opportunity to grant interviews to writers and to a documentary film-maker, thereby gaining widespread international media coverage and air-time for her hateful values; the unfettered opportunity to practice her religion to the fullest extent; the option of higher education - she was a university student and part-time journalist at the time of the murders; the time to socialize and politicize with her fellow terrorist-prisoners. Few male Palestinian murderers enjoy conditions as generous as Tamimi's.

Tamimi has declared unequivocally that she has no regrets about what she did. In one of her media interviews, permitted by the Israel Prison Service, she is quoted saying: “I am not sorry for what I did. I will get out of prison and I refuse to recognize Israel’s existence… Discussions will only take place after Israel recognizes that this is Islamic land”.

Several years ago, Tamimi spoke with Barbara Victor, author of “Army of Roses: Inside the World of Palestinian Women Suicide Bombers” (London; Constable & Robinson, 2004). In her book, Victor writes that Tamimi “didn’t regret the deaths of all these children” and said “They should have returned to Poland, Russia or the United States, to the countries their parents came from”.

Of the other convicted terrorists to be freed, none – as far as we know – has made such egregious and documented statements of un-repentance.

Abdullah Barghouti, another mass murderer who prepared the bomb that slaughtered the Sbarro victims and who is also slated to be released in the Gilad Shalit exchange, publicized his lack of regret as well. But he qualified this by saying: "I do not accept responsibility for their deaths. I feel pain, of course. They are little children. But the government of Israel is solely responsible."

When, during the filming of a documentary, Tamimi was informed that the number of children she had murdered was higher than she had herself presumed, she smiled with pleasure into the camera.

The Sbarro bombing remains one of the most horrific acts of terrorism that Israel has ever known. It decimated an entire family, the Schijveschuurders; the father, mother and three of their young children died instantly, leaving behind four orphans. It robbed a couple of their only child, pregnant with her first baby when Tamimi murdered her. It sent a young mother into a coma from which she has never emerged; her ravaged life is never included in the tally of Tamimi's victims.

The evil that Tamimi embodies is special, and deserves treatment distinct from that of the other terrorists.

We recognize, as many observers have pointed out, that Israel has probably bungled the handling of Shalit's return. The damage has been done and there is no turning back the clock. We are resigned to the fact that releasing terrorists for Gilad Shalit's return means that Hamas will commit fresh kidnappings.

We also fear that Israeli soldiers, sent by their commanders to risk their lives in the pursuit of suspected terrorists, will now wonder whether they should die just so that another name is added to the next prisoner-release list.

Removing Tamimi's name from the list will enable Israel to demonstrate some vestige of strength, conviction and morality. This is a message which needs to be heard by its citizens, its enemies and the world. Please support our efforts to bring this about.

Frimet and Arnold Roth
Jerusalem
family.roth.jerusalem@gmail.com

New Program to Supply Israel's "Life Angels"

2009-11-10T20:11:00.000+02:00

Understand that Israel's enemies are surrounding her with missiles and rockets?

I thought this post particularly timely, considering that just today, the IDF confirmed that all of Israel's major cities, including Jerusalem, are now within rocket range of Hezbollah's weaponry.

* * * * * *

Understand that terrorists are targeting population centers?

Understand that the next "war" will likely include mass civilian casualties and trauma?

Want to do something about it?

The Israel Emergency Aid Fund is providing prayer, financial support, medical equipment and supplies to first-responders in Israel's north and south in support of programs such as "Israel Life Angels," "Operation Lifeshield" and others who are doing G-d's work by building the necessary infrastructure.

Israel Life Angels, the Emergency First-Responder Volunteer Program and The Israel Emergency Aid Fund are looking for friends with a heart for Israel all over the world.

This website will give you an oversight of the goals and highly qualified personnel involved: http://www.evp.org.il

The Israel Emergency Aid Fund representative plans to be in the United States during early December to meet with Christian friends with a heart for Israel and begin the process of recruiting volunteers to come and assist Israel's civil society during times of crisis.

We would like to have Hanukkah candle-lighting ceremonies in as many communities as might be arranged during a short trip, and to spread the word and ask special communities to join us in doing the Lord's work:

We are looking for communities with a heart for Israel who are willing to create a full-fledged relationship with us:

Physical: Volunteers (firefighters, clowns, musicians, welders, general task)
Spiritual: Prayer for specific first-responders and their families
Educational: Updates from the field about Israel, the ME and the first-responder's lives
Commercial: Purchase of particular Made in Israel products in a one-off design
Financial: Offerings for first responder equipment and active duty fire-fighters

If possible, we would like your help, involvement and advise in the development of this important new program in your community.

With the abundant blessings of Jerusalem,

Adi Zahavi
Israel Life Angels
Israel Emergency Aid Fund
http://www.evp.org.il

YNET Owes Shderot Residents an Apology

2009-11-09T13:32:00.000+02:00

Beyond the insensivity is the incredible inaccuracy of YNET's recent article on a missile attack. Today (November 9), YNET reported that a bit after midnight, a kassem rocket was launched at Shderot, landing just outside the city. Moments before, a Code Red siren sounded.

YNET offered a bit of background, as follows:

Since the end of Operation Cast Lead in early 2009, a relative state of calm has been maintained around the Gaza Strip, despite occasional shooting incidents, attempts to place explosives and the firing of Qassam rockets.

"A relative state of calm", "despite occasional shooting incidents...and the firing of Qassam rockets"?

The rocket that hit Shderot last night was number 271 since the end of the fighting during the Gaza War, which ended on January 18, 2009, when Israel pulled its troops out of Gaza. Israel ended the war, by many accounts, because of the anticipated pressure the new Obama government would bring to bear immediately upon taking office.

This was rocket 271...in 296 days. That doesn't seem to be occasional... and those under the skies where these missiles fell certainly would not consider it a period of "relative calm."

It is bad enough when foreign media ignore the missiles - it is intolerable when our own media does the same. Shame on YNET - they owe the people of Israel's southern regions an apology.

They can start off by bringing their whole staff to Shderot and having them remain there for a few days...let's see then how insignificant these rockets will seem, how calm these times, now occasional these rockets!

Gracious and Honest: Israel's Ambassador to the UN

2009-11-05T09:39:00.000+02:00

Statement by Ambassador Gabriela Shalev to the United Nations General Assembly
Report of the Human Rights Council (Agenda Item 64)
4 November 2009

At the outset, Mr. President, I wish to convey the condolences of the government and people of Israel to the most recent victims of terrorism. Our thoughts are with the more than 150 innocent men, women and children slaughtered in Baghdad by suicide terrorists. Our sorrow is with the more than 100 victims of the brutal terrorist attacks in Peshawar and Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Our grief is with the families of the six United Nations employees - working in the name of peace - who were murdered by terrorists in Kabul.

We will not forget the victims of terrorism in New York, Washington, London, Madrid, Bali, Lockerbie, Riyadh, Amman, Mindanao, Istanbul, Nairobi, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Sinai, Buenos Aires, Mumbai, Beslan, Islamabad, Algiers and so many others who have endured the evil of terrorism.

Terrorism deprives people of their most basic human right - the right to life.

States have not only the right, but indeed the duty, to pursue those who engage in the barbaric tactics of terrorism. States sponsoring terrorism - members of this organization - that actively engage in activities, such as smuggling of weapons, ammunition and terrorists by sea, air, and land, must be held accountable before the international community.

Yet today, Mr. President, rather than confronting terrorism, the General Assembly chose again to detach itself from reality. Today's debate is anything but genuine and candid. Rather than discuss how to better stop terrorist groups who deliberately target civilians, this body launches yet another campaign against the victims of terrorism, the people of Israel.

The report before you was conceived in hate and executed in sin. From its inception in a one-sided mandate, the Gaza fact-finding mission was a politicized body with predetermined conclusions.

It is the product of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, a body whose obsession with Israel has led it to pass more resolutions against Israel than on all other U.N. Member States put together. This same Human Rights Council rejected any investigation regarding the constant firing of 12,000 rockets and mortars by Hamas, over eight years, on towns and villages in Israel.

The basic human rights of nearly one million Israeli citizens did not matter then. Are we now to believe that the Council's latest incarnation is honest, objective and fair?

Cynical political maneuvers, not principles, have brought the Human Rights Council to export this report to New York. But the flaws of the report before you are not merely procedural. It is irreparably tainted; it bends both fact and law.

Justice Goldstone himself publicly conceded that if his fact-finding mission had been a judicial inquiry, a member of his team would have been disqualified for outright bias against Israel.

Nevertheless, the report makes sweeping judicial determinations of criminal wrongdoing in the absence of crucial information. It makes explosive charges against Israel yet the evidence provided to support such accusations is at best uncorroborated, and at worst false. In certain cases, the report makes conclusions based upon the absence of evidence to the contrary. In others, the author's mere opinions serve as the evidence. Time and again, the report inverts Israel's unprecedented extensive efforts to save civilian lives as proof that any civilian casualties were therefore deliberate.

This is not honest fact finding. But this is not all.

Justice Goldstone himself admitted that the Mission had deliberately selected incidents so as to evade the complex dilemmas of confronting threats in civilian areas. The report ignores the reality of terror activity and the complexity of military challenges in fighting terrorists in urban warfare. It ignores overwhelming evidence that Hamas intentionally operated from densely populated areas and from within hospitals and mosques, and booby-trapped civilian structures.

The report makes no reference to the recruitment and exploitation of civilians by Hamas and its use of human shields. It undermines every democracy defending itself against terrorist attacks. It concedes that the rule of law will be replaced by the rule of terrorism.

But this is not all.

The report dismisses Israel's independent legal system, to which I am a proud member of. It disregards Israel's extensive criminal investigation process of allegations of misconduct by Israeli armed forces. In so doing, it effectively calls into question the internal investigation procedures of the armed forces of most democratic states.

Mr. President,

Israel is committed to acting in accordance with international law. The rules of armed conflict are part of the training of every Israeli soldier. Israel is committed to investigating every allegation of misconduct by its forces. These commitments are derived from our timeless values, and our longing for peace.

Mr. President,

Israel believes in a vision of peace. We believe in the vision established by the United Nations of two states for two peoples. But the Goldstone report and this debate do not promote peace. They damage any effort to revitalize negotiations in our region. They deny Israel's right of self-defense.

If Israel is asked to make concessions for peace we must be assured of the right to defend ourselves. We must know that terrorists will not have impunity as they turn our gestures of peace into weapons of war.

Thank you, Mr. President.

We Defeat Ourselves - JTA Blows the Call

2009-11-01T21:37:00.000+02:00

Last week, after more than a decade in court with appeals and counter appeals, an Israeli court finally ruled that an old man who had proven that he owned some property, had the right to evict Arabs who had squatted on his property, denying him access and failing to pay rent.

Finally, the man was clear to reclaim what the courts carefully had determined was his. The man went with several others to hand out eviction notices. The Arabs seemed to have been expecting them and began pelting them with rocks. In an attempt to defend themselves after two had been hit by rocks (one in the head and one in the chest), one 63-year-old man pulled out a gun and shot in the air.

As is often the case when an Israeli fires into the air, several Arabs complained to the police that they had been injured. One man insisted he had been shot in the hand and showed the police a scratch. Had the man been hit, explained the Israeli who shot in the air, the man would have lost his hand because of the nature of the bullets he had in his gun.

No, there were no injuries among the Arabs and the police quickly released the Jews that had been taken into custody based on Arab charges and complaints.

What is amazing, however, is how Israeli media covered the news report. I have heard the story directly from someone who was there, one of seven, the wife of the man who fired into the air. She explained to me that it was only when the Arabs started advancing towards her and throwing rocks at her, that her husband raised his gun.

This is Israel - we must defend ourselves. This is, as the man later told the police, our country and if someone throws stones at you when you have broken no law (unlike the people illegally living in the old man's house), you have the right to self-defense.

Yes, this is Israel, but sadly, so is the other side. I have doubts whether anyone from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) spoke to any of the Jews involved in the incident - it certainly doesn't seem so from the ridiculous headlines they used:
"Jews arrested in brawl over home ownership."

A brawl? Doesn't that give the hint of guilt on both sides? Jews with the backing of the Israeli courts went to issue eviction notices to illegal residents and were attacked with stones. This is a brawl? One wonders whether it is perhaps time to buy JTA a dictionary.

The absurd title is only one inaccuracy. Of course, no one was injured among the Arabs; no one was shot in the hand or elsewhere. According to the witness I spoke to, the police watched the video she had taken and quickly agreed that the claims were false and that there was no way any Arabs were shot by this man's bullets.

Also, telling, however, is the file name (URL address) of the JTA article. While they decided to be a bit more diplomatic in the headlines, the assumption of guilt was there in the file name: "http://jta.org/news/article/2009/11/01/1008854/right-wing-jewish-activists-detained-after-brawl-with-arabs-in-jerusalem."