Is That L'chayim Kosher?

The story:

Beer that tastes like breakfast? It almost sounds too good to be true, but until relatively recently in beer-making history, it was the norm: Before the mid-1700s, barley used for brewing was dried over wood fires, and all beers tasted a little smoky as a result. Today, we may have the technology for pale, clean-tasting malt, but smoked beers are making a comeback, from Bamberg, Germany's traditional Rauchbiers to more-creative interpretations by America's best craft brewers.

These probably aren't beers you'll want to order by the pint at your local watering hole — they're a bit intense and bizarre-tasting unless you drink them with food. The good news is, they're the best possible accompaniment to smoky, slow-cooked meats like barbecued ribs, cheeses like cheddar or gouda, Chinese food (especially if it involves sesame oil, black bean sauce, or hoisin), Mexican food (especially carne asada or anything in a mole sauce), game meats, burgers, mushrooms... you get the picture. Discover how much better these foods are with smoked beer, and you'll never want to be Rauchbier-less again...my favorite might be the darkest (and most local) of the smoked beers I've had recently. Captain Lawrence Brewing Company in upstate New York makes a delicious smoked porter that smells a bit like a coffee milkshake with candied bacon in it (hey, that's not a bad idea!). It's creamy and understated with roasty chocolate notes that make grilled steak or lamb chops taste even richer.

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Sovereignty Park Dedication at Givat Assaf

The pictures from the dedication ceremony of Sovereignty Park at Givat Assaf with the participation of David Rubin of the sponsoring Shiloh Israel Children's Fund, MKs Arieh Eldad and Michael Ben-Ari, Yesha Council Chairman Dany Dayan, local council officials, guests and residents.

Here are two:

Credit: Miriam-Feyga Bunimovich


UPDATE

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Prophetic Fulfillment in Jerusalem?

News item on March to Jerusalem by Pals. & supporters which I previously blogged -

[a] most high profile event on the horizon is the Global March to Jerusalem, which is encouraging activists worldwide to gather in convoys and head together to Jerusalem on March 30th, or “Land Day” a day Palestinians mark the killing of six Israeli Arabs over a land dispute with Israeli authorities in 1976. the Global March’s logo says a lot: a map of Palestine including all territory from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River, with Israel completely wiped off the map. The map is painted in green, the signature color of Islam, suggesting organizers view their struggle as a religious one.


...Activists plan to gather in areas bordering Israel, including Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority.

Well, could this be this prophetic fulfillment?

4 For thus saith the LORD concerning the eunuchs that keep My sabbaths, and choose the things that please Me, and hold fast by My covenant: 5 Even unto them will I give in My house and within My walls a monument and a memorial better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting memorial, that shall not be cut off. 6 Also the aliens, that join themselves to the LORD, to minister unto Him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be His servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from profaning it, and holdeth fast by My covenant: 7 Even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer; their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices shall be acceptable upon Mine altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.

Just kidding.

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The "Rainbow in the Night" Shoah Clip

Here:-



(kippah tipShearim)

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Meeting Your Deadline

.

...when a journalist mentioned writing on deadline, he said:

“You’ve got a deadline. Well, I do too: death.”

He smiled. “It tends to insert itself into our considerations.”

And, not to be that forlorn, he added:

“It’s probably not a good idea to do an autopsy on a living thing.”

Leonard Cohen


(Listen to his new album)

P.S.  Just now found this:

To see Cohen play was to gawk at an aging Jew telling you that life was hard and laced with sorrow but that if we love each other and f___ one another and have the mad courage to laugh even when the sun is clearly setting, we’ll be just all right. To borrow a metaphor from a field never too far from Cohen’s heart, theology, Morrison, Hendrix, Joplin, and the rest were all good Christians, and they set themselves up as the redeemers who had to die for the sins of their fans. Cohen was a Jew, and like Jews he believed that salvation was nothing more than a lot of hard work and a small but sustainable reward.

The Jewish messiah, it turned out, was a gaunt poet with a guitar who promised not to whisk us away to some other, better world but to teach us how to come to terms with this one.

 and

Joan Baez was equally baffled. “People say that a song needs to make sense,” she told the filmmaker. “Leonard proves otherwise. It doesn’t necessarily make sense at all, it just comes from so deep inside of him, it somehow touches deep down inside other people. I’m not sure how it works, but I know that it works.”

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Mount Zion Going Catholic?

A good friend sent me this news item:

After 18 years of tough negotiations, the Catholic Church agreed to waive its demand to receive sovereignty over the Cenacle (the location of the "Last Supper") on Jerusalem's Mount Zion. In return, Israel agreed to consider giving the Church access to the place and even consider a leasing option.

I replied

if we don't get full equivalency visitation rights to the Temple Mount, why this?

To which she responded

On the grand scale of things you have a point, but back on the ground among Israeli diplomats and negotiators its apples and oranges – Vatican and Wakf . Take it up with Daniel Ayalon. Looks Gregorian chants and high mass now be heard on Diaspora Yeshiva grounds and throughout the area of the traditional Tomb of King David.

And I came back with

look on the bright side, if the RC Church can claim "historic rights" from mid-4th century to a building that originally was a synagogue, well, I am on the right track.

The Temple Mount was a temple before being a mosque compound.


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Canadian Chutzpah

No, not in the case of the Shafia Family slaughter.

In the matter of the Ramallah Showdown:-

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty journeyed to the West Bank on Monday to beard the Palestinian lions in their den. Over lunch with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, then later with Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Foreign Minister Riad Maliki, the Ottawa tag-team went out of its way to impress upon the Palestinian leadership that it should abandon its efforts to obtain United Nations recognition and return to the negotiating table with Israel “without preconditions.”

It was chutzpah of the highest order.

Adopting a harder line than any of Canada’s allies, Mr. Baird told Mr. Maliki, then repeated it in front of reporters, that it was “profoundly wrong” to take the case for Palestinian statehood to the United Nations, and it is far preferable to resume negotiations with Israel than insist that Israel halt settlement construction before resuming direct talks.

“Unilateral action by either side is not helpful,” Mr. Baird acknowledged in an apparent reference to new Israeli settlement construction. “But the two sides would be better off talking [to each other] rather than not talking.”

As for Hamas, many of whose members are being held in Israeli and Palestinian prisons, Mr. Baird said, “We have no interest in interacting with Hamas. It is a terrorist organization.”

...“You’re not a terrorist organization,” he said, “if you renounce terrorism ... if you recognize the right of Israel to exist ... if you support a Jewish homeland in the state of Israel ... if you respect and honour peace treaties entered into with Israel.”

The list is in keeping with that set out by the Quartet...But it has one significant addition: the acceptance of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people, an addition that was carefully noted by Palestinian officials...A Palestinian official later said they found Mr. Baird’s bluntness “refreshing.”

“There’s no mistaking where he stands,” the official said, somewhat admiringly.

-   -   -

...In a presentation on Monday evening to a private gathering at the Herzliya Conference, Mr.Baird, who is on his third visit to Israel, explained why the Harper government “believes so passionately in Israel’s right not only to exist, but to exist as a Jewish state and to live in peace and security.”

...“The easy thing to do,” Mr. Baird said, “would be simply to go along with anti-Israeli sentiment to get along with other countries.

Taking a swipe at Canada’s own historical stands on Middle East issues, Mr. Baird, who has been Foreign Minister for eight months, said “it would be easier to pretend that engaging in anti-Israeli rhetoric is being somehow even-handed and to excuse it under the false pretence of being an ‘honest broker.’”

“But Canada will not ‘go along to get along,’” he said.

O Canada!

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On Conflict of Interests

Haaretz is trumpeting:

Lawyer who worked for outposts to sit on Israeli government panel to legalize them

A lawyer appointed to serve on a government committee seeking ways to legalize illegal settlement outposts was on the payroll of a settlers' organization advocating such legalization until nine days ago.

And the government-employed lawyer who screwed the issue up, making claims that were incorrect and unfactual and provided a highly subjective viewpoint on the matter of outposts, Talia Sasson, had joined the extreme radical-progressive Meretz Party and ran for Knesset at slot number 7.

Conflict?

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On the Quality of the Land of Israel's Sacredness

-

A real territorial exception, the land of Israel is far more than a territory. It is the image and the sign of the Jewish exception. Its intimate link to God sends back to God’s intimate link to Israel. Any change of the relations between Israel and its land is nothing but the clear sign of a change of its relations with God. However, no alteration of this kind is irrevocable and definitive. And none is as deep as appearances seem to tell. The land is a person endowed with will, which may be negative or favourable, now accepting now rejecting its inhabitants. Those who live on it, breathe a pure air and its dust for those buried in it has an expiatory power, comparable to that of the altar of sacrifices. Its successive conquerors did not manage to put down roots, which reveals its positive resistance to any illegal takeover. The land of Israel is hit by nothing but what it accepts to be hit by. Essentially pure, nothing could possibly stain it. The destruction and the oppression of a foreign ruler only has a limited impact on it: perhaps the divine impulse from above is no more as intense as it used to be, but evil has no grip on it, and it has itself the power to reject impurity. To consider that the effects of impious acts committed in the Holy Land through centuries are non-existent or fundamentally inessential is a way of implying that the relation of history to it, is like water off a duck’s back. The land of Israel is no more in history, but out of it. The rags of spoliation and destruction mask an essential, divine and unchanging land whose present troubles by no means affect it and which, some day, once again, is to reveal itself in all its untarnished glory. Indefinitely idealised, the land medieval Jews are dreaming of is this land toward which they turn to pray thrice a day. But it is also far more than that, and really something else. The more it is perceived as holy, the more it is lived as different – and as terrible.

The modern Jewish Zionist-inspired ideology, of course, tended to claim that after destruction and dispersion nothing in fact had jeopardised the Jews’ relationship toward the Holy Land and that this land had never even been weakened by some symbolisation of the sacred space or by the transfer of this sacrality to whatever space or institution.

From a lecture by Jean-Christophe Attias and Esther Benbassa: ISRAEL, THE LAND AND THE SACRED

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Nahum Goldmann and I

Researching material, I came across this excerpt from the article, A CHANCE NOT TAKEN - Zionist-Hungarian diplomatic co-operation in the second half of the 1930s, by Attila Novák :-

In February 1938 [Jewish Agency representative to the League of Nations Nahum] Goldmann came to Budapest to carry out negotiations once again. His planned speeches were permitted by the Ministry of Home Affairs only after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs exerted serious pressure. The reason why there were problems with permission was that the revisionist Zionists circulated pamphlets and announced that they would disturb the visit, therefore the deputy head of the state security department of the police wanted to dissuade the Zionists from delivering the lecture. The reason why the Zionist right-wing disliked Goldmann was not related to the Hungarian problems, but to the fact that Goldmann, as the deputy of the Jewish Agency at the League of Nations, supported the plan for the division of Palestine, and opposed the revisionist slogan 'Jewish state on both banks of the Jordan'. [72] The Association took special precautions: the invitations to the lecture were distributed only after strict checking, and they planned to employ the civilian police of the National Association of Veteran Soldiers. The importance of the event is demonstrated by the fact that at the cabinet meeting on 4 February Kánya, minister of foreign affairs, interceded with József Széll, minister of home affairs, on Goldmann's behalf. There are no documents about the conversation with Gábor Apor, but we know that the visit had no direct consequences. On 4 February Goldmann had a talk with Tomcsányi, state secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, and was promised that the request of the Pro-Palestine Association to renew the authorisation for collections would be granted shortly. While in Budapest, Goldmann met with representatives of the Erez Yisrael ha-Ovedet, who shared with him the grievances of the Zionist left.

72. There were vehement articles which referred to the visit of Nachum Goldmann in Bne Betar, the organ of Hungarian right-wing Zionists: ‘A peches külügyminiszterjelölt’ [The unlucky candidate for the post of minister of foreign affairs] and ‘Tanulmány Út’ [Study tour]. Cp. Bne Betar, January 1938, p. 15 and March 1938, p. 31.

Funny, but in January 1967, I, and a dozen other Betarim from Israel, the US, Canada and France, demonstrated in Jerusalem's Binyanei HaUmmah against Goldmann at a session of the Vaad Hapoel-Zionist Executive in-between Zionist Congress.

We were protesting his position on the issue of demonstrations for Soviet Jewry which was to downplay the campaign and adopt a very servile diplomatic approach.

To avoiud detection, we wrapped banners around our bodies under our outer garments. I was participating on the Machon program and so there was a bit of tension as we were under the auspices of the Jewish Agency's Youth & Hechalutz Department at the time. It didn't bother our reputation amongst the Machoniks though.

We were hustled out from the balcony by the police and pushed downstairs and out the main steps where our picture was taken and pubished in the papers the next day.

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Netanyahu's Remarks on "Remaining"

From the GPO report:

...I will sign a permanent agreement only if it includes Israel's remaining in the Jordan Valley.  Nobody can ensure this but us.  I think that we are acting responsibly and prudently and are seeing to the security of the State of Israel.  This requires Israel to remain in the Jordan Valley."

Coming to make sure we stay at home?

Like in

I looked over Jordan, and what did I see


Coming for to carry me home?

A band of angels coming after me,

Coming for to carry me home.

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Pizza in Shiloh!

We now have pizza (and more) here in Shiloh:

Open from 12 - 22:30, Tel. - 02-5799951

A recent group that had pizza and salads and more:-

Credit: Ella Koblentz

More pics.


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The Golan's Jewish Property

Guy Bechor has an article - here in Hebrew - on Jewish landholdings in the Golan Heights/Syria from the renewal of Zionist redemption of the land activity:-

The green illustrates areas of Jewish development and in the next map, I've added the English names:

In 1891, 25,000 dunams were purchased there. Within a half a year, another 25,000.

According to the sources, including this book and others, upwards of 100,000 dunams (25,000 acres) of Jewish legally registered property exists in Syria.

Here's a book which is one source in English:-

If Syria ever becomes free, let's hope for genuine coexistence.

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From Slick to Sick - Isn't Silverstein Fiendish?

First laugh I had was when this popped up on my screen:

And then, I caught this comment of his:

Tablet Magazine's disgusting graphic infers calling someone an 'Israel Firster' does the work of Hitler

but then I saw this caption of his to this photo:

"Imagines"?  No, that's Silverstein febrile imagination.

Slick Dickie?

Nope.

Sick Dickie.

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Muhammad's Impotence

Found here on p.97 of U. Rubin, “Muhammad the Exorcist: Aspects of Islamic-Jewish Polemics”. Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 30 (2005),:

...[it] emerges in extra-Quranic hadith sources...[that] Jews appear as practicioners of magic and withcraft, and at least on one occasion they are said to have succeeded in bewitching the Prophet [Muhummaed], causing him a serious illness, which one may consider as demonic possession. The illness consisted of temporary impotence... (Source - Michael Lecker, "The Bewitching of the Prophet Muhaamad By The Jews", Al-Qantara 13 1992, and David Cook, "The Prophet Muhammad, Labid al-Yahudi and the Commentaries to Sura 13", Journal of Semitic Studies 45 2000)

Know your theological history.

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"If It Weren't for Those Jews, Then...."

That "if it weren't for..." bit there was for these two gentlemen who have been promoting a thesis that over the past few years has become, basically, untenable:

For the first time, the true history of ancient Israel as revealed...and a controversial new take on when, why and how the Bible was written...Here, at last, two of archaeology’s leading scholars shed new light [but the article quoted there proves the Biblical chronology as regards Shiloh - YM] on how the Bible came into existence. They assert, for example, that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob never existed, that David and Solomon were not great kings but obscure chieftains and that the Exodus never happened.  They offer instead a new historical truth: the Bible was created by the people of the small, southern nation of Judah in a heroic last-ditch attempt to keep their faith alive after the demise of the larger, wealthier nation of Israel to the north. It is in this truth, not in the myths of the past, that the real value of the Bible is evident.

They can, oddly enough, still be criticised by those from the otheerside who find their criticisim not adequate:-

Two archaeologists, one Israeli (Israel Finkelstein) and one American (Neil Asher Silberman), have bizarrely managed to repackage a Taliban-like ancient biblical legal code into a modern enlightened expression of human rights, human liberation and social equality.

Presumably this is done in order to preserve some (mythical) legitimacy for traditional claims among certain Jewish quarters that it is Jewish heritage that has been the harbinger of humanity’s modern spiritual values. One wonders if there is also a need to legitimize the claims of modern Jews to the land of Israel by appealing to a historic presence that must be justified in spiritual as well as mere ‘genetic’ terms.

Finkelstein can be critical of presumptuous cklaims about Israel's archaeological worj and its personnel,. as here, for example:-

for the record, it must be said that the most devastating damage inflicted on antiquities in Jerusalem was the bulldozing of (mainly Islamic) antiquities from the Temple Mount by the Waqf – the Islamic religious authority which controls the Temple Mount. This was done in the course of consructing a mosque under the el-Aqsa mosque. Work there was carried out savagely, with no inspection by archaeologists.

Finskelstein has revised his data at times, to ther chagrin of the critics of Zionism:

During his presentation, Israel Finkelstein revised his dating, and stated that he was now dating the transition from Iron Age I to IIA to about 950 BC. This was momentous. Based on their experiences in the Philistine areas and sites such as Lachish, Ussishkin and Finkelstein have been dating the start of Iron Age II to 920–900 BC and they, along with many others, have used this dating to argue that David and Solomon did not exist...This report is illuminating. Dr. Finkelstein is well-known for his skepticism towards the Bible, so this backtracking is rather surprising. Let us see if he remains consistent, or if he recognizes that he dropped the ball for his fellow skeptics everywhere. In either case, his bias against the ancient text of the Bible should be recognized by anyone who wants to be remotely fair minded and intellectually honest.

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And There Was a 1943 Partition Plan

This map

is from here and described here (on p. 44):

After 25 years of fruitless negotiation for Jewish-Arab co-operation, a map dated December 1943 proposes a scheme for the partition of Palestine. The attached report reflects a note of dissent that the planned land redistribution heavily favoured Jews and would incite Arab revolt.

The Arabs consistently and always refused to accept any territorial compromises whereas, despite internal disagreements, the Zionist Movement always, in the end, accepted the principle.

But it never worked.

And it will not work today.



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Shiloh Is On The List

Good news:

...at the Likud ministerial meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu said that he hoped that former Supreme Court justice Edmund Levy would head the outpost committee that he hoped to finally form this week. The committee is expected to examine land status issues in the West Bank.

Shiloh is # 209 on the list. (here too)

As for Levy:

Levy's most important verdict so far - and one of the most important ones ever issued by the Supreme Court - is his minority opinion, against 10 colleagues, about the disengagement. Levy wanted to accept the petition and annul the Evacuation-Compensation Law and the entire pullout. For example, he said that in extreme cases the court must intervene when elected public officials deviate from the platform on which they campaigned and break their promises to their voters. His ultra-interventionist approach was also reflected in the issue of demolishing the Gush Katif synagogues during the pullout. Levy wanted to oblige the state to negotiate with the Palestinian Authority before making a final decision to demolish the synagogues.

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Burkha Irk: Death Threat For Dance & Fashion Moves

Reported (k/t=AtlasShrugged):-

Dutch satirist Johan Vlemmix has decided not to perform his latest hit Do the Burqa onstage following death threats.

Any wonder?

I will make no comment on their music, her dancing abilities, her body qualities or her fashion statement.

But it is news.

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Boycott, Not. Buycott A Lot!

Clever, actually:-

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Found on the Web: Is Jordan "Palestine"?

Here at IsraPundit

The “Jordan is Palestine” solution has been mooted for decades. It is now gaining traction due in part to the Arab Spring which began a year ago. Jordan now is feeling the tremors. The majority of Palestinian leaders in Jordan, favour Jordan becoming a democratic/secular state. They have watched in dismay as similar forces in Egypt were overwhelmed by the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists. They are determined not to share their fate. They are lead by Mudar Zahran the author of Jordan’s King and the Muslim Brotherhood: An Unholy Marriage.

Zahran in his ground-breaking article, “Jordan is Palestine” published by Middle East Forum in December 2011, argues:

“Empowering Palestinian control of Jordan and giving Palestinians all over the world a place they can call home could not only defuse the population and demographic problem for Palestinians in Judea and Samaria but would also solve the much more complicated issue of the “right of return” for Palestinians in other Arab countries. Approximately a million Palestinian refugees and their descendants live in Syria and Lebanon, with another 300,000 in Jordan whom the Hashemite government still refuses to accept as citizens. How much better could their future look if there were a welcoming Palestinian Jordan?

“The Jordanian option seems the best possible and most viable solution to date. Decades of peace talks and billions of dollars invested by the international community have only brought more pain and suffering for both Palestinians and Israelis—alongside prosperity and wealth for the Hashemites and their cronies.”

The rationality and achievability of this solution, needs no elucidation. It only needs the US to get behind it. While such an initiative by the US would be a departure from the position it has held since the founding of the State of Israel, it would not be a departure from her original position. As noted in the proposed Florida Senate resolution mentioned above, such a position was “affirmed by both houses of the United States Congress,” in 1922. These resolutions unanimously endorsed the “Mandate for Palestine,” confirming the irrevocable right of Jews to settle in the area of Palestine – anywhere between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea”

And Zahran’s brave stance in which he wants the new Jordan, governed by Palestinians, to embrace Israel in true friendship, is also not new or novel. It is a return to Emir Feisal’s warm embrace of the Jews in 1919.

Think about these:

was Palestine more that Israel + Judea & Samaria ('West Bank')?

if so, were should a territorial compromise establish borders?

were there previous territorial compromises? did they work? do they Arabs accept the idea at all?

is "Palestinianism" a nationalism that has nothing to do with the 'East Bank'?

if it does, who are the Hashemites? are they foreign occupiers?

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Eruv Alert

Sent out last Friday:

Main Holliswood Eruv is UP

Cunningham Park Extension is UP

Hollis Hills Extension (Union Turnpike) is DOWN

Main Hollis Hills Eruv is UP

 

Shabbat Shalom

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Media Words of Wisdom

Who dictated that current affairs programs must be broadcast on Shabbat? And if they must be shown on Shabbat, why do they not at least record the program during the week? Several paranoid viewers told me that those programs are shown on Shabbat because that is the only way the white tribe can maintain its hegemony, since a large percentage of the public does not watch those programs or participate in them. And the people who do not watch or participate in the programs, for the most part, belong to conservative groups, which are not exactly the producers' and hosts' cup of tea.

I do not believe there is a conspiracy here though. The pseudo-satirical shows are broadcast during the week, and they too, not surprisingly, feature the same people or conceptual clones...

Dror Eydar

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The Tahrir Square Rape

Yes, rape, not demonstration nor rally.

Kippah tip (k/t) to Challah.

Snap shots from the video:

Blondes do not have more fun, at least among some Egyptian men.

P.S.  Don't forget, though, virginity tests by police supposedly have been halted.  And for those who seem to feel I was being flippant about a serious matter, let's just say I am amazed that women are surprised by such attacks (there were three others that same evening as above and a well-publicized one on Mona Elthaway.


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Another Fisk Flop

Robert Fisk is at it again.  Notice his not-so-subtle besmirching here:

...as Professor Ian Buruma pointed out recently (and earlier), the political heirs of "deeply racist traditions" are the new champions of the Jewish state, whose policies now owe more to 19th-century ethnic chauvinism than to Zionism's socialist roots. All kinds of strange people now give their support to Israel. It is disturbing to note that the Oslo mass murderer, Anders Behring Breivik, supported the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from the West Bank. That's not Israel's fault.

Of course it's not Israel's fault but, well, Fisk wouldn't mind you dwelling on the angle and, perhaps, hating Israel.

And as for those "socialist roots",  Zionist thought, that is, genuine Jewish national expressions, institutions and practice predate modern socialism by, say, 2500 years or so.  Perhaps socialism and/or liberalism were departures from the original concepts of Jewish national life as practiced by two Jewish commonwealths and kingdoms and tribal federations and family establishments. And he continues to drop his 5 kilo hammer:

Israel, which in the past could analyse events rationally, if not always correctly, appears, too, to have lost its ability to grasp events, its Prime Minister hiding behind self-delusional speeches...When Netanyahu and the king of Saudi Arabia could line up to plead with Obama to save Mubarak, you knew something had gone terribly wrong. Gideon Levy, one of the finest of Israeli journalists, writes with biting eloquence of his government's folly, its failure to see that Arab democracy is a cause for good, not bad...And, all the while, the settlements continue. Which is why the Palestinians will not resume peace talks with Israel under the grubby neutrality of the United States.

Liberal Jews in America are ever more outraged at this phenomenon. They have often seen something faintly fascist about the right in Israel. Indeed, I have a letter beside me as I write, sent to The New York Times on 2 December 1948, warning of the visit to the US of the young Menachem Begin whose "Freedom Party", said the letter's authors, was "closely akin in its organization, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazi and Fascist parties". Among the authors of this letter was Albert Einstein...

In brief, (a) "democracy"? but the Islamists have some 70% of Parliament and will take the Presidency come summer. what "democracy"? it's all fundamentalist Islam. (b) "they", those "liberal American Jews" are but one part of American Jewry, a small part but over-proportionately represent in the media by people like....Robert Fisk. (c) if anyone cannot analyse events rationally, it is Fisk and, through him, liberals, Jews and non-Jews, end up hating Israel because that way they can hang on him their own radical ideas, all most illogical and irrational.

By the way, that anti-Begin letter can be read here and you can judge for yourself if those Jews were smart and corect - reminder: Begin mande peace with Egypt, surrendered all of Sinai, promised autonomy/self-governing authority, etc. and was against the Military Government of Arab areas in the pre-1967 era.

Woe those who hate, who do not know and who wish not to know - and who make sure others do not know the turth.

^

Quiz on Personal Security

And was this somewhere in Mandate Palestine? -

...activist Mariam Ragy, who was covering the violence in Kobry-el-Sharbat , said it took the army 1 hour to drive 2 kilometers to the village. "This happens every time. They wait outside the village until the Muslims have had enough violence, then they appear." She said that she spoke to many _____ from the village this evening who said that although their homes were not attacked, Muslims stood in the street asking them to come to their homes to hide. "They believed that this was a new trick to make them leave, so that Muslims would loot and torch their homes while they were away," said Ragy.

The answer - Here.

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Arab Female Modesty

And this was where?

It was strange to see most of the women with their faces covered some in traditional Arab garb others in fine black silken attire. It was not unusual for them to drop their face cover if they thought no other Arab was in the area and I was surprised to see they wore full make-up underneath.

Saudi Arabia?

Egypt?

Iran?

And when?


The answer.

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A 1947 Visit to the Temple Mount

Here, from the memoirs of Patrick J. Byrne who served in the Palestine Police 1947-1948:

We got off the bus and walked through the old bazaar to the Mosque of Omad, "The Dome of the Rock" which, for Muslim Arabs, is the holiest place in Palestine, built in 690 AD. This was once the site of the Jewish Temple, first built in 950 BC by King Solomon and rebuilt in 165 BC, the place of the Hanukkah battle. The mosque was a magnificent building with a dome made of 22 windows of mosaic.

We placed our weapons in a guarded outhouse and approached the entrance. Moslems remove their shoes before entering. How they ever find their own shoes when they come out is anybody's guess. It is a very grave offense to steal shoes from outside a Mosque. It is alleged, a thief is paraded through the city, riding backwards on an ass! with his crime printed on a board around his neck. Then he is sent to prison. Of course, if the police catch him first the ass ride is omitted. We, as non-believers, were allowed to rent overshoes made of paper.

Just as I reached the mosque I had an urgent need to rid my body of the few beers I had consumed on the way, purely medicinal of course. I approached an Arab guard and explained my predicament, as he could not speak English, I used signs. To my amazement he angrily told me "no, no women here this holy, holy place", so much for my skills at charades, becoming more demonstrative and adding audio, I got my meaning through. I was directed to a large building; inside cubicles with no doors lined the walls, each cubical had a tap of running water a foot high off the floor. Luckily my needs were simply met so I had no need to experiment. I was informed later that Moslems do not use toilet paper, or anything else, which can be written on, to cleanse himself or herself. They wash the needed parts with water using their left hands, and will only use the right hand for eating food, what lf you are a lefty? too bad I suppose.

I soon rejoined the group a wiser and by far a happier man.

The Mosque guide was old and kept mumbling 'this holy, holy, holy place' in broken English before describing anything, in fact they were the only clear words we heard. The Mosque was beautifully carpeted throughout. Directly under the dome was a huge rock on which, in the year 2000 B.C. Abraham was alleged to have offered to sacrifice his son. There was an outer circle around the rock, which had different altars. The pulpit and the roof, other than the dome, was made of carved wood, inlaid with gold and silver. No electricity was used; the only light was from numerous oil lamps and candles.

We were guided under the holy rock to the "Cave of the Prophet's". It was in this cave that Solomon and other saintly men were said to have prayed. There was a large hole in the center of the rock, which allowed light to illuminate the cave.

On leaving the Mosque of Omad [sic] we went across the Mosque Square to the Mosque of AI Aqsa. In front of which is a circular fountain-like structure, which served visitors to both Mosques, to cleanse their face, hands and feet before entering. Again, as non-believers, we were not required to do so. As far as the Arabs were concerned, we were a lost cause anyway. There were some men at the fountain preparing to go to prayer, this reminded us we had to be out of the Mosques by 11.00 hours.

The Mosque of Aqsa was shaped like a cross. The floor was covered with beautiful carpet. The guide pointed out the place where the Child Jesus was found preaching to the wise men. At the top of the cross was the high altar, when you face this altar you also face Mecca. Behind this altar was the High Priest's quarters. On the right hand side was the pulpit, which was made of, carved wood with no nails or screws. Huge white marble pillars, said to have been imported from Italy, each pillar in one piece, supported the roof. An earthquake in 1927 damaged the Mosque. The cost of the repairs, which were still being carried out, was underwritten by the Egyptian Government. It was a pity we could not stay longer in this wonderful place but our time was up and reluctantly we had to leave.

So, non-Muslims could visit the Temple Mount compound.



^

Another Reason Not to Eat Ham

Not only is it not kosher but dangerous:-

...Retired fork-lift driver Ronald Burns was tasting the meat at a branch of Sainsbury's during a weekly shopping trip with his wife Vera when a piece became lodged in his throat and he stopped breathing. Unaware that he had started choking, Mrs Burns walked away from the delicatessen counter and carried on with her shopping.

It was only when she wondered why her husband had not followed her that she returned and discovered him on the supermarket floor.

Mrs Burns then watched horrified as staff at the store in Hatch Warren, Basingstoke, Hants, desperately tried to revive her husband of 57 years.  He was taken to hospital, where doctors removed the five centimetre by three centimetre piece of meat.

However the 78-year-old had been starved of oxygen to the brain and died five days later.

^

Gat Wine?

The gat at Shiloh:

The explanation:

The winepress, (gat in Hebrew), is the area where the grapes were pressed. This was normally a limestone basin cut into the rock. Usually they were square but sometimes round...The winepress was usually close to the vineyard because there was less wastage and a greater opportunity to maintain control of the winemaking process...

Grapes would be carried in baskets and laid on the floor of the winepress, and the men usually did the pressing. This was done by treading on the grapes with bare feet. There was enough pressure to extract the juice but not enough to crush the grape pips and release unpleasant bitterness...The juice, or must (tirosh), would then flow down a gulley or channel from the main pressing area into a deeper hole, known as the yekev (literally “winery”). Twigs or thorns would be placed strategically to act as a rudimentary filter.

In the yekev, the wine would begin to ferment naturally. The natural yeasts on the skins of the grapes would find all the sugar in the grapes irresistible. The deepness of the hole and the stone surrounds would keep temperatures stable. Fermentation of the tirosh would take three to five days, and the result would be wine.

As soon as the production of carbon dioxide (a by-product of fermentation) finished and before the wine could begin to oxidize, the wine would be channeled into an even deeper pit, where Canaanite jars were filled. This was a pottery container with two large handles and a pointed bottom.

They became better known by their Greek name, amphorae. They were closed or sealed with pine resin. This imparted a unique flavor that may still be sampled in the retsina wines produced in Greece. The amphorae were stamped with seals giving the information of the vintage, vineyard, type of wine and color.

The Talmud describes 60 types of wines. Some wines were diluted with water. Others would invariably have flavors added to improve the taste and act as a preservative. Salt, seawater, herbs and spices such as cinnamon were added. Raisins or date honey were used as sweeteners. These flavored wines were forerunners of the punches or vermouths of today. Smoked wine was cooked wine. They were the forerunner of Mevushal wine, though it was done to concentrate the wine into a syrup rather than for kashrut reasons. Even in those days they knew about drying grapes on mats to concentrate the sweetness...

The Shiloh winery:

L'chayim!
^

Arabs as Nazis?

Go to MEMRI's Special Dispatch No. 4450 to see Palestinians in Lebanon Shown Saluting Nazi/Hizbullah Style on January 24, 2012 and aired on Palestinian Authority TV.

To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/3285.htm

^

Not Only Housing Construction and Population Up in "West Bank"

Not only is construction up in Judea and Samaria and not only is the Jewish population increasing, but even a firm called WestBank is showing profits:

West Bank earnings up 16 percent over year ago

The parent company for West Bank reported a profit of $3.7 million on Friday, a 16 percent increase over the same period a year ago, as total loans shrunk in the fourth quarter.

Profit for 2011 was $12.9 million, up from $11.1 million in 2010, as the company’s share price grew by 23 percent. It was the top performing Iowa stock last year.

Good for everyone around.

^

How A Funeral Causes Multiple Deaths

How?

When the funeral takes places in Baghdad:-

A suicide car bomb detonated Friday at a busy Baghdad intersection as a funeral procession was passing by, killing 32 people and injuring 65, authorities said.

It was the latest violent attack in the Iraqi capital in what seems to be an escalating series of bombings targeting Shiite Muslims. Many Iraqis have voiced fears that their nation could be entering a new phase of sectarian bloodshed.

^

Pal. Apartheid or Just Plain Religious Discrimation?

Reported:

Four Jewish pilgrims from the United States were arrested before dawn on Friday in Shechem as they sought to pray at Joseph's Tomb.
The four, associated with the Bratslav Hassidic group were confronted at gunpoint by Palestinian Authority police and taken into custody before reaching the grave site. They were handed over to Israeli police and taken to the Ariel police station.

"Americans are allowed to stay in Nablus and their summary arrest is a violation of international law," a friend of the four detainees said.

David Ha'ivri of the Shomron Liaison Office who has been directly involved in efforts to allow access for Jews to Joseph's tomb also decried the arrest. "This arrest show the irony of the false claims that Israel is apartheid. While Arabs have free access to all areas in Israel, Jewish people are denied access to holy places that are in PA areas administrated by the PLO," Ha'Ivri said.

"It is outrageous that this discrimination and harassment is going on while the PA is supported through funding of the American and EU governments. Joseph's tomb must be reopened for full free access for all Jewish people regardless to their citizenship," he added.

^

Snakes Being Bitten

Remember the incident of Syrian female soldiers biting into live snakes?

This Israeli goes one better and he's less than two:

Though rare, there have been recorded instances of "man bites dog." Boy bites snake, however, is an entirely different story. This week, Imad Gadir's mother, a resident of the northern town of Shfaram, was astonished to discover her 18-month-old toddler with a dead snake in his mouth.

...I woke up as well and went to Imad's room to give him some milk, and I couldn't believe my eyes: I saw him holding a long snake and biting its head," she recounted...[a] neighbor removed the snake from the toddler's mouth and that is when the plot took a twist: The bites to its head had killed the snake.

"We went to the doctor's office immediately and to the hospital from there to rule out poisoning," the mother said. Despite fears that the snake was a poisonous viper, it turned out to be a coin-marked snake (hemorrhois nummifer), a non-poisonous snake that resembles the viper.

After being examined for poisoning the boy was released. The doctors said he was in excellent health.

And yes, he's not Jewish.

^

Is This The Football Pitch in Mandate Jerusalem?

The great "Picture-A-Day" blog deals with soccer today, and Sabbath desecration tensions.

I think this may be the pitch to which he's referring:

This Hebrew reference notes that the field was home to first the British Police (so maybe mentions it) and four other teams.

Maybe Douglas Duff mentions it in his books -

1. Sword for Hire. The saga of a modern free-companion, etc. 1934.
2. Galilee Galloper. [A biography of Edwin G. Bryant, known as “Abu George,” formerly superintendent of the prison at Acre.] 1935.
3. Hammer of Allah. 1936.
4. The Horned Crescent. 1936
5. Palestine Unveiled, seemingly a reissued book or collection of the above four books.


P.S.

This article also contains relevant information, including:

The British Mandate warned about the expansion of the national tendencies of the social athletic clubs, Filastin in April 1921 published this excerpt:

Last Saturday was the inauguration of the cornerstone of the Sports Club in Jerusalem. The Palestine Weekly mentioned that Mr. Stores, the Governor of Jerusalem, insisted on the participation of everyone regardless of his religion or beliefs.

and this:

Sport was used as a cover for paramilitary activities especially by the Betar organization. Under the title (Jabotinsky’s Program: “Shooting” a Jewish army was initiated under the cover of clubs). Filastin published a translated article from the newspaper Ha-Mishkov that talked about the question of Palestine, It was argued in the article that establishing a military unit was difficult in the circumstances but imperative and sport clubs for youth could serve as a venue for military training.19

During that period, Filastin published a number of articles about Maccabi and Hapoel clubs, including accounts of their trips to Syria and Lebanon which indicated that the goals of these trips were to sustain the relationship between the organizations in these three countries.20

One of these articles under the title “ Insulting the Zionist Flag” described an incident when the Hapoel Club won a football match in Damascus. Its fans were carrying the Zionist flags and singing their national songs. This display provoked the Arab crowd and a fight broke out during which the Arab fans tore the Zionist flag.21 Also, some news was published about skirmishes between Jewish and Arab fans during the matches because of the bias of the referees.22 Most of this news carried a nationalistic undertone and aimed to reveal the rejection toward the Zionist project and its policies towards Palestine.

Starting in the 1920’s, Jewish clubs in Europe and the region began to come to Palestine to compete with Jewish clubs. They flew flags that resembled the Zionist flag, a provocation that local Arabs vigorously protested against to the British authorities. The executive committee of the Muslim and Christian Association sent the High Commissioner for Palestine protested against the flying of the Zionist flag at a football match held in Jerusalem on January 12, 1925, asking whether the ordinance regulating the flying of flags issued by the Government of Palestine in August 1920, had been abrogated.23

Another source.


^

Inventivity Goes Presidential

For the record:

...the reason that there's not peace between the Palestinians and Israel is because there is in the leadership of the Palestinian people are Hamas and others who think like Hamas who have as their intent the elimination of Israel.

And whether it's in schoolbooks that teach how to kill Jews, or whether it's in the political discourse that is spoken either from Fatah or from Hamas, there is a belief that the Jewish people do not have a right to have a Jewish state.

There are some people who say should we have a two state solution, and the Israelis would be happy to have a two state solution. It's the Palestinians who don't want a two state solution, they want to eliminate the state of Israel.

And I believe America must say the best way to have peace in the Middle East is not for us to vacillate and appease, but it is to say we stand with our friend Israel.

We are committed to a Jewish state in israel. We will not have an inch of difference between ourselves and our ally Israel.

This president went before the United Nations and castigated Israel for building settlements. He said nothing about thousands of rockets being rained in on Israel from the Gaza Strip.

This president threw (applause) … I think he threw Israel under the bus with regards to defining the 67 borders as the starting point of negotiations.

I think he disrespected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Bibi Netanyahu.

I think he has time and time again shown distance from Israel and that has created in my view a greater sense of aggression on the part of the Palestinians.

Mitt Romney, asked about how he felt
when asked by an American Arab who claimed to have been born in "Palestine" how he would bring about peace in the Middle East adding, "As a Palestinian American Republican, I'm here to tell you, we do exist."

_______________

As for Newt Gingrich at that same debate:

Palestinians are

technically an invention of the late 1970s, prior to that they were Arabs...[they] must also acknowledge Israel's existence if they want to prosper...If I do become president, I will sign an executive order directing the State Department to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to send the signal we're with Israel...

and this, too:

There were 11 rockets fired into Israel in November. Now, imagine in Duvall County (in Florida) that 11 rockets hit from your neighbor. How many of you would be for a peace process and how many of you would say, you know, that looks like an act of war?" Gingrich asked the audience...They can achieve [peace] any morning they are prepared to say, 'Israel has a right to exist, we give up the right to return, and we recognize that we're going to live side-by-side, now let's work together to create mutual prosperity,'

and here:

Newt Gingrich is defending himself after a questioner at the GOP presidential debate criticized him for calling Palestinians an invented people.

A questioner of Palestinian descent asked Gingrich how he could say Palestinians are “invented.”

Gingrich answered by reiterating his stance, saying that Palestinians were, in fact, invented in the 1970s. He says before that they were simply identified as Arabs.

USA Today mentioned none of this btw, while their blog noted:

"We are committed to a Jewish state in Israel," Romney says. "This president said nothing about the rockets rained on Israel from the Gaza Strip" and says Obama "time and time again has shown distance from Israel."

Gingrich now is defending his previous comment that the Palestinians are an "invented" people. He says they are "technically an invention" and "prior to that they were Arabs."

"Israel has a right to exist," he says, adding that Obama is undermining the peace process. He calls for the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, not Tel Aviv.

====

and I left these comments at the Washington Post story:

yisraelmedad wrote:

12:22 PM

The Arabs of the former territories of the Palestine Mandate are an example, the prime example, of the Inventivity Model of Nationalism (see: http://myrightword.blogspot.com/2011/12/model-for-... The League of Nations in 1922, and all major diplomatic discussions, decisions and conferences in the previous decade, recognized Arab rights to freedom from the Ottoman Empire everywhere in the Middle East - except the land which was defined as where the Jewish people had an historical connection, Eretz-Yisrael, and which was, as they decided, to become the reconstituted Jewish national home. And since currently the Palestinian Authority heads insist on disallowing Jews even to reside in the state they wish to create, it is obvious that their "nationalism" is not only invented but its prime purpose is to eradicate all physical, cultural, spiritual, etc. aspects of Jewish nationalism. They do that through ideology ("Zionism is post-colonuialism"); boycotts) they do that by destorying archaeological remains (Temple Mount); they do that by appealing to UNESCO to recognize "Muslim religious/historical sites" in place of Jewish ones (Hebron's Patriarchs Cave; Rachel's Tomb)

yisraelmedad wrote:

12:29 PM

...and "Palestinianism", since the 1920 riots in Jerusalem, refuses to negotiate but rather engages consistently in terror directly primarily at civilians in order to simply kill Jews. There is no concept of "territorial compromise", nor "coexistence" in their vocabulary, neither in Hamas and, with all the incitement broadcast, instructed and distributed in print, over the air and over the web, by the Palestinian Authority, not in Fatah for all this seeks to further deepen all that hostility and animosity, and so raise yet another generation trained to hate, not seek peace.

^

"West Bank Organ Rooting Out" Story Not Newsworthy?

And Israel had nothing to do with it:

A Palestinian researcher at Birzeit University uncovered a scandal and crime against humanity in which Palestinian families in the West Bank force their daughters to undergo “uterine surgery” (hysterectomy). The girls are mostly said to have mental disabilities, the hospitals are administrated by the Palestinian National Authority (“PNA”). The surgeries are performed after these families are talked by doctors and religious authorities into fearing that their daughters can be raped, become pregnant or be unable to care about themselves during the period due to their (supposed) mental disability.

A Palestinian psychologist revealed that there currently are 50 cases of girls in the West Bank which are still on the waiting list for these operations for their daughters...

Repeated here.

Funny, couldn't find any hard news item.

I guess what Pals. do to themselves is not newsworthy?

^

The BDSers Will Do An 'Upstage'

Richard Millet informs:

Professor Jonathan Rosenhead: Next target is Habima at the Globe in May

LSE Professor Jonathan Rosenhead, Chair of the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP), who helped to disrupt the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra’s concert at the Royal Albert Hall on 1st September 2011, has said that the performance by the National Theatre of Israel (or Habima) of The Merchant of Venice at the Globe Theatre on 28th and 29th May will be the next target for anti-Israel activists.

He said that they had purchased 45 tickets (see from 4 mins. 7 secs. in following clip) for the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra’s disrupted concert and he boasted about the BBC taking the concert off air.

He was speaking on Friday at King’s College London about the academic and cultural boycott of Israel...

Forewarned is forearmed.

^

Settlements Again

Language and semantics can get tricky in my fields of interest.

Consider this, spotted here:-

In the Wild West...there’s a new sheriff in town...After a year of talks aimed at a settlement with five big banks —...Some observers suggested the appointment was intended to blunt Schneiderman’s opposition to the multistate settlement...From the beginning of the settlement talks, the five big banks have been holding out...The proposed settlement was also dealt a major blow...

Mortgages can be a problem.

^

Aish HaTorah Compromises, Does Not Go All The Way

I spotted this correction in the NYTimes:-

Corrections: January 27

FRONT PAGE

An article on Tuesday about the film “The Third Jihad,” which was financed by the Clarion Fund and shown to officers as part of New York Police Department training, misstated a position of officials with the Israel-based organization Aish HaTorah, which shares officials with the Clarion Fund. Aish HaTorah officials have opposed a full return of the West Bank to Palestinians; it is not the case that the group “opposes any territorial concessions on the West Bank.”

The Arabs don't get 100% - and neither does Israel, I guess, is one way of summarizing that.

^

What Passes for 'Arab' Logic

Consider this item:

International media complicit in legitimization of Israeli settlements

Palestine, (Pal Telegraph) - Unbelievable, but true: over 70 journalists from international mainstream media took part in a tour through Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank last Thursday 19th...Participants included journalists from well known media outlets such as the British Guardian, the Reuters news agency, as well as reporters from France, Poland, China, Germany, South America, the United States, Radio London and several TV stations from Russia.  The visitors were toured around communities, industry, agriculture and wineries in Samaria. Some of the stops in the itinerary were the Lipski factor, Mount Gerizim, the community of Itamar, and the Givot Olam farm.

...What calls immediate attention is the very fact that a (large) delegation of international media professionals went on a tour around Israeli settlements, all deemed illegal under international law. In other words, a host of media people, from the same countries that condemn illegal settlements in occupied Palestine, partook in something that essentially breaks international law.

So, if the media interviews an Arab terrorist or a newspaper hosts an op-ed by a terrorist organization, like Hamas in the NY Times, those outlets are...terrorist?

^

A Christian Who Knows Something

From this item:

Islam's Dominance of the Temple Mount & Contempt for Christian and Jewish Tradition Engenders Growing Frustration

"The Temple Mount today is the most volatile acreage on earth," says Dr. Randall Price a renowned expert on the temple. Islamic dominance of The Temple Mount has long been a source of contention, war, and countless uprisings and deaths.

...[after 1967] Israel, in an effort to keep the peace allowed Islamic authorities to retain control of what's known as The Dome of the Rock, a mosque built directly over the spot Christians and Jews believe was the location of the Holy of Holies. Beginning in 1996, Islamic authorities began removing 20,000 tons of archaeologically rich debris from the southern and eastern portions of the Temple Mount. This debris had been systematically dumped in the valley but is now being salvaged by Jewish authorities....

Dr. Price is the author of the Rose Guide to the Temple.

(from the book)

A Distinguished Research professor and Executive Director of the Center of Judaic Studies at Liberty University, he says "The political reality is that Islamic authorities forbid any access to the site for archaeological investigation or confirmation." Beyond the historical value, however, Price says the propaganda that accompanied the Palestinian Intifada ("uprising") in 1987, included an Islamic denial that a Jewish temple ever existed (easily dismissed based on historical evidence).

In Rose Guide to the Temple, Price says, "It's [the Temple] purpose was to make possible God's dwelling with His people. It was made to be an earthly copy of the heavenly sanctuary."

Now, that's a correct perspective.

^

Kosher Coexistence

Only in New York?

Coney Island Bialys and Bagels...has been rescued by two Pakistani Muslims — and they're keeping it kosher.

Coney Island Bialys and Bagels makes everything by hand, the old-fashioned way. Zafaryab Ali, who worked in the bakery for 11 years before leaving to drive a cab, now runs the shop, along with his partner Peerzada Shah...The store was founded by Morris Rosenzweig, who came from Bialystock, Poland, at the turn of the 20th century, where bialys originated.

Shah, Ali and Ross say that not much has changed. They are using the same ingredients, from the same suppliers.

"I gave them all the phone numbers," says Ross. "If you need this. this is who you are going to get it from, and they stayed with all that."

...As for keeping the bakery kosher, Ali says, "Kosher and halal is very, very close, like brother and sister, maybe twins."

Ali and Shah say the only thing remaining is official kosher supervision and certification. They are looking for a rabbi to bless and supervise.

^

Yes, But...

Haaretz is gloating:-

Israel drops
six spots
in world press freedom rankings

Israel drops six spots in world press freedom rankings

Report cites indictment of Haaretz's Uri Blau and the four-and-half-year prison term handed down to Anat Kam for passing him secret military documents as reasons for decision.

But don't feel too bad, that's not the whole story:-

a) The Palestinian Authority was dropped three slots to 153, due to the attacks on journalists in Palestinian demonstrations.

and

b) The United States dropped 27 places and is now at 47.

All is relative - relative to the standards and uideological outlook of the authros of the report.

^

The Former CIA Director and the Present Me

I recieved the following invitation:-

THE TEL AVIV INTERNATIONAL SALON -

Top Decision Makers Speaking With TLV Young Professionals

Presents:

James Woolsey

Former Director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

Date: Thursday, February 2nd, 2012

7:30pm-10:00pm

Venue: Heseg House

46 Rothschild Boulevard, Tel Aviv

Entrance from the side of the building on Shadal Street

Cost: 20nis

Payment will be made at the door.

All proceeds go towards the wine, drinks, and snacks

Both the venue and speakers are provided gratis

Patrons must register above to attend

Nu, should I go?

^

Shots at J Street

From a crime report of Davis, CA:-

10:34 pm – Gunshots were reported heard at J Street Apartments. The caller heard one shot coming from the complex. Nothing else was seen or heard.

By the way, Davis, a city in Yolo County, California, part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville Metropolitan Area, is home to USC Davis and

is known for its liberal politics

And by the way,

Jeremy Ben-Ami of J Street clarifies ‘Israel-Firster’ comment

I guess he was a bit too liberal the first time:

Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of J Street, released a statement where he sought to clarify his comments in a Washington Post article reporting on accusations that staffers from the Center for American Progress used anti-Semitic and anti-Israel language to attack pro-Israel activists.

In The Washington Post article, Ben-Ami was quoted saying that he had "no problem" with the term "Israel-Firster" and emphasized that it is "a legitimate question"...

In his new statement, Ben-Ami said that "the use of the term 'Israel Firster' is a bad choice of words. The conspiracy theory that American Jews have dual loyalty is just that, a conspiracy theory and must be refuted in the strongest possible way."

^

Did Yehuda Bauer Actually Post This Comment?

This comment:

Yehuda Bauer, Professor of Holocaust Studies, Hebrew University, Jerusalem

I am no legal expert, but I know that the Supreme, or High, Court is the body that defends democracy in Israel. That democracy is threatened by laws passed at the present government's initiatives in the Knesset, aimed at placing the legislature over and against an independent system of justice. The occupation is at the core of the government's policies. The government is attempting to create an Israeli-controlled, in effect bi-national, presence between the Mediterranean and the Jordan, contrary to the interests of the Jewish people. The High Court occasionally tries to limit that damage, but its rulings are often disregarded. Nevertheless, the Court is one of the bastions of justice and human rights, without distinction. The High Court is concerned with security issues that are brought before it, but its rulings justifiably cast a doubt on whether Israel's security is served by the occupation of the West Bank.

Jan. 25, 2012 at 2:59 p.m. Recommend 14

Interesting that he would make the effort to comment and write what he did.

^

The Eldad Memorial Event

The evening sponsored by the Uri Tzvi Greenberg House in memoriam of Dr. Israel Eldad, "Sambatyon",

(the street posters)

went well.

^

Yoo-hoo! Mr. President, Over Here

Think about this statement uttered by US President Barack Obama in last night's State of the Union 2012 address:

...we will advocate for those values that have served our own country so well. We will stand against violence and intimidation. We will stand for the rights and dignity of all human beings – men and women; Christians, Muslims, and Jews. We will support policies that lead to strong and stable democracies and open markets, because tyranny is no match for liberty.

And we will safeguard America’s own security against those who threaten our citizens, our friends, and our interests.

Well, consider this - here are the Middle East and North African countries and nearby ones the President mentioned:-

Iraq
Pakistan
Yemen
Afghanistan
Tunis
Egypt (Cairo)
Yemen (Sana’a)
Libya (Tripoli)
Syria

As for Israel, there was this:

Our ironclad commitment -- and I mean ironclad -- to Israel’s security has meant the closest military cooperation between our two countries in history.

That's the best he could do for a "friend", an "ally"? A democratic country that shares American interests? "Military cooperation" is the basis of the relationship?

No science?
Culture (see this)?
Medicine?
Energy?

Etc.?

^

The Mufti's January 9 Speech and UN Resolution 242

I agree with Yoram Ettinger:

...both Israeli and U.S. leaders ignore the real root of the conflict. The heart of the conflict is the denial of a non-Muslim entity's existence – namely, Israel – on land that, in the eyes of many Muslims, is "holy land" that belongs to them, and not any issue with Israel’s size or borders.

On Jan. 9, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, a close associate of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, stressed that all Israeli territory was Muslim "holy land," had been since 637 C.E., and would be forever...On March 27, 2010, Abbas declared: "Jerusalem and all its surrounding areas are holy lands promised by Allah. We must do everything we can to save them from the Jewish threat."

This principle of "holy land" is permanent, and is stronger than any leader or passing policy, and it applies to any land that was ever under Islamic control. It is an inseparable part of the legacy of Muhammad and Islamic law...Their loyalty to the "holy land" obligates Muslims to "holy war" and the restoration of sovereignty in the Philippines, Thailand, parts of China, Kashmir, Chechnya, Israel, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Spain, Portugal and elsewhere.

...Recognition of foreign sovereignty over Muslim "holy land" amounts to humiliation, betrayal and servitude for Arabs and Muslims...

Continuing the policy of negotiating "land for peace" plays into the hands of our enemies and dooms us to repeat past mistakes. It ignores the roots of Arab hostility, raises Arab expectations and exacerbates violence and terrorism in the region.

In this connection, let's deal with a closely related issue.

Is Israel obliged to withdraw completely and totally to the 1967 boundaries as per 242?

Here's from the Text of Shultz Letter to Israel's Prime Minister, from March 10, 1988

I set forth below the statement of understanding which I am convinced is necessary to achieve the prompt opening of negotiations on a comprehensive peace...The agreed objective is a comprehensive peace providing for the security of all the states in the region and for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people...negotiations will be based on United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, in all their parts...

...negotiations will be based on all the provisions and principles of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242. Final status talks will start before the transitional period begins. The transitional period will begin three months after the conclusion of the transitional agreement and will last for three years. The United States will participate in both negotiations and will promote their rapid conclusion. In particular, the United States will submit a draft agreement for the parties' consideration at the outset of the negotiations on transitional arrangements.

Two weeks before the opening of negotiations, an international conference will be held...All participants in the conference must accept United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, and renounce violence and terrorism...

Palestinian representation will be within the Jordanian-Palestinian delegation. The Palestinian issue will be addressed in the negotiations between the Jordanian-Palestinian and Israeli delegations.

Sincerely yours,
GEORGE P. SHULTZ

However, the letter to King Hussein had this added:

...the President...believes as well, however, that Resolution 242 does permit changes in the boundaries which existed prior to June 1967, but only where such changes are agreed between the parties.

King's Counsel: A Memoir of War, Espionage and Diplomacy in the Middle East by Jack O'Connell, WW Norton NY, 2011, p. 148

And here's a further clarification:

...Secretary of State George Shultz was even more explicit about what this meant during a September 16, 1988 address: “Israel will never negotiate from or return to the 1967 borders.”

The United State position changed more as evident from the Letter from President Bush to Prime Minister Sharon, April 14, 2004

...As part of a final peace settlement, Israel must have secure and recognized borders, which should emerge from negotiations between the parties in accordance populations centers, it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations wiith a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949, and all previous efforts to negotiate a two-state solution have reached the same conclusion. It is realistic to expect that any fin agreement will only be achieved on the basis of mutually agreed changes that reflect these realities.

So, on the opne hand a theological-ideological position and on the other, a proper acknowledgement of Arab aggression in 1967 as well as a recognition not only of diplomatic flexiibility but of the Jewish people's rights to their historic homeland in its borders.