My Right Word

"Moshko, Ruch"

2012-02-03T14:52:00.000+02:00

As I have reported here previously, Arabs from Qaryut who claim to own agricultural land aside Highway 60 and to the left and north of the Tel, assisted by Arik Ascherman, went to court and lost their case. The fields legally belong to Moshe 'Moshko' Moshkowitz and his partner, Yaakov Sharvit (who was injured defending their land from trespassers during an earlier demonstarion).

Arabs from Qaryut returned today to demonstrate. I was on the scene, together with Yona Tzoref, a graduate of the Tatzpit program, and we took pictures.

The protestors, shouting 'Palestine Free' and 'Ruch Moshko' (= Moshko Get Out), brought along flags and olive tree saplings and also hoe-type shovels to try and dismantle the dirt blockade to prevent them entering/exiting from Highway 60 which is quite dangerous.

Pictures:

a) waiting at the east side of the Tel:

b) the fields of Moshko (all the way to the stone fence off on the right)

c) the crowd

d) leaving

e) the arrow points to the leader:

Will wait for MSM (mainstream media) reports.

^

Demographic Demonology

2012-02-03T12:17:00.000+02:00

A friend sent this around:

Anyone care to comment on the numbers they [Barak Ravid] are saying*, and the consequences if it's true?

I quickly responded:

sure. Yoram Ettinger has proven the PCBS lies.

He calls it demographobia. Check his other articles. And search my blog, looking for "demography", etc.

Another acquaintance wrote this:

Even according to the inflated PCBS numbers, as they appear in the piece, there are 4 million Arabs in the West Bank-Israel. The uninflated numbers are closer to 3.2 million (here; and here).

According to the ICBS numbers, there are 5.9 million Jews in that same area. This number is undisputed. Now, it makes no difference which numbers you choose, the inflated PCBS ones or the uninflated Israeli ones, the figures say the same thing: Jews constitute 60-65% of the population of Israel and the West Bank together, and even in the highly unlikely scenario that every single West Bank Arab becomes a citizen of Israel (presuming Israel were to allow such a thing) together with every single Arab resident of Jerusalem that has hitherto refrained from accepting Israeli citizenship, there is little chance there will be an Arab majority of Israeli citizens in the foreseeable future. Ravid’s attempt to pretend otherwise is based on including inflated Gaza numbers, and inflated Gaza population growth rates, neither of which are relevant.

*

What Ravid wrote:

Last week, the Palestinian Authority's Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) published its report summarizing 2011...The report revealed that the number of Palestinians in the territories stands at about 4.2 million people: 2.6 million in the West Bank and 1.6 million in the Gaza Strip. Added to them are about 1.4 million Palestinians who are Israeli citizens and about 5.6 million Palestinians that belong to the Arab countries and the rest of the world.

On the one hand, no Israelis are citizens of "Palestine", as yet, if at all. Not fair. On the other, why count abroad Arabs? There are millions more Jews. So?

In other words, Haaretz is again the Ha-Ha-Haaretz.

Boo!

^

BBC Bans Call of "Free Palestine"

2012-02-03T08:49:00.000+02:00

Challah Hu Akbar alerted me this story that the BBC has censored a British rapper who, in this clip, at 3:00, shouts "I can scream 'Free Palestine'" - but he can't. The sound of broken glass replaces it.

From the lyrics:

I still have the same beliefs
I can scream free Palestine die for my pride still pray for peace
Still burn the feds for the brutality they've spread over the world
Pakistan's an ocean, bodies in the brown water floating still nobody helps

But some 3 seconds later, he shouts "Pakistan".

British hypocrits.

^

Noise Pollution: Bibi vs. Anastasia

2012-02-02T21:37:00.001+02:00

Imagine this in your newspaper (see UPDATE below):

“There is no reason to broadcast the Muslim call to prayer from more than one minaret in each village and certainly the sound level should be considerably reduced so as to prevent noise pollution,” he said. “When the police say every once in a while, that there’s something in the air or they think something could happen, it’s their obligation to guard these areas,” he said.

After all, even Benjamin Netanyahu announced his support for MK Anastasia Michaeli's meanwhile postpned legislation:

"I have received numerous requests from people who are bothered by the noise from the mosques," [Micky Levy] said. "The same problem exists in all European countries, and they know how to deal with it. It's legitimate in Belgium; it's legitimate in France. Why isn't it legitimate here? We don't need to be more liberal than Europe."

Actually, this was the true text published:

“There is no reason to blow shofar there, there’s plenty of room at the Western Wall to blow the shofar,” he said. “When the police say every once in a while, that there’s something in the air or they think something could happen, it’s their obligation to guard these areas,” he said.

Are we turning back the clock 80 years?

To 1930:-

In 1930, Rabbi [Moshe Tzvi] Segal violated the British prohibition against blowing the shofar at the Kotel to mark the end of the Yom Kippur fast and was arrested. Every year following, someone followed in his footsteps and blew the shofar as an act of defiance against the British regime. Segal helped prepare many of these operations. Even today, Rabbi Segal is known in Israel as "the first of the shofar blowers."

Here is what happened in 2006.

Indeed, if you check the original language of the decision taken by the British Mandatory Authority based on an International Commission, eventually entitled Palestine (Western or Wailing Wall) Order in Council, 1931, you will see that the two elements, Jewish 'noise' and Islamic 'noise' are connected and so my scenario above is not far from the proper approach:-

(5) The Jews shall not be permitted to blow the ram's horn (Shofar) near the Wall nor cause any other disturbance to the Moslems that is avoidable; the Moslems on the other hand shall not be permitted to carry out the Zikr ceremony close to the Pavement during the progress of the Jewish devotions or to cause annoyance to the Jews in any other way.

So, Mr. Netanyahu, will MK Michaeli's law be retabled?

After all, the blowing of the shofar lasts all of a few minutes at a time and having lived in the Old City and now in close proximity to Arab villages, I can attetst to the eardrum damage that is so unnecessary.

UPDATE

Akko Mosque Irritates Jewish Residents

Jewish residents of Akko upset by the scheduled opening of a mosque in the heart of a Jewish neighborhood.

Our New Media Comment Column Up

2012-02-01T23:26:00.000+02:00

At the Jerusalem Post - Why not Ynet?

^

Islamic Armed Warriors - The Female Type

2012-02-01T23:08:00.003+02:00

Here they are:-

And is this how they are under wraps?

Think about that.

^

The Logic of A Haaretz Columnist

2012-02-01T20:47:00.000+02:00

This passes for logic and discourse in Haaretz:-

The settlers have chalked up a major achievement in that the government and Education Ministry allow such tours of occupied territory - has anyone heard of American young people touring Iraq or Afghanistan?

So, we are expected to presume that whereas in the past, academics and ideologists compared Ireland and Algeria with Judea and Samaria, for example my good acquaintance, Ian Lustick (in his book: Unsettled States, Disputed Lands
Britain and Ireland, France and Algeria, Israel and the West Bank-Gaza), and the additional "colonial state" model, Judea and Samaria are now countries similar to independent states that were a threat to mankind and were conquered by America and its allies and for sure did not in anyway 'belong' to those temporary occupiers.

Clever those Haaretz columnists, aren't they?

Here is his paradigm which is just left-wing progressively amazing:

The settlers' takeover of the "molding of national memory," or simply put, the curriculum on key issues like the Land of Israel's history and geography, gives them the status of a state within an Israeli-settler federation. Each province of this federal state, Israel and Outpostia, has laws and leaders of its own. One has laws enacted by the Knesset and the other has ad-hoc laws, sometimes determined by rabbis and sometimes by the hilltop youth and other criminals.

But within this federated framework is a mighty struggle for control. Outpostia no longer makes do with partial independence that gives it the power to manage its affairs as it sees fit, to live according to its own interpretation of federal laws, to rob land at will and to establish settlements that become a burden and political threat to the entire federation. It no longer wants to rely on the mother state's education and legal system, which has embraced Outpostia. The goal is to turn Israel into a minority satellite state and force the settlements' laws and rules on the federation.

That another section of Israel's society had ruled over the country's "collective memory" is to be ignored and not analyzed, or whether it was justified then and justified now, or not justified now - and why. Does the term democracy possess any relevance?

Ha-Ha-Haaretz.

^

State Department Loses Diplomatic Points

2012-02-01T13:38:00.001+02:00

As a friend with a background in international law wrote on the matter of the problem Arabs and the media have with Jewish residency in Yesha, which I redacted -

They make unprecedented demands on the issue of the Jewish communities so as to avoid negotiations, and this government made an unprecedented concession (a 10 month freeze) in order to try to lure them back to the talks. After the Israeli concession they still refused to talk, so how can they presume to be able to come back and demand further unilateral concessions from the Israelis on the issue. Whatever concerns the Arabs have about the communities can be resolved easily by getting serious about negotiations.

and as two others noted:

the issue of "settlements" was part of final status negotiations and not a precondition for talks. Israel’s record proves that it has made and kept peace deals notwithstanding settlement construction—for instance, Israel has a peace deal with Egypt notwithstanding settlements in the Sinai prior to that deal. The Palestinian record, by contrast, shows that they have not kept previous deals to end terrorism and resolve all differences at the negotiating table. Whereas Israel never agreed to stop financial incentives in settlements, the Palestinians did agree to negotiations without preconditions on settlements. Anyone serious about peace has to press the Palestinians to live up to their previous commitments on "settlements".

now consider this palabra from the State Department's
Daily Press Briefing of January 31, 2012 -

QUESTION: ...The Israeli Government has announced plans to actually encourage settlers to move into the West Bank and to begin – and also to begin a process that would – that could end up in legalizing what are now illegal outposts. I’m assuming that your position on both of these things hasn’t changed, so I’m wondering --

MR. TONER: You assume correctly.

QUESTION: Yeah.

MR. TONER: You know we’ve said multiple times --

QUESTION: What is it – can you maybe make it a little bit more clear, because it seems to be apparent that the Israelis, or at least Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government, don’t understand exactly what it is that you, as their prime benefactor and large – huge ally, want from them.

MR. TONER: Well, Matt, we’ve said this many times from this podium and from elsewhere that we view any move that would jeopardize getting these two parties back to the negotiating table, and indeed, we’ve obviously seen them back – face-to-face negotiations over the past couple of weeks – that we find those unconstructive and unhelpful.

QUESTION: And that would include what they have announced today?

MR. TONER: Yes, that would include that.

QUESTION: All right. So what is the consequence, then, for Israel for them continuing to defy – not only defy but really to do – not just to say no, we don’t agree with that, but then to actually actively -

MR. TONER: Well, again --

QUESTION: -- oppose or actively take active steps that fly in the face of what you say is helpful?

MR. TONER: Well, again, we’re seeking clarity on what is actually being proposed here. We did have an initial round of direct talks in Jordan. Those talks have ended, but they did show signs of progress and we certainly want to see them continue. And these kinds of actions don’t help create the kind of atmosphere that are conducive to these talks continuing.

Now, David Hale is in the region. He’s going to have meetings in Amman as well as Jerusalem and Ramallah, and he’ll be back in Washington later this week. But – obviously, he’s there in his capacity, but also I think he’ll make some of these concerns – convey them to the Israeli Government.

QUESTION: Well, these concerns have been conveyed over and over and over to the Israelis. What is the consequence for them continuing to do this?

MR. TONER: Well, again, this is about getting them back to the negotiating table. And what we make clear is that whenever these kinds of actions take place, that they hamper that process.

QUESTION: So there is no consequence at all?

MR. TONER: Well, again, it’s not about carrots and sticks. What it’s about is trying to encourage these parties to get back to the negotiating table.

QUESTION: Why not? It’s about carrots and sticks everywhere else in the world. Why isn’t it about carrots and sticks here?

MR. TONER: In this case, it’s in both their --

QUESTION: What are you doing --

MR. TONER: -- it’s in both parties’ best interests to continue negotiations towards a comprehensive settlement.

QUESTION: But the actions of at least – one could argue the actions of both parties, but in this series of questions, which is about the announcements by the Israeli Government --

MR. TONER: Right.

QUESTION: -- they are not acting in the best interests of that, according to you.

MR. TONER: Again --

QUESTION: Correct? So what is the consequence of that? The consequence is they don’t get back to talks that they apparently don’t seem to want?

MR. TONER: Well, again, you’ll have to ask the Israeli Government what their intent is here. But you’re absolutely right that this has to be something that both sides want to pursue and to do so in a meaningful and committed fashion. And again, we are very outspoken when we see actions by either side that we believe hampers the chance for these parties to get back into direct negotiations. It’s certainly – as we’ve said many times, it’s in both of their interests to be in direct negotiations.

QUESTION: All right. Two more very quick ones --

MR. TONER: Yeah. Sure.

QUESTION: -- and then I’m done. You talk about meaningful and committed fashion. Are the actions of the Israeli Government something that you would consider meaningful and committed to be – is what they’re doing, is that something that you consider to be acting in a meaningful and – now I’ve forgotten the other word --

MR. TONER: That’s okay.

QUESTION: Committed.

QUESTION: -- and committed fashion?

MR. TONER: Thanks, Andy. Again, I think I’ve been very clear that actions by either side that we view as unconstructive to the process --

QUESTION: So they are not acting in a meaningful and committed fashion?

MR. TONER: Well, again, we have had talks in Jordan over the past few weeks that we believe offered a good start. We want to see those talks continue. David Hale is in the region. He’s consulting with all sides as well as the Jordanians.

QUESTION: Mark, that’s a great answer to a question, but it’s not the question I asked. Is Israel asking in a meaningful – acting in a meaningful and committed fashion toward getting a peace – towards encouraging these talks?

MR. TONER: Again, we’ve said that these kinds of actions are not constructive.

QUESTION: I think it’s a yes-or-no question.

MR. TONER: And I’m going to answer you the way I’m answering you, which is that it’s not constructive.

QUESTION: It’s not constructive, all right. And then the last one is just Hale – he is where at the moment right now?

MR. TONER: That is a good question. I believe he’s in Amman today.

QUESTION: Okay. And was he aware – was he aware of this before he went or --

MR. TONER: I don’t know. I haven’t – I didn’t talk to him.

QUESTION: Did this come out as a complete surprise to you guys?

MR. TONER: I do not know whether he was aware of it or not.

QUESTION: What about the rest of the building?

MR. TONER: Again, I believe that we were – again, I’m not going to get into what we may or may not have known. What we’re seeing here is actions that we believe aren’t constructive.

QUESTION: Mark, just a --

MR. TONER: Yeah. Sure, Said.

QUESTION: -- quick follow-up on this. Now, you keep saying that the path to statehood is through direct negotiations. Seeing how the settlement processing increased by 20 percent in 2011 and with today’s announcement, and in fact, since the beginning of this month we are likely to see an increase if they continue at this pace – like a 40 percent increase in settlement activities. So what incentive is there for the Palestinians to go into these negotiations to sort of get a state that is viable – as you keep saying – that is viable and contiguous and independent and sovereign?

MR. TONER: Well, the motivation should be clear, and that is the sooner they sit down with Israel and work through these issues in a comprehensive fashion so that we can get a clear way forward in terms of borders, then the sooner they have that comprehensive settlement and that statehood that they so desire.

QUESTION: But isn’t there a pattern that every time there is some sort of a negotiation and, in fact, a visit by a high-level U.S. official and so on to Israel, that the Israelis always counter by announcing a new settlement and increase the settlements and so on?

MR. TONER: Again, you’re asking me to speak to the motivations behind this decision. I don’t know.

QUESTION: Okay. So you talk about incentives for the Palestinians, but do you have any kind of disincentive for the increased Israeli settlement activities?

MR. TONER: Well, we’ve always been clear that – and Israelis themselves have commented that the status quo is unsustainable. So that’s --

QUESTION: So then the expression of anger and perhaps a little pouting, there is nothing that you can do?

MR. TONER: I disagree. David Hale is right now in the region. He is consulting with our partners as well as the parties. And we’re committed to getting them back into direct negotiations.

QUESTION: Can you tell us the last time that your position that was made very clearly to the Israelis did have an impact on stemming the settlement activities?

MR. TONER: Again, we are very outspoken when we see these kinds of actions by either side. We convey those to the Israelis, but you’re asking me to --

QUESTION: But you expressed a little recollection on that --

MR. TONER: -- elaborate on some kind of actions that I can’t.

QUESTION: In the last 12 months, you have not been able to sort of dissuade the Israelis from settlement activities. Are you aware of any time that you were able to persuade them?

MR. TONER: Again, Said, it is a question better directed to the Israeli Government. What we’re trying to do without preconditions, we’re trying to get the parties back to the negotiating table, and we’ve had a good start.

Amazing, no?

^

Vatican Stealth Moves

2012-02-01T13:16:00.000+02:00

Watch this short video news clip and ask yourselves the following questions:

a) why sovereignty? the Vatican, from Herzl's days on, saw the renascent state of Israel as a big no-no, as for example:

When Theodor Herzl came to the Vatican in 1904 to plead with Pope Pius X (picture) to alleviate the suffering of European Jews, the pope bluntly told him that: «The Jews have not recognized our lord, therefore we cannot recognize the Jewish people». Herzl countered that perhaps terror and persecution were not the right means by which to enlighten them, but the pope rebuffed him: «They had ample time to acknowledge Christ’s divinity without pressure, but they didn’t»...On June 22, 1943, the Vatican sent these points to its apostolic delegation in Washington: «If the greater part of Palestine is given to the Jewish people, this would be a severe blow to the religious attachments of Catholics to this land. To have the Jewish people in the majority would interfere with the peaceful exercise of these rights in the Holy Land already vested in Catholics».

b) why should a building that was first a synagogue:

The original building was a synagogue later probably used by Jewish Christians. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the building was spared during the destruction of Jerusalem under Titus (AD 70),[15] though Pixner thinks it was likely rebuilt right after the war, and claims three walls of that structure are still extant...Roman emperor Theodosius I built an octagonal church (the "Theodosian Church" or "Holy Zion Church") aside the synagogue (that was named "Church of the Apostles"). The Theodosian Church, probably started on 382 AD, was consecrated by John II, Bishop of Jerusalem on 394 AD.

be awarded to the Vatican even if later used for Christian religious purposes? Will the Vatican sponsor and back our request to pray at the Temple Mount and perhaps doing some Temple-preparatory work or, at the ;east, assist we Jews to halt Muslim destruction/eradication work there?

The clip:

Do you have any better answer than, "no, thank you"?
^

Ask Yourself...and Others

2012-02-01T12:20:00.000+02:00

The Arab League mission to Syria has been withdrawn.

In that connection, ask yourselves:

How many Muslim Aid Missions

have you seen

sent around the world

Nu, how many?

Bluegrass Fringe

2012-02-01T12:12:00.001+02:00

Just discovered Andy Statman.

He's the one on the left, with the tzitzit:-

"Andy’s most recent mandolin album, included a track (Rawhide) nominated for an instrumental Grammy. AWAKENING features Andy’s clarinet"

Enjoy.

^

Kosher On-line and Apsy

2012-02-01T08:43:00.000+02:00

My good friend, Yechiel Spira, has, after a hiatus, returned to posting on issues of Israeli Kashrut concerns at Online Kashrus Information, announcing that:

Some of the larger hashgachas have taken a giant step forward towards assisting consumers, using today’s technology to provide us with real time information anywhere in the world. The OU, OK and cRc offer free programs that may be downloaded to one’s Android or iPhone device. While the programs vary, one is provided with an ability to confirm a hechsher, search under product categories, product type, view kashrus alerts and more. Best of all, it is free.

I am not that technologically savvy but for those who are, go and read the entire article and follow his blog.

^

Is That L'chayim Kosher?

2012-01-31T19:13:00.000+02:00

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.

Sovereignty Park Dedication at Givat Assaf

2012-01-31T11:59:00.003+02:00

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

^

Prophetic Fulfillment in Jerusalem?

2012-01-31T10:34:00.000+02:00

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.

^

The "Rainbow in the Night" Shoah Clip

2012-01-31T09:45:00.001+02:00

Here:-

(kippah tipShearim)

^

Meeting Your Deadline

2012-01-31T09:06:00.002+02:00

.

...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.”

Mount Zion Going Catholic?

2012-01-31T09:03:00.001+02:00

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.

^

Canadian Chutzpah

2012-01-31T08:23:00.000+02:00

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!

^

On Conflict of Interests

2012-01-31T08:14:00.000+02:00

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?

^

On the Quality of the Land of Israel's Sacredness

2012-01-31T07:52:00.000+02:00

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

^

Nahum Goldmann and I

2012-01-31T07:43:00.000+02:00

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.

^

Netanyahu's Remarks on "Remaining"

2012-01-30T20:58:00.002+02:00

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.

Pizza in Shiloh!

2012-01-30T19:59:00.002+02:00

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.

^

The Golan's Jewish Property

2012-01-30T19:25:00.000+02:00

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.

^

From Slick to Sick - Isn't Silverstein Fiendish?

2012-01-30T18:28:00.000+02:00

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.

^

Muhammad's Impotence

2012-01-30T12:45:00.000+02:00

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.

^

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

2012-01-30T12:15:00.000+02:00

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.

And There Was a 1943 Partition Plan

2012-01-30T10:54:00.000+02:00

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.

^

Shiloh Is On The List

2012-01-30T10:42:00.001+02:00

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.

Burkha Irk: Death Threat For Dance & Fashion Moves

2012-01-29T22:37:00.000+02:00

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.

^

Boycott, Not. Buycott A Lot!

2012-01-29T22:03:00.000+02:00

Clever, actually:-

Found on the Web: Is Jordan "Palestine"?

2012-01-29T21:28:00.001+02:00

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?

^

Eruv Alert

2012-01-29T16:32:00.000+02:00

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

Media Words of Wisdom

2012-01-29T16:27:00.000+02:00

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

^

The Tahrir Square Rape

2012-01-29T16:04:00.001+02:00

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.

^

Another Fisk Flop

2012-01-29T14:40:00.000+02:00

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

2012-01-29T12:59:00.000+02:00

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.

^

Arab Female Modesty

2012-01-29T11:00:00.001+02:00

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.

^

A 1947 Visit to the Temple Mount

2012-01-29T08:21:00.000+02:00

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

2012-01-29T00:31:00.000+02:00

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?

2012-01-28T22:50:00.001+02:00

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?

2012-01-28T22:34:00.000+02:00

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"

2012-01-28T22:30:00.000+02:00

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

2012-01-28T18:37:00.000+02:00

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?

2012-01-27T16:16:00.000+02:00

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

2012-01-27T15:00:00.000+02:00

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?

2012-01-27T13:22:00.003+02:00

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

2012-01-27T12:43:00.000+02:00

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?

2012-01-27T11:33:00.000+02:00

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'

2012-01-27T10:47:00.000+02:00

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

2012-01-27T08:42:00.000+02:00

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

2012-01-27T08:36:00.001+02:00

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

2012-01-27T00:18:00.000+02:00

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

2012-01-26T12:15:00.000+02:00

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

2012-01-26T11:57:00.000+02:00

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...

2012-01-26T11:29:00.001+02:00

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

2012-01-26T11:07:00.000+02:00

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

2012-01-26T08:19:00.001+02:00

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?

2012-01-26T00:34:00.000+02:00

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

2012-01-25T23:52:00.001+02:00

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

2012-01-25T15:47:00.000+02:00

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

2012-01-25T14:55:00.000+02:00

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.

West Bank Mardi Gras?

2012-01-25T12:47:00.000+02:00

That's what is says:-

Mardi Gras parade-viewing stands being erected on West Bank

But, again, that's down in New Orleans.

On the West Bank, a crew from Center Staging has been working since Saturday to erect the Mardi Gras reviewing stands...The 120 foot x 40 platform is being built in advance for the upcoming parade season which kicks off Friday, February 10...The parade will begin at Kabel Drive and Gen. DeGaulle in Algiers and end at Lafayette Street and the West Bank Expressway. The crew started on Saturday, January 21,2012 and expected to be done by Thursday.

And don't forget, in our "West Bank", the beads are used for praying:

Credit

Not for other uses.

^

And Then There Are Other Women...

2012-01-25T12:21:00.002+02:00

Like her

(k/t=IMRA)

^

Was Barghouti Convincing Enough?

2012-01-25T11:51:00.000+02:00

Marwan Barghouti in court declares "the end of the conflict - withdrawal to the 1967 border".

There's someone who doesn't seem to be all that convinced:-

Dopey Op-Doc at NYTimes

2012-01-25T11:22:00.001+02:00

At the NYTimes, you can see an op-doc by Ra’anan Alexandrowicz, writer and director of “The Law in These Parts,” which is screening at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. He lives in Jerusalem and teaches film at the Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film and Television School and read this introduction:

Israel’s Supreme Court is the body that provides checks and balances to the country’s executive and legislative powers, upholding constitutional standards...

¶ In the four decades since the 1967 Six-Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbors, the court has become a stage for an escalating conflict between two very different world views.

¶ Israel is the only modern state that has held territories under military occupation for over four decades. It is also unusual for a nation to allow residents of territories under a military occupation to petition its Supreme Court and request intervention in acts of state.

¶ Since the early years of the occupation...[rather] than functioning as the bastion of human rights that it was established to be, it has instead become the entity responsible for balancing the needs of a state engaged in a prolonged occupation with basic principles of democracy.

¶ This Op-Doc expands on one of the themes explored in my new feature documentary, “The Law in These Parts,” and asks about the role of the Supreme Court in the legal underpinnings of the longest military occupation in modern times.

I left this comment there:

RA is being petulantly picayune writing: "Israel is the only modern state that has held territories under military occupation for over four decade". Really?

Consider:

Morocco’s occupation of Western Sahara has “only” lasted three plus decades. Turkey’s occupation of Northern Cyprus – a mere 37 years. But Russia’s occupation of the Kuril Islands began in August 1945…

And Tibet has been occupied by China since 1949.

And many consider Northern Ireland occupied, even after the 1998 arrangements of an Executive.

But I suggest the term is "belligerent occupation", resulting from an Arab war of aggression in 1967 and by acting in defense, not only does Israel have the right to retain all or most of the territories it now administers, but as Schweible, Rostow and other international law experts claim, Israel has a better right than anyone to remain there in Judea and Samaria based on, at the least, discussions, declarations and decisions of Balfour 1917, the Versailles Peace Conference of 1919, the San Remo Conference of 1920 and the League of Nations 1922.

And isn't it amazing that none of this legalese was ever voiced when those territories were invaded by, illegally occupied by and illegally annexed to Jordan all through 1948-1967?

I left out Kashmir.

UPDATE

It is up.

^

Dead Sea Tread See

2012-01-25T11:01:00.000+02:00

Ever heard of those Dead Sea sinkholes?

Well, here's the science:

The Dead Sea sinkhole hazard: Geophysical assessment of salt dissolution and collapse

Abstract:

A geophysical approach is presented for analyzing processes of subsurface salt dissolution and associated sinkhole hazard along the Dead Sea. The implemented methods include Seismic Refraction (SRFR), Transient Electromagnetic Method (TEM), Electric Resistivity Tomography (ERT), and Ground Penetration Radar (GPR). The combination of these methods allows the delineation of the salt layer boundaries, estimating its porosity distribution, finding cavities within the salt layer, and identifying deformations in the overlying sediments. This approach is shown to be useful for anticipating the occurrence of specific sinkholes, as demonstrated on both shores of the Dead Sea. These sinkholes are observed mainly along the edge of a salt layer deposited during the latest Pleistocene, when Lake Lisan receded to later become the Dead Sea. This salt layer is dissolved by aggressive water flowing from adjacent and underlying aquifers which drain to the Dead Sea. Sinkhole formation is accelerating today due to the rapid fall of the Dead Sea levels during the last 30 years, caused by anthropogenic use of its water.

Be careful

^

Where Was the "Farthest Mosque" Located?

2012-01-24T22:17:00.002+02:00

[Now Updated]

The current official position on Jerusalem and Muhammed in Islam is basically this:

...it was Al-Masjid al-Aqsa in Jerusalem that was the destination of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, on the famous Night Journey referred to in the Qur'an and hadith. It was here that Muhammad led the prophets in prayer and it was from here that he ascended through the heavens visiting the prophets again on his way to the sidrat al-muntaha, the Lote Tree of the Furthest Limit, and his encounter with his Lord.

And this:

Initially, Rashidun and Umayyad-era scholars were in disagreement about the location of the "remotest sanctuary" with some arguing it was actually located near Mecca. Eventually scholarly consensus determined that its location was indeed in Jerusalem.[55 - Meri and Bacharach, 2006, p.50]

On the question of Islam's relationship with Jerusalem and Jerusalem in the Koran, there are Sheikh Abdul Hadi Palazzi's opinions:-

The most common argument against Muslim acknowledgment of Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem is that, since al-Quds [Jerusalem] (4) is a Holy Place for Muslims, Muslims cannot accept that it is ruled by non-Muslims, because such acceptance amounts to a betrayal of Islam.

Before expressing our point of view on this question, we must reflect upon the reason for which Jerusalem and Masjid al-Aqsa [the Al Aksa mosque] hold such a sacred position in Islamic faith.

As is well known, the inclusion of Jerusalem among Islamic holy places derives from al-Mi'raj, the Ascension of the Prophet Muhammed to heaven. The Ascension began at the Rock, usually identified by Muslim scholars as the Foundation Stone of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem referred to in Jewish sources.

Recalling this link requires us to admit that there is no connection between al-Miraj [the Ascension] and Muslim sovereign rights over Jerusalem since, in the time that al-Miraj took place, the City was not under Islamic, but under Byzantine administration. Moreover, the Qur'an expressly recognizes that Jerusalem plays for Jews the same role that Mecca does for Muslims.

We read:

"...They would not follow thy direction of prayer (qiblah), nor art thou to follow their direction of prayer; nor indeed will they follow each other's direction of prayer..." (5)

All Qur'anic commentators explain that "thy qiblah" [direction of prayer for Muslims] is clearly the Ka'bah of Mecca, while "their qiblah" [direction of prayer for Jews] refers to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

To quote only one of the most important Muslim commentators, we read in Qadn Baydawn's Commentary:

"Verily, in their prayers Jews orientate themselves toward the Rock (sakhrah), while Christians orientate themselves eastwards..." (6)

In complete opposition to what "Islamic" fundamentalists continuously claim, the Book of Islam [the Qur'an] - as we have just now seen - recognizes Jerusalem as the Jewish direction of prayer.

...from an Islamic point of view - despite opposing, groundless claims - there is no reason for Muslims to deny the State of Israel - which is a JEWISH state - complete sovereignty over Jerusalem.

************************************

...The Kotel was effectively, according to the Islamic tradition, the place where al-Buraq [the Prophet's steed] was tethered, but it was already an existing part of the Herodian structure. Muslims have never prayed close to it, and it has never had a special relevance in Islam. On the contrary, everyone knows how important it is for Jewish worshippers.

Apart from Mecca, no Islamic holy place is off-limits for non-Muslims. Historical sources say that the Prophet Muhammad entertained a delegation of Christians from Najran in the Mosque of Medina, and permitted them to celebrate a mass inside the Mosque, notwithstanding the fact that Christian rites can include words that are against Islam [such as stating that Jesus is God].

There is nothing in Jewish worship that can be offensive for Muslims, and nothing in Islamic Law prevents Jews to pray on Haram al-Sharif/Har Habayyit (the Temple Mount), in the Cave of Machpela or in any other place that is regarded as holy by Muslims.

Daniel Pipes quotes the late Moshe Kohn:

Jerusalem and Zion appear as frequently in the Qur'an "as they do in the Hindu Bhagavad-Gita, the Taoist Tao-Te Ching, the Buddhist Dhamapada and the Zoroastrian Zend Avesta"—which is to say, not once.

and adds:

...the first qibla (direction of prayer) of Islam, did not last long. The Jews criticized the new faith and rejected the friendly Islamic gestures; not long after, the Qur'an broke with them, probably in early 624. The explanation of this change comes in a Qur'anic verse instructing the faithful no longer to pray toward Syria but instead toward Mecca. The passage (2:142-52) begins by anticipating questions about this abrupt change:

The Fools among the people will say: "What has turned them [the Muslims] from the qibla to which they were always used?"

God then provides the answer:

We appointed the qibla that to which you was used, only to test those who followed the Messenger [Muhammad] from those who would turn on their heels [on Islam].

In other words, the new qibla served as a way to distinguish Muslims from Jews. From now on, Mecca would be the direction of prayer:

now shall we turn you to a qibla that shall please you. Then turn your face in the direction of the Sacred Mosque [in Mecca]. Wherever you are, turn your faces in that direction.

The Qur'an then reiterates the point about no longer paying attention to Jews:

Even if you were to bring all the signs to the people of the Book [i.e., Jews], they would not follow your qibla.

and adds more:

...note a passage of the Qur'an (17:1) describing the Prophet Muhammad's Night Journey to heaven (isra'):

Glory to He who took His servant by night from the Sacred Mosque to the furthest mosque. (Subhana allathina asra bi-'abdihi laylatan min al-masjidi al-harami ila al-masjidi al-aqsa.)

When this Qur'anic passage was first revealed, in about 621, a place called the Sacred Mosque already existed in Mecca. In contrast, the "furthest mosque" was a turn of phrase, not a place. Some early Muslims understood it as metaphorical or as a place in heaven. And if the "furthest mosque" did exist on earth, Palestine would seem an unlikely location, for many reasons. Some of them:

Elsewhere in the Qur'an (30:1), Palestine is called "the closest land" (adna al-ard). Palestine had not yet been conquered by the Muslims and contained not a single mosque. The "furthest mosque" was apparently identified with places inside Arabia: either Medina or a town called Ji'rana, about ten miles from Mecca, which the Prophet visited in 630.

The earliest Muslim accounts of Jerusalem, such as the description of Caliph 'Umar's reported visit to the city just after the Muslims conquest in 638, nowhere identify the Temple Mount with the "furthest mosque" of the Qur'an. The Qur'anic inscriptions that make up a 240-meter mosaic frieze inside the Dome of the Rock do not include Qur'an 17:1 and the story of the Night Journey, suggesting that as late as 692 the idea of Jerusalem as the lift-off for the Night Journey had not yet been established. (Indeed, the first extant inscriptions of Qur'an 17:1 in Jerusalem date from the eleventh century.)

Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiya (638-700), a close relative of the Prophet Muhammad, is quoted denigrating the notion that the prophet ever set foot on the Rock in Jerusalem; "these damned Syrians," by which he means the Umayyads, "pretend that God put His foot on the Rock in Jerusalem, though [only] one person ever put his foot on the rock, namely Abraham."

Then, in 715, to build up the prestige of their dominions, the Umayyads did a most clever thing: they built a second mosque in Jerusalem, again on the Temple Mount, and called this one the Furthest Mosque (al-masjid al-aqsa, Al-Aqsa Mosque). With this, the Umayyads retroactively gave the city a role in Muhammad's life. This association of Jerusalem with al-masjid al-aqsa fit into a wider Muslim tendency to identify place names found in the Qur'an: "wherever the Koran mentions a name of an event, stories were invented to give the impression that somehow, somewhere, someone, knew what they were about."

Ziad Abu-Amr explains the Islamic position:

...Jerusalem's multifaceted meaning stands behind the interest of Muslims all over the world in the land of Palestine as a whole. The city has strong evocative and emotional associations and has its own place in the hearts of Muslims. It is considered the third-holiest city in Islam after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. It derives its religious prominence from being the first Qibla, the initial direction toward which the Prophet Muhammad and the early Muslim community turned their faces in prayer. The direction was changed a year and a half later to Mecca by "divine command."

Jerusalem also derives significance from its association with Prophet Muhammad's miraculous nocturnal journey to the city and then his ascen¬sion to Heaven. This event is mentioned in the Koran in the first verse of chapter 17, "Glory be to Him, who carried His servant by night from the Holy Mosque to the Further Mosque (al-Masjid al-Aqsa), the precincts of which We have blessed, that we might show him some of our signs."2

In the nocturnal journey (al-lsra'wal Mi'raj) , according to Muslim tra¬dition, Muhammad was transported one night on a winged horse from Mecca to Jerusalem where he led Abraham, Moses, and Jesus in a prayer. Afterwards, Muhammad ascended to heaven accompanied by the archangel Gabriel. In this journey of ascension, Muhammad passed through the seven heavens where he encountered earlier prophets. The Dome of the Rock is the site from which Muhammad ascended. Although some critics argue that Muhammad's journey was spiritual and not physical, this journey has a three-fold significance:

First, it linked the city of Jerusalem with Islam in its very early days in addition to the sura which refers to Jerusalem as the first Qibla. Second, it inspired the Muslims with a bulk of lore, so much so, that Muslims all over the world celebrate that occasion every year. Third, it ushered in a new era in the life of the city because, from then on, the Muslims con¬sidered it their holy duty to protect it from the encroachment of the Byzantines and the Persians who were non-Semitic people.3

In addition, it is believed that a Koranic verse (v. 44 of chapter 43) was revealed in Jerusalem: "Ask those of our messengers We sent before thee — Have We appointed apart from the All-Merciful, gods to be served?”4

Can anything be added?

Yes.

In an academic paper I just discovered, “Muhammad’s Night Journey (isra’) to al-Masjid al-Aqsa: Aspects of the Earliest Origins of the Islamic Sanctity of Jerusalem”, al-Qantara 29 (2008), 147-65, it is claimed that the Shi'a branch of Islam considered the Al-Aksa Mosque not to be in Mecca or Medina or Jerusalem but...in Heaven:

and he clarifies a theological point:

Read it all. And I suggest his book.

PS - Consider this, too.
___________________________

UPDATE

By popular request, okay, ChallahHuAkbar suggeseted it, here's from Prof. Motti Kedar:

Jerusalem, too, underwent the process of Islamization: at first Muhammad attempted to convince the Jews near Medina to join his young community, and, by way of persuasion, established the direction of prayer (kiblah) to be to the north, towards Jerusalem, in keeping with Jewish practice; but after he failed in this attempt he turned against the Jews, killed many of them, and directed the kiblah southward, towards Mecca. Muhammad's abandonment of Jerusalem explains the fact that this city is not mentioned even once in the Koran...Jerusalem meant nothing to them.

Islam rediscovered Jerusalem 50 years after Mohammad's death. In 682 CE...Abd al-Malik, the Umayyad Calif, needed an alternative site for the pilgrimage and settled on Jerusalem which was then under his control. In order to justify this choice, a verse from the Koran was chosen (17,1 = sura 17, verse,) which states (translation by Majid Fakhri):

“Glory to Him who caused His servant to travel by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque, whose precincts We have blessed, in order to show him some of Our Signs, He is indeed the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing. "

The meaning ascribed to this verse is that "the furthest mosque" (al-masgid al-aqsa) is in Jerusalem and that Mohammad was conveyed there...Thus Islam tries to gain legitimacy over other, older religions...Not surprisingly, this miraculous account contradicts a number of the tenets of Islam: How can a living man of flesh and blood ascend to heaven? How can a mythical creature carry a mortal to a real destination? Questions such as these have caused orthodox Muslim thinkers to conclude that the nocturnal journey was a dream of Mohammad's...

What are the difficulties with the belief that the al-Aqsa mosque described in Islamic tradition is located in Jerusalem? For one, the people of Mecca, who knew Muhammad well, did not believe this story. Only Abu Bakr, (later the first Calif,) believed him and thus was called al-Siddiq (“the believer"). The second difficulty is that Islamic tradition tells us that al-Aqsa mosque is near Mecca on the Arabian Peninsula. This was unequivocally stated in "Kitab al-Maghazi," a book by the Muslim historian and geographer al-Waqidi. According to al-Waqidi, there were two "masjeds" (places of prayer) in al-Gi'irranah, a village between Mecca and Ta'if - one was "the closer mosque" (al-masjid al-adna) and the other was "the further mosque" (al-masjid al-aqsa,) and Muhammad would pray there when he went out of town. This...is supported by a chain of authorities (isnad) [but] was not "convenient" for the Islamic propaganda of the 7th Century. In order to establish a basis for the awareness of the "holiness" of Jerusalem in Islam, the Califs of the Ummayad dynasty invented many “traditions" upholding the value of Jerusalem, which would justify pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the faithful Muslims. Thus was al-Masjid al-Aqsa "transported" to Jerusalem.

Superbowl at The Gov

2012-01-24T19:17:00.001+02:00

Monday, February 6, 2012

So this is it lades and gentleman.
Superbowl 46 is here and the Gov is also here to offer you the best Superbowl experiences you can get in Israel!

At 1:30AM the New England Patriots and the New York Giant will clash in one of the most exciting Superbowl rematches of all time...and you sure don't want to miss this battle!

Seats are very limited so in order for you to reserve one (or two...) You may send an email to - thelionsdenbar@gmail.com or a private message to Facebook user - Bar HaGov.

*ENTRANCE TO THE GOV IS 21 AND UP!!!!

Once again there are very limited sets available so be sure to message us ASAP!

Thanks,

The Gov crew.

Location - just past the new HaMashbir store on Yoel Salomon Street in downtown Jerusalem (mentioned in the NYTimes, twice! here and also here):

Hollywood Jewish Modesty Style

2012-01-24T18:35:00.000+02:00

Uma Thurman:-

Previous modesty star model.

^

Fishman's Fallen (oops, Fishman's Fallen Angel)

2012-01-24T18:04:00.000+02:00

Tzvi Fishman is a good friend. Good in the sense of close and good in the sense of a precious mencsh.

His new book, Fallen Angel, is out and it can be purchased here.

The blurb:

Harry Walsh is a brilliant, cynical, whoring conman, the bestseller author of phony "spiritual" self-help books. In past reincarnations, he appeared again and again as some of world history's most infamous and murderous characters, including Cain, Nimrod, Bilaam the Sorceror, Nebuchadnezzar, Antiochus, Titus, Muhammad, and King Richard the Lionhearted, to mention just a few. Now, the Almighty has decided to give Harry one last chance to change his errant ways. But when an angel arrives in New York with the mission of convincing Harry to set his present licentious life in order and break free from his sordid past, the angel himself falls to the temptations of the fast life in America as he tours around the country with the ribald celebrity. This modern day fable if filled with humor and hilarious escapades as it traces the unlikely friendship that springs up between the angel and the soul-stained writer. Along the way, the reader is taken on a roller-coaster ride through world history, encountering, along with Harry, startling insights and deep, poignant truths which have the power to illuminate the spiritual darkness of our times and add the Divine light and connection that is missing from our lives.

And since Arutz 7 took it off its website, it must be good.

^

The Eldad Memorial Meeting

2012-01-24T15:11:00.001+02:00

Tribute to Poet/Freedom Fighter Dr. Israel Eldad

An evening to honor the late Dr. Israel Eldad will be held on Wednesday in Jerusalem. Dr. Eldad was a leader and top ideologue of the Lehi - Lohamei Herut Yisrael (Fighter for the Freedom of Israel), also known as the Stern Group. He was the author of The Jewish Revolution, Israel: The Road to Full Redemption, The First Tithe, and Chronicles, a collection of newspapers depicting ancient Jewish historical events written in the style of modern newspaper articles.

The event will be hosted by columnist Yisrael Medad and feature Dr. Eldad's son Member of Knesset Aryeh Eldad, fellow Lehi member Geula Cohen, Dr. Baruch Fallach and Yael Ben-Dov. Karni Eldad will provide musical interludes. It will be held at the Uri Zvi Greenberg House, 34 Jaffa Street in downtown Jerusalem, at 8:00 PM on Wednesday January 25th.

For more information call 02-623-1532 or email azagg@walla.co.il.

Isn't This Just...Grand?

2012-01-24T15:02:00.001+02:00

First, there was Palestine Media Watch

Mufti denies applying Hadith about Muslims killing Jews to today's conflict

PMW report shows that Mufti did apply call to kill Jews to current conflict || Following PMW report, PM Netanyahu calls for criminal investigation of PA Mufti

The PA Mufti Muhammad Hussein repeatedly denied yesterday that he intended to teach Palestinians that their destiny is to kill Jews when he spoke at a Fatah celebration that was broadcast on PA TV earlier this month. His denial follows Palestinian Media Watch's exposure of the PA Mufti's speech in which he cited the Islamic tradition attributed to Muhammad, saying:

"The Hour [of Resurrection] will not come until you fight the Jews. The Jew will hide behind stones or trees. Then the stones or trees will call: 'Oh Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him."

However, the Mufti explained to AP, Reuters and Israeli radio and TV that he simply quoted Islamic tradition and therefore he is not responsible for its content. When interviewed on Israeli radio Reshet Bet, the PA Mufti claimed:

"We are not calling to kill Jews and we did not call to kill Jews, we never said 'kill Jews.' The Hadith says [it]. I am not responsible for the Hadith. The Hadith is in the book. The Hadith is a noble Hadith, it is not my Hadith."
[Reshet Bet (Israeli radio), Jan. 22, 2012]

The PA Minister of Religious Affairs, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, also defended the Mufti, saying on the same radio program:
"This is not incitement to kill Jews. We cannot change the historical religious writings and we don't want to change them. However, we are talking now about the reality. The reality is that we want to achieve a just peace."

PMW rejects PA Mufti's and Minister of Religion's claims:

The statements of the two highest religious authorities in the Palestinian Authority are misrepresentations of what the Mufti said. In fact, the words he chose to provide a context for the Hadith show that he quoted this Hadith that anticipates Muslims killing Jews, to make it relevant for the current Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The Mufti introduced the Hadith by referring to the "47 years" of Fatah's and the Palestinian "revolution," thus placing the Hadith in today's context. He then added that this is a "reliable Hadith" from the reliable collections and part of accepted Islamic law and belief. After citing the Hadith, the Mufti claimed that Israelis are planting the "Gharqad tree surrounding the [Israeli] settlements and colonies," thus suggesting that Israel is preparing for when the Muslims fulfill this Hadith and come to kill them. According to the Islamic tradition the Gharqad tree will be the only tree that will not call out to Muslims to kill the Jews hiding behind them. By saying Israelis are already planting Gharqad trees around their cities, the Mufti was explicitly relating the Hadith about the killing of Jews to the current time. He was not merely citing "historical religious writings," as claimed...none of the media quoted the context in which the Mufti cited the Hadith, which shows his denial to be a misrepresentation and that he did relate it to today's conflict.

In addition, the Mufti claimed to MENA [Middle East News Agency] that "possibly some sentences or phrases were cut from his speech, which were interpreted incorrectly." PMW affirms that we have the entire 5-minute speech as was broadcast on PA TV and that this is the authentic context.

The following is the Mufti's words at the Fatah event that show the context in which he cited the Hadith, followed by excerpts from AP and Reuters' reports:

Moderator at Fatah ceremony:
"Our war with the descendants of the apes and pigs (i.e., Jews) is a war of religion and faith. Long Live Fatah! [I invite you,] our honorable Sheikh."

PA Mufti Muhammad Hussein comes to the podium and says:
"47 years ago the [Fatah] revolution started. Which revolution? The modern revolution of the Palestinian people's history. In fact, Palestine in its entirety is a revolution, since [Caliph] Umar came [to conquer Jerusalem, 637 CE], and continuing today, and until the End of Days. The reliable Hadith (tradition attributed to Muhammad), [found] in the two reliable collections, Bukhari and Muslim, says:
"The Hour [of Resurrection] will not come until you fight the Jews.
The Jew will hide behind stones or trees.
Then the stones or trees will call:
'Oh Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.'
Except the Gharqad tree [which will keep silent]."
Therefore it is no wonder that you see Gharqad [trees] surrounding the [Israeli] settlements and colonies. This is Palestine, when we talk about it, from the beginning of the Jihad, with the continuation of the Jihad, with the struggle, and with the way of the Martyrs."

and now, MEMRI

MEMRI January 9, 2012 Clip No. 3275

PA Mufti of Jerusalem Muhammad Hussein: The Muslims Will Kill the Jews
before Judgment Day

Following are excerpts from a statement by PA Mufti of Jerusalem Sheik
Muhammad Hussein, which aired on Palestinian Authority TV, on January 9,
2012:

Announcer: [I invite] the honorable sheik, Sheik Muhammad Hussein, the Mufti
of Jerusalem and the Islamic lands. His words are necessary because our war
with the descendents of apes and pigs is a religious war of faith.

Long live Fatah.

Go ahead, sheik.

[…]

Muhammad Hussein: In both collections of the hadith, Al-Bukhari and Muslim
say to us: "Judgment Day will not come before you fight the Jews, and the
Jews will hide behind a stone or a tree, and the stone or the tree will say:
Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him,
with the exception of the gharqad tree" – and this is why it is not uncommon
to see gharqad trees around the settlements and so on.

[…]

[MEMRI holds copyrights on all translations. Materials may only be used with
proper attribution.]

And check previous posts:
here; and here; and also here, among many.
^

Obama/Clinton - "Palestine Firsters"?

2012-01-24T11:21:00.001+02:00

After all the noise about the latent antisemitism at CAP and the use of "Israel Firster", and all the apologetica, I guess calling President Obama and Sec'y of State Clinton "Palestine Firsters" would be acceptable to those progressive radical liberal forces who can't stand Israel?

And why?

Well, at the end of December we had this:

The US State Department said Congress has released $40 million in aid to the Palestinians, part of the nearly $200 million that was frozen over their bid for full UN recognition.

"We have been working with Congress for some time, because we don't think it's in US national interests to keep this money frozen," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters, saying US diplomats were "gratified" by the move. The monies, provided through the Economic Support Fund, are targeted for economic and humanitarian support.

What could "Palestine First" about this, in a negative sense? Well, read this from January 3:-

On Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Obama State Department proudly announced an initial contribution of $55 million [above was $40 - YM] for Palestinians living in the West Bank, Gaza and other parts of the Middle East. President Barack Obama and the State Department claim the $55 million contribution will provide critical health, education, and humanitarian services to five million Palestinian refugees in the region.

...What the State Department neglected to mention regarding the Palestinians in Lebanon is that they are undergoing training by the Lebanese-based terrorist group Hezbollah, say many counterterrorism experts.

The State Department's press release claims that United States recognizes the critical role the Agency plays in assisting Palestinian refugees and maintaining regional stability and calls upon other donors to enhance their support for UNRWA. Sadly, Israeli intelligence sources say some of the aid money is used to purchase weapons such as fully-automatic firearms, rockets, and explosives.

In 2011, the United States provided $75 million to the United Nations West Bank/Gaza emergency programs, $15 million to emergency programs in Lebanon, and $10 million for the construction of five new schools in Gaza, which will serve an estimated 10,000 schoolchildren. However, the U.S. is not allowed input into the school curriculum which is notoriously anti-Israeli. [it incites, delegitimizes and urges violence against Jews, see next sentence]

In fact, the Law Enforcement Examiner in 2011 ran stories regarding the indoctrination of children and the terrorist training provided by Hamas to youngsters living in Gaza.

In December 2011, the Law Enforcement Examiner reported that members of Palestinian groups, including terrorists from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, met with representatives from President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party on Tuesday in Cairo, Egypt. Egypt's representatives at the meeting included members of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists.

And, back in November, there was this:

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton phoned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday night and demanded that he release Palestinian tax revenue that Israel has frozen for more than a month after UNESCO accepted the Palestinians as a member. A senior U.S. official and an Israeli source familiar with details of the conversation say Clinton called Netanyahu after messages relayed to him in recent weeks on the tax money were not answered positively.

and you can hear her earlier giving money).

Well, if Hillary wants Netanyahu to fund Israel's own demise, that surely could qualify as a definition of a "Palestine Firster".
If that isn't "Palestine First", I don't know what is.

PS Mairav Zonszein calls Obama an "Israel Firster".

^

My Interview on Migron on IBA English TV News

2012-01-24T08:41:00.000+02:00

Here:

^

Jerusalem Reclaimed

2012-01-24T08:39:00.000+02:00

A half-day symposium at University of Texas at Austin's Center for Middle Eastern Studies, College of Liberal Arts will take place on March 26, 2012, 1:00–4:45pm on

Picking Up the Pieces: Refiguring Jerusalem and Rome in Late Antiquity

According to the notice alert, the symposium explores how Jerusalem and Rome were re-invigorated as actual urban spaces and re-imagined in cultural memory over the course of late antiquity in response to the disruptive crises each experienced. Rather than following the narrative of the decline that has so often been applied to the fate of the post-classical city, the four papers to be presented at the symposium take their lead from scholars like Annabel Wharton who have highlighted the ongoing and dynamic transformation of the ancient Mediterranean city in the late Roman and early Byzantine period (third to sixth centuries). While Jerusalem and Rome are exceptional in many respects, each also provides an excellent lens through which to consider the cultural strategies and resources available to those who might seek to maintain the sacral status of cities facing historical rupture.

As the remains of both literary and material culture attest, Jerusalem and Rome could be revitalized in a wide variety of ways: through alternations in the ritual use of space; through the restoration of their architectural monuments or their replication elsewhere; through pilgrimage or through the dispersal of relics and other sacred artifacts; and, in all cases, through the narration—and ongoing renarration—of local histories. The symposium will thus illuminate how Jerusalem and Rome would survive antiquity not only as living cities in their own right, but perhaps more importantly as primary models in Western culture for
the construction and authorization of urban spaces as arenas of political and religious power and meaning.

I would suggest that the reclaiming of sacral status through pilgrimage, narration and as an arena for political and religious power and meaning is doing very well for Jerusalem at present as the united eternall capital of the Jewish people.

^

Get Academically Occupied

2012-01-24T07:22:00.000+02:00

Suggested lecture to attend in New York, at NYU:

Eugene Kontorovich on Disputing Occupation

On Wednesday, January 25, Eugene Kontorovich will discuss the topic of "Disputing Occupation: Israel's Borders and International Law." The speech will examine such central questions as legal status of settlements, the “1967 borders,” and Palestinian statehood and self-determination.

Professor Kontorovich’s research spans the fields of constitutional law, international law, and law and economics. He has authored a series of papers that extend the economic analysis of law to public law. Prof. Kontorovich is also one of the leading experts on maritime piracy, universal jurisdiction and international criminal law. He has been called on to advise lawyers in historic piracy trials around the world. He is working on a book, Justice at Sea: Piracy and the Limits of International Criminal Law, under contract with Harvard University Press. His scholarship has been relied upon in numerous federal judicial opinions.

What: Eugene Kontorovich on "Disputing Occupation: Israel's Borders and International Law"
When: Wednesday, 1/25 @ 4pm
Where: Vanderbilt Hall 218

If you do, take notes!

^

Ultra-Hareidi Anti-Zionist Semantics

2012-01-23T22:25:00.000+02:00

Here are four pages of the Tevet issue of Shura D'Karta, an organ of the most radical ultra-Hareidi anti-Zionist groups, a spin-off, split-off, from Neturei Karta, the Ohel Rachel group.

They are the editorial shorts and I've noted some dozen instances of irrational semantics in phrases in the first two pages which I will translate (I am not going to do the entire four pages - even I have my limits of tolerance)

1. "uprooting religion edicts"
2. "their devilish machinations"
3. "communities forcibly destroyed, eradicated and burnt"
4. "in the Zionist ovens"
5. "in the jands of these Amalekites"
6. "these impure Amalekites"
7. "all the pogroms and murders"
8. "the Iranian threat doesn't bother them as much as the Hareidi threat"

9. "these cruel Nazi-zionists"
10. "barbaric and cruel murder"
11. "Nazi police"

Here are the other two pages but without detailed translations.

I Have A Press Problem

2012-01-23T21:41:00.000+02:00

A "Press TV" problem.

Today, I was interviewed again by the Press TV rep in Jerusalem, Ibrahim.

And then I find out this, via :-

Britain revokes Iranian TV network’s license

Britain’s media regulator revoked the broadcast license for the Iranian state-owned television network Press TV on Friday, saying the network had failed to address concerns over its editorial independence and had not paid a fine. The network was set to cease broadcasting almost immediately...The move follows a marked chilling of relations between Britain and Iran after hundreds of Iranian protesters stormed the British Embassy in Tehran last November. Britain closed its embassy in Tehran and expelled all Iranian diplomats in London...(New York Times)

and

Press TV was found to have been operating editorial control from Tehran, breaching UK broadcasting licence rules.

“In the course of correspondence and meetings with Ofcom, statements made by Press TV Limited about the operation of the Licensed Service failed to satisfy Ofcom that the Licensee had general control over which programmes and other services were comprised in the Licensed Service. Ofcom therefore concluded that Press TV Limited had ceased to provide the Licensed Service in accordance with section 362(2) of the Act and that, accordingly, it was appropriate to revoke TLCS Licence 1211 under Condition 29(2)(a) of that Licence and section 238(4) of the Communications Act 2003. The Licence was revoked on 20 January 2012,” Ofcom said in a statement.

Press TV blames the 'Zionists':-

The Zionist Britain Israel Communications & Research Centre (Bicom) has collaborated with the state-controlled British Office of Communications (Ofcom) to ban the alternative English-language channel Press TV in the UK, a political analyst says.

“With anti-Iran sabotage activities high on its agenda, Bicom has worked closely with Ofcom towards eliminating a critical voice: Press TV,” Ismail Salami, Iranian author and Middle East expert, wrote in an article published on Press TV on Sunday.

So, why is Press TV still working in Israel? Are we the most democratic, pluralistic society around?

^

Arab Illegal Settlement?

2012-01-22T23:07:00.001+02:00

Arab sources, via IMRA, are reporting:

Israeli forces Sunday handed two Palestinians from Joreish village, south of Nablus notices to evacuate their land and demolish water wells, according to local sources.

Ghassan Daghlas, in charge of the settlements file at the Palestinian Authority in the northern part of the West Bank, said that Israeli soldiers gave the village’s residents 45 day notice to demolish the wells and evacuate the land.

Joreish or better, Jourish, is right near Shiloh, north of us.

It's where the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the United Nations Development Programme/Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People (UNDP/PAPP) has requested bids from eligible contractors to perform Construction of the Jourish Women Community Center - Jourish Village – Nablus Governorate.

In any case, since Daghlas is an inveterate misconstruer, we'll wait until all the facts are in.

Or at least while the jury on Jurish is out.

After all, could it be that Arabs are engaged in illegal settlement?

^

'West Bank' Woman Treated Subhumanely

2012-01-22T20:41:00.000+02:00

Sorry, but Israel not responsible.

West Bank woman freed from bathroom prison

QALQIYLA, West Bank, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- Palestinian police said they rescued a young woman who had been locked in a bathroom by her father over a family dispute for more than nine years. The 20-year-old woman, who apparently had not seen sunlight since she was 11 years old, was turned over to a social worker at a police station and her dad was arrested. Qalqilya police on the West Bank said the father told them he had imprisoned his daughter in the bathroom after some unspecified family quarrel nearly a decade ago.

Her dad!?

^

United States Guilty By Association and Aloofness

2012-01-22T19:38:00.002+02:00

Do you remember this item?

...at the same time that the Obama administration is assiduously courting the Taliban, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Iranian regime, according to Channel 2, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has refused to meet with Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman during his upcoming trip to Washington. Channel 2 reported that senior US officials said that “Lieberman is an obstacle to peace. We don’t want our pictures taken with him and with what he represents.”

That was in a Caroline Glick column at the Jerusalem Post on January 19.

Well, what you think of photos of Anne Patterson, US Ambassador to Egypt, with top Muslim Brotherhood officials, who just met with Hamas' Meshal and Haniyeh, yesterday and in December?

Check out IsraellyCool.

Here's another photo:

From the official Muslim Brotherhood statement:

...Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood said that US Ambassador to Cairo Anne Patterson met with the group’s Supreme Guide Mohammed Badie on Wednesday, and reportedly told her that Sharia law, or Islamic law, “ensures personal freedoms for all.”

...Patterson expressed her gratitude for the meeting and congratulated the group for their political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), victory in the recent parliamentary elections, and stressed that the United States is looking forward to cooperate with “whoever is chosen by the Egyptian people and a democratic government...”The Supreme Guide criticized the successive US administrations and accused them of “controlling people through their support to the dictators,” which made the popularity of the United States decline across the region...Badie explained that the principles of Islamic Sharia law is the m”ain source of legislation and the biggest guarantee of public and private freedoms, as it ensures the freedom of belief, religion and personal rights to all citizens equally.”

For her part, Ambassador Patterson admitted that US administrations have committed some mistakes, but called for overcoming them and to “learn from them to avoid their recurrence in the future.”

She pointed out that democracy always brings stable partners.

Stable?

Stable?!

^

USAID for West Bank/Gaza

2012-01-22T15:26:00.000+02:00

Overview

The United States is the leading provider of bilateral economic and development assistance to the Palestinians, having provided more than $2.9 billion since 1994 for programs in the areas of water and sanitation, infrastructure, education, health care, economic growth, and democracy. The United States is also committed to continuing assistance for basic human needs in both the West Bank and Gaza, including emergency food, health care, and access to safe water and sanitation systems. In Gaza, USAID works closely with the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) and local and international nongovernmental organizations.

Programs

Economic Growth
The USAID economic growth program promotes business and agricultural development and job creation through technical assistance and grants to the private sector. USAID supports Palestinian efforts to increase exports, enable investment and lending, generate employment, and improve quality standards. The U.S. Government is also easing the movement of Palestinian people and goods, while improving Israel’s security.

Infrastructure
Road, water, and school construction projects all contribute to improvements in the infrastructure sector. In 2010, USAID plans to construct more than 120 kilometers of main arterial and secondary road segments throughout the West Bank. In the water sector, USAID supports not only rapid response and emergency relief capabilities, but also fundamental infrastructure improvements, including expanding access to safe drinking water and sanitation in rural areas, reducing losses from aging water systems, constructing or expanding pipelines and reservoirs to improve water distribution, developing new water resources, and procuring water commodities and construction and engineering management services.

Humanitarian Assistance
To respond to emergencies and reduce poverty, the United States provides emergency food, health care, and access to safe water and sanitation to the people in the West Bank and Gaza. The U.S. Government also contributes to the WFP and to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency’s West Bank and Gaza Emergency Appeal. In 2009, USAID responded to the humanitarian crisis and provided food and nonfood humanitarian assistance in Gaza. In addition, through a grant to the WFP, USAID is providing food assistance to vulnerable non-refugee families in the West Bank and Gaza.

Investing in People
USAID works to improve the ability of the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Health and local health care organizations to meet the public health needs of Palestinian families. Of particular concern is the health of the most vulnerable Palestinians, including women of reproductive age and children under five. In 2010, USAID is renovating four major hospitals in the West Bank.

USAID supports early childhood and basic education to help prepare Palestinian children for a more productive future. This year, USAID will focus on educational quality improvements in 40 public and 17 private schools. Complementary higher education and vocational programs improve the quality of teaching and learning and emphasize critical thinking. Since 2009, USAID has constructed or renovated 153 classrooms and constructed 10 new public schools to address the need for classroom space to support the rapidly growing population. USAID’s education assistance benefits approximately 23,000 Palestinians.

Peace and Security
With its border improvement projects, the United States is helping ease the movement of Palestinian people and goods, while improving Israel’s security. USAID is also assisting the Palestinian Monetary Authority and the Palestinian Capital Markets Authority in tracking financial transactions to prevent financial crimes and money laundering.

Governing Justly and Democratically
USAID programs promote respect for human rights, enforcement of the rule of law, and improvement in the Palestinian Authority’s ability to provide for the needs of the public. USAID works with 12 Palestinian Authority ministries and institutions to carry out democratic reforms and make improvements in key areas of service delivery. USAID programs also assist civil society organizations and the media in holding government accountable and in building a constituency for reform. Finally, USAID provides assistance to the Central Elections Commission to help prepare for future elections.

EXAMPLES OF OUR IMPACT

USAID programs have provided potable water to 1.7 million beneficiaries (69 percent of the population) in the West Bank.

In 2009, USAID distributed more than $24 million worth of humanitarian assistance in response to the humanitarian crisis caused by the military operations in Gaza.

USAID has trained more than one-third of the Central Elections Commission staff in preparation for future Palestinian elections.

CONTACTS

Mission Director
Michael Harvey
USAID
9700 Tel Aviv Place
Washington, DC 20521-9700
Tel: 972-3-511-4848
Fax: 972-3-511-4888

Desk Officer
Sara Borodin
Tel: (202) 712-4836
Email: sborodin@usaid.gov

Is The New Springsteen Single An Anthem for G'machim?

2012-01-22T14:48:00.001+02:00

G'mach is an abbreviation for "gemilut chasadim" which is Hebrew for providing good deeds assistance to the less-than-fortunate and is used to described the community free loan system in traditional Jewish society.

Bruce Springsteen's new single is entitled "We Can Take Care of Own Own":

And that reference at the beginning to the "throne", is that a play off of Matisyahu's One Day?

see everybody that's existing got a mind of their own
we're all kings and queens with a throne of our own
tryn' raise a family in another big home
we gotta learn to stick together
hate to be here alone

hook (akon):
cuz the world is a place that will eat you alive in one day
said the world is a place that you cant survive without faith

The Migron 'No-Proof' Incident || Bibi UPDATE!!

2012-01-22T14:09:00.002+02:00

(UPDATE below)

From my friend, Dr. Haim Shine in Israel Hayom:-

High atop a hill in the land given to the tribe of Benjamin, just where Saul's army once prepared for war with the Philistines, the outpost of Migron was built in 1999...What they did, as Zionists and pioneers, was reminiscent of the glory days of the early Zionist settlement movement.

This rocky hill, uninhabited since the days of Saul and David and whose soil has not been cultivated -- even sheep and cows have not grazed it -- became the home of ~~Jewish settlers~~ Jews. The homeland once again proved that it was waiting with eternal patience for the return of its sons. Women and children carried the weight of the entire nation on their gentle shoulders.

...Though Palestinian ownership of the land has not been established, the evacuation orders have already been issued. The State Prosecutor's Office has turned land that was never claimed by anyone into private land. I am convinced that had the same criteria been applied to the lands settled in the early days of Zionism and the establishment of Israel, legal proceedings would still be underway on the matter of Ramat Aviv, Raanana, Ramat Hasharon and many neighborhoods in Jerusalem.

True, Jewish settlements should not be built on private land, with or without government support. But in order for land to be classified as private, proof of ownership must be presented, and no such proof has been provided for most of the land on which Migron was built...

UPDATE

Government Offers Compromise Agreement on the Evacuation of the Structures at Migron
(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier today (Sunday), 22.1.12, at the weekly Cabinet meeting, said that according to a High Court of Justice decision, the structures at Migron must be evacuated by 31.3.12. Due to its desire to honor the Court's decision by agreement and peacefully, the Government proposes the following compromise: Migron residents' permanent homes will be built near the current site, on state lands the planning for which will be arranged. Upon the conclusion of the construction, the residents will move to the permanent site. The site will be evacuated and handed over to the Judea and Samaria Civil Administration. The Government calls on the residents of Migron to agree to the proffered compromise and thus allow the Government to soon request that the Court approve the arrangement.

Prime Minister Netanyahu said that, "This is a good proposal. It does not solve all of the problems, but it does resolve the problem of Migron."

Not bad. We can work with that.
^

What You Missed Over Chanukah - in Jericho

2012-01-22T13:47:00.002+02:00

Go here.

Reports, photographs and video clips with Erna.

^

Another 'Illegal Outpost Settlement'?

2012-01-22T13:46:00.000+02:00

I hadn't heard of Dale Camp before.

I learned that

Dale Farm is a plot of land on Oak Lane in Crays Hill, Essex, United Kingdom. Until October 2011, it was an Irish Traveller halting site which had been established without planning permission. The site is owned by members of the travelling community and is located within the Green Belt. In October 2011, to give bailiffs safe access to allow a clearance order to be executed, some residents and activists had to be removed from the Dale Farm site - this action gained international press coverage.

At its height, Dale Farm, along with the adjacent Oak Lane site, housed over 1,000 people, the largest Traveller concentration in the UK.

In essence,

in 2001. At this time unplanned development started...Various planning breaches were reported. Basildon Council first served enforcement notices in 2001 and the Travellers brought legal action in an attempt to have these repealed. The council has said that planning applications for the caravans and chalets on the site were rejected because the land was green belt.

And now this, found here:

After the hard-fought, violent and costly eviction of the Dale Farm illegal traveller camp, some may have thought the decade-long saga had finally reached an end. But...the battleground has merely moved a few yards away...since Dale Farm was cleared in October at an estimated cost to the taxpayer of £18million, there has been an extraordinary explosion in the number of caravans pitched on the legal Oak Lane site next door...Basildon Council is preparing to serve eviction notices on half of the site’s 34 pitches by the end of January. The notices would give the travellers 28 days to vacate the land...the travellers say they are determined to fight any council moves to evict them. One, who would give her name only as Kathleen, said: ‘We are going nowhere. When they serve the notices we will ignore them.

‘People are ready to fight for their homes again. It will be like another Dale Farm situation all over again.’ Kathleen, 23, added: ‘They may send in the police and the bailiffs but we will stay here.’

...A total of 43 people were arrested and several injured after Dale Farm protesters fought running battles with riot police in October in the eviction of about 80 families from what was the UK’s largest illegal traveller settlement. A decade-long legal battle was declared a success and Basildon Council announced that the six-acre site, which was built illegally on green belt land, was clear...campaigner Mary Anne McCarthy, who lived on the Dale Farm site for ten years, said: ‘There will be another Dale Farm stand-off, there is no doubt about it. The travellers have nowhere else to go and this is their home. They will fight for their homes and livelihood.

In the UK, the legal process had taken ten years and in Israel, they sweep in overnight even before all legal avenues have been exhausted.

It even went international:

a mediation offer by Jan Jařab, the regional representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, was rejected by the Foreign Office

New costs for removal, under 8million pounds.

^

Just Who Was/Is Burning/Destroying Books?

2012-01-22T11:25:00.000+02:00

Recently, there was a flurry of charges about Israel destroying "Palestinian books".

Here:

Israel plundered and destroyed tens of thousands of Palestinian books in the years after the State's establishment, according to a doctoral thesis to be submitted next month by a Ben-Gurion University researcher.

In an interview with the researcher published on al-Jazeera's website Thursday, he claimed that Israel destroyed the Palestinian books in the framework of its plan to "Judaize the country" and cut off its Arab residents from their nation and culture.

According to the doctoral dissertation, Israeli authorities collected tens of thousands of Arab books in Jerusalem, Jaffa, Haifa, Safed, and other towns that were home to Arabs. Israeli officials proceeded to hand out about half the books, while destroying the second half, characterizing them as a "security threat," the researcher said..."This was a cultural massacre undertaken in a manner that was worse than European colonialism, which safeguarded the items it stole in libraries and museums," the researcher charged.

Well, what do you know - or should have known:-

On February 15th 2008 an armed gang broke into the YMCA library in Gaza and blew it up. As a result the building was destroyed and thousands of books inside were burned.

This is another attack on Christian western institutions and figures, performed by one of the global Jihad organization (probably the Army of Islam), flourishing in the Gaza strip and Hamas that controls the strip, does not prevent the phenomena from going on. Sources in the Gaza strip reported that behind the explosion of the YMCA building was Mumtaz Dughmush head the Army of Islam terrorist organization that has decided to take out the Christian congregation in the Gaza strip causing embarrassment to the Hamas. Hamas security forces detained number Army of Islam activists but they were released after a short while, following a threat made by the Army of Islam it will forcefully release its activists.

Those were "Christian books".

Imagine what they do the Jewish books. Imagine? Here's the Avraham Avinu Synagogue in Hebron in 1929:-

And that's but one example.

^

So Peaceful

2012-01-22T10:51:00.000+02:00

Isn't peace just great?

Palestinians fire on West Bank patrol: Israel army

Palestinian gunmen opened fire at an Israeli army patrol near the West Bank city of Ramallah overnight, according to an Israeli military spokeswoman.

"During a routine patrol during the night, shots were fired by Palestinians at a military vehicle near Ramallah without causing injuries. The vehicle was lightly damaged," she told AFP.

The shooters were not apprehended, the spokeswoman said.

and

IDF exposes Syria-funded Islamic Jihad terror cell in West Bank

Israeli security forces have recently discovered an Islamic Jihad terror cell which was planning attacks against Israeli soldiers, the Israel Defense Forces said Thursday, after a gag order was lifted in the case.

In a joint operation between the IDF and the Shin Bet, 10 Islamic Jihad militants were arrested near Jenin in recent months. According to the investigation, the military headquarters of the cell was communicating with the Islamic Jihad in Syria, who transferred the cell large sums of money to purchase weapons and to fund other operations.

and

on Saturday morning, three explosions thought to be from mortars were reported in the southern area of the Eshkol Regional Council. No damage or injuries were reported.

Peace now!

^

If You Prefer Truth, Why Do You Read The NYTimes?

2012-01-22T08:44:00.000+02:00

Does that headline bother you?

Well, read this.

^

Last Night's Emergency Meeting on The Arrangement Law

2012-01-22T08:37:00.000+02:00

You can see me below attending the emergency meeting with MK Uri Ariel to discuss methods of political advocacy to improve the chances of the new bill that would achieve an equitable arrangement for the outposts on former state lands that had been awarded to Arabs during the period of the illegal Jordanian occupation and were unused - and also bring the situation in line with the legal practice in Israel whereby compensation is the norm rather than destruction of property.

Photo credits: Miriam-Feyge Bunimovitch

^

Islamic Antisemitism?

2012-01-22T01:37:00.001+02:00

You convinced that Arabs, who are Semites, can't be antisemitic?

Fine, then let's call them Jew-haters, judeophobic, whatever, after reading this:-

I said: By God, young Egyptians who fight lions cannot fight the Jews? Can't they devour the Jews? How many millions of our young men are ready to fight lions... I mean, Jews. [...]

"I address them on behalf of 85 million Egyptians, whose hearts beat with hatred for the Jews, and with the knowledge of what the Jews did to us and of how Allah warned us about them...

"I tell them that the battle is bound to come, Allah be praised. The Prophet Muhammad, whose words are divinely inspired, said: 'Judgment Day will come when the Muslims fight the Jews.' That means that the Muslims will be the ones who engage [in fighting]. It's not just any battle. He said: 'The Muslims will fight the Jews, and the stones and the trees will say: Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.' Even the stones and the trees hate them. The battle is bound to come. [...]

"Jews will be Jews, guys. The Jews of today are the Jews of Khaybar, who tried to poison the Prophet Muhammad. They are the Jews of Banu Nadhir, who tried to kill the Prophet Muhammad. They are the Jews of Banu Qaynuqa', who tried to lift up a Muslim woman's dress. Jews will be Jews. We know what you are like, you Jews, and we know your hatred toward the religion of Allah, toward the servants of Allah, and toward the Muslims worldwide.

"You will be vanquished, Allah willing...Today, 92% of the world's film industry is in your hands, 90% of the world's famous actors are Jews, and 90% of the giant news networks, like CNN, are in Jewish hands. [...]

"Oh nation of Muhammad...It is either a war with the Jews or a war with Allah. Allah says that the entire nation could be replaced if it is not prepared to sacrifice its blood for the sake of Palestine. [...]

"My message to all the Jews is that the battle is bound to come and you will be vanquished...we follow - the moment [Muhammed] signed the Hudaybiyya Treaty with Mecca, the first thing he did after the battle with the Quraysh tribe, only 20 days after signing the Hudaybiyya Treaty, he took his army and attacked Khaybar.

"Why, oh Messenger of Allah? Because these Jews are a cancer. These Jews are a catastrophe. There is not a catastrophe in the world that is not the handiwork of the Jews. These Jews are a cancer in the body of planet Earth, and if permitted, it will spread and infect the entire body. Getting rid of these Jews is a must."

My Wife and Pnina Rosenblum

2012-01-22T00:39:00.000+02:00

Doesn't that sound, well, alluring?

You do know the name Pnina Rosnblum?

And here's the picture of Pnina my wife snapped:

Photo Credit: Batya Medad

And here's my wife's story.

^

Mazar or Miar? What The Foot(e)!

2012-01-21T21:09:00.002+02:00

Where was Lord Caradon in the first week of December 1937?

Well, as Hugh Foot, he was in Mandatory Palestine, posted in Mandate Palestine between 1929–37 and Transjordan (1939–43). This Foote was outside of Acre:-

Before dawn one morning last week at Nablus a detachment of native policemen and soldiers, led by British Assistant District Commissioner W. Foote, moved off into the hills of northern Palestine. Their destination was the tiny Arab village of Mazar. With the squad moved armored cars. As they crept up on the village in the grey morning light, two British planes droned overhead. The Arabs scrambled from their houses to find their village surrounded.

Striding forward, Commissioner Foote threatened to wipe out the entire settlement unless the Arab villagers produced and delivered... (*)

Reference to Hugh Foot: A.

And if you think that's strange, read on:

Abu Said Aburish, Grand old man of the TIME Beirut bureau
04 May 2005

Abu Said Aburish became part of the plot, during the Arab Revolt of 1936 against British rule in Palestine, to assassinate District Governor Hugh Foot. The plan was to shoot Foot as he left his residence in the morning. Fortunately for Foot, who later as the British United Nations ambassador Lord Caradon would be the author of the famous UN Resolution 242 of 1967, British military intelligence learned of the conspiracy.

Foot would watch Aburish ride his bicycle around and around the house waiting for his chance to strike. When Aburish was safely at the back of the house, Foot went to his car. Eventually, Aburish gave up. He later referred to himself as "the most inept assassin in history".

Shortly afterwards, he left the underground to become a journalist. He pursued this career until his retirement from Time magazine, where he was the Beirut bureau's grand old man for 37 years, in 1989.

He was born Mohammed Khalil Aburish in Bethany, Palestine, in 1909, the third son of the village chief, Khalil Aburish....In 1934 he married Soraya Shahine. Her father, Dr Musa Shahine, advised Mufti Haj Amin Husseini, leader of the Arab Higher Committee, during a time of increasing tension between native Palestinian Arabs and European Jewish settlers...A favourite of the Mufti's, Abu Said Aburish undertook occasional assignments - like the feeble attempt on Hugh Foot - for the Arab nationalists. He and two friends opened the Orient Taxi Company, the first telephone taxi firm in the Middle East. As a taxi driver, Aburish met many foreign journalists and the Mufti asked him to explain the Palestinian cause to them.

Aburish became a journalist himself, working as an assistant to the legendary O'Dowd Gallagher of the Daily Mail. "O.D.", as he liked to sign his articles, was a tireless campaigner whose signature still hangs on the wall of Fink's Bar in west Jerusalem. Aburish also spent time at Fink's Bar...The Daily Mail sacked him when its editors learned that the reason he had been able to scoop his colleagues over the story of the bombing of the Palestine Post was that he knew about it beforehand.

In Beirut, Aburish fared better than most of the other Palestinian refugees. The New York Times hired him to assist its correspondent there. He moved to Newsweek, when the magazine asked him to open its Beirut bureau. He concluded that one Newsweek staffer was in fact working for the CIA, so he switched to Time magazine.

And then again,

BRITISH forces responded to the presence of terrorists in the Arab village of Miar, north of Haifa, by blowing up house after house in October 1938.

"When the troops left, there was little else remaining of the once-busy village except a pile of mangled masonry," The New York Times reported.

The declassified documents refer to an incident in Jaffa in which a handcuffed prisoner was shot by the British police.

Under Emergency Regulation 19b, the British Mandate government could demolish any house located in a village where terrorists resided, even if that particular house had no direct connection to terrorist activity. Mandate official Hugh Foot later recalled: "When we thought that a village was harboring rebels, we'd go there and mark one of the large houses. Then, if an incident was traced to that village, we'd blow up the house we'd marked."

The High Commissioner for Palestine, Harold MacMichael, defended the practice: "The provision is drastic, but the situation has demanded drastic powers."

(*)

with help from ChallahHuAkbar, amanged to retrieve this:

...to the British the aged Sheik Farhan al Sadi.

After this 75-year-old Arab dignitary had been told of the British ultimatum, he crawled out of a wheat bin, gave himself up.

Two days later the Sheik was accused of "possessing arms"—something every Arab sheik possesses—advised that if convicted under Britain's new emergency decree in Palestine the penalty would be Death.

Arraigned before a court martial of three British officers, the Sheik Farhan refused to utter a word to the Court, kept repeating to himself passages from the Koran. His lawyer entered a plea of "not guilty," the court sentenced him to Death, and on the sixth morning after he crawled out of the wheat bin Sheik Farhan al Sadi was hanged by the neck until dead at Acre.

While Arab public opinion was horrified.

British public opinion approved, for several reasons. British authorities in Palestine say that the Sheik Farhan was a leader of terrorist activities against such few Arab bigwigs as are known to be friendly to the British, or at least willing to negotiate. The British say that among the "arms" which Sheik Farhan was found to "possess" was one engraved with the name of a recently-assassinated pro-British Arab leader, Radi Abboushi. Such suspicions and circumstantial evidence might not hang a man in England, but the Near East is the Near East.

On the Sheikh:

Al-Qassam provided a unique model for Palestinians as he declared revolution and was among its first martyrs. Al-Qassam was right when he said before the battle began that he, together with his comrades, would be the spark which would ignite the revolution all over the country. Indeed, his martyrdom was the beginning rather than the end of his movement. It is possible to say that the three martyrs (al-Qassam “the Syrian”, Zibawi “the Palestinian” and Muhammad Hanafi “the Egyptian”) sent a message to the world that the Jihad in Palestine and facing the Zionist project, is an Islamic and Arab issue (besides its universal dimension), which is not confined to Palestinians.

The fifth and last point is that many historians stop at al-Qassam’s martyrdom and do not mention the impact of his organization and the important role it played in the Palestinian Revolt 1936 and even in the war of 1948.

Actually, it was al-Qassam organization “al-Jihadiyyah” which kindled the Revolt in Palestine, after the operation it executed on 15/4/1936 under the command of Farhan al-Sa‘di, al-Qassam’s successor. In addition, it was al-Qassam organization itself which ignited the second phase of this Revolt, on 26/9/1937, when two of its members, Muhammad Abu Ja‘b and Sheikh Mahmud Dirawi, assassinated Louis Andrews—the British governor of the Galilee (North Palestine).

^

Assassinate Obama?

2012-01-21T20:41:00.001+02:00

Oh, well, at least I'm not this, well, meshuganneh:-

Newspaper publisher apologises for saying Israel should consider assassinating Obama

The publisher of a Jewish newspaper who suggested that Israel assassinate Barack Obama in a weekly column, has apologised. Andrew Adler made the controversial statement in the Atlanta Jewish Times, a paper which serves the Jewish community in Atlanta, U.S. He claimed ordering an assassination of President Obama could be one of three ways to protect the people of Israel.

Mr Adler suggested that attacking Hezbollah and Hamas or ordering the destruction of Iran's nuclear facilities were also a possibility.

In the original article, he said: 'Yes, you read "three" correctly. Order a hit on a president in order to preserve Israel's existence...Mr Adler has now issued a formal apology...'I very much regret it, I wish I hadn't made reference to it at all,' he said to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency...Mr Adler admitted that he had been an 'idiot' for writing it and said he had put his 'pen in my mouth', according to ABC.

The secret service has said that Adler's comments would be followed up but would not say if a formal investigation had been launched.

Is Atlanta close to where Jimmy Carter lives?

^

Quiz - Which Year?

2012-01-21T19:12:00.000+02:00

In which year was this published?

From Jerusalem last week, the New York Times Correspondent ____________ cabled the text of the fatwa by which Iraq Moslem leaders last fortnight decreed a jihad (Holy War) against...Jews in Palestine:

"In the name of Allah, the Merciful!

"Allah said in His holy Koran, 'Let those emerge as a nation who evoke goodness and refrain from evil!' Allah also said, 'Harken unto Allah, ye faithful, and to His messenger when he calls upon you!' "Know ye, all ye Moslems, that a jihad is your sacred duty for the glory of the word...

Answer.

And see this from the previous week.

Think about that when you realize that only recently did Benny Morris finally admit that the religious element of Islam was, and is, a fanatic jihadist character.

^