Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Pesach Is Coming and That Means Food

My later mother left us with a family heirloom, Savta Brei.

Here's a new recipe from that great New York Jewish newspaper, the Times:-

Matzo, Lox, Eggs and Onions

Time: 10 minutes

4 matzos
1 large red onion, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
3 tablespoons unsalted butter or olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus a pinch
8 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 ounces smoked salmon, cut into 1/2-inch-wide strips
2 tablespoons freshly chopped dill, more for garnish
Honey, for serving
Sour cream, for serving.

1. Put the matzos under a running faucet for about 15 seconds or until really wet. They should start to soften but not fall apart. Break them into rough 1 1/2-inch pieces.
2. Scatter the onion in a large dry skillet over high heat. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes until it turns dark golden brown on one side, then stir in the butter and a pinch of salt and cook until golden all over and dark brown in spots, about 3 to 5 minutes. If the butter starts to become too brown, lower the heat.
3. While the onion is frying, whisk the eggs in a medium bowl with 1/2 teaspoon salt and the pepper. Stir in the matzo pieces and let them soak.
4. Reduce the heat under the skillet to medium-low and add matzo-egg mixture to the onion. Cook, stirring, as you would with scrambled eggs. When the eggs are two-thirds of the way cooked, stir in the smoked salmon and dill. Serve immediately with a pool of honey and dollop of sour cream on the side.
Yield: 4 servings.

Let me know how your's came out.

^

I've Gone Out on a Lamb

My new Green-Lined Jerusalem Post blog post is up.

It's called "Going Out on a Lamb".

It start's:-

Yes, lamb, not limb. No mistake there. And certainly no broken limb (which would cause an invalidation of the lamb).


Going out on a limb, I would think, is the proper phrase that would be employed to describe an Ashkenazi to eat kitniyot, a development, by the way, has already drawn support. The lamb I am referring to, however, is the Paschal Offering, the main element of the Passover festival, four times commanded in the Bible. A campaign to offer the Passover sacrifice even without the rebuilt Temple is gathering attention. As the Jerusalem Post has reported,

An initiative to raise the awareness of the centrality of the Pessah sacrifice is gaining momentum, after central rabbis from major streams have endorsed the educational effort. An unusual meeting took place...at the home of one of the leading figures in the haredi world, Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky...

More details are here...

Go read it.

Pass it around.

Happy Pesach!

Haber Is A Name To Be Remembered

To all my left-wing friends, those moderate, those radical, those progressive, those liberal, I just wanted you to know that this story is quite symbolic of what I think is a central problem of yours: "finding favor"

Fritz Haber: Jewish chemist whose work led to Zyklon B

...Fritz Haber's inventions both saved millions, and were eventually used to kill millions...No-one personifies better than Fritz Haber the debate over science's capacity for good and evil...in the cruellest of all the ironies, his work was developed under the Nazis to create the gas used to murder millions in the Holocaust - including his relatives.

...He went to study chemistry in Berlin - the ideal formula, he hoped, for transforming a provincial Jewish boy into a successful German...anti-Semitism also grew as the century drew to a close, which preyed on Haber's mind despite his decision to convert to Christianity.

...in 1909 Haber found a way of synthesising ammonia for fertiliser from nitrogen and hydrogen...But the process was also highly useful for the military in making explosives...when World War I broke out soon afterwards, Haber - now working for the Kaiser's research institute in Berlin - was desperate to prove his patriotism.  He began experimenting with chlorine gas which, he said, would shorten the war...Awarded the Nobel Prize for his work on ammonia, he also feared arrest as a war criminal for his poison gas research.

...By the early 1930s he could see vicious anti-Semitism spreading around him, and his claim to be a German patriot was no protection.  "In early 1933", his daughter Eva told me, "he went to his institute. There was the porter, who said: 'The Jew Haber is not allowed in here.'"...Haber resigned, devastated, went briefly into exile, and died of a heart attack in 1934.

...There was one other area of research in the 1920s in which Haber and his colleagues were successful: developing pesticide gases. Of Haber's legacies, this was the bitterest. For this research was later developed into the Zyklon process, used by the Nazis to murder millions in their death camps, including his own extended family.

And as for his tortured relationship with Germany, Einstein concluded: "Haber's life was the tragedy of the German Jew - the tragedy of unrequited love."

Today, the 'patriotism' may be humanism, human rights, et al.  But it is the same process: not realizing the primacy of your Judaism and obligations to the national existence of the the Jewish people.  And not realizing how all your 'good works' can be invidious and existentially-threatening to Jews, no matter how much they seem to allure you.

^

Only Half?

Jerusalem Post reports on a new poll which shows support for Israel still high in US; 66% of Republicans, 48% of Democrats against unilateral declaration of Palestinian state.:

Half of Americans oppose unilateral creation of 'Palestine'

The survey, conducted last week among 800 registered voters, suggested that support for Israel remains strong among Americans, particularly among older, more conservative voters in the South and West of the United States.

“The key targets for us to grow our support are Democrats, younger voters, women and minorities,” pollster Neil Newhouse said on a conference call on the poll Monday, adding that while those groups do support Israel, their support tends to be “softer.”

...Fifty-one percent of voters polled said they would oppose the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state, with 29% of those responding that they would strongly oppose it, whereas 31% of voters polled said they would support such a unilateral declaration, 12% of those stating they would strongly support it.

Opposition to unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state cuts across party lines in the US, according to the poll’s data. Some 66% of Republicans opposed it as did 44% of independents and 48% of Democrats.

Without a peace treaty in place between Israelis and Palestinians, 54% of respondents believe the US should not recognize a Palestinian state, whereas 33% of respondents feel that the US should recognize a unilaterally declared state.

Republicans are generally more skeptical than Democrats or independents of the Palestinians’ intentions to make peace with Israel...

Is 800 a representative enough sample?

^

It's Southeast Asia New Year Time

I caught these three basically identical statements to three countries and am trying to figure it out. Is the "New Year" a national celebration or a religious one?

Songkran Festival - Thai New Year

Remarks
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State, Washington, DC

April 11, 2011

On behalf of President Obama and the American people, I send best wishes to the people of Thailand as you celebrate the Songkran Festival and the Thai New Year in the coming days.

Khmer New YearKhmer New Year

Press Statement
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State, Washington, DC

April 11, 2011

On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I congratulate the people of the Kingdom of Cambodia as you celebrate the Khmer New Year in the coming days.

Lao New Year

Press Statement
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State, Washington, DC

April 11, 2011

On behalf of President Obama and the American people, I am delighted to send congratulations to the people of Laos as you celebrate the New Year in the coming days.

If religious, why three separate statements? Are they really national rather than religious festivals?

____________

P.S.

I posted to soon. Now look:

Bengali New Year - Poila Boishakh Message
Press Statement

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of StateWashington, DC

April 11, 2011

On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I send my best wishes to all Bengali-speaking people around the world as you celebrate Poila Boishakh in the coming days
^

Monday, April 11, 2011

New Blog: Untold News

View it here.

Raison d'etre:

Untold News was founded to pro-actively communicate the many true, good stories about Israel. Our prime target is the non-committed: Jews and non-Jews.


Using advertising professionals, we have created short videos and are distributing them to traditional and new media.

Please visit our website, www.untoldnews.org, to see my Bio and the videos as follows:

1. I was near to the death (Arab getting liver transplant from a Jew)
2. Thanks for Saving a Life (Arab baby with hole in his heart)
3. Doctors Treat Terrorists
4. Help My Baby! (Israeli Crisis Team in Haiti)
5. Haiti Rescue Team
6. Save a Thirsty World (Drip Irrigation)

^

Naked Remembrance of Liberation of Nazi Concentration Camp Inmates

I wasn't aware but I've learned from this report that

April 11th is the International Day of Liberation of Nazi Concentration Camp Inmates. This day was established by the UN's decision to commemorate the uprising of the Buchenwald concentration camp prisoners. 66 years ago, on April 11th 1945 a red flag was hoisted over the Buchenwald camp administrative building. On that day the inmates disarmed and took prisoner more than 800 SS-men and camp guards. The uprising saved the inmates from sure death, because it was only the day before, that the Nazis made the decision to exterminate all camp prisoners.  Two days later US troops reached Buchenwald.

I also learned that the brassy feminist movement, FEMEN, undertook to mark this date for the following reasons:

the women's movement FEMEN at 12:00 at the Independence Square hosted an action "Fashizofreniya. The rally was dedicated to the International Day for the release of prisoners of Nazi concentration camps. Scenario campaign was inspired by the legendary film "Battleship Potemkin" by Sergei Eisenstein. FEMEN consider itself the principal to observe this day in Kyiv, a city that suffered most from the Nazi plague.

FEMEN-pacifist tore her militaristic clothing as a symbol of resistance to Nazi renaissance in Ukraine.  "Fascism will not come back!" -  "We are seriously concerned about the possibility of returning to Ukraine to Nazi values, as a logical result of government incompetence and apathy of the people of Ukraine. At such times, people tend to go for different-sized home-grown "Fuhrer."  The more important for Ukrainians remember the lessons of history "- said the leader of the women's movement FEMEN Anna Gutsol.

They are brassy because they conduct their activist demonstrations in a state of undress and so, due to restraints, this is the best I could do:



I could not avoid showing you those Jewish stars.

And this Hebrew writing:




^

Amy, Kosher Is Better

Oh, oh.

It is not known exactly what caused the 27-year-old British singer to suddenly feel so ill, although her unease became so bad that she decided she needed professional help.  "Amy is in the clinic being treated for food poisoning,” a source told British newspaper The Sun.  "She hasn't said what she's eaten but has been telling patients that she feels dog rough."

Amy, you're Jewish.  Keep to a kosher menu.  I can't say it's perfect but it's your best chance to keep from food poisoning.

^

The Temple Institute Pesach Conference

I noted previously that those opposed to a Jewish presence on the Temple Mount among the Religious-Zionist camp will be conducting a conference next Wednesday.

The Rabbis and activists who wish to promote a Temple Mount consciousness will be conducting their conference the following day at the Temple Institute, Misgav Ladach 19 in the Jewish Quarter of the the walled ancient city of Jerusalem in the afternoon, starting at 3:30PM.

The poster:


See you there?

^

But What Did The Jews At Gallipoli Drink?

News from an archaeological dig at Gallipoli:

Almost a century after troops were slaughtered at Gallipoli, evidence from a war that shaped Australia's national identity appears to be well-preserved under thick vegetation...Archaeologists spent two weeks assessing a 3.7-square-kilometre section of battlefield in October last year. They documented 12 cemeteries, seven collapsed tunnels, eight boundary markers and 36 dugouts.  The expedition uncovered 69 artefacts, which included bullets, shell cartridges, medicine jars and belt buckles.  This was the most significant study of the battlefield since official Australian war historian Charles Bean visited in 1919...The team will visit Gallipoli again in September 2011, as part of the $350,000 federal government program to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Anzac Day.

An interesting element of the excavation was related to alcholhol:

...uncovered new evidence at the landmark World War I site [included] glass shards left in the Turkish trenches could explain the drinking habits of diggers as the centenary of Anzac Day approaches.  The Anzac legend has often been used to sell alcohol, but survey archaeologist Antonio Sagona said it was actually the Turks, and not the Australians, who downed beers in battle.  "The beer bottle shards were only on the Turkish side, that was just one small point that was rather interesting to me," Professor Sagona told reporters at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra on Sunday.  The Turks had a penchant for Bomonti and Constantinople beer. Conversely, Allied soldiers were given rum in April 1915.


What were the Jews given?

The Jew who fought in the Zion Mule Corps Regiment.  Yes, over 500 Jews organized into a serparate military unit, first initiated by Jabotinsky (who left after a true combat unit was rejected).  They arrived in late April 1915.:-

Commanding Officer Lt. Colonel John Henry Patterson, DSO, an Irish Protestant...later wrote: "Many of the Zionists whom I thought somewhat lacking in courage showed themselves fearless to a degree when under heavy fire, while Captain Trumpeldor actually revelled in it, and the hotter it became the more he liked it..."
Some stills in this clip.

Don't forget, Pesach was at the end of March and the first week of April that year, so some wine must have been left over.  Or did they polish it all off?

^

There Are Two Different "Illegals"

A major left-wing progressive campaign these past few years in Israel, in another effort to besmirch Israel's political and judicial system, is the specific matter of children of foreign workers, among other illegal residents, who are slated for deportation.  Quite simply, despite all the emotional hype, their parents either arrived here in Israel illegally or overstayed their legal period of residency and then procreated "illegal" babies, as it were and, now with an Oscar, are seeking to stay against the law.

Seems the United States also faces this problem. As this Washingtoin Post story informs, one Juan Gomez has a job offer from J.P. Morgan Chase in New York. However, he faces deportation to Colombia, a country he hasn’t seen since he was 2 years old for in 2007, immigration agents in Miami took them to a detention center. The family had lost a years-long application struggle for political asylum and ignored multiple orders to leave. Although his parents did go back to Colombia, Juan managed to avoid that move and was allowed to stay, at least until he finished college. His permission to remain in the United States extends only through next spring. And the temporary work permit he holds as a student, an I-765 visa, is more common among dishwashers than merger-and-acquisition specialists at blue-chip financial firms.

He hopes the work permit will be renewed, but there are no guarantees. He is depending on the passage of the Dream Act which

would provide conditional permanent residency to certain illegal and deportable alien students who graduate from US high schools, who are of good moral character, arrived in the U.S. illegally as minors, and have been in the country continuously for at least five years prior to the bill's enactment.

The story quotes Roy Beck, executive director of NumbersUSA and a leading opponent of the Dream Act, who blames the choices his family made decades ago.

“The reason that people like him can make the claim they are in this tough situation is because his parents were allowed to break the law by holding a job for year after year,” Beck said. “He’s a very compelling case, but because he’s getting this job, there will be an American somewhere down the line who won’t get one.”


The introduction of that bill did provide a reprieve good for the two-year duration of that Congress. But the parents were put on a plane to Bogota, and Juan and his brother haven’t seen them since.

Here in Israel, the tactic of pressure works very well.  There's been a postponement of the deportation and Israel's media play it up.

The point is, though, that certain illegals merit sympathy and others, like residents of the HaYovel neighborhood in Eli or other sites in Judea and Samaria just are not afforded the same human feelings.

That's why I have trouble relating to 'humanists' and 'liberals' who are simply ideologically-driven activists, not objective rights promoters.

^

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Why No "Right To Protection" Vis-a-Vis Syria?

We all read this:

Arab League to ask UN to impose no-fly zone over Gaza
The Arab League on Sunday announced during a special meeting in Cairo that it plans to press the UN to impose a no-fly zone over Gaza amid an escalation in violence in the area, AFP reported.  Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said he plans to present the proposal to the UN Security Council, the report said.

So, after reading this:

Syria death toll growing, human rights groups warn

Violent clashes between security services and mourners at funerals of those killed in Deraa. Human rights organisations have warned of a growing death toll in Syria as security forces move to quell protests and sit-ins in cities across the country.

As funerals for some of the 27 people shot dead in Deraa on Friday were being held, there were reports of violent clashes between mourners and security services. An eyewitness in Deraa told the Guardian that security forces had been "shooting randomly" as mass funerals went on.

and this:-

Shots ring out after Syrian army seals city

Shots rang out after the Syrian army sealed off the key port city of Banias on Sunday where anti-government protesters turn out, undaunted by the regime's use of deadly force to quell more than three weeks of unrest.

Human rights groups said there were casualties, but the reports were not immediately confirmed. Syrian state-run television reported that a police officer was killed in an ambush by thugs near Banias, which is 185 miles (300 kilometers) northwest of the capital, Damascus...Protests erupted in Syria more than three weeks ago and have been growing steadily every week, with tens of thousands of people calling for sweeping reforms in President Bashar Assad's authoritarian regime. More than 170 people have been killed.

and this:

Dozens killed in Syria clashes

As many as 30 people are now understood to have been killed in Syria on Friday.  Most were killed in the southern city of Deraa when security forces reportedly opened fire on protesters.


how is it that President Obama, Prime Minister Cameron and President Sarkozy have not done anything to assist democracy protests and help save lives in Syria?

How come I have not heard major Jewish oprganization, international and local, raising their voices to demand such intervention?

Why no Right for Protection?

^

The Natural-Look Shtreimel

After all those hareidi hat ads, the wall posters are here, and here & and here, for example), I finally found the 'natural-look' model:


Not bad, eh?

^

Watch Me/Listen To Me

My appearance on the Nachlaot Internet Radio program on the Temple Mount Awareness Day last week:


There I am, with Rabbi Chaim Richman and Yitzhak Reuven:


And how we looked to the cameramen


If you go here, and skip to 2:11:00 and watch me and listen to me.

^

So, What Do They Think of Jewish Jerusalem?

They, the Arabs, really, well, don't.

For example:

Historical and Political Background

Arab and Islamic Policy towards Jerusalem


Jerusalem's Arabic roots go back 5,000 years to the time when the city of Arab Yabous (Jerusalem) was founded. As Islam has dominated the culture of the Middle East for the last 1,400 years, it has dominated Jerusalem. The historic city of Jerusalem with its Arab culture, heritage, architecture, possesses many significant monuments and sacred shrines and there is an agreement on the urgent need and duty to preserve these sites, as well as Jerusalem as a whole. Since Jerusalem has been under Muslim rule for centuries and there has been a continuous and uninterrupted Arab presence in the city, it has a significant meaning to the Arab World in general. The Islamic approach to the city in particular determines any Arab Muslim state's concern for the fate of Jerusalem and their refusal to accept or recognize Jewish rule. For the Muslim world, Israel's historical justification of its claim to Jerusalem lacks any fundamental validity since Jerusalem was under Jewish control for a much shorter period than it was under Islamic rule. If historical claims provide justification for today's "sovereignty", the adherents of Islam have a far better claim than those of Christianity and Judaism. The city was governed by Arab-Islamic politics for 1,400 years and it was under Arab-Islamic rule throughout the centuries that the city's heritage, history and culture were preserved. Islamic rule of the city always safeguarded Jerusalem's specific character and secured its propitious environment for all religious cults. During the entire period of the Ottoman Empire, for example, the millet (nation) system recognized the laws and religions of Christians and Jews.

P.S. I did a further in-depth search there and found this here:-

b) Political and Symbolic Centrality

Historically, Jerusalem is a religious, spiritual and cultural centre for all Palestinians, Christians and Muslims. Speaches and public statements of Palestinian political and religious leaders, have mentioned the importance of the preservation of the Arab character of the city35. Palestinians attribute a symbolic centrality to East Jerusalem.

East Jerusalem also occupies a fundamental place in Palestinian politics and national aspirations. For Palestinians, East Jerusalem is part of the occupied West Bank. In Algiers, on November 15th 1988, the Palestine National Council (PNC) proclaimed Jerusalem as the capital of the future independent Palestinian state. Although the PNC do no specify the exact territory designated as its capital, it is understood that they mean East Jerusalem.

After the Oslo Agreement, signed in September, 1993, political leaders of the newly established Palestinian Authority encouraged the localisation of new organizations in East Jerusalem in the order to establish the city as the capital of the eventual Palestinian state36. Faisal Husseini, a Jerusalemite leader, was appointed as minister without folio. In fact, Husseini acts at the practical level, as East Jerusalem's mayor or minister. In November, 1993, Faisal Husseini proposed the establishment of the Jerusalem National Council - Palestine. This Council will have a complex organisational structure with several departments and eventually, should act as a center for all Palestinians in Jerusalem37.

That's from a paper, a preliminary part of broader field research for a Ph.D. thesis in Urban Studies at the University of Quebec at Montreal (UQAM). The field research is conducted with the support of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) based in Ottawa and the Fonds pour I'Aide a la Recherche (FCAR) in Quebec - (while conducting her field research, Mme H. Latendresse was affiliated with Birzeit University in the West Bank) - and she doesn't mention any historical, religious or cultural Jewish connection to the city!

And this is a winner:

The Palestinians, after seven years negotiating and struggling to express their position, were shocked [shocked?]by the thoughts put forward by the US and the scenarios envisaged by the Israelis for the future of the city.

The first of these shocks came in the form of an Israeli request for Jews to be able to enter and pray in the Al-Aqsa compound. This had, it should be noted, been hinted at in ‘back-channel’ talks in the past but had never been officially requested. In Camp David it became the request of Israeli secular officials supported by the US and linked to Israeli insistence on imposing their sovereignty over the holy site (Israeli negotiators claiming that, “the Temple is under the mosque”).

Yasser Arafat rejected the notion of Israeli control over Al-Haram Ash-Sharif. In later rounds of talks the US proposed the formation of an international committee made up of the UN Security Council and Morocco (head and host nation of the Jerusalem Committee of the Organization of Islamic Conference, OIC), giving the future Palestinian state “custody” over the holy site, while affording Israeli sovereignty. This peculiar notion, as American legal experts explained, meant that Palestinian administration would be on the ‘land’ of the site while Israeli sovereignty would be beneath it (so-called ‘vertical sovereignty’). This sweeping disregard for the nature and holiness of the site only served to heighten the sense of injury felt by the Palestinians.


^

The Eldad Haggada at a Meah Shearim Bookstore


Background: Here; and Here.
^

Incitement - Sometimes

Anti-Semitism

In both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, Palestinian media published and broadcast material that included both anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic content, which sometimes (?) amounted to incitement. Rhetoric by several Palestinian groups included expressions of anti-Semitism, as did sermons by some Muslim religious leaders. Some Palestinian religious leaders rejected the right of Israel to exist. Hamas's al-Aqsa television station carried shows for preschoolers extolling hatred of Jews and suicide bombings.

Palestinian media not under the control of the PA, particularly those controlled by Hamas, continued to use inflammatory anti-Semitic language. Unofficial Palestinian television broadcast content that sometimes praised holy war to expel the Jewish presence in the region. Some children's programs shown on Hamas television legitimized the killing of Israelis and Jews via terrorist attacks.

Source:

Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
2010 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
April 8, 2011

Anyone in Oxford in May?

Maybe you'll be attending the Roger Moorey Memorial Lecture?

Re-Excavating Kenyon’s Jerusalem, a review 50-years on

Wolfson College (OX2 6UD)
Sat 28 May, 2.30pm
With Dr Kay Prag, University of Manchester.

May 2011 marks the 50th anniversary of the start of the large-scale excavations undertaken by Dame Kathleen Kenyon in Jerusalem. The huge archive contains a remarkable record of finds from the earliest occupation through to the Islamic centuries - but did Kenyon achieve her aim - to put the archaeology of Jerusalem on a sound scientific footing for the first time?

Free, to reserve seats contact: E antiquities@ashmus.ox.ac.uk

T 01865 278 020

But only if you do not observe the Sabbath.

Legt me know.


^

Protestors Shot But Not in "Disputed Territories" - But Close

First item:

Egypt’s military used force early Saturday to break up a camp of protesters in Tahrir Square, as tensions continued to build between the pro-democracy movement and the military leadership that has run the country since President Hosni Mubarak’s ouster in February. Hundreds of troops, firing into the air and attacking protesters with electric batons, swarmed the center of the square to expel several hundred people who had defied a 2 a.m. curfew...The Reuters news service, citing hospital sources, said two people had been killed and 15 others injured by gunfire. Witnesses said an unknown number of people had been shot near a mosque where protesters sought refuge, but their accounts could not be immediately confirmed.


Second item

Syrian security forces opened fire on mourners near a mosque in the flashpoint city of Deraa after a mass funeral for pro-democracy protesters, two witnesses said on Saturday. Security forces used live ammunition and tear gas to disperse thousands of people who were chanting freedom slogans after assembling near the old Omari mosque in the old quarter of the city, near the border with Jordan, the witnesses said.

Dozens of people have been killed in a wave of protests across Syria against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad. A Syrian rights group said at least 37 people had been killed in protests across the country on Friday.

Third item

Libyan rebels turned their fury on Nato yesterday after at least 13 fighters were killed and dozens wounded in an airstrike. Rebel commanders said tanks and military hardware captured from Colonel Gaddafi’s forces had been attacked in daylight with missiles despite being marked on the top in yellow as requested by Nato.

Four missiles hit the 30-vehicle convoy, which included a bus packed with fighters, on the outskirts of the eastern oil port of Brega, according to one rebel commander.




Israel isn't so bad a neighbor, after all.

^

Online Selling

A Jew is required to remove all chametz from his possession during the Pesach holiday. Not only to put it away but to legally disassociate huimself from being its owner.

Now, thanks to the Tzohar Rabbis Organization, you can sell your chametz on-line:-


Now, that's even better the E-Bay.

^

B'tselem Depths

Jessica Montell, executive director of B’Tselem: The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories (but not those Israeli Jews who actually live there), has a very shallow conclusion to draw from Goldstone's backtracking:

One question has been answered: Israel, unlike Hamas, did not have a policy to intentionally fire at civilians. But is this cause for rejoicing? Shouldn’t our expectations be a bit higher? Heaven help us if our moral standard is reduced to not committing crimes against humanity. From my country, I demand a lot more.

"Human rights"?

Actually, I thought I had higher expectations from Jessica and B'tselem.

I don't anymore.

^

Prohibition Poster on Temple Mount Ascent/Entrance

Published in the Shabbat weekly portion sheet:


It annouces a conference during Pesach, on the 1st day of Chol HaMoed, at Yeshivat Ateret Kohanim, 51 Haguy St, in the 'Muslim Quarter' in Jerusalem's Old City.

Rabbi Shlomo Aviner is pushing this theme as the pro-ascenters have had amazing success recently.  Partcipating Rabbis Wishlitzky, Edri, Tmair, Greenwald, Koren.

^

Friday, April 08, 2011

Wall Posters - Another New Set

Locations that the Eidah Hareidi has fixed for the 'selling of chametz' as part of the Pesach holiday preparations:


Hareidi radio is also quite no good -


Public prayer supplications for a proper marriage partner, Saturday night, Motzei Shabbat, at 10:30 PM at the Kotel but near the mechitza [separation partition] so that the women can also take part (that's cool) -



^

More Hat Ads

Krois/Krause (sp?), Much More Than a Hat.  More Royalty.  More Quality.  More Power.


Fuchs Hats - No Wool, Not from China -


Miller's shtreimel cleaning from any chametz that's collected -



And by the way, check out your shtreimel furs here.  And NY haberdasheries here.

^

Protecting My Linguistic Honor

My comment on my first use of "goldstoned" as a verb is up at the NYTimes, Roger Cohen's column.

Here.

^

Hareidim Get Very Hareidi

Here is the front page of a four-page pamphlet I picked up.  Issue #1, Adar 5771, Topic: Hotels during Pesach.

It's entitled "Machaneinu", or "Our Camp" (like in verse in Exodus 14:19 - "the camp of Israel" [מַחֲנֵה יִשְׂרָאֵל] or 2 Kings 3:24), published by the "Committee for the Purity of The Camp", POB 57049 -


The blue-outlined headline reads:

"The Rabbinical Committee for the Character of Holiday Leisure Sites Calls for: The Pesach Holiday should be celebrated at home in a Jewish family atmosphere as is the age-old custom throughout all the communities".  The 'Rabbinical Commission' will supervise hotels and other leisure location during the holiday...and is not intended to oversee the Kashrut [of the food] but elements of modesty"

The red-outlined section reads:

"Holy letter concerning total separation on public transportation from our Revered Rabbi Yosef Sholom Elyashiv...'I encourage the community as fixed in 2006 to be careful concerning complete separation on public transportation..."

There you have it.

The rest is no better.

^

You Trust The BBC?

Here's a report:

Islamist group Hamas says it has brokered a deal for Gaza's militant groups to stop firing on Israel, amid the most serious fighting since 2009.

Hamas is the government in Gaza - and claims to be that of the entire PA. What 'Islamist group'?

The move comes after militants hit an Israeli school bus with an anti-tank shell on Thursday, injuring two people.

Those 'militants' are terrorists.

Israeli strikes later that day had killed five people and injured more than 30, Palestinian doctors said. And on Friday, two Hamas men had been killed by an air strike shortly after dawn, the group said in a statement.

"Men"? No, armed terrorists. Or at least 'militants'.

Another four Palestinians were injured overnight in separate Israeli attacks at Rafah airport, according to Palestinian sources.

Israel says it is responding to Palestinian attacks.

"Says"? The BBC doesn't know who fired first, and at a civilian target?

That's news? That's how to inform people of the truth?

^

Should Israel Be No Less Moral Than, Say, NATO?

Here's NATO behavior for you:-

NATO refuses to apologize for Libyan 'friendly fire' attack

I think what happened paralleled Israel's problems with Gaza quite well:

NATO conceded Friday it may have mistakenly struck Libyan opposition forces during a deadly airstrike a day earlier -- but refused to apologize.

British Royal Navy Rear Adm. Russell Harding told reporters that NATO forces "may" have hit rebel tanks during the airstrike Thursday.

"I'm not apologizing," said Harding, the deputy commander of the NATO operation. "The situation on the ground is fluid and we had no information the opposition forces were using tanks...There's a lot of vehicles going back and forth," he said. "It is very difficult to distinguish who is operating the vehicles."

It's just one of those incidents of


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The New Warfare in the South Continues

IDF Spokesperson Update

10:45 AM

A short while ago, IDF forces identified two terrorist squads from the Hamas terrorist organization in two incidents in the southern Gaza Strip. Armed forces as well as IAF aircraft fired at the squads, and identified hits. The IDF will not allow any attempt to harm Israeli civilians and will respond with determination to any attempt to use terror against the citizens of Israel. The IDF holds the Hamas terrorist organization solely responsible for any terrorist activity emanating from the Gaza Strip.

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Displaying My Barbecuing Skills

My wife who, among a few other cyberspace activities, manages Kosher Cooking Carnival (here's the latest), found some lamb chops I bought almost a year ago while going through the freezer.  But Pesach is in a fortnight and so, everything that is chametz or from last year's hechsher is deemed as "to-be-eaten-or-otherwise-disposed-of" which means they have to be cooked.

So, she challeneged me to display my skills at the barbecue.

Here I am:-


(photo credit: Batya Medad)

Will let you know how they turned out.

Maybe my wife will, too.

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No Worse Than Jabotinsky

In some quarters, and especially amongst some so-called younger generation 'leaders' of the 'hilltop youth' sub-culture in Judea and Samaria, although they have some elderly backers, the report in Haaretz yesterday about comments made by Yesha Council Head Dany Dayan set off some 'fuses' as they phrase is here.

One element I found that could be misunderstood was this:

"The fact that I am able to understand the Palestinians does not make me for them," he added. In the WikiLeaks cable Dayan was quoted as telling the U.S. Embassy officials that he was aware of the Palestinians' attachment to the West Bank.

...During one meeting with U.S. diplomats, Dayan said he was "deeply attached" to the West Bank, adding that the settlers had a "moral right" to settle there. Dayan said he understood why the Palestinians felt a similar tie to the land.

No less important a person but Ze'ev Jabotinskyt expressed quite similar expressions of, on the one hand, undrstanding of the decalred Arab positioin and, on the other, the superior Jewish claim to this land while seeking not to harm individual Arabs.

Here's some excerpts from The Ethics of the Iron Wall:

... it is absurd to expect the Arabs to have the mentality of an impartial judge; for in this conflict they are not the judges; but one of the contending parties. And after all, our chief question is whether the Arabs, even if they believed in peaceful collaboration they would agree to have any "neighbours", even good neighbours, in the country which they regard as their own. Not even those who try to move us with high-sounding phrases will dare to deny that national homogeneity is more convenient than natural diversity. So why should a nation that is perfectly content with its isolation admit to its country even good neighbours in any considerable number? I want neither your honey nor your sting", is a reasonable answer...

...All sorts of catchwords are used against Zionism; people invoke Democracy, majority rule, national self-determination. Which means, that the Arabs being at present the majority in Palestine, have the right of self-determination, and may therefore insist that Palestine must remain an Arab country. Democracy and self-determination are sacred principles, but sacred principles like the Name of the Lord must not be used in vain – to bolster up a swindle, to conceal injustice. The principle of self-determination does not mean that if someone has seized a stretch of land it must remain in his possession for all time, and that he who was forcibly ejected from his land must always remain homeless. Self-determination means revision – such a revision of the distribution of the earth among the nations that those nations who have too much should have to give up some of it to those nations who have not enough or who have none, so that all should have some place on which to exercise their right of self-determination. And now when the whole of the civilised world has recognised that Jews have a right to return to Palestine, which means that the Jews are, in principle, also "citizens" and "inhabitants" of Palestine, only they were driven out, and their return must be a lengthy process, it is wrong to contend that meanwhile the local population has the right to refuse to allow them to come back and to that "Democracy”...

...It is incredible what political simpletons Jews are. They shut their eyes to one of the most elementary rules of life, that you must not "meet halfway" those who do not want to meet you.

There was a typical example in old Russia, when one of the oppressed nations, with one accord, launched a crusade against the Jews, boycotting them and pogroming them. At the same time, this nation was fighting to gain its own autonomy, without any attempt to conceal it means to use its autonomy for the purpose of oppressing the Jews. Worse than before. And yet, Jewish politicians and writers, (even Jewish nationalists) considered it their duty to support the autonomist efforts of their enemy, on the ground that autonomy is a sacred cause. It is remarkable how we Jews regard it as our duty to stand up and cheer whenever the Marsellaise is played, even if it is played by Haman himself, and Jewish heads are smashed to its accompaniment. I was once told of a man who was an ardent Democrat and always whenever he heard the Marsellaise, he stood stiffly attention, like a soldier on parade. One night burglars broke into his house, and one of them played the Marsellaise. This sort of thing is not morality, it is twaddle. Human society is built up on the basis of mutual advantage. If you take away the mutual principle right becomes a falsehood. Each man who passes my window in the street has a right to live only in so far as he recognises my right to live; but if he is determined to kill me, I cannot admit that he has any right to live. And that is true also of nations. Otherwise, the world would become a jungle of wild beasts, where not only the weak, but also those who have any scrap of feeling would be exterminated.

The world must be a place of co-operation and mutual goodwill. If we are to live we should all live in the same way, and if we are to die we should all die in the same way...

And more reality from the previous article on the subject he published, The Iron Wall:-

This Arab editor was actually willing to agree that Palestine has a very large potential absorptive capacity, meaning that there is room for a great many Jews in the country without displacing a single Arab. There is only one thing the Zionists want, and it is that one thing that the Arabs do not want, for that is the way by which the Jews would gradually become the majority, and then a Jewish Government would follow automatically, and the future of the Arab minority would depend on the goodwill of the Jews; and a minority status is not a good thing, as the Jews themselves are never tired of pointing out. So there is no "misunderstanding". The Zionists want only one thing, Jewish immigration; and this Jewish immigration is what the Arabs do not want.

This statement of the position by the Arab editor is so logical, so obvious, so indisputable, that everyone ought to know it by heart, and it should be made the basis of all our future discussions on the Arab question.

And this:

Every native population, civilised or not, regards its lands as its national home, of which it is the sole master, and it wants to retain that mastery always; it will refuse to admit not only new masters but, even new partners or collaborators.

This is equally true of the Arabs. Our Peace-mongers are trying to persuade us that the Arabs are either fools, whom we can deceive by masking our real aims, or that they are corrupt and can be bribed to abandon to us their claim to priority in Palestine , in return for cultural and economic advantages. I repudiate this conception of the Palestinian Arabs. Culturally they are five hundred years behind us, they have neither our endurance nor our determination; but they are just as good psychologists as we are, and their minds have been sharpened like ours by centuries of fine-spun logomachy. We may tell them whatever we like about the innocence of our aims, watering them down and sweetening them with honeyed words to make them palatable, but they know what we want, as well as we know what they do not want. They feel at least the same instinctive jealous love of Palestine, as the old Aztecs felt for ancient Mexico, and the Sioux for their rolling Prairies.

To imagine, as our Arabophiles do, that they will voluntarily consent to the realisation of Zionism, in return for the moral and material conveniences which the Jewish colonist brings with him, is a childish notion, which has at bottom a kind of contempt for the Arab people; it means that they despise the Arab race, which they regard as a corrupt mob that can be bought and sold, and are willing to give up their fatherland for a good railway system.

There is no justification for such a belief. It may be that some individual Arabs take bribes. But that does not mean that the Arab people of Palestine as a whole will sell that fervent patriotism that they guard so jealously, and which even the Papuans will never sell. Every native population in the world resists colonists as long as it has the slightest hope of being able to rid itself of the danger of being colonised.

That is what the Arabs in Palestine are doing, and what they will persist in doing as long as there remains a solitary spark of hope that they will be able to prevent the transformation of "Palestine" into the "Land of Israel."

Some of us have induced ourselves to believe that all the trouble is due to misunderstanding – the Arabs have not understood us, and that is the only reason why they resist us; if we can only make it clear to them how moderate our intentions really are, they will immediately extend to us their hand in friendship.

This belief is utterly unfounded and it has been exploded again and again.

But there is this, too, from Jabotinsky's "Bi-National Palestine":

I confess that there are moments when I, too, dream dreams of an Arab-Jewish agreement on Palestine. True, these are only moments of exceptional tiredness, or, perhaps, of exceptional sublimation which, they say, are an experience reserved only for souls or minds which are utterly tired. Then I dream of a great pan-Arab gathering containing representatives of a long belt of lands stretching from Agadir to Bassora; and the Jewish delegate, facing that gathering, openly and honestly claims the whole of Palestine on both sides of the Jordan for his own people's home and state, to settle and govern. In my dream, this is what he says," This land is less than one hundredth of the immensity of space which God has given you, and my people are homeless; and in my heart I have always called this land mine. I must have it or die; I am ready to fight for it: but perhaps fighting is not necessary; perhaps, O Sons of Father Ibrahim, Ishmael will uphold the claim of Israel, not because compelled to nor because deceived, but simply because it is right that God's earth should be re-distributed so that a homeless nation may re-occupy its ancient kingdom." And the great gathering's answer in my dream is in the affirmative.

I very much doubt whether this dream of mine has any chance of ever coming
true. I am afraid we shall get Palestine only by fighting. But at least it is a clean and honest dream, as honest and clean as the other and more likely expedient – fighting.

In 1937, he gave testimony before the Peel Commission, that had been formed to deal with the aftermath of the Arab riots of 1936. Some of the highlights of that testimony are the following:

“...Why should the Jews in Palestine be forced to prepare for self-defense underhand; as though committing a legal offense? You know what a pogrom means in Jewish history; we know what pogroms mean in the history of Mandatory Palestine. The Jews have never been allowed to prepare for that holy duty of self-defense, as every Englishman would have done. We had in our case to prepare by underhand methods, with insufficient equipment, with insufficient drilling, in an amateurish way.”

“...Why should the impression be created in this country that we want Johnny, Tommy and Bobby to defend us? We do not. If, in the building of Palestine, sweat and gold have to be employed, let us give the sweat and let us give the gold; if blood has to be shed by the defenders of Palestine, let it be our blood and not English blood. But that suggestion has always been turned down.”

“...There is only one way of compromise. Tell the Arabs the truth, and then you will see the Arab is reasonable, the Arab is clever, the Arab is just; the Arab can realize that since there are three or four or five wholly Arab States, then it is a thing of justice which Great Britain is doing if Palestine is transformed into a Jewish State. Then there will be a change of mind among the Arabs, then there will be room for compromise, and then there will be peace.”

Dany knows Jabotinsky well and knows that there is no contradiction in recognizing the Arab claim and feelings to a land they consider theirs, and expressing also sympathyy for their situation, even if that claim is wrong and that the Jews have a much better claim - and need. (See this post of mine on Jabotinsky and this one, too).

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A Song on True Friendship

Yehudit Ravitz sings Ahuva Osheri's That Man written especially for her:



and if you want to see Yehudit Ravitz live singing the song, go here.

You want the words?

האיש ההוא הוא עולמך
That man is your world
שכחת הכל גם את ביתך
You've forgotten all, also your house
הכל דומם בתוך חדרך
All is so quiet in your room
נעול סגור גם שערך
Locked up, closed in your hair

האיש ההוא הוא עולמך
That man is your world
אחריו תלכי גם באש
You'll follow him even through fire
דומיה הלב פועם
The heart beats silently
לא מאמינה איך זה כואב
You don't believe how much it hurts

Chorus:

חלף הזמן אישה יפה
The time is passing beautiful lady
וחום הלב, גופך לך קורא
And the heart's warmth, your body calls to you
אש בוערת בך
A fire burns within you
לילי סוער לך
Stormy nights are yours
מה עשה לך
What he has done to you
הכל נשבר בך
All is broken within you
יום ויום לך אחכה
But every day I'll wait for you.
אם תרצי עולם אחצה
If you want, I'll cross the world

לראות אותך ביום בהיר
To see you on a clear day
לומר לך יש עוד חיים
To say to you there is more life still
לזכור איתך ימים יפים
To remember with you better days
את העבר לא שוכחים
The past we don't forget

לראות אותך ביום בהיר
To see you on a clear day
הלב סוער מי יאמין
The heart is troubled, who would believe
ילדות יפה על חוף לבן
Wonderfull childhood on a white beach
בלב נשאר לעולם
Will stay forever in the heart


Chorus:
חלף הזמן אישה יפה
The time is passing beautiful lady
וחום הלב, גופך לך קורא
And the heart's warmth, your body calls to you
אש בוערת בך
A fire burns within you
לילי סוער לך
Stormy nights are yours
מה עשה לך
What he has done to you
הכל נשבר בך
All is broken within you
יום ויום לך אחכה
But every day I'll wait for you.
אם תרצי עולם אחצה
If you want, I'll cross the world

Thursday, April 07, 2011

UK's Hague Expects A "Brave, Courageous" Terror Act?

Announced:

Commenting on the attack today on a bus in southern Israel, the Foreign Secretary William Hague said:

“I unreservedly condemn today’s attack from Gaza on a bus carrying schoolchildren in southern Israel. The initial reports we have received suggest the bus was deliberately targeted and that a 16 year old boy has been critically injured. This is a despicable and cowardly act that stands in stark contrast to people’s desire for peaceful reform across the region. Violence will never deliver peace. I reiterate that Hamas must halt these strikes immediately, and rein in other militant factions in Gaza.

This attack further highlights Israel’s legitimate security concerns...

Wait just a sec. Is he saying there could be a "brave, courageous" attack on Israel?

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Lieberman "Scoffed"

Seems Avigdor Lieberman sort of blew off the US Ambassador to Israel a while back, on October 25, 2006:-

OUTPOSTS AND SETTLEMENTS

5. (C) The Ambassador emphasized the importance the U.S. attaches to Israeli commitments to President Bush on outposts and settlements. "These are not the main issues (now)," Lieberman responded, expressing his view that the question of outposts and settlements must be considered "together" as part of a final package rather than as a first, one-sided step. Lieberman, who lives in a West Bank settlement, reiterated that Palestinian economic issues are critical, and said that Israeli outposts and settlements provide jobs to Palestinians. He also claimed that Palestinians "like IDF security." The Ambassador underscored that many of the outposts were "illegal" under Israeli law, but Lieberman scoffed that there were only 1,000 illegal houses in the West Bank while there were, he claimed, "100,000 illegal (Arab) houses in the Negev and Galilee." He added that the outposts in the occupied territories were "encouraged -- under the table -- by former PM Sharon" and argued that their removal would provoke internal conflict in Israel without advancing a comprehensive settlement.

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Latest Map of Mateh Binyamin Regional Council




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Can Any Figure Out What This Sign Is Saying?

Spotted on one of the newer buses in Jerusalem:-


Anyone knows what the message is?

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On Deir Yassin Day

My new Jerusalem Post blog post.

At Green-Lined.

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Is Jacobs Now What Schindler Then Was?

Found in

We Have a Problem, but Rick Jacobs Isn’t It

By J.J. Goldberg

Thirty-four years ago, when Menachem Begin first led the Likud to power in Israel, it was Rabbi Alexander Schindler, the leader of Reform Judaism, who reached out to embrace him. In doing so, Schindler averted a crisis in relations between America’s liberal-leaning Jewish community and an Israel where the right was newly ascendant. This would be a good time for Benjamin Netanyahu to return the favor.

The recent selection of Rabbi Richard Jacobs as Reform Judaism’s next leader is causing a bit of a stir. It’s mostly just a murmur, actually, but it’s worth watching. Some critics worry that in choosing Jacobs as its president-designate, the Union for Reform Judaism is signaling a sharp turn leftward. Some even fret that the liberal denomination is returning to its pre-World War I anti-Zionism.

Actually, that is a misleading portrayal.

At the time, Rabbi Schindler served as chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and it was the responsibility of that office that rested upon him and that position that made him realize he needed to be less a Reform Rabbi and more a representative leader of American Jewry.


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Wednesday, April 06, 2011

Yet Another Novel on a Temple Mount Theme

Over the past few years, there have been almost a dozen novels published (see here and also here) with a central Temple Mount theme.

And here's a new one:

A New Thriller, The Essene Conspiracy, Reveals a Wall Street Scheme Funding a Clandestine Plot to Retake Jerusalem’s Temple Mount

S. Eric Wachtel’s The Essene Conspiracy, now available in print and Kindle editions on Amazon.com, tells the intriguing story of how the murder investigation of a high ranking Israeli minister led to the discovery of a secret Messianic brotherhood and its plans to overthrow the secular Israeli government.




As the timely novel begins, Israel’s finance minister has been murdered in Jerusalem. Muslim terrorists are suspected, but no group has claimed responsibility. Finding a barely legible name scribbled on a blood-stained card in the shirt pocket of the slain minister, the head of Israeli Intelligence asks security consultant Harry McClure to investigate a possible American link to the brutal crime. Unexpectedly, McClure is drawn into unraveling the link between a sophisticated Wall Street money-laundering scheme and a Messianic sect, the Essene Brotherhood, plotting to overthrow the Israeli government. The clock is ticking as Israeli Intelligence, aided by McClure, race to organize a preemptive eleventh-hour strategy aimed at thwarting the imminent Essene attack.

Don't mix it with this book.


UPDATE

A new story">Tablet story.
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Parody

Found here:


What did you learn online today?



Dear little friend of mine.


What did you learn online today?


Dear little friend of mine.


I learned that the Arabs must be strong.


They are always right and never wrong.


The PA and Hamas are the finest men.


So their people never need to vote again.




I learned that Israel always shoots first.


Their human rights record is the worst.


I learned that Palestine must be free.


From the Jordan to the sea.




I learned that terrorism isn't so bad.


I learned some great times the Palestinia­ns have had.


They killed in Munich and in France.


And I must defend them at every chance.




And that's what I learned online today.


That's what I learned online...
 
 
 
Read it all!
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Deir Yassin Visuals

To understand the issue of Deir Yassin, you should view these:

a)  Davar newspaper, the Histadruth organ (that is, the socialist Left), Sunday, April 4, 1948


b) and its report on the sniping directed from Deir Yassin to the Jewish neighborhoods of Bet Hakerem and Bayit V'Gan:


c)  a map from the 1940s


e)  deir Yassin today in the neighborhood of Har Nof, marked in black:


f) a map purported to be from Irgun archives (unconfirmed)-


Read here.

Watch this clip.

More resource:  here; here; here; the ZOA tract.
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The EU Meets The National-Religious Press

Having just finished a media event of a Press lunch with Ambassador Andrew Standley, Head of the Delegation of the European Union to the State of Israel, at the King David Hotel

(that's the Ambassador at the right):


and finding him to be someone who acknowledges that there can be problems with EU policies and exhibiting full comprehension of Israel's public opinion, including that populace that sees the territories of Judea and Samaria as part of the Jewish national home, while disagreeing with it, it was disappointing to read this:-

European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton said on Wednesday that she was "deeply disappointed" by Israel's approval of new settlement building in East Jerusalem. "The actions taken by the Israeli Government contravene repeated and urgent calls by the international community, including the Quartet, and run counter to achieving a peaceful solution that will preserve Israel’s security and realize the Palestinians’ right to statehood," Ashton said in a statement released on Wednesday...

Ashton spoke directly about the plan, saying that it "may further damage an already fragile political environment." "I reiterate that the EU considers that settlement activities in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are illegal under international law, undermine trust between the parties and constitute an obstacle to peace," Ashton said.

Pressed as to whether the EU is policy-oriented or issues-oriented, he responded to my question that ineed, all groups engaged in civic society activities in the fields of democracy, human rights and other such concerns should be able to apply for funding from the EU as I had pointed out that if peace and coexistence is to be achieved, the reality must be acknowledge and that includes the presence of over 300,000 Jewish residents in the area. I think I can say that I was satisfied to find a partner in dialogue as we continued to deal with matters of both pragmatic and theoretical ramifications. I hope the Amb.assador came awy more knowledgeable and with a further perspective.

One other answer of his to a question of mine was that, in seeking parallel or comparative modus of operation in Israel, where NGOs of the more radical persuasion are funded, leading many to believe this is but a subversiveoperation that undermines Israel's democratic cboices of government, Standley said that, for exemple, in the UNited States groups opposed to the death penalty receive EU financial assistance despite the law in many American states.

Additional photos:

(Eve Harow with David Kriss, Press & Information manager)


(the Ambassador with Elazar Roseberger of the Radio Moreshet)


(Sofia Ron-Moriyah (l.) of Makor Rishon with Victoria Martynov (r.) of the EU Israel Delegation staff)




And yes, the repast was excellent with both white and red wines.

The menu:




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The Commentator - New Blog Site

The Commentator.

Visit, read and mark it as a favorite.

Robin Shepherd and friends.

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When Will A Yesha Delegation Present Testimony?

Informed that Jerusalem Center President Amb. Dore Gold, IDF Maj.-Gen. (res.) Uzi Dayan, and Brig.-Gen. (res.) Udi Dekel appeared at a briefing for the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee in Washington on Tuesday, April 5, at the request of Committee Chairman Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and that they discussed the importance of "defensible borders" to enable Israel to meet the security threats posed by the changing political situation in the Middle East, I aksed myself:

when will a Yesha Delegation appear to give testimony on issues such as the legality of the Jewish revenant communities; demographic trends; boycott of produce and goods; US Foreign Aid discrimination; behavior of US Jerusalem Consulate; visits of US elected officials to YESHA; Jerusalem listed as a stateless city; birth registration location of 'West Bank' among other issues?

Jennifer Rubin has the idea for the reasoning for my above:

However, it seems that the House Foreign Affairs Committee does have a role to play. It should consider why we are continuing to fund the Palestinian Authority while it is in breach of its obligations to negotiate with Israel and to abide by the rest of the Oslo II interim agreement (for example, “Israel and the Council shall seek to foster mutual understanding and tolerance and shall accordingly abstain from incitement, including hostile propaganda, against each other and, without derogating from the principle of freedom of expression, shall take legal measures to prevent such incitement by any organizations, groups or individuals within their jurisdiction.”) The House controls the purse strings and can certainly put that leverage to good use. Moreover, Congress can pass a resolution reminding the Obama administration of its obligations to adhere to the Christopher and Bush letters and reaffirming that a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state violates international agreements and U.S. commitments. And finally, some probing oversight can take place. The United States is a member of the Quartet, so why aren’t we using our power to block a unilateral declaration of recognition?

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On What Happens If Israel Expels Yesha Residents

Here:

...If the UN gets their way, consider this:

Any resolution proclaiming a "Palestinian state" on the sovereign territory of the Jewish People will have nasty consequences elsewhere on the planet. If Israel is forced to evacuate their own land liberated from foreign control, this means that others have to receive the lands they were cheated out of.  Let`s make a little list.

We`ll start with the American Indians who lost their lands to Canadian and American settlers in North America. Various parts of Canada, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Florida, and at least 20 other states will be turned over to American Indian tribes. Will the USA do this? Will Canada?

Our answer to this is: I don’t think so!

Will various islands disputed by Russia and Japan forcibly be given back to Japan by the UN on a whim decision?

Again, our answer to this is: I don’t think so!

Will the government in Iraq give the Kurdish region in its north independence, a country that would be known as Kurdistan?

I Don’t Think So!

Will Turkey give the Kurdish people and territory in what is now called Turkey to an independent Kurdistan on the whim of the United Nations?

I Don’t Think So!

Will Syria have to give up territory as well for the new Nation of Kurdistan obeying a resolution made by the UN whether they like it or not?

I Don’t Think So!

Will India or Pakistan have to give up the disputed Territory of Kashmir to follow the whim of the United Nations?

I Don’t Think So!

Will China give up its claims on Indian Territory on the whim of the United Nations?

I Don’t Think So!

Will the Chinese give up Tibet on the whim of the United Nations?

I Don’t Think So!

Will either the Republic of China (Taiwan) or the People’s Republic of China (mainland Communist China) give in to a decision by the UN on their status and accept it as law?

I Don’t Think So!

Will Iran be willing to give up some of its territory to various tribes on the border of Afghanistan via a UN resolution?

I Don’t Think So!

Finally, will Jordan, whose population is 75% “Palestinian” Arab, and which was torn illegally from the Mandate of land declared to be under Jewish sovereignty forever, be willing to declare itself as Palestine, and take in the refugees from war here from their miserable exiles in Lebanon, Syria and elsewhere, and give them a home free of discrimination from other Arabs, with the opportunity to build lives in peace prosperity and happiness?

I Don’t Think So!

So let’s get real. Samantha Powers, Barack Hussein Obama, Foreign Secretary Hague of the UK, Bundeskanzler Merkel of Germany, President Sarkozy of France, Prime Minister Putin of Russia, and the all of you overpaid flunkies accruing parking tickets at the United Nations, we have a message for you. It ain’t gonna happen. Not now. We would say not ever – but; do you see that condition on making Jordan into Palestine above? Look good, because it really matters for peace around here. Israel may cooperate if the United Nations passes just such a resolution. Otherwise?

I DON’T THINK SO!

__________
About the Authors:

Paris David Blumenthal, author of “All American Karate Champ”, is a two time national US karate champion and AAU/USA All American who acquired skills in law-enforcement, intelligence, and marketing analysis. Presently he lives in Israel and works to aid localities in developing better security for their jurisdictions.

Reuven Kossover, author of Ruvy’s Roost (a blog-site), is a writer, editor, and political affairs analyst who lives in the Shilo Bloc of towns in Samaria.

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