Grandfathers/Grandmothers Against 'Apartheid' Attacks on Israel

Video here:



Note that these intellectually-oriented students have to read from notes to get their message out.

Story here:

A group of young leftist University of New Mexico students crashed a talk by pro-Israel Nonie Darwish on their campus Thursday night, but were surprised when older audience members got up out of their seats and pushed them out posthaste.

"Nonie Darwish speaks for Israeli apartheid! And genocide at the hands of the IDF," the leftists yelled. However, older audience members with a no-nonsense approach walked up to the students and began pushing them out. The leftist disturbance had barely lasted a minute by the time the rioters had all been pushed out the door.

The title of the talk was "Why the Arab Spring Is Failing."...

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The Violent Goal of the "Non-violent Activists"

After debating and exchanging frustrating comments here, I finally managed to elicit this about the so-called non-violent advocate Fadi Quran:

Jacob Chase-Lubitz
14 minutes ago...
Fadi is struggling, according to his sister, for all of historic palestine to be a single democracy under which all peoples are recognized as equal under the law, irrespective of gender, ethnicity, or religion.

That, of course, is the euphemism for the denial of Zionism, non-acceptance of Jewish nationalism and the elimination of the state of Israel.

That, whether a goal of the terrorists of Fatah, Hamas or Islamic Jihad or of so-called non-violent activists like Mubarak Awad, Jonathan Kuttab or now Fadi Quran, is a violent one and must be rejected and dealt with appropriately.

Yesterday, his brother left this:

Semma Qura'an

1 day ago@Yisrael Medad my brother does not help halt the rock throwing. He opts for another type of resistance aimed at the ISRAELI OCCUPATION. Get your facts straight. stones are not the equivalent of the tear gas, skunk, sound bombs, rubber and live bullets and illegally used pepper spray the IOF use

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Quiet: Temple Mount Being Lost

From a write-up by Amir Shoan at Ynet:

Is Israel losing Temple Mount war?

Why is Israeli government covering up Muslim effort to erase any trace of Jewish history on Temple Mount? || Archeology expert: Excavations barbaric, a crime

...The tractor's huge blade was lifted high up and then brought down with great force, shattering the ancient floors on Temple Mount. The large clods of earth exposed by the work were cast aside by the mustachioed driver. Yet even an amateur archeologist
could spot the priceless remnants of Jewish, Christian and Muslim history being cast away...According to specific Antiquities Authority instructions, any digging at the site was not allowed to exceed 60 centimeters (roughly two feet) and was not to be undertaken using mechanical equipment...workers largely ignored the instructions.

...Archeology expert Dr. Gabai Barkai, a world-renowned expert on Temple era excavations, was shocked by the reported work: "How could one dig up such sensitive area at night? How could one dig using mechanical equipment? Every such move is a crime. This is first-rate barbarity."

...Information elicited by the newspaper showed that the Waqf is consistently erasing any trace of Jewish history at the site.

Mideastern affairs expert Dr. Mordechai Kedar says these acts are undertaken in the framework of an Arab practice known as "erasing the signs," aimed at eliminating the remnants of any civilization that preceded Islam.

Members of the State Comptroller's Office launched an investigation into the affair four years ago and drafted a report about it. However, the Knesset's State Control Committee decided to impose a gag order on the report for "security reasons."

...Conversations and interviews held with dozens of officials involved in drafting the State Comptroller's secret report indicate that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is among the senior officials interested in shelving the document. Attorney Yisrael Caspi, who represents a group fighting the destruction on Temple Mount, says the PM is unequivocally responsible for the ongoing failure.

..."These days too, three tractors are being used on Temple Mount," [Israel] Caspi says. "Construction materials are also continuing to be brought into Temple Mount in violation of police pledges…Temple Mount looks today like a construction materials' warehouse…materials being brought in today will be used for illegal works tomorrow."..."You can't believe these things are happening. We are playing into our enemies' hands and shooting ourselves in the foot, because these generators can provide enough electricity for half the city. Why are they needed?"

After the opening of the Western Wall Tunnels in 1996 and the subsequent riots at the site, then-PM Netanyahu agreed to unilateral Waqf steps in the area...the Islamic body inaugurated the largest mosque in Israel at the large space associated with Solomon's stables, thereby banning Jews from entering the site. Two years later, the Waqf inaugurated another mosque, this time below the al-Aqsa Mosque nearby...Waqf members painted over rare Jewish works at the site. All this work was undertaken without Israeli supervision, and one can only imagine the kinds of cultural, historical and religious treasures lost in the process.

In 1999, the Waqf went a step further and dug a hole in the Temple Mount plaza, arguing that it needed to build an emergency exit for the mosque. The work was done by tractors, with some 250 trucks removing about 12,000 tons of soil replete with archeological findings from the site. The soil was dumped at a city garbage dump and also near the Kidron River.

Archeologists Gabi Barkai and Zachi Zweig are now sifting through [the dump]...[and] found decorated utensils from the King Solomon era, as well as coins and clay dating back to the second Temple. [Dr. Eilat Mazar said] "The Waqf's objective is to not only turn Temple Mount into a holy compound, but to turn it into a 'built up Aqsa' for Muslims only," she says. "One need not be an archeologist to understand there's destruction here."

The Prime Minister's Office issued the following response to the story: "As opposed to the claims, the body that imposed a gag order on the (State Comptroller's) report was not the government, but rather, the sub-committee of the Knesset's Defense and Foreign Affair's Committee…any argument alleging that the report is not being published as result of irrelevant reasons is baseless and disconnected from reality."

What the article lacks is a report on the activities of the Islamic Movement - Northern Branch, the activities of Sheikh Raad Salah, the recent riots and the incitement of the PA Mufti which I have dealt with recently.

For example, from when is this headline:

Islamic leader tells Haaretz: Temple Mount clashes won't end until occupation of Jerusalem does

Riots in Jerusalem continue as heads of Hamas and the Islamic Movement call protesters to the site.

October 2009.

When was this announced?

"We remind, for the 1,000th time, that the entire Al-Aqsa mosque, including all of its area and alleys above the ground and under it, is exclusive and absolute Moslem property, and no one else has any rights to even one grain of earth in it."

"We remind the Israeli establishment, which stands behind these plans, that the problem of Al-Aqsa and Jerusalem is not just a Palestinian problem, but a Palestinian, Arab and Islamic problem. The day the Al-Aqsa Mosque is harmed, Heaven forbid, all the Arab and Islamic nations will call to prevent this damage. Watch out! Beware of merely the thought of hurting or desecrating the mosque."

November 2006.

Nothing new under the ... crescent.

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Pro-Mechitza Reason #13

A mechitza, for those not knowledgeable, separates the women's section of the synagogue from the men's area. 

Here's one reason for them:

Nirvana Jennette, a mom of four from Camden County, Georgia says she was forced out of church for breastfeeding her baby. Church leaders asked her to breastfeed in the bathroom and implied they could have arrested her for “lewd behavior.” The most egregious statement? She told news station WSAV that her pastor compared her breastfeeding to a stripper performing.


According to Fox 30 WAWS, although Georgia state law allows a mother to nurse her child anywhere, Jennette could face public indecency charges. She wants her message to be heard loud and clear -- breastfeeding is natural and moms who want to feed their children in public should be protected. To that end, she's decided to stage a nurse-in and is seeking to establish legislative change for the State of Georgia.

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Kooky Ken the Antisemite

...if Israel is inherently a racist state, if it is inherently an apartheid state, then I want no part of Israel, it has no place in this world. And it does in its current form, if you want me to use some inflammatory language, in its current form should be destroyed.

Ken O'Keefe

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Adele - Jews Lack Citizenship Identity

Adele, the big-voiced British singer-songwriter-guitarist, spoke a highly insensitive ethnic slur while trying to joke with the crowd during her show at Massey Hall in Toronto in 2009.


She was telling a story about how she had bought two guitars from “a rude Toronto pawn-shop owner” earlier in the day. “He wasn’t Canadian — he was Jewish,” she said, before realizing that statement was incredibly offensive to Jews in the audience, including my daughter, her friend and the friend’s father.

In a statement later released by Columbia Records, the singer said: “I sincerely apologize for being so naive and disrespectful! It was not my intention to be hurtful and I’m very sorry.”...

...This was a disgraceful comment, and it’s a clear reflection of Adele’s true feelings about Jewish people. A half-baked apology doesn’t change that.


Ironic, isn’t it, that Karl Lagerfeld’s foolish and offensive comment that Adele is “a little too fat” has received so much attention, when Adele’s own racist slur did not.

Ronna Rubin, Toronto.

(k/t=BPO)

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Sacha Baron Cohen Plays With Anti-Semitism

A Jew goes overboard.

Reported:

This afternoon on The Dictator movie’s spoof website for the fictional Middle Eastern country of ‘The Republic Of Wadiya’, an explosive notice was posted. (Obviously by Sacha Baron Cohen as his title character in The Dictator.):

“Admiral General Aladeen will deliver a formal response tomorrow morning [Friday] to being banned from The Oscars by the Academy Of Motion Pictures Arts And Zionists.”

The Dictator is a spoof about the “heroic story of a Middle Eastern dictator who risks his life to ensure that democracy never comes to the country he so lovingly oppressed”. Whether the fact that the 84th Academy Awards will be beamed into 200 countries had anything to do with Baron Cohen being banned from the Oscars was unclear. But it now looks like the Jewish comedian is taking on the normally verboten subject of Hollywood and Jews and Muslims. Oy vey!

The clip is here.

Too clever by half - and for his and our own good.

Problem with Jewish comedians - they have a propensity for making too much fun of their own. Not everyone is Jewish in the entertainment world (and therefore get the inside joke) and not everything is kosher for money and publicity.

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Article on Shiloh and Construction

By P. David Hornik.

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Is Silverstein Provoking Arabs to Violence?

[see UPDATE below]

Following Silverstein's posting about Jews being provocative [if you do not wish to click on his site and also, if you want to leave comments, go here] and thereby causing the Arabs to throw rocks, two things happened today:

First,

Dozens of riot police were deployed to quell a Muslim riot on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City on Friday.

Israel Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said more than 100 Muslims began throwing rocks at a police location following Friday prayers, prompting the police to enter the compound.

Note: Jews do not ascend the Temple Mount on Fridays.

Second,

2 US Congressmen Elliot Engel and Jerald Nadler, along with Malcolm Hoenlein and other VIPs were touring the Mount of Olives with the JewishPress.com this morning when they came under a barrage of stones from Arabs exiting a nearby mosque.

Since the Mount of Olives cemetery has nothing to do with being a Moslem holy site vying for primacy over any Jewish site - like the excuse given for the Temple Mount contretemps - maybe these Arabs read Silverstein and figured they have 'cover' from a Jew to keep up the violent activity.

Is that possible?

See this response of his in his comments:

Richard Silverstein says:


February 23, 2012 at 12:14 PM

I see police breaking into the mosque. I have no idea what preceded this. I don’t care the reason for police violating the sanctity of the mosque, it’s an egregious breach of its sacred status.

So, is Silverstein provoking Arabs to violence?


P.S. (Post-Shabbat Update)

hundreds of Muslim worshippers clashed with police at Jerusalem's Temple Mount earlier on Friday.

Following Friday prayers, worshippers began hurling rocks at the Mughrabi Bridge at the entrance to the Temple Mount, which prompted Israeli police forces to enter the plaza and attempt to scatter the protest.

Israeli police said that dozens of protesters gathered inside the Al-Aqsa mosque after hurling rocks at security forces, who, in a rare move, came to the entrance of the mosque and used stun grenades to scatter the protesters.

Eleven policemen and 15 Palestinians were wounded as a result of the clashes. Four Palestinians were arrested.

UPDATE

A rock throwing Arab mob attacked on Friday, in front of a mosque in the Ras Al-Amud neighborhood, a group that included Congressmen Elliot Engel and Jerald Nadler. The two legislators from New York State were on tour of the Mount of Olives Cemetery, along with Executive Vice Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations Malcolm Hoenlein, and Rabbis Abraham and Menachem Lubinsky, founders of the International Committee for the Preservation of Har HaZeitim. Their tour, which included some 40 Jewish American leaders, was guided by JewishPress.com Managing Editor Yishai Fleisher

Jerusalem Post, too.

PPS  The incident in Haifa.
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Jews To Be Forbidden?

There's a report at Arutz 7 that the Islamic Waqf authorities are planning to alter the status of the Temple Mount so that they will be able to forbid the entrance of Jews in to the compound.

But I want to make it clear after 41 years of activity on behalf of Jewish rights to the Temple Mount and within, they have always claimed that the entire area is a mosque and that is why the minarets are on the walls and not on any one building.

From the report:

Expert Warns of Waqf's Dangerous Plans for Temple Mount

Archaeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar warns: The Waqf is planning to unite all the mosques on the Temple Mount into one.

Speaking to Arutz Sheva, Mazar said that for the past 12 years, the Waqf has constantly built on the Temple Mount in an attempt to implement its final plan: the establishment of a huge mosque on the Mount.

“There is no order there and no one to uphold the law,” she said. “No one can enforce the law there. Not the Israel Antiquities Authority, not the Nature and Parks Authority and not the city of Jerusalem. The police are there but they are precluded from enforcing.”

...the State Comptroller wrote a report which exposed serious findings about Israeli authorities’ inability to enforce the law on the Temple Mount, but noted that the report has remained confidential to this day.

“The Comptroller produced a thorough report and questioned all the right people. He came to important conclusions which so far have not been published. Our group has demanded and continues to demand that the contents of the report be published.”

She warned that the excavations of antiquities being performed on the Temple Mount by the Waqf may lead to disaster..."There is a danger that the ground will collapse under thousands of Muslims. It endangers the safety of the people...”

Mazar added, “I do not accept the argument that this could lead to a world war. The Temple Mount is at the center of Jerusalem. We’re not harming the Muslim rituals. We only want to enforce the law and order so that a disaster can be prevented. The Waqf cannot be trusted...

...“We know that the Waqf’s goal is to unite all one the mosques, and unfortunately today it is far from being just an illusion,” she said. “We will definitely weep over this plan in the future.”

Will we weep?

Well, we can weep over Silverstein's diatribe, claiming that: 'Messianic Settlers Provoke Violence And Seek Final Day Of Reckoning'.

Jews - and Christians - have a right to enter the Mount and Muslims attack but that doesn't bother Silverstein (who I doubt couldn't have writtn his op-ed without massive help from Israelis who spoonfed him material).

"Messianic settlers have banded together to orchestrate a crisis on the Temple Mount" is his buzz as if archaeological artifacts have not been destroyed or covered up or thrown away by Muslims, as if the police are afraid, as if stones are not thrown from inside over the Western Wall on worshippers below who aren't even in the compound.

He falsely asserts that in making an ascent:-

one must first evict or destroy the Muslim holy sites there as was done by Hindu nationalists to a mosque in Ayodiyah, India.

What a maligner. A mendacious idiot.

And again here, that "a call for Jews to have the same access to the Temple Mount that Muslims enjoy" is a

...problem...Muslims for generations have controlled the area. Until the type of agitation initiated by Sharon, access was relatively open. In fact, I can remember visiting both holy mosques during my stays in Israel in 1972-73 and 1979-1980. It was only after Muslims became afraid that Jews wanted to take control from them that relations went bad.

Soi, status quo wins? Well, let's make a new status quo. The Mulsims conquered the Temple and Jews can't enter so if Jews conquered, is it not logial - a la Silverstein - that Muslims be excluded?

But they are not.

That probably bothers Silverstein more - that we Jews still are more moral than the Waqf.

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Comment on Mormons Baptizing Dead Jews

My cousin-in-law Chaim commented to me on the story:

I find it amusing that I may have a grandmother who is Mormon.

Can my grandfather become a polygamist?

Another friend wrote me:

Well, should Jewish leaders dig up dead Mormons and give them circumcisions?

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UPDARE

Told to quit.
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J Street Visited Tel Shiloh

On Wednesday, the J Street Women's Delegation came to Shiloh, before the construction authorization story broke. I wasn't there but Jeremy Ben-Ami was.

I asked Ruchie Avital to write up her impressions and she consented:

As a longtime spokesperson of Ofra, I have had the opportunity to meet with many individuals and groups visiting Ofra. In most cases, the visitors to the area – both Jews and non-Jews, as well as journalists who have been sent from abroad to cover Israel – are sadly ignorant about the history of the State of Israel and the conflict with the Arab/Palestinians. The group I met with yesterday was different.

I was invited by Tamar Asraf, the dynamic and articulate spokesperson of the Benjamin Regional Council, and Tzofia Dorot, the warm and knowledgeable director of the Ancient Site of Shilo, to join them at a meeting with a J Street delegation, led by Jeremy Ben-Ami, the founder and director of the far-left organization. The visit itself was coordinated by Dar Nadler of a movement called Blue and White Future, which favors keeping only the large settlement blocks and evacuating all the other Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, comprising about 90,000 Jews. Dar’s moderation of the discussion was admirably fair and balanced.

The group was made up of about 20 or so women and two men, besides Jeremy Ben-Ami, including a number of Congresswomen, from J Street and another organization called Women’s Donors Network. Many were visiting for the first time, but appeared to be familiar with many of the issues, but of course from J Street’s point of view. However, they had come to listen. They asked tough questions, but listened to what we had to say and commented intelligently.

When thanking us, they noted that they had never heard some of the arguments we put forward before. I have no illusions about changing their minds. But I believe it’s important to talk and listen to one another. You never know.

Some 20 years ago, I was asked by a left-wing group to accompany a group of visiting women.  We drove up through Ramallah with Zehava Galon commenting on the scene and we eventually arrived at Rechalim, then still a camp site.  It was a women's project, with children nall around, a play area and the other elements of a Gush Emunim effort.

Orit Rappaport explained why they were there (Rachela Druck had been murdered there on the eve of the Madrid Conference and I was in Madrid at that time).  The ladies were som impressed at the dedication, commitment and outright sacrifice of the women there that they opened up theior pocketbooks right then and there, handing over dollar bills.

Shocked, Zehava tried to stope them b ut their response was that this was above all a feminist issue, beyoind politics and that the women of Rechalim deserved their support and solidarity.

You just never know with a liberal. I presume.

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UPDATE

African-American congresswomen tour Israel with J Street

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- A group of African-American congresswomen toured Israel under J Street's auspices.

Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), Donna Edwards (D-Md.), Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) and Gwen Moore (D-Wisc.) met with top officials in the opposition and the ruling coalition, a statement issued Feb. 24 from the dovish pro-Israel group said. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), who is not African American, also was part of the delegation.

Joining them were 14 female philanthropists; they were not named in the release. The statement was released after the delegation returned from the weeklong visit.

They do not admit to being in Shiloh in this item.

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How to Eulogize a War Correspondent

They call this prose:

We all have to die sometime. Marie died doing what she loved, what made her feel most alive, what turns journalism from a job into something bigger and more noble: a mission. It’s perhaps not much of a consolation to her many friends and her family, but it’s what happened.

Heck, let her own words speak for her:

I have been a war correspondent for most of my professional life. It has always been a hard calling. But the need for frontline, objective reporting has never been more compelling.

Covering a war means going to places torn by chaos, destruction, and death, and trying to bear witness. It means trying to find the truth in a sandstorm of propaganda when armies, tribes or terrorists clash. And yes, it means taking risks, not just for yourself but often for the people who work closely with you.

...Our mission is to report these horrors of war with accuracy and without prejudice. We always have to ask ourselves whether the level of risk is worth the story. What is bravery, and what is bravado?

The entire text is here.

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A Poem for Daniel Pearl

Some lines from a poem his father penned:-

...Never stood a son of Abel

so fiercely to the face of Cain

...A listener—to the deafening shrieks of zeal.

Alone!

Never beamed a ray of light

so deeply to the core of darkness

...Mankind, to Attila, the Hun

Never was this saga chanted

in so powerful a rhyme:

“My name is Daniel Pearl,”

Softly spoken from the den,

Softly, from Karachi, Pakistan

•

And when Daniel was lifted from the den,

So the Bible tells us,

No wound was found on him,

Because he stood his ground

Because he stood our ground

So the Bible tells us.

(Daniel 6:28)

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Bar Rafaeli - What She Didn't Do in Israel

Bar Rafaeli did not fulfill her military service obligations in Israel.

But she still has fun with a gun:-

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It's the Jews and the Christians vs the Muslims

Christian Today reports:-

A mob of 50 Muslims reportedly attacked a group of Christian tourist's atop Jerusalem's Temple Mount, according to Israel Today Magazine. Israeli police intervened to protect the Christian group and three officers were wounded.

Many of the attackers were minors and 11 of them were caught and arrested.

Investigators believe the attack was sparked by the former Muslim mufti (scholar) of Jerusalem, Ekrama Sabri...Muslim religious figures claim that Israel is plotting to destroy the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque to rebuild a new Jewish Temple. Muslims claim that a Jewish Temple never existed.

The al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock were constructed at Temple Mount after the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem, according to The Muslim Conquest of Syria.

Temple Mount is the most holy place on earth for Jews and many Christians, according to Israel Today. However, Israel must comply with strict Muslim demands for restrictions of non-Muslims who visit the site. Christians and Jews are forbidden from carrying Bibles at Temple Mount and even uttering silent prayers

Is this echoed in Isaiah 2?

it shall come to pass in the end of days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established as the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many peoples shall go and say: 'Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.' For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem

When will we know?

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Maybe We Should Reverse Ashton's Appointment?

The lady hath spoken:

EU Demands Reversal Of Israeli Settlement Approvals

European Union Foreign Policy chief Catherine Ashton has called upon the Israeli government to reverse its decision granting approval for new constructions in Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

"The High Representative is deeply concerned by the approval on 22 February by the Israeli Civil Administration of new construction in the settlements of Shvut Rachel and Shilo as well as the retrospective approval granted for housing units already built," Ashton's spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Settlements are illegal under international law. In addition the Quartet Roadmap states that Israel should not only freeze all settlement activity, but also dismantle those settlements erected since March 2001," the statement added.

Silly cow.

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My Daughter on the Tal Law Annulment

Here:

Opponents of the Service Deferral Law, on the other hand, could not hide their glee.

"An historic decision," said [Tzruya] Medad-Luzon, of the Movement for Quality Government in Israel. She told DPA that she hoped parliament would now "really invest effort and thought" into a more balanced law.

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The Night and Sexual Relations

I found this extract in a BBC story on the myth of the consecutive 8-hour sleep need:-

A doctor's manual from 16th Century France even advised couples that the best time to conceive was not at the end of a long day's labour but "after the first sleep", when "they have more enjoyment" and "do it better".

Well, we knew that in Judaism.

Tractate Berachot 3

For it has been taught: R. Eliezer says: The night has three watches...In the first watch, the ass brays; in the second, the dogs bark; in the third, the child sucks from the breast of his mother, and the woman talks with her husband.

Moreover, in this doctorate of Anat Kutner, The Night in the Late Middle Ages in Ashkenaz (in Hebrew), the 7th chapter describes in great detail sexual customs. From page 234 on there are discussions based on Halachic sources.

On page 250, Rav Aaron of Navorna is quoted in his Orchot Chayyim, p. 75, that the middle of the third watches of the night is conducive to sexual relations. This follows the Rambam, Deot 5:4

Although a man's wife is permitted to him at all times, it is fitting that a wise man behave with holiness. He should not frequent his wife like a rooster. Rather, [he should limit his relations to once a week] from Sabbath evening to Sabbath evening, if he has the physical stamina.

When he speaks with her, he should not do so at the beginning of the night, when he is sated and his belly [is] full, nor at the end of the night, when he is hungry; rather, in the middle of the night, when his food has been digested.

He should not be excessively lightheaded, nor should he talk obscene nonsense even in intimate conversation with his wife. Behold, the prophet has stated (Amos 4:13): "And He repeats to a man what he has spoken." [On this verse,] our Sages commented: A person will have to account for even the light conversation that he has with his wife.

[At the time of relations,] they should not be drunk, nor lackadaisical, nor tense - [neither both of them,] or [even] one of them. She should not be asleep, nor should the man take her by force, against her will. Rather, [the relations should take place] amidst their mutual consent and joy. He should converse and dally with her somewhat, so that she be relaxed. He should be intimate [with her] modestly and not boldly, and withdraw [from her] immediately.

This is repeated, curtly, at Issurei Bi'ah 21:10

It is the course of holy conduct to engage in relations in the middle of the night (In Hilchot Deot 5:4, the Rambam gives a rationale that at this time a person's food will have been digested and yet, he will not be overly hungry. The commentaries to Nedarim 20b explain that in this manner, the man and his wife will have forgotten all their daytime concerns and will be able to focus their attention on each other and the holiness of the experience).

The Shulchan Aruch Orach Hayyim 240:8 adds that it is best in the middle of the night so that he should not hear any other voice and come to impure thoughts.

So, hundreds of years before the 16th century, we knew what's best.

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Does Peace Now Deserve a Medal?

Further to the new constuction authorizations at Shiloh news, there is this from Dror Eydar:-

Praise Peace Now

...Peace Now, by force of habit, petitioned the court against the construction in Shiloh and in Shvut Rachel. As we know, Shiloh is mentioned in the Quran as an Arab community that has existed since creation. Who would believe the stories in the Bible indicating that Shiloh was the capital of the Tribes of Israel for hundreds of years?

Peace Now's argument was that these communities lacked the necessary zoning authorizations – as is the case in countless cities, even within the Green Line – making construction there illegal.

In response to the petition, the state provided the zoning permits, legalizing the existing construction and even authorizing future construction of hundreds of additional housing units. At this rate, Peace Now Secretary-General Yariv Oppenheimer will get a Zionism medal for instigating the construction of entire cities...

__________

UPDATE

...a spokesperson for the EU's High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Ashton said the FM was "deeply concerned by the approval on 22 February by the Israeli Civil Administration of new construction in the settlements of Shvut Rachel and Shiloh as well as the retrospective approval granted for housing units already built."

"Settlements are illegal under international law. In addition the Quartet Roadmap states that Israel should not only freeze all settlement activity, but also dismantle those settlements erected since March 2001," the statement said.

..."The High Representative calls on Israel to respect its obligations under the Roadmap and reverse this decision," the statement concluded.

And the State Dep't:-

QUESTION: Can I ask you about --

MR. TONER: Sure.

QUESTION: -- settlement activity in Israel? There was news of a preliminary decision regarding, I think, 600 units in Shiloh, which is quite far inside West Bank territory. Do you have a reaction to this that’s different than previous reactions for the same --

MR. TONER: I really don’t. I don’t have a – frankly, I haven’t seen those press reports. I mean, you know where we stand on settlement activity. We don’t believe it’s in any way constructive to getting both sides back to the negotiating table and we want to see, clearly, a comprehensive settlement that delineates borders and resolves many of these issues.

But read here.


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