Saturday, April 20, 2013

Like Mother, Like Son?

Consider this:


The brothers’ mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaev, said she never heard her sons talk about terrorism. She was quoted by CNN saying that one son got involved in religion about five years ago, but “he never told me he would be on the side of jihad,” she said. “How could this happen?”

and

His mother told Russian TV channel RT that her oldest son embraced Islam but never spoke of anything extreme; never said he was on the side of jihad.

And what else was in that CNN story?


This:-
Alyssa Lindley Kilzer said she often visited the apartment at 410 Norfolk St. in Cambridge, where the Tsarnaevs lived. Kilzer used to get facials from Zubeidat at a local spa but, after she was fired, Kilzer began going to her house...But she became increasingly uncomfortable going to the apartment because of Zubeidat's growing religious fervor.

"She started quoting conspiracy theories, telling me that she thought 9-11 was purposefully created by the American government to make America hate Muslims," she wrote.  Zubeidat told her: "It's real. My son knows all about it. You can read it on the Internet."

Conclusions are

a) you can be against jihad but not necessarily against Islam.  there is a difference.  anti-Pamela Gellers, take note.

b) who influenced whom?  son the mother or mother the son?

In any case, Islamists are a security threat, whether in the US, the UK or Israel.




P.S.



In 2011, a foreign government asked the FBI for information about Tamerlan ­Tsarnaev, based on information that he was a follower of “radical Islam” who had changed drastically, the bureau said in a statement Friday. In response, the FBI investigated and interviewed Tamerlan and family members. “The FBI did not find any terrorism activity, domestic or foreign,” the bureau said.


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Friday, April 19, 2013

And The News From Turkey Is ... Cloning?

And now, this Turkish development:

But Oktar’s cult went further than pseudo science and religious dogma accusations of sexual abuse by Oktar and his members of his group are now commonplace. In the late 1980s, according to one former follower,
“Adnan Hodja [Oktar] repudiated all oral traditions relating to the words and deeds of Muhammad (hadith) and decided that the Koran would be the only point of reference ... Henceforth, he reduced the five daily prayers to three, and he dropped the veiling of women.” 


By the early 1990s, Oktar’s group was rigidly hierarchical and all sexual relations were controlled by Oktar. One recent defector from Oktar’s group has recounted, “There were sisters (bacilar), concubines (cariyeler) and brothers (kardesler). The brothers were allowed to marry the concubines, while the sisters were all married.
...Turkish model Ebru Şimşek, who says she is a former devotee of Oktar, has spoken out publicly against him and the ‘cult’, claiming she had refused Oktar's sexual advances...In response, Oktar filed an Oktar claimed he was innocent as the intercourse was consensual. He insisted that the sexual practises were religiously permissible under Islam because he and his followers did not have a 'real sexual intercourse with these girls'. Rather, Oktar claimed, he and his followers only engaged in 'anal and oral' sex because according to Koran these acts are not impermissible outside of marriage. According to Oktar’s interpretation: 'vaginal' intercourse was 'haram' but 'anal and oral intercourse' was 'halal'...

So, he did not have sex with those women?

Oh, some of the women associated with the man:-

















He may be anti-evolutionist but he may be into cloning? 



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Returning to Judaism the Photoshop Method

Here:



More there.


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When Boston Meets Intifada

Caught this:

Sleep problems plaguing many in Boston after bombing

All over Boston, people are sleep-deprived this week. With nerves jangled and brutal images of Monday’s bombing replaying in their minds, many are having trouble falling or staying asleep. In fact, sleeping difficulties have been one of the most common health complaints since the attack, according to local hospital physicians.

Sleep specialists say that insomnia and nightmares are normal within the first several days after such a traumatic event, and many people may be making problems worse by self-medicating with alcohol, cigarettes, and caffeine.

.About 90 percent of people will experience sleep problems at some point from a traumatic life event. “It usually lasts for a few days and less commonly for a few weeks,” said Dr. Khalid Ismail, a sleep medicine specialist from Tufts Medical Center. Those with previous bouts of insomnia due to depression or an anxiety disorder may be more susceptible to lingering problems, as well as those directly affected by the attacks, who are at risk of developing post traumatic stress disorder.


Dear Bostonians,

Can you now begin to grasp what Israelis have been through - the 1st Intifada, the 2nd Intofada, the ongoing terror and also the rocket firing from the Gaza Strip?

Sleep for the weary.

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Graphic Zionism Series

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She Comes A-Storming

You knew this was coming, right?


An Israeli MK intends to storm Al-Aqsa Mosque

And get this at the end:


Hamas: Jerusalem under real danger
 

A report issued by the Information Office of Hamas on Thursday stressed that the Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem are exposed to a real danger aimed to obliterate their landmarks.

The report, which monitors the settlement projects and Israeli attacks in the West Bank, said that the international silence has encouraged the occupation to intensify its excavations in the Magharba Gate, which is an integral part of Al-Aqsa Mosque...[but the work is outside the Gate]...The report, which monitors Israeli attacks in the period from March 16 to April 15, revealed that the occupation has started establishing a biblical garden, a landfill and a network infrastructure on a confiscated Jerusalemite land that has an area of ​​1232 dunums, near Al-Aqsa Mosque from its eastern side.

It noted that the occupation forces always provide protection to the Jewish extremists during their raids into the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

And you know why?

Because Muslims attack Jews, verbally and physically, throw molotov cocktails and even plan to...kill them/us.


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A Window Shutting

IMRA's Aaron Lerner also caught what I saw late yesterday, Kerry's "window-shutting date approximation":-

"I can guarantee you that I am committed to this because I believe the window for a two-state solution is shutting," Kerry told lawmakers. "I think we have some period of time — a year to year-and-a-half to two years, or it's over."
"Everybody I talk to in the region and all of the supporters globally who care ... want us to move forward on a peace effort," he added. "They're all worried about the timing here. So there's an urgency to this, in my mind, and I intend on behalf of the president's instructions to honor that urgency and see what we can do to move forward."
Kerry didn't spell out why he believes so little time is left for an agreement that would establish an independent Palestine alongside a Jewish state recognized by its neighbors.
But these factors are likely to only make peace more difficult in the coming years, including the growing numbers and political strength of Israel's settlers.

US Secretary of State John Kerry to the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee on 17 April 2013

Aaron wrote:

Hope he is right that the window for a two-state solution is shutting. And the sooner the better. Because having a sovereign Palestinian state in our living room is anything but the best option of a collection of bad options. A truly sovereign Palestinian state is a terrible option. It would be incredibly dangerous for Israel and a source of tremendous instability for the entire neighborhood.

Nothing the Palestinian Authority has done has truly been in the interests of peace or internal democracy and civil rights since its establishment. Terror hasn't been excluded as an instrument of Palestinianism.  Palestinianism's disinventivity only increases towards Israel.  Little will to accept parameters of coexistence.  Territorial compromise done, the disengagement, insufficient.  Total negation of Jewish national ethos and also an unwillingness to accept Jews into their supposed future state.  Hamas in Gaza.

Secretary Kerry, can we make that a shorter time span to close the window?

^

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Graphic Zionism Series

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Graphic Zionism Series

On this story:-


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Low-Intensity Conflict Report #75 April 17, 2013

Low-Intensity Conflict Report #75 April 17, 2013

These reports are translated and publicized by Yehudit Tayar for Hatzalah Yehudah and Shomron with the clearance and confirmation of the IDF.  Hatzalah Yehudah and Shomron is a voluntary emergency medical organization with over 500 volunteer doctors, paramedics, medics who are on call 24/7 and work along with the IDF, 669 IAF Airborn Rescue, the security officers and personal throughout Yesha and the Jordan Valley, and with MDA.

We, the volunteers of Hatzalah Yehudah and Shomron go out to rescue anyone who needs our emergency medical assistance; including civilians, military and Arabs also those within the PA territories. (with IDF presence) To us a life is precious and we go out at risk leaving home and family or stopping on the road to rescue anyone in need.

This is a partial report of the on-going terror attacks against Israel.

8-15.4.2013

Israeli policeman injured in his head near the Lions Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem, woman injured at El Arub, IDF reserve soldier injured in his face by rocks in Hursa Mishulash, IDF soldier injured from rocks in Ba'alin
*Senior members of Jihad Terror Organization arrested by Security Forces in Hevron Area
*Near Shomron Brigade Headquarters terrorist possessing 3 explosive devices and 5 Molotov cocktails
*Arab caught armed with knife near Ptizael in the Jordan Valley
*Terrorist armed with knife caught near the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hevron, he admitted to planning a terror attack
*3 improvised grenades thrown at Security forces at Kever Rachel
Molotov Attacks:
3 at vehicle near Anata, 3 at Security forces at Bodrus, 1 at Security forces near Ma'aleh Hahamisha, 1 at vehicle near Ma'alhe Levona, 2 at Security force at Hirbat Aliah, at least 1 at Kever Rachel, 3 near J'aba at vehicles.
*Engineeering force near Han Unis in Gaza went on a explosive device
Rocket fall near kibbutz Sh'ar Hanegev, 2 fell in Arb occupied land
Judea Region; Rock attacks: Policeman Square hevron, Pharmacy checkpost, Hevron, El Fuar, near Maon, Halhul
Etzion Region: Violent demonstrations including rock attacks near Efrat, rock blockade and attacks El Arub, Bet Umar, Tekoa, El Hadar, violent demonstrations El Aidiya Refugee Camp near Kever Rachel,near Carmei Zur, Bet Umar, Har Homa Tekoa Highway.
Benjamin Region: Llubin A-Shrakia, Rentis, Harmaia Valley, Turmous Aya, Sen'jal, near Natuf Quarry, Abud Bypass, between Adam and Hizma
Shomron Rregion: near Ma'aleh Shomron, near Tapuah, near Emmanuel, Git Avishar Junction, near Peduel, Gilad Highway, Azun.
 
16.4
Border policeman injured in his hand from rocks in Abu Dis north-east of Bethlehem, he was treated on the spot by a medic. The attack took place when searches were being made because of the attack the day before by Arabs with an explosive device and an additional explosive discovered after which a bomb squad was called into the scene.  When the bomb squad arrived over 400 Arabs carried on violent demonstrations.  An additional explosive device was thrown at the robot of the bomb squad.  The crowd was dispersed by the military.  One of the Arabs was arrested.
Bus attacked on Gush Etzion-Hevron Highway near Bet Umar causing damage.
1 injured from an additional attack on a bus near Bet Umar causing damage to a third bus.
Hirbat Aliah  (northern entrance to Efrat)south of Bethlehem  rocks and 5 Molotov cocktails  thrown at Border police patrol
Haramia Valley bus attacked by rocks

17.4
Rocket attack against Eilat – at least 5 rockets fired -no injured. For reasons of National Security I withhold the locations of the rocket hits.
Rock attacks :
Near Bet Sahur, Tekoa-Har Homa Highway, near Bitin village, near Carmei Zur,causing damage to windshield,.
 
Security Services activities with the aid of the IDF in March 2013 arrested a resident of Shechem who was meeting with an activist who was released in the "Gilad Shalit Deal" and who expressed the desire to perpetrate terror attacks for a large sum of money.  The person who was arrested worked in order to find weapons for carrying out the terror attack, but fortunately was arrested before he could.  The person who was arrested is Amir Birkat, born in 1988 resident of Shechem returned in February 2013 from going up to Mecca.  In the interrogation by the Security Froces he admitted that during his visit to Mecca, he met with Amir Dukan an activist from the Balata Refugee Camp in Shechem who was released in the "Gilad Shalit Deal", and went to the Gaza Strip.Dukan proposed to Birkat that he carry out a shooting terror attack on the Shechem Bypass Highway, or to attack the Hawawara checkpost near Shechem with grenades in return for receiving $ 60,000 U.S.
When Birkat returned to Shechem he contacted Dukan and agreed to carry ot the proposed attack, and even acquired a gun.  This investigation proves yet again the intense efforts  of the Terror Organizations to promote terror attacks in Yesha with active involvement of the released terrorists from the" Gilad Shalit Deal".  More and more efforts for terror attacks are being planned by those terrorists released in the "Deal" who went into Gaza.  This is an outrageous violation of the conditions of the release of these terrorists within the framework of the "Deal" which was signed with the guidance and involvement of Egypt, and carried out under the auspices of the Hamas in Gaza.
 
With the coordinated efforts of the Security Forces and the Israeli Police during the months of January-February 2013 the representative of Hamas and their operators were arrested attempting to bring money to pay for terror actions.  In the hands of the messenger at Allenby passage around 10,000 Euro and $900 US were found hidden within cigarette cases.
 
The two brothers who were arrested are residents of the Pirah Refugees Camp in the Shechem region and they are:
The messenger, Machmed Rashad Dif Allah Sualma, born 1972; arrested at the Allenby Bridge January 29, 2013.
 
The terrorist –Achmed Rashad Dif Allah Sualma, born 1971 Hamas activist.  Arrested February 17, 2013 based on his brothers confession.

During the interrogation of the Security Forces, Machmed Sualma confessed that we went to Jordan sent by his brother Achmed, with the intent to smuggle money for terrorist activities into Yesha, paid by the Hamas.  The money was given in Jordan through the messenger, Amir Dukan, one of the terrorists released in the "Deal" who had been banished to Gaza.  There he contacted agents of various terrorist organizations including the Hamas.  In addition Machmed admitted that he was supposed to receive additional money from Zalach Elaruri, a senior Hamas member who is abroad.

March 13, 2013 Achmed and Machmed were served by the Miitary Court in the Shomron.

Machmed Sualma was charged with deliberately attempting to smuggle enemy money into the region, contact with the enemy, and attempting to carry out illegal operations and making connections in order to deal with equipment used in attacks.

This investigation sheds light on the continued attempts by terror organizations to smuggle money into Yesha with the use of messengers who return to Yesha through the Allenby crossing.

As a result of this lately there are serious efforts at the Allenby Crossing to uncover and prevent the transfer of funds for terror into the region, and in addition, thorough body searches are made on suspects of transferring the funds for terror.

Near Armon Hanatziv, Jerusalem, Arabs attacked Egged Bus #8, MDA reported one injury, treated on the location.
Kever Rachel:  2 improvised grenades were thrown causing slight injuries to a female tourist by scratches from the grenades .  treated by medic on location.

Rock attacks:
El Fuar, south west of Hevron,  bus attacked by Arabs with rocks damaging the side of the bus, Israeli vehicles attacked by rocks at Rentis, Bet Umar, Halhul, Security forces return with crowd dispersing measures.
Near Efrat at Hirbat Alia terrorist caught trying to throw Molotov cocktail, Security forces opened fire on him, did not identify hit.
Israeli policeman injured in his head near the Lions Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem, woman injured at El Arub, IDF reserve soldier injured in his face by rocks in Hursa Mishulash, IDF soldier injured from rocks in Ba'alin
*Senior members of Jihad Terror Organization arrested by Security Forces in Hevron Area
*Near Shomron Brigade Headquarters terrorist possessing 3 explosive devices and 5 Molotov cocktails
*Arab caught armed with knife near Ptizael in the Jordan Valley
*Terrorist armed with knife caught near the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hevron, he admitted to planning a terror attack
*3 improvised grenades thrown at Security forces at Kever Rachel
Molotov Attacks:
3 at vehicle near Anata, 3 at Security forces at Bodrus, 1 at Security forces near Ma'aleh Hahamisha, 1 at vehicle near Ma'alhe Levona, 2 at Security force at Hirbat Aliah, at least 1 at Kever Rachel, 3 near J'aba at vehicles.
*Engineeering force near Han Unis in Gaza went on a explosive device
Rocket fall near kibbutz Sh'ar Hanegev, 2 fell in Arb occupied land
Judea Region; Rock attacks: Policeman Square hevron, Pharmacy checkpost, Hevron,El Fuar, near Maon, Halhul
Etzion Region: Violent demonstrations including rock attacks near Efrat, rock blockade and attacks El Arub, Bet Umar, Tekoa, El Hadar, violent demonstrations El Aidiya Refugee Camp near Kever Rachel, near Carmei Zur, Bet Umar, Har Homa Tekoa Highway.
Benjamin Region: Lubin A-Shrakia, Rentis, Harmaia Valley, Turmous Aya, Sinjil, near Natuf Quarry, Abud Bypass, between Adam and Hizma
Shomron Rregion: near Ma'aleh Shomron, near Tapuah, near Emmanuel, Git Avishar Junction, near Peduel, Gilad Highway, Azun.

18.4.2013
Haramia Valley rocks thrown at Israeli vehicle about 200 meters from the former British police station.
 
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What Are Sacred Sites For in Jerusalem?

What Muslims would do in a sacred site:

Temple Mount Terrorists Indicted
 


An indictment against five Arab terrorists from

Jerusalem was submitted Thursday to the District Court. The five conspired in February to shoot and murder Jewish worshippers on the Temple Mount as well as police officers in East Jerusalem, in addition to intending to kidnap and murder a Jewish hitchhiker. They obtained arms from Hamas and PLO, and were unsuccessful in carrying out their plans.

More:

The Jerusalem District Attorney's Office on Thursday submitted an indictment to the Jerusalem District Court against five east Jerusalem Palestinians for conspiring to carry out shooting and kidnapping attacks against Jews praying on the Temple Mount and security forces posted in east Jerusalem.

According to the indictment, defendant Nor Hamdan decided in February 2013 to carry out shooting attacks on Jews who came to the Temple Mount to pray and against security forces in east Jerusalem.

To accomplish this, Hamdan allegedly recruited the other four defendants and others to form a terror cell. Hamdan made contact with several terror organizations both in the West Bank and Gaza to receive training, guidance and weaponry, said the indictment.

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Jabotinsky, January 1934, The Video Clip

He speaks in Yiddish (there are Hebrew subtitles) on the subject "Let the Jews Go to Eretz-Yisrael", less than a year after the Nazi rise to power and after the Mandatory power enacted regulations restricting immigration and land purchases by Jews, a death-knell for Zionism:


 
 
 
In the film are his wife, Yohanna, Dr. Joseph Schechtmann, Binyamin Lubotzky and wife, the Halperin sisters.
 
Thanks to Jabotinsky Institute and Yaakov Gross.

Was a state contemplated?

As Jabotinsky illustrates, already in March 1916, the British were talking about the Jews taking into their own hands the administration of the country:

 
 
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From the Graphic Zionism Series

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Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Temple Mount T-shirt

New T-shirt:



Translation:


Does this [the Dome of the Rock] bother you 
that it's on the shirt?

Why doesn't it bother you that it's on the Temple Mount?


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An Official Parliamentary Temple Mount Visit

In 1986, I participated in a visit to the Temple Mount with the Knesset Interior Committee, chaired by the late Dov Shilanksy.

And this year:-
MK Miri Regev to tour Jerusalem's Temple Mount to examine resumption of Jewish prayer
'I do not understand why a Jew is not allowed to pray in the most sacred place for him,' says the Likud MK, who will visit the volatile spot to see if Jews can gain access for prayer there.

MK Miri Regev, the newly elected chair of the Knesset Interior and Environment Committee, wasted no time after her appointment on Wednesday to make an inflammatory announcement: She will visit the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and examine the possibility of securing the return of Jewish prayer at the red-hot site.

Regev, who was officially selected as committee head on Wednesday morning, said just after the appointment, "I don't understand why a Jew is not allowed to pray in the most sacred place for him - the Temple Mount."

...Regev added that she intends to make the issue of prayer arrangements at the Western Wall one of the aims of the committee and considers the topic to be one of her new responsibilities.  In response, MK Moshe Feiglin (Likud-Yisrael Beiteinu) said, "We definitely should be allowed to visit the Temple Mount." He expressed great indignation that even today as an MK, he is prohibited from entering the Temple Mount.

A visit from an Israeli politician to the Temple Mount is regarded as an inflammatory act...

Progress comes surely if slowly.

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A Revolting Approach to the Warsaw Ghetto Revolt

Sharon Geva had something published in Haaretz recently (and here at her blog).

She teaches history at Seminar Hakibbutzim College and is the author of To the Unknown Sister: Holocaust Heroines in Israeli Society (here, in Hebrew).
 
Her op-ed is entitled: "Pulling the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising to the right".

It's theme:

Could it be that current political perceptions influence Israelis' Holocaust narrative?
 
Excerpts:-

...The 27th of the Hebrew month of Sivan, the official Holocaust Remembrance Day determined by the Knesset in a special law in 1959, is linked to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, an uplifting event that featured young heroes and heroines led by the Jewish Combat Organization that united most of the youth movements in the ghetto. In the first years of the state of Israel there were arguments as to the uprising's leaders' political affiliation, which can be found in the Knesset's minutes and the press at the time. The Zionist left adopted the event and stressed the political affiliation of the uprising's leaders to contemporary political parties. Still, even when the arguments took place, the right-wing parties did not question Lubetkin and Zuckerman's role in the events. Even the mouthpiece of Menachem Begin's Herut party hailed Lubetkin as a national heroine.

Still, in later years the arguments took a twist. The role of the revisionists began to assume a central part in the story of the uprising. One of the major players in promoting this concept is former minister and MK Moshe Arens, who wrote a book on the uprising and published numerous articles claiming, among other things, that Lubetkin and Zuckerman told only "half the tale,"...

Several years ago, Arens initiated the production of a reconstructed portrait of the leader of the Revisionist Jewish Military Union (ZZW), Pawel Frenkel, with the assistance of ZZW veteran Fella Finkelstein. Slowly but surely, the story of the right wing in the uprising is moving to the center.
 
Lately it seems that correcting a possible injustice might have gone a step too far: In the Knesset's website, the Jewish Combat Organization and the Jewish Military Union are presented as two equal underground movements, with both due equal credit, and on the Hebrew Wikipedia entry "Warsaw Ghetto Uprising", ZZW precedes ZOB. Hard to believe, but Pawel Frenkel precedes Mordechai Anielewicz.

This move has been encouraged in recent years by the government as a whole and the Education Ministry in particular. One can already assume who will star in Holocaust memorial speeches of right-wing leaders such as the prime minister and Knesset speaker. Still, to regain some optimism, one cannot be blamed for hoping that they won't forget the most important fact, and hopefully learn something from their political forefathers.

This is the letter-to-the-editor that I sent but that wasn't published:

Dr Sharon Geva is uncomfortable in inflicting a new injustice on our collective memory of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.  At least she admits, by implication, that there was an old injustice, even if she was not able to write about it explicitly.

The personal experience of leaders and representatives of the Revisionist movement to save the part of Betar and the Revisionists in the Revolt preceded long before the blessed efforts of Moshe Arens. Chaim Lazar's book, "Masada of Warsaw," was published back in 1963, but even though it was based on documents, testimonies and documents, including, for example, the diary of the commander of the operation to put down the uprising which explicitly noted the fighting of Betar members and also the impressions of Emmanuel Ringlbaum's visit to the arsenals of the ZZW, the previous generation of the same type of researchers were able to virtually banish the book and ostracize its message and Dr. Geva's actions continues that. 


There are those for whom the main thing is that Mordechai Anielewicz, commander of the ZOB, was in Betar in his youth and perhaps the claim that angered Sharon, that there is a "half-and-half" narrative is correct. The division of the responsibility for the revolt which was actually a little closer to a balance more than what was portrayed, if not in terms of the number of troops, for sure in terms of the initiative and the demand of the Jabotinsky camp that military action was necessary long before the outbreak of the revolt.  But this is still not the main thing. The truly important thing is why there was no was no unity amongst the ghetto fighters and why the left rejected it.
 
 
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The BBC Does Tel Shiloh and Jewish Culure & Archaeology

The BBC includes Tel Shiloh, actually it highlights it, in their story on cultural heritage.

Excerpts (and comments):

Israel heritage plan exposes discord over West Bank history
Israel is launching a Year of National Heritage, to coincide with the country's independence day. As part of this push to celebrate heritage, Israel is progressing with a five-year project promoting Jewish ties to ancient sites in Israel and the West Bank. Israel says it is a purely cultural endeavour, which will help save sites from ruin; but Palestinians have criticised it as politically driven - highlighting deep historical differences fuelling the conflict.

(Note how the Pals. define the historical events of ... 1948: "The Palestinian Department of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage (DACH) has been in existence now for more than 12 years since its re-establishment in August 1994. The inauguration of the DACH, under the Palestinian National Authority, was a momentous event and represents the revival of the Department of Antiquities established in 1920 under the British Mandate and terminated with the political events of 1948, when Israel was established."  Now, that is a very, ahem, non-political way to describe Arab rejection of the UN Partition recommendation and the launching of a war of extermination agauinst the Jewish state, six months before it was to come into existence, not to mention why that British Mandate existed - which was to facilitate the reconstitution of the Jewish national home, with immigration and close settlement in the area of, at least, Judea and Samaria)

On a peak in the archaeological park of Tel Shiloh, finishing touches are being put to a new multi-million dollar visitors' centre, due to open in a few weeks' time.  The rotunda overlooks a rectangular stone outline of what many believe to be the resting place of the Ark of the Covenant, brought here by the Israelites who made Shiloh their capital. Excavations there will resume in the summer.

"Who knows what they'll find," says Ncoom Gilbar, a translator who has lived in the Jewish settlement of Shiloh, which contains the park, for 22 years. "It's a very exciting prospect."
 
(the latest finds: here; and also here; and here.  Those of 2007)

The ruins scattered around Tel Shiloh are testament to the recognition through the ages of its significance as a Biblical site - "it's a whole jumble of periods", says Mr Gilbar. Behind us, archaeologists and workers delicately excavate the ground around a 4th Century Byzantine church, dusting stones by hand and pushing wheelbarrows of rubble. Nearby stand the remains of an 8th Century mosque, built on top of another, earlier church.

In the past couple of years the number of tourists visiting Tel Shiloh has grown exponentially, a trend set to continue since the government designated the park a national heritage site last year.  This means Tel Shiloh, along with other ancient West Bank sites, will receive special government funding for their development and upkeep.

"Is there an attempt to bring more people here? Yes," says Mr Gilbar. "Is that wrong? No. This is where our history in the Land of Israel began."
 
(We're no strangers to controversy)

When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the $190m National Heritage Sites project in 2010, he said Israel's existence depended "first and foremost" on educating future generations about Jewish culture and connection to the land. "A people must know its past to ensure its future," he said.


(My take; that of Dror Eydar)

"The West Bank is an integral part of the history of Palestine," says Hamdan Taha, director of the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. "Netanyahu's heritage plan is an aggression against the cultural right of Palestinian people in their own state," as the West Bank's status is considered to be by many Palestinians.

Mr Taha says the Israeli government's emphasis on the Jewish historical aspect of some sites is "an ideological misuse of archaeological evidence".
"Jewish heritage in the West Bank - like Christian or Islamic - is part of Palestinian heritage and we reject categorically any ethnic division of culture."
 
(Taha said something else in Ocotber 2011: "The town of Shiloh is another target for Taha’s revisionism. Despite Shiloh being the capital of the Jewish nation for nearly four centuries and the Jews having brought the Tabernacle there, making Shiloh the religious center of the Israelites before Jerusalem, Taha is convincing the international community that the Jewish Shiloh never existed: “In Shiloh the settlers pretended to have found the tabernacles,” he proclaimed. “They can find the chicken bone my grandfather ate 50 years ago and say it was a young calf for ancient sacrifice.”)

..."If you want to learn about the history of this land, it's about the different layers, the different civilisations that have been here - it's not just about one," says Yoni Mizrachi, a former Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist...Mr Mizrachi, whose organisation Emek Shaveh opposes the "politicisation" of archaeology...


(If there is any politicisation being done, its is Mizrachi's work with Emek Shaveh.  And we've been minimized before).



Another well-rounded, comprehensive and factual report from the BBC.


P.S.  They could have included Tel Shiloh's web site, too.
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Independence Day on the Temple Mount

From a report on yesterday's Temple Mount happenings:

About 60 Jewish settlers stormed the Aqsa mosque on Tuesday morning in groups and as individuals under heavy Israeli military escort and toured the holy site in the company of rabbis...

Jewish fanatic organizations declared intention to assemble in front of the Israeli premier’s office at 5:00 pm today then head from there to the Aqsa mosque to demand full sovereignty over the holy site and the right of Jews to offer Talmudic rituals inside it.
The Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage warned of the consequences of that march and held the Israeli occupation authority fully responsible in the event it actually took place. AFEH called on the Arab and Islamic organizations and peoples to assume their responsibility toward Jerusalem and the Aqsa, and urged for immediate action to save the Aqsa from plots that are being ceaselessly hatched against it.

 
Photos of Temple Mount visitors:






Pictures of the march:



Additional visit pictures:






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Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Israel Flag at Site of First Explosion?

Source:












On second glance, it's 'off'.

Maybe they didn't know what our flag looks like?

An approximation?




From the Washington Post CBS clip:







A lot a blue-and-white flags.


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More on the Temple Mount March

Further to the Temple Mount youth march, which I do not expect to be a mass event, the Islamisists are really getting worked up:



OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Aqsa foundation for endowment and heritage warned that extremist Jewish groups intend next Tuesday to march in a rally from outside the house of the Israeli premier in occupied Jerusalem to the Aqsa Mosque to demand their government to seize the Mosque.

These Jewish groups launched an invitation for their followers to participate in a march on Tuesday evening to demand the Israeli government to claim sovereignty over the Aqsa Mosque, the Aqsa foundation said.

According to this invitation, the march will call on the government to take control of what they described as the temple mount in order to allow the Jews to perform their Talmudic rituals freely inside it.

The foundation reiterated that the Aqsa Mosque belongs to Muslims alone and called on the Palestinian natives of Jerusalem to intensify their presence in the Mosque to protect it against any Jewish break-in.

Wait til they see this: