Yehuda Glantz is My Neighbor.

Enjoy!

Charitable Terror

In a case kept secret for nearly two months, the religious leader of a mosque in Rome, Ga., has pleaded guilty to providing financial support to the militant Palestinian organization Hamas, federal prosecutors said Friday.

The government said the 42-year-old defendant, Mohamed Shorbagi, a citizen of the Palestinian territories who is living legally in the United States with his wife and young children, was charged on Aug. 28 with providing aid to Hamas through donations he made to the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, an Islamic charity shut down by federal authorities in 2001.

Mr. Shorbagi was also a Georgia representative for the Holy Land Foundation and attended meetings that were addressed by “high level” Hamas officials, said David E. Nahmias, the United States attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.

Support for Hamas is illegal, because the government deems it a foreign terrorist organization. Prosecutors said Mr. Shorbagi provided financial help to the group from 1997 until the Holy Land Foundation was shut down five years ago. In pleading guilty to material support of terrorism, he agreed to serve a maximum prison term of 15 years and pay restitution of at least $240,000 to unidentified victims of that support.

Seven former board members and fund-raisers for Holy Land, six of whom are American citizens, have previously been charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists because they gave money to charities believed run by Hamas and to the orphans and families of “martyrs” killed in the Palestinian conflict.

And what could happen?

John W. Boyd, a partner in an Albuquerque law firm that has represented the Holy Land Foundation, said he was not familiar with the particulars of the case against Mr. Shorbagi and so could not comment on its merits. But he did say he was dismayed to hear that a donor to Holy Land had been charged, since, he said, that was likely to discourage people from giving to Palestinian relief organizations.

“It certainly is going to have that effect if there’s any aroma that donors are being targeted,” Mr. Boyd said. “If they’re now going to make it so that Islamic charities can’t function at all, that’s pretty dire.”

Gee, life as a terrorist is tough.

Ironic, No?

Seems that five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor are facing the death penalty in Libya based on a charge that they deliberately infected hundreds of children with H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS.

The doctor and nurses, who had been working at a hospital in Benghazi, were arrested in 1999. They confessed under torture, according to human rights organizations, but later protested their innocence. The charges that they deliberately infected more than 400 children were clearly bogus.

One of the world’s greatest experts on H.I.V., Dr. Luc Montagnier, testified that the real cause of the infections was poor hygienic practices at the hospital. The infections emerged before the accused started working at the hospital and continued to spread after they were thrown in jail.

The six medical workers were convicted and sentenced to death in 2004, while nine Libyans who worked at the same hospital were acquitted. The convictions were overturned by the Libyan Supreme Court, which ordered a retrial.

Considering all that the Pals. themselves have accused Israel (poisoning water, distributing infected chewing gum, and other silly sotries), I hope the Pal. doctor there is thinking about his situation.

Ironic, no?

Tibi's Topsy-Turvey Tumult

The news is that:-

Hundreds of Palestinians riot over Temple Mount restrictions

Hundreds of Palestinians rioted outside Jerusalem on Friday morning to protest restrictions on Palestinian entry to the Temple Mount for Friday prayers during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Palestinians hurled rocks and bottles at Border Police officers manning the Atarot and A-Ram checkpoints north of Jerusalem and two checkpoints south of Jerusalem.

And meanwhile,

...some 160,000 Muslims gathered at the Temple Mount for prayers around noon Friday.

MK Ahmed Tibi (United Arab List-Ta'al) said the Israeli restrictions on prayer services at the Temple Mount violated freedom of religion and international law.

"Israel is impinging upon the freedom of worship and thereby callously violating international law," Tibi said.

Gee, and here I thought that when the Muslim Waqf prevents Jews from praying, saying Psalms, moving their lips or even swaying, that's religious discrimination.

That not allowing Jews to openly identify themselves as such, and not just as neutral "tourists", is discrimination and illegal.

That destroying Jewish artifacts from the First and Second Temple periods, dumping remains with archeological finds and so forth should be discrimination.

What a topsey-turvey world Tibi lives in.

Lucky for him, though, it's called the liberal and progressive state of Israel.

Too bad for the Jews, however.

=====================

Post Shabbat UPDATE:

As Dr. Aaron Lerner of IMRA points out, First they burned and destroyed the Jewish
facility at Joseph's Tomb - in gross violation of Oslo and all norms. Then they replaced it with a mosque. And now they complain...

Jewish Colonisers Storm Mosque in Nablus

NABLUS, October 12, 2006 (WAFA - PLO news agency) - Jewish colonisers,
guarded by Israeli soldiers, stormed Thursday a mosque in the West Bank city of Nablus and performed rituals in it, local sources said.

The sources said that a number of armed colonisers stormed "al-Nabi Yossef" Mosque in the city and performed Jewish prayers and rituals inside it.

They added that the colonisers stayed in the mosque for long time, stressing that the Israeli soldiers, in the area, did not even try to prevent them from storming the Mosque.

Jews Funding Arabs: On Civil Rights, Responsibilities & Liberties

On first glance, it's simple.

Arabs are citizens of the state of Israel and all monies donated to the state should also benefit them. Moreover, Arabs, too, suffered during the campaign in the North.

And on another first glance, it's simple.

The charity monies raised was done by Jewish charities and were advertised as going to Jewish needs.

So, what am I blogging about?

Well, read this release:-

In recent days you may have received emails criticizing the UJC/Federation Israel Emergency Campaign, which provided vital aid to the most vulnerable populations of Israel's north during this summer's war and continues to help Israelis recover and rebuild.

These allegations stated -- incorrectly -- that one-third of IEC funds are designated for non-Jewish residents of Israel. In fact, about 3 percent of all IEC monies raised to-date have gone to non-Jewish Israelis in the north.

So far, UJC/federations have raised more than $320 million for the IEC, with nearly $105 million in cash collections to UJC. The IEC has allocated $92 million to the federation system's main overseas funding partners, the Jewish Agency for Israel, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, and the Ethiopian National Project.

From its outset the IEC was aimed at helping all vulnerable Israelis under fire from Hezbollah terrorists, whether Arab, Druze or Jews. Israel, as a democratic state, and the Jewish Agency have always provided aid and benefits to all Israelis, including minorities, some of whom serve in the Israeli army. Israel has never applied an ethnic or political litmus test to those in need, and the government today follows the same principle in its own rebuilding efforts.

More info here and you e mail them here.

But Buddy Macy had received a previous notice to the one above and wrote the following after comparing the two (with abridging):

Mr. Rieger, you have a lot of explaining to do to your constituency -- about your organization's policies and practices of allocating donors' hard-earned money to non-Jews without clearly stating its intentions to do just that, and of not following through with your promises regarding announced allocations of EMERGENCY funds.

Please note that the text of the two updates...contains the identical information, with the exception of the following:

..."In fact, about 3 percent of all IEC monies raised to-date have gone to non-Jewish Israelis in the north." According to the first sentence of the third paragraph, "So far, UJC/federations have raised more than $320 million for the IEC..." 3% of $320 million is $9.6 million. I will be conservative and use the figure of $9 million, as it was mentioned later in the second version of the update. Dividing the $9 million that has "gone to non-Jewish Israelis" by the amount of the funds that have gone to all vulnerable populations (the amount they "...have so far spent") - "$50 million" - produces a figure of 18% -- SIX TIMES MORE than the 3% included in both versions of UJC's official IEC Update.

In the fourth paragraph, there is one minor addition and one major one. First, the phrase, "as well," was added to, "and the Jewish Agency." Second, and of major consequence, the following sentence was added in the revised version:
"Of all IEC funds raised to-date to help Israelis, nearly $9 million has helped non-Jewish populations." Here, UJC is comparing the amount of money that "HAS HELPED" (and thus, HAS SPENT) to the amount of funds "raised to-date" (pledges and donations received). That must be the case, because the UJC and its affiliates "...have so far spent $50 million on vulnerable populations..."

...In the sixth paragraph, "and providing trauma counseling to those who required it" was added to the last sentence.

...Why were certain words and numbers omitted, and why were others added, from and to the second version of the update? It should be clear that without the $50 million figure in the second version, it is impossible to determine the percentage of dollars that had been spent on non-Jews!

It should also be apparent to the readers of this email that one or more people felt the need to alter the original update. UJC obviously felt pressured to respond to the "emails criticizing the UJC/federation Israel Emergency Campaign;" specifically, to the issue of the percentage of money raised by UJC in its Israel Emergency Campaign that has gone and will be going to non-Jews. And, its reaction is more than a bit puzzling to me.

Why has UJC felt the need to defend its reputation, and why has it expressed such concern over the numbers, when it clearly states in its email that: "From its outset the IEC was aimed at assisting all vulnerable Israelis under fire from Hezbollah terrorists, whether Arab, Druze or Jews. Israel, as a democratic state, and the Jewish Agency as well, have always provided aid and benefits to all Israelis, including minorities, some of whom serve in the Israeli army. Israel has never applied an ethnic or political litmus test to those in need, and the government today follows the same principle in its own rebuilding efforts?"

Could it be, because the UJC is the United JEWISH Communities, and that most of its supporters believed or assumed that all monies going to IEC through UJC would be going exclusively to Jews? (In fact, my dad told me that he had contributed to the IEC and had assumed that 100% of his contribution would be going to the Jews who had suffered through the rocket attacks from Hezbollah during the recent war.)

In a separate but related issue: "The IEC [Israel Emergency Campaign of UJC] work group also allocated $400,000 for trauma relief for those evacuated from the Gaza Strip during the disengagement, to help these Israelis adjust to new homes and communities and rebuild their lives." (Source: Howard's View from June 23, 2006/27 Sivan 5766), Howard's View is the weekly online newsletter written by Howard Rieger, president of UJC - the Jewish Federation network in North America) ACCORDING TO THE DIRECTOR OF THE GUSH KATIF COMMITTEE, NOT ONE DIME OF THE $400,000 HAS BEEN RECEIVED BY THOSE EVACUATED FROM THE GAZA STRIP DURING THE DISENGAGEMENT! (Source: gkatif@netvision.net.il)

Based on this and other analyses of what is happening, this story appeared:-

A broad swath of center-right American Jewish groups is expressing shock and outrage that millions of dollars being raised by Jewish federations in North America for the post-war recovery effort in Israel is being used in part to help Israeli Arabs.

"To placate Israeli Arabs in the north who were celebrating Israel's defeat is totally absurd," fumed Helen Freedman, former director of the Americans for a Safe Israel. "Let the Arab countries take care of them. They are a fifth column that is working to support Hezbollah and Hamas, and we foolish Jews are saying there is no difference between Israeli Arabs and Jews who were victims of this war."

Stephen Savitsky, president of the Orthodox Union whose own Israel emergency campaign merged with that of the United Jewish Communities, said he was unaware that the UJC money went to help Israeli Arabs. Told it does, Savitsky said he plans to ask the UJC to "segment the money" raised from OU members "to make sure it goes to the places we want."

He said that before the campaigns were merged, the money the OU raised was designed to "help Jews in need." He said it went to provide entertainment and food to those in bomb shelters and that "whoever was in the shelter we serviced; we didn't discriminate."

But the idea of the campaign, Savitsky said, was to "raise money to help Jews in need."

"If we help in Haifa and there are non-Jews there, we should not discriminate. But we would not go to an Arab village or town to give services."

...Howard Rieger, the UJC's president and CEO,...defended the decision to use the money to help Israeli Arabs and Druze.

"About one-third to one-half of those killed [by Hezbollah rockets] were Israeli Arabs, as well as Druze who serve in the Israel Defense Forces and died in the IDF," he said. "We were getting kids out of harm's way [in the north], and we think it is a fair and valid use of the funds" to help Israeli Jewish and Arab youngsters.

...Freedman said, however, that she finds it distressing that the decision to use part of the money for Israeli Arabs was not widely known. "I am sure that most people who give to the UJC have no clue that a percentage of their money is going to Arabs," she said.

...Steven Mostofsky, president of the National Council of Young Israel, said he was "really surprised" to learn that Israeli Arabs were benefiting from the Israel Emergency Campaign, which was launched shortly after the outbreak of the Israel-Hezbollah War in July.

"It's not that I want to seem harsh or that this is an anti-Arab statement, but money raised from Jews because of a war against Jews should only be used for Jews," he said. "There are plenty of Arab not-for-profits in the United States. They should be supporting the Arabs. … Any money that is raised because of the recent war should go to benefit the Jews who suffered in the war — those whose houses and businesses were destroyed and hospitalized soldiers whose families need support."...

Many liberal-minded persons, myself included, may feel a bit nervous and uneasy over this. On the face of it, the Arabs are citizens, the country was attacked, all population sectors suffered, including civilian fatalities, so why get all upset?

Well, in the first place, if they do considere themselves as citizens, with full rights, full responsibilities then should follow. NO?

Full pament of taxes.
Army or national security service.
Lack of identification with Israel's enemies.
Halt of subversive activities.
Withholding electoral support for MKs who incite and fulminate.
No dancing on the roofs.

Little things that would make them really appear to be Israeli citizens and not "Palestinian Arabs residing in Israel", as they at times refer to themselves.

I am not denying insitutional discrimination or other forms of illegal, and so unnecessary, actions. But in comparison to what the Arabs of israel could do for themselves, they still have a long way to go to integrate and to receive before the UJC can do what is is now doing.

Follow-up on That Kidnapping

This was reported in the NYT:-

A masked man who said he was from Ansar al-Sunna told reporters that the group’s demands were the immediate release of all Palestinian women and children in Israeli prisons. He also said Mr. Phillips had been seized to “confront the American war on Islam.”

But Ms. Atout said that “no one in the city has heard of this group.”

“I think it may just be a few individuals who are trying to get attention,” she said.

Palestinian militants have seized about two dozen Westerners in the Gaza Strip in recent years, but kidnappings in the West Bank are rare.

"but kidnappings in the West Bank are rare"

Actually, Jews get kidnapped occasionally. But the end result is usually a bullet in the head, a slashed throat or a rock-crushed head.

If We Substitute "Jews" for "Arab"

We had to give up homes for peace and security, why can't they?

Solidarity Visit at Al-Sira Village

Saturday, October 14th, at 11 a.m. we shall pay a solidarity visit to the village of Al-Sira in the Negev, where demolition orders have been issued for all its houses

Background

The village of Al-Sira numbers about 300 inhabitants. For the past month they have been living in a state of constant anxiety, fearing the demolition of their homes and expulsion from their village. On September 7th, 2006, 45 houses in the village received warnings of impending demolition. Addressing the authorities, they learned that the State has no dwelling solutions in store for them.

For the signing of the Israel's peace agreement with Egypt, in 1980 the Knesset had passed the Negev Land Acquisition Law, which expropriated about 85,000 dunams from the Beduins then living at Tel Malhata, in order to construct one of the Air Force bases moved from the Sinai Peninsula. Over 5,000 Beduins were evacuated from the area.

Al-Sira village was included in the confiscated area, but was not evacuated.

Nowadays, the base fence passes next to the village. Relations between the villagers and the base are good. Base headquarters has told them that the Air Force does not require their land. Apparently the construction of a paratroopers and intelligence base is planned at the site. It should be noted that Al-Sira village has existed since the Ottoman rule.

We are paying the village a solidarity visit in order to bear this message to the Israeli Government:

We shall not agree to your appalling plan!

Let this village and its inhabitants in peace!

The visit is coordinated with the village committee.


Travel arrangements:

Tel Aviv: 8:30 a.m. at El Al Terminal – Arlozorof Train Station (Merkaz)

Please call Amos Gvirtz to reserve. Messages at 052-6035685

Jerusalem: 8:30 a.m. HaPa'amon Park.

Please call Jimmy Johnson, 054-3045297

Negev Rendezvous:

Paz gas station at Shoket Junction, 10:30 a.m.

Contacts:

Negev: Atia Al Assem 050-5702064, Ariel 050-7701118, Center: Amos Gvirtz 052-6035685

The Anti-Appeasement Ad

Here it is. David Zucker's anti-appeasement (and anti-Democratic party) ad.




(Kippah tip: HTS)

Update:

If anything goes wrong with that spoof, maybe this is the problem:-

The popular video-sharing YouTube site, which is being purchased by Google for $1.65 billion, limited access to a political ad that mocks the Clinton administration's policy on North Korea, but contains no profanity, nudity or other factors generally thought objectionable.

The company announced a "flagging" policy change just this week, about the time that a controversial spoof by Republican filmmaker David Zucker depicting former Secretary of State Madeline Albright as a cheerleader for Islamic terrorists started appearing with a warning page in front, requiring verification that a viewer is 18 before the video will appear.

The short film by Zucker, who worked with "Scary Movie 4," "Airplane!" and other comedies, reportedly had been offered to the Republican Party for use as an ad, but it was declined. Then it appeared on the Drudge Report and also on YouTube.

However, after a brief period of accessibility, the verification page started appearing on YouTube. It asked that: "This video may contain content that is inappropriate for some users, as flagged by YouTube's user community. To view this video, please verify you are 18 or older by logging in or signing up." Today the verification page on the spoof was removed.

Shhhhh

Some might consider this picture to illustrate an illegal activity - construction on behalf of natural population growth.



Just one spot, one tiny spot on this anti-community organization's map:-

Not a 9/11 Repeat but a "Wild Pitch"

Cory Lidle, a pitcher for the New York Yankees, was killed today when a plane crashed into a residential high-rise building on New York City’s Upper East Side, corner of York and 72nd.

Another Shiloh Antiquity - a Magen David

Since we showed you last week a church floor, here's a Magen David from another basilica mosaic at Shiloh.

From "Ugly" to "Dumb" American

As CNN reports:-

An American student teaching in West Bank refugee camps was reported missing Wednesday, and his project manager said he had been kidnapped.

A blurred photocopy of a passport and student card carrying the name Michael Leighton Phillips was sent to a foreign news agency by a group calling itself Ansar al-Sunna.

Samah Atout, manager of Project Hope, said she received a call saying Phillips had been kidnapped. She refused to give further details.

Alaa Sanakreh of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent group linked to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party, denounced the incident. "We have no hand in this, and if it is true that he was kidnapped, it will harm the Palestinian people," he said, adding that his group is helping Palestinian police look for Phillips.

Atout said Phillips was working with Project Hope in refugee camps near the West Bank city of Nablus, teaching English. She said Phillips, 24, came from Los Angeles and lived alone in a Nablus neighborhood.

Project Hope, based in Canada, describes itself as a nonprofit volunteer organization that provides educational and recreational activities, medical and humanitarian relief and practical training.

Well, it describes itself as this actually:-

Project Hope is a non-profit volunteer organisation whose goal is to provide a participatory, educational space for Palestinian youth and children. Committed to the principles of international humanitarian law and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child [link], our aim is support children denied access to basic services by providing educational and recreational activities, medical and humanitarian relief and practical training that can empower them with hope and skills for the future.

And maybe the kidnapped American is in this picture?



Anyway, I hope this misguided volunteer doesn't remain too long in a denied access/egress situation. It's enough we have to suffer Pal. violence but others?

Sex in a Mosque? Wow

This item caught my attention but not because of the sex:-

Kenya: Kenyan couple jailed for having sex inside a Mosque

Nairobi, 10/10 - A Kenyan court Monday sentenced a couple to 18 months in prison each for having sexual relations inside a Mosque at Gilgil, about 100-km northwest of Nairobi.

Naivasha Senior Magistrate John Kingori called the act by Peter Kimani and Jennifer Wairimu, "abominable" to religion and dismissed their plea for leniency.

The couple, caught in the act 3 October, claimed they were under the influence of alcohol.

Kimani said he thought he was inside a hotel room while Wanjiru claimed she was too drunk to remember what happened.

You should know that Muslims aren't supposed to imbibe intoxicating beverages so they were caught out on a 'double-play'.

Of course, since this is an Angolan newspaper and the crime took place in Kenya, one can't be too sure about its authenticity.

But more important, Gilgil was the site of a British detention camp for members of the Jewish underground liberation forces fighting the oppressive Mandate regime.

Mel's Explanation

Actor Mel Gibson spoke out for the first time about the anti-Semitic comments he made to police when they booked him for drunken driving last summer and, since we're a fair blog, we'll record his comments below:-

Gibson tells ABC News' Diane Sawyer in an exclusive interview that his anti-Semitic statements were "just the stupid rambling of a drunkard."

"What I need to do to heal myself and to be assuring and allay the fears of others and to heal them if they had any heart wounds from something I may have said," Gibson says. "So, this is the last thing I want to be is that kind of monster."

Gibson was pulled over shortly after 2 a.m. on July 28 in Malibu, Calif., for speeding, and he and reportedly made anti-Semitic comments during his arrest.

He later apologized and called the remarks "despicable."

His remarks were condemned by Jewish leaders and caused a furor in Hollywood. Many speculated that the 50-year-old actor/director's career was irreparably damaged.

"How much did you read of people who came out and said, Do not work with him again? What do you feel about them?" Sawyer asks Gibson in the interview. "I feel sad because they've obviously been hurt and frightened and offended enough to feel that they have to do that," he says. "Um, and it's their choice. There's nothing I can do about that."

"I'll always continue to work. I've never much depended on anyone but myself, as far as that goes," he says. "And, hey, I'm not under the illusion that everything's just going to be hunky-dory work wise forever. I've never been under that illusion. Things could go away tomorrow."

"Would you like to say to them, 'Give me a chance to show you who I am?'" Sawyer asks.

"Well, hopefully … in time they'll know," he says. "And, you're powerless over everything really. … All you can do is take another step, keep breathing."

No, No, Not "Settlements"!

While my letter was not published (you're not surprised now are you?) in the New York Times, this one was.

But there's a real serious error in his terminology:-

To the Editor:

Sam Bahour, who complains that Israel is denying him permission to live in the West Bank, might well blame the Palestinian prime minister, Ismail Haniya, who in an Oct. 7 news article is quoted as telling tens of thousands of supporters at a Gaza rally that “we will not recognize Israel, we will not recognize Israel, we will not recognize Israel.”

Mr. Haniya is the elected prime minister of an entity whose preferred method of communicating with Israel is by shooting hundreds of missiles and rockets at peaceful Israeli settlements, from territories in Gaza that Israel relinquished.

Mr. Bahour’s stated goal of “a bright, joint future for Palestinian and Israeli children alike” is hardly served by the Palestinian government’s actions.

J. J. Levin
Mahwah, N.J., Oct. 7, 2006

Hey, while it is unfortunate that people use the word "settlements" to describe the Jewish civilian residential communities established in the heartland of the Jewish homeland which enjoys international legal recognition, those locations JJ Levin refers to in his letter above are inside the pre-1967 borders!

They aren't "settlements" either way, unless, of course, you are an Arab or Arab supporter and claim that no Jews should be living in what they consider "Palestine".

Winston Churchill's 1899 Remarks on Islam

A quotation from Sir Winston Churchill found in "The River War", first edition, Vol. II, pages 248-50, London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1899, some 107 years ago:-


"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy.

The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.

A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.

Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it.

No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome."

Wait, Who Is Being 'Political'?

Israel's Education council is angry over a decision to upgrade Ariel College status.

The College of Judea and Samaria in Ariel can upgrade to a "university center" following a decision by the Council for Higher Education in Judea and Samaria (CHE-JS), the body which oversees curricula at academic institutions in the territories. The college will be granted temporary recognition as a university for five years, during which it will be termed a "university center."

A member of the national Council for Higher Education (CHE) - the body responsible for academic institutions in Israel - said the CHE-JS had "pulled a fast one." Several members of the CHE told Haaretz they were unaware of the decision.

CHE-JS posed a single condition for granting the status of "university center" - opening master's programs in four departments. The college currently offers an M.A. in social work, and the CHE-JS is reviewing the college's application to open master's tracks in psychology, electrical engineering and electronics, and business administration.

...In August 2005, Limor Livnat, who was education minister at the time and a staunch supporter of Ariel College, instructed the CHE-JS to form a committee to evaluate the college's academic activity and draft recommendations on upgrading it to a university.

This committee was made up entirely of top-notch scholars, but all right-wingers: "Their conclusions were forgone," says a CHE member. Their report stated that, "The college already functions in effect as a university to all intents and purposes, except for areas prohibited to it as a college." Enraged CHE officials sent a letter to CHE-JS, charging that the committee's appointment is "a grave step, which smacks of intervening in the authority of the PBC."

The PBC ruled against establishing "another university in Israel of the existing model" in the next five years. The CHE-JS committee's convoluted wording gave it an opening to approve recognition of Ariel College as a university without explicitly contradicting the PBC ruling.

Why not spread knowledge? And who is really being 'political' in this case?

Still Stuck in Chutz LaAretz?

The previous post has you in Zion Square with a Lulav.

Well, here's a "shake" for you who prefer Chutz LaAretz.

Miss Being in Zion Square for Succot?

Well, here's a video clip of the "Lulav Shake" (okay, these people call it the Succot Shake but I see a Lulav).

Sorry but Here are the Anna Nicole Smith Pics

As I had some problems uploading, I decided to try my luck and place the pictures here in an all-new posting and it seems to have worked.

Anyway, here is the lady displaying her cross (and her baby, even if the father seems to be not quite scientifically identified:



And here is what may appear to some as an attempt by her Jewish husband to have her commit a mikveh dip, perhaps as a sop for conversion?

And What About Plans for the Temple?

Haaretz reports:-

Jordan's King Abdullah II has donated a huge carpet to the Al-Aqsa mosque and is launching an architectural competition for a fifth minaret for the building, which stands in Jerusalem on the third holiest site in Islam, the palace said Monday.

The carpet will cover 2,000 square meters, the statement said.

"I want the carpet to be placed under the dome of the mosque before Laylet al-Qadr," Abdullah was quoted as telling the meeting, adding that it would be provided at his expense.

The king also announced a competition to design a fifth minaret for Al-Aqsa, which is expected to cost 400,000 to 500,000 Jordanian dinars ($600,000 to 700,000).

The vice chairman of the committee running the project, Raef Nijem, said the king decided the new minaret should be "near the eastern wall of Al-Aqsa Mosque because there is no minaret there, and the area overlooks agricultural land."

The construction would requires the approval of Israel, which controls the site, but this is expected to be granted.

I presume then that architectural planning for the third temple will get under way in tandem.

Only natural, right?

The Shiksa Story

I have nothing against shiksas. Unlike many of my co-religionists and Yiddishsists, I don't consider shiksa necessarily a derogatory term. It depends on the person.

Anyway, this introduction is proper becuase I came across this story about one of today's most ultimate shiksas: Anna Nicole Smith (*) and her new, Jewish, husband. This gets complicated, so let's walk this through slowly.

First,

Howard K. Stern, the lawyer for Anna Nicole Smith, said Tuesday that he's the "proud father" of her baby girl, who was born just days before her 20-year-old son Daniel died in the Bahamas.

Stern, who was with the family in the hospital the night Daniel died, told CNN's Larry King that the newborn, named Dannielynn Hope, has been Smith's "one ray of hope" following the tragedy.

The child, he said, is "the one thing that is really keeping her going. And through it all, even with all the pain, she has been a great mom, a very attentive mom."

Next,

...the former Playboy playmate and her latest love one, Howard Stern had a spiritual wedding ceremony, it seems that no official marriage certificate has been issued yet for the happy couple.

"They had a quiet ceremony and declared how much they love each other in front of God. They vowed they would be there for each other," Smith's best friend, Alex Goen declared.

The fancy ceremony took place onboard a catamaran off Nassau in the Bahamas,

and

Star reports that an eyewitness said that Anna, 38, and Howard, 37, tied the knot shortly before 10:30 am in the morning, while sailing on a white catamaran off of Nassau. "There was heavy security around the yacht, plus extra speedboats to deliver more supplies as needed (including unlimited Dom Perignon champagne) from the mainland to the catamaran," says the eyewitness, who adds that the wedding party celebrated the union afterwards by having a swim party around the yacht — "and Anna was wearing a pink bikini!"

Star also goes on to say that two days before, on September 26, Stern appeared live on the Larry King Show via satellite from the Bahamas, to announce that he was the father of Anna's newborn daughter Danilynne Hope, that he and Anna "love each other" — and that the duo would get married "at some point."

And then, two more decided to claim paternity:-

While a court in Los Angeles, CA, convened yesterday on a paternity suit for baby Smith, 2 more men surfaced to claim title while another claimed to have been asked to father the child. TRIMSPA’s first media inquiry regarding the ‘new prospects’ was thought to be a bad joke, but the topic resurfaced throughout the day by multiple media outlets. “By day’s end,” said a company representative, “we were prepared to hear that every eligible bachelor was stepping up for the job.” As ridiculous as it sounds, the media coverage given the recent events in Anna Nicole Smith’s life almost guarantees anyone with something to say 15 minutes of fame – whether true or not.

Oh, well.

And here two pictures:

One Note the Cross

Two Is That a Mikveh Dip?


[I am having trouble uploading the pics. Stay tuned]

-----
(*)


Anna Nicole Smith (name at birth: Vicky Lynn Hogan) is a blonde bombshell with a history of heavy exposure: she was the Playboy's Playmate of the Year in 1993 and then increased her public presence with a series of glossy ads for Guess? clothing. Her busting-out-all-over appeal made her a popular pinup in the early days of the Internet. She became the stuff of talk show one-liners in 1994 when she married 89-year-old oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall. He died the next year, leaving Smith to battle his family for control of his fortune.

Kaporos Ceremony Photo Gallery in Village Voice

Here's the gallery.

Heard of Bassam Tibi?

No? Well, he has a thing or two, or three to say in an interview in Germany's Der Spiegel:-

Spiegel: When something insults Muslims, we often tend to just back off — doesn’t this help defuse the conflict?

Tibi (*) : No. That is simply giving up. And the weaker the partner is viewed by the Muslims, then the greater the anger which they express. And this anger is often carefully staged...The accusation of cultural insensitivity is a weapon. And we have to neutralize it...

Muslims have to give up three things if they want to become Europeans:

They have to bid farewell to the idea of converting others, and renounce the Jihad. The Jihad is not just a way of testing yourself but also means using violence to spread Islam. The third thing they need to give up is the Shariah, which is the Islamic legal system… Pluralism and tolerance are pillars of modern society. That has to be accepted. But pluralism doesn’t just mean diversity. It means that we share the same rules and values, and are still nevertheless different. Islam doesn’t have this idea. And Islam also has no tradition of tolerance. In Islam tolerance means that Christians and Jews are allowed to live under the protection of Muslims but never as citizens with the same rights. What Muslims call tolerance is nothing other than discrimination.

(Kippah tip: Melanie Phillips)


(*)
Bassam Tibi, 62, was born in Damascus, Syria and came to Germany when he was 18 to study in Frankfurt. He has been a German citizen since 1967.

Moon Over Shiloh

Okay, the camera could not reach all the way out to the full October moon over Shiloh but I did my best.

Festering Fisk

From Robert Fisk's essay in today's Independent:-

It may well be that journalists in the "West" should feel a burden of guilt for much that has happened because they have, with their gullibility, helped to sell US actions much more effectively than Karen Hughes.

Their constant references to a "fence" instead of a wall, to "settlements" or "neighbourhoods" instead of colonies, their description of the West Bank as "disputed" rather than occupied, has a bred a kind of slackness in reporting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Not "fence" but "security barrier".

Not "settlements" but "communities".

Not "occupied" but "administered".

Not "settlers" but "revenants".

See, Robert, how easy it is?

He Doesn't Get It

Steve Erlanger's book review of Rashid Khalidi's "The Iron Cage" (see below for excerpts), is adequate enough to tell the potential reader what is in the book but he is either too weak or too unwilling to deal with the claims the book makes regarding actual history.

What is lacking is the fundamental dividing line between Jews and Muslims, Zionists and Palestinians: do Jews have a primary claim to the land based on history, residence, culture, religion, judicial and other elements?

When Balfour refused to recognize any nationalist rights of Arabs, did he do so becuase he was anti-Arab or did not know what rights the Arabs could claim or was it because he knew that the Jews had a better claim in that area of the Middle East - as simple as that.

And was the collapse of the Pal. war and communal effort as result of overwhelming Jewish strength or, again simply, becuase Pal. society was a fiction and it fell apart because it wasn't really there in the first place?

Erlanger just doesn't get it or know it.

My opinion you know by now.

---------------------------------------------

October 7, 2006
Books of The Times
Assessing the Role Palestinians Have Played in the Failed Bid for Statehood
By STEVEN ERLANGER

Rashid Khalidi’s latest book, “The Iron Cage,” is at heart a historical essay, an effort to decide why the Palestinians, unlike so many other peoples and tribes, have failed to achieve an independent state. To Mr. Khalidi’s credit, the answers are not very comforting to Palestinians, whose leaders have often made the wrong choices and have not yet built the institutional structures for statehood.

He often contrasts the weakness of Palestinian decision-making, especially before 1948, with the more organized behavior of the Jewish population of British Palestine, known as the yishuv.

At the heart of the book is his anguished question about what the Palestinians call al nakba, the catastrophe — “why Palestinian society crumbled so rapidly in 1948, why there was not more concerted resistance to the process of dispossession, and why 750,000 people fled their homes in a few months.”

Mr. Khalidi has his own set of external culprits: British colonial masters like Lord Balfour, who refused to recognize the national rights of non-Jews; lavish financial support for Jewish immigration; the romanticism and cynicism of Arab leaders, themselves newly hatched from the colonial incubator.

Like Britain before it, he argues, the United States “consistently privileged the interests of the country’s Jewish population over those of its Arab residents,” helping Israel to push “Palestinians into an impossible corner, into an iron cage” from which, he suggests, a viable Palestinian state may not, in the end, emerge.

But he has plenty of blame for the Palestinians, too — for the rivalries among rich Palestinian families who competed to serve their colonial masters, for leaders who failed to see the impact of Hitler on Jewish immigration to Mandate Palestine, for those who mismanaged the 1936-39 Palestinian revolt against the British and especially for Yasir Arafat, who, along with his colleagues in Fatah and the Palestine Liberation Organization, has a special place in Mr. Khalidi’s pantheon of Palestinian failure.

...Whatever the justice of history — if the notion of justice can be applied to history at all — it is useful for Americans to understand that at the beginning of the 1930’s, Jews made up only 17.8 percent of the population of British Palestine, and annual Jewish immigration was declining to only a few thousand a year...Even in 1948 there were 600,000 Jews to 1.4 million Arabs in British Palestine, and Arabs owned nearly 90 percent of all private land.

Jews did not begin the fighting, but from March to October 1948, slightly more than half the Arab population — 750,000 people, Mr. Khalidi estimates (and his footnote on the topic is well worth reading) — fled, were forced to flee or were expelled from areas that became part of the new state of Israel.

...In a long introductory essay, “Writing Middle Eastern History in a Time of Historical Amnesia,” he insists that at almost every stage, Palestinians “were the weakest of all the parties engaged in the prolonged struggle to determine the fate of Palestine” and “remain considerably less powerful by any measure than the forces that stand in the way of their achieving independent statehood.”

He is overly defensive about choosing to analyze Palestinian failures, but his book represents a brave response to Palestinians who see themselves only as victims...

Thus Spake Adonis

"The Muslims today - forgive me for saying this - with their accepted interpretation [of the religious text], are the first to destroy Islam, whereas those who criticize the Muslims - the non-believers, the infidels, as they call them - are the ones who perceive in Islam the vitality that could adapt it to life. These infidels serve Islam better than the believers."

Found here.

A "Dear Sam" Letter

This op-ed appeared in the New York Times today:-

We Can’t Go Home Again
By SAM BAHOUR
Published: October 7, 2006
Ramallah, West Bank

THIRTEEN years ago, I left a comfortable life in the United States for an uncertain future in the West Bank. Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization had just signed the Oslo Accords. Like many others, I saw an opportunity for Palestinians to finally build a society and economy that would lead to freedom — to a thriving Palestine alongside Israel.

As a Palestinian-American businessman, I was determined to do my part. So I moved to the West Bank city of El Bireh, where my family has lived for centuries. There I helped create a $100 million telecommunications company, which today employs more than 2,000 Palestinians. I earned an M.B.A. through Tel Aviv University. Then I developed a $10 million shopping center — the first of its kind in the Palestinian territories, employing more than 220 Palestinians. I married and had two beautiful daughters.

Now the Israeli authorities have decided that my life here has come to an end.

Even after the Oslo Accords were signed and the Palestinian Authority established, Israel retained control of all borders and of the Palestinian Population Registry. Nothing or no one gets into or out of the West Bank and Gaza without Israeli permission. For a dozen years I have waited for Israel to approve my application for Palestinian residency.

American Jews, indeed Jews from anywhere in the world, can come to Israel and be granted automatic citizenship. Thousands of American Jews freely enter and exit Israel to live in illegal Israeli settlements in the middle of the West Bank. But Palestinians whose families have lived here continually for centuries do not enjoy the same right. I need a residency card from Israel to live with my Palestinian family in my grandfather’s home in the Palestinian West Bank.

For 13 years, I’ve lived here by renewing my tourist visa every three months. Last month, an Israeli soldier stamped my American passport with a one-month visa and wrote “last permit” on it in Arabic, Hebrew and English. Now I am faced with a terrible choice. I can leave, uprooting my family and abandoning the businesses I’ve worked hard to build. I can leave alone and be separated from my wife and daughters. Or I can remain here “illegally,” risking deportation at any time.

My situation is not unique. Thousands of Palestinians are in a similar limbo. Most have less desirable options than mine. My children are American citizens. We can return to the United States. But I came here with a vision, and I remain determined to play a role in developing an economy, nonviolently ending Israel’s military occupation and building a Palestinian state.

Israeli policies effectively discourage people like me. According to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, it has been official Israeli policy since 1983 to “reduce, as much as possible, the approval of requests for family unification” of Palestinians. B’Tselem reports that in the last six years alone, more than 70,000 people have applied for permission to immigrate to the West Bank and Gaza to join family. Their applications have either been denied or, like mine, languish.

Each Palestinian who leaves lessens what Israelis openly call the “demographic threat” of a growing Palestinian population. But Israel needs to understand that the real threat comes not from demographics. It comes from controlling an entire population, breaking families apart and placing obstacles in the path of economic development.

Israelis and Palestinians are destined to be neighbors. One neighbor cannot ensure its security by condemning the other to hardship and despair. Many people like me — business owners, educators, artists and others — whom Israel is denying entry came to build bridges, not walls. We came to invest in a better life to follow this occupation — a bright, joint future for Palestinian and Israeli children alike.

Here's the letter I sent to the paper:-

In a parallel to Sam Bahour ("We Can’t Go Home Again", Oct. 7), I also left life in the United States, eventually for a future in the West Bank, or Samaria as it has been known for three millenia. In 1981, my family and I returned to Israel's ancient capital of Shiloh.

Unlike Sam who graduated Tel Aviv University, I couldn't have even enrolled in a Palestinian academic institution, places where too many learn chemistry to make bombs, become enamoured with celestial virgins and carry out suicide missions on Israeli buses and in restaurants. Rocks, firebombs, grenades and bullets have been our lot as the expression of Arab lack of acceptance rather than a stamp in a passport. Death is a much more final act than that of an administrative procedure.

I, too, face deportation and evacuation at the hands of Israel's current government. Despite it being taken off his agenda, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert still harbors a desire to fulfill his vision of "convergence" and "realignment". He is "tired", as reported in this paper (July 11, 2005), tired of winning, tired of defeating our enemies. They are not.

Despite his enmity, I have no objection to Sam Bahour's presence as a neighbor. Would only that he not object to me.

Didn't We Tell You So?

So many of Israel's critics insist that it is possible to find accommodation even with the most implacable of our enemies. Even Hamas.

So, it might come as no surptise to you that I am intellectually delighted to bring you the words of the Hamas PM of "Palestine":-

In a defiant speech delivered to a teeming crowd of Hamas supporters, the Palestinian prime minister, Ismail Haniya, insisted on Friday that his Hamas movement would not recognize Israel despite the cutoff in Western aid that has strangled his government.

Mr. Haniya nearly collapsed during his speech on Friday, apparently because he was fasting for Ramadan.

“I tell you with all honesty, we will not recognize Israel, we will not recognize Israel, we will not recognize Israel,” Mr. Haniya said to thunderous applause from tens of thousands of supporters, many waving green Hamas flags, at the Yarmouk soccer stadium in Gaza City.

Now, what would the recognition of Israel mean to Hamas if they would do so? Would it hurt them?

Anybody spot someone who would coexist with Israel here?

Arab Intragroup Violence

There's a paralellel in this story with the Pals.:-

Mau Mau veterans to sue Britain over torture and illegal killings in Kenya

An ageing group of former Mau Mau insurgents will launch a legal action in Britain next week accusing the army and colonial authorities of torturing or illegally killing thousands of Kenyans during the rebellion for independence 50 years ago.

Lawyers acting for Mau Mau veterans say they will serve notice on the Foreign Office of an intent to seek compensation for human rights abuses for a group of about 10 Kenyans, seen as a test case.

The claimants have given accounts of rape, systematic and prolonged beatings and other physical tortures that caused permanent injury and starvation as part of a British policy to break the rebellion. Some also witnessed killings.
If the case comes to court it is likely to divide Kenya by highlighting the part played in suppressing the Mau Mau by Kenyans who went on to hold senior government posts, and because insurgents killed many more black Kenyans than white settlers.

You see, the same thing happened during 1936-1939. Although 525 Jews were killed by Arabs, and many hundreds more of Arabs killed by British and Hagana and Irgun forces, the largest total of dead Arabs was the result of the "peace camp gangs", the units faithful to the Nashashibis rather than the Husseinis.

Oh No! It's Those "Defiant Settlers" Again

The London Times' version of the Peace Now report:-

Evicted settlers on defiant mission to build a new home

The families thrown out of Gaza last year claim they are following the legacy of Ariel Sharon

THE settlers who aimed to claim the whole Land of Israel for Jews had to be dragged by troops from their homes in Gaza 13 months ago amid bitter recriminations.

But now, a year on, 20 families that were thrown out of the Mediterranean beachfront community of Shirat Hayam are set to try again with a controversial new settlement on a West Bank hilltop steeped in Biblical resonance.

The move to Maskiot, above the Jordan Valley, was agreed by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon weeks before he sank into the coma in which he remains.

For the religious families it is his legacy and meshes perfectly with his long-practised strategy to “grab more hills” to settle the land for Jews and deprive Arabs.

“Moving to Maskiot goes some way to repair the damage of our expulsion,” said Avinadav Vitkon, 28, a father of three. “It will restore some normality for us personally and for the nation. We think settling the land is very important.”

The families, some installed temporarily in the nearby settlement of Hemdat, scoured the country from the northern Sea of Galilee to the southern Negev desert to find somewhere to build.

They settled on Maskiot, in the occupied West Bank, with the backing of the Jordan Valley Regional Council, and battled for permission to go ahead even as the war in Lebanon raged.

The Israeli Peace Now settlement monitoring group said this week that settlers used the war against Hezbollah as cover to expand 31 illegal outposts. The West Bank’s Jewish population has grown 3 per cent in the first six months of the year.

Maskiot already has a few mobile homes, housing 35 religious students preparing for compulsory military service. The planned settlement of 40 mobile homes will be grafted initially on to the existing community and built on an adjacent hilltop.

Despite the agreement of Mr Sharon and the support of his successor, Ehud Olmert, the final permit that must be granted by the Israel Defence Ministry has been held up for three months.

“It’s very sensitive because this land lies in the occupied territories,” said Dubi Tal, the head of the regional council.

“We’re at the final hurdle but we’re waiting for Ehud Olmert and [Defence Minister] Amir Peretz to finish the process.”

Even before the initiative by the Shirat Hayam settlers, the regional council had embarked on the lengthy process of turning Maskiot into a new Jewish community.

But then Israel agreed with the US to freeze settlement growth under the defunct “road map” to peace, stalling the move.

Israel declared that any growth within a settlement’s existing boundaries would be legitimate. The regional council deems that the expansion at Maskiot is within generous existing boundaries, even though it is not legally a settlement.

Maskiot was started in 1982 as an army post where soldiers also farmed the land, leading the way for the arrival of Jewish settlers.

It was just as Mr Sharon detailed in his autobiography. “I felt then that in order to secure this part of the country the most important thing was to establish Jewish footholds. Those rocky heights . . . were essential,” he wrote of his time first as an Israeli army planner, then as Agriculture Minister a decade later in 1977.

The plans he made will become reality when settlers at Shirat Hayam build their new community and begin farming at Maskiot.“We built Shirat Hayam,” said Alon Zanbar, 27, a computer programmer. “Now we believe we have the strength to build in Maskiot and make something new. It’s not an easy place and most people couldn’t do it. But it’s vital.”

Yariv Oppenheimer, director of Peace Now, condemned the move, which he said would breach Israeli principles.

“No doubt they will try to pass it off as an expansion of an existing settlement,” he said. “But the existing structures at Maskiot are not technically a ‘settlement’. We totally condemn this.”

Unfortunately, the Yesha Council does not have a web site that I am aware of so, we'll have to do with this and this as responses.

Will the Shtreimel Be Next?

Seems there's a fashion controversy brewing in England.

Jack Straw has reignited the row over his request for Muslim women to remove their veils, by admitting he would prefer the garments not to be worn at all.

His comments came a day after he disclosed that he asks women who hold constituency meetings with him to remove their veil so that they can truly talk "face to face".



Those remarks sparked controversy, with Muslim leaders in his Blackburn constituency saying that many Muslim women would find his comments "offensive and disturbing" and George Galloway, the Respect MP, demanding his resignation. However, others said they understood Mr Straw’s position.

Today, the Leader of the Commons went a step further. Asked on BBC Radio Four’s Today programme if he would rather the veils be discarded completely, he responded: "Yes. It needs to be made clear I am not talking about being prescriptive but with all the caveats, yes, I would rather."

Will shtreimels be next?

New Conspiracy Theory

Found here.

In Lebanon there are two explanations of why Israel unleashed cluster bombs at the end of the war: to inflict as much damage as possible on Hezbollah before withdrawing, or to litter the south with unexploded cluster bombs as a strategy to keep people from returning right away.

Are these people really serious? Why would Israel want the residents to stay away? If the reason was to kill Hizzbee terrorist, well, maybe. But civilians? That's sick reasoning.

"It's the Zionists We Hate. Not the Jews"

Sure.

Read on:-

Report: Islamists in Prague had planned mass murder of Jews

Islamic extremists planned to kidnap dozens of Jews in Prague and hold them hostage before murdering them, the daily Mlada Fronta Dnes reported on Friday.

The Czech Republic's leading newspaper quoted unidentified sources close to intelligence agencies as saying the captives would have been held in a Prague synagogue while the captors made broad demands that they knew could not be fulfilled.

When those demands - which were not specified by the sources - were not met, the extremists would blow up the building, killing all who were inside, the paper added.

The paper, which gave other few details, did not say whether any arrests were made and did not specify the identities of the extremists.

Czech Chief Rabbi Ephraim Sidon said that the attack had been planned against the Jerusalem Synagogue in central Prague, and not against the highly-concentrated tourist attractions in the old Jewish Quarter.

On September 23 the government deployed armed guards around dozens of buildings and on the streets in the Czech capital after security services issued a warning that an unspecified attack was imminent.

Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek and government officials have since refused to divulge details of what kind of attack they feared in Prague.

"I am not authorized to provide any information in this
case," the paper quoted Topolanek as saying when asked about the information given by the sources.

And here's the story in the original Czech:-

Teror v Praze: chtěli unést desítky Židů
MF DNES získala tajné údaje o hrozbě terorismu: šlo o vydírání

Praha - Arabští teroristé chtěli v Praze unést několik desítek lidí, držet je jako rukojmí a nakonec je všechny povraždit. Takový byl scénář akce, kterou v Praze chystali muslimští extremisté a kvůli které přijala vláda před dvěma týdny mimořádná bezpečnostní opatření.

MF DNES to zjistila z důvěryhodných zdrojů blízkých zpravodajským službám. Podle informací, které tajné služby měly k dispozici, chtěli teroristé vzít jako rukojmí lidi, kteří vyznávají židovskou víru.

Extremisté plánovali, že propuštění rukojmích podmíní splněním určitých podmínek. Co přesně to mělo být, tajné služby nevědí. Podle jejich předpokladů by šlo patrně o obecné výzvy ke stažení amerických vojsk z Iráku. Nebo o to, aby Spojené státy přestaly podporovat Izrael.

Protože takové požadavky nelze splnit, únos by patrně skončil tragicky. Teroristé podle tajných služeb zamýšleli, že budovu, v níž by rukojmí drželi, vyhodí do povětří. Výbušniny by měli s sebou.

Jak chtěli teroristé plán provést? Všechny dostupné informace míří k tomu, že během židovského svátku chtěli vniknout do synagogy v Jeruzalémské ulici v centru Prahy a vzít jako rukojmí přítomné věřící. „To, co uvádíte, beru jako něco, co by se v krajním případě stát mohlo, nikoli jako něco, co se stát mělo,“ řekl včera jeden z členů Topolánkovy vlády.

How Anti-Religious Can Haaretz Be?

I found this sentence here:-

Ostensibly, the case concerns two Haredi ultra-Orthodox men.

Hareidi and ultra-Orthodox?

Come on guys! Either or. You don't need both.

The Hoaxer was Professional; Barkai Very Much Less So

Of course, if you don't allow for a response/reaction from the person involved, if you don't act accoding to the journalism code, then this is what happens:-

Hoaxer convinces Army Radio that Meridor is waiving Washington posting

Army Radio reporter Razi Barkai was the victim yesterday of a strange practical joke: He told listeners that Israel's ambassador-designate to Washington, Sallai Meridor, had decided to give up the appointment after consulting a maharishi. Barkai got the information from his producers, who received a call from an individual who identified himself as an aide to Meridor.

Barkai said on the air that Meridor was apparently an admirer of the maharishi, and that "Sallai was going to a press conference in which he would announce his decision to turn down the job. No official statement has been released, but this is what we hear from Washington."

Later in the program, Barkai said: "I hope we have not fallen victim to a joke to end all jokes. People are calling the station and saying 'Listen, Razi, have you gone crazy? Is this an April Fool's joke?' So we are checking it again, but as we said, sources very close to Meridor said that he has decided to give up the appointment. But people from the Prime Minister's Office, the prime minister's bureau, the foreign minister's bureau, and all kinds of places are saying that there's no truth to it. We can't reach Sallai meanwhile. I don't know why he's keeping silent."

Barkai told Haaretz yesterday that the individual impersonating Meridor's aide "took us for a ride very professionally." Barkai said that the man had Meridor's number, according to the station's phone records, and the program's research assistant had held several phone calls with him, beginning the night before. Throughout, the man sounded believable and professional.

"Why didn't we call Sallai at home? We tried to, but I don't know if there was an answer. We also tried to reach his office."

A statement from Army Radio said that the staff of Barkai's program were mislead and thus had unintentionally misinformed listeners. "Army Radio and the program staff apologize for the mistake, as Razi Barkai has already done on the air," the statement said, adding that Army Radio is considering legal action against the impostor.

Meridor's wife, Noa Meridor, said that her husband had "taken the matter with a smile."

You see, not all media criticism is 'extreme right-wing idiocy'.

Pagan Mistaken for Jewess (No, Really!)

A SELF-PROFESSED druid priestess has said a Melbourne bar refused to let her in because of her age and the mistaken belief that she was Jewish.


Details:-

Morgan, 51, who uses only one name, has told the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal that crowd controllers at the Cushion Lounge in bayside St Kilda denied her entry when she went there about 1.30am on Monday, December 12 last year.

But the staff and the bar's manger claim a private function that night was the reason for refusing entry.

Former manager and part-owner Daniel Centofanti...denied his business was discriminatory, though its regular Saturday night crowd was young "trendsetters" in their 20s and 30s.

"One of my head promoters was Jewish, my bar staff and customers were a mix of male and female, homosexual, heterosexual, metrosexual," he told the tribunal.

Mr Centofanti said Morgan phoned him the day after the incident and told him she had "made a lot of money from venues like us".

Morgan denied this.

The St Kilda local said she went to the bar to retrieve her 15-year-old son, who was due home by midnight.

Security footage shows him leaving the bar sometime after midnight, then being refused re-entry and leaving again before his mother arrived.

Morgan said security staff stopped her from entering and allegedly asked, "Haven't you got an X-box or a vibrator at home to keep you happy?".

She said another guard told her "You're a Jew" after seeing her necklace displaying a wiccan star.

"I said to him, 'I'm a pagan, like your people'," she told the hearing.

"I assumed because he was an Islander he was a pagan," Morgan said.

The guard, Clay Auimatagi, told the hearing he would never make an insensitive religious comment but had asked whether the star was a Jewish symbol to defuse an argument between Morgan and another guard, Michael Almatrah.

Ignorant of Nazi Slogan?

The American school system seems to be failing:-

Nazi phrase gets football coach benched

After posting a message on players' lockers last week that was worded the same as a Nazi slogan, Maine South High School's top football coach was suspended for a game, officials said Wednesday.

Dave Inserra, 39, will sit out Maine South's homecoming game against New Trier this Saturday, Principal David Claypool said. The one-game suspension comes after Inserra put up signs saying, "Work will set you free," on the lockers of the varsity team. The German version of that phrase -- "Arbeit macht frei" -- became infamous when used by the Nazis, who posted it at the entrance to Auschwitz and at other concentration camps.

"I regret it ever happening. It was a completely honest mistake," Inserra said. "Ignorance is not an excuse. I should have checked the origin."

Inserra posts a "weekly phrase," intended as inspiration, on the lockers of his team members, he said. Often, the phrases are quotes from famous leaders, including President Theodore Roosevelt and football coach Vince Lombardi, he said. Sometimes, he makes up his own.

Inserra heard "work will set you free" during a school-wide meeting at the beginning of the academic year, he said. The speaker who used it "was talking about teaching," he said. And while some in attendance knew the phrase's origin, he did not, he said.

The phrase fit well with the varsity football team's theme for the season -- "Work hard, work smart, work together," Inserra said.

Last Thursday, Inserra posted fliers saying "Work will set you free" on the varsity team's lockers. The next day, a colleague told him, "This could get you in trouble," he said. He took the signs down immediately and wrote an apology to the entire teaching staff.

Probably played too much football himself when younger.

HaAretz Goofs

Haaretz wrote:-

Since his resignation, Meridor has worked part-time for the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute and the Menachem Begin Heritage Foundation. He also spends time working in his garden in the Gush Etzion settlement of Kfar Adumim.

Er, Sallai's revenant community is located, adminstratively, in the Binyamin Regional Council.

Historical Oddity: The First Non-Smoker's Section in a Public Area?

Karl Radek provides insight into the question in his memoirs on the famous sealed train car trip into Russia:-

There was a constant conflict between the smokers and the non-smokers about a certain location in the carriage. We could not smoke in the compartment, because of the little four-year-old Robert and because of Ilyich, who would not tolerate it. Hence the smokers tried to convert a room which normally served other purposes into a smokers’ lounge.

Hence outside this room there was a permanent crowd of bickering people. So Ilyich cut a piece of paper in two and distributed permits. For every three tickets of category A for the legitimate use of the premises there was one smoker’s ticket. This naturally evoked further discussions about the value of human needs, and we acutely regretted that comrade Bukharin was not with us, as a specialist in Böhm Bawerk’s theory about marginal utility.

(Found here)

Bet He Gets Treated Better Than Our IDF Soldiers During the Disengagement

Muslim police officer excused Israel guard duty

Britain's most senior policeman has called for an urgent review into the decision to excuse a Muslim police officer from guarding the Israeli embassy in London on moral grounds.

Pc Alexander Omar Basha, part of the Metropolitan Police's Diplomatic Protection Group, asked for special dispensation not to work at the embassy because of his ethical objection to Israel's bombing of Lebanon, according to the Sun newspaper.
The officer is understood to have relatives in Lebanon.

Today Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, said he had ordered an investigation into how the decision was made. "Having learned of this issue I have asked for an urgent review of the situation and a full report into the circumstances, " he said.

Superintendent Dal Babu, chairman of the Association of Muslim Police, said that it was important not to blow the issue out of proportion, but that it did risk setting a dangerous precedent.

"As police officers we have to deal with some very, very difficult situations and we need to be objective and make sure that we police all members of the community fairly. We can't pick and choose," he told the BBC.

Earlier a Scotland Yard spokesman said that requests for transfers were dealt with on a case-by-case basis, balancing the needs of the force with the concerns of individuals. "However, the needs of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) takes precedence and the organisation reserves the right to post an officer anywhere within the MPS," he said.

(Kippah tip: RT)

More U.S. Robustness

And here's the new "better idea":-

The United States is proposing to expand [expand? EXPAND??? - YM] the presidential guard for the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, to 6,000 men from the current 3,500 in a $26 million plan to strengthen Mr. Abbas and reduce the security chaos in the Authority, donors briefed by Washington’s security coordinator for the Palestinians said Wednesday.

The security coordinator, Lt. Gen. Keith W. Dayton, is in talks with Mr. Abbas to reduce the number of overlapping Palestinian security services in order to create a single national police force on the model of Italy’s carabinieri.

They gotta be kidding, right?

Free the Sukkah

I don't always agree with Yekutiel Ben-Yaakov. (Okay, that's an understatement)

But this is seriously funny:-

Dear General Naveh,

Earlier this year, you signed on an order of closure of the Jewish Legion and signed your name to a document that authorized the confiscation of everything that was on the premises of the Jewish Legion kennels and dining hall...The purpose of this letter is not to cry about the insane and suicidal policies of the Israeli government....The purpose of this letter is to demand the immediate release of my Sukah which was arrested and confiscated by you along with tens of thousands of dollars of dogs and equipment last January. In court we will continue to battle against the illegal order you signed your name upon, however in the meantime, please return the Sukah, so that we can celebrate the holiday of sukkot and observe this precious mitzva.

How could the release of my Sukkah in any way jeapordize the security of the state of Israel? Have you gone mad? This type of religious persecution is unheard of even in Russia and even under fanatical fundamentalist Islamic regimes such as Iran.

FREE THE SUKKAH NOW!

Yekutiel Ben Yaakov,

Quotation of the Day, er, Week, er, Summer

"What is this interview? You are not worthy to sit in this room… You've portrayed us, the ministers, as idiots."

Israel's Absorption Minister Ze'ev Boim

(attacking fellow minister Ofir Paz-Pines who, in an interview with Ma'ariv released on Sunday that there was no need for a broad-scale ground incursion during the final days of fighting. He also presented a document shown to members of the Labor party on the Friday before the cease-fire took effect, which listed the Israel's achievements in the war. In the following two days of fighting, some 30 IDF soldiers lost their lives. Paz-Pines called the operation "worthless and irresponsible.")

Would That We Would Hear Olmert Say This

Not long before he died, in 1868, Kit Carson was shown a dime-novel cover featuring a picture of a dashing young Kit “slaying seven Indians with one hand, while he clasped a fainting maiden with the other.”

As the story goes, the old man stared at it for a while, fiddled with his spectacles a bit, and declared,
“That there may have happened, but I ain’t got no recollection of it.”

Also from here.

Just a Reminder: How America Treated its Indigenous Population

In 1864, [Kit] Carson, by then a U.S. Army colonel commanding nearly a thousand men, reduced the Navajo to starvation by burning their crops and killing their livestock. The campaign, intended to force the Navajo to agree to relocate, was both brutal and unrelenting. Carson estimated that his men destroyed nearly two million pounds of food. In the Canyon de Chelly, a Navajo stronghold, Carson’s troops burned and chopped down three thousand peach trees. Then they burned the Navajos’ baskets and smashed their pots, so that they couldn’t carry or store what little food they had left. “If there was ever a grandeur or majesty to warfare, surely none could be found here,” Sides writes. In the end, nine thousand Navajos left their land, only to be led on a disastrous three-hundred-mile march known as the Long Walk.

Found here.

Here She Is...Robust Rice

P.S. The highway leading to Bet El, through which one also enters Ramallah, is to be closed today for several hours so that Robust Condi can safely travel to and fro.

Okay, Yankees

My late Mom saw Babe Ruth hit home runs in Yankee Stadium and my late Father taught me how to play, being a three-sewer man playing stickball in the South Bronx in the late 1920's and 30's.

I can recall going to watch Mickey Mantle and Yoggi Berra when I was barely 6. So, here's a picture of another Yankee, Derek Jeter, just for fun.

Foxey

Abe Foxman, former member of Betar in NY in the 1950s, and who turned out to be a moderate and one who could have done so much more for Israel, finds the right idea, finally, in this letter in today''s NYTimes:-

It is disappointing that despite the reality of the last year, you dredge up the old mantra that there must be pressure on Israel to make concessions to move the peace process forward.

Israel withdrew from Gaza unilaterally last year, giving up settlements, and this year Ehud Olmert was elected prime minister on a campaign to withdraw from much of the West Bank.

Instead of building on Israel’s initiative, the Palestinians launched missiles at southern Israel and elected a terrorist group committed to Israel’s destruction.

This, together with Hezbollah’s military buildup and attacks on Israel from inside Lebanon, made a mockery of the idea that Israeli concessions are the key to Palestinian and Arab change.

You should focus on convincing the Palestinians that progress will come only when they fundamentally change their approach and accept Israel, stop terror, end the teaching of hate and negotiate in good faith.

Then, and only then, will the lives of Palestinians and Israelis change for the better.

And to think, he really knew all this way before Israel "occupied" anything.

Probe?

MK Avraham told Ynet on Sunday, “I support any probe ordered by the attorney general. I am confidant that my actions did not constitute criminal behavior and I intend to fully cooperate until the facts are made clear.”

Ahem. Is that a double entendre? From the woman who wants Katzav out of office?

And this is MK Ruchama Avraham:



Ah, this probe:-

Mazuz: Launch criminal investigation against MK Avraham

Attorney General Menachem Mazuz has instructed police to launch a criminal investigation against Kadima Knesset Member Ruhama Avraham and Shlomo Tirosh, the CEO of the Agrexco agriculture products company.

Two years ago Avraham and fellow MK Eli Aflalo traveled to the United States and Europe at Agrexco’s expense, in violation of a Knesset Ethics Committee decree. At the time Agrexo’s CEO told the State Comptroller’s Office that the trip was aimed at assisting Israeli farmers on the issue foreign worker employment and expose the MKs to Israel’s agriculture markets in the US.

But Tirosh’s justification for the trip did not suffice the Comptroller’s Office, which said in a statement, “No reasonable explanation was given as to the connection between the issue of foreign workers and the trip abroad; if the purpose was to familiarize the MKs with Agrexco and its markets, then no explanation was given as to why the MKs spent most of the time in the US but only one day in Europe, which is the center of Agrexco’s export business.

The comptroller said Tirosh should have been more attuned to the public’s sensitivity regarding such trips, especially in light of the fact that a group of MKs embarked on a similar trip at the Knesset’s expense only a year prior to Avraham and Aflalo’s visit to the US and Europe. The comptroller also questioned Agrexco’s decision to send to MKs from the same party (both Avraham and Aflalo were Likud party members at the time).

Katzav Still Has A Long Way to Go

Seems America is way out there in sex scandal involving politicians:-

“You always seem to have politicians doing bizarrely self-destructive things, especially involving sex,” says Lawrence Kestenbaum, creator of “Political Graveyard,” a history Web site that includes an exhaustive cataloging of transgressions by politicians.

Under the heading “Politicians Who Were Ever in Trouble or Disgrace,” the section contains 420 entries, in chronological order, many of them involving present and former members of Congress. Among the escapades:

• Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, was reprimanded when it was revealed that a male lover had been running a prostitution business out of his Capitol Hill apartment.

• Donald (Buz) Lukens, Republican of Ohio, who was convicted of a misdemeanor for having sex with a 16-year-old girl.

• Dan Crane, Republican of Illinois, and Gerry Studds, Democrat of Massachusetts, both of whom were censured by the House for having sexual relations with teenage pages — Mr. Crane with a female in 1980, Mr. Studds with a male in 1973.

The “Politicians Who Were Ever in Trouble or Disgrace” section comes with the devastatingly simple disclaimer “Very Incomplete!”

Mr. Kestenbaum says improprieties in the political realm tend to resonate more than in others. First, they tend to become public, necessitating apologies and, in many cases, resignations. He points out that if Mr. Foley were a purchasing manager at some store, he might actually keep his job.

“The political world tends to be very judgmental,” Mr. Kestenbaum says. This creates towering spectacles of dishonesty, famous last words that are often caught on tape. Mr. Clinton created the gold standard for this when he looked into a camera and indignantly declared, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.”

Mr. Foley gets triple bonus points for hypocrisy. As co-chairman of the House caucus on missing and exploited children, he has been a fierce advocate for tough sanctions against people who sexually exploit children over the Internet. Not that Democrats have been pointing this out relentlessly since the news broke or anything.

How Britain Undermines Itself

A hardline Muslim teacher who caused a furore by denouncing pupils for celebrating Christmas has been made a Government schools inspector.

Israr Khan's Ofsted appointment was described by a former colleague as 'absolutely astonishing'.

Mr Khan, now headmaster of an Islamic school, launched into his tirade during a concert rehearsal at Washwood Heath Secondary School in Birmingham in 1996 after the choir including around 40 Muslim youngsters, had sung a number of popular Christmas songs, including carols.

He leapt from his seat, yelling: "Who is your God? Why are you saying Jesus and Jesus Christ? God is not your God - it is Allah."

It has been claimed that Washwood Heath school was then a 'hotbed of Islamic fundamentalism'. Rashid Rauf - the airline terror bomb suspect whose extradition is currently being sought from Pakistan - was a pupil there at that time.

Mr Khan left Washwood Heath a year later to found the independent Islamic Hamd House Preparatory School in Small Heath, Birmingham, where he is headmaster.

Earlier this year, he was appointed as a governor of Anderton Park Primary School, in Sparkbrook, Birmingham.

A former Washwood Heath colleague laughed openly when told of Mr Khan's role as an Ofsted inspector where he has the responsibility for passing or failing schools.

He said: "Given the man's history, it's absolutely astonishing. It's just the cheek of the man that he's been able to reach that position. He always was an extremely clever man.

One Muslim father, who asked to be known only as Mohammed, said: "By his previous actions, he seems to represent what I would call a hardcore attitude to Islam."

An Ofsted spokesman said: "Israr Khan was appointed as an additional inspector via a highly competitive recruitment and selection process. He has undergone all the relevant security checks."

Now, what is Israel doing up north with all its own radical Muslims?

Michael Jackson's Kids are...Jewish

Will wonders never stop?

Another lengthy legal battle involving Michael Jackson seems to over, as the popstar and his ex-wife Debbie Rowe have reached a settlement in their ongoing child custody battle.

Attorneys representing the former couple have said that they've settled their three-year custody battle over their two children, nine-year-old Prince Michael Jackson Jr. and eight-year-old Paris Michael Katherine Jackson...Lawyers for both sides declined to comment on any details...Since Jackson was rung up on child molestation charges in 2003, Rowe has been seeking to reinstate her rights to visit their two children after giving up custody in 2001...Rowe and Jackson tied the knot in 1996 and were officially divorced by 2000..."Everything changed," Rowe said in a declaration after requesting temporary custody in 2003. In addition to the charges filed against her ex, she cited Jackson's association with members of the Nation of Islam, a group whose leader she feared was anti-Semitic.

"I am Jewish, as are-by definition-my children.

I worried about how my children would be treated by these new advisers to Michael," Rowe said.

Yes, okay, she's Jewish (she says) but let's get back to Michael.

His ex-wife, Debbie Rowe claims that he is not the biological father of Prince Michael Jr. and Paris. The kids are said to have been conceived through artificial insemination. Rowe claims that, although the singer knows the truth, he still insists not to reveal the children the identity of their mother.

"Michael knows the truth - that he is not the natural father of Prince Michael Jr. and Paris. He has to come clean. I have no information whatsoever about the identity of the semen donor for either child as such (semen) was obtained anonymously from a semen bank under an agreement of confidentiality."

Now, besides discovering Deborah is Jewish, what's really wondrous about this?

Well, back in 1995, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said it was deeply troubled by the anti-Jewish epithets in a song on Michael Jackson's new album, "HIStory."

Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director issued the following statement:

We are deeply troubled by the anti-Jewish lyrics in Michael Jackson's new song, "They Don't Care About Us." At best, if the lyrics were intended to be a protest against prejudice as Mr. Jackson claims, then they were inartfully crafted and can easily be misunderstood and misused.

At worst, his use of anti-Jewish epithets and stereotypes casts doubt on Mr. Jackson's explanation that his song was intended to be a statement against all forms of hatred. The words are hateful and hurtful, and hate is too serious a subject for subtleties. Why single out Jews?

Here's some more on his anti-Jewish outbursts.

Poor Michael.

Poor Debbie.

Poor kids.

Read the Comments

If you go here on the Hirhurim blog, and then click on the "comments" section, you'll be able to read a long altercation between me and Lawrence Kaplan and one 'Mycroft' regarding various issues such as the disinvitation of Lord Caradon to YU in 1968, Rabbi JB Soloveichik's conceptualization of Amaleik and other matters including was Betar full of 'hot heads'.