Israel Needs a "Breitbart News" to Replace the Extreme Left Media

I'm not sure when, but at some point I found a mysterious  email appearing in my inbox, Breitbart.  At first I just deleted and ignored it.  I delete a lot of letters, spam and others that once may have interested me, but I don't have all day and night to check email.  Then I began seeing references and links to it in other places.  I became curious, and now, sometimes I read their newsletter digests and even click to read their articles.

If you haven't yet taken a look, it's the American Right muckraking in the dirt of the Left.  Breitbart is a very attractive, professional news organization with an agenda, American Right, pro-Republican, the internet's antidote for the New York Times etc.

Breitbart claims to have stopped the "occupy movement" in its tracks:

How Andrew Breitbart Stopped Occupy

I don't know true that is, because the Israeli version, aka "social justice" had a disappointing summer, that is after their supporters started committing suicide a la Vietnamese, even though the Israeli media tried to drum up support and sympathy.

No doubt some of you may try to tell me that here in Israel we have Arutz 7, but I'm sorry to tell you that Arutz 7 hasn't turned out to be what it had started to be.  There was a time when it looked like Arutz 7 could pull it off.  The Arutz 7 radio could be heard all over, even in buses.  The legendary Adir Zik's weekly radio show  was one of Israel most popular.  And then the Israel Government, Likud of course, put on the muzzle and then the noose. 

Likud emphasizes such Israeli nationalist themes as the use of the Israeli flag and the victory in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Likud publicly endorses press freedom and promotion of private sector media, which has grown markedly under governments Likud has led. A Likud government headed by Ariel Sharon, however, closed the popular right-wing pirate radio station Arutz 7 ("Channel 7"). Arutz 7 was popular with the Jewish settler movement and often criticised the government from a right-wing perspective.
 

The surviving version of Arutz 7, post-lobotomy, has turned into a very sectarian National Religious Party aka Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) platform.

And that's why I and others still blog, not that I have the power, backing or even ambition to be a Breitbart.  So, if you agree with what I write, then please share the articles and links far and wide.  Thanks

Long Before The Europeans Discovered the "Americas..."

However long you want to say that the world, the planet earth, has existed, that's how long there have been two enormous continents between Europe and Asia.  They are known today as the American continents, North and South.  Just over five hundred years ago, half  a millennium, European sailors developed the technology to "discover" and subsequently invade and conquer them.  The European shipping powers of the time, Britain, Spain, France, Portugal and Holland divided them up between themselves, not always very peacefully.

picture credit

Over the centuries since the "discovery," various wars and treaties have resulted in quite a number of countries and a few remaining colonies.

credit

Long before that all took place, the patriarch Abraham heard G-d, and then his descendants became the Jewish People and then a Nation and Kingdom half-way across the world.  We Jews still exist, and we're back in our Holy Homeland as the State of Israel.

As countries go, the State of Israel may seem to be a young country, since it was established just under sixty-five years ago, but the truth is that we're just the modern version of the ancient kingdom ruled by King David, King Solomon and many others thousands of years ago.

We are the same Jewish People, the subject of the Bible that is still followed by us and adopted by the much younger religions, Christianity and Islam.

The world would be a lot safer a place if all those younger countries, like the United States, would just respect its elder.

Dry Bones

Just a short lesson in history and morality for you.

Demonstrating Rachels-- Corrie Wasn't Innocent; Druck Was

There was nothing innocent in Rachel Corrie's demonstration and even just being in Israel.  She should have had been deported as soon as she had landed.  She had come to support and demonstrate for Arab terrorists, the most dangerous murderers in the modern world.  That is the simple truth.  She broke Israeli military law by holding her protest.  She caused her own death.  If her family wants to sue, it should be to the pro-murder-terrorist group that supported her.  Simple, very simple.  Her death does not change her guilt to innocence.

Israel's courts which generally bend over backwards to find the government guilty found them innocent in this case.  IMRA has the entire decision translated into English by the GPO.

...
e. I hereby determine that, on the day of the incident, the two
bulldozers and the armored personnel carrier were occupied with the clear
military operational task of clearing the land in a dangerous area which
posed a significant risk. The force's action was designed to prevent acts
of terror and hostility, i.e. to eliminate the danger of terrorists hiding
between the creases of land and in the brush, and to expose explosive
devices hidden therein, both of which were intended to kill IDF soldiers.
During each act of exposure, the lives of the IDF fighters were at risk from
Palestinians terrorists. As aforementioned, less than an hour before the
incident that is the focus of this lawsuit, a live hand-grenade was thrown
at the IDF force.
For this reason, I hereby determine that the act of clearing the land with
which the IDF force was occupied during the event was "a war-related action"
as defined in The Civil Wrongs Ordinance.
f. On March 16, 2003, the decedent and her fellow ISM activists arrived
at the location where the IDF force was working to clear the land. They
did so, they claim, in order to prevent the IDF force from demolishing
Palestinian houses. They did so illegally and in contradiction of the
military directive declaring the area a "closed military area". They held
signs, stood in front of the bulldozers and did not allow them to carry out
their mission. The IDF soldiers informed the activists that they had to
distance themselves from the area, threw stun grenades towards them, fired
warning shots towards them and used methods to disperse demonstrations. All
without avail.
The IDF force was very careful not to harm the Organization's activists.
Because of the activists' interference, the force repeatedly relocated to
continue carrying out their mission....
...The decedent's death was the result of an accident that the decedent caused.
This occurred despite the efforts of the IDF force to distance her and her
colleagues from the area.
I believe that, under these circumstances, there is no justification to
obligate the State to pay compensation for damages that the decedent could
have prevented, but preferred not to, thereby choosing to risk her life as
she did...

As an Arab terror attack survivor, I know very, very well what those Arab terrorists, so beloved by Rachel Corrie loved to do.  We judge people by their friends, and Corrie's friends were unrepentant murderers.  The fact that the international Left and faux human rights organizations also support them and her means that they are all terror and murder lovers. 

Israel and all other true proponents of freedom should oppose all terrorists including Arab terrorists.

In Shiloh we remember a very different Rachel, Rachele Druk, HaYa"D, who was murdered by Arab terrorists when on her way from Shiloh to a demonstration in Tel Aviv.  We were to join a large, legal demonstration in which we wanted to show support to keep then Prime Minister Yitzchak Shamir strong during the Madrid Conference.

Three buses left Shiloh that evening.  They were mostly filled with women and children.  We sat three to a two seater seat.  The buses were overfull, and I feared an accident on the winding mountainous roads.

I was in the first bus with my sons, and Rachele, a mother of seven, was in the second with her son.  Suddenly our driver received orders from security to stop.  There had been an Arab terror attack.  The bus behind us had been shot at.  The driver, Yitzchak Rofeh was dead; Rachele and some children were seriously injured. 

Soon we heard the IDF medical helicopter and ambulance sirens in stereo, from the windows and over the loud-speaker of the bus.  They couldn't save Rachele, but the children all survived.

Rachel Corrie supported and gave her life for the terrorists who murdered my neighbor.  Her parents and family should be ashamed and not be suing the Israeli Government.

Re:Bibi's Pledge to Efrat, What About Ofra, Migron, Hebron and the Shomron?

Migron Protest banner
Photo Batya Medad

Moshe Milner/ GPO/Flash90

As the Jewish residents of Gush Etzion bask in Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's promise that Efrat, Gush Etzion will always be part of the State of Israel, I ask them why they didn't confront Bibi and tell him that his leaving out Migron, Hebron, Shiloh, Elon Moreh etc endangers the country and isn't a comfort.  Efrat resident David Bedein wrote:

"Bibi comes to Efrat's Aseh Chayil school Monday, the first day of school, 24 hours before ugly events are planned in Migron.
Silence is not an Option.
Convey a message to Bibi.

"New Migron"
Photo Batya Medad

Pupils and teachers of Aseh Chayal can keep in mind the fate of the 219 children of Migron, who may not have any school or kindergarten to go to in a few days time.
If your child shakes Bibi's hand, ask your child to ask when the Prime Minister will visit the children of Migron."

Friends and family in Efrat and Gush Etzion, please remember that we Jews pray in the plural.  Our security and future are intertwined.  G-d looks at us as one, not just as individuals.  Your homes in Gush Etzion won't be any safer or more secure in any sense of the world than mine in Shiloh or those in Migron. 

We're in this struggle for Jewish sovereignty and Independence and security in the Land of Israel together. 

The State of Israel won't be secure with just Gush Etzion to the south of Jerusalem.  We must annex and populate all of the Biblical Land of Israel starting with the Jordan Valley to the east, Samaria, Golan and Galil in the north, Binyamin-Efrayim in the center and Hebron-Negev in the south.

Why don't you feel the pain of other Jews?  Why aren't you in this together with us?

We all live in Our Land given to Our Jewish People by Our G-d!

It is now the Jewish month of Elul, when we prepare spiritually for the new year, 5773.  Let's pray and act for unity, which is stage one for Redemption and the Coming and Acceptance of the Moshiach Ben David.

Unpleasant Reality

New Migron, photo Batya Medad

The truth is that I don't know where to start.  Yesterday I met one of the Migron spokespeople at work.  She was shopping, and it was such deja vu for me to talk to someone who is living the life we once did in a sort of reality TV-news media etc.

Shiloh now longer gets the voyeur interrogators asking how we'll deal with impending evacuation etc the way Migron does. 

The unpleasant reality I'm referring to is the fact that we're being ruled by extremist ideologues who refuse to accept the simple truth that not only does Israel have every legal right to be in Judea and Samaria but the mountain ridge of Shiloh, Hebron, Shechem and Migron are totally necessary for our security. 

The "West Bank" isn't some remote territory; it is a small area, close to Israel's main population centers.
Israel is a very tiny country. Its land mass is less than the size of New Jersey; its total population less than New York City's. It is surrounded by fanatic Arab countries commanding vast land masses and populations.
Since 1967, the mountain range running from Jenin to Hevron, comprising a continuous ridge approximately 55 kilometers long, 20 km. wide and reaching heights of 1,100 meters, has become Israel's front line for air defense.

Arutz 7 has Giulio Meotti saying it, but I've known it for decades.  My neighbors, Yossi and Perchiya Apter had a weekly vigil, which I participated in, near the Knesset about twenty years ago in which we held up signs saying "The way to peace is 1,000,000 Jews in YESHA."  I remember Yossi explaining to an IDF soldier that the soldier was wrong in saying he was protecting Shiloh. 

"Shiloh is protecting Tel Aviv," said Yossi to the soldier.

Demonstrating for True Peace- photo Batya Medad

Yossi was correct in that.

Being a realist I must repeat that we can't negotiate peace with the Arabs.  They want our destruction and continue to educate their children in that direction.  See the recent PMW-Palestinian Media Watch updates which show this.





"New Migron," photo Batya Medad

Migron residents are sick and tired of the way the government is abusing them and distorting the signed agreement.  Basically the government is treating the agreement like an open check, claiming that since the Migron people had agreed to abandon their homes, the government can take that and do whatever they want whenever they want.  As I listened to the Migron spokesperson my mind went to Jonathan Pollard lihavdil (to differentiate) who had signed an agreement/confession with the American Government which included a reasonable punishment and then the Americans took his confession and totally reneged its side of the agreement.  The lesson is not to compromise with governments, since they can't be trusted.

Another unpleasant reality is that Israel is ruled by the Left, no matter for whom the citizens vote.  In the earlier days, the first twenty-nine years, Leftist Labor ruled directly, but the Rightist opposition was strong.  That kept Labor in line.  Once Menachem Begin took power there was no longer a strong Right wing in the opposition to balance government decisions.  That is why only Begin's Likud could have given Egypt the Sinai, and only Ariel Sharon's Likud could have pulled off Disengagement.  The Likud in opposition would have had stopped the Left from doing such things.

And that's why again I'll be voting National Union, not NRP aka Jewish Home.  The NU is an opposition party which understands that there is a great importance in being in the opposition.  They must get stronger to be more effective.

What's New in The Jewish Blog World aka Havel Havelim

I've finally taken my turn hosting Havel Havelim, a chore/privilege I haven't done for quite a while.  I certainly haven't been ignoring HH.  I always link the latest edition, and I'm very active in/on our facebook page.  And the Kosher Cooking Carnival is "my baby."  Read the latest edition and participate too.

According to Ya'aqov, this must be #374 of Havel Havelim. Just doing a quick calculation; it seems like this veteran weekly blog carnival must be about ten years old or more by now. It was started by Soccer Dad who hung up his blogging mitts a few years ago. He passed the buck, the baton, the torch, or keyboard whatever on to Jack who has been lost in his random thoughts of late.

A blog carnival is a round-up of blog posts.  I like to describe it as a floating internet magazine.  Havel Havelim is the jblog one which includes a potpourri of posts on a wide variety of topics, all connected to Judaism and Israel.  Next week's hostess is Paula, A Soldier's Mother.  To submit your post, either fb message her or email.

Here's the spiel:

Havel Havelim is the most veteran of the jblogger carnivals and probably one of the longest running blog carnivals there is. Blog carnivals are like "floating" internet magazines. They float from blog to blog, like "floating crap games," l'havdil.

Havel Havelim, the international jblog carnival, was established by Soccer Dad, and is now run by Jack. The term “Havel Havelim” is from Kohelet, Ecclesiastes, which was written by King Solomon, who built the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and later on got all bogged down in materialism and other “excesses” and finally realized that it was nothing but norishkeit, “havel” or in English “vanities.” I think that King Solomon and his father King David were the original "bloggers." The books they wrote, when you take them chapter by chapter, can easily be described as blog posts. The stones they used to write on made them last, so that we can read them now. I doubt if today's technology will preserve our words for so long.

There are two other jblogger carnivals, the Kosher Cooking Carnival and JPIX which showcase everything about kosher food and picture posts with Jewish themes. If you're interested in hosting a KCC, please contact me, for JPIX Leora and for HH our facebook page or  me.

**Sorry to Sharon for having some how left out her gorgeous post about the kiteflying day at the Israel Museum.

Now for the posts; they are in no special order:

Soccer Dad sent me Barry Rubin's latest report, more personal than usual.
Rickismom has been blogging her mourning, her adjusting to the new reality.
Cosmic X sent me three posts, the Jezreel Valley, and two about Elul, the "Elul mood" and  more Elul stuff.
From Ruti, we have Shabbat With Love.
Paula, too, blogs about Shabbat.

Miriam had an evening to remember.
Here's Jacob's Jewish Holiday card.
Paula blogged about gas mask distribution.  I've been ignoring that task.
Ima 2 Seven reminds us of those times when adrenalin drops and reality sets in, that difficult but temporary time when you have to remind yourself and others גם זה יעבור gam zeh ya'avor, this too will pass.
My husband asks Is That Arab Pollution?
Holy Sparks, It's Elul!
As a former PE teacher, I can see the holiness in sports, too, like Think Judaism, which also asks some difficult questions.
Read Ya'aqov's two cents about the "Women of the Wall" and God And "Israeli" Arabs.
Good news from Superman Sam.   He was able to go to school and start the First Grade with his friends!
Voices Magazine blog posted Solomon's Pools - Again!
And Our shiputzim posted about their trip to the cement factory.  Where else would a shiputznik go?
No false modesty, sorry.  I've had a pretty busy week.  I started the week at Tel Shiloh on Rosh Chodesh, posted my visit to the Israel Museum and ended my week at Nachal Shiloh with the family.  I also blogged about the threat of  nuclear Iran and the "lynch."

I hope that I didn't leave anything out.  Some of these posts, I added just because...  If you'd like to see your posts included in Havel Havelim then you really should send the link to the host and not trust that he/she will find it and include it.  Our blog carnival page isn't up to date, because we don't have access, so it's best to ignore it until further notice.  And to repeat next week's instructions:

Next week's hostess is Paula, A Soldier's Mother. To submit your post, either fb message her or email.

Have a wonderful week.  Please visit the posts, read, comment and share.

Disturbing News

I had been planning on blogging about something else tonight, but the headlines on Arutz 7 have me very upset:

Defense Ministry Seeks 'Volunteers' to Help with Evictions

As the eviction of Migron comes closer, an e-mail sent to department heads at the Defense Ministry reveals planned massive evictions.

By asking for "volunteers," the entire facade of "professionalism" and objectivity are deleted from the government's plans.  Isn't it obvious that anyone who volunteers is doing it because he or she has some agenda?

Considering that  Israeli judges are known to judge according to their opinions, feelings and concepts of "morality," instead of straight and simple laws and legal precedence, this shouldn't surprise me at all.  I can't control being upset, terribly disturbed.

I'm also upset by the fact that the residents of Migron have been so trusting in their agreements with the government. 

 

The fact that the government suddenly had no problems finding the money to make a new temporary Migron, which it has assembled in record time.  Yes, assembled is the most accurate word, not built.  The buildings are prefabricated "kits," and one assembles kits like the "model airplanes" of my youth.

Today at my weekly Shiur Nashim, Women's Torah Class,  we discussed the Parshat shavua, Torah Portion of the Week,  שֹׁפְטִים Shoftim, Judges,  Deuteronomy 16,18-21,9.

יח שֹׁפְטִים וְשֹׁטְרִים, תִּתֶּן-לְךָ בְּכָל-שְׁעָרֶיךָ, אֲשֶׁר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לְךָ, לִשְׁבָטֶיךָ; וְשָׁפְטוּ אֶת-הָעָם, מִשְׁפַּט-צֶדֶק.	18 Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, tribe by tribe; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.
יט לֹא-תַטֶּה מִשְׁפָּט, לֹא תַכִּיר פָּנִים; וְלֹא-תִקַּח שֹׁחַד--כִּי הַשֹּׁחַד יְעַוֵּר עֵינֵי חֲכָמִים, וִיסַלֵּף דִּבְרֵי צַדִּיקִם.	19 Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons; neither shalt thou take a gift; for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.
כ צֶדֶק צֶדֶק, תִּרְדֹּף--לְמַעַן תִּחְיֶה וְיָרַשְׁתָּ אֶת-הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר-יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ. {ס}	20 Justice, justice shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. {S}

It deals with the very same topic, the morality and reliability of our leaders and judges.  The more I study the Bible the more I see how it's filled with lessons for modern life.  It's not just old stories about donkeys, famines and wars.

Judicial and political decisions by the Israeli Government have been causing in increase in cynicism and a lack of faith in the system.  We also discussed the so-called "lynch" and the girl's story of being raped which had made her friends want to take it out on the Arabs.  Why do so few girls and women report rape?  It's because they don't trust the "system" to punish the rapist.  Most rape victims find themselves suffering even more when they ask the police for help.

There are also too many reports of police violence.  How can one really feel secure?

May G-d bless us and our leaders with true wisdom, and only then will we know justice, security and peace.

Dangers to Israel? Local More Than Iran

Israeli leaders should put on their "reading glasses" when looking out for dangers.  I don't consider Iran to be our biggest danger.  I think the Iranians threaten world peace more than they are a threat specifically to Israel.

Israel has other enemies, much closer than Iran.

From the north, there's the Hezbollah in Lebanon.

'Hezbollah drill prepares to 'occupy the Galilee"

By JPOST.COM STAFF

08/23/2012 14:38

After Nasrallah threatens to kill tens of thousands of Israelis, Hezbollah trains for war inside Israel.

Photo: Associated Press

A reportedly large Hezbollah military drill held in southern Lebanon is part of an Iranian-orchestrated preparation for a confrontation with Israel, a senior Israeli security analyst said.

Over 10,000 Hezbollah fighters participated in the terror organization’s largest military exercise to date last week, which included defensive tactics and “preparations to conquer the Upper Galilee,” Lebanese newspaper Al- Joumhouria reported Thursday morning.

In the south, Egypt's military would feel much happier attacking us than attacking the terrorists.

Egypt Fully Remilitarizing Sinai - with U.S. Help

By Shoshana Bryen

Gatestone Institute

Wed Aug 22 2012

http://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/3309/egypt-fully-remilitarizing-sinai-with-us-help Egypt has moved forces into the Sinai beyond what was agreed to in the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty. Getting them in wasn't that difficult - Israel agrees that security in the Sinai has deteriorated. Getting them out again later may be another matter. And how the U.S. positions itself to safeguard the treaty itself will be crucial.

And we must never ignore the Pseudostinians, aka Palestinians sic who have been invented as a people for one reason and one reason only, to destroy the Jewish People and the State of Israel,  push us out of our historic Homeland.

Abbas and the PA used term "alleged Temple"
at least 97 times in 2011 and 2012
in its ongoing campaign to deny
Jerusalem's Jewish history

Mahmoud Abbas:

"No peace, security, or stability"
without evacuation of Jews from Jerusalem - "our holy city"

by Itamar Marcus

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has again denied Jerusalem's Jewish history and the existence of the Temple, referring to the "alleged Temple" in a statement this week.

The use of the term "alleged Temple" to deny Jewish history has been Palestinian Authority policy under Abbas for many years. Palestinian Media Watch has documented that the entire Palestinian Authority leadership and the structures under its control actively and repeatedly use the term "alleged Temple."

All we keep hearing about is Iran, instead of these local enemies.

Back to the analogy of the "reading glasses" versus "distance glasses."  Many people who wear multi-focal lenses have accidents.  They trip over things, because it's hard to train ones' eyes to look through the exact right part of the lens when walking around.  The bottom of those glasses are usually for reading, for close work, and therefore  the distance to one's feet and whatever obstacle may be in the way is much too far for that.

Our security mavens must be able to accurately assess all of our dangers, close and far.  They also must listen carefully to what others say about us and recognize dangers, even those in the guise of "friends."

Let's pray for wisdom for our leaders and that G-d will have mercy on us...

From Shiloh, Israel, Egyptian Tanks and Iran's Nuclear Development, Is The World Out of Control?

I'm sure that you've all heard that saying that "the road to hell is paved with good intentions."

Credit: rfi

I have no doubt that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had only the best of intentions when he permitted Egypt to bring tanks to the Sinai to police the violence there.  But good intentions are like quicksand.  It's so easy to get sucked in and lose control.




Mel Brooks gets it right in Blazing Saddles that the world has different priorities and wouldn't bother making any effort to save us.  And in the real world, there isn't humorous nor an easy solution on how to get out of the mess safely.

I don't know where Breitbart gets its information that Israel is set to bomb Iran before the United States Elections.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is determined to strike Iran before the 2012 election. A report from Israel’s Channel 10 news claims that since the harsher international sanctions have yielded nothing from Iran, the time to act cannot be delayed. There was talk that Netanyahu would meet with Barack Obama after the late September UN General Assembly meeting in New York, but that meeting seems to have been scuttled. 
 

I just can't believe it.  Netanyahu can't be all that stupid as to publicize an attack date.  As I've written on too many occasions, it really is too late for the type of attack to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities Israel is capable of.  The development of nuclear weapons in Iran has gone on much too long.  It is too large and most probably divided in a number of locations. 

It can be compared to a person who had delayed the removal of a cancerous mole until the cancer has spread throughout his body.  At that point removing the mole won't save his life.  It's no longer relevant, no longer an effective life-saving treatment.

The nuclear development in Iran has been going on for at least ten years.

2002
August
Iranian exiles claim Tehran has built a vast uranium enrichment plant.
December
Satellite pictures confirm the development of a nuclear reactor at Bushehr on the Gulf coast of Iran. The US accuses Tehran of pursuing of weapons of mass destruction.
2003
October
Iran agrees to stop producing enriched uranium – required for nuclear weapons - but fails to provide any evidence that it has done so.
2004
November
Iran agrees to halt all enrichment activities during talks with EU states, but says it will resume enrichment in the future.
2005
April
Iran announces plans to resume enrichment.
August
Hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad takes over as Iranian president, prompting a deterioration of relations with the west.
September
The International Atomic Energy Agency says Iran has resumed uranium conversion.

And it has continued...

This is an international problem, not an Israeli problem!

Pretty Limp, as Lynches Go

You know that the Israeli public is looking to make the Right look as bad as possible when traif (forbidden food) eating and Shabbat transgressing President Shimon Peres is quoted saying that the Jewish teens' attack on Arabs goes against Jewish Law.  Nu, what makes him a rabbi?

A few frustrated Jewish teens, emboldened by drink and whatever attacked some Arabs, and suddenly "lynch" is in the headlines.  That was no "lynch." It was pretty weak even as a "gang fight," and it wasn't that, either.  I'm seconding Ruthie Blum by writing about the verbal lynch of those Jewish kids comparing them to the Arab terrorists who  really lynched-murdered the IDF soldiers who had mistakenly made the wrong turn and ended up in Ramalla.

I'm not justifying the attack; I'm just trying to put it in proportion in terms of the violence that does exist, especially in the Arab World.

Dry Bones

I work with Arabs all the time and see the family dynamics, how parents keep their kids "in line" and older siblings treat the younger ones.  No doubt that if the Israeli media, politicians and others hadn't made such a fuss with all the "lynch" cries, this attack would have blown over. 

Also, just think about how wimpy those Jewish kids are.

 "There were around 40 to 50 youths there and anyone nearby beat him." (complete article)

If there really were forty or fifty Jewish kids attacking, and no Arabs died, it couldn't have had been a very serious attack.  Think about it.

As usual, we Jews are held to "standards" that nobody else is.  "We" as a people, country, culture, society make ridiculous demands on ourselves to follow the Christian doctrine to "turn the other cheek" when attacked, although no Christian would seriously do so.

We Jews in Israel, as individuals and as a state are constantly under attack, threat of annihilation, and the Left controlled media, academia and politicians keep pretending that we're as safe and protected as Switzerland.

To survive, we must get real.

Temple Mount Not in Our Hands, But Shiloh Sure Is

The holiest spot in the world for Jews, the Temple Mount, Har HaBayit, is policed by Israel in the broad sense, but in every other aspect it isn't in "our hands."  It's treated as a "spiritual" pariah by the Israeli Government and most rabbis.

In some perverted use of the concept of holiness, rabbis insist that Temple Mount, Har HaBayit, is too holy for Jews to step on, so they let non-Jews damage and defile it.  Instead they have substituted that outer wall aka "the Kotel," impressively built by Herodian, and brainwashed the Jewish People about its centrality to the Jewish religion and history.

In terms of Jewish History, if you're looking to substitute a holy site for the Temple Mount, then it may be more accurate to go a little further.  Before Jerusalem was the Jewish Capital there was Shiloh, and that period lasted almost four hundred 400 years.

Tel Shiloh, the site of Ancient Shiloh, where the Mishkan, Tabernacle-forerunner of the Holy Temple-was in Shiloh all that time.  That's where the Kohanim, Priests were centered and Jewish pilgrims traveled there to pray.

Today Tel Shiloh is a large open archaeological park open to visitors for tours and prayer.  Tel. 02-994-4019 or visit@telshilo.org.il

What's most amazing is that after decades of a Jewish presence and rule, Tel Shiloh still hasn't become a much more popular place for visit and worship.

I've been organizing Women's Rosh Chodesh Prayers at Tel Shiloh for a number of years.  Rosh Chodesh is the first day of the Jewish lunar month and a traditional women's holiday.  We get together every month for a tour and pray together.

As you can see, there's room for hundreds, even thousands on the very spot where the holy Mishkan, Tabernacle had once stood.

A new, modern, state of the art visitors center is being constructed on the highest point of the Tel.  It will be a wonderful way to learn about our ancient history.

Come and discover Shiloh, the ancient and the modern.

Since the next Rosh Chodesh is actually Rosh Hashannah, not a time for travel, I suggest you come to Tel Shiloh on different days, either for special events or when convenient, except for Shabbat or Jewish Holidays when forbidden to travel.  I'll publicize whatever official events are planned.

American State Department versus Jews in Judea-Samaria

Extreme Left Haaretz had a headline yesterday which rings so falsely to me:

For first time, U.S. State Department defines settler violence as terrorism

I know that it's not true.

It brings me back to an incident I experienced twenty years ago. I've blogged about it before. 

A few months after the Arab murderous terror attack on a bus filled past capacity of my neighbors, men, women and lots of children, who had been traveling to Tel Aviv to a demonstration to encourage then Prime Minister Yitzchak Shamir to be strong during the high-pressured Madrid Conference, we had a State Department guest.  It wasn't the first, nor the last, time we had entertained (a rather trite word for the experience of being politely interrogated by spies) various American officials.  Davka, my husband doesn't like to think of them as "spies," but when I explained their visit to my father in those terms they didn't disagree.  "Fact finding" is a euphemism for "spying. " Isn't it?

Here's the exchange which began with my husband's question:

"Why don't you invite Jewish Israelis to your events, like the Independence Day Reception?"
"We're even-handed. We don't invite the terrorist Hamas either."

I immediately reacted:

"Are you comparing us to the Arab terrorists who just murdered my friend Rachella Druk, who's now buried just down here?" And I pointed in the direction of the Shiloh Cemetery.

The guy had nothing to say in response. postscript: For quite a few years after that, we were invited to the Jerusalem Consulate Independence Day Reception. I even attended a few, but never when the date was during the "Three Weeks" when attending festive events is forbidden.

That exchange is even worse than the recent newspaper story.  Putting us Jewish residents of then YESHA in the very same category with Hamas, even though there hadn't been any anti-Arab incidents shows that for the United States State Department our very existence is a violation of something.  Their attitude is the real problem. That ideology that Jews must be restricted, have no civil rights or human rights to live where we wish is racist, discriminatory.  It goes against the very foundation of American Law.

Various American politicians, especially when running for office, visit Israel and even Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.  They mouth platitudes about their support for our inalienable rights to be here.  I don't take these words very seriously any more, because no matter by how much their electoral victory, those pledges never make it with them to office or policy.  Unfortunately, it's just the anti-Jewish policy that stays chiseled into the American State Department. 

Harry Truman could barely override the policy when ordering his United Nations representative to vote for a Jewish State on November 29, 1947, and I don't think that Mitt Romney will really be able to change much if elected.  The classic political comedy Yes, Minister is based on fact.  Remember basic Political Science.  The Executive, president or prime minister, makes decisions, but they are carried out by the civil servants, the permanent employees who have "their way" of doing things.

Presidents and Prime Ministers may change, but the bureaucrats are the true power and the American ones consider people like me to be equivalent to terrorists.  Yes, that's old news.

The True Story Behind The Bible

This week's Jerusalem Post has another article about Shiloh.  I'm glad to say that it's not in their premium-pay to read- section.  Sam Sokol's article about TU B'Av in Shiloh can only be freely accessed on paper, so I ended up not blogging about it.

The Jerusalem Post has a pretty good article about Tel Shiloh, as tourist site and archaeological dig.  I'm glad that the new administration of Tel Shiloh, Shiloh HaKeduma--Ancient Shiloh is bringing in the media.  Quite a number of years ago when I first began announcing Women's Rosh Chodesh (beginning of the Jewish Month) Prayers at Tel Shiloh, I was so sure that it would become a big, popular event within a few months, or year at the most. 

Just like Travis Allen, quoted in that article, it seemed so strange that such a holy and accessible spot would be easy to market to tourists and pilgrims. 

Travis Allen was spending three weeks in 2009 driving around Israel visiting historic sites when he suddenly noticed Shiloh on the map and asked his driver if they could go to the site of the archaeological dig. What Allen, a financial advisor from California who’s making his first run for public office, remembers vividly is what was not there. People.

“I went and there was no one there. There was a little station by a gate. I asked if this is Shiloh where the tabernacle used to stand and I was told, ‘up by the hill.’ I walked up by myself and I had the whole place to myself... It was fantastic. There was a viewing platform and nothing else.”

I had figured that all it would take would be a few mentions on my blogs and other places, and women would flock to Shiloh every Rosh Chodesh.  We do have a few dedicated "regulars," and women have come from all over the country and even when vacationing here from abroad, but it's still rare to get more than a handful praying together.  A number of my neighbors come to Tel Shiloh to pray whenever they can.  It's not that the local women totally ignore it.

Now why Shiloh for prayer, you may be asking?

Shiloh is mentioned many times in the Bible and later Jewish writings.  Shiloh was the first capital of the Jewish Nation, a status it retained for almost four hundred years.  It was the location of the Mishkan,  Tabernacle the "temporary" building for Jewish Prayer, first assembled during the forty year desert trek from Egypt to the Holy Land.

It was in Shiloh where Biblical Chana prayed for a son who would lead the Jewish People out of the leaderless rut it had been in.  Her son Samuel the Prophet was the one who brought the Jewish People to the next stage by anointing the first two kings, Saul and David.  The transition from a tribal nation to one ruled by a king was crucially important in Jewish History.

I found one of Allen's statements rather peculiar:

Allen, a candidate for the California Assembly, interjected that, “Shiloh belongs to the whole world, not just the Jewish nations. When Christians come here they look through the bible,”

I ask him what's in the Bible if it isn't Jewish History?  How could he say that "Shiloh belongs to the whole world, not just the Jewish nations?" 

The Biblical story is very clear. It's the Jewish story, the story of our growth from one man, Abraham to a family/clan of twelve brothers, then twelve connected tribes, then a wandering People and finally a Nation rooted in our Land.  All of that time we worshipped the same One G-d, followed the same religion and recorded and remembered the very same religion, today, thousands of years later, known as Judaism. 

THERE IS NO PEOPLE LIKE THE JEWISH PEOPLE!

Today, this morning, I'll be meeting other women at Tel Shiloh to pray the Rosh Chodesh Prayers.  Next month's Rosh Chodesh is the Holiday of Rosh Hashannah, so we'll be meeting on a different day.  More information to follow.

Latma: Iran, Olympics and Peres, Big Deal!?

From Caroline Glick:

Just in time for President Shimon Peres to revert to type and seek to undermine the government's ability to attack Iran's nuclear installations, the Tribal Update, the satirical newscast brought to you each week by Latma, the Hebrew-language, satirical media satire website I run, brings you Israel's Most Honored President.

We also feature a discussion into the real cost of bombing Iran, and much, MUCH more!

Caroline Glick's Latma is wonderful and they do deserve, like all of us, a vacation.  They won't be broadcasting anything new until next month.

Israel's Long and Dangerous Southern Border

Two explosions shake Eilat in suspected Grad rocket attack

No injuries or damage reported in suspected missile attack from Sinai • Explosions were away from tourist areas, and holidaymakers undeterred by blasts

Police and firefighters were dispatched to the presumed site of the rocket attacks on Wednesday.

Sinai terror threat is still a major concern.

|

Photo credit: AFP

 This isn't all that rare an occurrence.  We don't have true peace with Egypt, nor Jordan and certainly not with the Gazan Arab terrorists.

Egyptian television series raises concerns in Israel

By ILENE PRUSHER

08/16/2012 00:53

Welcome to the world of Firqat Naji Atallah, this year’s most popular Ramadan program.

Photo: Screenshot

They smuggle themselves into Gaza from Egypt via the tunnels, attend the funeral of a missile-launching Islamic terrorist, then pass into Israel dressed as a huddle of hassidim on the bus. They then rob Bank Leumi in Tel Aviv, fleeing with the money to the northern border, where they are captured by Hezbollah, which jumps at the chance to announce to the world that it has captured eight Israeli hostages.

If it sounds a little fantastic, stay tuned. The plot only thickens and lengthens, bringing in the politics of Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, stretching the bounds of believability and blurring the lines between political commentary and outright absurdity.

As we all should know, people take television fantasies much too seriously, identifying with the characters and plots.  TV is a great tool for brainwashing, for making extreme ideology look human and fun.

Take a look at this map of Israel.  Look at Israel's southern border, or more exactly borders.

None of Israel's neighbors can be considered "friends." 

Jordan hasn't joined in on a war against Israel out of pragmatic fear.  Prior to June, 1967, it illegally held onto Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley without doing anything to develop those areas.  Electricity, watter, sewers and telephones were brought in by Israel.  When we moved to Shiloh in 1981, the nearby Arab towns went dark every night when they turned off their generators.  Their phones were old operator style, not direct dialing.  All modern technological development and services were due to Israel.

Considering how much trouble Egypt is having with security in the Sinai, the potential for danger is even worse for Israel.  The Egyptian Government has its hands full trying to make things safer.  At this point Egypt is more in danger than Israel, but once the terrorists, G-d forbid, take over they will concentrate on Israel.  And the terrorists are part of the Iranian plan to destroy us.

It's the job of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his government to do what's best for Israel and stop asking the world for permission and advice.

Jewish Israel Summer Update

Posted by Jewish Israel

Rabbi Riskin's Parasha commentary finds unity in the Shema, the trinity, and buddhism

Could Rabbi Shlomo Riskin's recent video on Parashat Vaetchanan place a question mark in the hearts and minds of Jews over the issue of what constitutes idolatry? Rabbi Riskin feels that the Shema is a verse which is "difficult to understand". He offers two interpretations, one of which appears to give credence to "unity" in the form of the Trinity, Buddhism and Hinduism. Jewish Israel turned to some rabbinic scholars for clarification…more

  

Open wide and and say "Jesus"

Reverend Dr. Jonathan Hansen of World Ministries International is an end-times "prophet" and an in-your-face missionary. Hansen has been actively proselytizing in Sderot, Israel. He hopes to set up a missionary dental clinic in cooperation with the Sderot municipality. Hansen's website proudly displays his numerous connections with Israeli political, rabbinic and community leaders and activists. He sells interviews with these personalities in order to support and promote his missionary efforts...more

Israel's Ministry of Education provides license for Christian missionary camp

Israel's Ministry of Education recently granted a business license to known missionaries to operate a summer camp in Northern Israel. It seems that a number of government bodies in Israel are recklessly churning out permits and authorizations to our "Christian friends", while turning a collective blind eye to youth-oriented missionary activity in the Jewish state. Jewish Israel offers a disturbing sampling of recent developments and activities designed to fuel a jesus revolution among Israeli youth. And it's been a very hot summer…more

Fellow Israelis, We're All "Settlers"

It really blows my mind that so many Israelis think that they have more rights to their homes in other parts of Israel than I have to mine here in Shiloh.  They absolutely hate it when our enemies lump us all together in the same illegal sic category.  They consider themselves more acceptably "kosher*" than I am.

Modiin residents: We're not settlers

What's so awful about being a "settler?"  Aren't we all settlers?

My neighbor's niece wrote and performs a one-actor play called in which she keeps asking if we're from the Holocaust.  She was certainly born many decades after the Nazis were destroyed, but she concludes that we're all "from the Holocaust."  And I think it's time for the Israeli Government to fully understand and make it clear to all Israelis that according to our enemies, Arabs and others alike, we are all settlers, wherever in the Land of Israel we live.

Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut (Photo: GPO)

The Israeli Government's reaction to the European Union's categorizing  Modi'in, Maccabim and Re'ut localities as "settlements" ignores the true issue.  Trying to play a game of "border tweaking" won't help, because the true issue is much greater than what Israel perceives as "an integral part of Israel, and their future is not in question."

"The world" doesn't recognize Israel's right to exist as a truly independent country.  They don't recognize/accept our choice of Capital City, Jerusalem.  These are all parts of the very same issue.

Only when the State of Israel stops trying to curry favor with other countries, stops this pathetic groveling will we be an independent country.  We must more than just verbally kvetch about the continued insults.

It's time to realize that we owe our independence to G-d and our long history, not to the United Nations and its member countries.

*not kosher in the food sense, just kosher as universally acceptable, as if the Arabs accept Jews and Jewish sovereignty in places like Tel Aviv, Haifa, Beersheva, Kfar Saba and other pre-1967, or more accurately described as "1948-1967 Israel."  Because there never was a distinction between Shiloh and Beersheva or Haifa and Hebron before then.

Israeli Strike on Iranian Nuclear Site, Past Expiration Date

I'm sick and tired of all this talk of an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear development.  It's just too late.  It's like eating a very healthy food that has long since passed its expiration date; it can kill you!

It may have had been a good idea for Israel or any other daring country to have attacked the location of the Iranian nuclear industry a number of years ago without any prior announcements.  But we've long since passed that time.  For a more benign example of why it's wrong, consider it like saving a special outfit for your child for a very special occasion, saving it year after year and by the time you try to put it on, of course it doesn't fit.

Credit: Reuters/Ronen Zvulun

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu should know the value of surprise and secrecy when it comes to military plans.  He had served in Israel's most elite fighting unit, Sayeret MatKal.  I just don't understand how as Prime Minister he has forgotten those most important lessons.

All of this talk and announcements and negotiations and debates and talk and warnings etc about an impending attack have only given the Iranians time and target to use against us.

Netanyahu is endangering the State of Israel by taking this ridiculous route. 

Just like if you discover that the food you had planned on cooking has gone bad, you make a new menu, he should be doing the same.

United States President Barack Hussein Obama does not have any military experience.  Of course, he'll campaign that he's responsible for the capturing and executing of Osama Bin Ladin, but he was just lucky to be in the Oval Office at the right time.

Netanyahu's adding of Former Shin Bet chief Avi Dicter to his over-stuffed cabinet won't really give us added security.  We don't need more bandaids.  We need intelligent policies.  And as Ruthie Blum writes, a "Palestinian" State will only add to our problems dangers.

In the Prayer for the State of Israel said in many synagogues all over the world, we ask G-d to give our leaders wisdom.  Let's all pray together for that.

Israeli Left, Levi Report and Trying to Make Facts Fit Ideology

Yesterday I was babysitting for my younger grandchildren.  The almost two year old was very proudly and confidently doing a floor puzzle.  The material of the puzzle is rather flexible, so she was able to get the wrong pieces to fit in wherever she wished. 

She still doesn't know that to put a puzzle together you need to do more than squeeze the pieces to fit.  You have to look at the picture and make sure it all makes sense.

As I watched her, I kept thinking of the Israeli Left.  They are extremely mehadrin (fanatically loyal) to their ideology, as if it's a religion.  They do to facts what my toddler granddaughter was doing to that puzzle.  This may be cute and a sign of great intelligence in a girl of her age, but it can be a tragic mistake when it comes to supposedly military, judicial and political experts and those who are responsible for major policy decisions.

The Israeli establishment, government, judicial, media etc are trying to ignore the fact that the Levi Committee's conclusions are diametrically opposed to the prevailing Leftist ideology that rules Israel. Arlene Kushner's recent article explains this dilemma very clearly.

In January, Prime Minister Netanyahu appointed a committee to consider the status of "questionable settlements" (see more on this below) in Judea and Samaria. Headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Judge Edmund Levy, it included Alan Baker, former Israeli Ambassador to Canada and former legal advisor to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, and Judge Tchia Shapira, former Deputy President of the Tel Aviv District Court.
The Committee released its report on July 8. Most significantly, it concluded that from the perspective of international law, Israel has the legal right to settle in Judea and Samaria, and, further that the laws of ‘occupation’ do not apply to the unique historic and legal circumstances surrounding Israel’s decades-long presence in Judea and Samaria.

For a little background, even pre-State of Israel, the ruling Labor Zionists believed that if they played their cards right, there could be peace with  the Arabs.  One of the most upsetting things I learned (or was confirmed) when I read and reviewed the late Benzion Netanyahu's book "The Founding Fathers of Zionism," was how anti-State Chaim Weizman, the first President, actually was.  He seemed to have had preferred that the Jewish State be part of Great Britain.  It's outrageous that he was made president. 

Rav Elchanan Bin-Nun, Chief Rabbi of Shiloh has said many times that the greatest miracle in 1948 was that the Labor Zionists declared independence.  There was a strong chance that they wouldn't. 

So, here we are almost sixty-five years later and forty-five years since our miraculous victory in the 1967 Six Days War, and we're still being ruled by followers of Chaim Weizman.  It's much too easy for them to accept the lie that we have no legal standing, no legal rights in the Land we liberated in the Six Days War.  The Levi Committee's Report goes against their ideology and they can't accept it.  And unfortunately Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu hasn't the guts to overrule them and be a true leader.

War?!?

A friend recently posted on facebook that he has been stocking up on batteries and canned food because of what he perceives as impending war.  Westbank Mama also posted about getting ready for war.

We've been in Israel for forty-two years and the most serious, dangerous war, the Yom Kippur War in 1973, was a total surprise.  We didn't have any preparation.  It began on Yom Kippur when stores are closed.  We were living in Jerusalem at the time and that was the safest place in the entire country.  Besides learning how to cook and bake with powdered eggs, I don't remember anything else (besides fresh eggs) missing from the shelves.

If I'm not mistaken, it was before the Gulf War, we were told to stock up on batteries etc, so we did.  We bought lots of batteries which were never used.  They were a waste of money and were finally thrown out after leaking all over the freezer.  Considering that the only appliances we have that are dependent on easily replaceable batteries are my digital camera, a wall clock and the tv remotes, I'm not spending/wasting money on extra batteries.

Nu, you're wondering, do I think there's going to be a war?  That's a good question, sort of.  On one hand, I have no doubt that there will be a war at some time.  When and how it will affect us ordinary Israelis, particularly those of us in Judea and Samaria?  Ahh that's a harder question.  During the Gulf War, a strange one-sided war when Israel was attacked and ran for cover for a month, life went on here very much as usual.  The biggest change was that many people hosted friends and family from the coastal plain where the Iraqis aimed the missiles.  By the time it was over, I had stopped paying attention to the alerts and didn't go into our "safe room" at all.  Living among the enemy was safety enough for us.

Don't get me wrong.  It's not that I'm not nervous.  Why else would I stop in my tracks to shoot this picture, wondering if it's benign or a sign of danger.

I saw the black smoke and my internal alarm went off, even though it could be no more than the burning of weeds and garbage.

We in Israel must remember that we're surrounded by enemies and have no true allies.

Dry Bones

Yes, I don't consider even the United States to be a true ally of Israel.  And I agree with Caroline Glick that Menachem Begin's treaty with Egypt isn't a true peace treaty.  It's no longer news when the Arabs bombard Israel's south, and things are tense in the north.  When will it explode?  Honestly, I don't know.