My musings, reflections on life here in Shiloh, Israel. Original, personal, spiritual and political. Peace, security and Israeli sovereignty. While not a "group blog," Shiloh Musings includes the voices of other Jews in The Land of Israel.
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Thank you.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's not a Right wing Israeli. He's actually Center-Left, and that is because he supports inventing a new Arab state to be called "Palestine," and he agrees for it to be in the heart of the Land of Israel.
Netanyahu says committed to Palestinian state
Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he was committed to the establishment of a Palestinian state, calling on the Palestinian leadership to return to negotiations unconditionally.
As I've written before, I heard him say very clearly, in English, that he thinks that as Prime Minister he must be a Centrist, and I totally disagree. That's not a visionary ideology; it's a cop-out! It's for someone without guts. It's not leadership. We need a visionary with guts, not a chameleon.
And no matter what conditions, Netanyahu tries to put on this "state," they will still be dangerous, uncontrollable Arab terrorists.
Shavua Tov, everyone, have a wonderful week!! It seems like it's getting harder and harder to find hosts for the blog carnivals Havel Havelim and Kosher Cooking Carnival. So, yet again, I'm hosting a double, a combined one. Also, I don't get the reactions I used to get. Is it worth continuing?
Nowadays, a lot of blogging is not on personal/private blogs like mine. Many news media sites have what they call "blogs,' and it's not all that difficult to get "blogging rights." I blog on "mainstream media" with the same posts I write here. These blog carnivals were popular when we bloggers had to do our own publicity, but now the bloggers are either very popular and professional with ads or they are on other larger sites. How many of us still maintain blogs like mine? Soccer Dad, who had founded Havel Havelim hasn't blogged for years, and so many of the blogs from the heyday of blog carnivals just don't exist anymore. And if they do, there is no longer the feeling of great camaraderie that there once was. I'd really appreciate some feedback and shares.
The internet sites that were once so helpful in being the conduit between the bloggers and hosts have all closed shop, so now we use facebook pages to coordinate hosting and announce the carnivals. Havel Havelim is here/click, and the Kosher Cooking carnival here/click.
I'm going to give a mix of posts for the two Jewish blog carnivals, some were sent to me, others not. If you did send me a link and it isn't included, just email me with the link, and I'll add it. Next week's Havel Havelim is hosted by Tzivia http://aliyahland.com submit to tzivia@aliyahland.com before Shabbat with a one-line description of your post. And the next Kosher Cooking Carnival, Tammuz, will be mine on me-ander, unless a volunteer steps up to take it. Please send me your links, with a short blurb to shilohmuse@gmail.com by June 15. Remember that KCC is not just a kosher recipe carnival. It includes all aspects of kosher food, including also halachik (Jewish Law,) customs and reviews of cookbooks and restaurants, kosher of course.
On with the show, and please don't forget that...
You don't have to be a blogger to read, comment and share blog carnivals!!
And that's it for this week. I'd really appreciate hearing from you, and of course read, comment and share this blog carnival and the posts included, as many as you can. Enjoy!!
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "The lady doth protest too much, methinks" is a quotation from the 1602 play Hamlet by William Shakespeare. It has been used as a figure of speech, in various phrasings, to indicate that a person's overly frequent or vehement attempts to convince others of something have ironically helped to convince others that the opposite is true, by making the person look insincere and defensive.
REUTERS / JONATHAN ERNST
It seems like the more United States President Barack Hussein Obama claims he loves Jews and Israel the less convincing he seems.
Since the hour here is late, I'm just going to give you links to two articles to read about Obama's antisemitism.
"In our daily reality, with Jews riding the buses in Judea and Samaria and hearing the Palestinians – they are usually afraid,” Hazan said. “With global terrorism and radical Islam on the rise, the lack of knowledge and understanding leads to fear.” (Arutz7)
Honestly, and I'm not embarrassed to say this, I don't think that there is anything wrong with being afraid. That's because terrorism and harassment on these buses and all over the country mostly comes from Arabs. We must be like flies on the wall and understand what they are saying when they think that we don't understand.
For our personal and national security, we must be able to understand what Arabs are saying to each other. They don't have to hide, because so few Jewish Israelis know enough Arab to penetrate behind the smile and willing service. We are at a terrible disadvantage, because they understand Hebrew, but we don't understand Arabic. It's a security issue.
There are stories of Arabs warning other Arabs to get off a bus or not to get on, because they were warned. It would be much safer if ordinary Israelis understood Arabic. And it would be best if we could keep that knowledge under our hats.
Already back in 2008, JewishIsrael foresaw a number of problems with Israel’s burgeoning theological alliance with evangelicals.
Under the guidance of our Rabbinic Director, Rabbi Dr. Sholom Gold, JewishIsrael formulated a suggested approach to relations with the evangelical world.
This month JewishIsrael has expanded these guidelines to include such matters as the growing messianic missionary inroads in the Jewish state, religious freedoms issues, the Temple Mount, and the current climate of persecution of Christians in a number of Arab countries in the region.
JewishIsrael’s expanded guidelines can be read here.
We had been hoping for fireworks but instead discovered that Glick is a firm admirer of Riskin, barring that specific policy. Especially now that Rabbi Riskin is under attack by powerful people who want him forcefully retired as Chief Rabbi of Efrat, this was time for him to get his general policies across. Both Riskin and Glick made statements about it in Hebrew for the Hebrew language press, obviously.
The two issues they seemed to agree most on concern conversion and women poskot aka "rabbis," though the word "rabbi" or "rabbah"wasn't mentioned. Riskin gave his Halachik/Jewish Law defense of both policies. About conversion, he said that for those with patrilinial (via the father) Jewish history/roots there is a concept of zera yisrael, Jewish Seed, which when recognized makes for an easier conversion, but a conversion nevertheless.
Riskin also gave a halachik defense of knowledgeable women decided matters of Jewish Law.
And, yes, they did mention Land for Peace, which is something that they have agreed to disagree about. We all know that Glick has been one of the most vociferous and convincing opponent of that policy. Simply put, it has been proven, over and over that when we give the Arabs our Land, we suffer more terrorism and hostility. Glick challenged Riskin to give halachik reasons to defend his policy, but he refused. Actually, he did admit that it hasn't been successful, but for those who wanted to hear his defense of it from a halachik point of view, there was great disappointment. Rabbi Riskin stated:
"Land for Peace is a security issue, not a halachik issue." Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
I will never forget how during the tense and frightening times leading up to Disengagement, Riskin stayed on the fence, saying that he couldn't make a decision, because Disengagement was a policy, problematic as it was, had been legally voted in by the Israeli Government. The late Rabbi Aaron Lichtenstein, Z"L came out supporting it for that very reason.
On the eve of Disengagement I was in New York and had been asked to speak at an anti-Disengagement Rally sponsored by AFSI. While waiting my turn to speak, I was completely surprised to see Rabbi Riskin joining me. The last I had heard was that he was still on that "fence." Opposing Disengagement for me was obvious from the very first moment I had heard of it, so I had trouble relating to the fact that a rabbi I had once so admired could be so uncertain. When he spoke there he didn't mention that uncertainty. He spoke like a politician who had always opposed it. I was very confused and disappointed. I think that his talk would have been better and more effective if he had talked of his difficulties and how he came to join the opposition. I'm still waiting for that speech.
And I completely disagree with Riskin's claim that the question of Land for Peace has nothing to do with halacha. We, the State of Israel and the Jewish People/Religion are not like any other. Our military victories from 1948 onward and the fact that terrorist missiles usually land in "empty fields" are all due to the fact that we are a Holy Nation and G-d protects us. For that reason, every policy, especially security and Land must be looked at from a Jewish Halachik perspective. Ordinary "rules" don't apply here; that is why the State of Israel continues to exist.
In Israel there can be no separation between state and religion, because our existance is only because of the Jewish Religion, not history.
Here is the recording/video of the entire program:
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. (photo credit:REUTERS)
I have no doubt in the world that other people would get more serious and lengthy sentences than Ehud Olmert has been getting from the courts.
That bothers me a lot!
Analysis: How many years in prison will Olmert really serve? But will Olmert really sit behind bars for a full six years and eight months? Start with the six years. While most commentators do not think the former prime minister has much of a chance of tossing out his Holyland bribery conviction, there is a strong chance that the six year sentence could be cut in half.......Combine that with his view that the Holyland Affair was possibly the worst bribery scam involving public officials in the country’s history, and we can understand the math of his six year sentence. But the Supreme Court may very well bring a different kind of math to the table. It may decide that someone with Olmert’s many contributions to the state should not get an oversized sentence or one worse than an average sentence. The justices may say that Olmert’s suffering loss of office and his years of wasting away in court should also preclude Olmert getting a harsher than average sentence... (Jerusalem Post)
As you know, I'm not a great fan of democracy and have called it "the rule of the idiots" more than once. It doesn't matter whether or not you're Right, Left or Center, there will (and most certainly have) been times when the results of some elections were far from your actual choices.
I also don't think there's anything particularly Jewish about democracy; actually, the opposite is the case. According to Judaism, G-d's Laws/Mitzvot, there are strict rules, regulations and values. Humans have no right to "vote change."
When it comes to most governmental electoral systems, the regional representation one. there's a simple "Winner Takes All" principle. The Israeli system, davka, is different. Unlike the American Presidential Elections which awards the Presidency to the winning candidate even if he/she won by a handful, a fraction of a percentage, of the votes, relegating the loser to no public position at all, in Israel, there is proportional representation and the leader of the largest losing party, which stays out of the ruling coalition is officially the Leader of the Opposition, which gives certain official privileges.
That grants representation for the losers (and their supporters) as well as the winner. IMHO, that's (the Israeli system is) a lot more democratic the American system. And I really don't understand why Israelis want to switch to a different system of government and elections.
Now, you may be wondering, what got me on this topic... It's the article by Nadia Matar and Yehudit Katzover which replies to United States President Barack Hussein Obama's chutzpadik reactions to the recent Israeli Elections.
...He (Obama) declared that it disturbs him that many government ministers object to the idea of establishing a Palestinian state in the heart of Israel. We would expect the leader of the Democratic Party in the United States to honor the democratic results of democratic elections in the only democratic state in the Middle East. Somebody should explain to the president that the Israeli voter has granted a majority to the right-wing camp as a result of clear-headed judgment and in light of several failed attempts to begin implementing the idea of dividing the land. The Israeli voter has seen the results of the delusional New Middle East to which the present president and his predecessors in the White House have tried to lead him. The Israeli voter has seen the death and the terror that the Oslo Accords and the withdrawal from Gaza have brought upon him. The Israeli voter has seen how much blood the vision of the Left has cost and especially – the Israeli voter has chosen to recover his national pride and return to his culture, to the cradle of the Jewish nation, and to the living connection between himself and his land.
It's not only Obama, who has said that Israelis voted "incorrectly," It's rare for any American government leader to be pleased with the results of American Elections except when Ehud Barak became Prime Minister by using American campaign strategies and also when Kadima got in. Barak's campaign promise to withdraw from Lebanon has had negative security ramifications to this day. And we all know what a rotten, corrupt and dangerous party Kadima was for the State of Israel.
The Israeli Left has also insulted the Israeli voter's intelligence by refusing to acknowledge that its loss was because the Israeli public will no longer believe the lies of the Left. Even many who vote for Leftist parties to be in Knesset tell the polls that they want Netanyahu as Prime Minister and not Herzog, Yachimovitch or Livni.
Remember that when voter says that he/she is sorry that his/her party lost it's one thing, but when it's a foreign leader, it's an imperialistic interference in the domestic affairs of a foreign country, which is unacceptably immoral.
The American President must recognize that ordinary Israelis know a lot more about the needs of the State of Israel than he could ever comprehend.
As of late, I've been writing a lot of what could be called a Myth-Breaking Series of posts. I've taken on subjects and issues which are highly misunderstood and distorted by most, like Jewish Morality and Apartheid.
Is there any real difference between Fatah and Hamas, which is recognized by many as a terrorist organization? That is a funny phrase, terrorist organization, as if they just do lectures and luncheons. Arab terrorists whether Hamas, Fatah or "unaffiliated" murder and maim Jews. They are the antithesis of "peace partners," and must be recognized as such.
Fatah only agrees to negotiate with Israel in order to destroy Israel by strengthening its corrupt and violent rule. The violence is not only against Jews. Ordinary Arabs suffer on a daily basis. Life under P.A. Palestinian Authority rule is awful. That's why many Arabs do all they can to get work in Jewish businesses and communities. Giving the Arabs more independence and autonomy will only make their leadership, like Mahmoud Abbas crueler and more dictatorial.
Rifle and map including all of Israel on Fatah's Facebook page
by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
On the occasion of Palestinian Nakba day - the day Palestinians commemorate "the catastrophe" of the establishment of the State of Israel - Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement posted a drawing on Facebook that encouraged the use of violence to destroy Israel."What was taken by force can only be regained by force, the 67th anniversary of the Nakba"[Facebook, "Fatah - The Main Page," May 14, 2015]This statement appeared on an image showing the number 67 in Arabic numerals with the digit 7 made of a key, a rifle, and a map that includes the PA areas as well as all of Israel.Fatah often reiterates its support for the use of violence and arms to gain statehood as Palestinian Media Watch has documented...
One of the big lies about what exists here in Judea-Samaria is the myth of the "Jews only road system." Such roads don't exist. There are many roads that are judenrein, free of Jewish drivers and passengers, but Arabs can be found on all of the roads.
The only places where Arab access may be restricted would be what Americans call "gated communities." Yes, just like the gated communities in the United States that have a security gate to keep out those "uninvited," we do the same.
Think of it as a doorman security restricted apartment house that's all spread out over acres or miles or kilometers, rather than vertical.
When I'm in New York and want to visit my friend, I can't go near the elevator until the security guard calls her and gets her approval. If that's acceptable in Manhattan that not just anybody can wander around the hallways near apartments, then why should people be so upset that for security reasons we want control over who is entering our community?
It never ceases to shock me when I hear of Jews, especially, who "will not cross the Green Line" sic, because they, in principle" oppose Jewish Life in any of the Land Israel liberated in the 1967 Six Days War.
I haven't heard of any who won't take the highway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, which crosses the "line." And I don't know how many actually are careful to avoid Jerusalem neighborhoods like French Hill, Ramat Eshkol, Ramot and Giloh which all have residents who follow Leftist ideology. And I'm not sure that there are many who also boycott Jerusalem's Old City.
But when it comes to communities like my very own hometown of Shiloh, they act on their "moral principles" which in actuality promote apartheid, pure and simple.
I've never been able to understand how promoting the segregation of Jews, forbidding Jews to live in certain places can be considered moral. During my recent visit to the states, I spoke at the Chabad of Jericho-Syosset, Long Island, and opened my talk by telling them how thrilling it was for me to speak there, because over the years when defending my right to live in Shiloh, I've frequently used the fact that since it's acceptable for Jewish to live in Jericho*, Long Island, why shouldn't Jews be able to live in the original Shiloh, Land of Israel.
These very same people who want to keep Judea, Samaria, Jordan Valley etc judenrein, which was the Nazi plan for Europe and then the world, are outraged when for security reasons Arabs are inspected or kept out of certain places. There are thriving Arab villages near us, but in Arab countries like Jordan, we are not welcome to live.
I find this principle of not wanting Jews to live in our historic homeland (or any place in the world,) inexplicable and totally immoral! It's out and out antisemitism cloaked in faux moral poppycock!
*Today, there is no Jewish community in the original Jericho, which is southeast of Shiloh. During Biblical times, after the Exodus from Egypt and forty years in the wilderness Joshua brought the Jewish People into the Holy-land via Jericho.
This shouldn't really surprise anyone who has been following the news here in Israel, especially when it comes to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. He has stated repeatedly, over and over in all sorts of forums that he thinks the so-called "Palestinians" sic deserve a state aka supports the "two state solution."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu renewed his commitment on Wednesday to a two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, after backtracking on that pledge during a heated campaign for a March election. Speaking as he met with European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on her first visit to the region, and a week after his new government took office, Netanyahu said: "We want a peace that would end the conflict once and for all ... I don't support a one-state solution, I don't believe that's a solution at all, I support the vision of two states for two peoples." (Reuters)
Netanyahu fudged, liked a tricky lawyer or used-car salesman, during the recent election campaign which shouldn't surprise anyone. He desperately wanted votes from the Right. That's also why he drafted Benny Begin to his list, promising him a vague cabinet position that wouldn't be too stressful.
No surprise to me, but terribly unfortunately, too many voters from the Right who, davka, oppose giving the Arab terrorists-Fatah and Hamas- a state fell for Bibi's scam that he would protect us from a new state in our Biblical heartland, which overlooks Tel Aviv, Netanya etc.
A simple look at recent (post 1967 Six Days War) Israel shows that all policy decisions to destroy Jewish cities and communities stem from Likud governments. Binyamin Netanyahu is no more a Land of Israel patriot than were Menachem Begin or Ariel Sharon. Begin's (father of Benny) Camp David Accords which not only ceded the Sinai to Egypt but established the policy of Arab autonomy alienated me from the Likud. Even though there are some very reliable Right MKs, they do not have the authority to impose policy. They are no more than "window-dressing."
I pray that not only will G-d bless our government leaders with wisdom, but He must also bless the ordinary voter with the ability to choose the best political party to lead our precious State of Israel out of this mess.
We are now in the Jewish Month of Sivan. Iyyar is behind us, and the Holiday of Shavuot is in just a couple of days. We are also in the seventh week of the 49 days in Sefirat Ha'Omer, the counting of the Omer which leads us from Passover to Shavuot, escaping slavery to Pharaoh in Egypt to the receiving of the Torah (Ten Commandments) from G-d. As is my custom, I prayed at the site of our Biblical Tabernacle, here in Shiloh on Rosh Chodesh.
My friends and I connected with our Biblical ancestors in the very same spot where they came to pray.
I find myself more focused on G-d when at this holy spot than any place else.
Even though we're all so busy it was a great pleasure to be able to sit quietly and pray there.
Refuah shleimah, a complete and speedy recovery for all in need.
The next Jewish Month is Tammuz.
This is to invite women to join us in Rosh Chodesh Prayers at Shiloh Hakeduma, Tel Shiloh.
Women's Prayers at Shiloh Hakeduma, Tel Shiloh Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
Thursday June 18, 2015
1st of Tammuz, 5775, 8:30am
Tour of Tel Shiloh
Dvar Torah, Short Torah Lesson
Please come and invite family, friends and neighbors
תפילת נשים ראש חודש תמוז בשילה הקדומה, תל שילה
יום ה' 18-6 א' תמוז, תשע"ה 8:30
יהיה דבר תורה קצר וסיור בתל
כדאי לבוא ולהזמין חברות, משפחה ושכנות
Please save the date, publicize it and join us. Please mark it on your calendar and make arrangements to come. Also, whether you can come or not, please let friends and family know about it, thanks.
Mark your calendar, and join us. For more information, please contact me at shilohmuse@gmail.com with "Rosh Chodesh at Tel Shiloh" as subject, thanks.
You can visit the holy site anytime. Guided tours can be arranged through the Shiloh HaKeduma, Ancient Shiloh office. Email visit@telshilo.org.il or phone 02-994-4019.
All of those who put (even what they think are impossible to comply with) conditions on the establishment of a Palestinian State are just playing into the hands of our mortal enemies.
I tell them the old joke about the man who asks a girl if she will sleep with him for a million dollars. Of course, she says yes. He then offers her two dollars and she slaps his face, saying, ‘What do you think I am?’ He answers, ‘I know what you are. We are just haggling over the price.’ (Quote Investigator)
The Arabs who go by the name of Palestinians have been very clear and upfront in their admission that their aim is to destroy the State of Israel!
Temple Mount activist Yehuda Glick will receive the"Lion of Zion" Moskowitz Prize for Zionismon Tuesday, May 19. WhileJewishIsraelhas personally expressed reservations to Yehuda regarding his campaign for "equal rights" for all religions on the Temple Mount,JewishIsraelcongratulates Yehuda on his award and commends him for his courage, commitment and dedication.
JewishIsrael's directors had the opportunity to meet at length with Yehuda in his home just before Pesach. It was a cordial and productive meeting...more
It's perfectly understandable that Tzachi Hanegbi and Gilad Erdan are fuming at the power snubs against themselves.
Gilad ErdanPhoto Credit: Flash 90
Tzachi Hanegbi Photo Credit: Channel 2 News
Hanegbi has spent most of his adult political life in the Likud. He did go with Sharon and Olmert to Kadima, but was possibly the first prominent MK/minister to return to Likud. Erdan, who is younger, has always been in Likud is extremely popular with its members. Look at their rankings in the most recent Likud Primaries.
2 – Minister Gilad Erdan (#3 in 2013 and 2009)
12 – Deputy Minister Tzachi Hanegbi (#17 in 2013, Kadima MK in 2009)
So, why has Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu given them such low level cabinet appointments?
Hanegbi, davka, got the most difficult parliamentary position there is, Coalition Chairman. It requires major and unabashed arm-twisting, along with enormous doses of charm. With a razor-thin margin, the bare-bones 61 member coalition does require an experienced, talented and expert politician like Hanegbi, but Bibi should have sweetened the package and prepared him better.
Erdan is a generation younger than Netanyahu, (Bibi and I are the same age, and Erdan was at Bar Ilan with one of my daughters,) so considering his popularity in the Likud it's obvious that he expects to succeed Bibi as party head and Prime Minister. It seems that Netanyahu isn't thinking of retirement quite yet.
Netanyahu's cabinet appointments has only made Hanegbi's job more difficult. One wonders what Gilad Erdan has up his sleeve.
From left to right: Gilad Erdan (Likud), Isaac Herzog (Zionist Union), Yuval Steinitz (Likud) and Yair Lapid (seen from the back) at the Knesset during the presentation of the new government, on May 14, 2015. Photo credit: Isaac Harari/Knesset Spokesperson
There are a lot of people, including non-Catholics, who think that Pope Francis is a good man to be pope at this time. But if the Vatican's recognition of "Palestine as a state" wasn't bad enough, his calling Abbas "Angel of Peace*" should convince them that this Pope Francis wouldn't know a sinner from a saint.
Pope Francis welcomes Palestinian authority President Mahmud Abbas during a private audience at the Vatican on May 16, 2015 (AFP Photo/Alberto Pizzoli)
Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis met Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Saturday, calling him "an angel of peace," days after the Vatican said it was preparing to sign its first accord with Palestine to the anger of Israel. (Yahoo)
*It is now being said by linguists who read the original Italian of Pope Francis that he said something different. He did not say that Abbas is presently "an angel of peace," but that he should act in a way that would make him one. One shouldn't ignore that in a previous meeting between the pope and Abbas, the pope did call Abbas a "man of peace." Considering the recognition of "Palestine," the increase in Arab terrorism and Abbas's financial support for terrorists and their families, I'd say that this correction is just a technicality. It does not change the fact that Abbas is very far from being a "man of peace," too. So, my point still holds that Pope Francis's sympathies lie very far from Israel and Jewish Rights.
This new pope is a throwback to Pope Pius XII, who is notorious for his ignoring the persecution and systematic murdering of Jews during the Holocaust.
Within the Pope's own church, Cardinal Theodor Innitzer of Vienna told Pius XII about Jewish deportations in 1941. In 1942, the Slovakian charge d'affaires, a position under the supervision of the Pope, reported to Romethat Slovakian Jews were being systematically deported and sent to death camps.(6)
In October 1941, the Assistant Chief of the U.S. delegation to the Vatican, Harold Tittman, asked the Pope to condemn the atrocities. The response came that the Holy See wanted to remain "neutral," and that condemning the atrocities would have a negative influence on Catholics in German-held lands.(7)
In late August 1942, after more than 200,000 Ukrainian Jews had been killed, Ukrainian Metropolitan Andrej Septyckyj wrote a long letter to the Pope, referring to the German government as a regime of terror and corruption, more diabolical than that of the Bolsheviks. The Pope replied by quoting verses from Psalms and advising Septyckyj to "bear adversity with serene patience."(8)(Jewish Virtual Library)
And don't forget that the few Jews, mostly children, who did find refuge in church-run institutions were subject to pressure to convert to Catholicism. Many children had no idea that they were actually Jewish and to this day are lost to their Jewish People.
Chag Sameach! It's Jerusalem Day. Forty-eight 48 years ago, against all odds aka miraculously, the IDF liberated the area of Jerusalem that had been illegally occupied by Jordan since 1948. And not only that, Israel was victorious in a war that had been expected to result in Israel's destruction. While the world stood by watching, and Jews all over prayed, Israel defeated three enemy armies, Syria, Jordan and Egypt. Israel also ended up liberating the Golan Heights, Sinai and all of the land to the Jordan River! For this we are celebrating!
Jerusalem Day Prayers in the Mishkan Synagogue, Shiloh, Israel
Havel Havelim is the long-running weekly international Jewish and Israeli blog carnival, founded by Soccer Day who no longer blogs, that floats from blog to blog. If you'd like to host one then please let me know (shilohmuse@gmail.com) and join our facebook page.
Here are the posts sent to me, some of mine and a few I chose. If you want to be included, please send the weekly host your link with a short blurb if possible. Information will be on our facebook page, or email me. Please visit the various blogs. Enjoy.
Since yesterday I blogged about the dangers and non-Jewish basis of the so-called "two state solution," which places an Arab terror state in the heartland of the historic Land of Israel, I'm not blogging on the subject today. That is even though there are new pressures from the American President Barack Hussein Obama and more admissions from his proteges in the P.A. calling for Israel's destruction.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends
the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in
Jerusalem May 10, 2015. REUTERS/SEBASTIAN SCHEINER
You'd think with all the experience that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has had in putting together coalitions and controlling the Likud, that he'd have an easy time constructing this most recent coalition government.
It started well way back when a few months ago when he fired the unabashedly rebellious government ministers Tsippi Livni and Yair Lapid, declaring new elections in March. The polls showed lots of support, especially for him as Prime Minister, even among those who had no plans to vote for the Likud.
Labor's prince and wannabe Prime Minister Isaac Herzog is not considered PM material by large swaths of Israeli society. And things aren't going all that well in his party which was renamed Zionist Union when Tsippi Livni joined him, after she shocked her supporters and deserted her own party. Her popularity as the campaign got swinging was so low that although the original announcement was that they'd be interchangeable leaders and Prime Ministers, her position was moved to the back. But this didn't placate former Labor leader Shelly Yachimovich who has not been a happy camper at all.
But like it or not, Herzog is the head opposition leader which does give him a prominent position and opportunities to criticize Netanyahu to the maximum.
Flash 90
It seems like this time Netanyahu is going through even more than hell and high water to get his government off the ground. He did pull it off late last night at a very tense vote of 61 vs 59.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s 20-minister government was sworn in late Thursday night, following a day full of problems with Likud appointments to his cabinet. The Knesset approved the government 61-59 just after 11 p.m. on Thursday. (Jerusalem Post)
Everyone's wondering if it will get better or worse for Bibi. Will his Likud party calm down? Promoting all sorts of relatively new and young MKs at the expense of the loyal and experienced Tzachi Hanegbi had me, and Hanegbi, very surprised. Or does the wily Netanyahu know or plan something that would shock us all?
Netanyahu is very well respected abroad as we saw two months ago as he was so enthusiastically cheered in Congress. Obama and fans had threatened and predicted a boycott/walkout for Bibi, which didn't really happen.
It may be easier for Prime Minister Netanyahu to charm the Americans than his fellow Israelis. With Herzog and Yachimovich locking horns the opposition isn't as powerful as the Left leaning media likes to pretend.
So, the embattled Bibi may be in power for longer than most would predict.
