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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East of these mountains I can see from my house is Jordan...
Here's the very short history of Jordan. It was invented by Britain when they were looking for someone to hold onto the eastern part of the Mandate. The entire Mandate was supposed to become a Jewish State. So the Brits imported a foreign sheik, Abdulla and made up the "Kingdom of Jordan."
Then they and their buddies in the newly formed UN decided that the Jews should share what was left with another Arab "nation", as if Abdulla wasn't Arab. They drew a map, which resembled blood splatter, and told the Jews, grandparents and parent of those rioting against Bibi, that they could have the splotches while the rest would go to the "palestinians." And that's how that "nation" was born.
I've always opposed the celebration of the 29th of November, 1947, when the infant, newly established, United Nations voted "approval" of a Jewish State. This "state" they approved of was to have such absurd borders that its days were numbered, since it wouldn't be viable.
A short few decades before the Balfour Declaration had declared that the British Mandate would establish a Jewish State in what they called Palestine, which was then an undeveloped piece of Land on both sides of the Jordan River. At that point there was trickle of Jews trying to establish agricultural settlements and bring the barren land back to life.
There had always been a Jewish presence in various cities, even after the destruction of the Second Holy Temple. Zionist pioneers began changing the Jewish attitude towards Jewish sovereignty. The Arab communities were mostly in a few Arab cities and villages, plus some nomads. There was no history of local Arab nationalism.
Great Britain went against its mandate to establish a Jewish State in the land by bringing in a foreign clan, the Hashemites, and invented the kingdom of Jordan sic on the eastern bank of the Jordan River. And then to make matters even worse for the Jewish People, the members of the United Nations decided to invent a second Arab to share the western side of the Jordan River with Israel. But as I stated earlier, nobody expected the Jewish State to survive. That made it easy for countries to vote on the 29th of November, 1947, for a Jewish State. Because the truth is that those countries didn't really want a Jewish State to exist. Maybe a few did think a Jewish State should exist, but that nascent state wasn't given a fighting chance. Britain armed the Arabs and trained them in warfare, and no country gave the State of Israel any help.
Here we are seventy-five 75 years later, and things haven't changed much. The United Nations condemns Israel more than it condemns any other country, and our so-called allies are having fits because Israel hasn't returned land to the Jordanian aggressor from the 1967 Six Day War. They call Israel an apartheid country, but insist that Judea/Samaria be free of Jews. The latest is that they're condemning Israel for giving recognition to a few Jewish communities. They act like they're our bosses, and that they have approval rights for what we do.
Goyishe Chutzpah for Sure!
A new building project in Shvut Rachel, just east of Shiloh
Here in Israel we continue to pay a very heavy price for our existance. Israel, the Ancient Biblical Homeland of the Jews, well documented in archeology and history, is attacked by terrorists, bullets, axes, words and international proclamations.
Is the promotion of a "Palestinian State" an innocent mistake?
Thousands of years later, when Great Britain was mandated to facilitate the establishment of a Jewish State (see Balfour Declaration) in "Palestine," sic that name was still stuck on the map, even though a country of that name covering that area had never existed. There had always been a Jewish presence in the Holy Land, even after the destruction of the Second Temple and successive invaders ruled from afar. Britain took over from the Turks. The area they held covered both the east and western banks of the Jordan, all the way west until the Mediterranean Sea. According to the Mandate, all was supposed to be a Jewish State.
Great Britain was enamored with the local nomadic romanticized Arabs and preferred them to the Jews, both the religious ones in the holy cities and the Zionist pioneers working hard to make the Land fruitful.
As part of Britain's attempt to sabotage a Jewish State, it brought in and promoted the Hashemites as rulers over the eastern bank of the Jordan and eventually invented a new country of various tribes where there had never been one. That's called Jordan today.
Despite lackluster international support, at best, the State of Israel thrives. With the Help of Gd we have been victorious in all the wars against us.
On the whole, though, international media and academics refuse to recognize Jewish rights and history to the Land and have been inventing and supporting the lie of Palestine sic.
This actually predates the Holocaust and has continued to this very day. Yes, Tom Lehrer got it right.
Last Sunday we attended a gala Betar reunion in the Jerusalem Theater, and part of the program was singing the old Betar songs. Of course, שתי גדות לירדן Shtay Gadot LaYarden, Both/Two Sides of the Jordan was included.
I always get a kick out of that song. I always wonder if there's anyone besides us whose house faces that very view. Our house faces east. That's why I can take pictures of the sunrise. East of Shiloh is the Jordan Valley, and east of that is the Jordan River. And on the other side of the Jordan River is the British invented Hashemite "Kingdom" of Jordan, which is on the eastern bank of the river.
Yes, on a clear day or night, we can see both sides of the Jordan from our house, including lights at night. Sorry for illustrating this post with a morning photo, which doesn't the eastern mountains.
Before I go any further, I'll get straight to the point. Buy the series for yourself, friends and family. The books suit all ages, and if you're careful about what your kids read, no problems. There's nothing to censor.
Fishman's series is also a fantastic way to learn and teach Jewish and Israeli History. The Tevye series can also be used to teach Jewish History in Jewish Schools or English in Israeli ones.
The Tevye series should be turned into movies or television shows. The plots are actual history, though characters are a combination of real historical figures with fictional ones. And as I've said before, consider Tevye of the Forrest Gump genre. The big difference is that Tevye is highly intelligent and ideologically motivated, unlike the also fictional Gump, who finds himself in real historic events by chance.
The Lion's Roar gives us an excellent view of the controversy and then break in the Zionist Revisionist movement that Zeev Jabotinsky had established. In addition, we read of the tension, competition and inside story between all of the Zionist groups, from Left to Right.
For those who are familiar with the history of the time, when Jews in the Promised Land had to decide between supporting Britain against Germany or attacking British police, because they supported Arab rights over Jewish ones, Fishman's characters and plot are well-written. It's also an enjoyable challenge for us to pick out which of his fictional characters are based on real people.
I'm anxiously awaiting further installments about Tevye and his family in the Promised Land.
I'm truly enjoying the adventurous Tevye in the Promised Land series by Tzvi Fishman. I've coined them the Forrest Gump genre of literature, a subgroup in historical novels. Now for the second in the series, which tells what happens to Tevye the Milkman and his growing family, once they're well settled in the Promised Land, Arise and Shine.
Life isn't simple and calm for Tevye and his clan. Like the fictional Forrest Gump, Tevye and his family not only participated in the most important and game-changing events in post World War One Mandate/Palestine, but they knew and interacted with all of the main historic figures. For me, personally, it's a sign of Fishman's writing skill that he created very realistic younger versions of some people I actually knew. The young and idealistic Moshe Segal in Fishman's books could very well be what our elderly neighbor in Jerusalem's Old City had been like a half a century before we knew him.
You can see in the cover of Arise and Shine, the fictional Tevye is flanked Zeev Jabotinsky, David Ben-Gurion, Yair Avraham Stern and Yosef Trumpeldor. That simple illustration summarizes this entire series by Tzvi Fishman. Tevye was much more than a simple milkman.
Even more than that, Fishman doesn't sweeten the story, making Tevye and his family immune from the violence and dangers of the time. In Volume #1 Tevye in the Promised Land, illness and Arab terrorists were the killers of Tevye's daughters and friends. But in Arise and Shine, Arab terror becomes the biggest danger. And to make matters worse, the British, who are supposed to be keeping the peace and facilitating the establishment of a Jewish State favor the Arabs and restrict Jews, even from self-defense.
Tevye and his family gave up on their rural, agricultural life and are living in Jerusalem, where Tevye the milkman has a milk route. Chief Rabbi Kook is the rabbi Tevye looks up to, as he has since his earliest days in the Promised Land. In the struggle for a Jewish State, most of Tevye's family find themselves firmly in the Revisionist camp. David Raziel, Uri Tzvi Greenberg, Moshe Segal and Avraham Stern are among those who visit Tevye's home.
The mix of true history and fiction Tvi Fishman cooked up in this series is a perfect blend. For those readers who aren't familiar with the history and historic characters, I highly recommend reading the books slowly and supplementing with a bit of quick research if necessary.
Again, I must say that the book could be made into a riveting television series. It's also a great book to read to children, instead of letting them watch the "screen." The book is a lot "cleaner" than what you'll find on television or in the movies.
I highly recommend Tzvi Fishman's Arise and Shine as a book for all ages. I'm now almost half way through the third volume, and I understand that there's a fourth in production, which Gd willing will be published in under a year.
The Lost Artist LOVE PASSION WAR (PART 1) by Eric Hausman-Houston is a totally amazing book about an extraordinary person. It's the story of one of Israel's and the Jewish People's unsung heroes. According to the author, Eric Hausman-Houston, it's only slightly fictionalized. It's the story of his father, Fritz Chaim Fred Hausman.
Fritz Hausmann was sent to Mandate Palestine at the age of thirteen 13 by his parents who insisted on staying in Germany. He found himself at Ben Shem, an agricultural high school, where boys lived and studied. At that point the war hadn't yet begun in Europe, and he kept hoping that his parents would join him in what was then called Palestine. But like many successful Jewish German businessmen and German army veterans, his father refused to believe that there would be actual danger to Jews in Germany. Also, even as things became difficult for Jews there, he still thought it better than living in primitive, poverty-stricken Palestine.
The Lost Artist begins as a mystery of sorts. A young Israeli mother goes on a quest to discover who was the illustrator of her favorite children's book, "And There Was Evening." In the first part of the book, chapters alternate between her search for the illustrator and the story of a little Jewish boy in Germany named Fritz. It becomes a book just about Fritz at one point, and we never find out how they connect. I asked the author, Eric Hausman-Houston, and he said that mystery will be solved in Part 2.
Fritz, renamed Chaim to help him fit in, proved to be a good student, hard worker on the farm and learned Hebrew. Hebrew wasn't his first foreign language. While still a child in Germany, he picked up a number of other languages whenever traveling with his family to other countries for vacations.
Even though Chaim was Jewish, his being German set him apart from most other students. He hadn't grown up surrounded by children, which was probably part of his social problem. One day he came upon a beautiful black horse. The person in charge of the stable insisted that the horse was dangerous, but not with Chaim. That horse became his "best friend."
Due to Chaim's intelligence and hard work he was admired and appreciated, and from a very young age he became part of the illegal Jewish self-defence and pro-immigrant group, the Haganah. He seemed fearless and was secretly trying to establish a peaceful, tolerant state in which his father would be willing to live. For that he even met with Arabs. Since Chaim was tall, confident and very cosmopolitan, people didn't realize how young he was.
I found it hard to put The Lost Artist down. It's very well written. It's a real adventure story, especially as Eric Hausman-Houston writes about his father's World War Two army service in the British Army for which he was awarded Britain's highest medals for bravery. That's one of the reasons that Houston wrote the books. His father was listed as a recipient of the honor but never received the actual medals. When Houston tried to get them, he discovered that someone had apparently stolen them, figuring that the family would never make a request for them.
The family wants the medals back and hope that the book will put pressure on whoever is now holding them and make the British Government take responsibility for the loss.
I highly recommend The Lost Artist whether buying it for yourself or as a gift for teens and adults alike.
No surprise, but the writer got the whole "Palestinian thing" all wrong, because it didn't get to the gut/history of the issue.
"Palestine" is the Barbie Doll, the toy invented by anti-Semitic Europeans and British who were determined to sabotage the Zionist efforts to promote Jewish Nationalism and its aim of re-establishing a Jewish State in the Biblical Holyland.
There is absolutely no history of a Palestine, people, nation, culture. And the so-called Kingdom of Jordan is even a bigger fake, invention. The British moved the Hashemites in, even though the land east of the Jordan River was supposed to be part of the Jewish state, and anointed them rulers over the nomads residing there. This was in direct contravention of the Mandate, the assignment the British had been given by the League of Nations.
But as you most probably have noticed, the world didn't care. It's very similar to the way the world powers, at the same basic time, reacted to the rising antisemitism and violence against Jews in Nazi Germany.
And after World War Two, the British did everything in their power to keep Europe's surviving Jews out of the Holyland, while simultaneously helping to strengthen the Arabs.
Yes, there was a United Nations vote November 29, 1947, supporting the establishment of a Jewish State, but it had no "teeth." The Jews would have to survive a "fire test," a war during which surrounding Arabs, armed and trained by the British, would attack them. The UN suggested a further division of land between Jews and Arabs for another new Arab state. They drew a map assigning small amounts of land in various disconnected locations for the "Jewish State." The Jewish Agency accepted it, despite the dangerous borders, but the Arabs refused insisting on more.
After the ceasefire in 1949, Jordan illegally occupied the land not in Jewish hands, including half of Jerusalem. No surprise, that there were no formal complaints by the world powers of the time or from the United Nations.
In the decades since, these same countries, diplomats and NGOs have been creating their Barbie doll, financing "her" every whim, paying for everything and turning a blind eye when their toy literally terrorizes Israel. And in 1967 when the Arab countries surrounding Israel gathered their forces and threatened destruction of the Jewish State, nobody cared or tried to stop them. The State of Israel fought a brilliant and miraculous war in which not only did it survive but it liberated all the land to the Jordan River, the Sinai and the Golan Heights. Only then did the world get angry. World powers, NGOs etc got angry with the State of Israel. And then their toy, the so-called "Palestinians" were given a makeover to look moderate and deserving.
The so-called "Palestinians" are a toy. It never would have existed if other countries hadn't invented it. It's no more than a bloody Barbie doll.
a figure of speech by which a locution produces an incongruous, seemingly self-contradictory effect
Since two states aren't a solution to the violence here between the Arabs and Israel, the "Two 2 State Solution is an Oxymoron for sure.
Our Arab enemies, the terrorists, the PA-Palestinian Authority etcetera all reject the continued viable existence of the State of Israel, it's clear that giving them a state will only cause more wars, terrorism and bloodshed. Taking that simple basic fact into account, then it's clear that according to the basic Arab aim, there can never be peace, a solution, with two states, one Israel and one Palestine. I don't even think that there can be two peaceful states if they are Jordan and Palestine. And don't forget that Jordan practices ethnic cleansing, apartheid against Jews. Besides Israeli tourists, who are very restricted, foreigners who don't admit to be Jewish and the Israeli diplomats, you're not going to find many or any Jews in Jordan.
And the Hashemite rulers/occupiers of Transjordan aka Jordan aren't at all enthusiastic about giving the so-called Palestinians more authority, weapons, recognition a "state," because that struggling kingdom has been threatened by the same Arab terrorists who terrorize Israel.
For decades, various international leaders, NGOs etc have been trying to succeed in facilitating a negotiated "peace deal" between Israel and the so-called Palestinians. Sometimes they "help" by offering very detailed suggestions. Various Israeli leaders have even offered to endanger the State of Israel for the "chance" of "peace." But the Arabs just up their demands.
That's because the Arabs prefer their cushy well-paid terrorism. The UN, EU and number NGOs and foreign countries support them very generously. Those Arabs aren't a people nor a nation; they're just in it for the money.
Let the Flag of the State of Israel wave in freedom and security, Gd willing!
It's hard to categorize the newest venue in Jerusalem's Old City, the Plugat Hakotel. It's called a "museum," but there aren't really any exhibits. And unlike most every other museum, there's no walking around, so it's very good for those who find standard museums difficult to handle.
The Plugat Hakotel Museum is in the building of the historic Plugat Hakotel, on Rechov Hayehudim near the corner of Plugat Hakotel Street, where the patrols that protected Jewish worshipers at the Kotel almost a hundred years ago were quartered. The street level rooms have been set up to show a very good historic reenactment movie, which tells the basic story, fictionalized of course.
Yesterday I went to the Plugat Hakotel Museum with a group of friends from all over the country. It's best to call in advance to book a time slot.
We saw the English dubbed version of the movie which had Hebrew subtitles. It is very well written and acted and tells how members of the Betar Zionist youth movement, inspired by Zeev Jabotinsky worked together to not only guard Jewish worshipers but risk jail time by blowing the shofar at the end of the Yom Kippur fast. Yes, the British forbade shofar blowing.
For me this building has special meaning, because it was our first home in Israel, Maon Betar. We knew the history of it, but at that time, the Old City was undergoing major repairs to make it more habitable and modern. Just now, a half a century after being liberated from illegal Jordanian occupation has the museum been opened.
Shofar in the Plugat Hakotel Museum, Old City Jerusalem
The Indian Ambassador to Israel, Mr. Pavan Kapoor, on far left, at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center. Next to him is American Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman.
A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I attended a diplomatic reception, plus panel discussion at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center. On the panel was the Indian Ambassador to Israel, Mr. Pavan Kapoor.
Before the panel began, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu greeted the honored guests and made a point of saying that Israel and India were established at the same time, India in 1947 and Israel in 1948. It was as I heard him say that when the seeds of this article began to sprout.
The experts of the time decided to segregate the populations by religion. In the Indian subcontinent two countries, one for Hindus and the other for Muslims, were established. And, yes, this required in some places massive and difficult population transfer. They exist today in rather peacefully, India and Pakistan.
Things were handled slightly differently in the area called "Palestine." One of the reasons is that in 1921 Great Britain handed the Hashemite Abdullah a very large portion of Mandated Palestine to invent a kingdom for him, all of the land east of the Jordan River. It became known as the Emirate of Transjordan. The "minor" fact that Britain had been mandated by the League of Nations to facilitate the establishment of a Jewish state was ignored.
The Hashemites had a very difficult time ruling and keeping the peace, even though the veteran population was rather nomadic and very poor. That required Great Britain to continue to play a strong role in propping them up financially and militarily until very recently.
Post-World War Two, at the same time when Britain gave up the Indian subcontinent and India and Pakistan were established, it was also time for them to finally promote the establishment of a Jewish state.
Of course, the simple solution would have been for Britain to complete what they had begun over twenty years earlier, transfer the non-Jewish population to the Moslem Hashemites and allow the Jewish Zionists to build and develop their country in the area from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. But they promoted a new Arab country instead, which they wanted to call Palestine. But there was no such people, history, leadership etc.
Instead, very tiny, disconnected and completely nonviable portions of land were allocated by the newly established United Nations to the Jewish State. Jews were transferred from other areas, but Arabs (Muslims and Christians) were told to stay put. The population transfer was one-sided, which gave a judenrein section to the proposed non-Jewish country while the so-called Jewish state would be forced to include a large antagonistic and extremely violent population. Basically, the Jewish state was established to deconstruct, fail miserably and quickly. In order to speed up the process, Britain armed and supported the Arab uprising, once David Ben-Gurion declared Israeli Independence.
And today we are still suffering from these decisions, policies and events.
The organizers of Friday's riot attack on Israel planned that no matter what the result it would be bad for the image/survival/security of the State of Israel and the IDF.
Israel is constantly being attacked both by words and weapons for surviving. In June, 1967, after weeks of threats by Egypt's Nasser and his allies, the State of Israel had no choice other than wipe out his air force before our enemies could take the first shot. Only eighteen years after the ceasefire which ended the Israeli War of Independence the surrounding countries, Egypt, Jordan and Syria had joined forces to destroy the State of Israel.
Remember that Israel's Independence wasn't planned as a war. The League of Nations had mandated/ordered/instructed/assigned Great Britain to facilitate/mentor/assist the Jewish Zionists in establishing a state in what was labeled as "Palestine" in most maps. Britain sabotaged this by inventing new Arab countries to fill most of that land. First they imported the Hashemite Tribe and declared them the monarchy of Jordan in Transjordan, the eastern bank of the Jordan River. Following this, they tried to encourage the nomadic Arabs and the Arabs who were moving to the remaining western bank to fight the Jews and compete with them. The Arabs were then named "Palestinians." Here we are almost a century later, and Britain has been joined/replaced by most of the world in this quest. They do everything possible to undermine the State of Israel. Last Friday's Arab terror riots on Israel's southern border were just a continuation of their campaign to rid the Middle East of Jews and destroy the State of Israel.
And of course, the State of Israel is being condemned for self-defense.
To paraphrase a line in this song from The Man of La Mancha:
"Whether the stone hits the pitcher or the pitcher hits the stone it's going to be bad for the pitcher"
"Whether the Arab terrorists attack Israel or Israel defends itself against Arab terror and/or incitement it's going to be bad for the State of Israel"
There's a better chance to find Martians who can learn English than a possibility for a real lasting peace between Israel and its enemies.
Anyone who claims that there can be peace is talking total fiction. The main uniting ideology among the Arab countries surrounding the State of Israel and those even further away is our destruction. They're not even shy about it. And this anti-Israel hate/ideology is all over the world.
Even in the United States there are periodic pro-Palestine, sic, demonstrations in which the theme is:
You don't have to be a rocket scientist, or a PhD in geography to know that such a country would mean the total destruction of the State of Israel, Gd forbid. There is no room for a Jewish State or even Jews in their dream world.
Unfortunately, the International Liberals, including the American Democratic Party, have adopted this very unliberal cause, which supports anti-Jewish apartheid and Nazi-like laws.
Never in the History of the World has there been a country or people named "Palestine." It was a name on maps when antisemites wanted to replace the Jewish Judea with something else. The concept of an "Arab Palestine" was invented to stymie/handicap a Jewish state, which Great Britain had been mandated to establish by the League of Nations. Britain cut off the large area east of the Jordan River and imported the Hashemite Clan to rule it. That was the invention of Jordan and the newly minted "Hashemite Kingdom." To be honest/exact, the Hashemites are occupying the East Bank of the Jordan River.
After the invention of Jordan, it was expected that Britain would facilitate a Jewish State in the remaining areas, but they didn't. Instead they gave support to the Arab terrorists against the Jews living, building and farming. After World War Two, the United Nations came up with a "plan" to allocate a totally indefensible Jewish State surrounded by Arabs who would become "Palestine."
Then after the Declaration of the State of Israel, May, 1948, well-armed Arabs attacked the Jews, but miraculously, not only did the State of Israel survive, but its borders were slightly improved. Land not under Israel's control became illegally occupied by Jordan. This occupation wasn't recognized by most nations. Jordan did nothing to modernize life for the residents.
Before the 1967 Six Days War, there was talk of trying to turn that area into something to be called "Palestine," but the world wasn't interested. At the same time the State of Israel suffered frequent terror attacks from Jordanian soldiers and others. In May, 1967, virulently anti-Israel statements were addressed to the world by Egypt including threats to totally destroy the State of Israel and push it "into the sea." The world didn't care about that, either. The United Nations even removed its peacekeeping forces to facilitate an Egyptian victory.
As everyone knows, not only did Israel survive that war, but by the time it was over, Israel had liberated all of the Land "from the river to the sea," plus the Sinai and the Golan Heights.
Post-war, the State of Israel made an awful mistake. It tried to make peace instead of annexing all the land legally won and showing strength.
Today, over half a century after the 1967 Six Days War, the fiction of "Palestine" has taken off, just like when my ESL students tried to tell me that James Bond was a real person.
There isn't a single Arab leader here who wants peace with Israel; they just want pieces of Israel. And that includes the PA's Abbas. There's nothing to negotiate about. The Arab aim is our destruction, Gd forbid.
Just behind Safra Square is what's known as Migrash Harusim, the Russian Compound, in which there's a police station, jail and the jail that the British used when they were occupying the Land of Israel, during the Mandate.
In that old jail is a museum dedicated to the Jewish prisoners who had been arrested, held and executed by the British before the declaration of Independence of the State of Israel. Over the almost half a century I've lived in Israel, I visited that museum a number of times. Each time there are updates and improvements to help the visitors gain a good comprehension of what imprisonment was like there during that difficult time.
Most of the Jewish prisoners had been members of the Etzel and Lechi, known as the "underground." Since members of the Haganah and Palmach cooperated with the British by informing on the Etzel and Lehi, fewer of them were jailed. Pretty much everyone in our group has a good knowledge of pre-state history and knows the historical context of the Underground Museum. Our guide had to take that into account, and she was wonderful. When members of the group wanted to enter a room that the guide hadn't planned on showing, she cooperated happily.
Most of the group I was with didn't need
This is a wonderful museum, not too large. It is easy to get to by public transportation, bus and the lightrail. The tour guides are excellent, as are the public toilets.
I just wish the world would stop focusing on "making Peace" between Israel and its sworn vicious enemies. Such a "deal" can only be deadly. Everybody willing to open their eyes and see what's going on and what has been forever can easily see that the Arab/Muslim culture is violent. It doesn't matter if it's in Libya, France, Syria or Israel.
Our enemies have adopted terrorism as their means of acting against us, and it isn't something new. It didn't begin with the 1967 Six Days War or the 1948 Israeli War for Independence. There was Arab terrorism long before Europe's nationalism evolved into the countries people today take for granted, like France, Germany and Spain.
There was always Arab terror against Jews. That's why hundreds of years ago Jews in the Holy Land lived in walled cities. Actually, that's why pretty much everyone lived in walled cities. There weren't many farmers. There wasn't an independent country here. There were poor people, some in villages, some in small walled cities and there were Christians in walled monasteries. Yes, in case you're wondering, there was also Muslim terror against the Christians.
In the more recent prestate time, first the Turks ruled totalitarian style and then the British were mandated by the League of Nations to prepare the Land, which was labeled on some maps Palestine, as a state for Jews. The British didn't like the idea and gave more than 50% of it to the Hashemite Tribe which they moved to the area east of the Jordan River. And that was the invention of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, a country of nomads who had no common history ruled by a tribe that had no connection to them.
At the same time, Jewish Zionist began moving to the Holy Land and for the first time farming and started businesses. Those economic opportunities attracted more and more Arabs, mostly from the north, what is today called Syria and Lebanon.
Europe and Britain, instead of encouraging the Zionist enterprises and telling the Arabs how lucky they were, sabotaged the nascent Jewish state. It wasn't enough for them that Britain had invented Jordan, they decided to invent another Arab country which would be called Palestine. The United Nations, which succeeded the League of Nations as an international body, proposed and division of the remaining Mandate between the Jews and what they called "Palestinians." In order to make it easier for this additional new Arab state to survive, they gave it most of the land. There was no logical way the Jewish State could survive, but they left out one fact. Gd wanted a Jewish State. After two thousand years of punishing exile, it was time for the State of Israel. Finally the Jewish People were ready to return.
The State of Israel is about to celebrate seventy 70 years of independence and the world isn't happy. it accepts and encourages Arab terrorism by blaming us for the violence. It has been "mentoring" the Arabs into making a new country, but it's not going to happen.
The so-called "palestinians" sic don't have a history. It's all some newfangled thing made up by Europeans who didn't want to give land to Jews. The land in question is the very land that is in the Biblical narrative, the Jewish Bible.
Have you ever read the Bible?
What is it about?
It's about Judaism, Jews, the Land and what Gd wants of us.
Please listen to this talk by Dennis Prager. He is much more eloquent than I am.
Dennis Prager IAC Los Angeles Israeli American Council
Apparently, since Israel has finally been threatening or refusing not to pay some of the dues to the most anti-Israel of the Israel bashing United Nations organizations, we may lose General Assembly voting rights. At least that's what the headline said in the Jerusalem Post:
But the actual truth is, if you read the article carefully, if Israel is careful to keep that demonstrative and symbolic non-payment under a certain sum, voting rights should be preserved, unless our diplomatic enemies decide otherwise.
If you consider voting in the UN General Assembly to be all that important I'll tell you that I highly doubt that Israel would let the debt get so high. And we don't know if the threats will be made into reality. Not that I consider membership in the United Nations to be a great metzia. Besides that, our one measly vote doesn't do us any good. Israel is an abused, libeled, ridiculed and maligned minority of one. For years I've wondered why we even stay there.
One big advantage of leaving the United Nations would be banishing all those UN employees, those who work for the UN itself and those who work for the organizations that have as their main agenda the besmirching, maligning and undermining the good name, security and stability of the State of Israel. By cutting all ties we'd be safer!
The recent anti-truth "decision" by UNESCO that our Tomb/Cave of the Patriarchs is Muslim not Jewish gives further proof that there is no search for truth or justice by the United Nations and its organizations. Their vote did not come from ignorance; it is just a very clear manifestation of the blatant anti-Jewish/Israel agenda which is a bedrock of the UN. It's foolish for us to expect anything else.
Just look at history.
The United Nations was established as World War Two ended. Instead of chastising/condemning Great Britain for sabotaging and undermining, by giving more than half the land to the Hashemites and severely restricting Jewish immigration to what remained, its Mandate to establish a Jewish State in "Palestine," it came up with a proposal to further divide the remaining territory and invent another new Arab country. The indefensible bit of land proposed for a Jewish State was then attacked by Arab armies, trained, supported and equipped by British troops. In a miracle of Biblical proportions, the under-equipped and disunited Jewish forces managed a victory, which also consolidated the territory defended and gained into a slightly more defensible country.
From the 1949 ceasefire, until the spring of 1967, Jordan illegally occupied the territory west of the Jordan River to the ceasefire line, aka "green line," with Israel. Although this occupation was totally illegal, there were no sanctions against Jordan. During those eighteen years, the UN had some "peacekeeping" forces in the area, especially around the Suez Canal. But in 1967, the minute Egypt's Nasser threatened to destroy Israel and told the UN to move, it fled leaving an easy path for an Egyptian victory.
That was fifty years ago, and although all over the world borders change without anyone really caring, the United Nations has led the campaign against Israel for liberating the Jewish National Homeland, which hadn't had a sovereign independent rule for over two thousand years.
Remember that the UN has fully supported the perpetuation of so-called "palestinian refugees" with UNRWA. UNRWA is a dangerous and malignant organization with a raison d'être to destroy the State of Israel.
Besides UNRWA, we all know that no country in the world is condemned more by the Security Council than Israel.
Why is the State of Israel still a member of the United Nations?
Yesterday we were given a preview of a new museum in the Old City of Jerusalem. It's located in the building where we had first lived when we came to Israel, the Maon Betar, which is now used by Yeshivat Netiv Arye as a dormitory, on the corner Rechov Hayehudim and Rechov Plugat Hakotel, (Kotel Patrol Street.)
The street is called Plugat Hakotel in honor of the group that was headquartered there during the period of Arab violence against Jews which British Mandate Police didn't stop before the establishment of the State of Israel.
We got to see the movie that will be the highlight of museum. It tells of a young European immigrant to the Land of Israel. This young man came from a secular Jewish home but was attracted to living in the Jewish Holy Land.
He ends up joining the Kotel Patrol, which is challenged with defying the British pro-Arab ruling that forbade blowing the shofar at the Kotel. Any Jew who even attempted to bring a shofar to the Jewish Holy Site would be arrested, and the punishment for blowing it was worse.
The group is taught how to blow a shofar, which is a lot more difficult than you would think. But the biggest problem was smuggling one into the very small Kotel area, which was guarded and patrolled by the anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist British Mandate Soldiers/Police.
When we lived in that building, one of our neighbors was Rav Moshe Tzvi Segal whose claim to fame was blowing the shofar at the end of Yom Kippur. So for us, the movie had a lot of personal significance even though the movie character who manages against all odds to blow the shofar was nothing like our dear friend.
The movie is nicely made and conceived. Gd willing, I'll provide more information on the museum when it opens to the general public.
Unlike many Israelis, I've never really considered the United States to be a true friend of the State of Israel. General policy comes from the State Department, and the nuances come from the sitting President. And don't forget that from the very beginning, the advice to then President Truman concerning how to vote on November 29, 1947, was to vote "no" concerning the approval of the establishment of a Jewish State.
After much debate and visit from an old friend, Truman bucked that advice and had his delegate vote "yes."
And while Arab forces, backed by Great Britain and others fought the newly formed IDF, Truman sat on his hands and watched, if he paid attention at all. Most countries, even those that voted "yes," expected the nascent Jewish State to be quickly defeated. That was the popular wisdom of the time. Remember that Great Britain did everything in its power to sabotage the establishment of a viable Jewish State. That included severely restricting immigration to preserve an Arab majority, arming the Arabs and dividing up the area mandated by the League of Nations to be Jewish state, twice, once by inventing Jordan, and the second by promoting the division of the remaining territory into Jewish and Arab states.
I consider the United States to be an extremely dangerous enemy of the State of Israel, because it claims to be a friend and ally while undermining our security and economic viability constantly. This is a classic example of the abuser-victim relationship, where the abuser proclaims love while abusing/beating the victim and then giving "gifts." Unfortunately, the Israeli persona/psyche is so damaged after thousands of years of antisemitism, that it is desperate for any form of attention and "kind" words, even when accompanied by backstabbing.
U.S. Presidents from the Democrats are most skilled at playing these games. One big reason is because American Jews have an illogical* affinity to the Democratic Party. And although it's no secret that Hillary Clinton's top aide and advisor is the pro-Arab Muslim Huma Abedin, a humongous percentage of her financial support is coming from Jews.
It would be worse than naive to imagine a Hillary Clinton White House without Huma Abedin in a top official role. I have no doubt that American Jewry will continue to lie to itself about Hillary being a friend, but I should hope that the State of Israel will finally wise up and see the truth. The United States of America is neither a friend nor ally of the State of Israel! This is certainly the case when the President is a Democrat, because the agenda of that party endangers the State of Israel. As awful as some of the Republican presidents have been vis-à-vis their Israeli policies, this is bupkes in comparison to the potential dangers of a Hillary Clinton presidency.
Yes, that means I consider Donald Trump to be much better for Israel and American Jews than Hillary.
And I also think that having another US President, Hillary Gd forbid, who doesn't see the dangers of Islam for the world to be a danger for the United States and the rest of the world.
Remember that paranoids do have real enemies!
*I would really have wished to write "inexplicable," but we all know that for a very illogical reason, American Jewry has continuously been grateful for FDR's help in defeating the Nazis, as if he did it to stop the Holocaust, when the truth is that saving Jews was not part of his plan at all. He did nothing to stop/protest the antisemitism that mushroomed into systematic murder, nor did he do anything to stop the killing, and he kept out Jewish refugees and survivors as much as he could.
Nowadays and for the purpose of this post, I will consider "people" and "nation" to be synonyms, because that is how the terms are being used by many. As my readers and many others know, there is great debate about the origins and legitimacy and factual history of the so-called "Palestinians" sic as a nation/people. In recent days, I've heard the term people/nation used to describe others who do not fit the classical definition of either "people" or "nation." The terms are used pretty loosely nowadays, and I think it's a problem.
On a news discussion program on the BBC, I heard a man referring to the "European People," which was a new one for me, since the various nations/countries in Europe are relatively new, just from the last couple of centuries. And borders are continually changing. Europe is a body of land with many different nations and peoples. Today's European Union in its early day was known as the "Common Market" creating closer economic ties between neighboring countries. Now it is trying to blur the national borders, laws and regulations, but Europe isn't one people.
look at the candelabra on the lower right
And in a recent post on this blog, The USA is Not a Jewish Country!, I had mistaken the candelabra on the lower right for a misdrawn Jewish Chanukah Menorah, which has nine, rather than the seven candles. I hadn't noticed the Jewish one next to the Christmas Tree on the left. A number of people sent me messages explaining that the seven-branched candelabra was for a newly invented African sic holiday, Kwanzaa. When I first heard about it, my immediate reaction was that Africa is not a people/nation/culture. There are dozens, or most accurately hundreds of different tribes and native/ancient religions. Also, not all Blacks/Negros look the same. There is no such thing as African culture, religion, holiday or nation/people.
Chazal, the Jewish sages say that there's an importance in the number/quantity three, so when I discovered three fake nations/peoples, I decided that the situation deserves a blog post.
What's a "people" or "nation?" Here are a few definitions I found with the help of Rabbi Professor Google:
www.dictionary.com/browse/nation
a large body of people, associated with a particular territory, that is sufficiently conscious of its unity to seek or to possess a government peculiarly its own: The president spoke to the nation about the new tax. ... an aggregation of persons of the same ethnic family, often ...
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nation
Simple Definition of nation. : a large area of land that is controlled by its own government. the nation : the people who live in a nation. Nation : a tribe of Native Americans or a group of Native American tribes that share the same history, traditions, or language.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation
A nation (from Latin: natio, "people, tribe, kin, genus, class, flock") is a large group or collective of people with common characteristics attributed to them - including language, traditions, mores (customs), habitus (habits), and ethnicity.
www.duhaime.org › Legal Dictionary
The legal definition of Nation is A distinct group or race of people that share history, traditions and culture.
Neither Palestine, Europe nor Africa accurately fit these. Davka, the Jewish People do fit...
There has to be an agenda behind the invention of these new fake "peoples/nations." Otherwise they wouldn't have been invented:
The Palestinians, along with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, were invented by Great Britain to sabotage the establishment of a Jewish State in our Ancestral Historic/Biblical Homeland.
The European Union/Common Market was invented to compete with the United States as a commercial power and has evolved to compete on the world scene as a political power. Davka, they are among the greatest and most enthusiastic supporters of the Palestinians...
