What Was The Point of That Boston Marathon Bombing?

What is there to say besides רפואה שלימה Refuah Shleimah,  Complete Recovery to the injured and May G-d Comfort the mourners?  The United States is a frightening place.

In America, one doesn't quite know who, where and what are dangerous.  What was the point, the aim of that Boston Marathon bombing?  Has anarchy reached the streets and events of the United States of America?  I don't quite see it as the terrorism as I know it living here in Israel when nobody is quite sure who the bombers are and what they want.

At least 3 dead, more than 100 hurt after two bombs explode at Boston Marathon
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/04/15/explosion-reported-near-finish-line-boston-marathon-spokesman-says/#ixzz2QbFO2Dav

The deadly bombing at the Boston Marathon that killed at least three and injured more than 130 is believed to be an act of terrorism, senior White House officials told Fox News.
Two explosions tore through the finish line of the world-famous race just before 3 p.m., going off simultaneously as throngs of onlookers watched runners complete the 26.2-mile trek. The timing of the blasts immediately sparked suspicions of a deliberate act.
“When multiple devices go off, that’s an act of terrorism,” a senior administration official told Fox News, just moments after President Obama delivered a statement to the nation and did not use the word “terror.”
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/04/15/explosion-reported-near-finish-line-boston-marathon-spokesman-says/#ixzz2QbGcKV4u

I've ranted plenty about winning that American security check lottery aka random checking.  Israeli security practices profiling, which judges/analyzes me as what I am, a harmless overweight grandmother.  During my last trip to the states a few months ago, I was "patted down" so frequently, most of the time being told, "just random checking."  Too bad I hadn't bought a lottery ticket; I could have won a million dollars instead, since my name was coming up so often.

I live in Israel.  I'm the survivor of a terror attack.  I was even injured in that attack, though very lightly.  I've lost friends and neighbors to terror attacks, so please don't consider me blind to the dangers.  In all honesty, I think America is a more frightening place.  We here in Israel have some idea who our enemies are.  In the USA, considering the impossibility to predict attacks, shootings, etc. the attacker may be anyone at all, a disgruntled and/or unstable child, teen, employee, neighbor, family member or stranger.  And, yes, there may also be foreign anarchists and terrorists ideologically and culturally related to the same Arab terrorists who want to murder Jews and destroy the State of Israel.

I ask in all sincerity:

How Americans can protect themselves from such dangers?

Honestly, I don't know.

אֱמֶת Emmet, The Only Truth

It's rather ironic that although my written Hebrew is awful, I see, hear and think about Hebrew linguistics a lot.  Most people are rather surprised at my grasp of Hebrew linguistics and the meanings I find in words.

The word אמת  emmet, truth, written without Hebrew vowels, unlike the way I wrote it in this post's title, can mean something which really is the emmet, truth.  That is אמות amute I will die.  The actual Hebrew root for die is מ ו ת which has a "ו" but the "ו" is dropped in some of the conjugations of the verb, such as past tense.

It may sound a bit strange, but the only certainty in life is that we will one day die.

Why is death so on my mind today?  That's because it's Israel's Soldiers and Terror Victims Memorial Day. After two totally mesmerizing moving ceremonies, last night and this morning, all I can do is think of the victims, those dead from Arab terror or war. 

After seeing and hearing and talking to all the parents, spouses, siblings, children, grandchildren, grandparents, nieces, nephews, cousins, friends (did I leave anyone out?) of the dead how can anything other than death be on my mind?

They may not be among the living, but they certainly cast a long shadow on us and our lives.

In the speeches, it was clear that time doesn't heal the pain.  Everyone I spoke to afterwards agreed that each year it gets harder.  The mourning comes in waves.

From the comments on my One of The Very Best Things About Israel  and the comments on facebook about the post, I see that not everyone agrees with me that it's good to combine Independence Day with Memorial Day.  I treasure the fact that I'm taking intense memories of the dead with me to the celebrations.  I don't think it is good to just celebrate our independence.  It's too much like those who think that all you have to do is "write a check" to buy something and don't realize that the check must be covered by money in the bank.

It's important to realize the cost of something, and that includes the State of Israel.  Our country isn't just a money budget.  We've invested many lives in building it.

We are Jews, יהודים Yihudim. In the word יהודי yihudi Jew we can find the להודות lihodote, to thank, and we must thank G-d and all of those who gave their lives for the defense of the State of Israel and the Jewish People.

And tonight we will celebrate the G-d given victory...

חג העצמאות שמח

Chag Ha'Atzmaut Same'ach

Happy Independence Day

Celebrate Israeli Independence Where We Had Our First Capital City, Shiloh!

The State of Israel isn't a new nation, not at all.  We are probably the oldest, because we became a nation over three thousand, yes, 3,000, years ago.  We keep the same religion, the same language and learn our same ancient through modern history and even have an ancient library of books and literature we have been reading and studying over all those millennium. We celebrate not the birth, but the rebirth of our state and country.

Dry Bones

Yes, the modern State of Israel is only sixty-five 65 years old, but there wouldn't be a State of Israel if there hadn't been such a long, continuous connected and well documented Jewish History.

The Bible, Tanach, is both a history and theology book. It explains the very foundation of the Jewish People starting with G-d's creation of the world, separating light from darkness, Genesis Chapter 1 בְּרֵאשִׁית.

א  בְּרֵאשִׁית, בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים, אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ.	1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
ב  וְהָאָרֶץ, הָיְתָה תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ, וְחֹשֶׁךְ, עַל-פְּנֵי תְהוֹם; וְרוּחַ אֱלֹהִים, מְרַחֶפֶת עַל-פְּנֵי הַמָּיִם.	2 Now the earth was unformed and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters.
ג  וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, יְהִי אוֹר; וַיְהִי-אוֹר.	3 And God said: 'Let there be light.' And there was light.
ד  וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים אֶת-הָאוֹר, כִּי-טוֹב; וַיַּבְדֵּל אֱלֹהִים, בֵּין הָאוֹר וּבֵין הַחֹשֶׁךְ.	4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.
ה  וַיִּקְרָא אֱלֹהִים לָאוֹר יוֹם, וְלַחֹשֶׁךְ קָרָא לָיְלָה; וַיְהִי-עֶרֶב וַיְהִי-בֹקֶר, יוֹם אֶחָד.  {פ}	5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

 The first Jew was Abraham, who heard and acted on G-d's message, Genesis Chapter 12 בְּרֵאשִׁית:

א  וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל-אַבְרָם, לֶךְ-לְךָ מֵאַרְצְךָ וּמִמּוֹלַדְתְּךָ וּמִבֵּית אָבִיךָ, אֶל-הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר אַרְאֶךָּ.	1 Now the LORD said unto Abram: 'Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the land that I will show thee.
ב  וְאֶעֶשְׂךָ, לְגוֹי גָּדוֹל, וַאֲבָרֶכְךָ, וַאֲגַדְּלָה שְׁמֶךָ; וֶהְיֵה, בְּרָכָה.	2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing.
ג  וַאֲבָרְכָה, מְבָרְכֶיךָ, וּמְקַלֶּלְךָ, אָאֹר; וְנִבְרְכוּ בְךָ, כֹּל מִשְׁפְּחֹת הָאֲדָמָה.	3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.'
ד  וַיֵּלֶךְ אַבְרָם, כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר אֵלָיו יְהוָה, וַיֵּלֶךְ אִתּוֹ, לוֹט; וְאַבְרָם, בֶּן-חָמֵשׁ שָׁנִים וְשִׁבְעִים שָׁנָה, בְּצֵאתוֹ, מֵחָרָן.	4 So Abram went, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him; and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.

And the Bible continues by chronicling the ups and downs of the Jewish People, their difficulties, victories, disasters and triumphs.

One of the greatest events in Jewish History is when Joshua established Shiloh as the Jewish spiritual and administrative capital of the Jewish Nation.  The Mishkan, Tabernacle, mobile house of worship, was rebuilt in Shiloh to withstand hundreds of years of use.  Shiloh remained the capital for three hundred and sixty-nine 369 years.  That's  a very long time.  How many modern countries can document a national history so long?  As my neighbor, the well-known tour guide Era Rapaport has been heard to point out, "the United States has a much shorter history."

Shiloh's Central Mishkan Synagogue, designed according to the Biblical description of the Mishkan, tabernacle.

As you most probably know, I live in Shiloh.  Shiloh was liberated in the 1967 Six Days War.  Just over ten years after that great, miraculous victory, the first Jewish families returned to Shiloh, and since then it has been growing and thriving.  We have hundreds of families, schools, shops, health clinics, public transportation, agriculture, industry and all that one needs to live good Jewish lives.

Shiloh, at the time of Joshua, who led the Jewish People once they entered the Promised Land, did not need to be conquered.  Either the locals had fled before Joshua entered or they welcomed him.  We don't know. But what  we do know about today's Shiloh is that it was totally empty, deserted long before the Six Days War.  It had only attracted the occasional pilgrim, tourist and archeologist.

remains of ruins of a synagogue built on the ruins of a Second Temple time synagogue

 

 

There's now a very well kept up tourist center in Shiloh, Shiloh HaKeduma, at Tel Shiloh.  You can arrange tours and events there by emailing visit@telshilo.org.il or call 02-994-4019.  They have been running a very popular festival for people of all ages every Passover and Succot, plus a massive women's event every summer. Contact Shiloh HaKeduma for more information.

For the past few years, I've been organizing women's prayer at Tel Shiloh on Rosh Chodesh.  Next month is Sivan, Friday, May 10, 2013.  If you'd like more information or would like to be added to my mailing list, please email shilohmuse at gmail dot com with "women's prayers Tel Shiloh" as the subject, thanks.

Women's Prayers at Tel Shiloh
Rosh Chodesh Sivan

Friday, May 10, 2013

1 Sivan 5773, 8:30am

Tour of Tel & Dvar Torah, Short Torah Lesson

Please come and invite family, friends and neighbors

תפילת נשים
ראש חודש סיון בתל שילה
יום ו' 10-5 א' סיון תשע"ג 8:30
יהיה דבר תורה קצר וסיור בתל
נא לבוא, לפרסם ולהזמין חברות, משפחה ושכנות

 

 

One of The Very Best Things About Israel

In Israel, our Independence Day celebrations aren't just partying.  At the same time the stage was being readied for tomorrow night's Independence Day celebrations in our Central Park, the large Mifal Hapayis building was being readied for our Memorial Day for the IDF's Fallen Soldiers and Terror Victims ceremony.

In Israel we understand that independence is a very expensive process in terms of human lives.  Nobody gave us this state. We paid and still pay dearly for our independence.  We must fight wars and we suffer from Arab terrorism.

Never have we fought with another country as an ally.  The world "stands by" and waits to see if we will survive.  We have been victorious in these wars for one reason and one reason only.  G-d wants us to win.  He is our ally and is the only ally we really need.

The State of Israel exists because Jews are willing to fight for it, and G-d helps us because we are willing to fight.  That is why our Independence Day starts after a day of mourning for those who gave their lives for the State of Israel.

יהי זכרם ברוך

Yihi Zichrom Baruch

May Their Memories Be Blessed

TW3, That Was The Week That Was, The Best Israeli Version; IDF and the Chareidim

In less than two minutes, Latma's Hebrew's Word 12.4  brilliantly summarizes the past week's news. 



The writers bring up some excellent points.

• This week's theme is no matter how hard the Israeli media tried, they couldn't find good pictures of chareidim goofing off, ignoring the sirens on Holocaust Memorial Day.  The result was that the people most active during the sirens and who the least understand the significance of the day were the media. 

This anti-chareidi theme is related to the fact that Likud's Binyamin Netanyahu's latest/newest coalition must find a solution on how to draft chareidim into the IDF Israel Defense Forces without totally alienating the chareidim who have been locked out  of the government coalition as part of the demands of the Yesh Atid-Bayit Yehudi aka Lapid-Bennett block.

The Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) Party, which is the former Mafdal, NRP, National Religious Party, which had been dying a slow death until Naftali Bennett  took it over and gave it a total facelift.  One aspect of his campaign was to stress his elite fighting army service.  Actually, showing MK wannabes' IDF records was one of the two main campaign points of many parties. The other was to campaign as saviors and protectors of the elderly.  About that, I still haven't seen an increase in my state old age payments from Bituach Le'umi, National Insurance.  I'd love more money each month. It would come in very handy.

Israeli politicians and media are claiming that the unfair disproportionate burden of army service and milu'im, reserve duty is because of the chareidi exemptions, although it's actually growing faster from the secular Left, the youth too self-centered and non-patriotic to serve in the army.

It's always easier to blame the very/extreme religious aka the chareidim.  Don't get me wrong. I do think that they should serve, as should the secular Left, but this is a slow process for the better of the army and Israeli society in general.  Soldiers must be well motivated.  No doubt a large part of the Gilad Schalit fiasco is due to the fact he didn't have the mental toughness to be on the frontlines.  His father ran the campaign to get him released as if it was all the fault of Israel and Israel should pay any price no matter what the ultimate cost to security would be.

We must remember that today's Israel Defense Force isn't a peacetime army.  We are surrounded by enemy countries and international NGO's and anarchists who aim to destroy us.  Even the countries like the United States that claim to be our allies promote policies that totally endanger us.

There is absolutely no way that we can make peace with the Arabs who want us off the map and into the sea.

The Israeli War for Independence is till being fought, and we must win!

David Ben-Gurion, A New Look Re:Religon and Army Exemptions

Today I was talking to a neighbor who told me that he's in the middle of a book about IDF Chief Rabbi HaRav Shlomo Goren.  One of the things that surprised him was the good relationship between HaRAv Goren and Israel's first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, even though Ben-Gurion is known as being rather anti-religious.  Whenever HaRav Goren needed something, Ben-Gurion agreed.  My neighbor found that surprising. 

That made me think.

One of the biggest issues in Israel today is whether or not to continue the draft exemption for fulltime yeshiva students. This law was due to an agreement Israel's first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion had made with  the Chazon Ish, Rabbi Avraham Yeshayahu Karelitz.  My feeling about it has always been that Ben-Gurion did not want chareidim in the IDF because he didn't want a religious army.  Maybe Ben-Gurion's acquiescences to the Chazon Ish and Rabbi Goren was for a different reason, and I'm not referring to the one mentioned on Israel Matzav:

As many of you know (because some of you have even met me there), I attend a weekly Torah class in Jerusalem. The rabbi who gives the class once told us that he met a man who knew someone who had asked David Ben Gurion why he allowed a religious education system to be created in the new state at all. Ben Gurion responded that he figured that within a generation, all attachment to traditional Judaism would die out anyway, so why fight with them. On this, as on many other matters, Ben Gurion was clearly wrong.

Ben-Gurion certainly wasn't nice to the Revisionists, Jabotinsky, Menachem Begin, those who had fought for Israel's independence with the Etzel and Lechi.  He had even sent the Palmach to shoot at the Jews on the Altalena, a horrendous act for sure.

Could Ben-Gurion's agreement to defer/exempt hareidim, studying full-time in yeshivot from the IDF have been to get the political support and loyalty of the chareidi leadership?  Ben-Gurion would do anything to make sure that Menachem Begin's Herut Party would stay out of power.

Well, what do you think?

Latma Laughs at Lapid and... Lots of... Others

The pre-Independence day Tribal Update covers lots of topics. 

Ahead of Israel's 65th Independence Day, Latma's band sings about bringing back the country, North Korean dicatator Kim Jong Un comes to the studio for an interview to set out his demands, and the Palestinian Minister of Uncontrollable Rage, Tawil Fadiha explains why Israel is actually worse than Nazi Germany and more like Costa Rica

Watch the show...

Preparing for Yom Ha'Atzmaut, Israeli Independence Day

I've been seeing Israel flags and other Independence Day "accessories" on display and sale for the past few weeks.  Now, of course, the country is really into blue and white. 

For me personally, the most important thing is for us Jews to be a free, independent confident People and function freely and with full sovereignty in Our Land.   So to spend Rosh Chodesh Iyyar, the beginning of the Jewish Month of Iyyar at Shiloh HaKeduma, Tel Shiloh with other women, wandering around the ruins, praying, studying and feasting is just the right thing to do.

Shiloh is an ancient city, the first religious and spiritual capital of the Jewish Nation thousands of years ago, well documented in the Bible.  One of the most interesting things is that Shiloh is not recorded as a city conquered by Joshua after the exodus form Egypt.  From the Biblical text, the city welcomed Joshua without a fight.  The Book of Joshua is a narrative of military victories and defeats as the generation born in the wilderness, led by Joshua and Calev take over the Land G-d promised the Jewish People from the time of Abraham.

It was a period of great learning, failures and successes.  An entire people had to not only relocate but also learn to govern, defend itself  and take full responsibility for all needs.

It was very much like the Israeli War for Independence and the early years of the state.  Sixty-five years later, it's hard to imagine how survivors of the Nazi death camps could have gone straight to battle against the warring Arabs.  How did they have the physical, mental and spiritual strength to take up arms to join with the Zionist pioneers and defend the fledgling, newly declared State of Israel?

Maybe we're actually still in that stage, or more like the time of Judges, which had followed, Judges Chapter 21. 

כה  בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם, אֵין מֶלֶךְ בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל:  אִישׁ הַיָּשָׁר בְּעֵינָיו, יַעֲשֶׂה.  {ש}

25 In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes. {P}

Yes, I admit that the State of Israel isn't perfect.  But that is no reason for a Jew to refuse to live here.  It's our job to make Israel a better and more Jewish country.  It's ours; we have no other.

Israel-Arab One-Sided Ceasefire and American Military Aid

There's that "joke" which asks how do you say "ceasefire" in Arabic...

... reload

Like a very broken record, we've heard Israeli Prime Ministers and defense experts claim that if the Arabs just once break the ceasefire and attack... we'll attack back... Nu, it takes a lot more than one Arab attack, violation of a ceasefire for the Israeli Government to move and protect innocent citizens.

A few short months ago, after we finally tried to defend ourselves from Arab terror attacks, rocket launches against Israelis, the world went wild and forced us into a ceasefire.  Yes, we ceased firing and the Arabs have resumed.  The following is from The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC.)

On three separate occasions this past week a number of rockets and mortar shells fell in Israeli territory. The attacks were part of a trend of increasing rocket fire from the Gaza Strip which, in our assessment, is being carried out by rogue terrorist networks, especially those affiliated the global jihad. Hamas continues its policy of restraint, maintained since the end of Operation Pillar of Defense.

Violence continues in Judea and Samaria, a manifestation of the so-called "popular resistance." Two Palestinian youths were killed during an attack on an IDF post near Tulkarm. Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of trying to sow anarchy and cause security in Judea and Samaria to deteriorate.

How many Arab attacks will it take for Israel to do something?

Can this be connected to the news that Israel will be getting more shopping coupons aka gift cards aka military aid from the United States?

According to the numbers published, the United States will provide Israel with $3.4 billion in defense aid, a record number, according to Channel 10.
The budget proposal submitted to Congress also includes a request for the addition of approximately $220 million to finance the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system, a request that was not included in last year's budget proposal, but was added later on.

Please don't forget that this "aid" isn't money for Israel to develop and produce weapons and other military equipment.  It isn't money that Israel can spend in the best and most economical way for our defense needs.

American "aid" is really aid to the ailing American economy.  This is how the capitalist United States can prop up its military industries, and even better for them, when it gives such shopping coupons to Israel, Israel sends its top engineers to check out and improve the American products.

Food for thought:

Who really benefits from American military aid? 

"Don't Take My Picture! THEY'll Kill Me"

It's amazing, at least I'm amazed at who well we all get along at work.  I'm referring to the Jews and Arabs who work together at Rami Levy and Yafiz in Sha'ar Binyamin.  As I've written many times, it's the story that the international media and the international diplomatic busybodies prefer to ignore.  They don't quite like the fact that the Arabs feel safe and comfortable with Jews, especially Jews who are obviously Right and live in communities known as "settlements" in Judea and Samaria.

I experienced something similar when studying in a special course of studies for unlicensed teachers in David Yellin Teachers College.  (The program was to officially certify/license us as teachers.)  There was an Arab in the group who would say that she trusted us, our sincerity and honesty more than the secular Leftist Jews she lived with.

The other day at work, a Jewish fellow worker called me over:

"You must take a picture of this!"

She knew that I would enjoy the irony of seeing Arabs hanging Israeli flags all over the Rami Levy-Yafiz stores to celebrate Yom Ha'Atzma'ut, Israeli Independence Day.  Many Arabs work in maintenance, and decorating the stores is part of their job.  When I took out my camera, there was an explosion of Arabic as the workers discussed it.  Then one came up to me and very politely asked me not to take his picture.

"They'll kill me.  You know who they are."
"Yes, don't worry. You're not in the pictures."

I then made sure that there were no pictures showing any staff, Jew or Arab on my camera.  That seemed best.

Arabs seem very happy to be working for Rami Levy.  Apparently, even the lowest minimum wage job gives a good salary.  A few months ago when I was serving an Arab customer in English, she told me that she's an English teacher, and if I'd work in Jenin or Shechem aka Nablus, with my perfect American accent I'd make lots of money, about ns4,000 a month.  That maybe a lot in those cities, but an Israeli teacher makes more.  That sum is minimum wage in Israel.  I found it very interesting that the woman seemed oblivious to my being a Jewish Israeli and that if I was to enter those cities, I'd probably not leave alive.

YU Cardozo Law School, Where's the צדק Tzeddek Justice?

צדק צדק תרדוף
Tzeddek, Tzeddek Tirdofe
 Justice, justice shalt thou follow

Davka, why, how could the Yeshiva University's Cardozo Law School invite the avowed, lying anti-Semite Jimmy Carter and award him with their  International Advocate for Peace Award?

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}

Deuteronomy Chapter 16 דְּבָרִים

Carter has consistently blamed Israel for everything wrong in the middle east.  Carter also takes full credit for the Menachem Begin-Anwar Sadat Sinai treaty.

Here are some quotations from a review by Mitchell Bard of his book  Palestine Peace Not Apartheid by Jimmy Carter:

It is clear from the beginning, however, that facts are of little concern to Carter who sees Israel as “the tiny vortex around which swirl the winds of hatred, intolerance, and bloodshed.” It is certainly true that Israel is subject to these winds, the question is why he blames the victim. Why doesn’t he see the Islamist rejection of a Jewish presence in the region as the problem, or the unwillingness of the Palestinians to accept a two-state solution?
Some statements are outright falsehoods, such as his unsubstantiated claim that Israel stole money sent to the Palestinians for humanitarian purposes when, in fact, Israel itself provides such funds, as does the United States and many other countries. While he presents no evidence for his assertion, he ignores reports by organizations such as the IMF, which found that Yasser Arafat stole $900 million of the international aid.

Carter is consistent in his blaming Israel for the Arabs' own mess.

As with most of Carter's recent statements about Israel and the Palestinians, instead of facts we get vignettes from recent Carter travels. And while he finds "a growing sense of concern and despair" among "increasingly desperate" Palestinians, polls do not sustain this view. The most recent survey by the leading Palestinian pollster, Khalil Shikaki (done in August, the same month Carter visited), shows "considerable improvement in public perception of personal and family security and safety in the West Bank and a noticeable decrease in public perception of the existence of corruption in [Palestinian Authority] institutions." This does not sound like despair. In fact, positive views of personal and family safety and security in the West Bank stood at 25 percent four years ago, 35 percent two years ago and 43 percent a year ago, and they have risen to 58 percent in the past year, Shikaki reports. There are other ways to measure quality of life in the West Bank: The International Monetary Fund recently stated that "macroeconomic conditions in the West Bank have improved" largely because "Israeli restrictions on internal trade and the passage of people have been relaxed significantly."

Not only are we in Israel in shock over the decision of Cardozo Law School to award Jimmy Carter, but Cardozo alumni are outraged.

A Message To Cardozo Alumni

On Wednesday, April 10, 2013, Jimmy Carter will be honored at the Benjamin N. Cardozo Law School, part of Yeshiva University, to receive the International Advocate for Peace Award from the Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution.
Jimmy Carter has an ignominious history of anti-Israel bigotry. He is responsible for helping to mainstream the antisemitic notion that Israel is an apartheid state with his provocatively titled book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid”, the publication of which prompted mass resignations from the Carter Center. He has met numerous times with leaders of the terror group Hamas whitewashing their genocidal goals and undermining US efforts to isolate Hamas. And Carter’s record of slandering Israel is so voluminous that both CAMERA and Alan Dershowitz have written books refuting his lies.

If you return to the Biblical quotation at the beginning of this post and read it to the end you'll see that we are commanded to care about true justice in order to survive and thrive in the Land G-d gave us, the Jewish People.

Justice, justice shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

The aim of people like Jimmy Carter, who claims to love the Bible is to deny us our G-d given rights, written clearly in the Bible to our Land.  The Yeshiva University Cardozo Law School is doing a grave injustice to the Jewish People!