Dangerous Delusions

The Big Lie:

By recognizing that the Golden Rule is fundamental to all world religions, the Charter for Compassion can inspire people to think differently about religion. This Charter is being created in a collaborative project by people from all over the world. It will be completed in 2009. Use this site to offer language you'd like to see included. Or inspire others by sharing your own story of compassion. source/link

The Truth about Islam:

Book 41, Number 6985:
Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.

That is what they believe. It's dangerous to lie to ourselves that Moslems are a tolerant people.

Orange Wedding Dance

A local Shiloh girl married a boy, a DP, Displaced Person, one of the exiled from Gush Katif. In the middle of the dancing, suddenly orange flags appeared.

Orange is the symbolic color of Gush Katif, the struggle against Disengagement. Disengagement has just encouraged more and more Arab terrorisim. The Arab terrorists use Gush Katif as a launching pad for missiles aimed at Jews, at Israelis to kill, destroy and maim.

Despite the pain of losing their homes, being made refugees, just because they're Jewish, they haven't stopped living, marrying and having children.

Am Yisrael Chai!

The Jewish People Live!

And Mazal Tov to the young couple.

Pandora's Pseudistinian Box

All these years, beginning with Menachem Begin's "autonomy" for the Arabs in YESHA--Judea, Samaria and Gaza, the Israeli Government and media and more recently all the talk of a Pseudistinian state in the Jewish Heartland, kept up the big lie that we're not in danger. The Arabs need us, and we can control things.

It's sort of like the parent who doesn't really want to give something to a child and keeps saying "later," "soon" hoping that eventually the kid will give up or forget about it, become distracted by something else.

They opened up a Pandora's Pseudistinian Box of expectations, especially by promising sundry anti-Israel busybodies whose priority has been unabashedly pro-Arab and ignoring, pooh poohing, Israeli security needs, that there will be a new Arab State.

Now, all of a sudden, Olmert and Tsippi, with Israeli Elections getting close, oppose a UN resolution declaring such a state. As sung so wisely by Sancho Panza in 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."

The UN hasn't done anything effective in Israel's favor since November 29, 1947. Even its "peacekeeping forces" have been more farcial than protective. I'll never forget how they fled in May, 1967, when Egypt's Nasser threatened Israel with annihilation.

We must fight this properly by totally changing Israeli policy. An Arab state, G-d forbid, in the heartland of the Land of Israel will only lead to danger, not only for the State of Israel, but for the entire world.

Let's do whatever we have to in order to stop the process and strengthen the State of Israel! The solution is within us. We don't need a Wizard of Oz. We have the oz, the strength, if only we'd activate it!

Eretz Yisrael l'Am Yisrael

The Land of Israel for The People of Israel

Zot Shelanu!

It's Ours!

A "Miss" Is Still An Attack!

There seems to be a "no big deal" attitude if nobody's hurt when Kassams "rain" on Israel.

That drives me crazy, doubly, since the headlines always refer to the missiles as if they're self-propelled, self-launched, sort of spontaneous combustion. And also, if there aren't enough dead, injured, damaged or all of the above, it's like it didn't really happen.

This is all part of the, "we're tough and nobody can break us" fallacy. That's the lie that can really kill us, because we're not fighting our enemies!

Special Bus Lanes?

Jerusalem's Mayor-elect, Nir Barkat considers the Chelm-like lightrail construction just a way to totally bankrupt Jerusalem in more ways than one. The Arutz 7 site had a version of his plan, which didn't make sense to me.

Barkat Wants to Derail Light Train, Tear Down Bridge

(IsraelNN.com) Newly elected Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat said he wants to stop the light railway project and tear down the controversial Bridge of Strings. The high tech millionaire harshly criticized the mass transportation project, which has cost far more than originally budgeted. He said the money should have been invested in education and social projects.
Barkat also wants to tear down the Bridge of Strings, which is part of the delayed light railway system. The towering finger-like structure that has been greeted with widespread criticism for ruining the view of the city.

Barkat seems much too sensible to have make such statements. So I tried searching the other Israeli news sites until I found a more complete article. Much of the news on Arutz 7 is gleaned from sites which employ reporters, not just "summarizers." The Jerusalem Post has a few more details, which make more sense:

Barkat told reporters he would weigh "preferable alternatives" to the repeatedly-delayed light rail project in the city, which he defined as "megalomanic," including state-of-the-art buses to run where the track has already been laid.

Obviously, what's done is done, and now the smartest thing would be to figure out how to utilize it in the best and most financially wise interests of the city of Jerusalem.

At present, the neighborhoods in "stage one" of the lightrail are nightmares. You can see pictures here and here.

Overreacting

Funny timing, these two events. Both can be considered overreactions.

The first, which I read about yesterday, or earlier, is like a joke. IDF soldier jailed for yawning during Rabin memorial service But truth is stranger than fiction, for sure. I never knew that is was a crime to yawn, but in the post-Rabin Israel, not only are our opinions regulated and supervised, one can only yawn in synagogue or when Benny Begin or Arieh Eldad speak. And snoring is encouraged.

And I'm sure that Brad Pitt was glad that the guards guarding the event he was appearing at were so gung ho that they tried hustling out that guy with the funny mustache and suspicious hat.

Pitt may think twice or ten times the next time he goes to an event incognito.

Israeli Municipal Elections--Pictures Plus!

The only pictures I have are from Jerusalem, because there weren't any other elections in my "stamping grounds."





While taking many of the pictures, I thought of calling this post, "Dirty Politics," because of the litter of political "flyers" flying all over and landing as a mess throughout the city.



Even though Arkady Gaydamak is one of Israel's wealthiest, his money didn't buy much loyalty in Jerusalem.

It also looks like most Jerusalemites don't want a staunchly chareidi mayor, and Porush lost. You have to remember that Porush is more than just chareidi; outgoing Mayor Lupianski is also chariedi. Meir Porush is the latest in the Agudat Yisrael Porush Dynasty. He represents what many Israelis fear from chareidim. Simply put, not all chareidim are the same. Maybe another time I'll blog about the chareidi issue.

Kiryat Arba had an interesting election between two other dynasties of sorts, the Levingers vs the Katzovers. The results were:

KIRYAT ARBA - FINAL
Malachi Levinger beats incumbent Zvi Katzover

Malachi Levinger is the son of Rabbi Moshe and Miriam Levinger, who were crucial in the return of Jews to Hebron and the establishment of Kiryat Arba. I remember Malachi when he was a young man and living in Shvut Rachel. It was obvious that he had even greater political potential/talents than his father, and I wonder what his plans are. He's still a young man, not yet forty.

Missleading, Unclear Statistics Re: Jerusalem Elections

The percentage of voters being announce in the Jerusalem elections sound peculiar. It's lower than expected. I haven't seen a breakdown of neighborhoods which would be much higher, except for the Arab ones.

The lower the turn-out the better for Porush, since his people vote. Barkat needs a high turn-out. I don't know what Arkady Gaydamak needs. He never had a chance.

I was in Jerusalem twice today and, G-d willing I'll post election pictures, but not tonight.

Learning Something New About Samuel and David

Living in Shiloh, one of the most important locations of Jewish History, certainly has had an effect on my life. Over the years here, I've spoken to many people, diplomats, politicans, journalists and sundry visitors, about its history, the Biblical and modern.

The Biblical figures of Chana and Shmuel, (Samuel,) played very crucial roles in the develpment of Jewish History, the transition between the anarchy that existed during the time of the Judges and monarchy, the annointing of the first Kings, Saul and David. Of course, I've studied the subject, but there's always so much left to learn.

Yesterday I was at a fantastic lecture at Matan by Dr. Yael Ziegler. Sometimes Frequently, when I hear talks about King Saul, I find myself strongly and vociferously disagreeing. I consider him to have been a terrible king. He wasn't a true, natural, leader and he disobeyed G-d's orders, which had been conveyed by Samuel. Later on, he further proved his unsuitability by concentrating his energies on attacking David, rather than destryong his nation's enemies.

Not long ago, at a different venue, the speaker and I argued about King Saul. I brought up the fact that after the capture of Amalek, he didn't excecute them all including killing the live stock as G-d had commanded. The lecturer countered that:

"The people told him not to."

But, I reminded her, there is nothing like that in the text of the Bible, only Saul's verbalising it as an "excuse."

"But that's what he said."

"Maybe he lied," was all I could say in response.

It's the only thing that makes sense and is perfectly consistent with the narrative and his character, as proven by King Saul's actions.

Samuel the Prophet, strongly, almost obsessively, mentored King Saul. He did the opposite with King David. David had to establish his leadership on his own, and more crucially, David had his own communications with G-d.

David was a strong, daring and brilliant leader. If Samuel had been at his side, it would have had been a terrible distraction and would have totally crippled his development.

Dr. Ziegler asked us: "How did Samuel assist David?" According to the Biblical text, they had no additional contact after David was annointed king. We all guessed incorrectly, including yours truly. And then Dr. Ziegler gave her excellent answer: "Samuel wrote Megilat Ruth, the story of David's ancestors."

It's nice to learn something new.

This Is The Type Of Campaign Arieh Eldad Should Be Running

Candidate Says 'Sick Tzfat' Needs Doctor for Mayor
(IsraelNN.com) Mayoral candidate Dr. Yitzchak Stern's campaign calls Tzfat a sick person that needs a doctor...

MK Dr. Arieh Eldad, MD, worked for years as a world famous plastic surgeon who specialized in serious burn cases. No, he wasn't the "nose job," "eye lid lift" kind of doctor. He developed methods to graft healthy skin where none was growing.

Those very damaged patients, lucky enough to have had Eldad as their doctor praised his bedside manner.

Why can't Dr. Eldad use the same people skills when campaigning? Unfortunately, he's surrounded by "advisors" running a rediculous campaign.

Eldad is also a tradtional Jew who could easily be attractive to all Jews, and his Hatikvah Party is labeled secular. Earlier on I tried to get involved, but I was never called, probably because I look the Torah-loyal Jew I am.

I'm beginning to wonder if some of those people, who also reject all of the basic poltical tactics and techniques are doing it on purpose...

Now Do You Understand Why I Don't Trust The Likud?

Many people complain that I'm unduly pessimistic and untrusting of politicians. I call myself a pragmatist. They don't like it when I tell them that Bibi will bend over backwards to be PC centrist, trying to win over the Leftists, figuring that we Land of Israel Loyalists have no alternative other than "Prince Bibi."

The latest headlines just strengthen my convictions that the Likud is not the party for me. I just can't trust Bibi Netanyahu to protect the Land of Israel, the State of Israel, the People of Israel and our national security.

Likud Chief Netanyahu: If elected, I'll continue peace talks