Against The "Spirit of Chanukah," Davka in Israel

The story of Chanuka, the fight of the Maccabees against the Greeks and their stooges the Hellenists, is a tale of freedom fighters, Jews fighting for minimal religious rights, religious freedom. Today we are a vibrant people with influence well beyond our small numbers.

There's a disproportionate amount of Jews who receive all sorts of prizes for excellence, whether in the sciences or the arts or philosophy etc. And where are the Ancient Greeks who so terrorized us and dictated the end of Jewish observance? They are gone. Their society is history. Their metropolises are archaeological sites, while the Ancient Biblical Jewish cities are filling with Jews, building and thriving.

The only thing that really casts a pall on our great Jewish success and revival is the fact that the anti-Jewish, anti-History Left is ruling here in Israel. They wouldn't dare do this to Arabs or Leftists.

'Radical Left Crackdown': Lehava Head Released to House Arrestand
Ben-Ari: I Get Raided, Zoabi Gets Away Scot-Free

The mentality and ideology of the Israeli Left is very reminiscent of the Ancient Hellenists, Jews who identified with Greek society and culture more than they identified as Jews and Laws of Judaism.

To make it clear. None of these problems put me off from living here in Israel. There is only once way to stop it, and that is for us to be here in larger and larger numbers. That is how we influence change. Making Israel more Jewish takes time. There is no instant cure. We must not get frustrated and give up. That is the lesson of the oil on Chanukah. We will survive and get stronger, no matter how small and weak we seem.

Chag Urim Sameach!

Have an Enlightened Chanukah Holiday!!!

Chanukah update from JewishIsrael

posted by JewishIsrael.com

JewishIsrael’s Counter-Missionary of the Month Award Goes to Missionary Cody Archer

Cody Archer, a missionary working for Revive Ministries, inadvertently outed his boss, Asher Intrator, as a missionary targeting religious Jews.

Archer sent JewishIsrael an email requesting that we remove the word "missionary" from one of our videos which features Intrater being interviewed by the International Director of ICEJ. JewishIsrael staff responded by asking Archer, " why the panic about the word “missionary”? We received an incredible and revealing response ...more

Voice of Israel Radio:Throwing Light on Christian Support for Israel

Avraham Leibler and Ellen Horowitz of JewishIsrael recently appeared on Voice of Israel Radio's "Jerusalem Diaries" show, with award-winning journalist and gracious radio hostess Judy Lash Balint. The full interview can be heard here.

Chanukah Sameach from JewishIsrael.com

Alan Gross Released by Cuba While Jonathan Pollard Still Jailed

The American practice of justice and fairness is pretty fokokt. I don't think there was anything wrong with Obama's government coming to some sort of agreement with Cuba about releasing Alan Gross after five long difficult years of imprisonment there and rebuilding diplomatic ties after a half a century.

What's out of balance, or disproportionate (a favorite word of the Americans when discussing their demands and expectations of Israel) is the continued and unprecedented imprisonment of Jonathan Pollard for a crime that didn't endanger the United States of America. Pollard illegally transferred data, intelligence (security) information to an ally, Israel. That was thirty years ago, and since then he has been held in the most secure and punishing conditions the American Prison System provides. He has also served longer than enemy communist spies arrested during the same time period. A generation earlier the Rosenbergs were executed for spying for the USSR. All they and Pollard have in common is religion, Judaism. But Pollard did not spy for an enemy country!

CREDIT: REUTERS/KEVIN LAMARQUE

As part of the Alan Gross package, the United States has released three Cuban spies.

Cuba also released an intelligence agent who spied for the United States and was held for nearly 20 years, and the United States in return freed three Cuban intelligence agents held in the United States......The three Cuban intelligence agents, jailed since 1998, are Gerardo Hernandez, 49, Antonio Guerrero, 56, and Ramon Labañino, 51. Two others had been released before on completing their sentences - Rene Gonzalez, 58, and Fernando Gonzalez, 51. 

Yes, those Cubans were spies for an enemy. Did Cuba apologize for their spies the way Israel apologized for Pollard? And please don't forget that Israel actually handed Pollard over to the Americans by locking him out of the Embassy!

Will the American Jewish community temper their celebrations of Gross's release by demanding that the United States release Jonathan Jay Pollard?

Chanukah! It Happened Right Here!

Take a good look at this map.

The map isn't on a proper north-south axis. 

Most people, ok, Jews, are aware that there are two versions of the classic and still popular dreidle, sivivon, Chanukah spinning top. One has the Hebrew letters, נ, ג, ה, פ  and the other has  נ, ג, ה, ש. They stand for:

 !נס גדול היה פה Nes gadol haya poh!  
!נס גדול היה שם Nes gadol haya sham!

and mean

"A great miracle happened here!"
"A great miracle happened there!"

Many of the battles were right here in the Shiloh area. Maale Levona is just west of us, and Baal Hazor is to the south. As I noted in the map's caption, the map isn't on a proper north-south axis.

In the early years of our local elementary school, Ohel Shiloh (which has been divided into two separate schools, one for boys and the other for girls, for over fifteen years,) there used to be a school trip for the Second Grade before Chanukah. The children would be bused to one of those nearby historic mountains for a special Chanukah activity.

The last year I taught there as the girls PE Gym Teacher, I had been asked to accompany the classes, then there was one of girls and one of boys, on the trip. The children were equipped with fake swords and the boys were let off on the bottom of the mountain, while the girls were let off on top. They were instructed to meet and battle it out on the perilous (at least to me who has a fear of heights) cliffs. None of the children, that year at least, showed any fear, though I was terrified and needed the help of the accompanying soldiers to help me down.

Year after year this was done until the fear of Arab terror attack during the intifada made the school security official decide to stop the trips. That was when I learned that the Chanukah story, our history of battles against the Greek enemy didn't just happen in Jerusalem around the Temple Mount.

 !נס גדול היה פה Nes gadol haya poh! 
 "A great miracle happened here!"

Why Can't The State of Israel Respond With Facts that Attack Back?

I'm so sick and tired of our Israeli governments, no matter who's the ruling Prime Minister, acting so wimpy whenever we're attacked. That's why I really got a kick out of this not so recent video of Caroline Glick telling the Europeans off.

Post by Joods.nl.

I think she was pretty mild considering what she could have said.

For years I've been saying that Israel's response to the countries that won't recognize Jerusalem as our Capital City by choosing a different one than theirs for our embassy. I have no doubt that not only will we be responding properly, but we'd save money. For sure property is more expensive in the official capitals.

• What city would make a good substitute for the United States's Washington DC? Should it be a city in Delaware, Maryland or further afield?
• No doubt there are suitable and convenient replacements for London and Paris.

Please list your recommendations in the comments.

As far as I'm concerned we should leave the United Nations, where we are treated worse than the world's most undemocratic and terrorizing of all nations. Nothing we say or do will make the world look at us fairly; so why bother?

All of the representatives of anti-Israeli NGOs should declared persona non grata  and banished from the country under armed guard. Any foreigners found at pro-Arab terrorist demonstrations should be taken to Ben-Gurion Airport and sent to their home country. Don't even give them time to pack. Let their friends send their luggage to them. That should include journalists.

Israeli Arabs who are elected to the Knesset must declare their loyalty to the State of Israel. If they don't, they lose their seat. And if their elected party ends up without any MKs, their problem, not ours.

I'm sick and tired of our bending over backwards into dangerous contortions trying to prove how liberal and free-thinking we are. There are red lines and we must protect ourselves.

Tonight begins the holiday of Chanukah, the Jewish Holiday that celebrates our survival after the Greeks declared our Jewish Religion illegal and we had to fight a war against them.  Today we thrive and those Ancient Greeks are Ancient History.

We have nothing to fear if we follow my suggestions!

Israeli Knesset Elections 2015, 5775, Trying to Keep Up With Party Switching

No doubt that there will be more news and more party switching, like "wife-swapping" among Israeli politicians and wannabes.

Loyalty seems to be a lost skill in Israeli politics, whether it's to ideals, principles or parties. Just like the athletes who switch teams according to whatever contract/salary their agents can get them, our politicians go after the party that can get them the best chance of a Knesset seat and/or cabinet post. Some people may say that I sound cynical and sarcastic, but I think that I'm a total realist, very pragmatic. Read on...

Today's party jumping champ is certainly Tsipi Livni, who although raised in a strong Revisionist home, like Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, has gone off the deep end politically by not only aligning herself with the extreme Left Labor and Issac Herzog, but her foul-mouthed innuendoed appearance on an Israeli satire show turned even more people off.  (sorry no translation)


For those who don't remember, Tsipi deserted Likud for Kadima, Kadima for her "The Movement" (a name which got a lot of uncomplimentary laughs,) and now since that ship is sinking she has joined Herzog's Labor Party.

Political zigzagging goes to Avigdor Lieberman, who hopefully by trying to please everyone will attract much fewer votes than before.

Floating votes magnet is now doubt Moshe Kahlon, who is trying for the equivalent of the Herbert Hoover prize, since he's trying to recruit a chulent, Shabbat stew of discounters.

A report in Globes Sunday said that among the candidates to run with Kahlon will be Itzik Alrov, a hareidi Israeli from Bnei Brak who was the catalyst for the “cottage cheese protests” several years ago. It was Alrov's Facebook page on the high cost of dairy products that set off a chain reaction that led to mass protests about costs.
Another prospective member of Kulanu is Avi Katz, a member of the Religious Zionist community who is Israel's “father of five shekel coffee.” Katz is the owner of the Coffix chain of coffee shops, which sells everything – coffee, juice, cakes, and sandwiches – for five shekels. In the wake of Coffix's popularity, other five shekel chains have sprung up around the country, and even “traditional” coffee shops have cut costs in order to meet Katz's prices.
According to some reports, the party may even include the penultimate Israeli bargain maker – Rami Levy, head of the eponymous supermarket chain – on the list. Levy's chain is known for discounting, and for running specials on basic items like chicken, which he sells for 5 or 10 shekels a kilo, especially around holiday time, when other chains raise their prices.

For the "recycling prize," there's the new party being whipped together by Shas's Eli Yishai, veteran party-jumper Uri Ariel and possibly joined by NRP aka Jewish Home MK Yoni Chetboun.

Miriam Alster/Flash90

And lastly, our "surprise jumper" is Dani Dayan who is leaving Likud for the NRP aka Jewish Home.

Dayan's decision is seen as a decisive move to the right, as he has previously expressed support for Likud and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Bennett welcomed the move at a press conference Sunday.
"I am glad [Dayan] has joined Jewish Home," Bennett stated, noting he first turned to Dayan at the Saban Forum in Washington last week. "He is a real fighter for the Land of Israel."

That took me by surprise.

Remember that there are still three months until the Knesset Elections, and the date for primaries and closing of party applications still haven't passed, so there will be more surprises and shake-ups to come. Hold onto your hats, unless you, too, will be tossing them into the ring.

Protesting Bus Travellers from Shiloh and Binyamin-Shomron Being Thrown out of Central Bus Station

It's rather ironic that the residents of Beit El have gotten the most sophisticated protests about our being banished from the safety and comfort of Jerusalem's Central Bus Station. Their buses are near the bus station, but we, Shiloh, Maale Levona, Ofra (almost all of the lines,) Eli and Samaria communities like Elon Moreh have been sent many miles away to Pisgat Zeev, the Jerusalem neighborhood furthest from the CBS and center of town.

Inside the Central Bus Station, where our buses used to be. 

We are also no longer officially part of Egged.

Our buses are now from Egged Tavura, a subsidiary. Not only have our travel conditions worsened, but the drivers no longer have a place to rest, eat nor use a bathroom in-between runs.

We, yes, including those traveling to Beit El--see their video, now must wait outdoors, rain, shine, day or night.

Pisgat Zeev bus stop

waiting inside the Pisgat Zeev Mall

• Security is non-existent at the bus/train stop.
• There is no real shelter from the rain, wind and sun.
• There is no one who can say if the bus will come or not.
• Very few buses to a very limited amount of neighborhoods stop here, meaning that we need at least two, sometimes even more buses or a bus and train ride to get to our destination.

The result has been that even people who never took tremps, rides from possible strangers, are finding themselves waiting one more stop up by the Pisgat Zeev traffic lights and tremping aka hitchhiking. 

The bus stop pictured here isn't on the Shiloh routes, 461 and 463. This stop is on Rechov Yirmiyahu, Jeremiya Street, just up from Center 1. The Beit El, Psagot and Tel Zion buses start nearby in the Binyanei Ha'uma Egged parking lot. Their second stop is by the String Bridge across from Kiryat Moshe. This stop is the closest to the bus station.

Big Deal, Bennett Told Indyk to $#!!#$%! The "Two State Solution;" He Should Tell Bibi!!

PETER HALMAGYI/BROOKINGS INSTITUTE

For the past few days, the news has been full of the very public argument between Israel's Minister of the Economy NRP's (yes, I know it's now called the Jewish Home) Naftali Bennett and United States envoy Martin Indyk.

“We have to undo the years of nonsense that the peace industry has fermented, which led us to the position where the world thinks we are occupiers in our own land,” Bennett said.
Sitting next to Bennett on the stage at the Willard Hotel conference room was Martin Indyk, until recently the Obama administration’s special peace envoy, who was tasked with interviewing Bennett. But as the Israeli minister laid out his worldview, including dismissal of the two-state solution, Indyk, who initially sought only to point out what he saw as “inconsistencies” in Bennett’s plan, grew visibly impatient.
“I just think you live in another reality,” he told the Israeli speaker.
“I live in another reality?” Bennet shot back, “I’ve been in the first intifada, the second intifada, I’ve been on ground there. I know more than Oslo and more than all those conferences …. You live in a different reality.”
Then, escalating the already contentious discussion Bennett turned to Indyk and asked: “How many people need to die before you wake up?”

Read more: http://forward.com/articles/210527/right-wing-star-naftali-bennett-trashes-two-state/#ixzz3LnvhgUVQ

I agree with Bennett with all I heard him say to Indyk, but he was chopping down the wrong cherry tree or shooting the wrong target.... Israel's problem isn't Indyk, nor Obama, nor Mr. and Mrs. Clinton, nor the U.N., innumerable NGOs or even the media. Our problem is much closer to home.

Bennett's boss and new buddy Bibi Netanyahu, our Prime Minister, is a firm and enthusiastic supporter of a Palestinian state, yes, the "two state solution." I just heard him expound on it again, recently on Israeli television. And that is why I will not vote Likud in the upcoming elections, nor will I vote for Bennett's party, because a vote for either is a vote for the "two state solution," meaning another Arab terror state!

Not new, but still accurate.

Israeli Elections, 2015, 5775, In With New and Out With Old

MK Binyamin Ben-Eliezer AP/Channel 2 News

MK Binyamin Ben-Eliezer of Labor has joined the list of veteran politicians who have decided to call it quits. He joins Limor Livnat and Gidon Sa'ar, both of Likud, who are off to make new careers for themselves. Considering Ben-Eliezer aka Fuad's bad health, he may just try to enjoy retirement.

These resignations open up opportunities for new faces, especially if the polls are correct. Both Labor and Likud are expected to get more seats in the upcoming elections.

The unabashedly Leftist Israeli media is hyping the "political marriage" of the lackluster Labor Party with Tsipi Livni's diminishing "Movement," trying to get the voting public to accept them as the ruling party. The media hopes that newcomer Moshe Kahlon's "Kulanu" will be sufficiently anti-Likud to join them in a coalition along with la-la Left Lapid and what remains of his "Yesh Atid."

Photo by Tomer Appelbaum

Kahlon, like Livni, was originally in the Likud. To be honest, I don't know much about him, but one thing for sure. His party will get a lot of votes, and afterwards most voters will be disappointed. That has happened to all the other well-hyped, newly invented Center parties that pop up like weeds for every Israeli Election. Do you remember the Pensioners, the Free Center, Raful's party, Kadima, Yesh Atid, etc?

We have a good few months until elections. There will be many more posts about it. In the meantime, it's almost Shabbat. Have a peaceful and restful one, G-d willing.

Abbas's P.A. Any Excuse to Riot and Terrorize

For some people, the saying is:

"Any excuse to party"

But when you're dealing with the Arabs, their definition of "partying" is drastically different. They terrorize, attack and murder Jews. And, yes, that includes to so-called "moderate" sic  Mahmoud Abbas and his cronies.

Quiz

The Fatah Palestinian Authority (PA) President Abbas has aligned himself with the unabashedly terrorist Hamas, but most, if not all, international leaders, NGOs etc ignore that fact.

Palestinians blocked an Israeli medic from assisting PA official Ziad Abu Ein after he furiously confronted Israeli officers. Photo: Twitter (Algemeiner)

Yesterday, when the Arab terrorists were rioting near Shiloh, PA Official and convicted terrorist Ziad Abu Ein had a heart attack. Even though the Israeli soldiers tried to give top notch medical assistance, this was rejected by the terrorist rioters, and he subsequently died.

A British television news reporter has revealed that Palestinian demonstrators near the West Bank village of Turmusaya prevented an Israeli medic from providing aid to a Palestinian Authority official who collapsed after he shoved and verbally abused Israeli officers on the scene.
In a live report for the UK’s Sky News broadcaster, Middle East correspondent Tom Rayner reported that Ziad Abu Ein, a convicted terrorist who was appointed by the PA to organize campaigns against Jewish settlements in the West Bank, was lying on the ground “unconscious” after the clash – although separate footage shot by Kremlin broadcaster RT displayed Abu Ein conscious and sitting up after his altercation with the IDF officers.
“When he’s on the floor, an Israeli medic does come up to him, she tries to clear an area around him, but Palestinians pick him up and take him straight to a vehicle,” Rayner said, in footage viewed by The Algemeiner. The medic was “not able to deliver any first aid,” Rayner continued, and Abu Ein was “declared dead when he got to a hospital in Ramallah.” (Algemeiner)

No surprise! Israel is now being blamed for Ziad Abu Ein's death.

People die from heart attacks all the time. Sometimes good medical care can facilitate recovery, and sometimes it can't. But to blame Israel for a heart attack, and the fact that Abu Ein had been sent without proper medical care to an inferior hospital is just another example of the anti-Israel, pro-Arab terrorist incitement we see and hear all the time from Mahmoud Abbas and his terrorist cronies.

Jewish Business News Slams Evangelical Publication Israel Today for Deceiving Israelis

Posted by JewishIsrael.com

Kudos to Tibi Singer, columnist for Jewish Business News, for outing the messianic missionary publication Israel Today and their toxic agenda.

Singer's article, "ComeTo Israel For The Most Virulent, Anti-Rabbinic Videos, In Hebrew", denounces Israel Today (of no affiliation to Israeli newspaper Yisrael Hayom) for promoting "what amounts to an aggressive messianic endeavor, complete with angry attacks on the rabbinic tradition, lies about the content and purpose of Talmudic passages, and open invitations for Jews to convert to Christianity—all of it in fluent, eloquent Hebrew, delivered by two clean cut, bona fide Israeli salesmen."…more

Related Video:

Pat Boone disgraces and exploits the memory of Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri 

Deemed “the official Christian Ambassador to the Holy Land”, Pat Boone gives generously to Yad Vashem and serves as a spokesperson for Yechiel Eckstein’s IFCJ and Israel’s Ministry of Tourism. Yet he also brags about baptizing Jews, supports the messianic missionary community and sells land in the Galilee to evangelicals.

In this recent show televised on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), Boone exploits the late Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri by promoting a book and movie claiming that shortly before his death, Rabbi Kaduri revealed jesus as the messiah. Boone and author Pastor Carl Gallups cast Rabbi Kaduri as the Billy Graham/Pope-like figure of Judaism and speak of the number of rabbis coming to a belief of Jesus...more