Thursday, October 14, 2010

An End to Israel’s Invisibility

The New York Times October 13, 2010
An End to Israel's Invisibility
By MICHAEL B. OREN


NEARLY 63 years after the United Nations recognized the right of the Jewish people to independence in their homeland — and more than 62 years since Israel's creation — the Palestinians are still denying the Jewish nature of the state. "Israel can name itself whatever it wants," said the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, while, according to the newspaper Haaretz, his chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said that the Palestinian Authority will never recognize Israel as the Jewish state. Back in 1948, opposition to the legitimacy of a Jewish state ignited a war. Today it threatens peace.

Mr. Abbas and Mr. Erekat were responding to the call by the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for the Palestinians to recognize Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, enabling his government to consider extending the moratorium on West Bank construction. "Such a step by the Palestinian Authority would be a confidence-building measure," Mr. Netanyahu explained, noting that Israel was not demanding recognition as a prerequisite for direct talks. It would "open a new horizon of hope as well as trust among broad parts of the Israeli public."

Why should it matter whether the Palestinians or any other people recognize Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people? Indeed, Israel never sought similar acknowledgment in its peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan. Some analysts have suggested that Mr. Netanyahu is merely making a tactical demand that will block any chance for the peace they claim he does not really want.

Affirmation of Israel's Jewishness, however, is the very foundation of peace, its DNA. Just as Israel recognizes the existence of a Palestinian people with an inalienable right to self-determination in its homeland, so, too, must the Palestinians accede to the Jewish people's 3,000-year connection to our homeland and our right to sovereignty there. This mutual acceptance is essential if both peoples are to live side by side in two states in genuine and lasting peace.

So why won't the Palestinians reciprocate? After all, the Jewish right to statehood is a tenet of international law. The Balfour Declaration of 1917 called for the creation of "a national home for the Jewish people" in the land then known as Palestine and, in 1922, the League of Nations cited the "historical connection of the Jewish people" to that country as "the grounds for reconstituting their national home." In 1947, the United Nations authorized the establishment of "an independent Jewish state," and recently, while addressing the General Assembly, President Obama proclaimed Israel as "the historic homeland of the Jewish people." Why, then, can't the Palestinians simply say "Israel is the Jewish state"?

The reason, perhaps, is that so much of Palestinian identity as a people has coalesced around denying that same status to Jews. "I will not allow it to be written of me that I have ... confirmed the existence of the so-called Temple beneath the Mount," Yasir Arafat told President Bill Clinton in 2000.

For Palestinians, recognizing Israel as a Jewish state also means accepting that the millions of them residing in Arab countries would be resettled within a future Palestinian state and not within Israel, which their numbers would transform into a Palestinian state in all but name. Reconciling with the Jewish state means that the two-state solution is not a two-stage solution leading, as many Palestinians hope, to Israel's dissolution.

Which is precisely why Israelis seek the basic reassurance that the Palestinian Authority is ready to accept our state — to accept us. Israelis need to know that further concessions would not render us more vulnerable to terrorism and susceptible to unending demands. Though recognition of Israel as the Jewish state would not shield us from further assaults or pressure, it would prove that the Palestinians are serious about peace.

The core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been the refusal to recognize Jews as a people, indigenous to the region and endowed with the right to self-government. Criticism of Israeli policies often serves to obscure this fact, and peace continues to elude us. By urging the Palestinians to recognize us as their permanent and legitimate neighbors, Prime Minister Netanyahu is pointing the way out of the current impasse: he is identifying the only path to co-existence.

Michael B. Oren is Israel's ambassador to the United States.

"Just as Israel recognizes the existence of a Palestinian people with an inalienable right to self-determination in its homeland..."

It is disturbing that Mr. Oren can so succinctly state one half of a problem that Israel has in dealing with the Arabs and yet blithely assert the other half of the problem as a "fait accompli."
I would posit the possibility that the Arabs will never recognize Israel as a Jewish State precisely because Israel has established these same Arabs as a "Palestinian people."

The "Palestinian people" is a fiction - an invention of "realpolitik."
This "people" was, as Mr. Oren so aptly points out, invented for the direct purpose, "as many Palestinians hope, to [cause] Israel's dissolution."
This is the only reason the "Palestinian people" exist.
This is self evident as can be seen by the wavering attitude that both Israel and much of the rest of the world have adopted towards Gaza now that they are called "Hamas" (Which, ironically, means "Violence" in Hebrew). There is a subtle shift in sympathies to the Fatach Arab division in Judea and Samaria as now being the legitimate representatives of the "Palestinian people."

Mr. Oren paints a sick double negative where a fictional "State of Palestine" (focused on Death and denial) exists and the very real, and very much alive, State of Israel, does not.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Is Jew Hatred on the Rise?

Someone asked:

I am a Christian. I am alarmed by the anti-Semitism we are seeing worldwide. I do wonder:

1. Is Jew-hatred on the rise?
2. Is Jew-hatred the same as it has always been, but is now bolder?
3. Or, am I simply more aware of it because I have better access to the truth, as provided by this and other websites?


 

It is my humble opinion, that all are correct, but mainly it is number three – awareness.


 

There was a brief period of time when Israel was looked upon as a beleaguered nation and Jews in the USA and elsewhere had a sense of belonging to something bigger than just their own individual countries and concerns.

Then, in 1967, Israel definitively defeated its enemies.

History was astounded.

Jews were not "supposed" to win. The wars in 1948 and 1956 were "anomalies." Luck. The UN. The Cold War. Stupid Arabs. Any excuse other than the fact that the Jews won.

There was no escaping the overwhelming Israeli victory in 1967.

And... That was unforgivable. There has been a zeitgeist for over 2,000 years that Jews were weak and malleable while, at the same time, Jews were an "evil," despised race of people. This was The Cultural Paradigm of the Western and Arab Worlds

If Jews are now, in reality, strong and powerful, then 2,000 years worth of History was wrong.

This apparent dichotomy has made the World's... "heads explode."


 

And, at the same time all this was happening, many Jews began to give up identifying with the religion of Judaism and began identifying with a new religion of Liberalism and Leftism.

Their "Mother the Earth" replaced G-d, their Father.

Just as the Haskalah (Reform movement in Judaism) did three centuries ago, many Jews in the world have now begun to wholeheartedly support those that have always hated them the worst and are trying to become One with the Arabs and the Leftists.

And, just as it happened in Germany and Europe when Jews began to try and assimilate into those cultures, this has further enraged the Jew hating Left; the Arabs; and the Islamists...


 

So, in other words - no, this is nothing new. There was a brief period, after the Holocaust, when it was considered impolite and impolitic to discuss obliterating Israel and the Jews in the Western World.

With the above, and the rise of the Islamists, that brief hiatus has been over for quite some time.


 

Monday, June 14, 2010

Counting Coup

(Throughout history, warriors have proven their bravery in battle by placing themselves at a disadvantage when fighting their enemy.

They would fight in battle unarmed or engage in single combat with their enemy's mightiest warrior.

This type of action to win prestige in battle became known as "counting coup" when it was practiced by the Plains Indians of North America.

Indian warriors proved their bravery by going unarmed into battle and touching an enemy warrior with a coup stick. If they escaped unharmed, they would record their bravery by notching their coup stick. The risk of injury or death was always required to count coup.)


 

The Muslim and Arab world has been undergoing a Great Arab and Muslim Sectarian Civil War for the last one hundred years.

This War was made manifest with the final Jihad of the Tribe of Saud as they burst forth from the moribund Ottoman Empire and successfully destroyed or dominated all of the other tribes and cities of the Arabian Peninsula, conquering Mecca and Medina, and thereby establishing their heretic Islamist cult of Wahhabism as the new official religion of Sunni Islam.

This began a world war as each Arab tribe; each nascent Islamic State; each Muslim religious sect; and each secular dictator and warlord, strove to dominate their rivals in increasingly violent military actions; revolutions; terrorist attacks; assassinations; and brutal repressions throughout the Arab and Muslim world.

Still, the world has barely noticed, that over the last one hundred years, hundreds of thousands of Muslims and Arabs have died at the hands of other Muslims and Arabs.

These death cult Islamists and Arabists have not been killing Westerners or Christians or Hindus or even Jews - they have been slaughtering each other in an increasingly horrific competition of inhuman massacres that grow with each passing year.

Israel, America, India, and "the West," are all only notches on the coup sticks of these Death Cultists. It is the group that can cause the most damage to some non-Muslim entity that gets points in this Dominance Game of Death.

The recent Flotilla controversy regarding Israel is simply the official notice that the Islamist government of Turkey has established itself as a Player in this Game of World Dominance.

Turkey has counted coup on Israel. And, not incidentally, Turkey has counted coup on one of its rivals, "secular" Arabist Egypt, which is Israel's partner in the blockade of Gaza.

Turkey has received major dominance points amongst the Islamists and death cultists by actually attacking Israel and having the Useful Idiots of the world, from the UN to the governments of Europe, curse Israel for defending itself against this Turkish attack.

Turkey's coup stick is well notched and be-feathered today.

It was such a major victory for Turkey that Saudi Arabia was forced to reveal their plans regarding how they are going to allow Israel to fly through their airspace "when" Israel attacks Iran. In doing so, Saudi Arabia has counted coup on both the Turkish and Iranian ambitions for Islamist dominance and… has once more counted coup on Israel, the most Prestigious Enemy, by implying that they are "bending" this hated Enemy to the Saudi Arabian Will.

The terror attacks all over the world - the mass murders of Muslims in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq; the brutal repressions of Muslims in Iran, Syria, Turkey, Egypt and all of North Africa; and the exportation of terrorist thugs by Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey and Indonesia will never stop until the world recognizes these attacks for what they are – a deadly and merciless game where each faction is striving to crush all of its opponents and establish a new Totalitarian Caliphate to rule the world.


 

Thursday, June 03, 2010



Tears came to my eyes - not
when the kid first came on the scene, but when it switched to the obviously secular Israelis who were there also...

In the original Texas Rangers television show, the opening sequence starts out with one Texas Ranger and the theme song. He starts walking and another ranger joins him, then another, then another until there is a whole crowd, walking proud and tall -

"They're Ranger's sworn to duty

Their work is never through

They fight and fight for justice

To enforce the law for you."


I am a 13th generation American. Even when I was a stupid long haired doped out hippie freak, I still loved this country.

Our President has now twice cursed the Jews. If he goes for the hat trick, I am seriously, not rhetorically, considering making aliyah - moving to Israel.

I fear for America.

The difference between "them" and "us" is broadcast on this video.

The young man and the other Israelis are simply standing up voicing their, often inarticulate, sometimes fumbling, not very eloquent, Love of Israel.

Those who oppose them are vociferously and often articulately voicing their Hate.

Israel and those that support Israel voice their Love of Israel in defending Israel.

The world and their Flotilla of Hate are voicing their Hatreds in attacking Israel.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

The Word is Spreading
Go Thou, You and do Likewise!

Friday, April 23, 2010

Islam is Not Evil

I keep on repeating a theme of mine every time I discuss Islam and Israel and the "War on Terror," and I realized that it is time to try and state my case and request feedback.

However, unfortunately, having tried to write this out over the last several years, I find that my arguments make more sense to me "in response" to someone else's assertions than just boldly stating what I have learned from my years of research.

Therefore, I am using some statements or questions that were asked in order to try and get my points across.

I would dearly love those who see the seriousness of the Islamist threat, to study more on the history of Islam and understand the changes in the philosophy today that make it appear that Islam has ONLY, ALWAYS, been about violent, murderous jihad, are simply new interpretations of Islam which have been invented to serve the self-aggrandizing ambitions of their inventors and proponents.

This belief, that the current Jihaddi death cult interpretation of Islam is the only Islam possible and which has always existed, is incorrect.

A statement was made:

…virtually all clerics never deviate one iota from the Islamic narrative and the putative text and tenants of Islam, and in that regard they are representative of not only just Iran, but indeed the entirety of the international Islamic ummah.

This is untrue.

The Islamic Arab world is undergoing a great Sectarian Civil War right now and has been doing so for over 100 years.

Modern Islamic "scholars;" imams; sheikhs; clerics; emirs; mujtahids; qadis; muftis; hakims; and all the other miscellany of decision makers in the mythical unity of dar al-Islam, agree on NOTHING!

They have been murdering each other and fighting to become the dominant force in Islam in order to re-establish their mythical Salafist Caliphate for over 100 years!

The "war against the West;" Israel; the United States and the rest of the world - dar al-harb, is a pimple on the butt of their fratricidal internecine war against each other. And, if the rest of the world doesn't wake up and face this fact that Islamists and Arabists are hell bent on destroying each other, this war will indeed kill off several more billion people on this planet and leave large portions of the Earth scorched and uninhabitable.

Another statement:

For instance, what is good in their world is what is good for Islam and what is bad is whatever is bad for Islam. Thus, if killing you is good for Islam, you can kiss your ass good-bye. Indeed, the good Muslims are the ones that die martyrs fighting in the cause of Allah, and the bad Muslims are secular Muslims or Muslim In Name Only Muslims, which in the Dar al Islam are far and few between.

This belief is buying, lock, stock and barrel, the drivel that Islamist Jihaddi nutbar death cultist mufsidun sell as: "Islam - As It Was and Ever Shall Be."

The current Death Cult credo is an interpretation of Islam that has no basis in the 1,400 year history of Islam.

It is the same as claiming that the Death Cultists who destroyed Europe and wiped out nearly 100 million European Christians during the "Christian Reformation" preached the one and only "Christianity - As It Was and Ever Shall Be."

Or the Death Cultist Jews who ended up having the entire Nation of Israel obliterated by the Romans preached the one and only "Judaism - As It Was and Ever Shall Be."

People have got to stop drinking this Islamist Koolaid.

Because- if those who are willing to fight this Islamist and Arabist Evil continue to insist that today's Cultist Crap that all of these different sects propound is the ONLY Islam - And thereby include the 90% of Arabs and Muslims who could care less; or are illiterates who believe anything they taught; or those who are just trying to remain invisible so that some crazy death cultist doesn't cut their head off; or who can only feed, clothe and educate their children by sending them off to some Islamist madrassa; or the whole host of other issues that keep 90% of humanity from doing anything about anything, Ever! - then you will indeed continue to strengthen the Crazies by insisting that ALL Muslims are Evil and Crazy.

That is both stupid and untrue.

And, lastly, the "laundry list" question:

Do they disagree on the holy obligation placed upon all Muslims to fight jihad for the establishment of Islam throughout the world via the imposition of Sharia? Do all devout Muslims disagree that Muslims who leave Islam must be killed? How about the death penalty for blasphemy or for those Muslims and non-Muslims that intentionally or unintentionally defame the prophet, Muhammad?

While there might be some disagreements between different sects, like those between the Sunni and the Shi'a, that has to do with the inheritance of the Caliphate, with respect to the obligation for all Muslims to fight jihad for the establishment of Islam throughout the world, I'm afraid there is no differences whatsoever, as all the Islamic Schools of Jurisprudence, that govern over all the various sects of Islam, not only teach it but advocate it as well.

Additionally, like I said, with respect to the texts of Islam, the holy Koran, the Hadith, and The Sira (biography of Muhammad), altogether known as the Sunnah of Islam, which means the examples and traditions of Muhammad, all Muslims never deviate lest they be charged with blasphemy and suffer execution, as the holy Koran contains the uncreated words of Allah as delivered by Muhammad, Allah's final messenger, whose words supersede and replace all those prophets before him and whose words can't ever be changed, because Muhammad was the final prophet.

Thus, since the words contained in the holy Koran are believed to be divine, that is emanating directly from God and because Muhammad was Allah's final prophet, the words contained in the holy Koran are immutable, that is they can never be changed, and applicable for all time.

Furthermore, in stark contrast to the way the Christian bible is interpreted by most Christians, the holy Koran is only interpreted in its most literal sense, as all devout Muslims are inculcated to believe that it contains the uncreated words of Allah as delivered by Muhammad. Further, all Muslims are inculcated to emulate Muhammad, the uswa hasana – the excellent example for emulation, since he is revered as the most perfect Muslim that ever lived.


 

I included this rather lengthy quote because it sounds so plausible - it's what everyone knows about Islam, right?

I mean, from one point of view, why would any Muslim want to disagree with the above, right?

However, the answer to all of these particular questions is NO, not all Muslims agree on the above.

Most of the world, including Muslims and Arabs, has bought into the four or five endlessly repeated quotes from the Koran having to do with Death and Violence. Everyone just loves the Verse of the Sword from the Koran:

"Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush."

Oops - but the Jihaddi death cultists and the anti-Muslim crowd always seem to forget to include the next sentence:

"But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then leave their way free. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful."

The point being that Islam has interpreted its own sacred texts for over 1,000 years as having more to do with peace, prosperity, and striving for goodness than in murdering the "non-believer."

And, today's Islamist Death Cultists classify the "non-believers" primarily as other Muslims who don't believe in their particular Islamist cult.

The Death Cult of Shia Wilayat al Fiqh in Iran believes that Muslims and non-Muslims who do not believe in their dream of a global totalitarian state are deserving of Death.

Most Iranians do not.

The Sunni Wahhabist Death Cult of Saudi Arabia and all of its attendant children such as the Muslim Brotherhood; and Hamas; and Al Qaeda; and the Taliban; and other offshoots too numerous (and confusing) to mention, all believe that Muslims and non-Muslims who do not believe in their dream of a global totalitarian state are deserving of Death.

The corrupt ruling House of Saud; the rulers of Egypt; the average secular Arab in Gaza; the Pashtun tribesman in Afghanistan or Pakistan, do not.

All of these disparate elements and more are murdering - primarily each other - to "win the hearts and minds" of the masses of ordinary Arabs and Muslims in a War of Dominance.

Modern day Islamic "Jihad" is a blasphemy in Islam that Islamist and Arabist death cultists have foisted on the entire world where the entire planet now believes in their madness.

And, if we continue to believe in these blaspheming Mufsidun, then the world is in for more and more serious hurt.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

President Obama as a Blessing

    My friend, who davens (prays) next to me in shul, was listening to a Preacher on the radio as he drove to the synagogue Sunday morning for shacharis (morning prayers).

    He told me that the Preacher was talking about signs and wonders that G-d is showing us, specifically some of the things that I have mentioned in my seldom written blog. Specifically, that after 9/11, on September 17th, 2001, the day before Rosh Hoshana, the Jewish New Year, the Dow Jones went down 684.8 points, which was the largest single day decline, up until that point, in the history of the stock market. Then, seven years later, in 2008, due to the "financial crisis," the Dow Jones plummeted 777.7 points, again the largest point drop in history. Ten days later, on Yom Kippur, the Dow Jones declined 678.9, the third largest point drop in history.

The point of his sermon was that G-d sends us warnings that are connected to the religion of Judaism because G-d wants us to understand that these are spiritual events and to "wake up" and turn to Him.

This Preacher then went on to say - now G-d has sent us President Obama…

In our Torah, we learn that G-d chooses Kings and controls the hearts of Kings. Our rabbis tell us that the President of the United States, the most powerful country in the history of the world, qualifies as a "Melech," a King in this respect.

In 2000, I asked myself the question – "Why would G-d choose George W. Bush to be President?" Because, that it certainly looked like President Bush was "Chosen" in that election, more so than almost any other Presidential election in the history of this country.

Then, of course, on 9/11 and in the following seven years, my question was answered. G-d apparently chose President Bush because He cares about both the United States and Israel.

Now, I have been asking myself – "Then Why in the Heck would G-d choose President Obama?" I mean, c'mon – really! He looks to be a disaster for both the United States and Israel.

Last week's parshas (the weekly readings in the Torah) were Tzaria and Metzora. These two parshas have to do with a kind of spiritual leprosy. The simple explanation is that if we do something bad, particularly the sin of gossiping or speaking badly about other people, then G-d will cause a physical discoloration to appear for which we then have to purify ourselves and rid ourselves of our "evil ways" in order to be cured.

The interesting thing about Tzaraas, this physical discoloration, is that it actually considered a "blessing" from G-d to catch it. It was G-d's way of notifying the Jews that they were doing something wrong and that they needed to stop doing this bad thing. If a person was beyond redemption, then they wouldn't need to get Tzaraas. However, if a person caught this spiritual disease, then he had a chance to make things right – to repent, redeem himself and be cured.

No – I am not comparing President Obama to the physical signs of leprosy. However, in light of last week's parsha, and the radio Preacher's emphasis on signs and wonders that are connected to Judaism and his remarks that President Obama was one of these "warning signs" that we need to repent and turn back towards G-d, it occurs to me that my question of "Why Obama," is answered.

President Obama is a Blessing from G-d. It is a wonderful idea.

For those that love his politics and all of the ways the President is trying to "Change" America, for them, he truly is a blessing.

For those of us who are leery of his politics and are horrified by the "Changes" he is bringing to America, he is also a blessing. He is the wakeup call from G-d that we need to stop this endless evil talk and instead, repent and do good. Obama is the catalyst for those that oppose his politics and beliefs to overcome their own petty needs and turn America back to a Goodly Path. President Obama wants to be "tough" with Israel – then America needs to be friends with Israel. President Obama wants to be "friends" with Iran – then America needs to be tough with Iran. President Obama wants to spend trillions we don't have – then, for the absolute First Time in American History, America needs to save the trillions that we don't have.

President Obama should be a wakeup call to all Americans that we need to be serious; respectful; prudent; responsible; and, as radio talk show host Dennis Prager would say – embody those American values found on every American coin :

E Plurbus Unum

Liberty

And, In G-d We Trust.

Thursday, April 01, 2010

Barack Hussein Obama Is Toast

This is the Season of our Deliverance From Egypt. We celebrate Pesach; the Passover, with recounting the trials and tribulations of the Jews over the generations and our great Deliverance from those that wish to destroy us.

"For not just one alone has risen against us to destroy us, but in every generation they rise against us to destroy us; and the Holy One, blessed be He, saves us from their hand!" - Passover Haggadah

Barack Hussein Obama was a member of Jeremiah Wright's anti-American, Jew-hating church for over twenty years and he publicly acclaimed that Jeremiah Wright was his "spiritual mentor." He then denied that, in those twenty years, he ever heard any of the racist, anti-Semitic hate speech which Wright preached during his sermons.

Barack Hussein Obama has then proceeded to lecture the American people about race; religion; and how the United States of America needs to become like "the rest of the world…"

And finally, Barack Hussein Obama had his administration, both publicly and privately, in person and by delegation, excoriate and curse Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu because Israel is somewhere in an endless bureaucratic process of trying to build homes for Jews in Jerusalem. He continues to publicly curse Israel to this day for building homes for Jews in Jerusalem.

"I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
- Genesis 12:3
"May peoples serve you, And nations bow down to you; Be master of your brothers, And may your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, And blessed be those who bless you."
- Genesis 27:29
"He crouches, he lies down as a lion, And as a lion, who dares rouse him? Blessed is everyone who blesses you, And cursed is everyone who curses you."
- Numbers 24:9

 
The State of Israel is a secular, mostly irreligious, country.
This creates a complex problem for Jews.  
G-d informs Jews that we are to live and prosper in the Land of Israel.
However, He also informs us that if we do not obey His Commandments, He will drive us out of The Land and we will NOT prosper in His Land of Israel.
A State of Israel that does not recognize G-d's sovereignty over the Land of Israel is a conundrum.
G-d does not necessarily bless the State of Israel if its Jews are not following His Commandments.
 
However, building homes for Jews in Jerusalem, G-d's Holy City, in the Land of Israel falls, indisputably, within the realm of what the government of the State of Israel ought to be doing.
 
And, the Torah, along with History, declares that when a Leader, Jew or non-Jew, publicly excoriates and curses the Jews for doing what G-d wants them to do, then that Leader will himself be cursed.
 
In my humble opinion, the President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama has put himself in the rather precarious position of publicly denouncing G-d and cursing G-d's Commandments.

    This would seem to indicate that Barack Hussein Obama is Toast.