Category Archives: Israel
Jewish Feasts Explained: Shavou’ot or Pentecost
Shavou’ot (Pentecost) Guide for the Perplexed
Yoram EttingerBased on Jewish Sages, May 13, 2013
1. Shavou’ot (Pentecost) was, originally, an agricultural holiday, celebrating the first harvest/fruit by bringing offerings (Bikkurim-ביכורים)to the Temple in Jerusalem. Following the destruction of the second Temple and the resulting exile in 70 AD – which raised the need to entrench Torah awarenessin order to avoid spiritual and physical oblivion – Shavou’ot became a historical/religious holiday of the Torah. The Torah played a key role in shaping the US Constitution and the American culture, as well as the foundations of Western democracies.
Shavou’ot is celebrated by decorating homes and houses of worship with Land of Israel-related crops and flowers, demonstrating the 3,500 year old connection between the Land of Israel (pursued by Abraham),the Torah of Israel (transmitted by Moses) and the People of Israel (united by David). Shavou’ot is the holiday of humility, as befits the Torah values, Moses (“the humblest of all human beings), the humble Sinai desert and Mt. Sinai, a modest, non-towering mountain. Abraham, David and Moses are role models of humility and their Hebrew acronym (Adam – אדמ) means “human-being.” Humility constitutes a prerequisite for studying the Torah, for constructive human relationships and a prerequisite to effective leadership.
Shavou’ot – a spiritual holiday – follows Passover – a national liberation holiday: from physical liberation (the Exodus) to spiritual liberation/enhancement (the Torah), in preparation for the return to the Homeland.
2. The holiday has 7 names: The fiftieth (חמישים), Harvest (קציר), Giving of the Torah (מתן תורה), Shavou’ot (שבועות), Offerings (ביכורים), Rally (עצרת) and Assembly (הקהל). The Hebrew acronym of the seven names is “The Constitution of the Seven” – חקת שבעה.
Shavou’ot reflects the centrality of “seven” in Shavou’ot and Judaism. The Hebrew root of Shavou’ot (שבועות) is the word/number Seven (שבע – Sheva), whichis also the root of “vow” (שבועה – Shvoua’), “satiation” (שובע – Sova) and “week” (שבוע – Shavoua’). Shavou’ot is celebrated 7 weeks following Passover. God employed 7 earthly attributes to create the universe (in addition to the 3 divine attributes). The Sabbath is the 7th day of the Creation in a 7 day week. The first Hebrew verse in Genesis consists of 7 words. The 7 beneficiaries of the Sabbath are: you, your son and daughter, your male and female servants, your livestock and the stranger. God created 7 universes – the 7th hosts the pure souls, hence “Seventh Heaven.” There are 7 compartments of hell. There are 7 basic human traits, which individuals are supposed to resurrect/adopt in preparation for Shavou’ot. 7 key Jewish/universal leaders - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aharon, Joseph and David – are commemorated as distinguished guests (Ushpizin in Hebrew) during the Tabernacle holiday, representing the 7 qualities of the Torah. 7 generations passed from Abraham to Moses. There are 7 species of the Land of Israel (barley, wheat, grape, fig, pomegranate, olive and date/honey. In Hebrew, number 7 represents multiplication (שבעתיים–Shiva’tayim. Grooms and Brides are blessed 7 times. There are 7 major Jewish holidays (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Tabernacles, Chanukah, Purim, Passover and Shavou’ot); 7 directions (north, south, west, east, up, down, one’s inside); 7 continents and 7 oceans and major seas in the globe; 7 world wonders; 7 notes in a musical scale; 7 days of mourning over the deceased; 7 congregants read the Torah on each Sabbath; 7 Jewish Prophetesses (Sarah, Miriam, Devorah, Chana, Abigail, Choulda and Esther); 7 gates to the Temple in Jerusalem; 7 branches in the Temple’s Menorah; and 7 Noah Commandments. Moses’ birth and death day was on the 7th day of Adar. Jethro had 7 names and 7 daughters. Joshua encircled Jericho 7 times before the wall tumbled-down. Passover and Sukkot (Tabernacles) last for 7 days each. The Yom Kippur prayers are concluded by reciting “God is the King” 7 times. Each Plague lasted for 7 days. Jubilee follows seven 7-year cycles. According to Judaism, slaves are liberated, and the soil is not-cultivated, in the 7th year. Pentecost is celebrated on the 7th Sunday after Easter.
3. Shavou’ot is celebrated 50 days following Passover, the holiday of liberty. The Jubilee – the cornerstone of liberty and the source of the inscription on the Liberty Bell (Leviticus 25:10) – is celebrated every 50 years. Judaism highlights the constant challenge facing human beings: the choice between the 50 gates of wisdom (the Torah) and the corresponding 50 gates of impurity (Biblical Egypt). The 50th gate of wisdom is the gate of deliverance. The USA is composed of 50 states.
4. Shavou’ot sheds light on the unique covenant between the Jewish State and the USA: Judeo-Christian Values. These values impacted the world view of the Pilgrims, the Founding Fathers and the US Constitution, Bill of Rights, Separation of Powers, Checks & Balances, the abolitionist movement, etc. John Locke wanted the 613 Laws of Moses to become the legal foundation of the new society established in America. Lincoln’s famous 1863 quote paraphrased a statement made by the 14th century British philosopher and translator of the Bible, John Wycliffe: “The Bible is a book of the people, by the people, for the people.”
5. Shavou’ot is the second of the 3 Jewish Pilgrimages (Sukkot -Tabernacles, Passover and Shavou’ot – Pentecost), celebrated on the 6th day of the 3rd Jewish month, Sivan. It highlights Jewish Unity, compared by King Solomon to “a three folds cord, which is not quickly broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:12). The Torah – the first of the 3 parts of the Jewish Bible – was granted to the Jewish People (which consists of 3 components: Priests, Levites and Israel), by Moses (the youngest of 3 children, brother of Aharon and Miriam), a successor to the 3 Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) and to Seth, the 3rd son of Adam and Eve. The Torah was forged in 3 manners: Fire (commitment to principles), Water (lucidity and purity) and Desert (humility and faith-driven defiance of odds). The Torahis one of the 3 pillars of healthy human relationships, along with labor and gratitude/charity. The Torah is one of the 3 pillars of Judaism, along with the Jewish People and the Land of Israel.
6. Shavou’ot highlights the eternity of the Jewish People. Thus, the first and the last Hebrew letters of Shavou’ot (שבועות) constitute the Hebrew name of the third – and righteous – son of Adam & Eve, Seth (שת). The Hebrew meaning of Seth – שת – is “to institute” and “to bestow upon” (Matan-מתן in Hebrew). The Hebrew word for the bestowing of the Torah at Mt. Sinai is Matan Torah (מתן תורה).
7. Shavou’ot (שבועות) is a derivative of the Hebrew word “Shvoua’” (שבועה) – vow, referring to the exchange of vows between God and the Jewish People. The origin of Shavou’ot occurred 26 generations following Adam and Eve. The Hebrew word for Jehovah (יהוה) equals 26 in Gimatriya (assignment of numerical values to Hebrew letters). There are 26 Hebrew letters in the names of the Jewish Patriarchs and Matriarchs: Abraham (אברהם), Yitzhak (יצחק), Yaakov (יעקב) Sarah (שרה), Rivka (רבקה), Rachel (רחל) and Leah (לאה).
8. Shavou’ot highlights the Scroll of Ruth, who lived 3 generations before King David, son of Jesse, grandson of Ovad, the son of Ruth. The Scroll of Ruth is the first of the five Biblical scrolls, which are studied during five holidays: Ruth (Shavou’ot), Song of Songs (Passover), Ecclesiastes (Sukkot), Book of Lamentations (Ninth of Av), Esther (Purim). Ruth – a Moabite Princess and a role model of loyalty (“Your people are my people and your God is my God”) and gratitude – stuck by her mother-in-law, Naomi, who lost her husband, Elimelech (President of the Tribe of Judah) and two sons. Naomi went through family, economic and social calamities, similar to those experienced by Job: both lost their close-ones and financial assets; both complained to God; both preserved confidence in God and reconstructed their families; both were role-model of faith-driven tenacity. Naomi’s suffering constituted a punishment for emigrating from the Land of Israel upon difficult times. Leaders do not desert their people when the going gets rough! Ruth’s Legacy: Respect thy mother in-law (!), be driven by conviction over convenience be cognizant of the central role played by women from Sarah, through Ruth, until today. The total sum of the Hebrew letters of Ruth (רות) – in Gimatriya – is 606, the number of laws granted at Mt. Sinai, which together with the 7 laws of Noah form the 613 Laws of Moses. According to the scroll, “Ruth [the daughter-in-law] was better than 7 sons.”
The Scroll of Ruth highlights the Judean Desert and Bethlehem as the Cradle of the House of David and Jewish history – not “occupied territory.”
9. Shavou’ot is the day of birth/death of King David (as well as the day that Moses was saved by Pharaoh’s daughter), the great-grandson of Ruth, who united the Jewish People, elevating them to a most powerful position. The David-Torah linkage demonstrates that physical and spiritual leadership are mutually-inclusive, as long as governments are driven by values. According to Deuteronomy (17: 18-20), the king must write his own Torah scroll, in order to refine his character, gain knowledge and absorb leadership qualities, mostly humility. In contrast with King Saul, King David assumed responsibility and accountability for his sins. He didn’t just talk the talk; he walked the walk! 150 candles are lit at King David’s tomb on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem, consistent with the 150 chapters of Psalms mostly attributed to David. Number 150 is the numerical value of Nest (קן), the warm environment of the Torah. David’s personal history (from shepherd to king) – and Jewish history – provides a lesson for individuals and nations: Despair is not an option and every problem is an opportunity in disguise (from slavery in Egypt to the sublime deliverance at Mt. Sinai and then in the Land of Israel).
10. The two portions of the Torah, which are recited/studied around Shavou’ot, are נשא and בהעלותך, which mean – in Hebrew – spiritual enhancement and elevation. נשא is the longest portion of the Torah (176 verses), highlighting the inauguration of the ancient tabernacle and altar. בהעלותך highlights the Menorah (Candelabrum) of the ancient tabernacle, which had seven branches, similar to the seven weeks between Passover and Shavou’ot.
11. Dairy dishes consumed during Shavou’ot, commemorate divine providence. According to the Kabbalah (Jewish mystical school of thoughts), milk represents divine quality. Babies – a divine creation – are breast fed by mothers. Dairy dishes commemorate the most common (humble) food – of shepherds like King David – during the 40 years in the desert, on the way to the Land of Milk and Honey, the Land of Israel. Unlike wine, milk is poured into simple glasses. The total sum of milk (חלב) is 40 in Gimatriya, which is equal to the 40 days and nights spent by Moses on Mt. Sinai and the 40 years spent by the Jewish People in the Desert. 40 is also the value of the first Hebrew letter (מ) of key Exodus-Terms: Moses (משה), Miriam (מרים), Manna (מן), Egypt (מצרים), Desert (מדבר), Menorah (מנורה), Tabernacle (משכן), Mitzvah-Commandment (מצווה), etc. 40 generations passed from Moses – who delivered the “Written Torah” – to Rabbi Ashi and Rabbi Rabina, who concluded the editing of the Talmud, the “Oral Torah.” The first and the last letters in the Talmud is the Hebrew “מ”, which equals 40 in Gimatriya.
From The Ettinger Report: http://www.theettingerreport.com/Jewish-Holidays/Shavou’ot-(Pentecost)-Guide-for-the-Perplexed-(2).aspx
Can These Bones Live?
Who Can Count the Dust of Jacob
By: Daniel Greenfield
The sun sets above the hills. The siren cries out and on the busy highways that wend among the hills, the traffic stops, the people stop, and a moment of silence comes to a noisy country. Flags fly at half mast, the torch of remembrance is lit, memorial candles are held in shaking hands and the country’s own version of the Flanders Field poppy, the Red Everlasting daisy, dubbed Blood of the Maccabees, adorns lapels. And so begins the Yom Hazikaron, Heroes Remembrance Day, the day of remembrance for fallen soldiers and victims of terror– Israel’s Memorial Day.
What is a memorial day in a country that has always known war and where remembrance means adding the toll of one year’s dead and wounded to the scales of history. A country where war never ends, where the sirens may pause but never stop, where each generation grows up knowing that they will have to fight or flee. To stand watch or run away. It is not so much the past that is remembered on this day, but the present and the future. The stillness, a breath in the warm air, before setting out to climb the slopes of tomorrow.
Who can count the dust of Jacob. And yet each memorial day we count the dust. The dust that is a fraction of those who have fallen defending the land for thousands of years. Flesh wears out, blood falls to the earth where the red daisies grow, and bone turns to dust. The dust blows across the graves of soldiers and prophets, the tombs of priests hidden behind brush, the caverns where forefathers rest in sacred silence, laid to rest by their sons, who were laid to rest by their own sons, generations burying the past, standing guard over it, being driven away and returning each time.
On Memorial Day, the hands of memory are dipped in the dust raising it to the blue sky. A prayer, a whisper, a dream of peace. And the wind blows the candles out. War follows. And once again blood flows into the dust. A young lieutenant shading his eyes against the sun. An old man resting with his family on the beach. Children climbing into bed in a village beneath the hills. And more bodies are laid to rest in the dust. Until dust they become.
In this land, the Maker of Stars and Dust vowed to Abraham that his children would be as many as the dust of the earth and the stars of heaven. In their darkest days, they would be as the dust. But there is mercy in the numberless count of the dust. Mercy in not being able to make a full count of the fallen. In remaining ignorant of that full measure of woe. Modern technologies permit us terrible estimates. Databanks store the names of millions, village by village and city by city. Terrible digital cemeteries of ghosts. But there is no counting the dust. And when we walk the length and breadth of the land, as the Maker told Abraham to do, it the dust that supports our feet, we stand upon the shoulders of giants. We walk in the dust of our ancestors.
Some new countries are built to escape from the past, but there is no escaping it in these ancient hills. IDF soldiers patrol over ground once contested by empires, tread over spearheads and the wheels of chariots buried deep in the earth. The Assyrians and the Babylonians came through here in all their glory. Greek and Roman soldiers and mercenaries pitted themselves against the handful of Judeans who came out of the Babylonian exile. The Ottoman and the Arab raged here, and Crusader battering rams and British Enfield rifles still echo in the quiet hills.
Here in the silence of remembrance the present is always the past and the sky hangs like a thin veil fluttering against the future. The believers cast their prayers out of their mouths against the veil. The soldiers cast their lives and their hearts. And still the future flutters on above, like the sky near enough to touch, but out of reach. Beneath it, the sky-blue flag, the stripe of the believer’s shawls adorned with the interlocked star of the House of David.
Can these bones live, the Lord asks Ezekiel. And generations, after each slaughter, they come again, the descendants of the dead to reclaim the hills of their ancestors. Rising like the red flowers out of the soil. Like the bones out of the earth. They come up as slaves out of Egypt and out of the captivity of empires, their tongues as numberless as the earth. Here they come again to set up kingdoms and nations. And there in shadows on the dust, a handful of men fight off a legion; swords, spears and rifles in hand they face down impossible odds. They fight and die, but they go on.
The calendar itself is a memorial. Israel’s Memorial Day, Independence Day and Lag BaOmer; the commemoration of the original Yom Yerushalayim, the brief liberation of Jerusalem from the Romans, still covertly remembered in bonfires and bows shot into the air, all in a season that begins with Passover, the exodus that set over a million people off on a forty-year journey to return to the homeland of their forefathers.
The battles today are new, but they are also very old. The weapons are new, but the struggle is the same. Who will remain and who will be swept away. Some 3,000 years ago, Judge Jephthah and the King of Ammon were exchanging messages not too different from those being passed around as diplomatic communiques today. The King of Ammon demanding land for peace and the Judge laying out the Israeli case for the land in a message that the enemy would hardly trouble to read before going to war.
Take a stray path in these hills and you may find a grinning terrorist with a knife, or the young David pitting his slingshot against a lion or bear. This way the Maccabees rush ahead at the armies of a slave empire and this way a helicopter passes low overhead on the way to Gaza. Like Dali’s melting clocks, time is a fluid thing here. And what you remember; you shall find.
The soldier is not so sacred as he once was. The journalist and the judge have taken his place. The actors sneer from their theaters. The politicians gobble their free food and babble of peace. Musicians sing shrilly of flowers in gun barrels and doves everywhere. But the soldier still stands where he must. The borders have shrunk. The old victories have been exchanged for diplomatic defeats. From the old strongholds come missiles and rockets. And children hide in bomb shelters waiting for the worst to pass. This is the doing of the journalist and the judge, the politician and the actor, the lions of literature who send autographed copies of their books to imprisoned terrorists and the grandchildren of great men who hire themselves on in service to the enemy.
The man who serves is still sacred, but the temple of duty is desecrated more and more each year. Leftist academics dismiss the heroes of the past as myths or murderers. Their wives dress in black and harass soldiers at checkpoints, their children wrap their faces in Keffiyas and throw stones at them. Draft dodging, once a black mark of shame, has become a mark of pride among the left. Some boast about how easy it is, others enlist only to then refuse to serve. They call themselves Refusniks , accepting the Soviet view of Israel as an illegitimate warmongering state, but laying claim to the name of the Zionists who fought to escape the Soviet Union.
Some are only afraid, but some are filled with hate. They have looked into a twisted mirror and drunk of the poisoned wine. They have found their Inner Cain and go now to slay their brothers with words.
How shall I curse whom G-d has not cursed, asks Balaam. But the King of Moab is determined to have his curses anyway. And today it is to the UN that they come for curses. The Arab lands boil with blood, but resolution after resolution follows damning Israel. China squats on the mountains of Tibet, Russian government thugs throw dissidents out of windows and Saudi firefighters push girls back into a burning building. And still the resolutions come like curses.
In a land built on memory, it is possible not to remember, but it is impossible to entirely forget. A war of memories comes. A war for the dust. Is this a day of remembrance or a day of shame. Were those men who fought and died for Judea and Samaria, for the Golan and Jerusalem, for every square inch of land when the armies of Arab dictators came to push them into the sea, heroes or villains. Were Nasser, Hussein, Saddam, Arafat, Gaddafi, Assad and the House of Saud the real heroes all along. The tiny minority of 360 million pitted against the overwhelming majority of 6 million.
Yet though men may forget, the dust remembers. And the men return to it. For some four thousand years they have done it. And they shall do it again. For He who has made men of the dust and made worlds of the dust of stars does not forget. As the stars turn in whirling galaxies and the dust flies across the land, so the people return to the land. And though they forget, they remember again. For the dust is the memory of ages and the children shall always return to the dust of their ancestors.
In the cities, towns and villages– the dead are remembered. Those who died with weapons in their hands and those who just died. Men, women and children. Drops of blood cast to the dust, reborn as flowers on lapels. Reborn as memory.
All go to one place, said King Solomon, all that lives is of the dust, and all returns to the dust. There is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his works. And so memorial day precedes the day of independence. That we rejoice in that which those who sleep in the dust have died to protect. The skyscrapers and the orchards, the sheep ranches and the highways, the schools and the synagogues. For they who drained the swamps and built the roads, who held guard over the air and built the cities, may not have lived to see their works. But we rejoice in their works for them. And a new generation rises to watch over their dust and tend the works that they have built. Until the day when He that counts the dust of Jacob shall count them all, and the land shall stir, and in the words of Daniel, they that sleep in dust shall arise, and then rejoice with us.
Israel’s Modern Re-Birth Miracle
I expect, however, that Israel will be celebrating many more anniversaries of its independence. If Israel was to perish from a nuclear or bio-chemical attack, the whole world would need another miracle.
Pamela Geller Speaks At Another Synagogue in New York
Forward: “Pamela Geller got the last laugh”
“Her April 14 appearance at Great Neck Synagogue was canceled amid liberal protests, but anti-Islam blogger Pamela Geller got the last laugh: The next morning, two other area synagogues invited her to speak the same day as the canceled speech.” — Shul Axes Pamela Geller, and 2 Others Invite Her, Jewish Daily Forward
Note the “anti-Islam” smear. They always have to get that in, even when admitting defeat.
Overwhelming. What a day. I must dash to New Jersey to speak at Temple Beth-El in Edison, but I had to share with Atlas readers and freedom lovers the triumph that you all had a hand in making happen.
The Chabad event in Great Neck was a great victory! Hundreds came out to hear my talk and to stand for free speech. The rooms at the Chabad House were all jammed, with people standing in the aisles. It was an overflow crows: another 400 to 500 people watched the event on a jumbotron set up outside in an outdoor theater that had been set up for this event.
Luminaries in attend included Robert Spencer, Dr. Andrew Bostom, Charles Jacobs, Dov Hikind, David Wood, Ashraf Ramelah of Voice of the Copts, Helen Freedman of AFSI, and many others. Introducing me was David Yerushalmi of the American Freedom Law Center, the indefatigable pro-freedom lawyer who has represented me in my free speech cases around the country.
It was divine: defiant, happy, confident freedom warriors standing up the face of Islamic supremacist and Leftist intimidation, and refusing to bow down. It was one for the ages.
Never Forget…
NEVER FORGET
Survivors gaze at rescuers from the United States Third Army during the liberation of Buchenwald, April 1945.
A Czech doctor (right) prepares to examine a Buchenwald concentration camp inmate while other inmates surround him, awaiting treatment, April 1945.
Examining Buchenwald prisoners after the camp’s liberation by U.S. troops, April 1945.
Deformed by malnutrition, a Buchenwald prisoner leans against his bunk after trying to walk. Like other imprisoned slave laborers, he worked in a Nazi factory until too feeble.
Prisoners at Buchenwald during the camp’s liberation by American forces, April 1945
Prisoners, too emaciated to walk, at Buchenwald during the camp’s liberation by American forces, April 1945.
Prisoners at Buchenwald gaze from behind barbed wire during the camp’s liberation by American forces, April 1945.
The dead at Buchenwald, April 1945.
The dead at Buchenwald, piled high outside the camp’s incinerator plant, April 1945.
The remains of an incinerated prisoner inside a Buchenwald cremation oven, April 1945.
A newly liberated prisoner stands beside a pile of human ashes and bones, Buchenwald, April 1945.
As German officers and Weimar civilians bear witness, after Buchenwald’s liberation, to atrocities committed at the camp, a dummy in striped prisoner garb hangs from a gallows — a gruesome demonstration of one of the many public ways that inmates were murdered at the camp.
Prisoners at Buchenwald display their identification tattoos shortly after camp’s liberation by Allied forces, April 1945.
German civilians are forced by American troops to bear witness to Nazi atrocities at Buchenwald concentration camp, mere miles from their own homes, April 1945.
German civilians are forced by American troops to bear witness to Nazi atrocities at Buchenwald concentration camp, mere miles from their own homes, April 1945.
Story to Remember:
In the 1920s and 1930s Germany was the most advanced society on Earth in terms of science, technology, philosophy and the arts; every single German Jew who went to the concentration camps was a full citizen of that country – many of whom served their country honorably in the First World War – all of whom arrived in those death camps by obediantly complying with the laws of their land.
Lesson learned:
When the Government says “We are hear to help you,” – NEVER trust!
The Israeli monument in front of the Headquarters building at Dachau Concentration Camp says:
- STORMBRINGER SENDS
The Rise of Israel – Fulfilling Bible Prophesy
Israel’s Rise: Dream Realized, or Prophecy Fulfilled?
Almost precisely a year ago, Egypt announced that it would cut the amount of natural gas it would sell to Israel.
And little more than a week ago, production began at the Tamar offshore natural gas field. And just two days ago, a German newspaper reported that the estimated capacity of the Tamar field has been raised, by a full trillion cubic feet.
Natural gas fields, of course, do not develop overnight; the process takes literally millions of years. Is it not interesting, then, that these fields (Tamar and another, Leviathan), having lain hidden beneath Israel’s territorial waters through 2,000 years of occupation by Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Turks, and Englishmen, were to be discovered by and exploited only after the Jews’ return, and precisely at the moment Israel needed them?
I am not a religious man. But I am not a great believer in coincidence, either. Which got me thinking of the Torah — specifically, Genesis, chapter 12, verses 1 and 2:
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.
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing.
So God says that He will make of the Jews a great nation. But He doesn’t say when.
Could the time be now?
The major obstacle to the “two-state solution” which so enthralls Western liberals is not land, but the Arabs’ refusal to recognize the Jewish People as a people and Israel as the state of the Jewish People. But another obstacle, less remarked upon, is Israelis’ growing realization that the conventional wisdom — that a greater Palestinian Arab birthrate would eventually cause Arabs to outnumber the Jewish population between the Mediterranean and the Jordan — is wrong. And as the fear of a Palestinian demographic landslide vanishes, the motivation for Israel to accept a Palestinian state vanishes with it.
In fact, most of the Arab states and Iran are experiencing a drastic decline in their national birth rates at the same time as the Jewish population continues to benefit not from a decline, but from a 17-year “robust surge” in her birth rate — one which shows no signs of slowing. How dramatic is Israel’s rise?
Read it all at American Thinker: http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/04/israels_rise_dream_realized_or_prophecy_fulfilled.html
islamic Intimidation and Fear Mongering Silences Any Criticism… Again
Exclusive: Robert Spencer: Thuggery Wins Again
Thuggery Wins Again by Robert Spencer
Maybe in this cowed and cowardly age, the denouement was inevitable: on Wednesday night, the Great Neck Synagogue on Long Island canceled a speech by Pamela Geller that had been scheduled for Sunday. This was after Islamic supremacists, led by one Habeeb Ahmed of the Nassau County Human Rights Commission, and Leftists mounted a large-scale campaign of defamation of Geller in the media and intimidation of synagogue officials through private channels. It is bad enough that it was done. It is even worse that it succeeded.
This ugly little affair in Great Neck closely parallels my own recent experience. I had been scheduled to speak on March 16 at a Catholic Men’s Conference in Worcester, Massachusetts, but after a Leftist reporter at the Boston Globe and a local Muslim leader who is an open supporter of a convicted jihad terrorist raised a controversy, Bishop Robert McManus of Worcester cancelled my appearance. He also subsequently ignored my repeated requests for a meeting to clear my name, as well as a petition that garnered over 3,000 signatures, asking that he reinstate my talk.
In his only public statement on the matter, McManus spoke of “concern” that “Mr. Spencer’s talk about extreme, militant Islamists and the atrocities that they have perpetrated globally might undercut the positive achievements that we Catholics have attained in our inter-religious dialogue with devout Muslims.” In other words, to discuss the Muslim persecution of Christians might offend the Muslims here who profess to oppose that persecution. The bishop did not explain why they would be offended by an honest discussion of something they claim to oppose.
Great Neck Synagogue officials were not as craven as McManus, who added that an honest discussion by me of the real atrocities committed by Muslims in the name of Islam around the world might “generate suspicion and even fear of people who practice piously the religion of Islam” – thereby repeating the Islamic supremacist smear that my work for the defense of Constitutional freedoms somehow endangers innocent people.
By contrast, the synagogue leaders acknowledged none of the intense barrage of lies great and small about Pamela Geller that had been sent their way since the controversy was ginned up. Rather, they ascribed the cancellation to the determination that it would be “irresponsible to jeopardize the safety of those who call Great Neck Synagogue home, especially our children, even at the risk of diverting attention from a potentially important voice in the ongoing debate.”
Nonetheless, the outcome is the same: the precedent is reinforced that smear campaigns work, and that all the foes of freedom have to do in order to shut down any voices opposed to them is mount a campaign simultaneously vilifying and demonizing their targeted speaker and showing the host the price he will have to pay for featuring the target. As Saul Alinsky said, “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it.” His thuggish children and heirs are doing just that: picking off the defenders of freedom one by one, isolating, demonizing and marginalizing them, and making people who stage and host speakers afraid to invite them, for fear of the firestorm that is certain to ensue.
Their capitulations, however, only make more such firestorms inevitable. And so while it is understandable that no one wants to face them, and no one wants a media frenzy around what was supposed to be a quiet event, the more people cave in to them, the worse it is going to be for everyone else. For the enemies of free speech and the enablers of jihad terror aren’t just targeting Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer: they’re going after anyone and everyone who dares to utter a truthful word about the global jihad and Islamic supremacism. No one is spared, and no one will be spared – not even those who repeat politically correct niceties about how the Religion of Peace has been hijacked. The crocodile will eat them as well, even if it eats them last.
If host organizations and institutions in the United States realized what was at stake, they would be inundating Pamela Geller with speaking invitations right now. And when the Leftists and Islamic supremacists began their smear and intimidation campaigns, they would show themselves resolute, determined, and immovable.
But this is not an age of iron. It’s an age of jelly. And so the order of the day will be more intimidation, more threats, and more defamation directed against anyone who speaks out against the jihad and Islamic supremacism, and anyone who dares to host that speaker. Until finally, there is no one left to speak out, no one at all.
Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and author of the New York Times bestsellers The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) and The Truth About Muhammad. His latest book, Not Peace But A Sword: The Great Chasm Between Christianity and Islam, is now available.
From Atlas Shrugs: http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/
Calling a Spade a Spade – islamic, islamist, mooslim, whatever, At The Root, It is All Evil.
Operation Language Cleanup – By Diana West
From the desk of Diana West on Tue, 2013-04-09 13:05
The AP Stylebook has opened a new chapter on the non-”offensive” Engllsh-language lexicon to parse the war on the world waged by Islam. The wire service bible (can I say that?) has decreed that “Islamist” is out as a “a synonym for Islamic fighters, militants, extremists or radicals.”…
“If the past decade teaches anything, I think it is that there is great shame in understanding Islam — for non-Muslims. Westerners do seem to find it shameful to admit that Islam, according to its main and mainstream (not “extremist”) teachings, is really that bad — that totalitarian, that supremacist, that misogynistic, that expansionist, that barbaric. Embarassment for Islam’s followers seems to overwhelm the Westerner’s mental circuits when imagining that millions of people in the 21st century not only submit to Islam’s law, but expect — demand — that the rest of us to submit to it as well.
Thus, we invent or, better, gratefully accept a way out for everyone. It is the “Islamists” who are the problem — not those who merely believe in and follow the teachings of Islam. What, doctrinally, is the difference? Why is that our problem?”
Read the entire article at Brussels Journal: http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/5052
Few People Today Will Speak The Truth…Pamela Geller is One of Those People
‘Journalism’ in the 21st Century
Bart Jones of Newsday, the largest-circulation newspaper on Long Island, covered the Sharia putsch against my talk at the Great Neck Synagogue on Sunday. Now mind you, this is an article essentially about me. The story, much to my chagrin, is about me — much as it shouldn’t be, it should be about the message — but it is about me. Because that’s what the enemy does. News consumers, pay attention: the entire article is comprised of every uber-left dhimmi Jew “authority figure” who has a nasty word to say about moi. And just for knowing, shame on these rabbis who rush to crucify me and yet stay silent about the virulent anti-Jewish rhetoric that is spewed forth in so many mosques and Islamic centers — and in the quran and hadith.
I’d like to know how these “rabbis” reconcile the silence of their Islamic partners concerning the vicious anti-semitism in the Quran and hadith. Do these rabbis sanction Islamic anti-semitism? How do they avoid that 800 lb. gorilla in the room? What do these “rabbis” talk about with these sharia enforcers?
How dare these rabbis criticize another synagogue. Who are these people? You never see this in the Muslim community. Reform rabbis like Rabbi Michael White and Rabbi Jerome Davidson bring shame upon our people. Rabbi Michael White calls my work hateful and says that I hold virulently anti-Muslim views. Has White read my books or columns — can he cite one example of this lashon hora? He says that “hate speech has no place in synagogues.” I agree — which is why White and Davidson should resign. Their hate speech and smears are not befitting the title of rabbi.
Bart Jones runs every smear and fails to mention that the ringleader of this uproar, Habeeb Ahmed, used his Human Rights Commission public office to strongarm the synagogue to cancel the event. He is currently under investigation for “misuse of title.” Bart Jones didn’t think that newsworthy, but lies and libel against me — that’s news. Did Bart Jones run one quote from any Geller supporters? Not one.
This article is one slam after the other. That’s journalism? Running the smears and lies with no investigation of the charges? No evidence? No need! The objective is to kill the target.
I urge every rational and freedom-loving individual to come to the Great Neck Synagogue and stand against the oppressors, censors, and sharia enforcers who protest my work as a human rights activist.
The article is behind a paywall — so I scanned it for you.
Blogger involved in ‘Ground Zero mosque’ controversy to speak in Great Neck
Newsday, April 8, 2013 8:39 PM
Photo credit: AP Photo David Karp | Blogger Pamela Geller, speaks at a conference she organized entitled; “Stop Islamization of America,” in New York. (Sept. 11, 2012)
The woman who helped lead the fight in 2010 to keep a mosque and Islamic center from being built near Ground Zero is scheduled to speak at a synagogue in Great Neck this weekend — generating a firestorm of criticism among Muslim, Jewish and Christian groups.
Blogger and author Pamela Geller is scheduled to speak Sunday at the Great Neck Synagogue on the “Imposition of Sharia in America,”…
From Atlas Shrugs: http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/
Pamela Geller: Not Afraid to Speak the Truth
VIDEO CBS News: Fire-branding Geller
In shocking violation of his spiritual obligations as a cleric, Reform “Rabbi” Michael White defames and slanders my work and me. He has obviously never read my work — my columns or my books. He falsely accuses me of hate speech and has the chutzpah to invoke Jewish teachings. Rabbi Michael White sounds as if he studied his funky brand of Judaism at Hamas university. First and foremost, Rabbi, no loshon hora. And do not libel fellow Jews. You, Rabbi, are supposed to be the example, the teacher.
White calls posting the daily news stories that I post here at Atlas concerning the Islamic persecution and slaughter of Christians and other non-Muslims across the world “hate speech”? He says nothing of what is happening in these news stories. He is struck dumb by the vicious Islamic anti-semitism in the quran and hadith. But his tongue is flapping condemnations of me. Where is Rabbi White’s outrage over the most brutal and radical ideology on the face of the earth?
You’d think Michael White would be upset about the genocidal rhetoric coming from Hamas and Iran, and in general about the real threat to the Jews from Islamic jihadis — the threat about which I am trying to raise awareness. Instead, he smears me for fighting against Islamic Jew-hatred.
He should be driven from his shul by the town elders. He is a disgrace to the rabbinate. Ultimately, he will answer to a higher authority.
CBS wants to know: What do you think of the synagogue’s choice to let Geller speak? Leave your comments here…
Outrage Brews Over Firebrand Pamela Geller’s Planned Speech At Synagogue
CBS News, April 19, 2013GREAT NECK, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) — Pamela Geller calls herself a human rights activist, but her critics call her a hatemonger.
And as CBS 2’s Carolyn Gusoff reported, Geller will be taking center stage at a Long Island synagogue this weekend speaking about Islam, and there’s been a firestorm of opposition.
“What is the controversy?” Geller said. “You know, a Jewish girl going to speak at a synagogue.”
But there is plenty of controversy. Geller has been called everything from a fanatical bigot to a fearless dynamo, and being called upon to speak at Great Neck Synagogue has ignited even more strong reactions.
Geller has gained notoriety for her anti-Islam messages, notably including several series of ads that have appeared in the New York City subway and Metro North transit systems.
One round of ads read, “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat jihad.” Another features the twin towers of the World Trade Center burning on Sept. 11, 2001, and a quote attributed to the Quran saying: “Soon shall we cast terror into the hearts of the unbelievers.”
Geller was also the force against the Ground Zero mosque, which she called a “victory mosque” marking the site of the 9/11 attacks.
Geller’s most recent group, “Stop Islamization of America,” has been dubbed a hate group by both the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The Anti-Defamation League accused the group of “consistently vilifying the Islamic faith.” The SPLC called Geller “the anti-Muslim movement’s most visible and flamboyant figurehead,” and claimed she has “mingled comfortably with European racists and fascists, spoken favorably of South African racists, defended Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic and denied the existence of Serbian concentration camps.”
But she has presented herself as a victim of censorship.
“Whatever your position is, this is free speech, and this is a war on free speech, and the few that speak to these issues are demonized, marginalized, and rendered radioactive,” Geller said.
Now, Geller has been invited by the men’s club at Great Neck Synagogue to speak Sunday. Critics defended her right to free speech, but said inviting her to a house of worship provides a platform for hate.
“We teach that you stand up to hate speech, and what she writes and what she says is absolutely hate speech,” said Rabbi Michael White of the Temple Sinai of Roslyn.
In a chorus of interfaith opposition, Islamic leaders have called on the synagogue to reconsider their invitation.
“She calls Muslims savages. She uses the Quran as a door stopper,” said Dr. Faroque Kahan of the Islamic Center of Long Island. “Her language is very abrasive and she claims Muslims are out to take control of the whole country.”
The synagogue issued a statement: “We believe that it is important to hear what she has to say and we are confident that intelligent and fair minded individuals will consider her views in reaching their own conclusions…. We reject the categorizing of any religious majority based on the actions of a minority. …. We do, though, believe that it is appropriate to speak about the actions of that minority.”
And around Great Neck, there was a great divide over the issue.
“Freedom of speech is something that we should never give up,” one person said.
“This kind of debate doesn’t belong in a holy place,” another said.
Geller will be joined inside the synagogue by the father of a U.S. Marine corporal killed in Afghanistan last year. Outside, demonstrations are expected on both sides.
The subject of Geller’s speech at the synagogue will be Sharia, the religious and moral code of Islam.
From Atlas Shrugs: http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/
The Answer is Really Quite Simple…
Modernity or Barbarism? : The strongest argument for Israel is the most simple.
09TuesdayApr 2013
I wanted to write a post this week defending the legitimacy of the Zionist project but I quickly realised that with this conflict, most of the arguments have already been made.
Just as some people are right-handed and some left, everybody seems to have an inbuilt bias on the Middle East dispute.
People with no interest in politics whatsoever nevertheless reserve a space in their hearts for either the Jews or the Arabs of the near-east, rarely both. They may have never met a Jew or an Arab in their lives, but they still fight for ‘their’ side with all the determination of a brother coming to the aid of a brother.
If you think about it, this is actually quite strange. It certainly isn’t the case with other conflicts. When the Sinhalese and the Tamils fight each other in Sri Lanka, a majority of people require an explanation as to who the Sinhalese and Tamils are before the reasons behind the conflict themselves are elucidated. Some might even need an index finger on a map to show them where Sri Lanka is.
Why is Israel and Palestine different? One reason could be religion.
I grew up in a religious household and remember going to Sunday-school each week where I read the Bible with the teachers. The word ‘Israel’ was familiar to me long before I knew anything political, as were Jews, Syrians, Egyptians, Lebanese Cedar trees and the concept of the promised land. When I become politically aware and learned about Zionism, I already had a basic grasp of the actors and religious stakes involved.
Most Westerners (or at least Christian Westerners) therefore are bound to see the conflict as an interesting one. The same I imagine is true of Muslims, who are taught from an early age about Mohammads alleged journey to Jerusalem as well as more explicitly about the politics of Palestine.
Another reason of course is race. The Jews are a subject of unending fascination for Europeans, who can’t quite fathom whether to adore or despise them. In America too, the Jewish people are both liked and disliked but rarely ignored.
Anything involving Jews therefore tends to attract scrutiny.
Reflecting this interest, the Middle East conflict has inspired passionate and important political books on both sides of the debate. On the Pro-Israel side there are volumes like “The Case for Israel”, “From Time Immemorial”, and “Shackled Warrior”. On the anti-Israel side, there is “Beyond Chutzpah”, “Fateful Triangle” and “The Gun and the Olive Branch”.
Some of these books have become classics of political writing and their authors are looked to as intellectual sages not just on the Middle East but World Politics more broadly.
But for me, the strongest political argument for Israel arises naturally from an examination of the realities on the ground.
Israel as a country can easily deceive people. It looks so Western and sophisticated, so calm and cosmopolitan that it’s scarcely believable to think that in a coastal strip just to its south, there is a nightmare territory of illiteracy, genital mutilation, veiling and stoning to death.
Just a mile from beachfront Israeli coffee shops, in which young Jewish women and young Jewish men drink Cappuccino and chat about sport, literature and fashion, there are other women, forbidden to leave the crumbling houses of men they were forced to marry as children, and whose children dance on the unpaved streets outside praising suicide bombing.
These are not, as if often claimed, ’two different cultures’. These are two different stages of cultural development. One is in the 21st century, and the other in the 13th.
In Israeli cafes, a heated argument might break out over which marks the greater artistic leap forward, “The Bends” or “OK Computer” (the answer incidentally is the latter). In a Gaza shack, a brawl might ensue over whether music (of any kind) should be punishable by fine or amputation.
It pays to remind oneself every so often just how weird this contrast is. Imagine Denmark sharing a border with Afghanistan. Switzerland with Pakistan. Tokyo with Darfur.
And yet – knowing all this – how does the West, so comfortable in its own version of the 21st century, react?
It gathers both sides together and shouts ”Make a deal!…”, and then reacts with feigned surprise when nothing comes of it.
I suppose this isn’t strictly-speaking ’betrayal’. Israel is not in Europe. It’s more a simple kind of hypocrisy, as well as a motivated failure to comprehend an obvious truth; that the age of mutilation, dogma, and suicide bombing cannot be reconciled with the world of fashion, irony and relaxed society. They are not equal and – more importantly – they are not equally valuable. This simple, cartoonish contrast may prove to be the strongest argument for Israel, even after all the academic head-scratching and moral grandstanding has fallen away.
If you wish to defend the West from Islamisation, and modernity from barbarism, you must be a supporter of the Jewish State and defend what it represents. It is a border of the civilised world and an armed front against its darkest enemies. The Jews are a talented, humane and indispensable race and their state should reflect this in security, prosperity and size.
These are the vital arguments. So if you’re asked again to choose between modernity and barbarism, or whatever else you might wish to call the same choice, ‘Civilization or madness’, ‘Israel or Palestine’…. don’t think too deeply about it. Despite the weighty books, complicated theorems and wars of interpretation, honesty alone should lead you to the century you belong in.
D, LDN
From Defend The Modern World: http://defendthemodernworld.wordpress.com/
It is Passover But…Are You Still A Slave? What or Who Do You Worship?
From Slavery to Freedom
Since Egypt we have become slaves again, lived under the rule of iron-fisted tyrants and forgotten what the very idea of freedom means. And that will likely happen again and again until the age ends. What is this freedom that we gained with the fall of a Pharaoh and the last sight of his pyramids and armies?
Freedom like slavery, is as much a state of mind as a state of being. It is possible to be legally free, yet to have no freedom of action whatsoever. And it is possible to be legally a slave and yet to be free in defiance of those restrictions. External coercion alone does not make a man free or slave, it is the degradation of mind that makes a man a slave.
What is a slave? A slave is complicit in his own oppression. His slavery has become his natural state and he looks to his master, not to free him, but to command him. Had the Jews of Egypt merely been restrained by physical coercion, it would have been enough to directly and immediately smash the power of the Egyptian state. But their slavery was mental. They moaned not at the fact of slavery, but at the extremity of it. When their taskmasters complained to Pharaoh, it was not of slavery, but of not being given the straw with which to build the bricks.
The worst slavery is of the most insidious kind. It leaves the slave able to think and act, but not as a free man. It leaves him with cunning, but not courage. He is able to use force, but only to bring other slaves into line. And most hideously, this state of affairs seems moral and natural to him. This is his freedom.
The true slave has come to love big brother, to worship at the foot of the system that oppresses him. It is this twisted love that must be torn out of him. It is this idolatry of the whip before which he kneels, this panting to know who his superior and who his inferiors are, this love of a vast order that allows him to be lost in its wonders, to gaze in awe at the empire of tomorrow which builds its own tombs today, that must be broken. These are his gods and he must kill them within himself to be free.
The Exodus is not the story of the emergence of free men who were enslaved, but the slow painful process by which slaves became a nation of free men, a long troubled journey which has not yet ended. That is why we celebrate Passover, not as an event of the past, but as of a road that we still travel, a long journey from slavery to freedom.
Having escaped from Pharaoh, they built a glittering calf, and having left the desert behind, they sought out a king. Every idol and tyrant was another token of slavery, a desire to put one’s ear up against the doorpost and become slaves for life. The idols have changed, but their meaning has not. There is still the pursuit of the master, the master of international law, of a global state, the gods of the superstate who rule over the present and the future and dispose of the lives of men.
There are far too many synagogues that worship the Democratic Party, rather than G-d, that bow to the ghost of FDR, the glittering echoes of Harry, Adlai and John, and the great golden statue of Hope and Change squatting obscenely over it all. And in Jerusalem far too many eyes look longingly to Washington and to Brussels, to the cities on the hill which offer order, truth and peace.
It is easy to slip into this kind of slavery. The pyramids are grand, the slogans are clever and the future seems assured. It is only when the dusty messenger comes along to whisper that “He has remembered”. that those who have not forgotten gather and some among those who have forgotten, remember that they are slaves.
In Egypt the system of the state had to be smashed, but not simply smashed, but discredited. It could not be a mere contest of power, but of reason. The war between slavery and freedom could not end until the system of slavery had become ridiculous, until Pharaoh appeared a buffoon and his power no more than organized madness. And yet even so for a generation liberated from slavery, this majestic system, the only one they had ever known, remained their template, and in times of crisis, their immediate instinct was to retreat back to the only civilization they had known.
The slavery of the present is a more subtle thing. It grips the mind more tightly than the body. It still remembers that men enslave themselves best. It knows also that true power comes from making all complicit in its crimes so that they are also complicit in their own degradation. The system only asks that each man enslave himself and kill his own children. And once he has done that, he will only feel it right to demand that everyone else do likewise.
This is the slavery of the system. It requires few whips and many words. It nudges men to be their own taskmasters and to reach out their hands to the new Pharaoh in the hope that he will save them. It is this slavery which is so pervasive, which Passover wakes us from, if it has not already been perverted into the Passover of the system, into civil rights seders and eco-matzas, if has not become yet another tribute to the Pharaoh of Hope and Change.
“Once we were slaves,” the ancient words call on us to remember that we have been freed. That it is no longer Pharaoh who enslaves us, but we who enslave ourselves. “Now we are free men.” But what is freedom really? Is it the freedom of the system or the freedom of the self? The system proclaims that they are one and the same. And that is the great lie which ends in death.
Like the slaves of ancient Egypt, we are shaken, dragged out of our everyday routine and commanded to be free. But how do you command men and women to be free? You can lead them through the habits of free men and women who think of themselves as kings and queens, who drink wine while reclining, who sing loudly in defiance of all oppressors, who boldly proclaim “Next year in Jerusalem” while the Pharaoh of Hope and Change bares his teeth at Jews living in Jerusalem.
You can unroll the scroll of history and show them how they were taken out, but all this routine is useless unless they understand and are sensible that they are free. Free not in their habits, but in their minds. Ritual is the gateway to a state of mind. A ritual of freedom only succeeds when it invokes a state of mental freedom. Otherwise it is a rite, a practice, a habit whose codes may help some future generation unlock its meaning, but which means little today.
Passover is the beginning and the end. It is the start of the journey and the end of it and we are always in the middle, on the long road out of Egypt, discovering that there are more chains in our minds than we realized a year earlier or a hundred or a thousand years ago. Each step we take toward freedom also reminds us of how far we still have to go.
It is the ritual that reminds us that we are still on the journey, that though we have been lulled by the routine of the system, the trap of the present that like the soothing warmth of an ice storm or the peaceful feeling of a drowning swimmer, embraces us in the forgetfulness of the dying moment, concealing from us the truth that the journey is not over. The desert still lies before us.
This journey is the human journey. It is the recreation of what mankind lost when it defied G-d, when it turned with weapons on each other, when it built towers, created systems and tried to climb to heaven on the backs of slaves and pyramids. It is a transformative road that requires us to not only endure, but to learn.
Surrounded by willing slaves who preach the creed of slavery, we must speak for freedom. Though few seem to remember the journey or the chains, it is our duty to remind ourselves. The message of Passover fully begins only when the holiday ends and its habits carry over into our daily lives. Once we were slaves, now we are free.
War is Coming…and God Will Have the Final Say in The Outcome
Isaiah 13:13
Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
Isaiah 13:9
9 Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
Revelation 16:16
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
Revelation 17: 13-14
13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
The Dogs of War are Barking
By Alan Caruba
# ‘Challenging moment with great risks’…
# Obama ‘not bluffing’ over military threat…
# Netanyahu: ‘Red line’…
# TOP GENERAL: Nuclear Iran will trigger arms race in Middle East…
# Kissinger: Nuke crisis close…
# NKOREA: NO MORE CEASEFIRE…
# Russia conducts largest nuclear drill in 20 years…
These Republicans in Congress Make Me Sick. No Convictions, No Principles, No Integrity, No Stand Against Sheer Incompetence and Open Hatred for Israel
Senate Leftists, RINOs Vote To Confirm Pro-Islamist Anti-Semite Hagel As Defense Secretary
Senate Approves Hagel For Defense Secretary After Historic Nomination Fight – Fox News
The Senate approved Chuck Hagel’s nomination for Defense secretary Tuesday, ending a contentious battle that exposed deep divisions over the president’s Pentagon pick.
After Republicans blocked the nomination earlier this month, they ultimately allowed for an up-or-down vote on Tuesday. The margin was historically close, with 58 senators supporting him and 41 opposing in the end.
Though Hagel is himself a former Republican senator, the resistance to his nomination showed an unusual level of distrust among many senators toward the man chosen to lead the Defense Department – at a time when the country is trying to wind down the Afghanistan war, while assessing emerging threats from Iran, Syria and elsewhere in the turbulent Middle East and North Africa.
Republicans had earlier held up the nomination largely over demands for more information from the Obama administration on the Sept. 11 Libya attacks.
But they also raised serious and recurring concerns about Hagel’s record of past statements and votes on everything from Israel to Iran to nuclear weapons.
Sen. John McCain, a leading Republican, clashed with his onetime friend over his opposition to President George W. Bush’s decision to send an extra 30,000 troops to Iraq in 2007 at a point when the war seemed in danger of being lost. Hagel, who voted to authorize military force in Iraq, later opposed the conflict, comparing it to Vietnam and arguing that it shifted the focus from Afghanistan.
McCain called Hagel unqualified for the Pentagon job even though he once described him as fit for a Cabinet post.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid asked what the delaying tactics had done for “my Republican colleagues.”
“Twelve days later, nothing. Nothing has changed,” the Democrat said on the Senate floor. “Sen. Hagel’s exemplary record of service to his country remains untarnished.”
Reid blamed partisanship over Obama’s second-term national security team for the delay. Both Reid and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, a Democrat, warned that it was imperative to act just days before automatic, across-the-board budget cuts hit the Pentagon.
Hagel will succeed Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and join Obama’s retooled national security team. Hagel’s nomination bitterly split the Senate, with Republicans turning on their former party colleague and Democrats standing by Obama’s nominee.
Republicans also challenged Hagel about a May 2012 study that he co-authored for the advocacy group Global Zero, which called for an 80 percent reduction of U.S. nuclear weapons and the eventual elimination of all the world’s nuclear arms.
The group argued that with the Cold War over, the United States can reduce its total nuclear arsenal to 900 without sacrificing security. Currently, the U.S. and Russia have about 5,000 warheads each, either deployed or in reserve. Both countries are on track to reduce their deployed strategic warheads to 1,550 by 2018, the number set in the New START treaty that the Senate ratified in December 2010.
In an echo of the 2012 presidential campaign, Hagel faced an onslaught of criticism by well-funded, Republican-leaning outside groups that labeled the former senator “anti-Israel” and pressured senators to oppose the nomination. The groups ran television and print ads criticizing Hagel.
Opponents were particularly incensed by Hagel’s use of the term “Jewish lobby” to refer to pro-Israel groups. He apologized, saying he should have used another term and should not have said those groups have intimidated members of the Senate into favoring actions contrary to U.S. interests.
The nominee spent weeks reaching out to members of the Senate, meeting individually with lawmakers to address their concerns and seeking to reassure them about his policies.
Hagel’s halting and inconsistent performance during some eight hours of testimony at this confirmation hearing last month undercut his cause, but it wasn’t a fatal blow.
There was no erosion in Democratic support for the president’s choice and Hagel already had the backing of three Republicans – Sens. Thad Cochran, Mike Johanns and Richard Shelby. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., also switched to support Hagel in the final vote.
From The Daley Gator: http://thedaleygator.wordpress.com/
More Jew Hatred From England…and…Swiftly Falling to islam
UK: Oxford University Students To Vote On Boycott Of Israel…
Via Ynet:
Students at Britain’s prestigious Oxford University are set to hold a controversial vote this week as the Students Union (OUSU) stands to make its final decision on whether to boycott Israeli companies and products.
The vote, which is scheduled for Wednesday, follows a tumultuous week, brought about by anti-Israeli MP George Galloway’s hurried and highly criticized exit of a debate on Israel, after discovering that his opponent was an Israeli citizen.
“I don’t recognize Israel and I don’t debate with Israelis,” Galloway said, to gasps of shock and mutters of “racism.”
According to The Guardian, the boycott motion calls on Oxford students to join the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement “in protest of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and its hindrance of attempts to create a Palestinian state.”
From Weasel Zippers: http://weaselzippers.us/
Guide to Jewish Holiday of Purim
Purim Guide for the Perplexed 2013
Yoram Ettinger Based on Jewish sages, February 22, 2013
1. “Purimfest 1946” were the last words of Julius Streicher, the Nazi propaganda chief, as he approached the hanging gallows (Newsweek magazine, October 28, 1946, page 46). On October 16, 1946 (Jewish year 5707), ten convicted Nazi war criminals were hanged in Nuremberg. An 11th Nazi criminal, Hermann Goering, committed suicide in his cell. Julius Streicher’s library documented much interest in Purim and its relevance to enemies of the Jewish people.
According to the Scroll of Esther, King Ahasuerus allowed the Jews to defend themselves and hang Haman and his ten sons. The Talmud (Megillah 16a) claims that Haman had an 11th child, a daughter, who committed suicide following her father’s demise.
In the aftermath of the hanging of Haman and his sons, Queen Esther asked King Ahasuerus: “If it shall please His Majesty, allow the Jews who are in [the capital city] Shushan to act also tomorrow as they did today (in literary Hebrew, “tomorrow” refers sometimes to a distant future), and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged on the gallows (Esther 9:13).” Why would she request the hanging of Haman’s already hung sons? Esther’s request was interpreted as a reference to a future event which would require a similar hanging. The original Hebrew text of the Scroll of Esther – which documents the hanging of Haman’s sons – features one very large letter, ו (which equals 6 – the 6th millennium), and three very small letters, ת, ש, ז (which equal 707), referring to the year 5707 during the 6th millennium – 1946/7 in the general calendar.
2. Purim’s historical background according to Prof. Israel Eldad:
*Xerxes the Great – King Ahasuerus, known for his grand and long banquets – succeeded Darius the Great. He ruled the Persian Empire (from India to Ethiopia) during 465-486BC, 150 years before the rise of Alexander the Great, who defeated the Persian Empire.
*Greece was Persia’s key opponent in its expansion towards the Mediterranean and Europe, hence the alliance between Persia and Carthage, a rival of Greece.
*Greece supported Egypt’s revolt against Persian rule, which was subdued by Persia with the help of the Jewish warriors of Yeb (in Egypt) and Carthage, which had a significant Jewish-Hebrew connection (the names of Carthage’s heroes, Hannibal and Barca, derived from the Hebrew names, Hananyah and Barak).
*Xerxes was defeated by Greece at the battle of Salamis (480 BC), but challenged Greece again in 470BC.
*According to a Greek translation of the Scroll of Esther, Haman (the Agagi) was Macedonian by orientation or by birth. Agagi could refer to Agag, the Amalekite King (who intended to annihilate the Jews) or to the Greek Aegean Islands. Haman aspired to annihilate the Jews of Persia and opposed improved relations between Xerxes and the Jews of Yeb. He led the pro-Greek and anti-Carthage faction in Persia, while Mordechai was a chief advocate for the pro-Carthage orientation.
3. Purim is celebrated on the 14th/15th days of the Jewish month of Adar. Adar (אדר) is the root of the Hebrew adjective Adir ( – (אדירglorious, awesome, exalted, magnificent. It is, also, a derivative of the Akkadian word Adura (heroism). Jewish tradition (Babylonian Talmud) highlights Adar as a month of happiness, singing and dancing. The zodiac of Adar is Pisces (fish), which is a symbol of demographic multiplication. Hence, Adar is the only Jewish month, which doubles itself during the 7 leap years, in each 19 year cycle. Purim is celebrated on the 14th (in non-walled towns) and (in Jerusalem) on the 15th day of Adar, commemorating the deliverance of the Jewish People from the jaws of a holocaust in Persia. It also commemorates the 161 BC victory of Judah the Maccabee over Nikanor, the Assyrian commander. Moses ¬ who delivered the Jewish People from a holocaust in Egypt and whose burial site is unknown – was born, and died (1273 BC), on the 7th day of Adar, which is Israel’s Memorial Day for soldiers, whose burial site is unknown. The events of Purim occurred following the destruction of the 1st Temple by Nebuchadnezzar (586 BCE) and the exile from Zion, during the leadership of Ezra who returned to Jerusalem, and the inauguration of the Second Temple (3rd of Adar, 515 BCE) by Ezra and Nehemiah. Nebuchadnezzar died in Adar 561 BC (Jeremiah 52:31). Albert Einstein published the Theory of General Relativity in Adar 1916.
4. Purim’s Hebrew root is fate/destiny (פור), as well as “lottery” (commemorating Haman’s lottery which determined the designated day for the planned annihilation of the Jewish People), “to frustrate,” “to annul” (להפר), “to crumble” and “to shutter” (לפורר), reflecting the demise of Haman.
5. Purim commemorates a Clash of Civilizations between Mordechai the Jew and Haman the Iranian-Amalekite. It constitutes an early edition of the war between right VS wrong, liberty VS tyranny, justice VS evil, truth VS lies, as were/are Adam/Eve VS the snake, Abel VS Cain, Abraham VS Sodom and Gomorrah, Jacob VS Esau (grandfather of Amalek), Maccabees VS Assyrians, Allies VS Nazis, Western democracies VS Communist Bloc and Western democracies VS Islamic rogue and terrorist regimes.
6. Purim is the holiday of contradictions as well as tenacity-driven-optimism:
Annihilation replaced by deliverance; Esther’s concealment of her Jewish identity replaced by the disclosure of her national/religious identity; Haman’s intended genocide of the Jews replaced by his own demise; Haman replaced by Mordechai as the chief advisor to the king; national and personal pessimism replaced by optimism. A Purim lesson: Life is complex, full of contradictions, ups and downs and difficult dilemmas, worthy of principled-determination. Threats and hurdles are challenges and opportunities in disguise. The bigger the mission is, the bigger the adversity.
7. Mordechai, the hero of Purim and one of Ezra’s deputies, was a role model of principle-driven optimism in defiance of colossal odds, in the face of a super power and in defiance of the Jewish establishment. He fought Jewish assimilation and urged Jews to sustain their roots and return to their Homeland. He was endowed with the bravery of faith-driven individuals, such as Nachshon – who was the first to walk into the Red Sea before it parted. Mordechai was a politically-incorrect, out-of-the-box thinking statesman anda retired military leader, who utilized a “disproportionate pre-emptive offensive” instead of appeasement and defense. The first three Hebrew letters of Mordechai (מרדכי) spell the Hebrew word “rebellion” (מרד), which is consistent with the motto/legacy of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin: “Rebellion against Tyrants is Obedience to G-D.” Mordechai did not bow to Haman, the second most powerful person in the Persian Empire. He was a member of the tribe of Benjamin, the only son of Jacob who did not bow to Esau. The name Mordechai is also a derivative of Mordouch,¬ the chief Babylonian god.
Mordechai was a descendant of King Saul, who defied a clear commandment (to eradicate the Amalekites). He spared the life of Agag, the Amalekite king, thus precipitating further calamities upon the Jewish People. Consequently, Saul lost his royal position and life. Mordechai learned from Saul’s error. He destroyed Haman, a descendant of Agag the Amalekite and Haman’s entire power base, thus sparing the Jewish People a major disaster.
In Gimatriya, “Cursed Haman” (ארור המן) equals 502, which is identical to “Blessed Mordechai” .(ברוך מרדכי)
8. Queen Esther, the heroine of Purim’s Scroll of Esther (the 24th and concluding book of the Bible) was Mordechai’s niece. Esther demonstrates the centrality of women in Judaism, shaping the future of the Jewish People, as did Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel. Leah, Miriam, Batyah, Deborah, Hannah, Yael, etc. Sarah was the first Jewish woman, and Esther was the last Jewish woman mentioned in the Bible. Sarah lived 127 years and Esther ruled over 127 countries. The name Esther (אסתר) is a derivative of the Hebrew word הסתר , “to conceal” – reflective of her initial concealment of her Jewish identity, while the Hebrew word for “scroll,” מגילה, derives from מגלה – “to reveal.” God is concealed in the scroll of Esther, which is the only biblical book which does not mention God. The Purim custom of wearing costumes highlights the transition from the concealment to revelation of identity.
The name Esther (pronounced Ester in Hebrew) derives also from Ishtar ¬ a Mesopotamian goddess, Astarte, “star” ¬ a Phoenician goddess. In fact, the one day pre-Purim Fast of Esther (commemorating the three day fast declared by Esther in order to expedite deliverance), was cherished by the Maranos in Spain, who performed Judaism in a clandestine manner. While God’s name is hidden/absent in Esther’s Scroll, Michael Bernstein suggests that there are 182 references to “King,” corresponding to 26 (the numerical value of God) times 7 (days of creation). Esther’s second name was Hadassah, whose root is Hadass (myrtle tree in Hebrew) ¬ whose leaves are shaped like an eye.
The name Esther is identified with the planet Venus (hence, Esther’s other Hebrew name ¬Noga, just like my oldest granddaughter ¬ a shining divine light, which is Venus in Hebrew). In Gimatriya, Esther (אסתר) and Noga (נגה) equal 661 and 58 respectively, and the sum of 6+6+1 and 5+8 is 13 (the number of God’s virtues). In “small Gimatriya” both Esther (1+6+4+2) and Noga (5+3+5) equal 13, which is also the total sum of “one” in Hebrew (אחד) ¬ which represents the oneness of God, monotheism, as well as the total sum of love in Hebrew (אהבה).
9. The Persian King appointed Mordechai to be his top advisor, overruling Haman’s intent to prevent the resettling of Jews in Zion, the reconstruction of the Temple and the restoration of the wall around Jerusalem. He foiled Haman’s plan to exterminate the Jews. The king prospered as a result of his change of heart and escaped assassination. That was the case with Pharaoh, who escaped national collapse and starvation and rose in global prominence, once he appointed Joseph to be his deputy.
10. Purim’s four commandments:
*Reading/studying the Scroll of Esther within the family, highlighting the centrality of family, education, memory and youth as the foundation of a solid future.
*Gifts to relatives, friends and strangers emphasize the importance of family, community and collective responsibility.
*Charity (at least the value of a meal) reflects compassion and communal responsibility. According to Maimonides, “there is no greater or more glorious joy than bringing joy to the poor.” Purim is celebrated when Jews study the portion of the Torah, תרומה, which highlights giving and contributing to the other person as a means to enhance solidarity and reduce egotism.
*Celebration and Happiness sustain optimism and faith – the backbone of individuals and nations.
11. Lethal enemy destroyed and lethal threat commemorated. The pre-Purim Sabbath is called “Memorial Sabbath” (שבת זכור), commemorating the war of extermination launched by the Amalekites against the Jewish Nation, since the Exodus from Egypt. A Purim lesson: Be wary of enemies, posing as partners of peace, concealing a strategic goal of extermination.
From The Ettinger Report: http://www.theettingerreport.com/Jewish-Holidays/Purim-Guide-for-the-Perplexed-2013.aspx
Different Values…Of Course islam Has No Values
From 90 miles: http://ninetymilesfromtyranny.blogspot.com/
Why Does “Anyone” – Jewish or Otherwise Want to Live in Britain? A Nation Rapidly Committing Cultural Suicide
Why Would Anyone Jewish Want to Live in Britain?
At that link is Melanie Phillips’ essay discussing the disease of British anti-Semitism. It’s a powerful piece. I beat a lot of folks to the story and, mostly out of haste, decided against posting the rabidly anti-Semitic cartoon that ran at the Sunday Times (William Jacobson has it, in any case).
It turns out there there’s even more news out of Britain on this. Blazing Cat Fur links to Douglas Murray at the Gatestone Institute, “Britain’s Little Anti-Semitism Problem.” Murray discusses the recent London panel discussion on Israel’s settlement policy held at Intelligence Squared, “Israel Is Destroying Itself With Its Settlement Policy,” and he writes:
There are good places and reasons to debate Israeli settlement policy. But it is, to say the least, questionable to make the one Israel debate in a debate series a discussion proposing that it is settlements that threaten Israel’s future. Rather than (plucking them off the top of my head) the promise of nuclear-bomb-owning Mullahs or say (admittedly old story) the seven-decade long refusal of any leading Palestinian to recognise the Jewish State? There is something obscene about presenting a debate in such terms. But debates need to be punchy and provocative. They also need to involve open minds. What Glick and the other Israeli guest on her side – Danny Dayan – had to witness was very far from a demonstration of that.
Glick rightly saw that the case for Israel needed to be made. But against her and Dayan were two young darlings of the London anti-Israel establishment. The undeservedly arrogant J-Street founder Daniel Levy enjoys a following in such London circles because of his father (Lord Levy)’s money. Meanwhile, the other member proposing the anti-Israel motion, William Sieghart, is a member of a prominent London family who did poorly in the family brains distribution and so has ended up promoting Hamas. Both are the sort of rich, privileged figures who mistake their own ignorance and stupidity for profundity with daring. Their careers are spent providing respectability to those who would erase the Jewish people.
Unfortunately, and predictably, the smart London audience sided overwhelmingly with the local idiots, heckling and shouting down points made by the visiting team. The hostility – heckling, booing and more – shown towards Glick and Dayan was unique and appalling. At the end the vote was 5 to 1 in favour of Levy and Sieghart.
In a searing response to what she had seen, Glick penned the article ‘Bye-bye London’, writing:
I can say without hesitation that I hope never to return to Britain. I actually don’t see any point. Jews are targeted by massive anti-Semitism of both the social and physical varieties. Why would anyone Jewish want to live there?
There’s more, but upon reading that I clicked over to Caroline’s site for the links and immediately listened to her talk, and was riveted. I doubt few people are as knowledgeable on these things, and virtually no one evinces as much moral clarity. Do yourself a favor, take a few minutes and listen to this talk:
Caroline’s entry is here, “Video of Intelligence Squared Debate in London.” And here’s “Bye-bye London.”
And as I always point out, it’s all of a piece. No matter how compelling, no matter what overwhelming evidence Caroline could have presented, the results of the debate were preordained. She landed in an ideological cesspool. Arguments against Israel are always based on hatred and illogic. People of decency, of moral righteousness just have to stand their ground and keep up the fight. And sometimes that requires removing yourself from the scene of so much utter atrocity. It’s too bad for all of us that that includes the entirety of Britain itself.
Anti-Israel Rabbis? Isn’t That An Oxymoron?
Obama’s Inauguration Prayers Featured Three of Soros’ Anti-Israel Rabbis…
Surprise!
Via FPM:
All of Obama’s inauguration rabbis were members of the same radical leftist groups opposed to Israel and funded by George Soros. This isn’t a wacky coincidence because the J Street Rabbinic cabinet isn’t that big. Instead Obama deliberately picked three extremist left-wing clergy, “Rabbi” Rick Jacobs, “Rabbi” Julie Schonfeld and “Rabbi” Sharon Brous.
Jacobs and Brous are or were members of the J Street Rabbinic Cabinet, an Anti-Israel organization funded by George Soros. The “Rabbinic” part is a name only as these people are not legitimate clergy, they are left-wing activists dedicated to the destruction of Israel and Judaism.
Rick Jacobs was involved in the New Israel Fund, another extremist left-wing group which funds groups that boycott Israel. Julie Schonfeld was also involved with the NIF and was on the advisory committee for Jewish Funds for Justice. Rick Jacobs was on that same advisory committee.
Jewish Funds for Justice is an extreme left-wing group very closely tied to the Soros family. Soros’ son sits on the board of the merged organization of JFJ and the Progressive Jewish Alliance.
From Weasel Zippers: http://weaselzippers.us/
MLK Supported Israel – Obama Does Not
Did you know that Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Zionist?
Shhhhh…don’t tell Barack Hussein Obama.
AUJS THE REV. MARTIN Luther King, Jr. understood the meaning of discrimination and oppression. He sought ways to achieve liberation and peace, and he thus understood that a special relationship exists between African Americans and American Jews. This message was true in his time and is true today. He knew that both peoples were uprooted involuntarily from their homelands. He knew that both peoples were shaped by the tragic experience of slavery. He knew that both peoples were forced to live in ghettoes, victims of segregation.
He knew that both peoples were subject to laws passed with the particular intent of oppressing them simply because they were Jewish or black. He knew that both peoples have been subjected to oppression and genocide on a level unprecedented in history. King understood how important it is not to stand by in the face of injustice. He understood the cry, “Let my people go.”
Long before the plight of the Jews in the Soviet Union was on the front pages, he raised his voice. “I cannot stand idly by, even though I happen to live in the United States and even though I happen to be an American Negro and not be concerned about what happens to the Jews in Soviet Russia. For what happens to them happens to me and you, and we must be concerned”.
During his lifetime King witnessed the birth of Israel and the continuing struggle to build a nation. He consistently reiterated his stand on the Israeli-Arab conflict, stating “Israel’s right to exist as a state in security is uncontestable”. It was no accident that King emphasized “security” in his statements on the Middle East.
On March 25, 1968, less than two weeks before his tragic death, he spoke out with clarity and directness stating, “peace for Israel means security, and we must stand with all our might to protect its right to exist, its territorial integrity. I see Israel as one of the great outposts of democracy in the world, and a marvelous example of what can be done, how desert land can be transformed into an oasis of brotherhood and democracy. Peace for Israel means security and that security must be a reality.”
During the recent UN Conference on Racism held in Durban, South Africa, we were all shocked by the attacks on Jews, Israel and Zionism. During an appearance at Harvard University shortly before his death, a student stood up and asked King to address himself to the issue of Zionism. The question was clearly hostile. King responded, ”When people criticize Zionists they mean Jews, you are talking anti-Semitism.”
From Bare Naked Islam: http://www.barenakedislam.com/
The Palestinians Are So Delusional That They Say There is No Jewish History in Jerusalem? What The…?
Muslim savages say, “Jews have no connection to the Western Wall”
And when the leader of the Palestinian Authority says, “No people besides Muslims have ever used the Western Wall as place of worship, throughout all of history,” leftist dhimmis nod in agreement.
PalWatch The Palestinian Authority Minister of Religious Affairs, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, said recently that all of Jerusalem and the Western Wall are “the sole right of Palestinians.” To back this up, he falsely claimed that “no person besides Muslims ever used it [the Western Wall] as a place of worship, throughout all of history, until the ominous Balfour Declaration was issued in 1917.”
This denial of the Jewish nation’s history by the PA minister came in response to a statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about Israel’s 3,000 year history in Jerusalem, as he lit the eighth candle of the Chanukah holiday last month at the Western Wall. The PA minister said Netanyahu’s statements were “nothing but nonsense and an attempt to manipulate both history and geography, and are worthless from a religious, historical, or legal point of view.”
This ongoing PA denial of Jewish history in Israel and especially Jerusalem is a fundamental component of the PA’s political program to deny Israel’s right to exist.
The following is the PA minister’s statement denying a Jewish connection to the Western Wall:
“Minister for Religious Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash said that Jerusalem and all its features, its geography, and its Islamic and Christian holy sites, and this includes the Western Wall (Al-Buraq Wall in Arabic), are the sole right of Palestinians.”
In a press release he stressed that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s recent statements concerning Israel’s ownership of the Western Wall are nothing but nonsense and an attempt to manipulate both history and geography, and are worthless from a religious, historical, or legal point of view. Al-Habbash made clear that Netanyahu’s statements about Jerusalem and the Western Wall lack the elementary scientific basis for approaching history which has always proven Islamic ownership of the Western Wall… that no person besides Muslims ever used it as a place of worship, throughout all of history, until the ominous Balfour Declaration was issued in 1917.”
The following is the statement by PM Netanyahu at the Western Wall, as he lit the eighth candle of Chanukah, which prompted the PA minister’s statement:
“In recent days, I have heard that the Palestinians are saying that the Western Wall is occupied territory. I want to tell them from the closest possible place to the miracle of the jar of oil: The Western Wall has been ours for 3,000 years, and it and the State of Israel will be ours forever.”
The PA’s denial of Jewish history in Israel is an integral part of the PA’s political program. This denial is used as the basis for the PA’s denial of Israel’s right to exist. This was expressed explicitly in a recent article by a PA daily columnist who argued that Zionists have no connection to the Biblical Hebrews and therefore Israel has “no historical or legal basis” to exist:
“The Zionist movement’s leaders and their broad group of followers have no relation even to the [Biblical] twelve tribes of Israel, as the great Hungarian historian [Arthur] Koestler proved, and as Jewish and Israeli researchers clarified later. This means that the superfluous [nation] in this region, and the one harming its security and stability, is the occupation (i.e., Israel) in all its shapes and stages, whether in the past or in the present, and whether in the form of military occupation, settlement, or fabricating Judaization that have no historical or legal basis.”
The Western Wall is a small section of the Temple Mount that has remained standing since Rome’s destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE. The PA teaches that there never was a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem nor was there a Jewish presence. This distortion of history is the basis for the PA stance that Jews/Israel have no right to Jerusalem and no right to pray at the Western Wall.
Denial of Jewish connection to Jerusalem
“Jerusalem is the religious, political and spiritual capital of Palestine – the Jews have no right to it,” declared senior PA religious official, Dr. Tayseer Al-Tamimi, PA Chief Justice of religious court.
Accordingly, any Jewish life and development in Jerusalem is labeled as “Judaization.” Jerusalem is presented as an exclusively Muslim and Christian city, with no regard to history or archeology, and even the existence of the Temple being denied.
One of the most beautiful documentaries done on Jerusalem and its position in Biblical prophecy, click here for details.
The Jerusalem district [administration] published an announcement yesterday under the heading ‘Jerusalem’s Archaeological Landmarks, Ancient History, and Israel’s Ongoing Assault’, to inform people about some of the many archaeological, religious and historical landmarks in Jerusalem. Jerusalem District Governor, Engineer Adnan Husseini, said that the announcement comes as the city is subject to an Israeli campaign of forgery, aimed at erasing its Islamic and Christian landmarks, and highlighting its Jewish character. Husseini declared that some of the active national institutions, including the Jerusalem District, the National Committee, and the like, bear the burden of focusing attention on feverish attempts at Judaization to which these landmarks are subject.
From Bare Naked Islam: http://www.barenakedislam.com/
The Israeli School Security Method – Carry A bigger Gun Than the Perp
From Hell on Earth: http://hellonearth-1.blogspot.com/
islam Has No Intention of Co-existing With Christianity
We Muslims Cannot Co-Exist With You
by Detlef Kleinert
Why the persecution of Christians in the Muslim world is increasing. Where sharia reigns, non-Muslims have lost all rights.
In Tahrir Square in Cairo, a recent placard announced: “85 million people want the implementation of sharia.” About 10,000 Salafists had gathered to demand strict adherence to the Koran in the constitution. What this means in practice was explained by a terrorist, after he and others had murdered 60 Catholics in Iraq: “You Christians are all ‘kuffar’ (infidels); we cannot co-exist with you!”
So it is that, worldwide, about 100 million Christians are being persecuted, humiliated, and ultimately murdered. Especially in Islamic countries. The more strictly the Koran is enforced, the more merciless is the systematic displacement, the murderous terror.
Some examples: In Indonesia in recent years, more than 1,000 churches were burned. In the last 30 years in Egypt, more than 1,800 Copts have been murdered for religious reasons. In the Fall of 2011, imams in more than 20 Upper Egyptian mosques called for an assault against churches and the murder of Christians. Security forces withdrew.
Religious Hate Propaganda
Religious hate propaganda is not confined to mosques. It is played on tapes everywhere, in bazaars, in taxis and in private residences. Islam researcher, Rita Breuer: “In most Muslim-leaning countries, it is no longer necessary to be secretive about spreading anti-Christian propaganda. It is acceptable and in many places even in good taste.”
The consequence, according to Breuer: “Equal rights for non-Muslim citizens cannot exist in an explicitly Islamic-tilted country.” Where sharia reigns, non-Muslims have lost all rights. “There has never been an Islamic state without religious discrimination.”
Rita Breuer, who has long been active as an aid worker in Islamic countries, also explains Islamic hate of Christians theologically. Sura 4, verse 171 says unmistakably: “Jesus, son of Mary, is the envoy of Allah.” Naturally, the religious founder of Christianity, God’s son, cannot, may not be more divine than Mohammed, who was “only” a human being. Therefore, belief in Jesus Christ challenges the entire Islamic belief structure. So the “idolaters,” according to sura 9, verse 17, “will abide forever in the fire.”
Religious Freedom is only Theoretical
Here there is nothing of the compassion which Mouhanad Khorchide believes he sees in Islam. (“Islam is Compassion,” Herder Publications). And when he says contemporary Muslims should regard the Koran in a historical context, that may apply to educated Muslims in Western lands. But, where Islam is the state doctrine, other principals are in control.
In Turkey, for example, where there theoretically is religious freedom. Rita Breuer: “In nominally laicist Turkey, you can observe an outright hysterical persecution of the Christian mission and whatever it is assumed to be.” In 2007 in eastern Turkish Malatya, two Turks who had converted to Christianity and a German pastor were “gruesomely butchered.”
It’s not an isolated case. In sharia, apostasy — dropping out of the Islamic faith — is punishable by death. In many Islamic countries, apostates are under sentence of death; elsewhere, the “merciful” representatives of the faith call for lynch justice. In Egypt, for example, “many imams call the faithful to the killing of converts,” says Breuer. “Whoever follows their call need fear no punishment.”
However, while it is churches in the Western world that preach tolerance and many theologians babble about a “dialogue between equals,” the climate of hostility finds ever more adherents in the Islamic world. Breuer: “The wave of re-Islamization in the Islamic world and renewed politicization of religion is like a creeping poison for the inter-religious climate, and works considerably to the disadvantage of Christians.”
The liberals have not prevailed in the internal Islamic dispute — the radical Islamists have. There is no question — this will also have its effects on the varied trends in Islam in the Western world.
Pseudo-Dialogue is no Good for Anyone
And let us not forget: the sham dialogue here at home is not helping endangered Christians in the Islamic world. They are directed to a clear position taken by Western churches. It is like a denial of reality, when theologians — as in the Catholic Church in Vienna — repeatedly paint a positive and idealized picture of Islam. An Islam which is compatible with Christian values — the “true Islam of peace and freedom, of equal rights for all people, of tolerance and pluralism.”
Except, as Rita Breuer knows, “This allegedly true Islam does not exist.” On the contrary, the hate campaign against Christians is growing, here as well. “Even though actively militant Muslims are a minority, passive acceptance of violence is very high.” This is a sentence which should make everyone ponder migration and integration.
From Gates if Vienna: http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/
We Simply Traded One Dictator for Another Except Mubarak Was Better
EGYPT: In a very Obama-like move, President Morsi declares himself God…and the people are outraged!
Mohamed Morsi declared that any laws or decrees he’s made since he took office June 30, and any made before a new constitution is put in place, are final and cannot be overturned or appealed. Angry protesters filled the streets of Cairo, and set fire to several Muslim Brotherhood offices around the country.
Hey…you voted for a radical Islamist, just like we did, in the United States. You get the government you deserve.
Protesters storm several offices of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood inappropriately-named ‘Freedom and Justice’ party
CNN Morsi also declared that a 100-man council drafting a new constitution, plus the upper house of parliament, cannot be dissolved. He granted the council two more months to finish a draft constitution, meaning the panel has six months to finish. That means Morsi, who this year took over legislative powers from the military council that ruled after Hosni Mubarak’s ouster, could have at least six months of unchecked rule by decree. The draft constitution would go to a referendum before it is finalized.
Morsi’s moves come three days after the start of violent protests in central Cairo, largely by people angry at Morsi’s government and the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist movement to which Morsi belongs. There also is turmoil in the constitution panel, which has been torn between conservatives wanting the constitution to mandate that Egypt be governed by Islam’s Sharia law and moderates and liberals who don’t.
Pamela Geller: The War of Ideas is Raging Between Western Civilization and islam
From Atlas Shrugs