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Saturday, April 30, 2011

Hamas PM Considering A Deal Thrusting Israel to 67 Borders

Nadene Goldfoot
Ismail Haniya is the prime minister of Hamas terrorists in Gaza and just said he was ready to resign.  He has been counseled in Cairo, Egypt whose people have set forth the plan of a transitional unity government which will hold elections.  Egypt has an interest in this as they share a border with Gaza. 

The Fatah prime minister is Salam Fayyad who hopes that this agreement will lead to the "reunification of the nation.  This will allow the people to decide their destiny and establish an independent state on "all territories occupied since 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital." 

So here we see what they are intending to do.  Push back Israel to the 1967 borders just like that and take East Jerusalem.  I doubt if Israel wlll be so obliging.  Actually, they have just decided to go back to the point they used to be at before their big split when they were encouraged to hold elections and Hamas won.  This time Mubarek isn't available to respect the peace pact that Egypt had with Israel and seems to be going against the idea with their new democratic ideas.  Democracy for them, destruction for Israel, the only true democracy in the Middle East is their plan.   

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110430/wl_mideast_afp/palestinianspoliticsunityhaniya
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110430/wl_mideast_afp/palestinianspoliticsunityisrael
http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=218541
http://www.debka.com/article/20878/

Thursday, April 28, 2011

The Big Pretender: J Street

Nadene Goldfoot
It's not enough that Israel has been attacked at the beginning of its birth on May 14, 1948 by the surrounding Arab nations.  It's not enough that it has had to endure constant battles ever since then.  Now an organization pretending to be on Israel's side has been found to be quite the opposite.  I contend that the Intelligent members of this organization have done a disappointing and half -way job of checking into it and are backing the Arab groups that are against Israel by belonging.

This has become so serious that the Knesset in Jerusalem heard testimony and evidence from Lenny Ben David on Wednesday, March 23, 2011 about J Street. With all the dangers Israel is facing, they had to take time out to discuss this group from the USA.   The truth of the matter is that this group hides behind the cover of being a pro-Israel organization and is known very well in Washington while their activities "undermine and hurt the State of Israel."

Examples:
1.. The Fogel family was massacred in Itamar, Samaria.  So J Street tried to block a letter from congress which was attacking Palestinian incitement.  J Street thinks that Congress should address the actions and words of both the Arabs and the Israelis that hamper the chances to achieve peace. 

2. J Street's leaders are Jeremy Ben-Ami and David Gilo.  They both claim to have 170,000 supporters.   They don't tell you that this number respresents all people hitting J Street's website.  They're tallied as supporters. 

3.  J Street supported the UN condemnation of Israel last month.

4.  J Street opposed the US veto of the resolution of condemning Israel.  They actually went against a USA decision we were all praying for.  Their cop-out, Gilo explained, was that they were following policies of 8 other American presidents-though they were opposing Obama's administration who viewed this as a dangerous and inappropriate act against Israel.  Rep. Gary Ackerman felt J Street was not open-minded or knows what is support for Israel and thinks their brains have fallen out!  This was a shocking and disgusting move on J Street's part. 

5. a. Two-faced signals come out of J Street.  They claim to oppose the boycott of Israel.
But  they also provided a platform for the foremost Boycott-divestment-Sanctions (BDS) organization, the Jewish Voices for Peace at the Washington Conference. 
5.b. J Street also co-sponsored a congressional mission to Israel with the Churches for Middle East Peace.  This group consists of pro-BDS organizations.

5c. J Street opposed sanctions against Iran.
They also state that it always supported sanctions against Iran, but this is not true.  They joined with the pro-Iranian lobby, the National Iranian American council (NIAC), to oppose congressional efforts to impose santions on Iran.Leader Ben-Ami and NIAC director Trita Parsi co-authored an anti-sanctions piece titled "How diplomacy Can work with Iran" in the Huffington Post in June 2009. 

6. J Steet supports the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity group who are against Jews living in old Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem.  This group demonstrates every week.

7. J Street hosted the SJS at a recent conference in Washington.  The SJS manifesto calls for the "liquidation or fundamental change of organizations that contribute to the dispossession of Arabs, including the following:
  a.  Jewish Agency
  b. Jewish National Fund
  c. Israel Lands Authority.

8. J Street has supported Richard Goldstone of the infamous Goldstone Report damaging Israel but now detracted by Goldstone himself.  J Street even set up meetings for him on Capitol Hill while defaming Israel.  A Goldstone letter to US Congress came from J Street's computer of Morton Halperin, Soros advisor. 

9. J Street sponsored UNRWA leader-Israel critic John Ging on American speaking tours. 

10. Chutzpa of J Street includes intensive public relations in Israel by Ben-Or communications presenting  J Street narrative without any response. This communications Ben-Or is owned by Oriella Ben-Tzvi and Jeremy Ben-Ami!  Collusion!  Ben-Or respresents Israel's worst detractors like Jimmy Carter, the "elders," Yesh Din, Amnesty International, and National Public Radio in the USA.


 Money to J Street
1. Large contributions come from a NIAC director, Genevieve Lynch of New York.  She's on J Street's Finance Committee.as well.
2. J Steet has a political action committee.  They receive money from sources in:
  a.  pro-Saudi lobby
  b. Arab-American lobby
  c. pro-Iranian lobby
3. George Soros-anti-Israel billionaire-denied by Jeremy Ben-Ami.   U.S. Internal Revenue Service documents reveal this is not true.  Now Gilo said this was to have been kept a secret, and that Soros's half-million dollar contribution was small! 
4. Consolacion Esdicul, woman from Hong Kong, contributed $811,697 which was half of the 2009 budget.  Who she is is unknown and thoughts are about money laundering going on. 

What I surmise here is a wolf in sheep's clothing.  The discovery is who is really backing J Street: monied people who do not have Israel's interest at heart.  More than that, it's some of our own people who are traitors to their own people.  At a time when Israel needs all the support it can muster, it is being drawn and quartered by this selfish and self righteous group.  Gary Ackerman was right.  "Their brains have fallen out."

Resource: Eric Leibman, J Street at it again;  Attacking efforts to defend Israel by Jennifer Rubin, Twenty-Six Reasons J Street's Demise Shouldn't Be Mourned by Lenny Ben-David; The J Steet files; Jikileaks visit Itamar at http://www.friendsofitamar.org/ 
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=189445 J Street's a Crooked Road
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/10/blowing_j_streets_cover.html
http://fieryspiritedzionist.blogspot.com/2010/05/j-street-follies.html
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/26/jewish-lawmaker-slams-j-street-backing-anti-israel-resolution/
http://www.forward.com/articles/135838/
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/right-turn/2011/02/dennis_ross_disappoints_j_stre.html
http://www.jikileaks.com/

War or Peace on the Horizen

Nadene Goldfoot
Upon hearing that Fatah and Hamas have joined together in a reconciliation agreement, Netanyahu commented that Abbas has to choose either peace with Israel or peace with Hamas.  Fatah can't have peace with both of them because Hamas's charter and expressed goals are to destroy Israel.  They are showing the world their desire to do so by shooting  missiles into Israel. 

To confirm this, Mahmoud Azhar of Hamas said their political platform is:
No recognition of Israel
No negotiations with Israel
His view of a combined government with Fatah is only to handle internal Palestinian issues.

Nabil Abu Rudena of Fatah reports that their reconciliation with Hamas signed in Cairo are internal Palestinian issues. 

I think they both are giving Israel the double-talk.  What all do internal matters cover politically?  Water, oil, traffic control?  No, they're attempting a marriage between the two terrorist groups.  Whether or not the marriage lasts and doesn't end in another divorce is to be seen. 

At least Netanyahu laid it out for Abbas.  You can't have your cake and eat it, too.  Either Israel will view you as a friend or as an enemy, depending on your alliance with Hamas. 

Lately, there have been several acts showing that Fatah is still an enemy.  Just what have they been doing to show they want to be at peace with Israel and will prove to be a good neighbor?  The government keeps promoting maps in their schools without Israel-only Palestine. Their history books teach a biased slanted hodgepodge of misinformation about Israel and about Palestine.   Is this their Freudian slip?   Their 63 year old attitude towards Jews shows up in continued slayings  of families and people in Judea and Samaria stemming from their national hatred.  Their hatred shows up for Israel to see when Abbas and other officials attend and lead ceremonies honoring their violent terrorist martyrs where they name streets and such for them. 

Resource:  http://palwatch.org/site/modules/print/preview.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=4951&section=all

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Israeli Philosophy Prof's Reply About a Palestine Next Door

Nadene Goldfoot
Asa Kasher is the co-author of the first IDF Code of Ethics in Israel.  He reminds us that the Zionists supported the 1947 Partition decision which created a state for Jews and a state for Palestinians and that we recognized it from the start.  Now we're all wondering if this Palestine is going to be established and under what circumstances since Hamas is dedicated to Israel's destruction as according to their unchanged charter.  Kasher  remarked that he doesn't have to help in the establishment of something that wants to wipe him out. 

I would think that this is the feeling of most Israelis today.  Hamas and Fatah have just joined forces.  Who will be the leader?  Does this mean that both groups will work on the destruction of Israel outwardly?  Or does it mean that Hamas will continue from its end in Gaza and Fatah will go back to their old PLO attacks from Judea and Samaria?  There's not much here for Israel to celebrate. 

Kasher comments that nobody tried harder than Israel to warn Palestinians in Gaza to leave a combat zone.  They even published a map of Hizbullah positions in South Lebanon and released details of hundreds of villages where Hizbullah was deep inside the village.  If Hizbullah fires on the army, they have to return fire so the publication is a warning to the people to stay out of danger.

If people don't leave the combat zone they become a human shield for the terrorists and thus becomes part of the war.  He doesn't want to harm human shields, but it could happen.  In cases like this, our soldiers' lives are not to be endangered. 

Israel's soldiers serve because serving is mandatory for this little state. and Israel is not about to put these young men into reckless danger.  Israel also takes measures to minimize harm to those who are not dangerous to us and is without equal anywhere else.  Self-defense includes attacking the source of the attack.  Israelis have no reason to think that one Kassams or katyushas will not be followed by another and this must be stopped and so Israel is permitted to attack it.  I add that no one in their right mind can sit back and take attacks without trying to stop the attacks.  These attacks are not over intelligent reasons, they stem from hatred and the inability to accept a Democratic Jewish State in their midst. 

To top it off, all this time the United States has been trying to force Israel into a peace plan with Syria but has finally seen how Syria really is after watching them mow down their own people for their desire of a democratic state.  This pressure is now expected to stop. 
Resource: Jerusalem Post by David Horovitz. 
http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=218005
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=217479





Fatah-Hamas Join Together

Nadene Goldfoot
Fatah in Judea/Samaria and Hamas in the Gaza Strip are finally smoking the peace pipe with each other if only to combine their security forces against Israel. 

This peace between enemies has been tried before and ended moments after the signing, but it's in the plans. 

This may also have something to do with going to the UN to declare themselves a state. 

Resource: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110427/wl_nm/us_palestinians_reconciliation

Our Christian Pilgrims and Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
Pilgrims came to America from Holland, having left England because of the lack of religious freedom.  The Old Testament was a part of their studies. The Reverend who sent them over on the Mayflower was John Robinson.  He never made it to America but his son,  Isaac did. 

This religious group was different from the businessmen who landed in the southern portion of America a little earlier.  These were religious people landing at Plymouth Rock in 1620 who felt they were the founders of a "New Israel."  Part of their studies included studying Hebrew and bridging the Holy Land and America.  They even pledged to restore Jews to their ancestral homeland. 

This "restorationist" movement grew in colonial America and influenced the founders:

1. Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin wanted Moses leading the children of Israel to serve as the Great Seal of the new USA.

2. John Adams wrote that he wished the Jews were again in Judea as an independent nation.

3. Abraham Lincoln backed the noble dream of a re-created Jewish state.

4. Woodrow Wilson, descending from Presbyterian ministers, declared, "To think that I...should be able to help restore the Holy Land to its people." 

5.  Harry S. Truman saw himself as Cyrus, assistant in creating Israel.  He voted for Israel's birth in the UN. It took America 328 years to fullfill a goal the founders had first wished for, but they did it. 

Thanksgiving is a recreation of a holiday mentioned in the Old Testament that survives today with the Jewish people.   That was one of the first acts after a harvest in America. 

Who are UNRWA People In Palestine Schools?

Nadene Goldfoot
Palestinian schools teach their own idea of truth.  They have been known to teach that Israel is not even on the map, only Palestine. 

Now UNRWA workers are strongly opposed to teaching about the Holocaust era of the Jews.  This came about because UNRWA had decided to include this in the curriculum under "human rights."  Their workers union have replied that teaching this will only confuse the thnking of the children. 

Their emphasis is the study of the history of Palestine and the acts of massacre carried out against Palestinians including the war in Gaza. 

These students are already confused or have been fed nothing but a pack of lies.  How confused they will be about their own people when they find out the historic truths. 

I note that these UNRWA workers are not referred to as teachers or even instructors, only as workers.  The UNRWA Workers' Union is opposed to teaching a Holocaust Unit, yet the chaiman, Suheil Al-Hindi told that UNRWA approved teaching about it but the teaching has not yet started.  It appears that it never will, too.   Some neighbors they're going to be. 

Resource: Itamar Marcus
http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc.id=4637

Monday, April 25, 2011

Computer Viruses in Iran

Iran was hit last years with a serious computer virus that interrupted the computers  needed at their Bushehr nuclear reactor.  It was the Stuxnet worm virus.  They're still having problems with it as the Bushehr reactor is still not up and working. 

Now they have another problem with the virus, "Stars," which they are busy investigating, said Gholamreza Jalali.  They continue to blame the United States and Israel for their virus problems.  We have been worrying about their abilities to attain nuclear weapons as well. 

http://www.jpost.com/IranianThreat/News/Article.aspx?id=217795

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Jews Shot, Killed & Wounded at Joseph's Tomb Today


Nadene Goldfoot
Jews have lived in Judea and Samaria since biblical days.  That's why these sections are so important to us.  Today a group of 5 Jews visited Joseph's Tomb in Nablus, Shechem, Samaria without proper permission that nowdays is deemed necessary.  A group comprising 5 religious Jews may not have been aware of this.  Were they told by some admissions person that they couldn't enter and were turned away?  No.  A Palestinian policeman shot and killed one of of them and wounded the other 4.  Good grief!  They entered the area without coordinating it with the Palestinian Authority, stated the governor of Nablus, Jibreen al-Bakri.  Evidently under the Palestinian Authority  this is reason enough to shoot and kill Jews.  Wanting to pray without proper permission!

The Jewish man killed was only in his mid 20's, Ben-Yosef Livnat, a nephew of Culture and Sports Minister Limor Livnat, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party.  The policeman's excuse to fire at them all was that he identified suspicious movements.  These 5 people were members of the ultra-Orthodox and would have been easily identified by their black clothing.  Most ultra orthodox don't even serve in the IDF, and would not have been reaching for any guns.  They were there purely for religious purposes.  It's common for the religious to want to pray at tombs of our ancestors. 

Netanyahu has condemned the killing and demanded that the Palestinians take harsh steps against the killer.  Ehud Barak, Defense Minister, said just because there was a lack of coordination doesn't justify a shooting.

Livnat, at her nephew's funeral said the murderer was a terrorist in the guise of a Palestinian policeman.  The reaction of Jews living near Nablus was angry of course, and some threw stones at Palestinian cars near the city. 

500,000 Jews live in Judea and Samaria where there are 2.5 million Palestinians also living there including East Jerusalem.  Palestinians are angry that these sacred places are on the land they want for their state.  Good grief!  Whatever are they planning to do to our holy sites if this is how they are now treating our religious Jews?  This isn't how Israel treats Christian tourists.  They are made to feel most welcome.  I can see that there's going to be a lot of fun if Palestine is ever made official. 

On second thought, it's been the Arab terrorists who have attacked Jews in Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem.  Israelis haven't had surprise attacks on Arab enclaves.  Who on earth were these orthodox Jews going to harm at a Tomb?  Is it an area populated with many Arabs?  I doubt that very much.  The only weapon an orthodox Jew would be carrying under his black coat would be a pistol, not a rifle.  What common sense would there be in shooting a lone policeman?  It's not something any Jew would think of doing, whether he be even in the disguise of an orthodox Jew or not. Was this policeman the best that Nablus Arabs had?  Is this a case of -what they would do to us they expect us to do to them?  It could be a reflection of how terrible they are being educated in their schools which teach them to hate Israelis so terribly much. 
11:26am: Update: It has just been reported that Joseph's Tomb is now engulfed in flames.  An Arab mob has set fire to it. 
Resource: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110424/wl_nm_us_palestinians_israel-violence/print
http://israelinsider.net/profiles/blogs/after-attack-on-jewish
http://israelinsider.net/profiles/blogs/palestinian-security-forces
http://idfspokesperson.com/2011/04/24/israeli-killed-four-others-injured-near-josephs-tomb/
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/04/muslim-policemen-shouting-allahu-akbar-open-fire-on-jews-praying-at-josephs-tomb.html-   wounded reporting more about incident, intent to kill Jews
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4060258,00.html
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/143687

Friday, April 22, 2011

Names Israel Has Been Called

Nadene Goldfoot
Israel was conquered by the Romans in 132 CE and then the Romans renamed it Palestina.  They chose that name because it was the name of Israel's most bitter enemy, the Philistines,  and did this to humiliate the Jewish subjects.  They wanted to make the point that it was now Roman land as they were angy with the Jews because they had rebelled twice against Roman authority.  In Latin Palestina means "land of the Philistines." 

In 1918 the Ottoman Empire had lost control of Palestine because they were on the axis side of WWI.  The French were given the mandate over Syria and Lebanon from 1920 to the mid 1940's.  They used the term, Levant from the term lever (to rise)-where the sun rises.  It was the area they had which was from Anatolia, Egypt and Mesopotamia. This geographical region includes the eastern shores of the Mediterranian Sea from the Isthmus of Suez to the Taurus Mountains including present-day Israel, Lebanon, western Jordan, the Sinai  in Egypt, and part of Syria which covers about 75,000 square miles. 

Long ago in Biblical days the Southern part of the area  was called Canaan.  Joshua of the Israelites conquered the land after he and his 600,000 people wandered in the desert for 40 years.    He had taken over leadership of the people from Moses when he died at age 120.    Moses was born in 1400 BCE  or the Jewish year of 2368 so was 80 years old when he started on the Exodus or about in 2448. 

From the 15th to 13th BCE , Canaan was the name for Syria.  More exactly it was used for the coast of Palestine.  Before Joshua's conquest the country was divided into small city-states.  Joshua and the Israelites called the land Eretz Yisrael or the Land of Israel.  The northern part they called Aram, or Syria. 

Traditionally Canaan had been inhabited by the descendants of Canaan, who was the youngest son of Ham who was the son of Noah.  They were a people divided into 11 groups who lived between the Nile and the Euphrates.  They appear to be a mixture of Horites, Hittites and Hebrews dating back to the Hyksos period of the 17th century BCE.  The Canaanites were either killed or assimilated by the Israelites, Philistines and the Arameans from the 13th to 11th BCE.  The remnants were living under King David and his son King Solomon and then absorbed.  Only among the Sidonians and Phoenicians was the name preserved. 

Because Ham showed unseemly behavior toward his father, his descendants, the Canaanites, were cursed and condemned to servitude to Shem and Japheth.  The Canaanites were idol worshippers and were possibly practicing other unacceptable behaviors which is why G-d had the Israelites live there.  Moses had sent Joshua out as one of the 12 spies to check out the land of Canaan and he had come back with a positive  report along with Caleb.  The others had said it would be impossible to conquer. 

May 14, 1948 was the birth of Israel once again.  The people  have regained their original name and are now Israelis.  . 

Resource: http://www.jewfaq.org/moshe.htm
Encyclopedia, the Standard Jewish

Genesis XVII # 7, #8: G-d speaking to Abram and changing his name to Abraham:  "And I will establish my covenant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a G-d unto thee and to thy seed after thee.  #8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land of thy sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their G-d.  Abram had lived in Canaan  at times but only temporarily, which is the definition of: to sojourn. 

I note that this was said to Abraham, who was born way before Moses and the Exodus. 

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Peace Initiatives Next Month From Netanyahu and Obama: Which One First? What Do They Include?

Nadene Goldfoot
The rumor is that Obama may present his own peace plan next month before Netanyahu presents his to the American Congress.  Netanyahu's is going to include some facts about Iran, for one thing.

Obama has been said to present a plan forcing Israel back to their 1967 border.  This is the same border that Israel had from 1949 to the Six Day War of June 5-10, 1967 when Israel won against all odds an enormous attack that was unbelievable.

The United Arab Republic made up of Egypt, Jordan and Syria attacked.  The Arab forces included Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Sudan and the PLO who are the Fatah in Judea and Samaria today.  Egypt had 100,000 troops in the Sinai, all 7 of their division including 950 tanks, 1,100 APC's, and 1,000 artillary pieces.   Syria had 75,000 troops, Jordan had 55,000 troops and 300 tanks.  They had pilots from Pakistan's Air Force volunteering and there was aircraft from Libya, Algeria, Morocco, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. 

How Israel won was simply a miracle against all this.  Who else would have even dared to try to survive much less win against such insurmountable odds?  Israel was fighting alone for its life.  By winning in these 6 days, they had taken the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, Judea and Samaria (West Bank as Jordan had called it) and East Jerusalem from Jordan as well.  Jordan never did keep their promises to allow Jews into their holy places before.  They took the 3,000 feet in altitude Golan Heights from Syria which was on the border of Israel .  This had enabled the Syrians to shoot at Israelis below like sitting ducks.
So by forcing Israel to accept this plan, it would mean giving up what they had taken in defense from the worst amassed bullies on Earth.  Israel has already left the Gaza Strip in the act of peace only to be met with daily rockets and missiles as the terrorists attain this weaponry.  Israel gave up the Sinai to Egypt for peace which seemed to have worked well before Mubarek was just forced out.  It doesn't sound like the rebellion will honor any peace pact with Israel now.  More likely the Muslim Brotherhood will have a lot to say, and if they do will be very much against peace with Israel.  Their plan is to destroy Israel.  Giving up the Golan Heights would give Syria the advantage of shooting at Israelis once again, and that might mean with the same kind of weapons that are coming out of Gaza which are being supplied by Iran that are now highly sophisticated and lethal. 

Though the Palestinians have refused to accept Israel as the world's only Jewish State, or talk of any peace situation, Israel would be expected to accept a state of Palestine.  If this is only in Judea or Samaria or if it includes Gaza is not known.  Jerusalem would become divided again and would serve as the capital for both states. 

The only good points for Israel would be that the "Palestinians" would not have the right to return to wherever they fled from.  Israel's security would have to be protected.  It is not known if this is by Israel as it has always been or if there are other forces to be called upon.  Most likely this is just a statement and has not been thought out as yet.

Much is happening in May.  Those for and against Israel will be meeting and speaking.  We'll have to watch for the final outcome. 


Resource: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/21/world/middleeast/21prexy.html?_r=1
http://www.theocracywatch.org/christian_zionism_israel_borders.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-Day_War

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Picking on AIPAC

There is a conference scheduled in Washington DC on May 21-24, 2011 called Move Over AIPAC.  AIPAC is the support group that I belong to, so am distressed at seeing such an event.  It is supported by Stephen Walt, John Meirsheimer, and the Jewish voice for Peace, a very leftist organization, and Palestinian speaker Nadia Hijab. 

They are so unbiased that they had invited Helen Thomas, the elderly Lebanese-American  news reporter and favorite in Washington DC that said publicly that Jews should go back to their old homeland to speak, but she has declined, wanting the negative attention on Israel and not on herself.   It wasn't mentioned, but I imagine that J. Street is also attending.  After all, they are the ones trying to replace AIPAC. 

AIPAC has been behind Israel for the past 50 years. " As America's leading pro-Israel lobby, AIPAC works with both Democratic and Republican political leaders to enact public policy that strengthens the vital U.S.-Israel relationship. With the support of its members nationwide, AIPAC has worked with Congress and the Executive Branch on numerous critical initiatives -- from securing vital foreign aid for Israel to passing legislation aimed at stopping Iran's illicit nuclear program." It's America's pro Israel Lobby. 

With such speakers, I can only imagine that this is going to be a "Let's bury Israel"  as well as AIPAC. 

http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=217293
http://www.aipac.org/about_AIPAC/default.asp
http://www.moveoveraipac.org/

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Israel's Fate Amid Arab Uprising

Nadene Goldfoot
The Jewish Review newspaper's front page April 15th article, "Can Israel weather Arab spring?" brings to mind the fact that Israel has many political factions, and that the important leaders in Israel questioning Netanyahu's stand in the peace struggles with Fatah's Palestinian faction are the doves who are not in power.  Their position is to give up Judea and Samaria.  Just as Israel has a group called "Peace Now" who were a part of the Labor Party, they are proposing doing what Israel has done in the past, give up land for peace.  After Israel did just that with Gaza and has received nothing but missile attacks for this, I don't believe the present Likud party will go along with it, though it has logical elements to it.  Another thing they propose is to make Jerusalem a shared capital.  They say nothing about expecting Arabs to accept Israel as a  Jewish state which is the first concession that Likud expects.  They do have expectations of a Palestinian state being demilitarized, which is also on Likud's agenda.  In fact, this proposal really doesn't differ from other plans of the past ten years that were brought up. 


The problem is that Israel is not dealing with logical advisaries right now.  If instead of the foe they are dealing with, they were confronted with Canada, they would be completely wise.  This isn't the fact which makes the solution difficult no matter which way you look at it.  One has to think out the problem with a psychological understanding of the advisary.

Yaakov Perry was the spokesman for the new Israeli Peace Initiative which was the topic of the article.  He is the type of Israeli that was the subject of the book, Start Up Nation, which was about Israel's position of being the number one country that is starting new businesses.  He has been the president and general manager of a cell company and was the head of a general security service.  Naturally he has had an IDF background of army service.  He's speaking about the concerns of businessmen in Israel who are confronted with blockades against their products and country. 
Netanyahu has begged Abbas to come to the peace table, but since he decided to go to the U.N. instead to create Palestine, Abbas has refused to address Netanyahu.  From his position, he feels there is no need to have a palaver.  He has shown that it's his way or the highway and has wanted conditions met before they break bread. 

Netanyahu is up against a jury that is out to lunch.  It's like he's on trial and the opposer is his estranged wife who has been beating the children as well as practicing other physical abuses on them, but the jury and judge are all females of the same ilk and behavior.  They are finding that this father will lose the children no matter that he is the kindest and wisest father in the land.  He's set up to lose his children. 

The above is my way of expressing that Israel has done everything correct in establishing Israel.  They bought land that was exceedingly expensive, but being holy land they bought it anyway.  They went through all the legal hoops and challenges and went through the United Nations to establish Israel.  They are not agressors but have wanted to live in peace since the first moment.  They have returned to their ancient land which holds a religious and cultural meaning to them developed over 2000 years of hope and prayer and we find that Jews had never completely left in the first place.  They have been attacked by Arabs even before their country's renewed birth and the attacks have continued for the past 63 years of its life.  They have lived in a constant state of anxiety and have had to be militarily prepared for their whole existence.   The bottom line is that they have no other choice of living and intend to do just that, for L'Chaim is their watchword:  To Life! 

Israel is a democracy and they have the same magnetic pulls as the United States, the Doves and the Hawks, or Democrats and Republicans.  Netanyahu is working on yet another proposal for a peace pact and we will see what he comes up with.  The religious groups will not be happy with giving up the even more ancient and important land of Judea and Samaria and allow it to become Judenrein or free of all the Jews who live there.  Neither will all the Christian groups who are backing and praying for Israel to have strength of mind and courage of body.  Israel didn't go after Judea and Samaria but received it after being bitterly attacked with a loss of life and blood.  Will Arabs ever learn to stop trying to carry out their goal of driving Jews into the sea if they are rewarded or will they continue to see Israel as weak?  Will they ever see that Israel has reacted magnaminously by having a democratic state with over a million Arabs as citizens?  After all, this was what our Jewish founding fathers saw as the Utopia they were trying to create. 

Resource: Jewish Review article by Dina Kraft from Jewish Telegraphic Agency: Analysis

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Intel Trains Staff in Beaverton

Over the past 3 weeks some 300 Israeli families have moved into the Beaverton area near Intel to be trained for 5 months.  They brought about 400 children with them.  This means that the school districts have to make extra provisions for these non-English speaking children.

As I remember, English is introduced in many Israeli schools in the 4th grade.  Older children arriving will pick English up quickly.  It will be a great experience for them.

Resource: http://www.oregonlive.com/beaverton/index.ssf/2011/04/intel_surprises_beaverton_and_hillsboro_schools_with_influx_of_israeli_families_sending_principals_and_teachers_scramb.html

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Italian from "Free Gaza Movement" to be Executed by Jihadists

Nadene Goldfoot
Vittorio Arrigoni, Italian pacifist and blogger obviously has thought the worst of Israel and of Jews for he joined the "Free Gaza Movement" who campaigned against Israel's blockade of Gaza.  They came on a boat bringing supplies in 2008 that Israel allowed into Gaza's  port.  These people never looked into why Israel was blockading Gaza nor cared that Gaza was shelling Israel constantly.  It was the "thing to do."

Evidently some of the Jihadist  Gazans decided they didn't like this Italian who came to  Gaza in 2008 and never left.  They said that he entered their land to spread corruption and they described Italy as the "infidel state."

This Jihad group is aligned with al Qaeda and has threatened to execute Vittorio who they have abducted in a few hours unless the Hamas terrorists release their group's leader, Hesham al-Sa'eedni.  We see terrorists threatening  terrorists.  They have posted a You Tube clip saying the execution will take place on Friday at 5pm (10am EST).

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is trying to get him released before it's too late as he realizes this is only harming his cause.   Abbas is of the PLO former terrorists called Fatah, and does not have much clout with Hamas terrorists, so I doubt if they will listen to him.  they continue to have the  power struggle that drove Abbas out of Gaza.  Vittorio's life depends on how Hamas either cares to be seen by the outside world or how he views his control over the Jihadist group. 

5:43pm  my time:  News just came in that his body has been found in an abandoned home.  Right now it is 3:46 am on Friday in Gaza.  It looks to me like they jumped the gun on their time for the execution. 

A kidnapping  happened once before when BBC journalist Alan Johnston was held for 114 days by an al Qaeda type group, the Army of Islam.  They released him in 2007.  He had been kidnapped by gunpoint on March 12 and released on July 4th. 

Resource: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110414/wl_nm/us_gaza_italy_kidnap/print
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapping_of_Alan_Johnston
5:43pm: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110415/wl_nm/us_palestinians_italy_kidnap body found
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=702

Palestinian Textbooks Teach Hatred for Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
What Israelis have known for some time has just been made real when  the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education just released their study about the Palestinian textbooks.

They reviewed 118 textbooks used in their schools along with 22 teacher guides from the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Education and the findings revealed that:
1. A denial of the existence of Israel
    a. If there is one, it is extremely negative.
    b. Israel not appearing in geography textbooks
2. Palestine is in place of Israel, the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) and Gaza in geography books.
    a. Jewish cities of Tel Aviv, etc are ot shown.
    b. Jerusalem's Jewish quarter not on map
3. Israelis not shown as friend or partner
4. Oslo Accords rarely mentioned
   a. Political agreements mentioned resulting from Arab and Muslim weakness

Funding for these textbooks comes from the EU.  They are encouraging demonizing Jews and praising martyrdom.  To think that this has been going on for the past 44 years is horrendous, while all the time pressure has been upon Israel to make peace with them.  How can a peace ever come about when people are fed such hatred?  
http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=216374

Friday, April 8, 2011

Israel's Dangerous Backyard: IRAN

Nadene Goldfoot
The son of a friend of mine from Safed, Israel is Noam Bedein who is the Director of the Sderot Media Center.  Noam is on his 6th campus tour trying to bring some truth to the students about Israel and the Palestinian War. 

He explains that 97% of the rockets fired by the Palestinians into Israel come from within their civilian population.  Reporters never mention the suffering that goes on in Israel.  Many Israelis are suffering from PTSD, a condition more common with returning American soldiers from Vietnam, etc.  Imagine yourself driving to work and only have 15 seconds to get to a bomb shelter if an alarm goes off.  That's hard to do even if you're in your own house, say, in the bathroom.  These drivers cannot use seatbelts because it would interfere with that 15 second break. 

Just about all the weapons the Palestinians use come from Iran.  Noam calls his talk, " Iran in Israel's Backyard".

Noam's father, David Bedein, was a social worker when we moved to Safed.  My husband was a former actor from Brooklyn and Miami, so he sat down and wrote a laugh-in type skit about us moving to Israel with all our experiences.  David and Danny did the shtick and I did big cards that were part of the show.  We played in hotels in Israel that David managed to line up for us.  He got us the gigs.   Later, I wrote plays and David and his wife were among the actors in some of them.  David always knew what was happening, and later became a newsperson.  He investigated the Corrie Affair. 

You see, Israel is such a small country that if you aren't related to everyone you just about know everyone.  Who moved across the street from us in Safed but a family from Portland.  Then it turned out that Sam's father had worked with my father.   It's a small world.  That's why when there is an army alert call-up because of danger, we all suffer. 

Be sure to read the article below.  It tells a lot more that is very worthwhile reading with pictures. 

Resource:  http://blogs.jpost.com/content/educating-rocket-reality

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Burning the Koran

Nadene Goldfoot
A lot of the news is about the minister of a very teeny  congregation who burned the Koran which started a stampede of Muslims killing many Christians outside of the USA. 

It brings to mind to this Jewish mother who is not a Rabbi, of our advice to do unto others as we would have done unto us.  In other words, don't do something to other people that you would hate to have happen to you.  No matter what.  No matter how much you hate them.  That's implied.  It's the Golden Rule. 

I don't want anyone drawing cartoons of my people, either.  They used to do that about Jews.  They drew hideous cariatures of Jews with big noses, etc, and had horrible comments about us.  We didn't say anything about it.  Of course Muslims don't appreciate cartoons of their Mohammed.  Just because we are used to the freedom of doing so doesn't mean that it's a wise thing to do.  The people being made fun of are explosive types.  They react unwisely and highly emotionally.  They rely on killing as the means to solve any problem. 

I don't want anyone to burn our Torah and associated books, prayer books, etc, which the Nazis did.  I don't appreciate and am shocked with things found in the Koran which I myself have seen and read with my own eyes.  But I'm not about to burn the book.  I have to hope that someday such viewpoints will change.  Somehow.  But I'm not going to make a martyr out of the  Koran. 

The people doing this killing are not thinking on our wave length.  The gap between us is wider than the Grand Canyon.  So since we are the great thinkers, we've got to think outside the box for a change.  We have enjoyed freedom of speech and of newspapers for a long time and they haven't. 

We shouldn't have to stop our freedoms just because Muslims now have communication skills and pick up on what we're doing and saying, but knowing this, it's time to think of that Golden Rule.  I don't know if it will create a better environment for us but we'll feel better about ourselves for doing so.  You wouldn't hurt your best friend just because they're of a different religion, would you?  So include the Muslims in that circle of sensitivity.  Just use the Golden Rule.  We're not going to improve life by threatening Muslims by burning their Koran and drawing pictures making fun of them.  We get the opposite reaction.  Our being free doesn't give us the freedom to be cruel or mean.

Sometimes, but not always, people learn by how they are treated.  Israel has tried to treat Palestinians with the Golden Rule, and they have been rebuffed and lied about.  However, I think that the Palestinians citizens of Israel themselves might be realizing just how they have been treated differently than their fellows living in the surrounding Muslim countries.  They get the same treatment as Jewish citizens.  So maybe they realize that by them not trying to kill off the Jews of Israel has created a good living environment for them.  Let's hope so.  After all, the Golden Rule is golden.  It couldn't hurt. 

The citizens of Israel are not burning Korans.  They even have minarets in their neighborhoods as well as mosques.  After all, it's the Middle East. 

On the other hand, I don't care to see what I am seeing: kowtowing to the Muslims and giving them more rights than the general public has.  They haven't come to live here with a ticket to take over everything.  They have to learn not to expect extra special treatment and this is what I am seeing happening.   I don't want to see America turn into a Muslim country.  There are still things that I would like to have as a Jew and have not received.  For instance, we have a few holidays where we are expected to attend synagogue service and to not work.  Every year as a teacher I would put in for a day off for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kipper, and I was in line with the hunters. Guess who got first choice.  The hunters.  I was just ignored in most years.  This made me very angry with the system.  My administrator was not practicing the Golden Rule.  My request was not out of line.  He was not sensitive to my religion.  The Muslim teacher that wants almost a month off during the school year to go to Saudi Arabia is out of line.  She chose to live in the States and should understand that "this is not kosher."  She could make her trip in the summer.  Or, she could teach in a Muslim school where this might be allowed.  Sometimes we have to make hard choices.  This is the problem that comes from living in another country.  Jews have been wrestling with this for 2,000 years.  Finally we have seen the day when it's become better, but there's still room for improvement.

The Golden Rule.  Advice from about 4,000 years ago, and still people have not made it a part of their practice.  There's room for improvement for all of us.  It's the key to having a good life.   

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Fighter of Anti-Semitism for America: Hannah S. Rosenthal

Nadene Goldfoot
The United States has a Special Envoy to monitor and combat Anti-Semitism who works with the United Nations as well as the individual nations themselves. She was a guest speaker tonight at the Mittleman Jewish Community Center.   She is Hannah S. Rosenthal, daughter of a rabbi who was a Holocaust survivor.  Hannah was from Chicago and knew both President Barak Obama and his wife quite well and works with Secretary Hillary Clinton in the State Department.  Besides studying  to become a rabbi, she has had lots of experience  as executive director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.  Her job is to be concerned with world wide anti-semitism and do something about it.

Hannah feels that it doesn't do any good if she goes out and and says that anti-semitism is wrong.  She tries to get the people themselves to learn that it is wrong and then become the ones to make a difference and teach others what they have learned.  She gave us a great example of how this can happen.  She did something that I never would have thought of doing.

Hannah took 8 Imams to Auschwitz to learn that the Holocaust actually did happen, being so many like Ahmadinejad and others are Holocaust deniers.  Her hope was they would then condemn such a thing as the Holocaust.  She took them to Dachau which was the #1 place where Jews were killed.  The Imams were blown away.  They got down on their knees and prayed, which attracted an audience of passersby.  Then she took them to Auschwitz.  They had a catharsis.  They wrote a statement against denial and against anti-semitism.  This gives me hope for the human race.  I am so impressed in her decision on this type of education and am so thankful that they felt the same way I would have.  To me she is a #1 great educator.

Hannah has only been in her position since November 23, 2009 when she was sworn in.  There hasn't been a person in such a position before.  She's a first.  She's been in Washington DC for 16 months and must be very aware of her role in diplomacy and understands the power of words.  She said this power was almost biblical.  There are tools she can use to fight anti-semitism with such as foreign aid, but some countries do not receive this and are the worst anti-semites so she must use other methods. 

One thing she has found is that the old time  anti-semitism is alive and  well in 2011, much to her surprise.  It's not only on the increase, such as the desecration of Jewish cemeteries, finding swastikas, the blood libel for matzo making, but they even revere a boy child they think was drained for his blood which we know never existed- an accusation from the Middle Ages.   Now days they have new accusations to hate Jews.  There are the Holocaust denials from governments such as Iran and even from religions.

January 27th is a world-wide Holocaust Day of Rememberance.  Hannah was in Auschwitz in 2010 in -40 below temperature remembering the victims.   Some survivors that were still living attended and stood the freezing weather as they had been there before.  Someone brought to Hannah's attention that in Crakow, Poland the Bishop Heronik was reported on the Vatican News to be saying that the Holocaust was just an invention of the Jews. Since Jews controlled the world media, this is how the idea spread.   Hannah was horrified.  Here she was on the job and this became her first challenge.  She contacted him and talked about it but he wouldn't recant.  Nothing she said changed his mind.  Her assistants were in shock and shame for what he had said.  In July she met with the Cardinal in Crakow who was then giving a reception.  She found out that the Bishop Heronik had been retired.  She had made a difference by her further contacts.

Another form of anti-semitism is Holocaust glorification.  Collecting and revering artifacts from the Holocaust is going on.  Neo Nazis are on the increase.  Clerics from Egypt were showing films from the Holocaust of dead Jewish  bodies in pits and they were saying that they would soon finish what had been started.   "We  will be the perpetrators to finish the job," were their words.

Belittling the immensity of the killing machine of the Nazis is happening.  Other oppressed people only inform their people of their own oppression without mentioning the horror of trying to exterminate all of a people that the Nazis tried to do to the Jews.  For instance, in Vilnius, Lithuania, where my family most likely had lived, the city built a museum to educate about the horrors of the KGB.  That was it.  Europe is actually going toward more of a nationalism right now and showing hatred of religious groups.

One exception is Greece.  It's in an economic mess, and when this happens to a country, usually the Jews are blamed as the cause.  The ambassador was very worried about the few Jews who lived there and was afraid for their lives.  As it turned out, the synagogue in Crete was bombed.  The ambassador and other Greeks were upset and said that this was not like them to do such a thing. 

Hannah seemed to be as upset with Holland who is angered over the Muslim population there.  I wonder if she has heard about the events in Malma, Sweden which also now has a large Muslim population.  Jews have had to leave there because it has become an unsafe city that they had lived in since the end of WWII.

Criticism of Israel is also anti-semitism.  First Hannah had to define anti-semitism for her department.  It's when Israel and Israelis are demonized, when there are cartoons that are offensive and such things.  She goes by Natan Sharansky's 3 D's; demonization, deligitimatization and using a double standard against Israel.  For instance, there are terrible acts being committed by many other nations and they are ignored.  Israel does one small thing concerning Palestinians to protect their own citizens  and the 3 D's come out.  Another example is that the UN passed 160 resolutions against Israel.  The Sudan had 5 and North Korea had 8.  The UN and the world is obsessed with negativity against Israel.  It has become something like a compulsion.  She didn't mention it, but there are more reporters in Israel than in any other country just ready to pounce.  They never report good things, only something they think the world can use in their quiver of grievances against Israel.  I wonder if they all work for the UN.  There is a Human Rights Council, and who was the chairman but Libya charging Israel with breaking the rules. 

Hannah realized that in a few years the world will contain most people 30 years of age and younger.  Today's youngsters don't even watch much TV.  They all text and do facebook and such.  So she had a very creative idea and started the campaign of  2011 Hours Against Hate. which is a campaign to stop bigotry and promote respect across lines of culture, rellgion, tradition, clas and gender.   http://www.state.gov/s/2011hoursagainsthate/  The young people she has been finding are not happy with their country's goals and they want to do something.  This is a hands on challenge to give their time to stop such hatred.  .  She started with Turkey, Azerbaijan and Spain, countries who had in their past Muslims and Jews living together in peace.  Young people have the challenge of doing deeds that will fight hatred. 

Remember the UN's fiasco, Durban 3?  It turned into a hate-fest against Israel instead of the original goal.  It ended on September 7, 2001.  On September 11, 2001 the Twin Towers fell , so the news veered away from Durban 3 which was vile .  The United States did not participate in it.  It was racism singling out Israel for attack and was Islam sponsored.  Now they want to commemmorate the 10th anniversary of something we condemned.  Their mentality behooves me.

We heard about Venezuela where Jews are leaving.  Their family members have been mugged, kidnapped or murdered, and I'm not even sure it's because they are Jews.  The country just sounds unsafe for all.  The few Jews that are there are businessmen who hate to leave everything and lose so much, but they're losing it all anyway.  She interviewed a man in the media businness who said that last week he had 10 radio stations and today had 5.  Next week he may have none.  I suppose he'll leave then if it isn't too late.  Buenos Aries, Argentina did not   sound like a good place for Jews, either.  Iran is involved with oil. 

The surprise was that anti-semitism is increasing in Germany.  The reason that's a surprise is that Germany has done so much to educate its citizens against anti-semitism and to learn about their history and why Nazis came into power.  They are doing all the things we would list as being essential for the people to learn.  However, they're also caught up in attacks against Israel. 

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Revealing Facts About the Rachel Corrie Affair

Nadene Goldfoot
Rachel Corrie's parents brought a civil lawsuit over the death of their daughter, Rachel Corrie. They are suing Israel's IDF, saying  that the army intentially killed her or failed to take action to protect her life.   She was 23 years old and from Olympia, Washington and was killed in Gaza in March 2003 while a member of the International Solidarity Movement, a group decidedly anti-Israel.

Corrie's father, Craig Corrie,  said he was not seeking punishment for anyone involved, just recognition of what happened.  The parents are only asking $1 in damages and legal expenses. 

A lot of negative recognition has transpired for Israel since then being Corrie became a symbol for pro-Palestinian activists.  They wrote a play about her that has been shown many times in the states as if it were all true.  I blame the parents for allowing Rachel to go into Gaza without realizing that she was interferring in a warzone.    Here's where they all should have done some serious reading about the history of Israel and the area before joining up with such activists. 

Now the truth is being told in court by the Israeli military major who told everyone that Corrie and her fellow activists ignored army warnings to move as she was trying to block the Israeli military vehicle in a very dangerous area along the Gaza-Egypt border.  This major was there the day Corrie died and the first to appear openly in the courtroom.  He explained that these activists had spent hours trying to block two military D9 bulldozsers under his command from clearing vegetation and rubble in this warzone.  They were not going to demolish any house that day, though they did sometimes do this to houses that were used by gunmen or arms smugglers. 

This happened where Palestinian militants used abandoned homes as firing positions and exploited activists like Corrie for cover. This major was even wounded the year before and one of his soldiers had been killed then.  An operational log was submitted to the court showing that the officer reported a grenade thrown at his troops 40 minutes before Corrie's death.

His troops couldn't physically move the protesters away as they could not leave their vehicles due to it being so dangerous as according to army regulations. If you do that you can get shot in the head.  Whereas snipers wouldn't shoot activists they were using, they would shoot the soldiers if possible.  He used his megaphone to tell them to leave and even tried tear gas and had to move his troops several times.  On the 8th time, Corrie hid behond an earth embankment and the operator of the vehicle couldnt see her, though she probably thought he could.  The bulldozer driver had already testified that he couldn't see her because his field of vision was so restricted. 

Proof of the major's testimony was backed up with a recording of the unit's radio frequency from the minutes of Corrie's death, including the driver's report at 5:05pm saying he thought he hit someone. 

The trial is not over.  More hearings are coming and no date has been given for a decision in the case that is being held in Israel. 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110403/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_us_activist Israeli officer testifies in US activist lawsuit by Matti Friedman

Goldstone Takes Back His Report About Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
Goldstone's Report on Israel at the end of Cast Lead almost put the kibosh on Israel.  He damned Israel with a very false report.  Goldstone himself, a Jew from South Africa, lives in a very anti-semitic-anti-Israel atmosphere there.  Tutu has not said flattering things about Israel.

Goldstone jumped on the bandwagon to attack Israel with his report and in doing so received so many allocades from his peer group.  Now, very quietly he has come out with the true facts, but blames Israel for not assisting him in getting the real facts.  He would never make a good detective in the States.  You don't ask the accused for facts-only their side of the story, and even at that Goldstone failed to do so.

Now he's trying to be the rescuer of Israel after he has really screwed Israel and its IDF over royally.
All of his members on his commission denounced Israel in Gaza before they even investigated anything, and evidently he went along with their hatred.  So who did they ever interview?  Most likely a few terrorists. 

They had the death count wrong.  They had the fact wrong about why Gazans had died and where they were.  They blamed Israel for their deaths when they were hiding among civilians.  They didn't bring out the fact of how many missiles and rockets had been fired into Israel and for how long.  Just about the whole report was a pack of lies, and the worst part is that reporters of large newspapers here in the states did not question a thing about it but were quick to also put the blame on Israel's shoulders, even Jewish reporters. 

Of all the things that has happened to Israel, this is the worst sort of condemnation that could have happened.  Israel was shelled for years, begging the world community for help and the UN did nothing.  Then finally when Israel could not take it anymore and was forced to protect its citizens with "Cast Lead", the terrorists indeed took a pummelting, but also set Israel up to take blame they shouldn't have by putting their own people in harm's way.  How nice that now Goldstone has decided to explain that indeed he had been wrong.  It's good that he has finally done so, but too little and too late for Israel's good name.  The die had been cast against Israel and only G-d can help now, for people have a mindset against Israel anyway and won't want to change their position of being against Israel.  It does make people like me feel vindicated for we knew the truth and were absolutely disgusted with Goldstone.  I for one certainly wished a klug on his house for bearing false witness against Israel.  .

Has Goldstone now repented? Is this his idea of teshuva?   If so, it's very weak.  I really don't know how he could have lived with himself for writing such a report.  I hope he continues to think about it and man-up.  He needs to take full responsibility for the harm he has caused and not be a wimp and blame Israel's lack of reporting to him when he  wasn't capable of hearing anything from them in the first place. 

Reference: http://www.aish.com/print/?contentID=119141259&section=/jw/s Goldstone's Feeble Backtrack by Rabbi Shraga Simmons
4/4/11: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/reconsidering-the-goldstone-report-on-israel-and-war-crimes/2011/04/01/AFg111JC_story.html?wpisrc=emailtoafriend
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0411/tobin040411.php3
http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=214866 by Horovitz

Friday, April 1, 2011

Rabbi David Rubin from Shilo, Samaria

Nadene Goldfoot
David Rubin, a New York Jew was like many typical young Jewish men in the 60's.  He went on a world jaunt to see different cultures and finally settled in Shilo, Samaria, or the so called West Bank as it was dubbed by Jordanians.

He just spoke to a group of Christians of the El Shaddai Ministries who have discovered the Torah and are now students of it.  They love what they are learning and know more than many of our own Jews, who have stopped learning after bar mitzva age and may think of Judaism only as a cultural thing. 

Shilo is mentioned in the bible as a place on Mt Ephriam where people were told to go and plant vineyards.  Today Christians go there and take part in working in their vineyards as a mitzvah.  Watchmen is the term used, and in Hebrew, this is the Notsreem, which is the word today used for Christians.   Jews are Yehudeem. 

I say this because these Christians care about the continuance of Israel and are very supportive.   In Rabbi Rubin's talk on a tape found below, he mentioned how Cyrus, the Persian king (now Iran) supported Israel and how our former President Truman knew about this history. He was very brave in recognizing Israel in 1948.   George Washington spoke about being nurtured by the Jewish faith.  John Adams spoke to a Jewish soldier and said he hoped that Judea would be revived as a nation.  Also, Abraham Lincoln believed in the restoration of the national home of the Jews. 

Rabbi Rubin  advised his audience to speak truth to authority and to keep America's democracy.  Yale University used to have speakers speak in Hebrew.  It was a part of the University, but today has probably vanished from use or memory. 

He went on and explained that not everyone has the same ideas when you talk about democracy.  A recent survey in Egypt found that 77% of the population believed in cutting off the hands of thieves.  They also believed in executing anyone who changed their Muslim religion to another one.  The Muslim Brotherhood is gaining power in Egypt.  It is an outgrowth of  Sunni Islam.  Need I remind people, but Egypt is Israel's neighbor. 

He mentioned that Islam is growing in size and power all over the world.  In Malma, Sweden 30 years ago the city was void of any Muslims but today the population is 25% Muslim.  Being Muslims are used to having 4 wives and many concubines, this can grow faster than a Christian population.  The fact is that they believe in Sharia Law.  Charter Muslim Schools are being built that are teaching things like pigs were originally Jews and that's why they don't eat pigs.  Jews were impure people. 

The tape gives lots of background on the Muslim religion.  For instance, in Israel, mosques are built over Jewish historic sites.  This is how they show victory over others. 

We cannot afford to keep our minds shut to the differences and meanings of others.  I would suggest that you spend the time listening to the tape and get some new insights to what our world is up against. 

Rabbi Rubin was shot in the leg in a terrorist attack as well as his 3 year old son who was shot in the neck.  He has created a fund to help the children of terrorist attacks rehabilitate.  That's why he takes on speaking engagements  in the states.  Remember, Rabbi means "teacher" and he certainly is doing so on this tape. 

Resource:  http://www.vimeo.com/21690536-from Jeff Morton