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Monday, April 30, 2012

Continued Facts on How USA Sold Arms to Saudi Arabia

Nadene Goldfoot

 Oliver North was known to be favorable towards Israel and an Iraq-hater. From 1981-82 Caspar Weinberger was in Defense and Bill Casey at the CIA wanted our policy to favor Iraq but was being blocked.

 Reagan's first two years saw Secretary of State Alexander Haig as having an anti-Iraq pro-Israel line, including sending weapons to Iran to fight against Iraq. North was being snubbed and was thrown out of the inner circle that wanted to save Iraq from military loss.

 So in February 1982, CIA director Casey met with the head of the Iraqi secret service and was sending Saddam Hussein AWACS intelligence which he got from planes recently sold to the Saudis over Israel's strenuous objections.

 By 1983 Casey had a secret CIA group in Baghdad, giving Saddam Hussein everything from satellite photos to Iranian plans of battle.

 Here we are aiding and abetting Iraq who was also against Israel one minute and then killing off Saddam later. Now the USA is also in peril from Iran's ire from supposedly being such friends with Israel.

Whatever goes on with high level friendships always leads to one thing; Israel's danger. This is only one of many events.

 Resourc: The Secret War Against the Jews by John Loftus and Mark Aarons

Why USA Sold Arms to Saudi Arabia Against Israel's Security

Nadene Goldfoot 
In 1980 my husband and I had made aliyah and had moved to Israel. We were teachers from the states and after retraining in Israel, were teaching English after our first year. By March of 1982 I had become quite concerned with the possibility of the USA selling arms to Jordan. Even though we were able to watch Jordan’s TV programs from Israel, they were still not friendly as yet. It was really more like watching a program in Portland, Oregon coming from Gresham; the states were so close.

 My husband, teaching in the high school and me in the junion high in Safed, had students write letters to President Reagan in their own words telling them of their concerns. I didn’t understand how the USA could consider doing such a thing. Selling arms to the the other Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia was so scary to us. I told my mother in a letter to write to the president as well. Like I told my students, it couldn’t hurt. I saw that Jewish communities did write a lot about this to the president in the end of February.

 Little did I know what our USA government had been up to. By 1980 I hadn’t realized how much anti-semitism still existed in our country and in our government as well, passed on from generation to generation of government officials. Worst of all, strong anti-semitism existed in a self-hating Jew whose only interest in life was in climbing the ladder of importance; our own Secretary of Defense, Caspar Weinberger.

 There is a company named Bechtel. It is the largest construction and engineering company in the USA. It also is family owned, ranking 5th largest in the USA since 1945. They had $30.8 billion in revenue and employed 49,000 workers on projects in 50 countries as of 2010. Weinberger had been working for them as a general counsel. It was one of the most notorious anti-Semite companies in the USA. They also had their executives in the White House friend’s circle during the 1980's. In fact, they were the most popular company there. Bechtel’s former president was George Shultz.

Weinberger’s anti-Israel attitude was showing up in almost every Middle-East issue. He feared that if the USA went after Palestinian terrorists, it would be offensive to them and alienate Arab governments–particulary if the government acted in cooperation with the Israelis. By mid 1982 Weinberger was in the Reagan administration and joined by George Shultz who then replaced Alexander Haig as Secretary of State who had been pro-Israel!

The 1980's were a hard time for Bechtel. First, they built a mine in New Guinea. The major shareholder of a mining company allowed mine waste to be dumped into a river after a dam built by Bechtel was destroyed in a landslide. They were involved with major pollution. In 1981 Bechtel bought into Wall Street investment bank Dillon, Read & Co and George Schultz joined their board as their representative. In 1982 they had 44,000 employees but later had to lay off so many that their count went to 16,000 in 1995.

 When Weinberger joined Bechtel, the company’s profits were threatened by an attack on their stand of sticking with the Arabs in boycotting Israel. This had come about by the Arabs after the Jews won the 1948 war. Arabs had banned all trade between Arabs and Israel, or any company that did business with Israel. Bechtel carried out the boycott completely, even when offered wonderful contracts to do business in Israel. The company refused to deal with Jews. Even in the middle 1970's, a Justice Department investigation found that their contracts with Arab countries were still showing they boycotted Israel. Sadly, the USA just turned a blind eye to this fact the previous quarter of a century and had even participated in it once in a while. Attorney General Edward Levi brought suit against Bechtel but was strongly opposed by Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, another Jew, who happened to be a big admirer of Bechtel’s president, George Shultz

It seems that our own people can hurt us more than plain old anti-semites! What chance does Israel have when business and old anti-semitic attitudes still exist? This is really how Israel’s hateful neighbors get their arms; through subversion of our “friends.”

. Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bechtel
Book: Letters From Israel by Nadene Goldfoot
Book: Secret War Against the Jews by John Loftus and Mark Aarons

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Muslims Attacking Israel's Treatment of Christians ?

Nadene Goldfoot

“People that live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.” The pro Muslim people are busy trying to castigate Jews by saying in many BDS movements that they are unfair to Christians in Israel. That’s the opposite of facts. Israel has no reason or inclination to be that way. However, look at what happens in Muslim dominated countries and how they treat Christians.

 In Jos, Nigeria an attack of a blast on Christians just happened where 6 are dead and 9 injured after seeing a soccer game. Spectators were leaving after watching the European Champions Leage semi-final between Barcelona and Chelsea late Tuesday. In the Christian village of Gwa-Rim, the mainly Muslim Fulani ethnic group of gunmen attacked the villagers with 5 people killed. They had gone from house to house, and 2 of the dead were children.

 In fact, thousands of people have been killed in clashes between Muslim and Christians ethnic groups in central Nigeria in recent years. Jos happens to be the capital of Plateau state, is in a middle region dividing mainly Muslims and Christians. There have been lots of bomb blasts there. Why is it that differences of religion come along with the baggage of differences in politics?

 Resource:  pamela@atlasshrugs.com 

Friday, April 27, 2012

What's the Worst Danger For Israel?

Nadene Goldfoot
There are many dangers surrounding Israel. It's almost hard to pick the worst one. The biggest for Defense Minister Ehud Barak is that old ancient kingdom, Persia, which today is called Iran. It is the biggest because they are able to manipulate the system and are about to obtain nuclear weapons. Of course, who else would they use such weapons on? They've threatened Israel so many times already.

The USA is also in harm's way. Iran is getting away with disobeying the Security Council decisions and directives from the International Atomic Energy Agency. As they see they can get away with moving toward military nukes, they will just keep on going. North Korea and Pakistan have nuclear weapons now, even though they had tough sanctions. Where's the reason to stop Iran from doing so?

Israel can't afford a lot of time for the world to decide to act and prevent Iran from reaching this destructive goal. The longer they wait, Iran will have the time to  finish the job. Israel would like to see world cooperation in working on a solution and they feel all options are on the table. Israel and Egypt have had good relations ever since Sadat came to Israel and made peace. Mubarak was able to continue that relationship. Now that the Muslim Brotherhood is stepping into power, that peace is on the line. They have just had a commercial dispute over their gas supply agreement with Israel. Usually, trade or business between two countries can keep them on a peaceful relationship. I hate to see this happen.

 Resource: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/
News/News.aspx/155155

What Happened to Lithuanian Jews?

Nadene Goldfoot
 In 1939 there were 17 million Jews in the world. By 1945 there were only 11 million. We lost 6 million Jews in the Holocaust. The world population in 1939 was at 2.3 billion. That’s like wiping out all of the following countries: take your pick. Each held about 6 million.
1. Bulgaria
 2. Austria
3. Nepal
4. Sweden

 Before the 2nd world war started, there were 160,000 Lithuanian Jews, or 7% of the total population It was a large and influential Jewish community. There were over 110 synagogues and 10 yeshivas in Vilnius alone. It had become the very center of Jewish learning in Eastern Europe and was where the Vilna Gaon and his family lived who was an outstanding Rabbi.

20,000 Jews claim descendancy from him. Our tradition now includes having some sort of family connection to him as well. I think it must be through the wife of one of his found descendants, as we’re not listed in Chaim Freedman’s famous book, “Eliyahu’s Branches.”

 My paternal grandfather, Nathan Goldfoot, was born in 1871, and came from Telsiai, Lithuania. I actually found “Poland” written on the 1910 census for my grandmother’s country, but she had said with pride that she was a Litvak.

Lithuania Jews, or Litvaks, were Jews with roots in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which for us today would be the areas of Belarus, Lithuania, Ukraine and the NE Suwalki region of Poland, which is where my grandmother actually came from. She had told the census taker she was from Suwalki! By 2005 there were 4,000 Jews in Lithuania.

There are Jewish communities of the descendants of Jewish Lithuanians today in Israel, the USA, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Brazil and Australia. Many had left in the early 1900's like those going to the USA and England. Poland had had an independant army before the German invasion and had conscripted Jews from Lithuania. Between 60,000 to 80,000 had been in this army. They got killed, anyway.

Today’s world population is at 7 billion people. Jews are less than 1%, or 0.19%.

 Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuanian_Jews
Book: Eliyahu's Branches by Chaim Freedman

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Obama's Close Ancestral Relationship to Jews?

Nadene Goldfoot
It is the belief of some Muslims throughout the world that Barak Hussein Obama, the American President, is of Jewish descent from his maternal side. They say that his mother is on the branch from the Rockefeller lineage of the House of Rothschild.

They are so wrong. His mother was Stanley Ann Dunham b: November 29, 1942 in Kansas. A professional genealogist has connected him to Ireland to the Donovans and Benns, but I haven’t found where he or any other president has Jewish roots.

 I checked out the family on ancestry.com and found them on the 1930 census in El Dorado, Butler, Kansas. Stanley was 12. They lived with 84 year old Christopher C. Clark and the Armours. In 1920 they lived in Wichita, Wd 5, Kansas. Stanley of course was 1 and 9 months. They lived with Christopher C Clark, then 74, a widow and father in law. There was a 26 year old Ralph Dunham, the son in law and they lived with the Armours, and 19 year old Ruth Dunham nee Armour. So Obama’s mother grew up with her grandparents in her extended family.

 They said that through this line he was connected to Bush, Cheney and Clinton’s trees. The belief puts those just mentioned to be of Jewish descent.

Rothschilds
 It is true that Rothschild is a Jewish family, but not the Rockefellers.


Rockefellers
 They are an American Christian family of German origin, not of a Sephardic (Spanish, Portugese) Jewish family that is rumored. The family has had several important enterpreneurs and bankers in the family for several generations. Just because both families are rich and because their surnames start with Ro....does not make both Jewish, for heaven’s sakes. Non-Jews are certainly capable of making money, too. This is so anti-semitic.

 Hitler and the Nazis referred to the Rockefellers as Jewish in order to demonstrate that the Jews ran the world through the power of money. John D. Rockefeller, Sr., the founder of Standard Oil and reputedly the richest man ever, is the one anti-semites call “Jewish.” Actually, his mother, Eliza Davison, was not Jewish. John is a devout Baptist.

 Jews, and I’m talking about Jews of today, are not in the business of taking over the world, so the Illuminati should get that falsehood out of their heads. All Jews would like is to be able to live in their little piece of land in peace.

 This belief that the Muslim messiah is coming because there is a connection between Muslims and Jews in blood is not going to be from Obama, that’s for sure. He’s hasn’t been good for Jews in Israel. 

http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/search?q=Rothschild http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Was_Rockefeller_a_Jew http://www.biblesearchers.com/hebrewchurch/primitive/losttribesisrael10.shtml

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

BDS Movement with Apartheid Activists Trying to Destroy Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
 Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions are being used against Israel, the only Jewish state in the world.. This is to cut off all economic, political and cultural ties with Israel. The list of people organizing and pushing this is long, with a lot of Middle Eastern surnames of people in the USA.

 Bill Ayers is one from Chicago with a lot of influence on the list. This is how the Holocaust started in Germany, with sanctions against stores owned by Jews. These leaders are still screaming that Israel is an Apartheid state, and the truth is just the opposite. No matter how many times I or others have proved this to be false, they are still accusing Israel of this. Why? They figure no one even knows what the term means let alone read anything to prove them liars.

 They accuse Israel of Occupation. Hamas has taken over Gaza and is in charge there. Israel moved out, lock, stock and barrel between August to September 12, 2005. They had 21 civilian communities that they left in order to bring about peace.

 Judea and Samaria, ancient parts of Judah, have Jewish communities there. Israel protects these communities from attacks. Otherwise, the Arab communities are under the control of Fatah, who police them. The Arabs want to create their own state called Palestine out of all of Judea and Samaria (West Bank)-named by Jordan who had occupied it illegally from 1948 to 1967 as well as Jerusalem and Gaza. 

Their idea of a state is to have it Judenrein (no Jews allowed). Whereas Israel has 1.4 million Arab citizens living among the Jewish population. They are full citizens and they are even serving in the Knesset as well as in Miss Israel contests. Arab Israelis have a much better and safer life than others in Arab states.

 In the 7th Knesset there were 6 Arab (one being a Deputy Speaker and one Deputy Minister) and one Druze-the Deputy Minister.

 Territories were occupied during the 6 Day War and are administered but not occupied. Until a peace settlement comes about, Israel is trying to keep the security for all alike and allow the population to live normal lives without losing contact with Arab in other countries. They try to help Arabs to obtain rapid economic development and to encourage co-existence and cooperation between the Arabs and Israelis. 

This last part has been interfered with by their constant attacking Israel. Right now Arab children are hearing a child recite a poem on PA TV “Israel is “Satan with a tail.” This is not something that will bring about cooperation and peace, which they as a culture are against doing. The whole idea of these movements is to bring down Israel so that there can be a Palestine, the 49th Muslim state in the world.

 The leaders of Fatah and Hamas refuse to have peace talks with Israel and are continually getting away with attacking Israel from Gaza with rockets, missiles and mortars.while the UN is silent. Here we have many Americans foolishly siding against Israel, the only Democracy in the Middle East. They’ve become a new type of ammunition to use against Israel.

 Resource: http://www.horowitzfreedomcenter.org/bds-supporters/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boycotts_of_Israel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel's_unilateral_disengagement_plan http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=6776

Using DNA to Learn About Our Jewish Ancestors

 Nadene Goldfoot 
 With the discovery of DNA and the ability to figure what haplogroup we all belong to, we can now find out how far back in time our roots go in this time period of Homo Sapiens on earth. For instance, my Jewish family’s Ydna haplogroup of Q1b1a's go back about 1,000 years to a common ancestor.  Our original ancestor of Q lived  in and around the Altai Mountain range in Russia/Siberia/Mongolia/and parts of Turkey and possibly were a Turkish type of people. In fact, we’re distantly connected to Native Americans who are Q3's. They had separated from us a long time ago and wound up entering North America in their wanderings.

 To the surprise of some, we only constitute just 5 % of the Jewish population. It is thought that we were of a tribe that was part of Khazaria. Though we entered Eastern Europe in Poland, Lithuania, Russia, etc, we were a very small minority of the Jews.

 My interest in history has deepened. What was happening in those days? Where do we Jewish people fit in? How far back do we go? Abraham was the father of Judaism. It was his descendants who wandered into Egypt and wound up having to remain there for 400 years.

 Abraham was born in the year 1948 or as we understand it, 1800 BCE.-before the common era. He was the son of Terach, an idol merchant. So even in the beginning we were merchants and not farmers. This was in Ur, which is in present day Iraq.

 Joseph was his descendant that marked the period of the Exodus’s beginning. This has been dated to have happened during the Hyksos domination of Egypt in the 18th to 16th centuries BCE. The Hyksos were semitic people who had taken over Egypt. Their names were similar to Hebrew. Remains have been uncovered in Palestine. They ruled in Egypt 1720-1580 BCE. During this time it is said the Hebrews entered Egypt. Bondage of Hebrews began after the Hyksos were expulsed. The name is Egyptian meaning “rulers of the foreign lands.”

 In the beginning there weren’t many people. Moses left Egypt with 600,000 slaves; Jewish ones and others that had been kept against their will. That’s about the size of Portland and Gresham, Oregon which would make about 617,191 people. This happened in the year 2,368 or as we know it, 1400 BCE.  I've heard a discussion on TV where the speaker thought the math using "aleph", Hebrew for 1,000, was wrong and that it also meant troop or unit, making the group taken out to be only 600.  I feel this is an incorrect theory.  Where do they come up with this stuff?

 Moses was the son of Amram of the tribe of Levi. His mother was Yocheved, Levi’s daughter. The Egyptian princess who adopted him named him Menios, and the Hebrew translation is Moshe, so we call him Moses.

 They were the tomb builders, the pyramid workers. This was the nastiest of jobs, perfect for slavery. They didn’t even get a chance to nibble food such as field workers would. It was mix mud and straw to make bricks, and tote those rocks, bend and carry all the time. They worked every day without any rest. The religion of the Egyptians demanded that this task be done.

 There was Moses after leaving Egypt, happily living a great life in the desert with his family, the only thought in his mind was the welfare of his sheep. Then one day, probably as he was walking in the morning, he heard a voice telling him to go back to Egypt and bring out the Jewish slaves that had been incarcerated there for about 400 years. He alone could do it. He had the Pharoah’s ear and knew how to argue, even though he stuttered. The poor man was already 80 years old and rather out of shape to be trecking back to Egypt in the hot sun.

 The Egyptians were devastated when Moses actually carried out his threat and led out their workers. There was no one left to continue the tasks. The peasants that were native Egyptians had other important tasks to work on; baking, farming, clothing workers, etc. Their life as they knew it had come to a halt.

 Can you imagine looking out at such a sea of people and traveling for 40 years with them? One wonders how they did it. What did they eat? They missed the food they were used to as slaves. Now on the march they were depending on something left on the ground in the morning called “manna” which sounds to me like some sort of mushroom that was left there and would disappear with the rising sun. They were told that if they picked more than one loaf, it would rot, and it did. It was full of vitamins, however, and kept them going. But one thing we can count on is that these 600,000 were as thin as can be. There were no fatties in the group. I just hope that this “manna” had an appetite appeaser in it so that they weren’t constantly hungry.

How was Moses receiving all these instructions? It sounded like the words were amplified into bushes by an outside force. Was Moses the only one who heard these conversations? I could swear that some UFO was up in the sky leading them onwards from the descriptions.  I heard another discussion about the brain where doctors are testing for the G-d gene.  They are finding that people who pray live longer. If they're really into prraying they do transcend and can concentrate so hard that they are unaware of their surroundings.  This shows up on MRI testing.  They thought it possible that he did hear a voice.  I love it when science gets involved and proves things in the Torah are indeed possible.  

 He was educated and could read and write, so he constantly wrote what came to be known as the “Five Books of Moses”, which is our Torah. All the other 600,000 had been  slaves and were uneducated. That came to a halt.  Jews started having schools, teaching reading and writing right away.

 The world’s population hadn’t had a chance to multiply much in those days. Between bottlenecks killing off groups such as earthquakes, volcanoes, slaughter of baby boys and starvation, it was growing slowly. Because of the small numbers, viruses were kept in check and hadn’t really had a chance to develop as they do in dense populations like ours today. People could live very long lives. Moses was destined to live for 120 years. His brother, Aaron, lived a little longer.

 He never made it to his new homeland with all his 600,000 people, but almost did. He had lost his temper along the way and his punishment was not to enter the homeland. That was an occasion of getting high blood presssure, no doubt. Trying to handle 600,000 was of course stressful. No one knows where he's buried on purpose.  He didn't want to be worshipped.

 He picked Joshua to lead the people there. He was much younger and physically fit. All this happened about 3,409 years .ago. Our haplogroup came on the scene about 2,409 years after Judaism’s beginnings.

Our dna is not the more widely seen J1 haplogroup of Jewish people of the area of the Middle East. . However, the people who converted to Judaism were exposed to Judaism by Jews from the Middle East, and who is not to say that there could have been some romancing and intermarriage going on between them and the royal dynasty? Some of us could be carrying a few genes of intermixing from that period.

 Then again, we eventually mingled with the Jews of Europe and no doubt there was more intermixing of dna. We had at least 40 generations of mixing and mingling of dna to deal with to pick up a few more genes from J1. What we have learned is that there was very little mixing of the population they were living amongst of the gentiles. It was against the law for them to marry us and the same for us in our religious views to marry gentiles. This kept us with the same dna for such a long period of time that we are now a most interesting case study for genetic science.

Reference: Torah

Monday, April 23, 2012

The 10 Lost Tribes and What Happened to Them


Nadene Goldfoot

Israel was the northern Kingdom formed in 933 BCE in the north when King Solomon died. It was from here that the 10 tribes lived. The Assyrians had attacked in 721-715 BCE and had taken most of them captive. Then the Assyrian kings, Tiglath-Pileser III (732 BCE) and Sargon (721 BCE) exiled the northern tribes of Israel to Assyria, Media and land adjacent to Aram-Naharaim. Some most likely remained in and around their homeland. Some of their descendants preserved their identity among the Jewish population and others were assimilated.

Some were absorbed by the last Judean exiles who in 597 BCE-586 BCE were deported to areas adjacent to the place of exile of the 10 Tribes such as to Media, Assyria and Mesopotamia. A large section of people of the southern kingdom, Judah,were also exiled by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon in 586 BCE.

Many have claimed to be descendants of the 10 tribes. They’ve been said to be in the mountains of Africa by Eldad Ha-Dani. Benjamin of Tudela heard they were in Central Asia. David Reuveni said he was the brother of one of their rulers in Arabia. Antonio de Montezinos said he found them in South America.

One story connected them to the Japanese while others put them in Anglo-Saxon countries, like claiming England’s kings were descendants. The Pashtuns in Afghanistan claimed descendency. At least today we have dna to check out claims.

Originally there were 12 tribes. The sons of Jacob were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad and Asher. Moses designated the tribe of Levi with a priestly office, and they got no land, but Moses wanted to keep the tribal number at 12, a sacred number, so divided Joseph’s tribe into Ephraim and Manasseh.

Under Joshua, who was elected to follow in Moses’s footsteps when he died, the tribes of Reuben, Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh received land in what became Transjordan. Naphtali and Asher were sent to the Sidonian frontier in the Galilee. Issachar and Zebulun were to live in the Valley of Jezreel area. Ephraim and the other half of Manasseh went to the mountains of Samaria. Benjamin was to their south and Judah further south. Dan was to be along the seacoast around Jaffa and Simeon was to live in the Negev.

The Danites were expelled from their original inheritance by the Amorites and moved to the sources of the Jordan River. The men of Simeon took more land than their allotment by seizing land in Seir and the land of the Amalekites.

Things were working under the Judges but Solomon created a differnet administrative division of the country. When he died, the country then split into two with the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and most of Benjamin making the southern Kingdom which was then called Judah.

Today with the birth of Israel, many people are claiming descent from the Lost 10 tribes.

Resource: New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

Mizrahi, Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews and How They Came To Be


Nadene Goldfoot
Long ago there were two Jewish kingdoms; Israel and Judah. They came about when King Solomon died in 920 BCE. . The land was divided in half. Israel, in the north, sometimes called the kingdom of Samaria, was led in 933 BCE by King Jeroboam. It was ruled by King Hoshea who reigned from 730-721 BCE. Judah, also created in 933 BCE, and was led by King Rehoboam and later King Zedekiah from 597-586 BCE. Jerusalem was in Judah.

When Jerusalem fell to the Romans in 70 CE, many of the best of the men were
taken away as slaves, and others stayed, but finally many were dispersed as well. Those that remained in
 the area became known as Mizrahi (East) Jews. The term, Mizrahi, is used in Israel today to denote Jews from mostly Arab-ruled places like Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Egypt, Azerbaijan, Iran/Persia, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kurdish areas, India, parts of Sudan and Ethiopia.

Jews that are called Sephardi are from Morocco, Algeria and Turkey though might be grouped into the Mizrahi lists for some historical reasons. Very often Sephardi includes the Mizrahi Jews as well. We connect Sephardi with Spanish as many lived in Spain. They speak Ladino, a mixture of Hebrew and Spanish.

The Judaism of both groups are generally identical . In Israel, Mizrahi are under the view of the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel, who usually is a Mizrahi Jew.

After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and establishment of Israel May 14, 1948, Most Mizrahi Jews numbering 900,000 were either expelled from their Arab countries or chose to leave and emigrated to Israel. About half of Israeli Jews are of Mizrahi origin.

Jews living in the northern regions called themselves  Ashkenazi Jews. Being the main centers of Jewish learning were in Germany, those Jews in Western and Central Europe also came to be called Ashkenazi. Yiddish that they speak is a mixture of Hebrew and German.

Many later migrated eastward Bohemia, Hungary, Poland, Belarus, Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine, Romania and other places between the 11th and 19th centuries.

In the 11th century they were only 3% of the world’s Jewish population. By 1931, they made up 92% of the world’s Jews. Today they are 80% of the Jews in the world. Jews who migrated from Europe to other continents in the past two centuries are Ashkenazim, mainly Eastern Ashkenazim.

For the past 1,000 years, the Ashkenazim were isolated reproductively in Europe. There was little conversion or intermarriage with other groups, including other Jews. Since the middle of the 20th century, intermarriage has occurred. Conversion to Judaism has been rare for nearly 2,000 years, has become more common.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkenazi_Jews
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mizrahi_Jews

Friday, April 20, 2012

USA Pollyannish Towards Iran's Threats

Nadene Goldfoot

Ahmadinejad’s Iranian policies are the world’s biggest threat right now. It’s not because Iran is on the verge of being able to create atomic weapons, such as bombs, but because he is warning a world power, the United States, who has turned into Pollyanna. Ahmadinejad is the face of a country bent on destroying completely the people and land of another; Israel. After attaining the position as the most powerful and wise country, the superman to all nations, the USA has just become one of the guys.

Islam has the reputation of giving warnings before striking, and even as late as November 2011 Ahmadinejad, in an interview with Al-Akhbar newspaper of Egypt, said that Israel’s end will be near and that Iran’s capabilities are increasing. He warned that now Israel and the West, particularly America, fear Iran’s capabilities.

He was wrong. Israel certainly takes the warning to heart, but the USA is still in denial. They just broke an agreement with Israel to stand their ground in dealing with Iran in a meeting a few days ago, giving Iran months more to complete the act of working on their atomic energy. They went back on their word to Israel in Columbia without warning. Iran must be super happy as they are racing toward creating nuclear weaponry. They have continued to enrich uranium, build new nuclear facilities and are violating mandatory Security Council resolutions, and the USA is now helping them do so by prolonging time for them. American delegates are more concerned with the sanctions put on their heads instead of what Iran’s scientists are doing in the interim.

Iran has continually told the world their intention is to destroy Israel. Here are Ahmadinejad’s statements at an anti-Israel demonstration for Quds (Jerusalem Day) in Teheran on August 2011.

1. There is no room for Israel in the region.
2. The West and the Zionist regime will have no base in the Middle East.
3 Israel was created on lies.
4. The Zionist regime is the axis of unity among all thieves and criminals of the world.

Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader just in February 2012 said : :

1. Israel is a danger to Islam. The opportunity must not be lost to remove this corrupting material.
2. It is a “jurisprudential justification” to kill all Jews and annihilate Israel.
3. The Islamic government of Iran must take the helm in that.

Iran supports the Palestinians such as Hamas who have been attacking Israel with mortars, missles and rockets. They also support Syria. This makes Israel’s very existence in grave danger as Iran is committed to its destruction. It’s up to the world that believes in fairness to fight for Israel’s security and for a peaceful future for all. The danger of another Holocaust is very real for the Jewish people.

Resource: Zionist Organization of America

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Another Columbian Disappointment Over Iran's Nuclear Capabilities

Nadene Goldfoot
President Obama has renegged on the US-Israeli understandings they had reached before their Istanbul talks between the 6 powers and Iran on April Saturday, 14th.. This was disclosed April 16th. causing a rift between Obama and Netanyahu. This is because the US went ahead on its own and agreed to more meetings in Baghdad next month when this was supposed to be the last one.

Obama has corrected reporters at a news conference at the end of the Western Hemisphere summit in Cartagenia, Colombia that “The notion that somehow we’ve given something away or a “freebie” would indicate Iran has gotten something. In fact, they’ve got some of the toughest sanctions that they’re going to be facing coming up in just a few months if they don’t take advantage of these talks.”

Israel was concerned with “time” that was involved. American and Israeli officials had preceded the Istanbut talks with an understanding for the US to put before Iran agreed demands or concessions. Iran would be allowed to keep 1,000 centrifuges for the low-level enrichment of uranium up to 3.5% purity. This was the first time that Israel had accepted the principle of Iran enriching uranium at any grade at all.

Israel and Washington also agreed that Iran would not be permitted to keep 20% enriched uranium because this is just a short step before weapons-grade of any quantity. These understandings are known as the 1,000 principle, the final upshot of negotiating with Iran.

The outcome was that the US did not present any of the agreed demands or any other. This made Netanyahu feel misled which brought about his sharp reaction. Israel suspects that the US has granted Iran far more concessions on its nuclear program than Israel can find acceptable.

Perhaps it wasn’t just the security men that were enjoying their time in Columbia with their prostitutes. It looks like a lot of betrayal for Israel in this event, which means its life or death.

I’d say that the Columbia trip was a complete washout!

Resource: http://www.debka.com/article/21919/

Getting Ready for the 3rd Temple

Nadene Goldfoot

                                                                         First Temple

The very first temple was built by Solomon and was on Mt. Moriah in Jerusalem. It was a shrine for the Ark, the sacred vessels and offerings, and had a court for worshippers. Its plan had a hall, shrine and inner sanctum (holy of holies). King Solomon, the son of King David and Bathsheba, lived from 961 BCE to 920 BCE. It was completely destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylonia (today’s Iraq) in 586 BCE.. He was the conquerer of all the lands from the Euphrates to the Egyptian frontier, including Judah, whose capital was Jerusalem in 597 BCE..

Nebuchadnezzar had been victorious over an Assyrian-Egyptian alliance in 605. He had replaced Judah’s young king Jehoiachin with his own choice of Zedekiah, and took as captives, 8,000 of the best of Judah to Babylon. Eight years later, Zedekiah rebelled. The soldiers of Nebuchadnezzar again invded Judah, captured Jerusalem in 586 and destroyed the Temple, laid waste the cities and exiled the population. The king was taken to Riblah and killed.

                                                      Second Temple

The 2nd Temple was rebuilt from 538 BCE to 515 BCE.. When the Romans sieged Jerusalem, it was a center of military activity and was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. The Romans then built a Roman temple on the site, and afterwards the Moslems built a mosque (Mosque of Omar). over it.

 Israel was again reborn May 14, 1948. A 3rd Temple is being planned. Stanley Goldfoot, an investment adviser and one-time publisher and former Lehi member, originally from South Africa, was a member of the 3rd Temple group (the Faithful of the temple Mount (Ne’emanei Har Habayit). They are known for their attemps to pray on the Temple Mount.

Goldfoot has spoken in football stadiums in the states to many Christian fundamentalists about the rebuilding of the Temple. They see in Israel the fulfillment of biblical prophecy and are the real zionists, he felt. By helping Jews to fulfill prophecies they feel they are hastening the 2nd coming of the Messiah. They believe that before any redemption occurs, Jews must hold all the Land of Israel.

Goldfoot can’t accept their views and knows they can’t accept his, but they are working together. His group not only tries to pray, but would like to see the day they have a synagogue there as well. At this time, the Temple Mount is an “Arab autonomous state,” ruled over by the Moslem wakf, or religious trust.

                                                      Third Temple

In talking about the 3rd Temple, Goldfoot didn’t know where or when it would happen. Many rabbis have forbidden Jews to set foot on the Temple Mount, but many others permit it and even think of it as an obligation. The group is in the planning stage for the Temple. Jerusalem is the center of Jewish life. Since Israel liberated the Old city in June 1967, there is more interest.

Moshe Dayan set policies when he was the Defense Minister. He said that Jews hold the keys to the Moghrabi Gate, while the Moslems hold the keys to the other gates. This means that the site is still held by the Moslems, but is open to those who wish to visit it.

Stanley Goldfoot died November 24, 2006 in Jerusalem. He didn’t get to see the 3rd Temple built, but did his share in trying to bring it about by speaking to many groups all over the world.

Resource: Jerusalem Post March 6, 1983 article: Planning the Third Temple by Haim Shapiro
e New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia


Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Remembering Israel's Birth Pangs and Stern Group

Nadene Goldfoot
We had 650,000 Jews in  Israel in May 1948.  It went up to 806,000 residents including Arabs.  The 1948 War took 6,373 of their lives, or 1% of our total Jewish population there.  We remember that Moses, born in Egypt, son of Amram and Jochebed of the tribe of Levi,  had left Egypt with 600,000 Jews bound for Canaan. 

The largest city in 1948 was Tel Aviv-Yafo with 248,000.  Today, there are 14 cities with more than 100,000 residents out of which 6 have more than 200,000.  The largest are Jerusalem with 773,800; Tel Aviv-Yafo with  393,900; Haifa with 265,600; Rishon LeZiyyon with 227,600, Ashdod with 211,300 and Petah Tikvah with 197,800.   Portland, Oregon in 2005's population was 533,427.  It's the largest city in Oregon. 

At the time of 1948, Israel had no cannons or tanks, only 9 obsolete planes.  The  Haganah, the Jewish self-defense group organized from 1920 to 1948, brought about for lack of protections for Jews under the British administration,  had only 18,900 armed soldiers.  There were other smaller groups such as the Stern Group (the Fighters for the Freedom of Israel-Irgun Tzevai Leumi or otherwise known as Etzel of which my cousin, Stanley Goldfoot was the Chief of Intelligence) and (Lohame Herut Israel).  Yigael Yadin told David Ben-Gurion that they had a 50/50 chance of survival.  David Ben Gurion became Israel's first Prime Minister.  Yadin served as chief of operations during the Israel War of Independence and as chief of staff of the Israel army 1949-1952. 

64 years later we find that Israel's population has survived the war of 1947-49, 1956, 1967, 1968-70, 1973, 1982 (I was there then), 1991,  and 2006 and more firing into Israel leading to Operation Cast Lead of December 27, 2008 to January 18, 2009  to have a population of 7,836,000.  Of those, 5,901,000 are Jewish.  1,610,000 are Arabs and there are also unidentified 325,000, probably of which many are Christians.  Today 70% of Israel's Jewish population is made up of Sabras, or people born in Israel, compared to the 35% native-born in 1948. 

Among the nations of the world, Israel is a teeny country with a teeny population.  Jews make up less than 1% of the total world population as it is.  In the United States, we make up 2.1% of the population with New York having the most with 8.4% of that state having 1,635,020 Jews and California with 3.3% of that state having 1,219,740 Jews.  Our total population in the USA is at 6,588,065, making slightly more Jews living in the USA than in Israel.  We have just about the same number today in the USA that were killed in the Holocaust.  It's taken 67 years to reach that point. 

Our population as grown and our country, starting off like an arid orphaned  desert with swampy malaria- carrying mosquitoes has become a regular Garden of Eden, which our neighbors now covet.  Our numbers have slowly increased while our accomplishments have abounded amidst the hatred of neighbors surrounding us.  This little group of stubborn people have given much to the world already that they have created and shared.  I hope their love of life also permeates the air people breathe.  L'Chaim!  To Life! 

Resource: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/1948_War.html
Book:  Genesis 1948 by Dan Kurzman
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108588.html
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Modern+History/Israel+wars/CategoryDefaultTop.htm?DisplayMode=print
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/Gazaincursion.html

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Remembering King Abdullah of Transjordan at the Birth of Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
Serious fighting in Palestine started with the UN announcement of partition on November 29, 1947 between Jews and Arabs.

The War of 1948 was at an end and the Israelis had fought their last campaign.  In Rhodes of March 1949, the Israeli delegation informed the Jordanians that the southern Negev had been allotted to the Israelis under the UN partition plan and that they planned to occupy it.  The next day of March 11, the two delegations signed a preliminary cease-fire agreement.  Agreements had already started on the 12th of January with Arab countries. 

Some 64 years ago personalities were different.  Mecca, Saudi Arabian born King Abdullah (Abdullah I bin al-Hussein) of Transjordan spoke for himself.  In dealing with the Israelis, he finally met face to face by inviting them to his palace for a conference. He was also receiving advice from the USA and Great Britain and had included British Charge d'Affaires Gordon and American Charge d'Affaires Wells Stabler, who was assigned to the Amman, Jordan office on February 18, 1949.

He hadn't liked Golda Meier and referred to her as Mrs. Golda Myerson.  When told she had become Israel's Ambassador to Moscow, he was happy as he remembered their cold meeting with her on May 10, 1948.  He told her then not to hurry in declaring a state.  She told him that "we've been waiting for 2,000 years already.  Is that hurrying?

He felt he couldn't have bargained with a woman seriously.  He hoped she would stay in Moscow.  She did until 1949.  Golda was one of 24 people who had signed the Declaration of Independance of Israel on May 14, 1948.  She was one of two women who did so. The next day they were attacked by Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Transjordan and Iraq. Other units from other Arab countries also joined in.

He made a speech when talking to the Israelis that was also intended for his own ministers.  In it he said that the Jews belonged to a united, advanced nation and that the Arabs belonged to weak, backward nations.  He said the West was against them.  He realized that they had not won the war against the Israelis and  copped a plea that they really hadn't intended to fight but that it was the Egyptians and other Arab nations that pushed them into war.  As he spoke he yelled at his ministers in attendance, saying that he told them so from the start that they had no chance to beat the Israelis, but that they didn't listen to him.

He continued saying that he was a Bedouin and that Bedouins have a saying:  When you're riding a mule that is overloaded with goods and your enemy chases you, you have one of two choices.  You either fall prisoner with your goods or you run away, ridding yourself gradually of the load.  He had invited the Israelis to listen to him in order to get rid of the load.

The Jordanians in attendance were very uncomfortable.  Iraqis had said that they would refuse to sign an armistice agreement with Israel.  Israel really wished to have peace guarantees from all the Arabs who had fought against them.  Damascus-born Jewish Eliahu Sasson had met with King Abdullah on January 30th saying that Israel might attack the Iraqis unless the King could persuade Iraq to withdraw her troops.   Sasson suggested that Arab Legion forces should replace the Iraqis on their front.  He thought Ben Gurion would not attack Legion troops. They would be led by John Bagot Glubb (Glubb Pasha). This made the King happy so that he could extend his control over large areas of Palestine without military effort.  The Iraqi army hadn't received any payment for months and was on the verge of revolt anyway,.  Iraq couldn't keep up the fight alone.  The new Regent agreed to withdraw their forces. 

Before they had started the conference, Munich-born Israeli Diplomat Walter Eytan  handed King Abdullah a gift of a rare Old Testament, telling him that Prime Minister Ben-Gurion was giving it to him.  It was a gift of simple material value but precious in its meaning and meant it as a symbol of friendship between the two countries signifying good will from the Israeli government.

King Abdullah opened it and was shocked with the first page being a map of Israel from the days of King Solomon.  It showed areas of the nation then being in the hands of Jordan now.  Eytan explained that it was a map of ancient Israel.  The King thought a bit, smiled and then said he also had a gift.  He presented Eytan with an ornamental silver dagger.

 King Abdullah changed the name of Transjordan to Jordan in April 1949 after taking over illegally Judea and Samaria and calling it the West Bank in the War of 1948.  It wouldn't be till June 1967 when Israel was again attacked by all the surrounding Arab nations that Israel would gain it back again.  Israel has not annexed it but it is under Israel's military control.  Both Israelis and Arabs live there but not together. 

The Arab countries signed an armistice in 1949. 
1. Egypt signed on February 24, 1949
2. Lebanon       on March 23, 1949
3. Jordan          on April 3, 1949
4. Syria            on July 20, 1949
5. Iraq didn't sign but withdrew, handing over their sector to Jordan's Arab Legion instead. 

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezra_Danin
http://www.answers.com/topic/eliyahu-sasson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Eytan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golda_Meir#Ambassador_to_Moscow
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golda_Meir
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/1948_War.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_I_of_Jordan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1949_Armistice_Agreements
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Foreign+Relations/Israels+Foreign+Relations+since+1947/1947-1974/Israel-Jordan+Armistice+Agreement.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Bank
http://history.state.gov/countries/jordan
http://www.historyandtheheadlines.abc-clio.com/ContentPages/ContentPage.aspx?entryId=1281298&currentSection=1271019&productid=16
Book: Genesis 1948-The First Arab-Israeli War by Dan Kurzman



Monday, April 16, 2012

One Portland, Oregon Holocaust Story

Nadene Goldfoot
Since Ahmadinejad is such a holocaust denier, I am compelled to tell my uncle's story to set him and others like him, straight. 

An early  survivor of the Holocaust came to Portland, so we know his family's story first hand.  He married one of my father's sisters.  His father was a veteran of the First World War in Germany.  Never did his father picture extermination happening to his family.  Ferdinand, his father, was a butcher and lived on Kirchenstrasse Street in Boppard.  Boppard is a small but beautiful  town on the banks of the Rhine River.  It is a popular stop on the river with the many boats that go by.

My Uncle Werner was born in Westerburg, Hildesheim, Niedersachsen, Germany in 1916.  The family moved to Boppard, Hamburg, Germany afterwards.  His father owned his own little butcher shop there where they made sausage, a favorite in Germany.  One day about in 1936 as he was walking a cow back home, he was arrested by the police for "beating the cow with a stick."  He did walk with a stick used to keep the cow on the path.  That's how everyone did it.  But, Werner was Jewish.  It happened  in 1933 that persecution of Jews had become active in the Nazi policy in Germany. 

The next thing he knew he was in jail.  The atrocities he faced were horrible for him.  He was beaten.  Then he was forced to eat raw pork.  Eating pork of any type for a Jew was a sin, so this was even worse for him.  Whatever pains he went through he was afraid to speak about afterwards.  Finally he was allowed to go home.  Werner's parents only had a son and a daughter.  They worked diligently to get the whole family out of the country but managed to get one passport only, and that went to Werner.  He was to get the rest out after reaching the USA.  It became an impossibility, as Werner got out in May 1939, which turned out to be the end of a period when people could leave.  It was also the exact time of the White Paper of 1939 issued by Great Britain in stopping any immigration to "Palestine" by Jews.  The door was shut tight after he left both to get out of Germany or to get into Palestine.  He suffered greatly for he couldn't get his 16 year old red-headed sister out.  214,000 Jews were trapped in Germany unable to leave, destined to be slaughtered.. 

Even at that, Werner could not get into the United States without someone vouching for him in that economically he would be covered.  The B'nai B'rith were major sponsors.  That was something my Great Uncle Max Turn volunteered to do.  .  He became his benefactor and got him a job with my father, who was just starting his own meat market business.   Other countries were impossible to get into as so many demanded baptismal papers.  They wouldn't accept Jews at all. 

His father, Ferdinand,  was forced to clean the streets with a mop, and so wore his soldier's uniform, a brave act.  I wonder if anyone was moved by seeing a veteran who had fought for his country treated in such a demeaning way. 

They were likely taken to a smaller concentration camp near Frankfurt. Dachau is outside of Munich, which is several hours away by car/train from Boppard. 

I checked Yad Vashem and found Rosa  from Boppard, Koblenz, Rhine, Germany b: 1891.
Both Ferdinand and Werner's  mother, Rosa, died in a camp in Poland. Rosa was young; age 50 years 8 months 7 days when she died in the camp..

Somehow, Werner's grandmother   Sibylla Jonas, born in 1871 and  prior to WWII  lived in Alken, Germany. Sibylla perished in Minsk, Belorussia (USSR). This information is based on a List of victims from Germany found in the Gedenkbuch -

The Nazi controlled German government established seven extermination camps (Vernichtungslager) in Poland.  These camps were as follows:
 1.  Auschwitz-Birkenau (Oswiecim, near Kraków)
  2. Belzec (near the current Ukrainian border north-west of L'viv)
  3. Kulmhof (Chelmno, between Warsaw and Poznan)
  4. Majdanek (near Lublin)
  5. Sobibór (south of Brest-Litovsk)
  5. Treblinka (north-east of Warsaw)
  7. Warschau (in Warsaw)

The Germans were ruthless perfectionists when it came to keeping records.  President Ahmadinejad only needs to look into some of them and he will see for himself that the Holocaust truly happened.  Ask the survivors and their families.  It's all a horrible truth of what man is capable of doing to his fellow man.  We can only work towards the time when such things will never happen again. 

What is frightening the world today is that Ahmadinejad is saying that he will finish what the Germans started.  That Arabs of the Ottoman Empire were on the Axis side in WWII is worrisome.  They have picked up Mein Kampf for their source of hatred along with the Nazi goals.  This is why the rantings of Ahmadinejad cannot be dismissed.  The world has not yet reached a state of Nirvana and perfection.  Even a step in the right direction, the UN, has become terribly flawed. 

Resource: Family history
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005469
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Germany

Holocaust Day -- Yom Ha-Shoah: A Day We Can't Forget as Elie Weisel Warns Us

Nadene Goldfoot
This coming Thursday is Nissan 27, or April 19th, which is our Holocaust Day, a memorial day set aside to remember the victims and heros of the worst part of our history so that it will not happen again.  It was chosen as it is the day of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. 

Elie Wiesel, b: 1928  is a Romanian Jewish survivor of the Holocaust and now lives in Israel.  He wrote the following about his time as a prisoner in Auschwitz as he will never forget: "Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed.  Never shall I forget that smoke.  Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky. 
   Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever.
   Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live.  Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust.  Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself.  Never." 

He was lucky enough to be liberated from Buchenbwald in 1945.  Before that he had been in Birkenau, Auschwitz and Buna.  This writing of his didn't happen immediately after his ordeal.  He had come out of it putting a 10 year vow of silence on himself before he could describe what had happened.  When he did write, he couldn't get a publisher interested.  Even after being published, people were not interested in reading about the holocaust as it is a depressing subject. 

Some people are in denial of the Holocaust.  Many would prefer it didn't happen.  To do this, "they are committing the greatest indignity human beings can inflict on one  another; telling people who have suffered excruciating pain and loss that their pain and loss were illusions.  The greater indignity is committed by those who believe the disbelievers. 

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran is the world's leading Holocaust denier. During a speech in 2009 to the UN on a Friday, "he questioned whether the Holocaust was "a real event" and called it a pretext used by Jews to trick the West into backing the creation of Israel. He said the Jewish state was created out of "a lie and a mythical claim."  The United States called this a hateful speech.  Ahmadinejad still sticks to his denial even though there is incredible evidence to the contrary showing that he is really an idiot. 

History is well known in many countries that Jews started the process of creating a National Jewish Homeland way before the Holocaust when pioneers were returning to Palestine in the late 1800's.  At the end of the 1st world war when Britain held the mandate for Palestine, the process of creating Israel was in full swing.  The Holocaust only brought out the truth that we had needed our own nation way before this had happened.  It is the clincher or king pin that tells us how important Israel is to us.  6 million Jews died along with others that the world really didn't think mattered; especially the Nazis. 

Elie Weisel tells the story from his pain, to honor the dead and to also warn us living that it could happen again and that it must never happen again.  Perhaps this is why Netanyahu takes Iran's leaders' rants seriously when they speak of Jews as pigs and such and their intention of wiping Israel off the map.  When they are working on possible atomic energy that can create weapons, it is a sure sign who they intend to use it on.  It isn't the first time an Iranian threatened all the Jews' lives in the world.  Long ago when it was Persia, a terrible man named Hamen also plotted to kill all Jews everywhere.  We remember that event during Purim. It was a Holocaust that was averted by Queen Esther. 

Resource: Night by Elie Wiesel, winner of the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize, page 32, written in memory of his parents and of his little sister, Tzipora
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/21/ahmadinejad-holocaust-den_n_293083.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elie_Wiesel
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Our New Year for Trees: New Facts of Trees' Importance

Nadene Goldfoot
We Jews celebrated a holiday called the "New Year for Trees," known as  Tu B'Shevat on February 8th this year (15th of Shevat) , but the Oregonian came out with a very interesting editorial today by Jim Robbins in Helena, Montana telling us some new facts about how trees are essential to a greener and healthier world. 

We have had a reverence for trees ever since Moses,  who told us, after the first 10 commandments 613 other things.  We were to learn that it was important to know the age of a tree so as to know the maturation of the fruit of the tree.  We were not to eat the fruit until it was of a tree 4 years old or older.  Thus, we celebrate the birthday of a tree! 

We tithe trees of this age; no younger.  This is about the time that sap begins to flow once again, marking the rebirth of the tree following its winter hibernation. 

In Safed, Israel, where I lived for 4+ years, the first Seder (special dinner ceremony- in this case eating fruit only in a special order with lecture and prayers) was created by Cabbalists around this holiday that had led to planting trees at this time. I was able to join a Seder for Tu B'Shevat there.   Also, I planted a tree with the help of a gardener-helper who was an Arab in my first year of living in Israel. 

People enjoyed eating fruits from trees in a very scientifically  organized  listing.  Kabbalists had their own list of fruit organization.  The highest and purest level of fruits created were the ones that the whole fruit could be eaten such as carob, apples, oranges, grapes, figs.  The lowest levels were fruits that would have the greatest need for protection, such as nuts, coconuts, and pomegranates.  They would stay up almost all night reciting and studying passages from the Bible (Torah) , Mishnah, Talmud and Zohar which spoke about fruit and trees.  They had study sessions about them and in between would eat the fruits they just read about.   Finding reference to trees in so many books shows just how important they were to the culture.  One fact I remember is if you are in the middle of planting a tree and the Moshiach arrives you are to finish planting the tree and then go to greet him. 

Trees and the environment were considered in times of war as well.  Soldiers are not to cut down fruit trees of an enemy.  They are not to destroy without purpose.  Deut 20: 19-20 .  They are not to cut off water sources that fruit trees use.  This is all quoted from the Torah, Rabbinic and mystical sources as well. 

Men started planting trees on this day, which became an Arbor Day way before one was created in the United States.  If one didn't live in Israel, one gave money to plant trees there.  We plant trees where we live and in Israel where there are forests of trees planted by people living outside of the state.  One thing tourists like to do is visit their tree or trees when there. 

Robbins wrote that " a walk in the woods, researchers say, reduces the level of stress chemicals in the body and increases natural killer cells in the immune system, which fight tumors and viruses.  Studies in inner cities show that anxiety, depression and even crime are lower in a landscaped environment." 

He found out that Texas Department of forestry has estimated that their shade trees that have died off (and evidently haven't been replaced) will cost Texans  hundreds of millions of dollars more for air conditioning.  Trees sequester or isolate or set apart, carbon, which is a greenhouse gas that makes the planet warmer.  Trees are nature's water filters.  They clean up the most toxic wastes, including explosives, solvents and organic wastes.  How they do this is through a family of microbes around the trees' roots that clean water in exchange for food, called phytoremediation.  The leaves also filter air pollution.  This is why we are told to have folliage inside our homes to have cleaner air. 

I'm lucky to live in Western Oregon where trees and rain are the accepted way of life.  The rain is just now stopping long enough for people to get out and plant more trees.  In Portland we have a wonderful forest "Forest Park" right in the heart of the city where people can go for hikes on a hot summer day and be comfortable.  It was created in 1860 by our early pioneers and covers over 5,100 acres of land in our Tualatin Mt. range extending about 8 miles.  It is one of the largest urban forest reserves in the United States.   No wonder I keep meeting transplants from the East Coast.  Trees are such an asset to our life.. 

This was one thing that caused me to settle in Safed, Israel.  Safed, on top of a mountain, had fir trees.  They were shorter than our Northwest fir trees, but they were there, nevertheless.  A short drive from my apartment building was a forest.  When I was terribly homesick, I would go there and breathe in the air and the smell of the trees. 

Reference: The Jewish Catalog by Richard Siegel, Michael Strassfeld, Sharon Strassfeld
Oregonian Newspaper, Sunday, April 15, 2012, page B10 Trees essential to a greener world by Jim Robbins
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_Park_(Portland,_Oregon)
http://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/judaism-and-the-environment/
http://judaism.about.com/library/3_intro/level2/bl_war.htm

Friday, April 13, 2012

The Mel Gibson-Joe Eszterhas Contraversy Over the Maccabees

Nadene Goldfoot
Joe Eszterhas, 67 year old famous Hungarian Catholic screen writer, who wrote "Basic Instinct" and "Showgirls"  learned in 1990 that his father was being investigated by the US Department of Justice for writing anti-Semitic propaganda in Hungary in the 30's and 40's. 

Joe is living in Hollywood and is in contact through business with Mel Gibson, who also has a father that is also known to be very anti-Semitic.  The two men with anti-Semitic fathers have reacted to Jews in opposite ways. Mel has already directed The Passion of the Christ, a movie that portrayed Jews in an extremely unfavorable manner.  This movie could have been the cause of a lot of anti-Semitic reaction in any community.

 Robert Jacobs, the regional director for the Pacific Northwest ADL (Anti-Defamation League). noted that the ADL and other Jewish organizations have been "accused of being alarmist" in their criticism of the movie. He indicates that they were concerned that the film "....might reverse the past 40 years of increasing interfaith dialogue or result in misunderstandings that could harm Jews both here in the United States and overseas." After viewing the movie, he said that he: "...saw two hours of nearly unrelenting violence and torture, horror and viciousness such as I have never seen. Two hours of hell, portrayed in the film as instigated, demanded, insisted upon by Jews. The film does not only show a few Jewish leaders calling for Jesus' torture. The film portrays nearly all Jews -- Jews in the Temple, Jews in the streets, Jews in the courtyards, Jews on bridges over Jesus' path -- as stoning, condemning, screaming and beating on Jesus....Nearly every Gibson-created scene portrays the High Priests and the Jews of Jerusalem as horribly vicious, brutal and inhuman."

Gibson is known to have a hot temper and has said very anti-Semitic statements, following in his father's beliefs.  Joe had found out about his father's anti-Semitism and seems to want to correct this injustice with his behavior.  He has written a screen play about the Macabees who fought against invasion in Jerusalem.  Judas Macabee and his sons were the founders of the holiday of Chanukah and were very brave guerrilla fighters. 

The two men have collided with Joe being the writer of the film, working on it for the past 2 years,  and Mel in on the production as the future director.  It turns out that Joe is accusing Mel of sabotaging the production.  Warner Bros. have decided to cancel the project. 

Joe says that Mel is an anti-Semite and that's why he won't make "The Maccabees.  He feels that Mel hates Jews.  He says Mel told him that the Holocaust was mostly a lot of horseshit and the only reason he would make this film would be to convert Jews to Christianity.  Mel also believes it is the Torah that made references to the sacrifice of Christian babies and infants.  Joe says that he corrected Mel in that it was the Protocals of Zion that said such a thing but he insisted that it was the Torah.  Gibson also is quoted by Joe as calling Jews "Hebes, oven-dodgers and Jewboys."

Joe said he felt that the only reason Mel took on the project was because he was already being called anti-Semitic and he was trying to say they were utter fabrications, but Mel is denying this, of course.

Last year the Jewish community was very surprised that such a movie about the heroism of the Maccabees was going to be directed by Mel Gibson.    In 2006 Gibson was arrested for drunk driving and was full of anti-Semitic outbursts, as liquor seems to loosen up so many tongues.

Perhaps this was a blessing in disguise for Eszterhas.  I don't believe that any Jewish person would want to see a movie about a famous Jewish person of history being portraying by Mel Gibson's direction.  That's like putting the kiss of death on the movie.  It's wonderful that Joe wrote this script and he deserves a better staff to get this done.  How about finding a Jewish director?  There's Stanley Kubrick, Steven Spielberg, Billy Wilder, Sergei Eisenstein, Fritz Lang, Woody Allen, George Cukor, and others that should be most interested in this great opportunity.  Maybe it could even be made in Israel. 

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutton_Gibson
http://www.religioustolerance.org/chrgibson7.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Eszterhas
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/154727
http://latimesblogs/latimes.com/gossip/2012/04/mel-gibson-joe-eszterhas-maccabees.html?  
http://www.adherents.com/movies/adh_dir.html list of Jewish directors
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/sns-rt-us-melgibson-maccabeebre83a1d2-20120411,0,2650034.story





Monday, April 9, 2012

Getting Tough With Iran; Is Time Running Out?

Nadene Goldfoot
Obama has given a message to Iran that upcoming talks with them are their last opportunity for a peaceful solution to their atomic developments.  The question is, is there any teeth to this statement?  The last thing that Obama wants is for Israel to attack Iran's atomic building sites; at least not until after November's presidential election.

In order to bring this about, our goverment is alluding to some sort of prior knowledge that we would have before any decision on Iran's part would be to build a nuclear bomb.  The White House officials are insinuating that it will take Iran at least another year to build a nuclear weapon if it were to start on some sort of crash program right now. 

The problem in swallowing all this is that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA ) chief Yukiya Amano warned a whole month ago that Iran had tripled its production of higher-enriched uranium since November and was denying the IAEA access to Parchin.  This is the site that they had done tests that were strong indicators of developing a bomb. Besides this, there is some missing uranium metal that is large enough to be used for experiments in arming a nuclear missile.  It is unaccounted for.   If the IAEA is alarmed, why isn't our government uneasy? 

The nations could demand the immediate closing and ultimate dismantling of the deep-underground Fordo enrichment facility.  This is a place that is very worrisome for Israel.  They could call for a halt in the production of uranium fuel that is just a few steps away from bomb grade.  Iran has been shipping existing stockpiles of that fuel out of the country.  They may have already worked on warhead designs and nuclear triggers.  The question remains as to where it is going.  They are simply hoping that sanctions and the threat of Israeli military action will cause the Iranians to come to a negotiated settlement. 

The Russians and the Chinese are on the opposite side of the rest of the countries that are worrying about Iran's atomic capabilities.  They are trying to water down the sanctions.  Unlike the rest of the world, Obama is not in a hurry.  Though the negotiations may turn out to be unproductive, our government will want to keep them going anyway until November is past.   That gives Iran at least 7 more months of uninterrupted work.
Of course it fits Iran's strategy as this could buy time while their machinery keeps on going.

Tehran says adamently that it will not close Fordo or give up higher uranium enrichment.  They are saying that these demands are irrational, as if their goal in keeping these objectives are sane.  Israel is watching Iran get closer and closer to creating nukes while others continue with peace talks.

With a response like Tehran just gave, sanctions should be tightened.  If nothing is done to deter Iran, Israel will be free to act as they see fit.  Their goal is to keep their people alive and their country free from harm.  It's no more than we expect from our own country.  Iran has used the past 4 years stalling the world while it has been progressing in their goal to attain atomic energy, even though they laughingly admit only to needing energy and research.   This has been Israel's major headache. 

The Mayans' calendar runs out on December 21st and many wonder what changes we will see in the heavens, as this culminates because of a lineup of heavenly planets and such.  I'm wondering what can happen before  Tuesday after the first Monday in November, November 6th, election day in the USA.  This is the Hebrew date of Chesvan 21.

 Israel has warned that they would have only one  window of opportunity in which they could try to destroy Iran's building sites of atomic weaponry.  Which will come first;  sanctions with teeth or Israel's bite?  They really don't want to go it alone.  Yet atomic power in the hands of madmen is a horrible thought.  There is nothing sane about what Iran has been threatening Israel with.  Will the world remain free from Iran's power by December 21?  By New Years? 

Resource: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/24/iran-nuclear-program-iaea_n_1299497.html
http://frontpagemag.com/2012/04/09/more-obama-leaks-to-sabotage-israel/print/


Israelis Not Into Denial: Facts Speak Loud and Clear -Grass and Iran

Nadene Goldfoot
Guenter Grass, 84 years old Polish German is not a historian, but an emotional poet who is in denial of the facts of life.  He has been denied entrance to Israel because of a poem that he has written saying that Israel was as dangerous as Iran!  I doubt if he ever intended to visit anyway.  It's much easier to just damn a people than actually checking into their history. 

His poem so unrealistic as to the facts that Israel declared him persona non grata, even though he has been a 1999 Nobel-author.  His style might be fantastic but certainly his expectation that Israel should just accept being wiped off the earth is ridiculous.

Germany has also criticized Grass.  The Health Minister in Germany was one who was disappointed with him;.  In view of the fact that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and others in Iran have threatened Israel's existence, it is unrealistic to blame Israel for causing unrest in the world.  Yet Grass has managed to gather 1,000 marchers in his favor in Germany on Easter who are against Israel's threats of ending Iran's atomic program if they will not be in compliance to the world expectations. 

This multi-faceted novelist, playright, poet and artist  just of late has admitted in a 2006 autobiography that he had been drafted into the Waffen-SS Nazi paramilitary when he was 17 at the end of World War II.  Israel has barred him with their law that prevents entry to ex-Nazis. 

Grass has called "Western hypocrisy" over Israel's nuclear program and called Israel a threat to "already fragile world peace" over its stance on Iran's danger to the world.  Israel is shocked over his moral equivalence of equating Israel with Iran.  First of all, Iran with its population of 76,923,300 Shi'a Muslims compared to Israel's 7,000,000 (almost 6 million Jews and over 1 million Sunni Muslims)  is absolutely lopsided , but it is Iran constantly threatening Israel's existence, not the other way around..  The only thing of late that Israel is threatening is their underground atomic plant. 

Grass is also forgetting the fact that there is a Sunni-Shiite factor here as well.  Iran and Iraq had fought a horrible war in the 80's where millions died, and their only difference was that their Islamic viewpoints  differed.  There is a power struggle still going on.   Israel has never threatened Iran's life.  They have only warned everyone that atomic power in the hands of irrational people puts everyone in harm's way.  Israel is not  the only country that realizes this.  Doesn't anyone wonder how a country sitting on land filled with oil could need atomic power as well?

To me this is exactly like blaming the victim instead of the perpetrator in a crime.  It is illlogical.  Iran has been threatening Israel continuously in the most vile of ways along with preparing an atomic industry while lying to inspectors in the sleaziest of ways.  One has to have blinders on not to realize their intentions towards Israel. Not only their intention, but the fact remains that they have been backing Israel's neighbors in a campaign to wipe her off the map.  Iran is behind Syria and the Palestinian Arabs in their constant attacks on Israel.  In both word and deed Iran is an enemy of Israel. 

Iran's Fordo site is an underground bunker near Qom and is built underground because of sanctions and the threats of attacks.  They in turn have done nothing but threaten Israel's very existence.  They are enriching their uranium to 20% purity and have the goal of P5+.  This means that they are intending to produce atomic warfare, not just medical supplies.  The world has known about this for years, now.  Time is close by to their completion. 

As to whether or not Israel has atomic ability has remained speculative.  Israel has not threatened anyone with it.  It would be impossible to use atomic bombs on close-by neighbors without harming themselves.  However, just the possibility that they may have it has been enough to keep enemies at an arm's distance, so this is enough of a protection.    Israel has the scientists and brains to create medical supplies without having to use atomic energy.  They have shared with  the whole world all their inventions in this field. 

It's too bad that there hasn't been 1,000 marchers  in the world showing disfavor with Iran's plan's to create atomic energy and to stop them from threatening Israel's existence.  So much for the world to recognize what's truly right and wrong. 
Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%BCnter_Grass
Oregonian newspaper 4/9/2012 page A 4, Israel bars Guenter Grass' entry, AP
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Threats_to_Israel/Iran.html
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/germany-official-israel-s-reaction-to-grass-criticism-exaggerated-1.423417
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/235122.html

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Facing the Inquisition or Anti-Semities of Colonial America

Nadene Goldfoot
1492 was when Columbus, leaving from a Spanish port,  sailed the ocean blue in search for India and spices, but  almost got to North America instead.  It was also the year of the Spanish Inquisition and the fact that Jews either had the choice of having to get out of Spain or become Jews in secret.

Most ships sank in the ocean upon leaving Spain, but many Jews headed for nearby Portugal where they found refuge for a while until they too were forced to leave. 

By 1620, Pilgrims seeking religious freedom that had been living in Holland boarded the tiny ship, the Mayflower and landed in Plymouth Rock, which later became a locale in Massachusetts.  New Amsterdam was the original name of New York.  The New Netherland area of the Dutch West India Company, which included New Amsterdam, covered parts of present-day New York, Connecticut, Delaware, and New Jersey.  On Sept. 22, 1654, 23 Jews sailed to New Amsterdam on the French privateer, St. Catherine, from Brazil where they had been defending the Dutch posession from a Portugese attack.  They did not want to be caught by the inquisition who hunted down Jews.

Asser Levy was one of the refugees from Brazil and could have even come before..  He was the kosher butcher and fought for Jewish rights.  He even secured the rights of Jews to be admitted as Burghers and serve guard duty for the colony.  Jacob Barsimson had left Holland on July 8, 1654 and came to lower Manhattan where Wall Street is today and arrived on the Peartree August 22nd fleeing from the Portuguese who had captured the Dutch settlement and established the Portuguese Inquisition there. 

 The new governor, Peter Stuyvesant, wrote to the directors of the West India Company in Amsterdam requesting permission to expel the Jews who had landed there from Brazil.  It seems that the local magistrates
 were afraid that they would become indigent and a problem for the community when winter came.  Actually, they just hated Jews because their Christian religion taught them to do so. 

There just happened to be several influential Jews among the directors of this very Dutch West India company.  The directors of the West India company rescinded Stuyvesant's order on April 26, 1655 even though all but the Jewish ones  had the same attitudes but thought it would be unreasonable and unfair.  They knew that the Jews had been involved with Brazil and had taken a monetary loss there after investing a large amount of capital in shares in the West India Company of Amsterdam.  They decided to grant them permission to sail and trade in New Netherland and to live and remain there as long as their poor had not become a burden to the Company or to the community but that they would support their own. 

March 13, 1656 brought permission to go to New Netherland and enjoy the same privileges as they had been already granted only as far as  civil and political rights were concerned.  They were not given the right to build a synagogue or practice their religion in any gathering.  If they ask for permission they are to be referred to the company and the magistrates are to wait for the company's decision.

June 13, 1656 rolled around and the company heard that the magistrates had forbidden the Jews to trade in Fort Orange and the South River.  They were also not allowed to buy any land which is granted to them without any problem in New Amsterdam.  People were reminded that Jews were not to be employed in any public service or allowed to have open retail stores.  They were allowed to carry on their business as before and practice their religion in their houses.  It was expected that they would build their houses close together in one or the other side of New Amsterdam. 

August 28, 1655 brought about the question of whether Jews were to serve in their Military Service.  Should they train and mount guard with the citizens' bands?  It was decided that they should be taxed for their freedom as they didn't want them to train and be on guard duty with them.  Each male over 16 and under 60 years of age would have to pay 65 stivers every month.  Later, British colonies also denied settlement and other rights to Jews.

By 1664, the colony was captured by the English.  Perhaps they should have allowed the Jews to train and guard with them after all.  As it was, the English did not interfere with the rights earned by the Jews.  Jews had been barred from settling in English colonies before, just as they had been banned from all English land for 400 years before.  Oliver Cromwell, Protector from 1649 to 1660 and his son Richard lifted this prohibition.  The founding of the 1st major Jewish settlement was in Newport, Rhode Island.  In 1672, Rabba Couty appealed to the King's Council in England for a decree against him by the courts of Jamaica where one of his ships had been seized and forfeited.  He had a successful appeal and established the rights of Jews as British subjects. 

Before 1620, British had settled in the South part of the new North America for purely financial business reasons.  Jews had settled in Georgia but were expelled by January 5, 1734.  The Trustees for establishing the Colony had received a letter and had decided that settling Jews there was prejudicial to the Colony and that they would be expelled.  However, by the middle of the 18th century, freedom prevailed so much that intermarriage was frequent and became socially acceptable.  Well-to-do Jews joined the same clubs and private libraries as their Christian peers, attended the same dances and sent their children to the same schools. 

Jews contributed money to Anglican and Catholic undertakings and even got Christian help to build a synagogue.  In the New England states, where people came who were very religious, there was a form of philo-Semitism that was part of the Puritan tradition and hatred for Jews was widespread.  For example, in 1762 Jews were denied naturalization in Rhode Island.

Rhode Island , founded by Roger Williams, theologian seeking religious tolerance, in 1762 was petitioned by Aaron Lopez and Isaac Elizer, Jews wanting to be naturalized on an act of Parliament made in the 13th year of His Majesty's reign of George the 2nd.  As it turned out, their charter for this colony only allowed the Christian religion.  From 1663, their law said that no person not Christian could be admitted free .  It seems that anti-Semitism continued to the latter half of the 18th Century and that Jews were taxed more than others for just existing.  Those seeking religious tolerence for themselves certainly did not spill over any tolerance for Jews, at least not right away. 

Jews had started arriving in Newport by 1655.  15 families arrived in 1658.  Some of the families are thought to have come from the Dutch Island of Curacao on the coast of Venezuela before.  They established a congregation almost immediately and in 1684 had their rights to settle confirmed by the General Assembly. 

The old adage that we might still feel a connection to was that "Tax on tax young Belcour cries, more imposts, and a new excise.  A public debt's a public blessing which 'tis of course a crime to lessen.  Each day a fresh report he broaches, that Spies and Jews may ride in coaches.  Soldiers and Farmers don't despair, untax'd as yet are Earth and Air."  It seems that taxes were spreading to the masses as well.

Reference: Book:  "Kike!" by Michael Selzer -anti-Semitism in early America. 
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0015_0_14806.html
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhode_Island
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_history_in_Colonial_America

Friday, April 6, 2012

Britain's Cheating Heart: Fleecing the Jews of Their National Homeland

Nadene Goldfoot
Tonight we Jews celebrate Passover, which commemorates the Exodus from Egypt after serving as slaves for 400 years  and our 40 years of travail in the wilderness to get to our Promised Land of Canaan with Moses and Joshua. 

We can also remember another Exodus in 1947.  There was a ship by that name full of Jewish emigrants from France who left port on July 11, 1947 to go to the British mandated Palestine as they intended to live, after surviving the Holocaust, in the promised Jewish Homeland.   It was virtually impossible for Jews to get into any other place at this time.  Even to go to the USA, one had to have a sponsor to guarantee that they would not become in need of finanaces.  Many countries required baptism certificates, something Jews wouldn't have.  Palestine was the one and only hope in this great time of need. 

They held no legal immigration certificates to Palestine.  Red tape such as this was not prevelent in the death camps that they crawled out of.  The British Royal Navy seized the ship and deported all its passengers back to the hate-filled Europe.  The story of this ship was made into a book  by Leon Uris published in 1958 and a movie  that came out in 1960 with Paul Newman playing the main role of Ari Ben Canaan, as it was such a shock to our senses, no matter who we were. 

The sad state of affairs for them was that Israel was declared a state May 14, 1948, after they were deported.  It behooves me that the Navy couldn't have seen that this was about to happen.  To return these people to a place they could have died in is unforgivable. 

By 1942, London had received a detailed account that Auschwitz concentration camp alone had killed 4,000 Jews by shooting, 2,900 by gassing and 2,000 by phenol injection, 1,200 were beaten to death and 800 committed suicide by walking into the electric fence of the camp.

They continued to allow Arab immigrants enter the Jewish Homeland illegally.  They entered and some were escorted to the frontier, which was hundreds of miles long and guarded by the Arab Legion!  They then were told to go home.  You can imagine that this was a joke.  The British police didn't deport illegals and only those who were brought to their attention amounted to only about 546 in two months in 1942, perhaps done for show only.   This was at a time that the British had halted Jewish immigration to their National Home.

That they did so amounts to a time of the "Jews' greatest peril in Europe and is the most cynical and craven chapter in the tragic record of the Holocaust".   Double that atrocity by the British behavior of including new Arab immigrants and misrepresenting them as "millennia settled Palestinian Arabs" in order to get them to work in place of Jews they wouldn't allow in.  This amounted to sealing the fate of millions of would-be Jewish immigrants in the extermination camps of Europe. 

This happened as the White Paper of 1939 was defended and rationalized by the British.  They claimed that Palestine had reached the outside population limit of absorbing Jewish workers, but at the same time had special legislation that allowed the administration to import thousands of "illegal" Arab workers to meet the job needs of the government who said that there weren't enough workers.  So, while Jews were digging trenches in the death camps of the Holocaust to die in, their possible jobs and salvation went to nomadic Arabs in Palestine.  Those Jews who managed to get to Palestine were denied entry. 

This shocking piece of history shows that anti-semitism was active in Britain as well as in Germany, a country that has prided themselves with their outstanding organization skills.  I must figure that none of this was accidental but on purpose.  How quickly they disregarded their promises and friends.  At this very time it was Palestinian Jews who were fighting for the Allies, and these very British knew at the time that extermination of Jews in Eastern Europe was going on.  Yet, these very British continued to prevent Jewish immigration into Jewish-settled areas in Western Palestine on any basis.  This was not only against all sanity but was as callous and inexplicable as can be. 

The 2nd World War had started in 1939.  Jews were on the ship, Struma, trying to get to Palestine but were hit by a Soviet submarine off the Turkish coast, where many ships stopped to refuel.  7,000 Danish Jews and 700 of their non-Jewish relatives got out and were sent to Malmo, Sweden, where it was safer.  Ironic as it is, these are the Jews who have now been forced out of Malmo by Arab immigrants.  This seems to highlight the fact that the best or only place for Jews was the Jewish Homeland. 

Whatever Arab migrants managed to come into Palestine therefore was not all legal or according to hoyle.  There would have been many more Jews there if the British had been allowing them to enter according to the original deal.  The whole idea was that the Jews needed a place of their own in the midst of all the persecution they were going through in Europe as it was from the 1800's on and especially during the Nazi years.  Honesty was not Britain's policy at the time in dealing with Jews. 

Reference:  From Time Immemorial by Joan Peters, pages 376-381. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Exodus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exodus_(novel)
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005470