Doha, Qatar's Art Expert Makes Portland's News With Art Show

Nadene Goldfoot
Our Portland Art Museum will be hosting a major exhibit on Islamic art over the next two years called, "Beauty and Belief:  Crossing Bridges With the Arts of Islamic Culture.  It will cover items from the 7th Century to the present.  The Quran manuscript is part of the display with a page framed showing two sections. 

Maribeth Graybill, our curator of Asian art, says the definition of Islamic art is a little hazy in that "a strict definition would be "objects made to fulfill a specifically Islamic religious function."  Brian Ferriso is the Portland museum's executive director, and says the show to come will include both high and low examples of art; from paintings to items such as drinking vessels.  He said that he hopes "Beauty" will initiate further discussion and interest in it. 

The show, which will run here from June 15, 2013 to Sept 8, 2013, is created by the efforts of Dr. Sabiha al Khemir, an artist in New York and Islamic art expert, He's the show's "driving force."  Khemir was the founding director of the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar from 2006-2008.

 The museum, in the shape of a ziggurat,  is the vision and commitment of the state of Qatar, which would be the Emir, Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani's brainchild.  He has carried on the work of relative Saud bin Mohammed al Thani, Qatari prince, and possibly grandson to the Emir,  who was dismissed as the country's art Acquisition chief in 2005.  The reason for the dismissal was of fears in the family that he was buying more art pieces for his own personal collection than for the nation's museums.  He had been the former president of the National Council for Culture, Arts and Heritage.  This large family provides the leadership for every type of organization in Qatar, it seems like. 

40 collections residing in nine countries such as Kuwait and Morocco will be presented.  Doha, the capital, built the museum on an island of 64 acres, designed by architect I.M. Pei and had its opening December 8, 2008.  They have the goal of using it as a cultural force in the region.  Qatar is to be the center for academic research and wishes to be the bridge between the East and the West. 

This display is organized by the Brigham Young Museum under al Khemir's direction.  Funding comes from private donors, the National Endowment for the Arts (federal funding), and the Institue of Museum and Library Services.  Others who have signed on to view the display are the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the Newark Museum.  Lucky us-we will be one of 4 museums to host this exhibit. 

Reference: Oregonian Newspaper  November 30, 2011 page C-Living, Portland will get Islamic art exhibit by D.K. Row
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8K92BFolFyk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Islamic_Art,_Doha
http://www1.hays.com/jobs/mia/index.html
http://middleeast.about.com/od/qatar/f/Museum-Of-Islamic-Art.htm  excellent source
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saud_bin_Muhammed_Al_Thani
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Thani  including immense family tree of Thani 
http://www.arcspace.com/architects/freed/mia/mia.html  about IM Pei, architect

Christians United For Israel Program at Portland State U.

Nadene Goldfoot
CUFI met at Portland State U tonight with a marvelous program.  They had Colonel (Res) Bentzi Gruber of the Israel Defense Force (IDF) speak on the Ethics of War.   Israel abides by these rules which make them feel much better about what they might have to do.

First we heard about the growth and accomplishments of CUFI, which is only seven years old.  Their last visit to Washington D.C. had from between 800,00 to 900,000 people visit there who made presentations in favor of Israel.  The reason they understand and help Israel is because they study the "Old Testament" and quoted Genesis 12: I will bless those who bless you,, and him who curses you I will curse; and all the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you.."  The speaker also mentioned Chapter 17 which says: and I will give to you and to  your offspring after you the land of your sojourns--the whole of the land of Canaan---as an everlasting possession; and I shall be a G-d to them. 

They are a group of religious Christians who see that the Jewish people are again under attack and that Jewish towns and villages throughout Israel are being assaulted by terrorist missiles and suicide bombers.  Thousands of Jews have been killed in cold blood with more attacks in the horizen.  Once again most of the world is standing idly by as they are attacked.  This group is outraged while so many are apathetic.  They are standing up and being counted and have openly declared their support.  I might add that they have done their homework.  They are an educated group of people who are not afraid to read about the history and the current events of what is happening to Israel and why.  They are not about to be swayed by inuendos and false facts spread of anti-semites.  I'm so proud to know them and count them as dear friends. 

I learned that 70% of people in the USA have a positive attitude towards Israel, but this is not true in the campuses of our universities.  They celebrate a week  with an irrational idea that Israel is an apartheid state with their Apartheid Week campaign on their walls in posters.  CUFI 's young members have now created at least 300 campus centers and are making inroads in educating students about Israel.  If there's one thing that Israel is not-it's being an apartheid state.    Speaking of that later, the Colonel answered a question and said that the Goldstone Report from the UN, so falsely accusing Isreal of things that were untrue, even though it was edited and changed later by Goldstone himself, had made matters so bad for Israel.  Everyone is still believing his original report.  For a Jew to cause such a calamity to our only Jewish nation in the world is a grave sin.  Spreading lies is even in our ten commandments, and he did just that.  Goldstone had taken the false words of others and figured that was good enough.  Colonel Gruber read all the pages of this report in English, which was a feat for this Hebrew speaker.  He was so disgusted.

I was so engrossed in what Colonel Gruber had to say about how Israel goes out of it's way and even expects their soldiers to put themselves in harm's way many times in order not to cause civilian collateral.  They don't want to harm civilians.  He pointed out that in a regular war you know who you are fighting against because they wear uniforms, but terrorists don't.  It's not because they are too poor, but because this makes it harder to tell who they are.  They have the habit of standing amongst other unarmed people and  know that Israel won't hit at a crowd of people. 

Not only does the IDF value human life, despite what rumors our enemies have been creating, but they know that harming children and pregnant women, for example, will cause your conscience to tear you apart.  They avoid causing reasons for suicides after going home from a war by trying to do the ethical thing.  This is war but they remember to avoid the collateral damage.  Don't take a life unless you have to.

Judaism is a very ethical religion.  The law of kashrut even considers the feelings of animals.  One of the laws that really impress me is the one where we don't mix meat with dairy products when we eat.  That means, acording to the kashrut law, we wouldn't eat a cheese hamburger and  drink a chocolate milkshake with it.   The reason for that is that a cow gives milk to its baby.  G-d forbid that we eat from an animal and then drink it's mother's milk.  This would make the milk cow feel so bad to see this happen.   We eat meat but not the blood of the animal.  It's salted to take the blood out after lots of soaking and rinsing.  Even at that we don't eat the parts with a large vein, so it comes down to eating tougher cuts.  This makes ordering a TBone steak rare is just not kosher.  As I see it, the laws pertaining to food are to create a very sensitive non animalistic person who cares about ethics.  It's a conditioning process to become considerate of others, their feelings, their rights, and their life.  It behooves me how people can think that we are a bad people knowing how much we care even for animals.  It's a requirement to feed our animals first before we eat.  And so our IDF has a list of ethics that must be met which all the soldiers know and follow.  I'm very proud of these men who put their life on the line all the time. 

He was telling us that it's rough carrying a 60 lbs sack on your back when you go out into the field, and then putting on a helmet doesn't help.  I can imagine.  Israel is usually a very hot country.  As a soldier, you have 8 seconds to decide on what to do when alarmed.  We saw from the video just what can happen in 8 seconds.  It's like the blink of an eye. 

Before Israel shoots at a target, they call into headquarters to get the okay.  Also, ammunition is extremely expensive and cannot be wasted.  One  lazer packed rocket costs a lot of money and can't be wasted.  Ha!  When I did Civil Guard duty in Israel, I was given but one bullet.  I had my German shepherd dog with me in the police van and figured that if we met some terrorists, she was going to have to protect me.  I did a lot of praying.   

I understand that Reuters and CNN can set up situations for the notoriety.  We can't always trust our news.  The camera guy has to be a Palestinian for these agencies as he is the only one who can enter some villages safely.  A UN ambulence most often leads a group of terrorists.  It's there filled with their ammunition, and not for the injured.  They know that Israel does not fire on ambulences.  When Hamas won over Abbas's Fatah and kicked them out of Gaza, they took over all the ambulences for this purpose and fired 600 ambulence drivers so they could take them over.

Gaza is about 24 miles long and 5 miles wide.  Underneath lie at least 650 huge tunnels big enough to hold jeeps and trucks to drive through from Rafa to Egypt.  This is how they have been bringing in ammunition to use against Israel.  My concept of a tunnel had been something you could crawl through on your hands and knees.  Who knew? 

When Israel had to attack a central target, they dropped leaflets to warn the people when they would come.  That wasn't all.  They made phone calls, and follow-up phone calls.  They texted.  All this to avoid collateral damage.  It's not a usual matter for a people to warn their enemy when they're coming, but they do all this because of the unusual circumstance of having to defend themselves in fighting terrorists who do not abide by any ethical rules at all. 

Israel has sustained 351 rocket hits in November.  The terrorists try to hit Israeli civilians on purpose.  This is the difference between terrorists and freedom fighters. 

And good gosh and Lord almighty!  Israel's army is not in the business of selling organs of people!  How people can create such ugly vomit-wretching lies I'll never know.  Colonel Gruber can't understand how people can be so gullible, either.  Anyone would see right away if they used their brains that any organ used for transplant has to be handled with care and kept in some cold pack container and rushed to a patient.  That's not going to happen from the front lines in Israel.  No!  What our IDF are watching out for is kidnappers of solders like what happened to Shalit. 

This country that so many college campuses have defamed has no death penalty except in very extreme cases, as with the convicted Nazi war criminal, Adolf Eichmann.  The strictest penalties are prison and exile, which apply to those directly involved in carrying out, planning, assisting or supporting terrorists or terrorist activities.  Our Oregon governor would not have any problems with such a law at all, would he. 

                                                 CUFI Meeting at Portland State U. tonight

 Resource:  Israel 101 produced by StandWithUs for CUFI

Just Who is Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Emir of Qatar?

Nadene Goldfoot                                                               

White House Meeting of Obama and Emir of Qatar

Qatar, perhaps the richest state in the  Middle East is one of the smallest.  Lying in the Persian Gulf next door to Saudi Arabia, it has a population of 744,029 and is the 44th out of 48 largest Muslim majority countries.  77.5% are Sunni Muslims, which is the state religion.  They are ruled by an  Emir, who was a Sheikh, and is an absolute monarchy, but they haven't taken part in the "Arab Spring" of discontent.  Their GDP per capita is the highest with 80,870 in $ whereas Afghanistan's is 724.  Saudi Arabia's is only 23,243 with all their oil profits.

Emir Hamad  bin Khalifa al Thani is the 7th in a line of Emirs in Qatar and is a member of the Al-Thani dynasty of Qatar, founded in 1868 by Muhammad bin Thani.  They descend from the Banu Tamim; one of the largest tribes in the Arabian Peninsula.  This goes back to Abbad bin Athussayen bin Abbad, a knight in the Umayyid dynasty.  Millions of Arabs claim descent in Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, and "Palestine."  I wouldn't be surprised that the Emir is related to Qaradawi.  One thing they respect and care about is keeping a genealogy of their tribes. 

Mohammed bin Thani reigned from 1868 to 1878; Jassim bin Mohammed al Thani from 1878 to 17 July 1913; Abdullah bin Jassim al Thani from that date to 20 August 1949 and then abdicated (relinquished power) , dying on 31 August 1974; Ahmad bin Ali al Thani from 24 October 1960 to 22 February 1972 and was deposed (put down, removed from the throne) by his cousin Khalifa and died 25 November 1977; Khalifa bin Hamad al Thani b: January 1, 1952 in Doha, Qatar,  from 22 February 1972 to 27 June 1995 and was deposed by his son in a palace coup, the present Emir, Hamad.  That's when he took over in 27 June 1995. 

He was also declared as Minister of Defense.  For starters he led the Supreme Planning Council in the early 1980's, deciding the state's basic economic and social policies.  He'd been running the country since 1992, involved with the development of their oil and natural gas resources. 

His eduation was in Qater but later attended Sandhurst Military Academy in England and graduated in 1971, commissioned as a Lt. Colonel in the Qatari armed forces and commanded the 1stt Mobile Battalion, now called the "Hamad Mobile Battalion" in his honor.  Later he was promoted to Major General and appointed commander in chief of the Armed forces.  He modernized the military, increased manpower, created new units, updated weapons and improved training.  "He is also promoting Islamist (like the Muslim Brotherhood) parties in Libya, Syria and "Palestine." which would be today-Judea and Samaria and Gaza, as there is no more "Palestine, " being a term created by the Romans around 132 ACE when Judea fell and with the establishment of Israel in 1948, is a defunct term.  

He touts himself as a moderate and is considered to be progressive among Muslim leaders.  His  3rd wife, Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser al Missned has been an advocate for education and children's causes.  She now chairs the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, estabished in 1995.   

Under his rule his government helped to fund the Al Jazeera news network, and funded it with an emiri decree.  Hugh Miles analysed this TV station and claimed that diplomats from other countries know he is the real power behind it but network spokesmen deny this accusation.  Sheik Hamad is a distant cousin of the network chairman, Hamad bin Thamer al Thani, who was the Minister of Information in the government.  The USA was given a $137 million dollar grant from Emir Al-Thani, so Al Jazeera had the goal to become self-suffieienct through advertising by 2001.  This failed, so the Emir agreed to several loans; $30 million in 2004.  Colin Powell in a October 3, 2001 press conference, tried to persuade Sheik Hamad to shut down Al Jazeera while the NY based organization "Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting" commented that in those efforts, " Powell and other US officials were upset by the channel re-airing old interviews with bin Laden and guests too critical of the US on its program.  By 2005 Sheik Hamad was under pressure to privatize it. 

The Emir has 3 wives and 24 children of which 11 are sons and 13 daughters.  His first wife is the daughter of his first cousin.  They have 2 sons and 6 daughters.  His 2nd wife is the daughter of Nasser bin Abdullah al Missned and they have 5 sons and 2 daughters.  The 3rd wife, daughter of Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad al Thani, past Minister of the Interior and they have 4 sons and 5 daughters. 

Considering that his buddy, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, one of the ruling religious leaders in the Muslim Brotherhood, has put out a fatwa against Jews, telling his people to kill all Jews everywhere, I am surprised to read that he met with an Israeli stateswoman.  He has created this  progressive statesman reputation, so did  actually meet with Israeli minister Tzipi Livni in New York on September 25, 2007.  Other Persian Gulf leaders carry the belief of anti-Israel sentiment within the Arab world, to say the least.  This marks the first real attempt by any leader in the area to pursue dialogue with Israel.  Tzipi is from Israel's Kadima party, the opposition leader to Netanyahu and is trying to take his place. Qaradawi had found refuge in Qatar in 1961 and has been bosom buddies with the Emir ever since, with many buildings and organizations named for him in his honor.

Qatar Foundation has been creating satellites  in their own country of universties from the USA like Carnegie Mellon.  They've also established Arab language classes in 5 high schools in the USA as well.  They gave $70,000 to our Lincoln High in Portland to do this.  In the 2nd year program, the teacher has brought in a hip-hop group of 3 disgruntled Arab Israelis, DAM,  who tell a most slanted view of living in Israel, instigating the ruination of Israel and that the land should not be in Israel's hands.  This has caused much consternation in the Jewish community.  So far, the issue remains unresolved, though "Christians United for Israel" have voiced their disapproval of this act very strongly with the school board after a presentation of 7 Jewish high schoolers.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamad_bin_Khalifa_Al_Thani
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_emir_of_Qatar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Muslim_majority_countries
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3453593,00.html

November 29, 1947 Monumental Answer to Our Prayers

Nadene Goldfoot
Sixty-four years ago on this day of November 29th and also on a Tuesday, the world Zionist Organization saw the answer to their and our prayers with the United Nations recognizing our tiny state of Israel.

As what happens in many American communities on the anniversary of their birth, Israel is staging a re-enactment in Jerusalem, our capital. 

The vote in the UN gave the British Empire one year to leave the country it had occupied since 1917 when they were given the mandate.  The Ottoman Empire, who had a hold on "Palestine", had sided with the axis which means Germany in WWI and lost this holding when Germany lost the war. 

It's a happy celebration for Jews.  There will be speeches, live entertainment and street performers.  For Abbas, leader of the Palestinian authority of Judea and Samaria, his people consider this day a catastrope long with Israel's birthday of May 15th which is Israel's Independence Day.  MK Danon is trying to counter their incitement with a law proclaiming it "National Zionism Day."  That most likly will rankle them considerably.  They seem to blanch at the word, "Zionism." 

The USA had a war between Mexico and the newly formed USA, and the USA won.  We had our battlescars with the battle at the Alamo before the major war when our heros were slaughtered. The Mexican-USA War had the Battle of Chupultpec Heights in September 1847. I've never seen any of my adult Mexican language students hold a grudge or react with hatred about losing the war.  Canada didn't get to have our Pacific Northwest, either. We are terrific neighbors. We have things in common that make good neighbors. The religions involved teach the same credo.

Many of our adults do not remember a time when there hasn't been a state of Israel, being born after the fact.  There were no TV, cell phones, or decent washing machines in that day.  I was 13 years old and remember the rejoicing and elation when this happened.  It was a ness; a miracle for us.  After all, we had gone through plenty after 2,,000 years of losing our country in the first place.  Our ancestors suffered from slavery, anti-semitism, pogroms (surprise attacks of usually drunken cossaks raping and taking lives and causing destruction)  culminated with the Holocaust during this eon-like period.  If we had been able to flee to "Palestine", we might not have lost 6 million of our people. 


It's a whole different psyche involved between the Muslim Arabs and Jews in Israel.  Our history of difficulties go back to bible days and still are not resolved.  Jacob and Esau, the twins,  are but one example. Now the Muslim Brotherhood, so popular in Egypt at present, is teaching the killing  of all Jews everywhere along with the destruction of Israel.   Israeli Jews have been honed through centuries of anti-semitism to be able to withstand the challenges of living in Israel with the hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel.  It's where we were meant to live in the beginning.  We're not looking forward to any death but to the continuation of our lives.  L'Chaim. 

Reference: Arutz Sheva news@israelnatonalnews.com  re-enactment on Tuesday of UN Recognition of Israel by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Nathan Fendrich, Historian, on Mexican War

Buy During Israel Week and After-Hadassah Chanukah Fair December 11th

Nadene Goldfoot
Buy Israel week from November 28th to December 4th is countering the efforts of BDS people who sponsor Boycott Israel, which comes on the heels of Black Friday.  There are many in the BDS movement who think they can control or bring down Israel by not buying any products from there. 

"There are those who work to undermine Israel’s right to exist. One of the ways they do it is by boycotting Israeli products. You counteract this movement when you buy Israel, and urge others to do the same. Not everyone can shape decisions made at the United Nations or on Capitol Hill, but anyone can make a conscious decision to support the only democratic nation in the Middle East, Israel, when shopping." 

The BDS movement against Israel (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions)  are efforts to delegitimize Israel worldwide.  The Palestinians have put much effort into gaining United Nations membership for the very reason to enable them to delegitimize Israel.  Israel was created in May 1948 legitimately through the UN. They  shouldn't have to defend their right to exist anymore than Portland, Oregon does.  Unfortunately, some of our American church groups have stepped in as leaders of this poisonous movement, which I think is very anti-semitic of them even more than being anti-democratic.  . 

I'm troubled by these people who want to punish the citizens of Israel.  They are propagandists and anti-semites fighting Israel with this  movement.  We can  counter  it by buying Israel.

We need to buy Israeli products at any time we  can.  Hadassah's Fair at Neveh Shalom is on the 11th of December and is featuring an Israeli  Wine Tasting of 7 delicious wines.  Be sure to stop by at the table of Portland-Ashkelon from 11am on that day and see which ones you enjoy.  Hanukah starts on the 20th of December, so this is a chance to buy all Israeli presents.  A major part of Hadassah's profits go to the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. 


References: http://www.buyisraelweek.com/
http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/63435/buy-israel-week-is-a-call-to-action-we-can-easily-answer/
United With Israel
http://www.standwithus.com/app/inews/view_n.asp?ID=2095
http://www.jpost.com/Features/InThespotlight/Article.aspx?id=247018&R=R44
The Jewish Week http://www.thejewishweek.com/

A Connection Between Qatar Foundation and DAM hip-hop and Terrorism

Nadene Goldfoot　                                    

Yusuf al Qaradawi, now in a wheelchair,
but ready to kill Jews with his own hands, he said.

Lincoln High is very happy that the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, established in 1995 by the Emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa, and now chaired by his 3rd wife, Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned., has sent them an Arabic language teacher, and it most likely isn’t costing them a penny, plus it gives them the distinguished fact of offering Arabic in their high School.

It’s fine to study Arabic. In Israel, students take Hebrew just like we study English, but besides that they also take English, and have a choice between Arabic and French. I saw Arab and Jewish students helping each other out with their homework in Safed’s junior high. If you live in Israel, you find that Arabic is most helpful to know since there are 1.4 million Arab citizens of Israel. All street signs are in Hebrew, Arabic and English.

Three Palestinan Israeli citizens, however, have formed a hip-hop group called DAM, and are using this talent that they learned from Jewish rappers and were encouraged by Jewish friends when younger, who are now telling listeners to damn Israel and their lyrics promote terrorism and the destruction of Israel.

They have been on Al-Jazeera’s TV program, who have promoted and backed them. This Palestinian hip-hop group from Lod, Israel, now is stating that Lod is in Palestine, not Israel. The brothers Tamar and Suhell Nafar plus their friend, Mahmoud Jreri, relate about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and poverty. This is what  rapping does, complain about conditions.  Their lyrics often deal with the frustration at the feeling of being 2nd class citizens in Israel and other issues, including drug-related violence.  The group's live performances feature images of Israeli soldiers clashing with stone-throwing Palestinians.  These men are telling outright  lies in many cases.  They rap in English, of course as well as Arabic, so Qatar Foundation, who sent the teacher over here, is indirectly responsible for her bringing in this DAM hip-hop group as well. Actually, Al-Jazeera is owned by the state of Qatar and headquartered in Doha, Qatar. It gained worldwide attention following the 9/11/attacks as it was the only channel to cover the war in Afghanistan live from its offices there. They’re known for their slanted coverage favoring the Hamas terrorists in Gaza. I’ve also personally seen horrid children’s shows on this station teaching little Arab children to hate Israel.

In February 2009, Israel imposed sanctions on Al Jazeera after Qatar closed the Israeli trade office in Doha in protest to the Gaza War. Israel was almost to the point of declaring Al Jazeera a hostile entity and shutting down its Israel offices, but instead imposed limited measures to restrict their activities in the country. In 2011 the TV stations Afghanistan bureau chief, Samer Allawi, was arrested on charges of being a member of Hamas. Al-Jazeera hosted a conference on religion, sponsored by the Emir, where Israel was criticized. Israel has also banned all activity by the Qatar Foundation. The Foundation has promoted such attitudes shown by writer Jihad el-Khazen, that "Israelis are immigrants to Palestine, descended from murderers and thieves, while the Qataris are sheikhs from a family that has ruled its country for hundreds of years."

The Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development has a Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies. They have instituted the Sheikh Yusuf Al Qaradawi Scholarships. It also named its newly established research center "The Qaradawi Center for Islamic Moderation and Renewal after him. This sheik is a religious leader in the foundation who is a bigwhig in the Muslim Brotherhood. He was from Egypt, but was thrown out because of that and so he moved to Qater, where the Emir loves him.

He is famous for his speeches on Al Jazeera TV, and writings that give consistent support of terrorist groups that seek to undermine a peaceful resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. No doubt this is one reason why Abbas has refused for so long to sit down and talk peace terms with Netanyahu. He has expressed his desire to see Jerusalem conquered, and on January 24, 2011, gave a fatwa where he negated Jewish attachment to Jerusalem and stated that it is the duty of Muslims to "defend" Jerusalem with their lives, money and all they possess or else they will be subject to Allah’s punishment." This is but one fatwa inciting violence against Jews and Israel. On Al Jazeera TV January 28, 2009, he said that he would shoot Allah’s enemies, the Jews, .....where he would give his life in martyrdom. In another on January 9, 2009, he lashed out at Jews, including calling on G-d to "kill them," down to the very last one." This evil man endorses Palestinian suicide bombings against Israeli civilians. He chastises Muslims who do not observe jihad as an obligatory duty. His people are told that the "Zionist massacres of today" are a continuation of alleged Jewish calls to genocide in the Old Testament. It sounds to me like tit for tat, what happened 4 thousand years ago to the Hittites is the reason why they can go after Jews today.

Out of Qatar’s foundation is an umbrella organization for Hamas and Muslim brotherhood-affiliated Islamic charity funds called The Union of Good. The chairman is Sheikh Yousef Moustafa Al Qaradhawi. It is a Charity Coalition and was started in May 2001 due to the 2nd Intifadah. Hamas has also taken over the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development since the early 90's. The Union of Good coordinates all of Hamas-supporting funding activities.

Sheikh Al-Qaradawi has been barred from entering the US since 1999. From February 2008 he was barred from entering the UK.. He is most grateful to the Emir for including him in his plans in Qatar as he knows the Americans were ready to put him on a list of terrorists, but the Emir stood fast courageously, pitting his determination against theirs, and as a result he has stayed off the list. It was announced that the Center will create a library of Qaradawi’s works as well as articles about him. They will also train preachers and imams and translate books on Islam to reach out to Western readers, (maybe like the high schoolers at Lincoln?) His Al-Qaradawi Center will serve as a think tank and offer advice on issues important to the Islamic nation. They will help reach on-Muslims the truth about Islam, in addition to disseminating a proper understanding of Islam and its values. In the past, he called for the Islamic conquest of Rome, and this spring he made more negative headlines in Europe.

With such a background and reputation, Hillary Clinton participated in an official al-Jazeersa town hall interview at Carnegie Mellon U’s branch campus in Qatar’s Education City and was introduced by Sheikh Abdallah Aal-Thani, and she responded favorably about all she had heard about the progress of Education City. Just a short walk from this CMU branch is the Al-Qaradawi Centre for Research in Moderate Thought. The Foundation has established branches not only at Carnegie Mellon, but Northwestern U., Texas A &M, Georgetown , Virginia Commonwealth U, Cornell Medical College, and Rand Corporation’s Education City branch. In 2008, 122 students graduated from these Education City branches.  Sheikh Qaradawi attended where they announced the establishment of his Al-Qaradawi Centre for Research in Modern Thought. 

Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi is Qatar Foundation’s Theologian of Terror. The Foundation and all the good it might be doing is a front for Hamas who is to destroy Israel and remake it into Palestine. This man is spouting words like Hitler did. His words reach the American public via satellite TV and the internet such as IslamOnline which is in Arabic and English. It supports violence against non-Muslims as well as anti-Semitic, anti-Israel and anti-American content. Now we see an inroad through hip-hop artists and their in-person appearances. After the assembly for DOM, in which students were given extra-credit for attending, one girl was heard to shout, "Oh, my G-d, I hate Israel! It so sucks."

Here in Portland, Oregon we have Lincoln High School with the staff and school board insensitive and noncaring about what they have introduced into their schools and what havoc it is causing in their Jewish students. They all feel that this is a matter of "freedom of speech.", which it isn't.  We feel it's a matter of content that is spouting hatred and terrorism.   Look what Hitler’s speeches caused. Death to Jews. Well, Sheik Qaradawi intends to do a better job than he did. In his speeches he has said so. "Oh Allah, take this oppressive, Jewish, Zionist band of people...do not spare a single one of them. Oh Allah, count their numbers, and kill them, down to the very last one." He "supports the Palestinian cause, the resistance and the jihad, Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah. He opposes a much needed peace that Israel and America wish to bring about. This peace to him is an illusion, so he supports martyrdom operations."  Evidently there are no homosexual students attending Lincoln as he said that the punishment of homosexuality is the death penalty. What kind off material will these students soon be reading in Arabic, by the way?
References:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJumYZ0jL9M&feature=youtu.be  7 students at school board.29 minutes long
http://www.cbsnews.com/2102-505123_162-42746911.html
http://www.adl.org/NR/exeres/788C5421-70E3=4#4D-BFF4-0BE14E4A2E58,DB7611A2-02CD-43AF-8147-649E2681357i1,frameless.htm
http://www.memri.org/image/IA_Qaradawi.pdf
http://www.shabak.gov.il/english/enterrordata/reviews/pages/coalition.en.aspx
http://www.hziegler.com/locations/middle-east/qatar/articles/qatar-foundation.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatar_Foundation
Jewish Review Newspaper November 15, 2011
http://hiphopdiplomacy.org/2011/04/22/arab-rappers-in-solidarity/

Lies Palestinians Tell About Our City, Hebron-Holy Sites Closed Now to Jews

Nadene Goldfoot
Hebron has been a Jewish city  since the creation of Judaism by Abraham, who had bought the Mearat Hamachpela or Tomb of the Patriarchs.   This is recorded in  the Torah.  Thousands want to pray at the Meara.  David Wilder of Arutz Sheva writes about its history for this timely Shabbat Hevron.  Jews have lived there continuously for thousands of years, which is so sad considering that the Muslims have now grabbed Jewish religious sites  and are preventing Jews access. It is our ancient city in Judah and is 18 miles south of Jerusalem. 

Abraham had bought the Cave of Machpelah  from the Hittites so he could bury his wife, Sarah, and the tomb now has a mosque built over it, as that is what Muslims seem to do when they take someone's land, either right on or very near.    Hebron became a city of refuge under Joshua.

The Hittites disappeared along with many other ancient peoples.  Their main kingdom in existence from the 15th century BCE fell in  1200.  Smaller groups in N. Syria and around the Euphrates River were finally overrun by the Armenians and the Assyrians.  Jews are the only ones that remain.  Esau, the son of Isaac and twin of Jacob,  had taken wives from the Hittites.  They were one of 7 peoples that the Israelites had conquered in Canaan.  King David had Hittite warriors and his son Solomon had Hitttie wives, so one can say that some were integrated into the Jewish society after their kingdom ended.  They were not killed or necessarily exiled by the Jews. 

King David (1,000 BCE- 960 BCE) ruled for over seven years from Hebron before moving to Jerusalem..  For proof, archaeologists have found artifacts dating to the era of our Patriarch Abraham that are 2,700 years old inscribed with the word "Hevron" in ancient Hebrew.  (the b and the v are the same letter using the bet/vet.)  Along with Jerusalem, Tiberias and Safed, it was one of the four sacred towns for Jews. 

By 1890 there were 1,500 Jews living there with yeshivot and religious schools.  The great Lithuanian yeshival of Slobodka was transferred there in 1925. 

In August 1929, Arabs rioted against Jews suddenly, killing 67 and wounding 70 in a Jewish population of  700.  Survivors were then exiled from the city by the British, of all people, who held the reins then for the League of Nations.  In 1931  30 Jewish families returned, but there were more Arab riots in 1936, and the Jews were exiled again. 

Jews entered their city again after the 1967 War when Israel won over many Arab countries that had attacked them.  At that time the population of Arabs had grown to 38,310.  Jews were not occupiers, they were returnees to their homes after forcible exile of 38 years.  1968 was the year Jews koshered a kitchen in the Park Hotel when Jews had their first Pesach in decades at home. 

Moshe Dayan, Minister of Defense, must have been thinking of his defense problems because he told his people to live in the Hebron militry compound which was several kilometers outside the center of the city.  It had originally been a British police station, hardly homelike.  It was either live there or leave entirely, as he could not defend them in Hebron at that time.  So they lived in there for 2 1/2 years until they created the suburb of Kiryat Arba. 

People kept trying to return to the 450 year old Jewish Quarter of Beit Hadassah, but had problems.  In 1979 with Menachem Begin, Prime Minister, 10 women and 40 children set up housekeeping in the basement of the old medical center of Beit Hadassah in the very middle of the city.  The next year 6 men were murdered outside Beit Hadassah.  Then they were given the green light of official Israeli recognition of being there as a Jewish community.  By 1988 there were 3,700 Jews in Kiryat Arba. 

Hebron now has 1,000 plus of almost 100 families with a yeshiva for 250 post-high school student.  They'd have more but there isn't any more apartments available.  Thousands of Jews have been coming there to visit each year.  People come from all over the world besides Israel.  The total population of Hebron is 163,146 and is under the control of Abbas of the Palestinian Authority.  75% are Muslim, 17% Jewish and 8% Christians and others making up Hebron.  Altogether, there are 350,000 Jews living in Judea-Samaria and 210,00 Jews living in East Jerusalem. 

Jordan messed things up for us by illegally occupying Judea with Hebron from 1948 to 1967, a total of 19 years,  keeping Jews out but allowing Arabs to propagate.  The UN is against Israel in saying that Jews living here again is an illegal settlement.  Jews say they are only 3% of Hebron's population.  The land is divided into two areas; H1 and H2.  H2 is 20% with H1 being 80% of the land.  To protect the 3%, Israel is defending  H1 where it lies. 

The mayor is an Arab, Mustepha Natsche.  He told visitors that Jews were not allowed to pray at Ma'arat Hamachpela, the 2nd holiest site to Jews in the whole world.  He went on to tell them that it is a mosque, and only Muslims are allowed to pray there.  They have now claimed a Jewish site as a mosque!  Jews and Christians cannot pray at the Tomb of the Patriarchs either, because it is not a church or a synagogue, but is a mosque, and again, only Muslims are allowed there. 

To top off this horror, Israel has put Hebron on its list of Heritage Sites with UNESCO, and the Palestinians are claiming it as Muslim, which UNESCO goes along with.  We're fighting two battles here; constant missiles and mortars from Gaza and now the lies about our teeny land just claimed for the Muslims through downright detestable lying.  We have a Russian roulette situation with missiles raining down on Southern Israel from Gaza but how do we fight people willing to believe such lies:  only with education and the hope that people will be willing to learn.  Denying our presence in this Holy Land and right to our Jewish Homeland has already been decided in 1948.  We shouldn't have to keep reiterating our history as proof that it is our homeland over and over again because of others who covet what is precious to us.  Actually, they don't really want these places; they just want to keep us away and out of the country completely.  Otherwise they would continue sharing, like Israel does with Jewish religious sites. 

Resource Arutz Sheva news@israelnationalnews.com by David Wilder, Hevron
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia; Hebron
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judea
http://www.hebron.com/english/article.php?id=632
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Bank

Re-Writing Jewish History: Muslim/UNESCO Admiration of Maimonides Leads to Calling Him Muslim

Nadene Goldfoot
The Muslims of the yet uncreated state of Palestine through UNESCO have been busy trying to claim that many of the Jewish sites and people so popular with tourists are actually Muslim.  One such person is the well-known Jewish doctor and rabbinic scholar, Rabbi Moshe ben-Maimon or Maimonides, also called "The Rambam."  In December 2010, UNESCO published a report on the history of science in the Arab world listing him as a Muslim but renaming him as "Moussa ben Maimoun."  He had lived in Egypt for a period of time and that may have been his name there, but he was not an Arab or a Muslim.  He was a highly known Jew.  UNESCO has been busily doing many things like this cited by Caroline B. Glick in her "Deligitimizing the deligitimizers." 

Moses Ben Maimon or Maimonides, also called the Rambam was born in 1135 CE in Cordova, Spain and died in 1204CE.  He was a philosopher, halakhist, doctor  and medical writer.  He left home at 13 with his family to escape the Almohade persecutions of Moslem sectaries from North Africa in the 12th Century who conquered Southern Spain in 1149 to 1174.  They forced all non-Moslems to  convert.  Northern African Jewry finally recovered from this blow, but in Spain it brought final disaster to the communities living under Moslem rule, for they ultimately converted to Islam or fled to Christian Spain.  The Maimons did not convert.

The Maimon family wandered about in Northern Africa and then went to what was called "Palestine", Judea renamed by the Romans in 135CE.  By then he had already written treatises on the Jewish calendar called Sepher ha-Ibbur and on interalation in 1158 at age 23 and works on the technical terms of logic.  The most important thing he also wrote was the list of 613 precepts.

They  couldn't settle in Palestine as it was still suffering from the aftermath of the Crusades, so the family traveled to Egypt.  Moses signed a paper in 1167 showing he was a Rabbi and soon became the spiritual head of the Cairo community.  Our Rambam finished his commentary on the Mishnah, Kitab as-Siraj in 1168 which he worked on as he was traveling.  He was explaining the exact meaning of the text and to show which opinions were accepted as halakhah.  The prefaces which he wrote to Avot (Shemonah Perakim) and to the 10th chapter of Sanhedrin (Helekk) are often printed and studied separately.  The latter leads up to the famous 13 Articles of Faith. 

For a paying occupation, he traded in jewels with his brother David. After David died he beame a physician to the viceroy of Egypt in 1170 at the age of 35.

All these earlier books were written in Arabic and translated later into Hebrew.  from 1170 to 1180 he worked on his Hebrew compendium of the entire halakhah, Mishneh Torah so that when he was very old he wouldn't have to look up facts in the Talmud every time he needed to check on something.  The systematic arrangement is unsurpassed.  This famous doctor was able to show  the principles of the Jewish religion and wrote in the technique and spirit of Aristotelian philosophy which was accepted by the educated.  He wanted to prove to Jews with a secular education that Judaism was rational within that framework. 

 He died at the age of 70 in 1204 CE and was buried in Tiberias where his tomb still attracts pilgrims.  One can surmise  that Hamas and Fatah didn't bother to read anything Maimonides ever wrote; that they just knew he was the author of something in Arabic.  However, I think they certainly knew that he was a famous Jew and are taking advantage of the fact that he at one time lived in Egypt.  Next to Abraham, he is certianly one of the most important men in Judaism.  UNESCO, you certainly have made a gigantic boo boo by listing Maimonides as a Muslim.  He was the most Jewish of all of us Jews. 

UNESCO is a 194 member UN organization.  They needed 81 votes for a majority and 173 voted.  107 nations voted for a Palestine, even though they did not meet the regulation of being a peaceful nation.  52 abstained.  The 14 brave nations that voted against a Palestine were the following:
Australia, a country which I admire for sticking up for their beliefs with fantastic Prime Minister Julia Gillard who also told Muslims in her country that Australia would not accept Sharia Law, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Israel, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Palau, Panama, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Sweden, USA and Vanuatu. 

Not surprising were all the Muslim states that voted for Palestine membership into UNESCO.  There are at least 48 nations with a majority Muslim population and the Organization of Islamic Conferences lists 57.  Among the yes votes were France, Spain, Austria, Norway, Korea and Greece. 

Resource: http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1111/glick110411.php3?printer_friendly Caroline B. Glick's Delegitimizing the deligitimizers
New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/01/unesco-countries-vote-palestinian-membership
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Muslim-majority_countries

Sarkozy Meets with World Jewish Congress in Paris

Nadene Goldfoot
Though French President Sarkozy was accidently caught calling Netanyahu a liar and that he couldn't stand him when chatting with Obama, he has met with the World Jewish Congress on Wednesday for 90 minutes at the Elysee Palace in Paris and has told the members that he has defended Netanyahu throughout his political life. 
Sarcozy told the Jewish group that he also feels that the Palestinians must recognize Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people first in order to have a peace settlement. 

He is critical of Israel's "settlement construction in "the West Bank", two words that rankle me.  Cities in Judea and Samaria are not "settlements".  They aren't settling in.  They've already been there for some time.  They are permanent.  "Settlements" is such a political word.  So is "West Bank" a term created by the Jordanians when they occupied Judea and Samaria illegally.  He still thinks there should be a freeze.

Sarkozy did admit that it should be perfectly all right for Jews to build in other areas.  Luckily, there were members who quickly explained why this expecting a freeze in Judea and Samaria was not applicable now, and how Israel waited more than a fair time for peace talks to happen and that they hadn't because Abbas refused to come.  He was planning on taking a different route through the U.N., evidently. 

At least he was opposed to full UN membership for the Palestinians and that's why France abstained, he explained. "Sarkozy told the Jewish leadership he felt that Israel had lost the media war and had failed to make its case to the international community that it wanted peace, according to the sources".

This befuddles me that the international community doesn't realize that Israel wants peace.  Do they not realize how long they have been enduring missile attacks from the Palestinians and held back for so long to not react and it did no good?  Do they expect Israel to just do nothing and be overrun and driven into the sea?  I think that the international community must be idiots not to know what is happening.  What more can Israel do to show that they want peace?  Here, even smoking a peace pipe would be useless.  I think this is just an excuse on Sarkozy's part for not being able to see truth for what it is.  They have many Moslems living in France with 5 to 10% of the population being Muslims and just don't want to cause an episode that they would have to deal with.  That and the need for oil keeps them from seeing reality as it is. 

Sarkozy plans on visiting with Netanyahu soon so as to mend the gaffe he has caused.  He says he needs to "clear up" a "misunderstanding."  That's going to be quite a trick since his words were caught on the mike and it didn't sound like any misunderstanding at all but an expression of how he really thinks about Netanyahu.  I'd call this his Freudian slip.  Actually, what Sarkozy has wanted to do is play an important part in bringing about peace between the Palestinians and Israelis. This would look great on his resume.   I'd say that he still has much to learn and to understand about the problem before being ready to be a moderator. 

Resource: http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=245006
http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=245254
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_France

Ancient Mikve Unearthed in Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
An ancient mikve over 2,000 years old was unearthed west of Beit Shemesh from the time of  the 2nd Temple period.  A pipeline company needed to build some underground pipes near Kibbutz Tzora and discovered it.  Archeologists continued the excavation that is still in process.  Pablo Betzer, inspector for the Israel antiquities authority also discovered underground tunnels most likely used by Bar Kochba during the revolt.  The mikve was thought to be destroyed after this had happened, which would have been the year 132 -135CE.
A mikve is very special in Judaism.  It is a ritual bath.  It is used mainly by women after the menstrual period.  There are specifications about having running water entering the pool at all times.  The water is clean and pure and so are the people after using it. This means that women were cleansed once a month at a time when people in other countries bathed once a year if they were lucky, except for Japan, where bathing was a cultural experience.  The Romans also had bathing, but neither used bathing  for religious purposes.

Most cities with a Jewish population will have a mikve, though usually it is today usually only used by the orthodox.  I finally was able to go to the mikve when I lived in Israel, where I found that all my friends went there.  It was a wonderful experience.  One enters the pool nude, and there is a female attendant who makes sure that you have no fingernail polish on, or anything else. One showers and uses soap before entering the mikva.   I felt very well cleansed upon leaving. 

 Men will also immerse themselves on certain occasions but at a separate time, perhaps before a holiday. 

Leviticus in the Torah describes what women are to do during their mentrual period starting with 15:1-24.  This is still followed.  During this time husband and wife do not cohabit.  The period ends with the woman going to the mikva.  This is a mitzva known as the purity of the family. 

Bar Kokhba was actually named Simeon and he died in his revolt.  He was reported to be of Davidic descent and was revolting against Hadrian (Roman Emperor from 117-138).  Rabbi Akiva had  thought of him as the Messiah, but he was alone in thinking that.  He was a leader who had great personal strength, and was autocratic and irascible.  Letters from him were discovered near the Dead Sea.  The revolt most likely took place as the Romans were rebuilding Jerusalem as a Roman colony to be named for Hadrian and they had prohibited circumcision, which was an attack on a fundamental rite of Judaism.  Bar Kokhba's forces had captured Jerusalem but they couldn't overtake the Roman legion.  The Romans counterattacked with an army of 35,000 under Hadrian and the commander was Julius Severus.  Judea then became a consular province called syria-Palaestina and the ruins of Jerusalem were rebuilt as a pagan city with a statue of Hadrian erected on the site of the Holy of Holies that had been the center of the Temple. 

Our first Temple had been built by King Solomon and was a shrine for the Ark.  The inner sanctum was called the holy of holies which was 32.5 X 32.5 feet.  This is where the ark was kept.  When the Temple was destroyed in 70 CE a Roman temple was later built on the site and in the Moslem Period the  Mosque  of Omar was built over it.  Bar Kokhba had good reason to try to stop the Romans, but they were just too powerful for him and his small force.  His failure to drive out the Romans after 65 years of a Roman occupation caused the whole community to be affected with  many taken prisoner as slaves and carted away.  I'm just surprised that the bath-loving Romans didn't think to continue using the Mikve. 

Resource: http://www.jpost.com/VideoArticles/Video/Article.aspx?id=244067
New Jewish Encyclopedia

Security Council Members Not Reacting to Attacking Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
The Security Council of the U.N. has not raised any complaint about the Hamas terrorists attacking southern Israel.  Israel has gone through a week of shelling from 39 terrorist missiles and not one remark was heard from this auspicious group who receive money in order to see to security for their members.

The council has five permanent members who are: China, the Russian Federation, France, United Kingdom and USA.  They have 15 non permanent members as well.  The first I will list are countries whose term is up this year.  They are: Lebanon, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Gabon (in West Central Africa) and Nigeria. 
With terms up in 2012 are Germany, India, Columbia, Portugal and South Africa. 

Abbas had gone to the UN for the September 28, 2011 meeting to be accepted into the U.N. This was the UN's 6,624th meeting.   The Palestinians had 8 votes but needed 9 for the passage of a resolution to accept them into the U.N.  It's thought that Britain, Columbia and France would abstain, but known that the USA would veto it.  The USA pointed out that they were not peace loving.  What is shocking to me is that the others said that they fullfilled the requirement for peace.   How can they be so blind?  Everyone should have seen that they are not peace loving and would not come to the table to even talk about peace with Israel. Instead they have chosen to bombard Israel with missile attacks.   It was thought that Bosnia, being Muslim, would vote for them but there was discussion of not giving them the vote.  The results will be known as to how they voted by tomorrow.  This is some Security Council.  They are only seeking security for themselves. 

Bosnia was involved in war from 1992 to 1995.  Being Muslim they were fighting Catholics.  It was a war between the Serbs and the Croatians when Yugoslavia broke up.  Both were reported to be committing  autrocities.

France has promised to help the Palestinians to receive a non-member status like the Vatican. 

Reference: http://www.un.org/sc/members.asp
http://turtlebay.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/11/09/inside_the_security_council_deliberations_on_palestine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosnian_War

Palestinian Anti-Semites Seeking Alternate UN Membership

Nadene Goldfoot
The Arabs living in Gaza and Judea-Samaria put on a repugnant TV program called "Sights of Jerusalem."  In it last week they showed Jews praying at the Western wall as sin and filth and that the Arabs plan to build an Arab residential area in place of the Western Wall Plaza in Jerusalem as soon as the Israelis disappear.  They had high hopes carrying this off as they are now members of UNESCO and are busy trying to obliterate anything smacking of Judaism in Israel. 

Rain fell in Jerusalem, they said recently on the scheduled program, to wash away the impurity of the footsteps of Jews on behalf of Muslims who come to pray in Jerusalem.  Their anti semitism is so obvious that it reeks.  They even teach that Haifa is a Palestinian Port, which of course it isn't.  I lived there for 10 months from 1980-1981 attending an educator's Ulpan and it definitely was in Israel's hands and still is. It is just amazing to me that their people could fall into believing such lies.

All these lies and conceit probably have not reached Washington's ears.  However, Obama has been able to dispel support for the Arabs' admission of a Palestine in the U.N. at this time, so that Abbas and Co. are already lobbying foreign governments in Western Europe for that type of admission.  They are campaigning in the General Assembly, topheavy with developing countries that would be siding with the Palestinians, but finding the way difficult because of the opposition by the U.S. who has promised to veto their acceptance.   Abbas has been trying to get the 9 votes they need in the 15 member Security Council for approval for membership. 

The "Palestinians" have such evil intentions;  bombing civilians in southern Israel, trying to carry out their schemes already of taking over important sites in Israel's hands to prevent Jews from visiting them through UNESCO, and attempting to erase Israel's presence in the land as well as refusing to recognize Israel at all, that I just can't see how anyone in the free world can abide such behavior.   The over one million Arab citizens of Israel have more freedom than they would ever find in a Muslim country. 

There are many groups of people who want and deserve their own state far more than the Palestinians in my opinion.  The Kurds, whose dna show that they are connected to the Jews more than any other group, have suffered and want a state.  I'd be willing to trade the Palestinians for the Kurds any day.  How about the Basques of Spain?  I knew a lot of Basques living in Ontario, Oregon and they are wonderful people.  Jews have been waiting the longest  to regain their state of any group for almost 2,000 years (.70 CE-1948)  

The Palestinians are losing out in a lot of easy money that was coming in from the USA by pushing for Observer Status now through the U.N. such as the Vatican has.  They most likely will get a majority vote for that.  Why are they doing this?  They plan to have leverage this way in order to force Israel to give in to their demands, especially to freeze building in Judea and Samaria, which they want for themselves and will make it Arab territory only, just like Saudi Arabia.  No Jews will be allowed to live in any part of a Palestine.  According to past history, they will not become a state quickly after gaining Observer status, at least that hasn't happened to any state in the past.  The "Palestinian" Arabs have been displaying the morality of Nazis in how they speak about Jews and in their missile attacks on Israeli citizens.  They don't deserve a state of their own.  What have they ever done to be worthy of one? 

Reference: http://palwatch.org/ from Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
Oregonian Newspaper page 11/10/11 page A4 Palestinians won't seek full membership
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904265504576568842038912296.html

Abbas Denies Jewish Presence and History in "Holy Land"

Nadene Goldfoot
When President Mahmoud Abbas delivered his speech to the United Nations General Assembly in which he only recognized Islam and Christianity as religions in the "Holy Land" .  He deleted Judaism from history. He knows perfectly well that in 135CE the Romans renamed the Jewish state of Judah as a Latin name of Palaestina, therefore called Palestine afterwards.  The Holy land was also called the "Promised Land," as   G-d was the one who designated that Jews were to  live there. 

Because of this, Director-General Irena Bokova asked that her aide get the Abbas speech that was showing a deligitimization of Israel and the entire Jewish people.  He is unwilling to fess up that Jews were in the area over 4 thousand years ago with Abraham as father of the Jewish people.   Has he also forgotten that Islam did not come on the scene till the 600's CE? Mohammed was born in 570 CE and died in 632 CE.   Judaism is almost 3,000 years older than Islam.  Mohammed copied many of the works of Judaism, and when he saw that he could not win over the Jews to follow him, developed a hostile attitude toward them and either killed them or had them expelled. 

Because of this outright lie, Rabbi Hier has proposed that UNESCO and the Wiesenthal Center co-sponsor an exhibit of the 3,500 year Jewish attachment to the Land of Israel to be launched at UNESCO's Paris headquarters.  They said that UNESCO is obligated to demand that the newest member, Palestine, to hold to the regulations of UNESCO in excising anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial from its school texts and newspapers.  As always, the Center will continue to monitor developments at UNESCO. 

Bokova has received thousands of petition protests from Simon Wiesenthal Center supporters around the world, and I was one of them.  Fatah and Hamas can't get away with this.  There are people in the world who do know the history of Jews in the Middle East.  For one thing, our history is well documented right in the Bible down to names and places.  You can fool some people some of the time but you can't fool all the people even some of the time. 

Abbas has also been pinpointing main tourist sites to be taken over by the Arabs that are precious to Jews and now in Israel's supervision since Palestine was accepted into UNESCO.  Under Israel's law and order, all religious dominations are welcome, but it will not be that way under the Arab authority.  They have already announced that there will be no Jews in their Palestine.  Also, right now they are raining missiles down on Israel, and this is not a friendly gesture by any means.  To me, the situation is slightly ridiculous. 

Resource: Simon Wiesenthal Center SWC Officials Meet With UNESCO Director-General
New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

SarKozy and Obama's Crass Anti-Netanyahu Mike Blunder

Nadene Goldfoot
I wrote in July of this year about France's growing anti-semitism.  It looks like their French President, Nicholus Sarkozy is one that feels this way when he made a crass blunder in speaking with Obama in front of a still viable turned-on mike when he said that Netanyahu was a liar.  Obama replied that You are sick of him but I have to work with him every day!  This occurred last week in southern France at a meeting of the G 20 Summit Conference. 

Netanyahu's comment was that everyone talks about everyone.  My comment is that I'm not surprised at all that these two leaders would speak about Netanyahu  in such a way considering who they are and what Netanyahu stands for; a country trying to stay alive that is the only Jewish country in the world.  Netanyahu said that both are still on Israel's side and that's what's important.  However, France did vote in Palestine for the UNESCO membership.  Sarkozy had been trying to get Netanyahu to fire his Foreign Minister,  Lieberman. 

Everyone may be talking about everyone, and in an unfavorable light, but that is called Loshen Hora, someething that is frowned upon in Judaism.  I can see why, now.  It's the stuff that can start wars, or at the least, fist fights.  You'd think these two men would have checked the mike in front of them first-but so anxious to add explatives about Netanyahu, just didn't.  So, Sarkozy, calling Netanyahu a liar is worth being sued for here in the USA.  It's called defamation of character.  And yes, Netanyahu did win a round explaining right on live TV to Obama why Israel couldn't be moved back to 67 lines and why it was so dangerous for them, leaving Obama in quite a silent tiff.  I guess he quavers when he has to get on the phone with him.  Nathanyahu's pleas are things that Obama just never has known about, I guess. 

Reference: NBC TV .
http://www.indecisionforever.com/2011/11/09/barack-obama-and-nicolas-sarkozys-open-mic/
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/11/08/sarkozy-overheard-telling-obama-cant-stand-netanyahu/
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/faux_pas_as_open_mike_kozy_bam_diss_ckCod023T5pxQ6UWFpyujP
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4145266,00.html
Oregonian Newspaper 11/9/11 Sarkozy calls Netanyahu a "liar" p. A9

Greek Jews? What is Happening to Them? Greek Priest Blames Jews-Anti-Semitism Arises

Nadene Goldfoot
With all the talk about Greece being pivitol concerning our economic crisis, I started wondering whether there were any Jews living in Greece.  Out of their population of 11,329,618 I found there are about 5,000 remaining there.  However, the reports from other places have stated number from 1,000 to 100,000 or 1.5% of the population .  There are at least 2 synagogues.  In 1902 there were 62,000 Jews living in Thessaloniki, or 49% of that population, but today there are only 1,000.

Athens has the largest Jewish community with 3,000 Jews.  They have a synagogue, school and museum to support.  There are 6,000 members in the country's Jewish community.  They are hurting in this crisis and will not be able to  pay their bills due in 2013, so are asking for help from other Jewish communities now, reports Benjamin Albelas.

A senior Greek Priest, the Metropolite of Piraeus Seraphim, was on the largest TV station, Mega TV, spouting anti-semitic diatribes.  He blames Jews for Greece's financial problems.  He said it was world Jewry, international Zionism that is destroying family values and who promotes one-parent families and same sex marriages as well.  It's all a zionist conspiracy to enslave Greece and Christian Orthodoxy.  Then he went on to blame Jews in banking and in using Hitler as a way to establish Israel.  Benjamin Albelas reported that he was sickened to hear him say these things. 

When we were freed by Cyrus, the Persian King during our Babylonian Exile of 586-539 BCE, we met Greeks for the first time.  Ezekiel wrote about them being people who traded slaves and worked with bronze.  Herodotus called Jews the Palestinian Jews, as both Arab and Jew were called Palestinians after 132 CE by the Romans.    The first Jewish community there was established in 400 BCE. 

Many Jews have the history of living on the island of Rhodes which goes back to 300-250 BCE. The first Jew known was Moschos, son of Moschion the Jew, a slave.  This was found on an inscription going back to 300 BCE found in Oronos, a coastal town between Athens and Boeotia.   Hyrcanus was a Jew honored with a statue from their Jewish community of Athens.  Josephus wrote about a meeting between Aristotle who lived in the 4th Century BCE and a Jew of Asia Minor, from Coele, Syria, which would be the Syria of today.  He could speak Greek well as well as think like Greeks, the comment was. 

Jews in Greece go back in history over 2,000 years ago.  Greek Jews helped to develop Christianity.

We have had confrontation between the Greeks and the Jews.  There was the Maccabean Revolt of 167-164 BCE which we remember with our holiday of Chanukkah.  The Seleucid King Antiochus IV imposed rules and restrictions on Jews that were impossible, such as installing Greek G-d statues in our temple, and trying to force people to eat pork.

The Romaniotes (name from time of being in the Roman Byzantine) were Greek Jews that were Sephardic and lived mainly in Thessaloniki which they called the Mother of Israel and was also called Salonika.  . They spoke Yevanic, which was a dialect of Greek but is a dead language today. Today most all live in either Israel or New York.

In 70 CE Jews were taken as slaves from Jerusalem and shipped to Rome by ships but some ran aground in the Ionian Sea near the Albanian Coast and the survivors were able to settle there in what became Ioannina.

By the 12th Century Benjamin of Tudela wrote of seeing large Jewish communities that were in the garment industry:  dying cloth, weaving, and making silk clothing. 

Sephardim Jews had settled in Greece after 1492 when they were expelled from Spain.  Most of the Jewish population died in the Holocaust of 1941-1945.   

The prevailing religion of Greece is the Eastern Orthodox Christianity.  They also have a Muslim minority and Ethnic Turks who are also schooled in Turkish.  A movement started in the 1990's is the reconstruction of the ancient Greek religion, which is polytheistic.  It revolves around the Greek Gods of the 12 Olympians including their Hellenic values and virtues.  They have 2,000 followers. 

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenic_Polytheistic_Reconstructionism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Greece
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Greece.html
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/greece1038.html
http://www.umass.edu/judaic/anniversaryvolume/articles/30-F3-Bowman.pdf
http://www.jpost.com/FoodIndex/Article.aspx?id=211945
http://www.jewishfederations.org/page.aspx?id=69834
http://greece.greekreporter.com/2011/11/04/greek-jewish-community-asks-for-financial-support/
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/senior-greek-priest-blames-jews-for-greece-s-financial-problems-1.332131

Zionism: Our Call To Freedom to Survive-and to Build

Nadene Goldfoot
Jews returning to their land  or becoming Zionists is not a modern idea only found in the 20th century.  Jews returned twice before from their Babylonia exiles and rebuilt their land, only to go through it a 3rd time in August of 70 CE when the invading Roman armies occupied and destroyed their ancient capital of Jerusalem, causing our Jewish independence to halt.  Thousands of Jews were driven out of their homeland then.  The exile lasted for 20 centuries but our nationalism never died.  It finally happened in the rebirth of the Jewish state on May 14, 1948.  The miracle was that the land had lain barren and empty; something nobody was interested in, as if it were just waiting for the rightful tenants to return because they were the only ones who really loved the land. 

Zionism now is a dirty word to many Arabs, some of who are even visiting Portland's  Lincoln High with a presentation about these "terrible racist Zionists" this week.  However, Zionism is the term of calling us back to our ancient homeland to farm and industrialize it, to build new towns and villages and live there.  Theodor Herzl was the founder of the Zionist Movement at the end of the 19th century.  Thousands of Jews began the "aliyah"-the going up to the land to live there once again along with Jews who had never left.  It was a time of buying land back that had once been in our hands.    

Along came the Bilu movement with Russian Jewish students who settled agricultural kibbutz'm in 1882 This had followed terrible pograms where Jews were attacked and killed in Russia. My grandfather, Nathan, must have been in those pograms as he was born in 1872, and I know my grandmother, Zlotta, was as she came out of it with broken legs. 

In 1893 Nathan Birnbaum coined the term Zionism as Mount Zion in Jerusalem has always symbolized the Land of Israel.

In 1897 the first Zionist congress was created by Herzl where the Jews defined their movement of establishing for the Jewish people their national home in Palestine.  Jews are a people or nation as well as having a religion  who wish to retain their identity as a national community.  By 1901 Herzl had created the Jewish National Fund with the practice of children giving their pennies of caronom'm to be used to buy land.  Land was bought at extremely high prices from Arab landowners usually living outside of Palestine who were glad to get rid of it. 
 
I was one of the recent people making aliyah, returning in September of 1980 to Haifa. It was a privilege to be a part of the prophecized "ingathering" of exiles from all over the world. 
 
The Arabs, meanwhile, have had ample time and chances to create their own state of "Palestine", since we took the ancient name of Israel to remember our roots, but they refused over and over, choosing instead to attack Israel with massive wars and constant bombings in their attempts to drive us into the sea and be gone.  Now they are saying that they intend to create a state but want part of Jerusalem as their capital.  Yet they refuse to sit down without preconditions and barter with us.  They use Israel's building as the reason why they won't even palaver.  They won't even accept us as a "Jewish" state.  Abbas, leader of Fatah, has recently stated that he regrets that they didn't choose to become a state in 1947-1848. 
 
Israel plans building 1,650 units in apartment houses in Jerusalem, it's capital in their annexed land regained from Jordan's illegal takeover that was recovered in 1967.  Other building will happen in Efrat and Maale Adumim, neighborhoods in the SE sector.  This land was already deemed to stay in Israel's hands no matter what the Arabs had decided to do with their statehood.  Yet the Palestinians claim the land as part of their future state and the international community has never recognized Israel's ownership.  In fact, they even have condemned Israel's building plans, much to their dishonor.  What irks Israel is that they had a moratorium of 10 months when they didn't build even a merapeset (balcony outside a window in an apartment building)or anything but the Arabs continued to not meet for a peace consult.  They had the chance to do something and balked.  The Arabs wouldn't discuss peace plans seriously when Israel wasn't building in Jerusalem and won't now, demanding that Israel have a complete halt in construction as a condition for resuming peace negotiations. 
 
Israel is in dire need of housing.  Most everyone in Israel lives in high rise apartment buildings.  Judea and Samaria were once part of the package offered by Britain and the League of Nations as the Jewish National Home, but the Arabs are claiming these places as well.   The land of Israel is but a postage stamp in size compared to other states, and yet the Arabs, who already have a majority in 47 or more states, want our capital of  Jerusalem as well.  They seem to want things only after they are developed and beautified by the Jews. 
 
The Arabs do not have a historical connection with Eretz Israel, or Palestine.  Their homeland is Arabia, which is the SW peninsula of Asia.  There they have 1,027,000 square miles or 2,630,000 square kilometers where Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Kuwait, Bahrein, Qatar, Trucial Oman sit on the Persian Gulf along with Muscat and Oman, and South Yemen.  They only came to "Palestine" through Damascus in the Omayyad dynasty and held the land for a little over a century.  They were overthrown in 750 by the Abbasids from Persia and then by the Turks.  The Abbasids were defeated by the Fatimids.  Their success wasn't in governing the land, it was in their language of Arabic and with Islam which became their major religion. 
 
As far as the present day Arabs living in Palestine,  most came there from the surrounding lands in order to secure jobs with the Jews that were building. 
 
What I can't understand is:
1. Why has the international community sided with the Arabs who do nothing but attack Israel's civilians with missiles and mortars and who refuse to come to peaceful terms with Israel?  Does oil really take priority in view of morality? 
2. How can Arabs call us racist when Jews are not allowed into any Arab land today such as Saudi Arabia?  Those that had lived in Muslim lands for centuries were forced out in 1948 with the rebirth of Israel, and had been living as 2nd class citizens or dhimmis.  They were not allowed to ride horses or camels, to build synagogues or churches taller than mosques, to construct houses higher than those of Muslims or to drink wine in public; were forced to wear distinctive clothing and were not allowed to pray or mourn in loud voices that might offend Muslims, they had to always yield to Muslims and give them the center of the road, was not allowed to give evidence in court against a Muslim and his oath was unacceptable in an Islamic court, and to get a witness in court had to buy them, leaving little or no legal recourse when harmed by a Muslim.  The attitude of Muslims towards Jews and Christians was that of a master towards a slave, tolerating them as long as they kept their place.  If you tried to act as an equal, this was repressed immediately. 

Resource:  Book: Battleground; fact and fantasy in Palestine by Samuel Katz
Oregonian Newspaper 11/2/11 page A8 Israeli settlements-Pace will increase in contested areas
Standard Jewish Encyclopedia : Zionism
Israel-Embassy of Israel, Washington D.C.
Book: From Time Immemorial by Joan Peters
Book: Myths and Facts-a concise record of the Arab-Israeli conflict by Dr. Mitchell G. Bard, Joel Himelfarb

Portland School Faces Anti-Semitic Presentation on Heels of UNESCO Accepting Palestine

Nadene Goldfoot
Israel had to go along with the demand that they release 1,000 Arab prisoners that they held; many of which were mass murderers of many Israelis in order to get one IDF soldier back, Gilad Schalit.

The war going on is one of the so called "Palestinians" raining Israel with rockets, missiles and mortars which fall in residential areas. For a long time Israel did not retaliate, held back by the USA's guidance, but now after seeing that this has not stopped it but instead has encouraged the attacks, have decided to react everytime they are bombarded and their air force pin points targets of terrorists engaging in the shootings.

In his speech after the release of the prisoners, Abbas praised them, referring to their prison terms as:

"...enforced absence which was imposed on you because you are people of struggle and Jihad fighters for Allah and the homeland... Your sacrifice and your effort and your actions were not in vain. You acted and struggled and sacrificed."[PA TV (Fatah), Oct. 18, 2011]

While Israel is a state accepted by the UN in 1948, it has national issues to deal with such as the economy, job, housing, and national security. They have to do all these things we do while half of their country is under attack from missiles, mortars and such. We use umbrellas in Portland to protect us from the constant rain. That doesn't work in southern Israel for protection from missiles. The population has 12 seconds between a siren of warning of incoming missile and getting to a bomb shelter. One of the new industries that has developed are portable bomb shelters for the schools that had none.

All the while, we see the "Palestinians" and their Muslim cohorts such as Syria and Iran and others plot and scheme to destroy Israel as they will not even accept a Jewish state in their Muslim midst. However,

"The Arabs cannot say that the Jews are driving them out of their country. If not a single Jew had come to "Palestine" after 1918, I believe that the Arab population of Western Palestine today (over a million in 1938, would still have been around about the figure at which it had been stable under the Turkish rule."
Malcolm Macdonald, British Secretary of State, 1938

Thus, the territory known variously as "Palestine," as "South Syria," as "Eastern and Western Palestine," or as part of "Turkey" had been designated by international mandate as a "Jewish National Home," concerning which the United States declared that this be established...that the Jews be invited to return to Palestine and settle there....and assured that it will be the policy of the League of Nations to recognize Palestine as a Jewish state as soon as it is a Jewish state in fact. England can be relied on to give the Jews the privileged postition they should have without sacrificing the religious and property rights of non-Jews.

Do we see the UN upholding the League of Nations' decisions in regards to the Jewish state of Israel? Do we see respect for Israel as a Jewish state that is accepted by the members of the UN? There are 47 countries that have a majority of Muslims yet they cannot accept one Jewish state? Christianity has 120 countries including the United State that are of a Christian majority. 16 nations make Christianity their state religion. That the one Jewish state in the whole wide world is being attacked constantly without anyone stepping up to the plate and saying STOP ATTACKING ISRAEL OR ELSE does make me feel that there is a huge amount of anti-semitism still going on in the world.

In the day and age where we have a body of supposedly superior people keeping one country from being picked on by another and they stand by and just let it happen, and then have the chutzpa to reward the bombers with admission to their group anyway is just simply appalling! The UN has long lost the purpose of its creation.

So what is happening Friday at Lincoln High in Portland, Oregon? A teacher has invited a Palestinian hip-hop group, DAM, who will be presenting to certain classes their very extremist views depicting Zionists as racists using videos they have on their website. They are there to spread their message of violence and hate. Parents and adults in the Jewish community are most concerned. This is the only perspective that will be represented.

 The question now remains of allowing guest speakers who promote messages of violence toward any group to do so in a public high school. There is no balance here. Lincoln has a history of having Jewish students in attendance, being they were very close to the older Jewish Community Center and the Jewish neighborhood of South Portland. Anti-semitic activities happen in Portland, and the "Occupation Portland as well as Occupation and demonstrations against Wall Street all over the USA have seen their anti-semitism involvement already. Now this "lesson of violence" on teenagers.

If the teacher is trying to show absurd negativity and what it leads to, she may need help. In the late 70's I was invited to speak to a class of college graduates working on their masters' in business at Boise State University about how Jews feel about phrases such as "Jew you down." One of the students was my friend and this was his presentation. When I as nicely as I could explain why I, a professional elementary teacher didn't like it, they almost attacked me! The professor, a male, could hardly get back any control. They were incensed to think that their favorite saying was an affront to us! I went home in shock and most disappointed in the future business community of Boise!

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_by_country
 Book:     From Time Immemorial by Joan Peters p 234-235
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2011/10/31/rockets-hamas-gaza-palestinian-state/#more-772844 by Jonathan Tobin (read after I wrote mine-our minds running in same vein)

Premature UNESCO Vote in Palestine While They War Against Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
Children can't go to school today in Ashkelon and some of southern Israel's schools still lack bomb shelters, but that didn't stop the brain-dead UNESCO members from voting in Palestine, a state not yet created, from becoming a full-fledged member.  Now they are the 195th member of an already heavily populated Arab controlled group.  The vote was 107 for, 14 against with 52 abstentions. Some  voting against were The Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Romania and Lithuania. Bosnia was one who abstained.  They were among those knowing that this is wrong to do until the involved parties return to the negotiation table as requested by the UN Security Council.  . Netanyahu has asked repeatedly for Abbas to sit down and talk, but he has just snubbed the offer.  Hamas and Fatah figure this is a shortcut to getting into the UN, and they just won this round.  The United States and the other 13 countries feel that this is not right to allow 3rd parties or international groups  to make decisions to receive full membership without being a member of the UN already. 

Like Hitler said that he wouldn't invade Poland, Riad al-Malki, Foreign Minister of the "Palestinians"  praised the Paris meeting and said that this act will be the best step toward peace and stability and added that it wasn't linked to their request to join the United Nations at all.  How can he dare speak of peace when Hamas is raining missiles down on Israel and everyone at this meeting is fully aware of it?   The one good thing out of this is that the United States will not even pay this month's  22%  to their coffers and will no longer continue doing so.

The"Palestinians" now want UNESCO to recognize Hebron as a World Heritage Site which would take it out of Israel's hands.  Israel provides the protection for this holy site.  This includes the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a sacred place of much visiting of Jewish people. 

Hebron, called Kiriath-Arba in the Bible, is an ancient city of Judah, one of two ancient Jewish states.  It is 18 miles south of Jerusalem.  Abraham had boughtr a plot of land which had the Cave of Machpelah so that he could bury his wife, Sarah, there.  Today there is a Mosque on this site.  Joshua had assigned Hebron to Caleb and it became a levitical city and a city of refuge.  King David reigned there for 7 1/2 years before going to Jerusalem.  A Jewish community continued there and in 1890, there was a Jewish population of 1500 with yeshivot and religious schools.  In 1925 the great Lithuanian yeshival of Slobodka moved there.  However, 1929 was not only a bad year for the USA but there as well.  The Arabs had one giant pogrom and massacred many of the 700 Jews living there, scaring away survivors.  In 1931 30 Jewish families returned, but the Arabs kept slaughtering them.  After 1967 Jews returned, establishing the Kiryat Arba quarter east of the city.  In 1988 there were 3,700 Jews. 

There is no valid reason for changing the status of Hebron, except for the Palestinians to take something most dear away from the Jews.  Under Israel's  watchful eye, no one is kept from visiting the tomb unless they are carrying bombs.  They haven't been able to scare away Jews with their missiles, so this is just another way to stab them in the heart. 

Resource: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/01/world/middleeast/unesco-approves-full-membership-for-palestinians.html
Oregonian Newspaper Palestinians gain UNESCO entry; US funds end page A6
The Standard Jewish Encyclopedia: Hebron