Olympia, Washington Activist in Gaza Trial: Rachel Corrie

Nadene Goldfoot
In a few hours, Israel will hand down the judge's ruling of a high-profile civil lawsuit against the Israel Defense Force, or the army of Israel.  . The parents of Rachel Corrie are in Jerusalem hoping that the verdict will be in their favor for their deceased daughter, who has been used as a rallying cry for pro-Palestinian activists, which is what their daughter was.  (The verdict just came in and the tractor driver is innocent.)  Read the judge's comments from update today.

Since 2009 one million Israeli residents have been terrorized by rocket barrages from Gaza terrorists and 7 -13 citizens were killed by them.  Gaza had 1.7 million residents.  Some of the original smaller number  were refugees from 1948 when Arabs left Israel waiting for the Arab army to take over with the promise that they could return shortly when the Arabs demolished the Jews.

Subsequently, from 2011, 790 rockets fell in southern Israel along with 315 mortars from Gaza terrorists.  All this was trying to be prevented way back in 2003 when Jews lived in Gaza and the terrorists were actively shooting and shelling IDF soldiers and Jews with mortar attacks.  Sderot, a city of 24,000 made up of Kurds, Iranian and Russian Jews mainly, is just a few miles from Gaza's border.  They have been hit by Qassam rockets for the past 10 years almost every day.  In 2007-2008 alone, 771 rockets and 857 mortar bombs fell there,  with 3 to 4 falling each day.  Probably some Gazan residents had moved here, too.

Back in 2005, the Israeli army had warned the Palestinians to stop their attacks or they would demolish their homes.  This is a far cry from action taken by Syria in their offensive tactics to rebels today.  How they handle things was clear in today's newspaper as "the regime finished off whole families, a father, mother and their children.  They just killed them without any pretext."

So the homes of terrorists were threatened because of their terrorist activities.  The IDF was trying to halt shooting attacks.  Along came young Rachel Corrie from Olympia, Washington in March 2003, an activist against Israel trained by the International Solidarity Movement into the Gaza border town of Rafah.  She was blocking an Israeli military bulldozer that was about to demolish some homes.  The equally young driver said he didn't see Corrie and the death was accidental.

Israeli Justice Ministry said, "Rachel Corrie was injured as a result of her prohibited action, for which she is solely responsible, due to her considerable negligence.  The family's case is the first civil lawsuit of a foreigner harmed by Israel's military to end in a full civilian trial.  There have been others settled out of court.  The Corries want the bulldozer driver blamed along with his superiors.  All have previously been cleared of wrongdoing in a military court.  Rachel's family wants $1 in damages plus compensation for their expenses in bringing the case to trial.

This 23 year old anti-Israel activist who had been attending Evergreen State U in Olympia, Washington flew to Israel on January 22, 2003.  Rachel must have come from a family already pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel.  I think this because she went through a 2 day training course at ISM West Bank headquarters before heading to Rafah to be in ISM demonstrations.  Her parents had to know what she was doing, and it wasn't just being a tourist in Israel.  This whole movement is well organized.  During her training, she studied tactics of direct action.  Basic rules about avoiding harm were given such as "Wear fluorescent jackets.  Don't run.  Don't frighten the army.  Try to communicate by megaphone.  Make your presence known."  Then she traveled with William Hewitt, a friend from Olympia to the Erez checkpoint and went into the Gaza Strip.

Corrie was acting as a human shield.  On her first night in Gaza, she and 2 other ISM members set up camp inside Block J, which was often a target for Israeli gunfire.  IDF fired bullets over their tent and at the ground a few feet away.  The ISM activists  figured quickly that they were provoking the soldiers so they dismantled their tent and left the area.  A British participant had been wounded by shrapnel.    Qishta was a Palestinian interpreter and remembered that January and February was a crazy time with a lot of house demolitions happening all over the border strip.  He thought the ISM activists were not only brave but crazy.

Some Palestinians thought Corrie and others were in danger of getting shot in the crossfire and others thought they might be spies.  Corrie is said to have worked hard to change their minds, learned a few words of Arabic and was in a mock trial denouncing the "crimes of the Bush Administration."  They finally were taken to family homes and given meals and beds.  Up to a few days before her death, the Palestinians were circulating a letter asking pertinent questions about these ISM Olympians which the Americans found out about and were frustrated with.  The ISM members then talked about how to engage the Israeli military.  One can interpret that as how they could interfere actively.

I had left Israel at the end of 1985, but heard from my friend, David Bedein,  who managed to get to the scene, that pictures taken that he had seen were not correct.  There was something odd about the shadows of pictures taken by the ISM members showing that they were taken later.  

Israel pulled out of Gaza with the last soldier leaving September 12, 2005.  Sharon had come up with the plan on June 6, 2004.  21 towns were dismantled and Israel had to resettle their residents, which remained a problem for a long time.  They did it thinking they were bringing peace to their nation, but instead have been constantly attacked.  Gaza has been a staging ground for constant attacks.

The whole ISM group makes me angry.  Israelis were being shot at, both civilians and soldiers, and they came along to interfere and chose the Palestinians to defend.  Israelis weren't shooting at Palestinians, except in self defense.  Where does all this hatred of Israel come from, even way back in Olympia, Washington where there are very few Jews?  I see that there are 90 Jewish undergraduates attending Evergreen State U today and it even has a Hillel chapter.  Did Rachel check with any Jewish students as to how they felt about Israel before she embarked on this fatal escapade?  Did she take a course on Middle East History?  How did she get so involved in the first place?
Update: 8/28/12: http://www.aish.com/jw/mo/The-Rachel-Corrie-Verdict.html
News update 8/28/12 Innocent Verdict  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/28/rachel-corrie-verdict-accident-judge?newsfeed=true
Another Update: 5pm 8/28/12 http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?ID=282946&R=R1

Resource: http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2011/04/revealing-facts-about-rachel-corrie.html
Oregonian newspaper 8/27/12 page A3 Lawsuit over death:  Slain activist's family awaits Israeli ruling, AP and Syria fighting::  Assad forces carry out "cleansing." NY Times
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Terrorism/rockets2011.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Corrie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel's_unilateral_disengagement_plan
http://www.hillel.org/HillelApps/JLOC/Campus.aspx?AgencyId=17384

No Visas For Israel Bashers

Nadene Goldfoot
Gabrial Zaliasnik is the former president of the Jewish community in Chile.  He has mentioned that he has many Palestinian friends and his father had had many more.  Gabrial is at odds now because he can't understand the Palestinian Federations's current leader, Mauricio Abu-Gosh's remarks that are so anti-Israel.

I can't understand why Gabrial is in the dark.   Abu-Gosh accuses Israel of outdoing the Nazis.  He calls the Nazis "children" compared to the Zionists of Israel.  He went on to say that the Jewish state was a product of Nazism and that it "has outdone its teachers in comparative terms."  He added that the Palestinians are suffering directly from a brutal genocide at the hands of the Israeli army.  He's been supporting the PFLP  or Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, otherwise known as the PLO and other terrorist organizations.

First of all, the Palestinians have it pretty good in comparison to surrounding Arab states.  It is they who continue to attack Israel, not the other way around.  Abbas and his government are in charge of Judea and Samaria and Hamas has taken over Gaza.  Before that, do these people remember being under Jordan's occupation in Judea and Samaria and Egypt's in Gaza?  They're getting as good as they give to Israel. It's when they have attacked Israelis that Israel has had to get a little irrational and do what it takes to protect their own people.  Like in America, if you kill someone, you go to prison.

Maybe Maurice has lived in Chile for so long that he's just believing the propaganda he is fed by al-Jazeera, and other outlets.  He is but one of 400,000 -500,000 Chileans of Palestinian descent, the largest community in South America.  Most moved to Chile in the mid 19th Century and refer to themselves as Turks, also.  Many were Christians, and a minority were thought to be Muslims.  "Chile has also taken in some Palestinian refugees in later years, as in April 2008 when they received  from the Al-Waleed refugee camp on the Syria–Iraq border near the Al-Tanf crossing.  The situation in Gaza has caused tensions even thousands of miles away between the Israeli and Palestinian communities in Chile"

Last April Abu-Gosh couldn't get into Israel on grounds of security reasons and inciting hatred.  "Mr. Abu Ghosh has systematically incited the Chilean public against Israel by disseminating demonizing libels based on racial slurs against the Jewish people and by justifying terrorism against Israeli civilians."   Of course Chile's government thought this decision was wrong.  I think it's very wise.  The USA does the same thing.  They don't let in everybody.  Neither does Israel.  Mauricio just joined the likes of Prof. Norman Finkelstein, who also is not admitted into Israel, and he's Jewish from the states.  Qaradawi, head religious leader from Qatar is not allowed into either country, Israel or the USA.  When a person with a closed mind says only hateful despicable things about a country he decides to visit, he just may not be given a visa.  That's the chance he takes when spewing venom.

Shai Agosin, present president of the Jewish community,  had commented that ties between Jews and Palestinians used to be good but took a turn for the worst over the Israel-Palestinian conflict.  Chile is home to about 20,900 Jews today.  Most live in the capital, Santiago.  Abu-Gosh feels they were never close and are very distant now. I'd suggest that he go to Israel to see for himself, but he has closed that door all by himself.  So what he should do is move to Gaza and live under the Hamas rule.  I'd think that after that he will be happy to return to Chile and sing a different tune.  .

Resource:  http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?ID=282613&R=R1
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/chile.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Chileans
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/236655 about Mauriceo Abu-Gosh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_Front_for_the_Liberation_of_Palestine

Iran Orders Attacks on "Zionists," Saudi Arabia, Qatar and More

Nadene Goldfoot
The Ayatolla Ali Khamenei has ordered a fatwa on top of a fatwa to intensify attacks against the West and its allies.  This includes Israel (Zionists), America, Britain, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and more.  He is very angry because we all had the audacity for supporting the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

Now you can see how he analyzes situations.  He's even by-passing Ahmadinejad, he's so mad.  He gave the order to the elite Quds Force unit after having an emergency meeting of Iran's National Security Council in Tehran about it.

Damascus is important to Iran as an ally.  This helps to sustain the Iranian-backed Hizbollah militia terrorists which controls southern Lebanon and just happens to lie on the border with Israel.   He must be feeling the affects of the sanctions imposed over their nuclear program.  Iran's Revolutionary Guard officers have been going to Damascus on chartered Iranian aircraft weekly to advise the Assad regime, and here I thought he had been listening to his wife.  

Last year the Quds were involved in a series of terror attacks against Western targets and were implicated in a failed assassination against the Saudi Arabian ambassador to Washington.  They also were involved in 3 bomb attacks against Israeli diplomats in February.  The worst attempt was a planned attack on the Eurovision Song Contest held in Azserbaijan, my very favorite contest that I watched while living in Israel from 1980-1985.  Attacking Eurovision, something so peace-developing, enjoying each country's exceptional music.  How disgusting!  Israel won with "Hallelujah" in 1979, my favorite piece.  They have won 3 times  out of 34 attempts so far since it started.  Avi Toledano sang "Hora" in 1982 and we all went crazy over it.   Ofra Haza, the beautiful Yemenite Israeli singer was a contender in 1983 with "Khay" (Hi) which means: alive. The word is in the saying, "L'Chaim", to life, when we make a toast.  To me, that was representative of Israel.  What a great song.   Each year, like the Olympics,the contest is  held in a different location.

Just last month two Iranians were arrested in Kenya for possessing explosives.  Who were they going to punish?  The elephants?  There is no limit with their hatred.  It looks like people and  places that may be weak and are not fighters are what they aim to hit.

Unfortunately for some Iranian Revolutionary Guard officers, they along with their soldiers were captured earlier this August by the Syrian opposition fighters.  This was embarrassing for them.  Iran wants their immediate safe return, but Syrian rebels have threatened to kill them unless Iran end their support of the Assad regime.  No wonder the Ayatollah is in a fit of a rage.

Resource: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/9490878/Irans-supreme-leader-orders-fresh-terror-attacks-on-West.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_in_the_Eurovision_Song_Contest

How Dhimmis Developed in Middle East (3rd Class Jews)

Nadene Goldfoot
The Abbasid Empire of the 10th to 12th centuries and their relationship to Muhammad and the Quraysh Tribe * brought unwelcome changes for Jews living in some Middle Eastern countries. They existed from the 8th century to the 12th and ruled from Baghdad. Their empire went from Central Asia to North Africa.  They claimed descent from Mohammed's Uncle Abbas.   Though Mohammed died in 632,  many people living in rural areas and in the lower classes had not yet accepted Islam.  The majority were practicing Zoroastrians.  Others were Nestorians, Orthodox and Coptic Christians.  Jews were the smallest group.

The Abbasids wanted to impress the Muslim theologians, so they persecuted the non- Muslims. Harun al-Rashid, and Mutawakkil were Caliphs and were very tough.  The dhimmi (non-Muslims) lived under harsh rules.
1.They could not build places of worship.  Any built after the Arab conquest had to be demolished.
2. They had to wear special clothes.
    a. In 800's Baghdad's Caliph al-Mutawakkil had Jews wear a yellow badge (Nazis used this idea)
3. Some were even branded on their foreheads.
4. Their homes could not be taller than Muslims' homes.
    a. Jews of North Africa (Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Morocco) lived in ghettos ( 9th to 19th centuries)
    b. Morocco Jews had to walk barefoot or wear shoes of straw outside ghetto (largest Jewish community in Islamic countries)
5. Testimony against Muslims was not admitted in court
6.  Even children learned to practice degradation of Jews by throwing stones at them, harassing them.  I saw this done in the movie Mohammad, Messenger of God  with Anthony Quinn and Irene Papas.  The children threw stones at Mohammad in Mecca when he first started preaching.  It leads me to think that children have been doing this for a long time to anyone that is scorned and they got away with it.

Outside the capital everyone was at the mercy of the local governor.
7. Dhimmi were required to pay the head tax in a prostrate position, given a seal instead of a receipt, which they hung around their necks.

This brought about the desired effect.  Conversions were then common.

Even with all this, there seemed to be some semblance of tolerance in Islam.  Christians and Jews held positions of honor as businessmen, court physicians, philosophers and even as  vazirs at times.  The exception to this were the Zoroastrians.  Most of the persecutions happened to them and the lower-class Christians and Jews.

Islam supremacy was preached by the Umayyads.  They were the people that had lost their empire to the Abbasids.  This caused resentment with the aristocrats and intelligentsia of Iran and Syria.  This religious zeal of the Abbasids persecuted the majority of the rural population.  Perhaps it was they who the author of "Aghani" wrote:  "Oh, that the tyranny of the Umayyads would return.  Oh, that the justice of the Abbasids would go to hell."  

There were many periods that  Jews in Muslim lands in and around the fallen Judea lived in peace and thrived culturally and economically.  Their position was not a secure one, however, anymore than it was in Eastern Europe.  It only took changes in the political or social climate and then they would suffer from persecution, violence and often, death.  Oftentimes it was when Jews  were seen as being too comfortable in this Islamic society that anti-Semitism would be apparent.

On December 30, 1066, Joseph HaNagid, Jewish vizier of Granada, Spain (then a Muslim land) , was crucified by an Arab mob that then razed the Jewish quarter of the city and killed 5,000 Jews living there.  It was incited by their preachers who imagined the Jews had political power.

In 1466, Arab mobs in Fez killed thousands of Jews, leaving only 11 alive after the Jewish deputy vizier was said to be offensive to a Muslim woman.  This started a wave of killings throughout Morocco.

This sounds very familiar to events happening in Eastern Europe.  Jews were even worse off there, living with  unexpected pogroms happening, touched on in the movie "Fiddler on the Roof." which was based on historic facts.  My own grandmother, immigrating to the states at about age 17, came from Poland with legs that had been broken in a pogrom, as she told her young grandson, my cousin.  We witnessed the results from the condition of her legs.

Jewish history even records times when the Ottoman Empire invited Jews back to work on economic facets of their empire.  Some did in fact return, probably finding life in Eastern Europe far worse.  They were pretty much dependent on the good graces of the existing ruler of the day in either land.

Now, for the Arabs of the fallen Ottoman Empire to have to accept Jews in their midst seems to be too much for them.  This means accepting people who were of  a dhimmini level to be treated as equals.  Unlike the Muslims of India, Afghanistan and Pakistan, where dhimminitude did not seem to occur,  they  had developed a completely different  attitude towards Jews.  In fact,  some religious leaders had interpreted the Koran a little differently in areas towards Jews.  I'm finding that interpretations are as varied as they are in Judaism and especially in Christianity.   For instance, the main fiqh in Afghanistan and Pakistan is "Hanafi".  Morocco follows the fiqh "Maliki".  Saudi Arabia follows "Hanbali", as does Qatar, though with Qaradawi now as a head religious leader in Qatar, they may have recently changed their fiqh.   Jordan follows "Shafi'i".

* Quraysh Tribe:  At the time of Muhammad, the Quraysh tribe had passed the height of their power and were losing their prestige and control.  There was disunity among the clans.  This invited rival tribes from the neighboring areas to challenge their prestige.  The pilgrimage season was over and the tribes scattered over the peninsula and raided for water, wealth and women.  The leaders of the Quraysh tribe sent well-protected caravans north to Syria, Egypt and Iran to sell goods and replenish stock for the next year.  So the Quraysh knew more about the outside world.  They were affected by the wars between Byzantium and Iran.  Jewish and Christian tribes lived in Arabia.  I believe the movie I cited above was showing all this history of the Quraysh tribe.

Resource:  Textbook: 2nd edition Middle East Past & Present by Yahya Armajani, Thomas M. Ricks, pages 65-74
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0001_0_00087.html Abbasids
Myths and Facts: a concise record of the Arab-Israeli conflict by Mitchell G. bard PhD and Joel Himelfarb Joel Himelfarb is the assistant editor of the editorial page of the Washington Times and a contributing editor to the American Spectator and to the Wall Street Journal's Opinion Journal.p. 175-177.  

Pashtuns of Afghanistan and Pakistan-The Lost Israeli Tribes

Nadene Goldfoot
Pakistan is made up of 172,800,000 people who are 97% Muslim of Sunni as the main sect with Shi'a and the main fiqh (Islamic law (fiqh) or how they follow the laws of Sharia being Hanafi.    Pakistan is an Islamic state.

Afghanistan has a smaller population of 28,395, 716 who are 99% Muslim with the same makeup but including the Jafari fiqh as well.  This is as of wikipedia's 2011 information.

The Pashtun Tribe found in Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of India claim to be of the Lost Tribes of Israel.  It is said that the exile was caused by the Assyrians in 732 BCE.    It was first thought that they were either killed or assimilated into the Assyrian populace.  Evidence is very powerful through cultural behaviors and found parchments saying that the Pashtuns could be them, coming mainly from the tribe of Ephraim..    Pashtuns are the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan and the second largest ethnic group in Pakistan.  There are over 40 million in the world with over 10 million in Afghanistan, and over 30 million in Pakistan.

"There are also discussions in the Talmud as to whether the Ten Lost Tribes will eventually be reunited with the Tribe of Judah, that is, with the Jewish people."

One of many interesting writers on the subject is Mirza Ghulam Ahmad,who is not considered a Muslim , nor is his so called sect a Muslim, but is said to be the  founder of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community,  who wrote a book named Jesus in India where he argued that Afghans, Pashtuns and Pathans are descendants from the Tribes of Israel.  Another is Issachar Katzir, Afghanistan Jew living now in Israel who wrote the book, "Lost Tribes from Assyria" by A. Avihail and A. Brin, 1978, in Hebrew.  "This is an introduction to the world of the ' lost tribes' of those Jews who were taken into exile at the fall of the First Temple. Rabbi Avichail is the world's foremost expert on the whole subject of crypto- Jews and has traveled throughout the world seeking to identify such communities"  It's a very expensive book to buy.  Hopefully one day it will come out in English.

Evidently Jewish children of Afghanistani parents heard the stories about the 10 Tribes that were lost who still "kept Jewish customs and names,  who had preserved their forefathers' tradition, bearing arms and awaiting the day of redemption. "  The Pathans lived on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and called themselves the sons of Israel, even though they live as Muslims and are known for their physical strength.  They are tall, light-coloured and handsome, good soldiers, diligent, intelligent and are known as wonderful hosts.  Two million of them even live as beduins.  They look very much like the Jews.

One misconception people may have about the people of Afghanistan is that all the men belong to the Taliban terrorists.  This was not true in 2010 as one of the largest Pashun tribes, the Shinwari with 400,000 people  had declared war on the Taliban citing that they were robbing them and taking their sons to fight.  Their tribe is as large as our city of Portland, Oregon.

Update 7/26/15  The Taliban have killed 35,000 Pashtuns who are fighting against them.  (Resource-Pashtun contact in Pakistan).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiqh

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Lost_Tribes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_Pashtun_descent_from_Israelites
http://www.dangoor.com/74069.html  A Must Read Excellent information
http://www.amazon.com/lost-tribes-Assyria-Eliyahu-Avichail/dp/B0007B0ENK/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345488584&sr=1-2&keywords=Lost+Tribe+From+Assyria
http://mydailyclarity.com/2010/01/pashtun-taliban-%E2%80%93-the-lost-tribe-of-israel/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/17/israel-lost-tribes-pashtun
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/28/world/asia/28tribe.html?pagewanted=all
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Muslim-majority_countries
Updated 3/15/14 on information about Mirza Ghulam

Back Where Muslims and Jews Got Along: In India, Or Where "Kum Bi Ya" Really Takes Place

Nadene Goldfoot
Jews have lived in India, a country with 4,500 years of cultural history,  without any instances of antisemitism from the local majority populace.  That means that the custom of treating Jews as Dhminnis, or 2nd or 3rd class citizens  did not exist.  Jews arriving to this land were a religious minority of India, being Judaism was one of the first foreign religions to arrive there in recorded history.  The older Jewish communities assimilated a large number of local traditions through cultural diffusion.  Some had arrived during the time of the Kingdom of Judah in 933 BCE.

 Others assimilated completely by converting to Islam.  They are seen by some as the descendants of Israel's Ten Lost Tribes, termed as mythical by some writers, but taken quite seriously by many Jews and a large tribe, the Pashtuns, who claim to be these very lost ones.  Pashtuns have converted to Islam. 

The Lost 10 tribes were exiled by the Assyrian Empire 2,700 years ago. People believing in this theory cite names of various clans which resemble the names of Israelite tribes that were exiled by the Assyrians.  This information is in the Rig Veda, an ancient text, which was composed before 1200 BCE and Herodotus in his Histories composed around 450 BCE which mentions the Pashtuns as the "Paktyakai," and as the Aparytai or Afridis in what is now Afghanistan and Pakistan.  However, no sources were cited before the conversion of the Pashtuns to Islam which would have happened after 600CE by naming any Israelite or Jewish connections.  Researchers have failed to take into account the Eastern Iranian language of the Pashtuns when looking at the claims of Hebrew ancestry.  I have reports from Pashtun Tribal members that their fathers never said anything disparaging about Jews; in fact they praised them.

I would think this is an important fact of proof in that an exile took Jews to Persia in the time of Queen Esther, the Jewish girl married to the Persian King Ahasuerus.    The Persian period of exile would have happened way before 330 BCE when texts telling about Queen Esther were written with Jews made up of the Babylonian exile later in 586 BCE when large number of Jews were deported from Jerusalem again.  .  .

The 10 tribes were lost to the Kingdom of Israel first in about 701-720 BCE when Sennacherib, King of the Assyrians attacked Judah and sacked Jerusalem.  The Jews were captured and exiled.  Jewish Kings of Judah then were Ahaz (735-720) and Hezekiah (720-692).  Josiah (637-608) was also important in checking the Assyrian expansion at the walls of Jerusalem  in 701 BCE which had overwhelmed the northern Kingdom.

In India, half of the Jews congregated in Manipur and Mizoram and a quarter lived in the city of Mumbai (Bombay).  The one problem they had encountered was when they were persecuted by the Portuguese during their control of Goa.  In 1492 the Spanish Inquisition occurred where Jews had 2 choices; leave or convert. Many had fled to Portugal who gave Jews the same ultimatum a few years later.  

Cochin Jews arrived in India 2,500 years ago and lived in Kerala as traders from Judea.  They arrived in 562 BCE.  After the destruction of the 2nd Temple in 70 CE more came as exiles from Israel.   Bene Israel arrived 2,100 years ago and lived in the state of Maharashtra. Their ship wrecked and stranded 7 Jewish families from Judea at Navagaon near Alibag, south of Mumbai and they were nicknamed the Shanivar Teli or Saturday oil-pressers by the local population as they didn't work on Saturdays, which is Judaism's day of rest or "Shabbat."  In the 1950's and 60's many families emigrated to the new state of Israel.   The Bnei Menashe are Mizo and Kuki tribesmen in Manipur and Mizoram who claimed descent from the tribe of Manasseh.  About 9,000 people in NE Indian states started practicing halachic Judaism in the 1970's.  7,200 were given permission for immigration to Israel from Manaipur.

More recent arrivals to India were the Baghdadi Jews who came from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan  about 250 years ago and settled in Mumbai.  The Bene Ephraim or Telugu Jews are a small group who speak Telugu.  Their Judaism dates to only 1981.  They were from Andhra Pradesh and followed the customs of Orthodox Jews like hair customs of having unshaven long side locks,and  wearing head covering all the time.

The Jews in North India had assimilated with the Muslims completely as they had been brought there by the Ghauri Sultans from Afghanistan in 1200 CE.  The sultans kept their promise in naming a muhalla (district) in each conquered city as "Beni Israel."  This remains true even to this day.  One such place was in Aligarh where there was a Beni-Israel muhalla.  This is the home of a large university

Sultan Shahab-ud-Din Muhammad Ghori or Muhammad of Ghor (1150-March 15, 1206) was one of the rulers of the Ghurid dynasty who reigned over a territory spanning present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan and northern India.  He took the city of Ghazni in 1173 and used it as as the start for expansion into N. India.  His brother, Ghiyasuddin fought the Khwarezmid Empire for lordship of Kharasan and the Sultan Shababuddin captured Multan and Uch and annexed the Ghaznavid of Lahore.  After his brother died in 1202, he became successosr of the Ghurid Empire and ruled until assassinated in 1206 near Jhelum in today's Pakistan.  The Ghurid Empire was short-lived but these conquests strengthened the foundations of Muslim rule in India.

It is interesting that so many Khans pepper the history of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.  At this time in 1258 the grandson of Genghis Khan, Hulegu, sacked Baghdad and massacred the population and killed the last Abbasid caliph.  Two years later the Mongol army, after occupying first Aleppo and then Damascus, was defeated at the battle of Ayn Jalut in Palestine.  Baybars were at the head of the Mamluk Sultanate from Egypt.  By 1268, Baybars  took Antioch, which had been allied with the Mongols.  Here we see these same cities in today's struggle in Syria.

 Sayyid Ahmad Khan b: 1817  and  in 1867 CE moved to Aligarh and died in 1898, was mourned by thousands. He had started the university there in Aligarh in 1875.   He was born into a distinguished family, most likely of the Pashtun Tribe's royal family  as they also have the genealogy of descending from Mohammad in the same manner, the eldest of 5 prominent Muslim modernists who influenced Islamic thought and was concerned with the state of Muslims in a world dominated by European colonizing powers.  The family claims direct blood relationship with the Prophet of Islam through his daughter Fatimah and son-in-law cAli.  They had migrated to Iran, then to Herat in Afghanistan.  Being the Royal family has this lineage from Mohammad, I am theorizing that the Pashtuns were in Saudi Arabia and were of the Jewish tribes who were converted there in Mohammed's early rising.  We do know of many Jewish tribes there.

At least 75,000 Indian Jews now live in Israel which is over 1% of Israel's total population of about 7.5 million.  There are only at the most, 0.7% of Jews making up India's religious population as of 2001 census in this vast country of over 1.21 billion people which makes up one sixth of the world population.  Jews have been such a small number where Hindus number 800 million or 80.5% of the population, Muslims 13.4%, Christians 2.3%, Sikhs 1.9%, Buddahists 0.8%, and Jainism 0.4%.  Jews were listed with Zoroastrianism and the Bahai Faith with no % listed on one source.

Jews are not in competition here for land.  There was no earthly reason to discriminate against Jews in this multi-religious and vast country made up mostly of passifistic Hindus.  The Muslims moved out after battling with the Hindu population and formed Pakistan about at the same time Israel was re-born,  from what used to be a part of India, so they now have their own state. Most likely a lot were of the Pashtun Tribe.

India had really become a "Kum bi Ya, my Lord, Kum bi Ya" place to live.  The Jews living there were not pressed into changing their religion.  Pashtun conversion to Islam must have happened in Saudi Arabia already before they entered Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.  They were not held back in their emigration to Israel.  India and Israel have good relations right now.

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahabuddin_Muhammad_Ghauri
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Lost_Tribes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_Pashtun_descent_from_Israelites
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/2944-beni-israel
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2012/01/can-pashtun-tribe-of-afghanistan-have.html
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2012/06/israel-that-little-devil-and-pakistan.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_India
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aligarh_Muslim_University
Dr. Ahmed.
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/baybars.htm
added 8/22/12: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDrL7-nILYE Pashtu and Koran
Note: Kumbaya was a song from Africa sung in the 1960's by many groups.  It was a time of peaceful feelings towards each other, the hippy movement, etc.  

Reasons to Worry About Muslim Brotherhood

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                   

The Muslim Brotherhood is the party that Morsi of Egypt belongs to.  It's a part of the Middle East countries in one way or another with their power and creed and stems from Saudi Arabia.  Americans are just too disinterested about it and the possibility that it has even reached the White House. The fact is that Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton's right had lady,  is the granddaughter of Qatar's Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi,  head Muslim leader and Sunni scholar who has a program on Al Jazeera and who had been ousted from Egypt under Mubarak for being such a radical.

 People have said, "well,  who cares?"" on the Oregonians' internet Oregon Live Stump  in reaction to their article: Modern day McCarthyism and Huma Abedin from August 10th.  Dana Milbank, the author,  attacked. Andrew McCarthy, the prosecutor who has brought this to light, and Michele Bachmann, who suggested that this aide to Clinton has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.  They just couldn't understand that it could be even with her married to a Jewish man or posing in Vogue.  They felt  she's still a good person and probably a Democrat.  There are lots of people who have weird relatives.  It's been discovered that her mother is an activist in the Muslim Brotherhood.  Her father, also in the Brotherhood,  has published "Muslim Minorities in the West" 1998, part of 29 works to create a conspiratorial manifesto.

Huma came here in 1996 and got a job with the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs, the IMMA.  She was friends with the al-Qaida financier there, Abdulah Omar Naseef. He's connected to al-Qaeda and was the Secretary General of the Muslim World League (MWL) in 1980.    At the same time that she was on the IMMA board, she belonged to the executive board at George Washington University's Muslim Students Association Board and was head of the social committee. So we can see that Huma, a practicing Muslim,  is an active member of the Muslim Brotherhood along with her family..

The Muslim Brotherhood Manifesto stands for things quite alien to the Western world that are harmful for us.This Manifesto has 6 points to look at..
1. They recruit Muslims in non-Muslim lands like the USA and establish centers, programs, mosques, ISNA (Islamic Society of North America) and MSA (Muslim Students Association) to stop assimilation.  That's okay with me.  We Jews do the same thing.
2. Influence the USA by shifting the demographic scale on purpose in favor of the Saudi agenda .
3. Implement Sharia law gradually with goal of becoming a major powerhouse.
4. USA will favor Muslims because of population increase.
5. Gradually implement Wahhabi style Sharia
6. USA will then be a part of the Muslim commonwealth.  It's a takeover of the USA.  The goal is to turn the world into an Islamist empire.  Islam dominates, they are not to be dominated.

You still don't care one way or the other about what happens to the USA?  The Brotherhood has patience, but they feel the Western democracy is corrupt and they call for jihad against the Muslim's real enemies.  They support Hezbollah's war against the Jews.  They glorified Osama bin Laden.  They sanction martyrdom in "Palestine"  They use violent jihad.   They will use deception as a strategy in democracies.  Once in power they will replace it.  Women's rights are nil.  They are to be subjugated and segregated.  The belief in female genital mutilation is okayed.

The Brotherhood places the highest priority on preparation and strategic timing of political and military actions.  They believe in "Jihad is the Way."  Jihad must be carefully timed prudently.

The major point is that it has anti-Semitic roots as it supported the Nazis and keep telling Jews to get out of Egypt and Palestine!  They remain anti-Semitic and call Jews monkeys and pigs. They call us "the criminal, thieving gangs of Zion."   Qaradawi is one of the most vile of religious leaders who teaches anti-Semitism.  .  He has put a fatwa out to kill all Jews and would do so himself if given the chance.

The question has been asked as to how Huma's family did not object to her marrying Weiner, a Jewish man, also a friend of Hillary. The family just may have an agenda from the Brotherhood and Huma is just blending in with this marriage looking very harmless.  Isn't this just what Soviet spies used to do?

Here we see Huma giving Hillary Clinton advice on Israel most likely as her right hand helper.  That's all Israel needs.  Her grandfather, Qaradawi is pushing for  a conquered Jerusalem.  Qaradawi has a long record of inciting violence against Jews and Israel.  He supports terrorist groups that undermine a peaceful resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.  He encouraged Libyan soldiers to assassinate their president.  He spoke in Tahrir Square in Cairo telling protesters to liberate Egypt.  His reward will be a conquered Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem.  He endorses suicide bombs against Israelis.  He has sent millions of dollars to Hamas. Don't you think there's influence here from Huma's family?

Resource: http://www.shoebat.com/2012/08/15/well-whaddya-know-huma-abedin-was-a-muslim-students-association-board-member/
FrontPage Magazine-http://frontpagemag.com=Huma Abedin and the Saudi King's Manifesto
http://www.standwithus.com/app/inews/view_n.asp?ID=1757  a must read
http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=abdullah_omar_naseef_1
Walid Shoebat Interview with FrontPage Magazine
http://www.adl.org/NR/exeres/788C5421-70E3-4E4D-BFF4-9BE14E4A2E58,DB7611A  Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi-Theologian of Terror
added 8/22/12http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/myths3/MFattitudes.html  Muslim attitudes-Jews

Morsi Taking Power From Egypt's Military

Nadene Goldfoot
President Morsi, President of Egypt by running on the Muslim Brotherhood ticket, has now consolidated almost every part of government power for himself and has complete control  .

He will now oversee the military and legislative functions of Egypt.   Supposedly he has left the judiciary part alone.  He has final say over the constitution.  the Parliament will not be reinstated.  It was dissolved in June when the court ruled that the elections of some of its members were unconstitutional.

This has taken away the military's power to govern Egypt, who held the power for the past 60 years in some way or other.

He just picked an Islamist as the minister of defense, which means that he belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood party, the group outlawed by Sadat and Mubarak.  Egypt up till 18 months ago when Mubarak was toppled was pretty much secular and being helped financially by the USA.  They had a peace pact with Israel.

He is General Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, 57 years old and they call him a moderate.  He had been the "head of military intelligence and defended the testing of the virginity of women who'd been detained as a means of ensuring that soldiers aren't accused of rape."  Note that this was to protect soldiers, not the women attacked.

As far as Israel is concerned, they should be concerned and I'm sure they are.  "The Brotherhood refuses to commit to continuing the Israel-Egypt peace treaty.  Muslim Brotherhood leaders have said that “as far as the movement is concerned, Israel is a Zionist entity occupying holy Arab and Islamic lands...and we will get rid of it no matter how long it takes.” —Former Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Muhammed Mahdi Akef, 2005 and 2007.  

Then again they do like American money.  If they break the peace treaty, they might lose this source of income.  It's a conundrum.  Which will win out?  Religion or finances.  Already there have been terrorists in the Sinai desert.  The USA is actually going to send troops to help Egypt with them.  "Washington welcomes new Egyptian army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, who spent time in U.S. • Hamas says Morsi is hurting Gaza in the same way Mubarak did."  Of course they'd say that.  The terrorists most likely are Hamas or friends of Hamas.  The Sinai is being turned into a terrorist center.

Resource: http://www.standwithus.com/app/inews/view_n.asp?ID=1757
 http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2011/02/cause-to-fear-muslim-brotherhood-in.html
http://israel-nadene.blogspot.com/2009/01/what-is-hamas-anyway-hamas-charter.html
Oregonian newspaper 8/14/12  page A3 How will Morsi use his new power?
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=5402
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/158914
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9RAEK5CEFQ

Getting Real About Iran and the Bomb

Nadene Goldfoot
Benny Morris, professor of history in the Department of Middle East Studies at Ben-Gurion University in Israel and past  critic of Israel has come out with a statement about Iran and their nuclear production of a bomb or bombs.

He feels that Israel is being logical and clear in their reasoning in that they may have to strike Iran alone..  Iran  is a threat to Israel's existence.  Weapons of a lesser sort can fall into the hands of terrorists.  This could cause a nuclear war in the end.

For the past 30 years no one has succeeded in stopping Iran from producing such weapons or changing their goal of leading the Islamists against the West, and especially of hating Israel.

Even if Israel or Israel and the USA can delay Iran  in manufacturing atomic weapons for 1 or 2 years, Iran might reconsider their options.  Frankly, I feel that this might not be the case.  It might make Iran even more crazy in wanting to destroy everyone.  I don't think they are rational thinkers, as I see they aren't  rational in the first place because they  spew out  such hatred.  I hope I'm wrong.  But it did stop Iraq.  

If Israel attacks alone, all the surrounding enemies certainly will see that Israel means business.    Like Mohammed Ali, the boxer said about himself, Israel "can either float like a butterfly or sting like a bee."  Israel can fight back.

Jay Carney at the White House in Washington DC said that the USA would know if Tehran is close to getting nuclear weapons.  Jerusalem feels that since they didn't see 9/11 coming, why will they know this?  Udi Segal of Channel 2 in Israel said they don't think that the USA will take any military action and haven't told Israel of any attack plan nor have they promised to attack if all else fails.  Leon Panetta hasn't calmed Israeli concerns.  I say that alluding to action is not enough.  Israel is on the front line of being attacked and the USA should be in direct contact with Israel in planning this possibility.  Evidently they aren't.

Obama has gone to the UN and the Arab League for approval before he has acted and the UN is not a friend to Israel.  Israel feels they are alone in their fear.  After all, they are named by this aggressor.  The Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, no doubt the religious push behind the Iranian goal of wiping out Israel, may be acting calmly but wants to achieve this horrendous fanatical goal.  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, their President, makes a good shill.  Israel is not fooled.

Last Sunday there was a terror attack that was thwarted by Israel on the border with Gaza-Egypt and Israel.  Israel must provide safety for its citizens and is doing this job.  No one else ever helps out.  They may have to go it alone in dealing with Iran as well, but Netanyahu was really hoping that the USA would join them in this.

When even Benny Morris says that Israel is being logical and that in order to defend herself may have to stop  Iran's nuclear production of weapons, I know it's for real.  He's like the Greek Oracle that is the final word, as I see it.

Update: 8/14/12  The USA is not taking Israel seriously as to whether or not they will bomb Iran.  They don't think it would do much anyway except delay Iran.  "U.S. officials have stressed that Washington could deal a decisive blow to Iran's nuclear sites, if necessary, and will not allow Tehran to obtain a nuclear weapon. It's unclear whether those assurances will be enough to forestall Israeli action."  Panetta of the USA says action is a last resort and thinks sanctions and pressure will work.

Reference Israel Hayom The Case for Stopping Iran at All Costs -Benny Morris
Times of Israel:  Report:  Israel Will Have to Tackle Iran Along by Michal Shmulovich
update: http://news.yahoo.com/u-does-not-believe-israel-decided-iran-strike-185300196.html

Jewish Israeli Olympian, Zohar Zemiro

                                                        Zohar Zemiro of Israel and New Friend, Vernon Katz

Nadene Goldfoot        picture above sent from Vernon Katz, Australian to my cousin Denise Bremridge. Vernon got to meet Zohar Zemiro in June last year.  Zohar  and Vernon flew from Addis Ababa where Zohar had been training for high altitude running to Tel Aviv.

Zohar Zemiro was born in Ethiopia in 1977.  His family made Aliyah to Israel so now he is an Israeli.  They could have come over in the airlift of 1984 called Operation Moses or of 1985 called Operation Sheba that brought many Ethiopians who settled in Safed, where I lived from 1980-1985.   There were more that came over after I returned to the states.  He made aliyah in 1990 at about the age of 13.  Today 81,000 Ethiopian-born Jews live in Israel.  Altogether,  we have 121,000 Israeli Ethiopians.  Now he's an Olympian marathon runner at age 35.

Zohar's best time is 2:14:28.  He represented Israel in the 2012 summer Olympics.  He was also in the 2010 Barcelona, Spain competition of the European Athletics championships and came in 38th.  January 2011 saw him running in Tiberius, Israel's Marathon with a time of 2:21:33 and came in 2nd of the Israelis and 18th of all the runners.  Then in the next month of February he ran a half marathon in Ein Gedi, Israel in 1:06:19.   April was another run where he went to Amsterdam in their Marathon and ran 2:14:28 and came in 10th.  That made him qualify to represent Israel in the summer Olympics.  It was a happy time for him to achieve this.  His time was 7 seconds short of Israel's national record time which was set by Ayale Setegne.

In the summer Olympics, which I am still watching on TV, " he finished 81st in the marathon and had to be wheelchaired off at the end due to exhaustion.  Zohar is 5'7" and weighs only 126 lbs.

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zohar_Zemiro
http://www.london2012.com/athlete/zemiro-zohar-1047316/
http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1382
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/ejhist.html  excellent history
http://www.all-athletics.com/node/351001
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_Israel
Letters From Israel by Nadene Goldfoot

How Paul Ryan Looks at Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
Congressman Paul Ryan, 42 years old,  has just been picked as the running mate for  Mitt Romney, 65 year old Republican candidate for President of the USA.   His position on Israel is very important.  Being the chair of the U.S. House of Representatives Budget Committee from Wisconsin has not called on him to be in on working on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but he has written his opinion about it and I see he shares my opinions.   Paul has been a 7 term congressman, so has had lots of experience.

He would not jeopardize Israel's safety or do anything to legitimize terrorism.  He realizes that Hamas is a terrorist group who call for Israel's destruction.  He knows the Palestinian Arabs  refuse to recognize Israel's existence and even call Osama Bin Laden a "martyr."  He may not even realize, though, that every fallen Palestinian is a "martyr" in Gaza and Judea-Samaria and many have holidays to celebrate their actions.

He reports that America shouldn't force Israel to come to a peace compact that will not result in peace and security for them.  First, the "Palestinians Arabs" must recognize Israel's right to exist.  If they want a state, they must accept that Israel is there as a state as well.  This is Israel's position as well.

Paul co-sponsored legislation H. Res. 268 that passed the House on July 7, 2011 by 407-13, introduced by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in May that reaffirms the US commitment to negotiate a settlement through direct negotiations.  I note that so far Abbas, the Palestinian leader, refuses to come to the table as he wants things settled his way before he even opens his mouth.  

He was also the co-sponsor of the HR 4133, United States-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act, also introduced by Cantor, passing in the House in May 2012 stating that it is the US policy to reaffirm commitment to Israel's security as a state, provide Israel with military capabilities to defend itself, expand military and civilian co-operation, assist in a negotiated settlement of the conflict, and encourage Israel's neighbors to recognize its right to exist.  It passed, 411-2.

Paul has been a very active congressman.  He had also been the author of a House-backed budget plan that curbed overall entitlement spending and changes in Medicaid into a voucher-like system to save costs.  He's a man with a "vision for the country, according to Romney.

Paul attended the funeral for victims of the Sikh temple shooting in Wisconsin.  Romney's son, Tagg joined him there.

Congressman Paul Ryan  has been picked for his successes and goals in the economy and budgets, not on his outlook on Israel, but I'm sure that didn't hurt.  Together, they make a great team that also should be good for Israel.

PS:  The Sunday paper has an article telling that Oregon Democrat Senator Ron Wyden, (Jewish) authored a 2,300 word piece in March explaining a plan he and Ryan developed which is quite different from the Ryan-authored Medicare proposal adopted by the republican led House.  This Wyden-Ryan plan will allow seniors to continue receiving Medicare coverage while revamping and expanding private options.  It's different from the "end Medicare as we know it" approach that caused Democrats to fire away at Ryan.  Wyden will now have a new prominence in the race since Medicare is a huge issue.  Being a senior and on Medicare through our social security, I find this reassuring.

PPSS: The Oregonian newpaper 8/14/12 page A4  this morning has another article saying that the Wyden-Ryan package was followed by Ryan's later who "advocated a formal budget-slashing proposal that passed the House which Wyden voted against when it came to the Senate".  Wyden denies that he co-lead a piece of legislation with Ryan now. He said this after Romney suggested Wyden ws embracing his running mate's ideas.   More than being angry with Ryan, Wyden is attacking Romney throughout the piece.

Resource: http://www.thepoliticalguide.com/Profiles/House/Wisconsin/Paul_Ryan/Views/Israel/
Oregonian newspaper, Frontpage: Ryan is reportedly Romney's VP choice by Kasie Hunt and Brian Bakst
Fox News TV channel 118-morning announcment
http://www.haaretz.com/news/u-s-elections-2012/romney-campaign-confirms-paul-ryan-as-running-mate-1.457478
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443404004577582112521141598.html Mitt Romney/Ryan
http://www.jpost.com/VideoArticles/Video/Article.aspx?id=280850
1:45pm Sunday:  Oregonian newspaper 8/12/12 Wyden has a history with GOP pick by Jeff Mapes p: A6.
Oregonian newspaper 8/14/12 page A4   

Clinton's Aide, Huma Abedin and the Qaradawi Connection

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                          

Qaradawi

        Qaradawi is the head religious Muslim Brotherhood leader that had been expelled from Egypt, of all places, for his extremist views.  For instance, he has now called a fatwa to kill all Jews regardless of where they live. He himself would do so even though he's in a wheelchair; he'd use his hands, he said.  Nice guy.  He found refuge with his friend, the Emir Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa al-Thani of Qatar, who is the absolute ruler of Qatar, and from there he broadcasts on Al-Jazeera TV, heard all over the world, even at Portland State U.  He also runs the "Union for Good", also called the "Union of Good", which is a terrorist organization under American law.  It was behind the "Peace flotilla" that tried to break Israel's blockade of Hamas (a Muslim Brotherhood Palestinian branch) in 2010.

This really bothers me.  Qatar has ingratiated themselves somehow into American politics and their money is buying favoritism in infinite bushels.  They're connected to major universities, like Carnegie Mellon, and have paid for teachers in Portland to teach Arabic that do not allow visitors in the class.  I've always had visitors in  all my 50 year teaching career, but the teacher wouldn't allow me to enter the classroom.  .
                     

Qaradawi, Egyptian living in Qatar

       

Huma Abedin with Hillary Clinton

                                                                                                     

Anthony Weiner

So what has happened?  We have an "unusual" Jewish Congressman, Anthony Weiner, rather meshugena Democrat and US Rep, and I would bet a non-practicing Jew who had sent out a photo of his genitals on Twitter not too long ago, who was married to Huma Abedin, a practicing Muslim, working for Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State as an aide.  They had met through Hillary.  That is not too unusual in the United States in having a mixed religious marriage.  I myself dated a Muslim doctor from India in 1965 here in Oregon, and we had a wonderful compatible friendship.  I felt so sorry for Huma when it was broadcast about her husband's sexual weirdness.  Here she was pregnant.  What did Anthony's actions say about his values?

Huma was born in Michigan but her family moved to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia when she was 2.  Her father, Syed Zainul Abedin, an educator, was from British India who graduated from Aligarh Muslim University and had a PhD from U of Pennsylvania and is today an associate professor of sociology of Dar Al-Hekma College in Jeddah.  Her mother is Siham al-Qaradawi, the daughter of Sheikh Qaradawi, the religious personage who wants to kill all Jews, probably starting with her husband!  Siham, a chemistry student from Qatar,  had a Fulbright scholarship awarded to her in 2010-2011.   Huma had returned to the USA to attend George Washington U.  She worked as an intern for the White House in 1996, assigned to Hillary Clinton.  Huma still works for her.  In 2010 Clinton remarked at the Wiener-Abedin wedding that she had only one daughter, but if she had a 2nd daughter, it would be Huma.

Now we come again to Huma and Qaradawi.  Huma's mother, Saleha, is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood's female group, the Muslim sisterhood.  She's an active and important member in 2 groups of the Union for Good.  She's on their Internatonal Islamic Council for Dawa and Relief-HCDR.  It's banned in Israel for supporting Hamas under the name of the Union for Good.  She's on the International Islamic Committee for Woman and Child-HCWC-  She has been the head of this group for a long time since their charter was written by Sheikh Qaradawi, her father,  along with other members of the Muslim Brotherhood.  There's nothing wrong with supporting women and children in the Muslim world, but it's like having Hitler write up the agenda.

A long time ago we had a Joseph McCarthy who saw a Communist under every bush, and many innocent people were labeled and hurt by being called Communists.  That fear has bubbled over to this situation.  Those who are calling attention to the fact that Clinton has the daughter of a Muslim Brotherhood activist working for her, not to mention who is the granddauther of Qaradawi,  are the ones in trouble instead of the Muslim Brotherhood whose goal is to eradicate Israel and Jews.

We have Republican Michele Bachmann calling attention to this fact and she is being ridiculed for it.  Even McCain is afraid to draw attention to the fact that there might be a problem here.  Speaker Boehner doesn't see a Muslim Brotherhood problem, but the people calling attention to this fact.  Good grief!  Isn't it Bachmann's duty to question Abedin's loyalty, especially since she works so closely with Clinton, of all people and that Israel and Jews' lives are at stake?  This connection should certainly raise the eyebrows of Israel.  I don't even think Andrew C. McCarthy, "former Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. A Republican, he is most notable for leading the 1995 terrorism prosecution against Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and eleven others" .realizes the seriousness of this connection, and he spoke about it in a 90 minute talk at the National Press Club on Wednesday sponsored by the conservative Center for Security Policy.  His flip answer of "I'm a whack job, I guess," was lame when asked about why he was concerned.  Bachmann deserves better than that.  He is the author of "The Grand Jihad:  How Islam and the Left Sabotage America, " so should have known how the press would zero in on this statement.  It made the Oregonian this morning but nothing about his credentials.

8/14/12 Update: Walid Shoebat, former PLO terrorist and Muslim Brotherhood activist is spot-lighting the acts of terrorism.  Last Friday, President Obama voiced   strong support  for Huma Abedin during the Iftar dinner, saying the top aide to Secretary of State Hillary has been “nothing less than extraordinary in representing our country and the democratic values that we hold dear.”Frontpage interviewed Shoebat who had presented a 37 page paper exposing Huma Abedin that has been ignored by many.  Andrew McCarthy, prosecutor took it seriously.  

Resource: http://www.nationalreview.com/blogs/print/312211
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huma_Abedin
Oregonian newspaper 8/10/12 Editorial page B4  Modern-day McCarthyism and Huma Abedin, challenging the Clinton Aide's Loyalty by Dana Milbank
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2012/05/muslim-brotherhoods-goals-in-america.html
http://nadeneg.blogspot.com Qatar foundation Spreading Hate For Israel at Lincoln High
http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=254394
http://globalmbreport.org/?p=2225&print=1
MEMRI  sheikh Al-Qaradaw&Qatar's Education city Hosting American University Branches-with Clinton in an official Al-Jazeers town hall interview at the Carnegie Mellon U in Qatar.
http://www.adl.org/NR/exeres/788C5421-7i0E3-4E4D-BFF4-9BE14E4A2E58, DB7611A   11/21/2011
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Weiner
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_McCarthy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_C._McCarthy
http://frontpagemag.com/2012/jamie-glazov/huma-abedin-and-the-saudi-king%E2%80%99s-manifesto/

Aly Raisman, Jewish American Gymnast

Nadene Goldfoot
Aly Raisman , 18 year old beautiful Jewish gymnast at the Olympics in London, is the American's team captain in gymnastics.  She's a 2 times gold medalist and just got the bronze medal on the balance beam. She received a gold on her floor routine, which she did to Hava Nagila.  The 40th anniversary of the Israeli massacre meant something to her, she commented.

The Olympic Committee President, Roggue, refused to have a minute of silence in deference to the massacre of Israeli Jewish athletes, but Aly and other Jewish participants have found ways of showing their individual respect.   French and Italian participants have shown respect in their ways as well.  107,000 signatures on a petition for silence including Obama did not move Roggue.

Aly was born and raised in Needham, Massachusetts.  Her mother, Lynn Raisman nee Faber was a high school gymnast, so started Aly in gymnastics at the age of 2.  No wonder Aly is the most decorated gold medal winner in the group.

Resource:  http://qctimes.com/sports/olympics/blogs/aly-raisman-sends-quickly-deletes-tweet-about-going-clubbing/article_8778ee98-0ca8-5bb4-af1f-7389aead7ea3.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aly_Raisman
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/08/aly-raisman-honors-munich-jewish-olympian_n_1757589.html?utm_hp_ref=religion
http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=280808 Invitation to visit Israel

The Spy Business: CIA and Mossad in Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
We have American spies in Tel Aviv spying on Israel.  We know because Israeli spies were spying on them and left their calling card by tampering with the American's locked box with sensitive equipment.  The same thing had happened to the previous spies.  The CIA is being watched..  Even their refrigerator had been rifled.  The CIA spies had found their food all rearranged.  I chuckle to think that perhaps the Israeli spy was a little shocked when he opened the door and rearranged by segregating the milkadik from the fleshadik.

The article in the Oregonian comments that though we are friends, we still don't trust each other and thus the spying.  Israel is the USA's closest ally.  It says that the CIA considers Israel its #1 counterintelligence threat in the agency's Near East Division.  The CIA believe that the US national secrets are safer from other Middle Eastern governments than from Israel.  Perhaps that's because Israel uses highly sophisticated, professional spy services that rival American agencies in technical capability and recruiting human sources.  Israel has access to the highest levels of the US government in military and intelligence circles.

According to Joseph Wippl, former senior CIA clandestine officer and head of the agency's Office of Congressional Affairs, "It's a complicated relationship.  They have their interests.  We have our interests.  For the U.S, it's a balancing act."

Spying on Jews in the USA by the USA and Britain has been going on for a long time.  Jews never profit from it, either.  Even the Reagan-Bush administration have spied on Jews and Israel which has been very harmful.  The Iran Contra story was one situation where spying played a big part.  This was a British arms to Iran deal of 1984 and a transatlantic sting operation to protect George Bush's reputation.  The Israelis were recruited in 1985 as a cover story for continuing an illegal Bush-British partnership.  .  This involved buying  Communist weapons for the Contras from a PLO agent and Syrian terrorist, Monzer Al-Kassar.

Al-Kassar became the mediator for the release of the American hostages in Iran.  This secret agent was really working for the Soviets, so he was a double agent.  The American CIA agent, William Buckley, was told that Bush, Casey and the British secret service had approved Middle East kidnappings.  He was tortured to death by Al-Kassar's helpers in the Syrian intelligence at the same time that Al-Kassar was "negotiating "for Buckley's release.  Betraying Israel was the"touchstone of the men who made their incredible profits from the Arabs."

It was when Bush became president that Syrian intelligence traded its silence about Iran-Contra, BCCI and Buckley in return for a reversal of U.S policy toward Syria.  What is riling is that Kassar was given VIP treatment in Washington as well as the Syrian general in charge of negotiating with the Hezbollah terrorists and of approving drug shipments out of Lebanon.  Not only that, but the White House was wiretapping American Jews.  (p. 14).  Taxpayers in the USA and Britain lost billions of dollars from the ending of the BCCI and unpaid loans to finance Saddam Hussein's army.  How could we be so dumb?  We financed an army and then had to try to destroy it later.

The government of Israel became the public scapegoat for the Iran-Contra affair.  The USA's administration had made a covert tilt toward the Arabs.  The Israeli government lost its military superiority, most of its secret networks, and much of its reputation.  Israel was compelled to stand by helplessly as Iraq bombed their cities during the Gulf War.  It was George Bush's stupidity that did the most harm to the Jews according to the writers of my reference book.

Secretary James A. Baker had said, "Fuck the Jews."  Perhaps he was joking.  A few had thought that he was summarizing the State Department's policy toward Israel for the last 75 years. If the "old spies" are right, the U.S. policy was lenient compared to that of the British and others.  All the big nations have treated Jews as expendable assets, obstacles in getting their supply of Arab oil.  It's a sad state of affairs to look at my country through such different eyes.  (p. 14)

The American spies are now watching if Israel will attack Iran in a surprise move.  Its spying is also coming from the national Security Agency in the USA.  Matthew Aid, author of "The Secret Sentry", said the US started spying on Israel before the state was created in 1948.  That corresponds with my other source, who get into spying on Jews in the USA and abroad  from 1920 to 1947 as well.  Page 1 starts off saying that the major countries in the world have planned covert operations to bring about partial or total destruction of Israel.  I have written about Britain's part in this, too.  Let's face it.  No one has really been helpful.  Israel can only trust itself and that's it.  Spying is an essential tool for survival.

Resource:  Oregonian newspaper 8/5/2012 page A11 CIA, Israel spy together, but see other as threat by Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo, AP
Book:  The Secret War Against the Jews:  How Western espionage betrayed the Jewish people" by John Loftus and Mark Aarons, page 461-462, Chapter 20, Blackmailing the President?
http://www.bu.edu/ir/faculty/alphabetical/wippl/  Joseph  Wippl
http://usforeignpolicy.about.com/od/usstatedepartment/p/jbaker.htm

Only in Israel: Enemy in Hospital

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                     

Hamas's Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh has a sister.  Her husband had a heart problem about 4 months ago which the hospital in Gaza could not handle.  He was then taken to a hospital in Israel, Beilinson  Hospital in Petah Tikva,  for treatment.

 Now Hamas tries daily to kill Israelis by bombing southern Israel with rockets, missiles and mortars.  Hamas refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist.  They do everything in their power to drive Israelis into the sea.  Did Israel turn this man away?  Certainly not.  He was treated for a week and his heart stabilized.

Only in Israel could this possibly happen.  Yet it does happen all the time.  The hospital in Ashkelon, The Barzilai Medical Center,  takes in all people including the injured from Gaza as well.  Yet Hamas and its other like groups keep plugging away shooting at this very city as well as all the others in southern Israel.  It's so bad that the hospital has had to open up more of their basement areas in order to treat patients safely.

Resource: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4265787,00.html

Israel's Nudging the USA Couldn't Hurt

Nadene Goldfoot
From the city of Ashkelon, Israel comes the news via New York Times News Service that Netanyahu hasn't stopped the pressure he has put on the USA that Israel might have to go it alone in stopping Iran's ability to manufacture atomic weapons to be used on Israel and the USA.  Panetta, the USA Defense Secretary, visited Israel Wednesday, meeting in Netanyahu's Knesset office in Jerusalem,  and said that he remains hopeful that Israel won't attack soon and may let the USA take the lead in any future military strike.

Negotiations between the two have intensified over the past month since Netanyahu had mentioned that sanctions against Iran were useless.  "Right now the Iranian regime believes that the international community does not have the will to stop its nuclear program," he commented.  "This must change and it must change quickly because time to resolve this issue peacefully is running out."   Israel has spoken of the window of opportunity and if that passes, it would be useless to try to stop it.

Congress just passed a new round of Iran sanctions legislation which is reported to be the strongest measure yet.  It aims to now punish banks, shippers, insurers and others who help Iran sell its oil.  This was under negotiations nearly up until the vote.  The House had passed 410-11, the Iran Threat Reduction Act last December.  A version of that passed the Senate in May.  Before the summer started, the two houses got together for the single updated version which passed yesterday unanimously in the Senate and passed in the House 421-6.  Perhaps this is why Panetta is saying to give sanctions a chance and why Netanyahu has felt that up till now the sanctions were doing nothing to stop Iran.  They hadn't been strong enough to do a whit.

Is it any wonder that  Mitt Romney decided to visit Israel in his aim to gather votes?  Thomas Friedman thought it useless today in his long essay, and thought he should have just gone to Vegas instead.  To Friedman, they could have put up a plastic Wailing Wall in the dining room and Romney wouldn't know the difference, I suppose.  Friedman is so frustrated that he is still presenting old old ideas in his extremely long essay like beating Israel to death with the 2 state solution with no alternatives other than to "test, test  and have the US keep testing creative ideas for a two-state solution."  Mr. Friedman, that's been going on since 1948. He even calls the Jewish people of Judea and Samaria "settlers" and still is thinking of "occupation", whereas Israel has already stated that their communities are legal according to international law.   He's so behind his reading of others' opinions that he has the audacity to praise Jimmy Carter "who is one of several who have done the most to make Israel more secure and accepted in the region and told blunt truths to every Israeli or Arab leader."  I would say Jimmy has done just the opposite with his own book on the subject.  Sorry, Friedman, but your vocabulary belies your stodgy beliefs of supporting Israel.

Resource:  Oregonian Newspaper, 8/2/12 page A5, Nuclear Threat-US, Israel intensify talks on Iran, page B5-why not in Vegas?  Better to skip the trip to Israel by Thomas Friedman, commentary page.
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2012/06/where-passion-against-israel-comes-from.html