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Showing posts with label Arab Spring. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arab Spring. Show all posts

Friday, December 6, 2013

Mandela's View of Israel

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                   

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela died at 8:50 pm  on Thursday, December 5, 2013.  He had been ill with pneumonia and died at the grand age of 95.  The man was an icon in South Africa.  He was born in the village of Mvezo in Transkei, South Africa. It was on the border of the Indian Ocean.  His mother was Nosekeni Fanny, the 3rd of 4 wives of the chief and counselor to 2 successive Xhosa kings.  As a lawyer, he became South Africa's first black president.  His big thing had been fighting apartheid in this country which had been settled by Africaners who were descendants of 17th century Dutch and French settlers.  He had been held in prison for 27 years, first as a terrorist, then just an agitator.  At age 75, he became president of South Africa on May 10, 1994.  The preceding president had been F.W. de Klerk, the last apartheid-era president.

Mandela had said  on July 11, 1996 that "racism is a blight on the human conscience.  The idea that any people can be inferior to another, to the point where those who consider themselves superior define and treat the rest as subhuman, denies the humanity even of those who elevate themselves to the status of gods."  Of course he was referring to his own experience in South Africa between apartheid facts between the many blacks and the few whites of a country where whites had ruled.  When I read that I think of the Nazi attitude towards Jews.  Nazis thought they were the superior race and that Jews were sub-human.  Today Iran has taken on the same idea, calling Jews all sorts of animals; apes, or even viruses.  Arab countries have taken on the goal of finishing the Nazi goal of wiping out Jews and now Israel, the Jewish state.

Mandela carried his own relationship with Apartheid  to Israel, where he blamed Jews for practicing apartheid on the Palestinians.  For this he fails my class with a resounding F.  The situation was completely different.

Here we have Jews, who have been treated as he and his people have been by the whole world for a reasoning of religious difference.  Jews were a minority religious group, and many did look a little different from the country they happened to reside in.  Often they even dressed a little different.  One of their differences discovered is that they were a little smarter than others.  They believed in education.  The average IQ of a population is 100.  Theirs is 106.  They have produced such people as Einstein with an IQ of 180.  They have been turned down from entering medical schools because they were flooding the schools who had limitations on Jews accepted.  So even though they met the qualifications, they were Jews and were turned away after a few were accepted.

Jews were treated as 2nd class citizens in the Middle East after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE.  They were called dhimmis.  So there was apartheid there.  They were denied the education they craved, but had to pay more in taxes, couldn't build higher homes than their Muslim 1st class citizens.  There were all sorts of reminders that they were beneath others in their eyes.

In Italy, they were locked up at night in the first ghettos.  It might have been their only protection from marauding citizens of Rome, but it was humiliation to be living in such a confined manner under conditions unlike others..

The same thing happened in Christian countries.  Often they were reminded of a false fact generally accepted that they were the ones who had killed Christ, so they were treated as the bottom of the barrel people.  The Nazis treated them as a sub-race of people while contrary to this they were the ones who were successful in business.  How could they then be a sub race?  The amazing thing is that out of jealousy, people believed the accusations thrown at them.  They were kikes, a derogatory word.  The worst show of racism was the Nazi near successful attempt at eradicating the world of Jews.  We were of the inferior race, so they said.

Our leadership knew that life of 2,000 years of living under such racism could not go on.  So many of them had been suffering from Pogroms where the citizens of a city would gather together and attack a Jewish village, killing, marauding, destroying everything in sight, usually with the assistance of alcohol.  They gathered together at the end of WWI and talked to Britain about being able to return to their ancient homeland which had been barren since they had left 2,000 years ago.  They could have seriously considered some jungle spot in Africa, but had been praying in their religion to return home, so home it was for them.  Why not?  Nobody really had taken it as a country.  It had gone to pot, as the Americans would  have said.

After many years of meetings, it was decided through the League of Nations and voted upon democratically.  The deal was signed by the nations.  They would have a Jewish Homeland.  Out of guilt for having treated these people so vile, out of growth in their own religious teachings, it was decided that this was the right thing to do.

The plan of the Jewish leaders was to make the land a Utopia, fair for all the inhabitants, even the animals and plants as well as people.  It was planned out by an intelligent group directed by their religious principals.  It was even blessed by Abdullah, head Arab leader of the Middle East since he had also been the leader of Arabs who fought for Britain against the Ottoman Empire.  The Jews had done this also, but in a smaller group, being they were a smaller population.  One of the Jewish leaders was Chaim Weizmann who had invented a chemical which helped Britain have better ammunition of which without this, would most likely have lost the war.  It was like going from a slingshot to the Uzi machine gun.  So Britain made the mistake of making the same promise of land to both the Jews and the Arabs.

Enter the picture, Arabs from the neighboring lands who heard that Jews had returned to their land and were building.  They realized that they could get jobs there, and the word went out.  They came as workers.  Now the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, another Arab leader, was all against the creation of a Jewish Homeland and he agitated his followers who rioted and screamed against the idea, shaking up the British who didn't want to rock the boat and lose out their holdings of land with oil.  So they wound up siding with them.  Oil and money did rule over being nice to Jews, something they were not used to, as they had been cast out of England several times, and there existed lots of anti-Semitism with the English.

Thus, the idea of being a Utopia was fought against by the Arabs in blind rage.  They were from a paternal society that ruled, and that meant that they were easy followers and took direction very well without thinking things out for themselves.  Most were way undereducated and illiterate at that.  So they were dependent on their leadership.

The idea did not come to them to really want their own state until after the 1967 war with Israel of which all Arab nations attacked and lost.  It was embarrassing for them.  They lost face.  Anger only festered.  At the same time, they were walking bombshells against Israel and Jews.  Though the war was over, danger was everywhere for the Jews.  Now, for the past 65 years, there is no peace treaty signed except with Egypt and Jordan, the 2 closest neighbors.  The PLO's have gone through a change of calling themselves Fatah, and a group broke off from them to call themselves Hamas.  Hamas kicked out Fatah from Gaza and have been shooting at Southern Israel ever since  2001.  Fatah took over Judea and Samaria, the 2 oldest Jewish centers in Eretz Israel.

To this day, Apartheid has not  been practiced against the Arabs who maintain their hatred and fight against Israel at every opportunity and then some.  Their weapons are not only real ones, but they also use lies and create terrible propaganda that such people as Mandela has bought.  Because now for the first time they are people without a nation, they are looked upon as the blacks of Africa being ruled by the whites, or Israelis.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

Mandela reacted violently when Israel won in 1967 against its huge enemy.  He hadn't bothered to read about this history so he was against Israel's control of the territories it was "occupying" and urged Israel to concede land to the Palestinians and Syrians, just like they had done with Egypt for the sake of peace.  The difference is that Egypt reacted wanting peace and the others didn't, but he ignored or refused to learn this fact.  His view was still the simple-Israel is occupying Arab lands and wanted them to withdraw from all the areas.

State
Entry
Exit
Total Forces
Losses
Egypt
1967
1967
400,000
10,000
Iraq
1967
1967
250,000
2,000
Israel
1967
1967
200,000
776
Jordan
1967
1967
60,000
5,000
Syria
1967
1967
300,000
1,000

This chart from the Jewish Virtual Library shows why Egypt and Jordan decided to make peace with their neighbor.  In 1948 Israel started with 650,000 .  By 1968 it had a population of 2,841,100.  So losing almost 800 soldiers was a lot for this little country.   Today it has grown to 6 million Jews and 1.7 million Arabs.  Remember, it was the Arabs who had attacked Israel.  They could not imagine such a great force losing against former dhimmis.
                                                                     
Mandela finally visited Israel for 2 days when he was 81 in 1999.  He had held it against Israel that they had worked closely with the South African apartheid regime.  He didn't realize that for some time South Africa was one of the few countries for their own reasons who were friendly with Israel.  It wasn't like Israel had a lot of choices, so they had a military relationship with  South Africa.  Mandela won a Nobel peace prize for his attitude in South Africa of burying his bitterness against the whites and working for the future with them.  When he became president in 1994 he worked against apartheid crimes against its victims and families in earnest.

When Mandela went to work as a lawyer, his first job was with a Jewish law firm in Johannesburg.  Some of his best friends were Jews as a result.  When he needed advice or money, he went to them.  Many Jews in South Africa supported him.  Arthur Goldreich gave him refuge on his farm in Rilvonia.  However, Mandela passionately supported the PLO which he took as a liberation movement like his own ANC.  He had mixed emotions, also supporting Israel right to exist as a democratic Jewish state.  He just didn't understand what the Jews were under in order to continue existing.  If he had bothered to read the platforms of Israel's Arab enemies, he would have seen that their goal was to completely destroy Israel and carry out the goal of the Nazis, to kill off all the Jews along with their state.

The Sabeel movement, founded through Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, both of South Africa, is still throwing "apartheid" accusations at Israel. It's a Christian organization in Jerusalem founded by a Palestinian Anglican priest who are partners with the Presbyterian Church and are enforcing BDS practice against Israel.  The Methodists are also into BDS movements and finally voted in 2012 against divestment from the Caterpillar  company for doing business with Israel.   This is so unrealistic as all its history shows that Israel is the most un-apartheid state in the whole world.  Arabs have all the rights that Jews have in Israel.  They are not dhimmis as Jews were in Muslim countries.  The only thing they are not included in is having to serve in the armed forces if they don't care to.  They are relived of this responsibility because it would be asking them to fight against fellow Arabs of their own religion, and Israel is being overly aware of this.  In the USA, Italians had to fight in the army, and so did Germans.  Japanese fought as well for the USA.  But the USA is a huge country and Israel is one of the tiniest, the size of the smallest of USA states.  To them it would be like expecting Iranian Jews to fight against Israel.

To sum it up, Mandela had an ambivalent relationship with Israel.  It could have been improved upon with more curiosity as to the history of Israel and how it differed from South Africa.  Even finally visiting for all of 2 days hadn't warranted further research evidently.  For that I'm disappointed.  He never once told the Palestinians to make peace with Israel or to take on a different attitude.  He maintained a 2-state solution but told Israel not to be a bi-national apartheid state when they weren't practicing apartheid in their own one state of Israel and an Arab minority.  He thought there was danger in Israel becoming an international pariah like apartheid South Africa had been.  That showed he knew nothing at all about Jews, Judaism or Israel.
                                                                         
                                             Michelle Obama and Nelson Mandela 

It doesn't make a lot of difference in the world if one person harbors such feelings of anti-Semitism, but when a leader does, it's almost impossible to re-educate people.  Mandela made a huge impression on  USA's President Barack Obama who said that "he was one of the countless millions who drew inspiration from Nelson Mandela's life.   My very first political action, the first thing I ever did that involved an issue or a policy or politics, was  a protest against apartheid.  I studied his words and his writings.  The day that he was released from prison gave me a sense of what human beings can do when they're guided by their hopes and not by their fear."  

In October 1999, during his 2 day visit in Israel when he also visited Iran, Syria, Jordan, and the "Palestinian territories", Mandela showed that he was naive and overly trusting everyone but Jews evidently because after visiting Iran, had felt that the Iranians would be free and fair about the trial of 13 Iranian Jews who had been arrested in July 2001 earlier that year on charges of spying for the "Zionist regime"  It wasn't until February 19, 2003 that the trial was over with 5 of them released.    Iran was backed by terrorist groups targeting Jews and the Jewish state and was not about planning on giving Jews a fair hearing.  This came up when Mandela spoke with Foreign Minister of Israel, David  Levy at the Foreign Ministry.  He thought that being the new president was Khatami and had become more moderate. Khatami was president from 1997 to 2005.

Yes, but make sure they are being guided by a compass made up of good, not of evil intentions, please.  Now my question is that Obama did not deal with apartheid in the USA.  That had been a problem basically of  President John Fitzgerald Kennedy in the 60's.  One of the first things Obama did after being sworn in as president on January 20, 2009 was go to Egypt and make a speech on June 4, 2009 at Cairo University  which aroused the Arab Spring.  My paranoia leads me to conclude he is referring to the Palestinian  Israel issue of a 2 state solution, and if he is following Mandela, is blaming Israel as being an apartheid state. Obama has been pushing that Israel must go back to the 67 lines.   After all, Mandela did.

Resource:  http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/Mandela-and-Israel-334174
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-sabeel-movement-is-harming-israel.htmlHow Sabeel Movement is Harming Israel, January 30, 2012
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2012/05/bds-movement-not-impressing-methodists.htmlBDS Movement Not Impressing Methodists, May 3, 2012
http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2013/04/lies-people-tell-about-jews-and-israel.html
Oregonian newspaper, 12/6/2013, page A9
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/casualties.html
Kike by Selzer
Abraham's Children, race, identity, and the DNA of the Chosen people by Jon Entine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_New_Beginning
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama
http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2012/04/60-minutes-of-bashing-israel-using.html
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/316504/Mohammad-Khatami
http://archive.adl.org/backgrounders/iranian_jews.html
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/12/05/nelson-mandela-was-undeniably-great-but-he-doesn-t-need-a-halo.html
http://theiranproject.com/blog/2013/12/06/major-events-in-the-life-of-nelson-mandela/  dates
Additional 2;48pm http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1213/tobin120613.php3#.UqJT7NJDs8o
Update 12/7/13 http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/12/05/nelson-mandela-and-zionism/
update: 12/9/13 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/14199#.UqZ0vtJDs8p
Update 12/10/13 http://www.michaelfreund.org/14121/misrepresenting-mandela

Friday, November 23, 2012

The First Arab Springers: Palestinians and What Horror They Brought

Nadene Goldfoot
"The Arab Spring is an attempt to return the region to its roots. It’s not to Westernize the Middle East and make it more democratic; it’s to Easternize it and make it more Islamic. If the early 20th century was about the East trying to join what it couldn’t lick, the early 21st may be about the East trying to lick what it hasn’t been able to join." (George Jonas).  

What did the Palestinian people do when Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip?  Remember, Jews have had a history there for centuries, perhaps longer than any Palestinian.  "Gaza" is mentioned in our Bible "Tanach" as a Philistine city.  Samson died there.  Jews have lived there since the Hasmonean era.  They were living there in 61CE and when the Crusaders appeared in the Holy Land as well as when the Ottoman Turks came to have control.  

In 2005 Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in the name of peaceful coexistence.  Instead, the Palestinians  voted in "Hamas," a terrorist force whose only aim was terrorism and to wipe Israel and the Jews from the map.  Hamas and other affiliates of theirs began a daily rain of Qassam rockets, katyushas and mortars into Israeli cities and farms, sometimes 80 per day.  With Syria and Iran's help, they smuggled into Gaza tons of weapons, ammunition, explosives, ground-to ground and ground to air missiles, anti-aircraft shoulder held missiles and anti-tank weapons along with the newer long distance missiles that just reached Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

Israel had withdrawn in the name of peace as they have no intention of harming people or fighting.  They started all this when Prime Minister Olmert was at the helm in Israel and his Kadima party and most of the Israelis were promising more land for the future state of Palestine in the areas of Judea/Samaria.  At first Israel was restrained and Israel realized that their rocket emplacements were in the middle of women and children.  

The terrorists took the wrong move when by their tunnel attacked Israeli soldiers inside of Israel on June 25, 2006, killing 2 and kidnapping one.  Diplomacy didn't retrieve Gilad Shalit, and by the end of June Israel re-invaded Gaza to retrieve him and to destroy their ability to continuously threaten Israeli security. 

Now I see Morsi, a  leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and  not only the President of Egypt but now  the man in charge of watching and controlling the Brotherhood's off-shoot; Hamas.  Will the stage-light work psychologically on him and turn him around to become a mentch instead of a terror hungry monger?  Hopefully it will be with the nudging of the USA with their  yearly stipend that will keep him on task.  To change a behavior takes replacement behaviors that are better.  I hope this attention will do the trick as Israel wants only peace.  We won't know till both the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas and the rest change their charters and their minds to accept the fact that Israel is there to stay.  

Resource: http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/08/04/george-jonas-lets-hear-it-for-israel-the-arab-worlds-all-purpose-enemy/
Big Lies, Demolishing the Myths of the Propaganda War Against Israel, by David Meir-Levi from David Horowitz Freedom Center
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/gaza_settlements.html

Friday, October 5, 2012

Mitt Romney's Stand on Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
A President Romney will deal with Israel as its closest ally in the Middle East and a beacon of democracy and freedom in the region which it is.  He recognizes Israel's security problems and that this is a dangerous moment for the Jewish state.

He would work closely with Israel to maintain its strategic military edge.  He's not a stranger to Netanyahu.  Romney would work on Turkey and Egypt to shore up their relationships with Israel.  He would resist the anti-Israel policies there and make it clear that their interests are not served by isolating Israel.

In dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, his policy will be a sharp difference from Obama.  He's for direct negotiations between the two and will make it clear to the Palestinians that it's unacceptable to expect decisions on issues that are to be decided by the Oslo Accords.  The USA will reduce assistance if they continue UN recognition of their state or form a unity government including Hamas, which is designed to destroy Israel.

He is not a fair weather friend of Israel  The USA under Romney will resist the  worldwide campaign to delegitimize Israel.  He also sees that this is a campaign of anti-Semitic poison.  To Romney, Israel's existence as a Jewish state is not up for debate.

Romney feels that Obama has misunderstood the dynamics of the region and has not fostered stability and security but have diminished USA's authority and has put both the USA and Israel in a corner.  He sees that the Israeli-Palestinian problem  is not a center of problems.  The Arab Spring shows it's an internal problem of the Arab countries.  Because Obama has distanced himself from Israel to placate the Arabs, he thought it would earn credits for the USA and bring peace closer.  It has proved to be the opposite.

Obama also created new preconditions to get the Arabs to the peace table.  This has resulted in the holding out and waiting by the Arabs, wanting more concessions.  Romney sees that there was no reason for the Palestinians to negotiate with Israel when the White House continued to pressure Israel without getting the Palestinians to promise anything in return.

Reference: http://www.mittromney.com/issues/israel

Monday, July 30, 2012

Assad Blames Israel For His Problems

Nadene Goldfoot
Syrian foreign minister Walid al-Moallem commented in a visit to Iran that "Israel is the mastermind of all in this crisis."  Iran is backing Assad's  Syrian regime against the Free Syrian Army so would love to blame Israel as well.  Whatever bad happens around the globe, they all blame Israel.

I'm sure that Israel would not be helping the Syrians, whatever side here.  Both have been terrible towards Jews and Israel.  Shoshana, Jewish,  escaped from Syria in 1974 at the age of about 25.  She had left her family there and felt so guilty about it because she remembers "the fright in the eyes of the younger children in her family, expecting some support from her.  They wanted to know why people shouted at them, "Jews, Jews!" and why they were different from the others.  The fear was that any time of day or night the security people might knock at the door and take either their father or one of the elder brothers--and they really didn't know what was happening.  The family lived in constant fear.  Teachers treated Jews differently.  They had to live in a ghetto, but this ghetto didn't have just Jews.  It included Palestinians and other Arabs who beat Jews.

Shoshana said she couldn't beat them back because they would then bring their whole family to fight.  The Arabs lived differently.  Shoshana was put in prison because she participated in a demonstration, which was illegal for all Syrians. First, 3 sisters, members of her family, and a girlfriend were murdered because they had tried to cross the border.  They couldn't bear life in Syria any longer and had tried to cross without a boy escorting them.  The girls were killed in a cave and burned.  There was a special office that "takes care of the Jews", called the "Palestinian Bureau," and they had a free hand where Jews were concerned.  The bodies of the girls, burned beyond recognition, were brought back in sacks and thrown on the doorsteps of their families' homes.

A report from 60 Minutes with Mike Wallace in the USA did not get the story right according to Shoshana.  Jews may have given good remarks verbally about Syria on the program but had no choice because the security people were there.  They had to say they lived well, so the "happy" families have since tried to escape.  "It's only when the Syrians are free can they tell the truth about their lives in Syria.".

Right now the Jihadists are taking over from the Free Syrian Army being they are being assisted with funding.  There are more religious chants than secular ones being heard.

They claim to new men joining them that "those whose intentions are not for God, they had better stay home, whereas if your intention is for God, then you go for jihad and you gain an afterlife and heaven".  Israel will not be backing people who are into jihad.  Religious donors come from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and possibly Turkey, countries the USA has also aligned with in this fight.

The Syria situation is not only an Arab Spring against Assad's immovable hand but is also religious within Islam.  The ruling house of Assad are minorities, the Alawites, which dominate Syria but are viewed by many orthodox Muslims as a heretical offshoot of Islam.  The trend right now is a more Salafi, jihadi group taking over the rebellion.  Isn't this what happened in Egypt?  These jihadists consider the entire world the Muslim homeland, so they are refusing any national, Syrian name for their fighters in Syria.

Resource:  Oregonian newspaper: Monday July 30, 2012 Front Page -Jihadists join ranks of Syria's resistance , A3-Developments in the Syrian uprising NYTimes news service
Book:  From Time Immemorial by Joan Peters p: 109-110 

Sunday, July 29, 2012

What Had Happened to Jewish Syrians?

Nadene Goldfoot
Aleppo, Syria has been taking a pounding from Syria's own army because they are in a Civil War, having started with the Arab Spring  in March 2011.  So far, 19,000 people have been killed in this uprising.  Russia is backing the regime who controls the country's army, but the USA is backing the rebel fighters.  The war is now centered in Salaheddiin, a neighborhood in Aleppo, Syria's largest city and its commercial center.  Syria has about 22,505,000 minus the deaths of which 90% are Sunni/Shi'a Muslims.  Jews have lived there, as they have lived in all the states in the Middle East.  In 1948 there were 30,000 living in Syria.

Then Israel was created on May 14, 1948.  Syria was one of the Arab states that had attacked the new state.  Syrian Jews were not expelled but weren't allowed to leave, either.  They had severe restrictions placed on them which lasted for over 20 years.

In the 1967 Six-Day War where Israel won against all odds having been attacked by all the Arab nations, restrictions on Jews in Syria were even tougher. and 57 Jews in Qamishli may have been killed in a pogrom. The communities of Damascus, Aleppo and Qamishli were under house arrest for 8 months.  Jews lost their freedom of movement.  They weren't allowed to work for the government or banks, couldn't get telephone or drivers' licenses and were banned from buying property.  Many Jewish workers were laid off following the Six-Day War.  Generally, they all were banned from leaving, but were sometimes allowed aboard for commercial or medical reasons, but if they did leave they had to put up a bond of $300-$1,000 and members of their family were used as hostages.  Bank accounts were frozen.  An airport road was paved over the Jewish cemetery in Damascus.  Jewish schools were closed and handed over to Muslims.  The Jewish Quarter of Damascus was watched by the secret police who were into their synagogue services, weddings, bar mitzvahs and other Jewish gatherings.  They monitored contacts between Jewish and foreigners and kept files on all Jews.  Jews had their phones tapped and mail read.

When I lived in Israel from 1980 to the end of 1985, I remember watching our TV which received programs from Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon, and most likely Syria.  I believe it was from Syria that I remember seeing rows of soldiers standing at attention outside showing how brave they were by doing the most ghastly act I've ever seen:  They were biting snakes and puppies in unison on command.  I know this sounds unbelievable, but it was so shocking to me that I've never forgotten it.  At the time my thoughts were that I hated to see anyone who had to tangle with them!

It wasn't until November 1989 that Syria started letting out Jews through pressure from the USA, but it was done on condition that they didn't emigrate to Israel!  In 1992, 4,000 remaining Jews were granted exit permits and left for the USA, France or Turkey.  About 300 mostly elderly Jews stayed.  By 2001 there were still about 200 Jews living in Syria of which 30 lived in Aleppo.  In 2003 there were fewer than 100 Jews living, and in 2005 the USA estimated that there were about 80.

The ban remains on Jews keeping them from politics and government employment.  They are the one minority that has their religion marked on their passports and ID cards.  Occasionally they have been attacked by Palestinian protesters, but the Syrian government supposedly took measure to protect them.  Two synagogues remain open in Damascus, and every 2 or 3 months a rabbi from Istanbul, Turkey visits to take care of koshering meat, which they freeze and use until his next visit.  Somehow, 41 Syrian Jews moved to Israel between 2000 and 2010.  That was quite an achievement from this country.

This is also a war of Sunni Muslims that are against Shi'a Muslims. " This clash pits the "Sunni front," led by Arab states and Turkey, which support the Sunni rebels, against the “Shiite front,” led by Iran and Hezbollah, which support Syria’s Alawite regime"  .Civilians are not being used as human shields, something we see in Gaza, but as cannon fodder.  This is even a higher level of brutality and cruelty that they are capable of.  

After reading about what has really been going on in Syria for Jews, I believe that Jack Avital's comments that he believe in the future of Bashar Assad are the bunk.  He told the Algemeiner that "everything is good, you can bet on it-Assad will be there another 20 years...he is an honest guy and 95% of the population supports him and will protect him."  If he said anything different, he most likely would have been killed.

Jews had lived in Syria since the beginning of times of their history with Abraham.  Another wave of Jews entered the country in 1492 when they were kicked out of Spain and had to go someplace.  Today, the largest Jewish Syrian community is right in Brooklyn, New York with a population of 75,000.

Reference: Oregonian newspaper, Sunday, July 29, 2012 page A9, Syrian tanks, artillery intensity attack on Aleppo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Syria
http:/www.sfgate.com/news/article/Jews-in-Syria-say-life-easier-but-f  (problems with viewing)
http;//algemeiner.com/2011/06/14/what-happening-to-syrias-jews/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Syria
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4236855,00.html


Thursday, May 10, 2012

Egyptian Islamists Attack Egyptian Army

Nadene Goldfoot
An extremely important neighbor of Israel is Egypt, and what goes on there always affect them.  Right now Islamists in Egypt are trying to overthrow their own country's army.  At least we are to learn that not every single Egyptian is favoring a Sharia rule in their country.  The Egyptian army has been very popular, and it is they who are now under attack.

Last week the extreme Islamic group of Salafi lost out in the presidential elections coming up the end of this month.  Abu Ismail was not very happy about being disqualified among others, so his cohorts started the Jihad slogan chanting while getting ready for a Million Man protest they had last Friday on the 4th.  It was an Islamist protest and not a general demonstration.  Leading the protest was someone just released from prison, Muhammad al-Zawahiri, brother of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.

They're calling for Jihad against their own people and have been attacking Egypt's own soldiers. This was not a good move as the army holds a special, respected pace in Egypt, and they wound up killing one of the soldiers.   A news anchorwoman asked who they were liberating Egypt from when she heard their cries of "Alahu Akbar and Jihad!  Jihad!  and read banners carried that said, "Victory or Death!"   Many see  the Muslim Brotherhood, Salafists and others as Islamists  touting the same philosophy.  They're all against Israel.  Hopefully, an Islamist president will not be running who will bring "more chaos and oppression" to their people and hatred for Israel,  ready to break the peace pact we have with them.  .

At the beginning of the Arab Spring, I was afraid that the Muslim Brotherhood would gain all the power as they were said to be the best organized.  It looks like they've angered most of the Egyptian people.  It would be a shame for Egypt to lose tourism from Israel.  One thing I enjoyed while living in Israel from 1980 to the end of 1985 was being able to watch Egyptian movies on Israeli TV.  You get to know a people a little better this way.  Who wouldn't like to watch a film with Omar Sharif?

Resource: frontpagemag.com/2012/05/10/jihad-comes-to-egypt/print 

Saturday, February 11, 2012

What's This Qaradawi's Dawning of a New Islamic Caliphate?

Nadene Goldfoot
Qaradawi, 86, the Muslim Brotherhood's mentor, is crowing that thanks to the Arab Spring, they are all about to have a new Islamic Caliphate again.  This is the ultimate Muslim dream.  He is out to conquer America and Europe as well through immigration and proselytizing, he says.  He has used his "IslamOnline" website, Al-Jazeera TV station, program,  "Sharia and Life" for the past 15 years and personal engagements to spew his theories, as well as the 120 books he has written.   He's even on Facebook.    President Obama just reported on TV that there is a Mosque in every state in our union today.  How many keep in touch with him?  60 million people worldwide listen. 

Qaradawi is the religious leader that Mubarak kicked out of Egypt who has been living in Qatar.  The Emir of Qatar is his best friend and protector.  This religious leader is labeled  a terrorist and is not allowed into the USA. Despite this fact, he has been the USA's secret mediator for talks with the Taliban terrorists.   He calls for the death of all Jews everywhere, the takeover of Jerusalem, and like all Muslim Brotherhood adherants, the destruction of Israel. 

An Islamic Caliphate is sort of like a United States of Islamic countries who are ruled by Sharia Law and a constitution.  The last caliphate came to an end in 1924 with the end of the Ottoman Empire at the end of WWI.  They were on the German side and lost.  Shi'a Islam differs from Sunni in that they are ruled by an Iman chosen by Allah from Muhammad's chosen descendants. 

There was the Umayyad Dynasty Caliphate that existed in the 7th and 8th century.  Abbasid historians wrote that they had been  just pleasure-loving, hard-drinking usurpers of the caliphate.  Not all were, though.  They had a vast empire with different religious levels  and problems to administer.  Spain was a part of their empire.  Palestine was not. 

The Christians waged 8 Holy wars against the Moslems from 1095 to 1291 CE in the "Crusades."  They tried to take back sites they considered a part of Christianity, and in doing so also killed Jews in Jerusalem as they couldn't tell a Moslem from a Jew. 

The Abbasids ruled through the 8th to 13th century. They preached Arab supremacy, which made Iranians and Syrians resentful.   Now their society went international.  A group of Turks, the Saljuqs, ruled Palestine around 1000-1500  CE. The Abbasids  had some pretty decent rulings like caring for strangers in hostels, except  women were segregated and were kept in the home  rearing children except for the slave girls who amused men with singing and dancing.  Polygamy was permitted with men allowed to have 4 wives.  It was a slave society.  Men also kept about 6 slave concubines.  There were many who had not converted at this period, most still being Zorroastrians, Nestorians, Orthodox and Coptic Christians.  The Jews were a very small number. 

They persecuted all non-Muslims.  The dhimmi (non Muslim) could not build places of worship and if any were around were demolished. They had to wear special clothing, and some were even branded on their foreheads.  Homes could not be higher than Muslims, and in court were not heard from as their testimony was not admissable.  Dhimmis had to pay a head tax away from the capital and bow down when paying it.  It was in these days that many conversions occurred to escape the hardships.  The only Christians and Jews treated well were those that attained a higher level of education and skill, like some businessmen, court physicians, philosophers and  vazirs. The poor cried out: "Oh, that the tyranny of the Umayyads would return, Oh, that the justice of the Abbasids would go to hell!"

I think that the 48 Muslim majority states of the world, and there will be 49 if Palestine becomes another state,  should be aware of what Qaradawi is proposing.  The Ottoman Caliphate that we refer to as the Ottoman Empire was also just as bad.  All was not a bed of roses.  There have been so many attacks on Christians of late in Egypt that even they won't stand a chance of having a life.

Americans have a problem in viewing this danger as we are used to religious liberty and in not criticizing one another's religion.  It's hard for us to accept that the religion of Islam  has "Takia", the act of allowing lying to infidels about their religion.  Yet they are very brazen in announcing their intentions, like it's braggadocio.  .  It's time to think outside the box and see danger when it announces itself as such. 

Resource: http://blogs.cbn.com/stakelbeckonterror/archive/2012/02/10/muslim-brotherhoods-spiritual-leader-tells-hamas-victory-is-near.aspx
http://counterjihadreport.com/category/sheikh-yusuf-al-qaradawi/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caliphate
Textbook:  Middle East Past & Present by Yahya Armajani and Thomas M. Ricks
http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/the-crusades.htm
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/12/genocidal-sheikh-qaradawi-mediator-in-secret-us-taliban-talks.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yusuf_al-Qaradawi
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/newsbytes-islam2/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Yusuf-Al-Qaradawi/24024767384?v=info
http://dotsub.com/media/b5ee5ada-5b37-4b0b-9916-e0896337ec4b/embed/eng Video: Bedbugs in the UN.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Muslim Brotherhood May Gain 25% of Seats in Egypt

Nadene Goldfoot
The Muslim Brotherhood, which started in the late 1920's, may have been banned by Mubarak but has been running the educational, health and social programs in Egypt, giving them an in politically in Egypt. Besides that, it has been said that they are the strongest and most organized group. They just ousted 5 young members who were too progressive.

The US response is to recognize this group. Hillary Clinton said that "It is in the interests of the US to engage with all parties that are peaceful, and committed to nonviolence, that intend to compete for the parliament and the presidency." They say they renounced violence 60 years ago. The fact that Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood is not under consideration. The Muslim Brotherhood's own leaders say they are a moderate Islamic movement. This is a political party with a stand on limiting the rights of women, which is something that has been a part of this Muslim society, but more in the past. I am judging by the many Egyptian movies I was able to watch from Israel in 1980-1985, not having traveled there. They have an estimated 600,000 members. The Obama administration feels they should not turn against the Muslim Brotherhood because it is Islamist. Because this group has such Islamic ideals, they do oppose the Egypt-Israel peace settlement.

Their charter displays their goal of wiping out Israel, so I wouldn't call that peaceful group. They are open about advocating violent jihad against America and Israel. A "moderate" leader once wanted to ban kissing in public. An offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, Islamic Jihad, carried out the assassination of President Anwar al Sadat.  It was Sadat who had legalized the Muslim Brotherhood for the first time in two decades.  Sadat had made peace with Israel.  How is it that our government is not acknowledging these facts?

Secular groups have formed with the younger generation. Islam Lotfy, a lawyer, was one of the 5 dismissed from the Muslim Brotherhood who has formed his own party belatedly, the Egyptian Current. It will be more tolerant and youth-driven. . Abdel Monem Aboul Fotouh is another one who defyed the wishes of the M. B. by running for president. Lotfy said the M.B is against the concept of revolution. They want to change society from within. Since this concept didn't arrive at change, Lotfy is now for revolution.

Parliamentary elections are in September. The Muslim Brotherhood plans on gaining 25 % of the seats.Two things worry me: this Islamic political party and younger revolutionary parties. What changes do they need to bring about? Egypt is the 5th largest Muslim majority country with 77,100,000 people of which 90% are Sunni Muslims. It is a state religion and they have a semi-presidential republic. This is where both the prime minister and president both have an active role in the administration of the state.

Their GDP is only 5,491, so they are a rather poor country. Do they also wish to do away with the peace treaty with Israel? What is it that revolution is necessary to achieve? Most all the Muslims in the Middle East are engaged in an "Arab Spring" right now of revolution. Netanyahu has commented that Democracy in Arab countries would be the best thing for Israel.

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0711/muslim_brotherhood_purge.php3
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2011/02/cause-to-fear-muslim-brotherhood-in.html
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/02/egypt-muslim-brotherhood-leader-who-wants-to-ban-kissing-released-from-prison-added-to-panel-working.html
http://www.npr.org/2011/02/03/133455504/post-mubarak-muslim-brotherhood-could-play-role
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Muslim_majority_countries
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Semi_presidential_republic_means
http://freedomslighthouse.net/2011/02/02/muslim-brotherhood-okd-by-obama-has-ties-to-sadat-assassination-al-qaeda-no-2-ayman-al-zawahiri/

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Syria in the Arab Spring

Nadene Goldfoot
Who does Syria think they are, anyway?  The city, Ebla in the northern area of Syria goes back to 3,000 BCE.  They traded with Sumer and Akkad.  The Pharaoh of Egypt sent them gifts.  Ebla was the center of the oldest semitic language.  It became the nation of the Amorites mentioned in the bible.  Later it was conquered by the Hittites and occupied by the Canaanites, Phoenicians, Arameans, Persians Alexander the Great, Seleucids, Romans and finally the Byzantines.  Damascus became a capital. 

In 83 BCE Teyranes the Great King of Armenia conquered the land but not for long.  By 64 BCE it was a Roman Province and finally became part of the Ottoman Empire from the 16th to 20th Century along with Palestine.  Thus stepped in France who was given the mandate of caring for Syria and Lebanon from WWI when the Ottoman Empire fell along with Germany.  The USA recognized the mandate in 1924.  Faysal was ousted in 1920 and from then on there were riots, uprisings and war.  The Syrians wanted independence and revolted in 1925.  With WWII approaching, the semi-independence of Syria and Lebanon ended. 

Syria was created a state in April 1946, after WWII.  It has a parliamentary Republic but is not a Democracy.  Syria saw many coups from 1949 to 1970.  From 1962 to 2011 they have had to have Emergency Law.  Bashar al-Assad is the ruler who took over from his father, Hafez al-Assad. 

From 1948-67 Damascus controlled the Golan Heights which it used as a military stronghold from which its troops shot at Israeli civiilians in the Huleh Valley below.  It was like shooting ducks at the carnival.  Their gun fired into Israeli farms below.  This forced children on kibbutzxim to sleep in bomb shelters.  Roads in northern Israel were not passable until they were probed by mine-detection vehicles.  In 1966 a child was blown to pieces by a mine while playing football near the Lebanon border.  Attacks were carried out by Yasir Arafat's Fatah which operated from Syria. 

Of course Israel protested many times to the UN Mixed Armistice Commission, who was in charge of ceasefire but it was Israel who got condemned by them when it had to retaliate after these attacks as nobody else was stopping the sniping.  When Israel had demanded a stopping of Fatah the Syrians, who allowed it, retorted that it wasn't their job to stop them but to encourage and strengthen them.  As one historian wrote, "there was an open season for killing Israelis on their own territory."

The Six-Day War began and put a stop to much of this as well as gave Israel land such as the Golan Heights.  It had started on June 9, 1967 and by late afternoon, June 10th, Israel was in complete control of the plateau.  Finally the shooting gallery of 19 years came to an end.  Never did the international community act against these Syrian aggressors. 

In 2007 Israel had to fly over Syria and bomb their clandestine nuclear reactor.  Any atomic warfare would have been used on Israel and the USA.  So much for the watchdog, IAEA. 

Syria and Lebanon's history has been continuous religious rivalries and wars for a long time.  Muslims, Christians and Druze fought each other. Also, different sects within Islam and Christianity fought among themselves.  Today there are 74% Sunni and 13% Shia and Alawite Muslims, 10% Christians and 3% Druze living there. 

Today the people of Syria are trying to overthrow Bashar al-Assad.  Lebanon is still his ally and Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, a Hezbollah terrorist leader stands behind him.  He is very much against his overthrow as he thinks it would just suit the USA and Israel's interests.  The bad guys stick together. 

Book: Myths and Facts, a concise record of the Arab-Israeli conflict by Mitchell G. Bard and Joel Himelfarb
Book: Battleground: Fact and fantasy in Palestine by Samuel Katz
Textbook: Middle East Past &I Present by Yahya Armajani and Thomas M. Ricks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Syria
http://www.lakewyliepilot.com/2011/05/25/1136185/hezbollah-leader-criticizes-obama.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110525/wl_mideast_afp/syriapoliticsunrestlebanonhezbollah
http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/News/today/2011/05/2101.htm added 5/26/11
Note correction: I had Ebla spelled wrong:  I had it originally as Elba, which is an island Napolean was imprisoned on.  Thanks to a sharp historian, I have corrected it.