Jews in Arab Lands: Then and Now

                                                                          

                            Ofrah Hazah, singer from Yemen

At one time there were 100,000 Jews living in Iran. Persia, as it was called, was the home of Queen Esther or Hadassah, who was married to King Ahashuaros. It was she who saved her people by telling her husband of the plot of Haman to kill all the Jews. She had to expose herself to her husband who did not know that she was Jewish in order to do this. The brave woman readied herself on a diet of seeds and nuts for three days in order to approach him on this delicate subject, no doubt to fit into that special dress. 

   My favorite singer in Israel from Yemen, Ofrah Hazah

Today there are about 11,000 Jews left in Iran. In my own family, a cousin's husband escaped from Iran on a camel in order to leave the country.

Algeria had 140,000 Jews and now less than 100 remain.

Egypt had 75,000. I taught in the same school as an Egyptian Jewish gal in Israel. She was teaching English. Today there are less than 100.

Iraq had 150,000 Jews, much to my surprise, although Ur is in Iraq. This is the ancient city where Abraham was born and had left. By 2009 there were about 35 Jews remaining there.

Lebanon had 20,000 Jews. Now it has less than 100.

Libya had 38,000 but now has none.

Morocco had a whopping 265,000 Jews. The heads of our English Department in Safed were from Morocco. Michelle loved Paris and had clothes from her mother from there. Many Moroccans lived in Safed. Today there are about 5,500 Jews there.

Syria had 30,000 Jews. Today they have less than 100.

Tunisia had 105,000 Jews. Today they have about 1,500.

Yemen was the home of 55,000. Today there are about 200 left. I believe this had been the home of my favorite Israeli female singer, Ofrah Hazah. She became very famous in Israel, and fell upon sad times by dying from drug overdose. I was heartbroken. She was such a wonderful and young singer.

Israel declared itself a state in May 1948 with the blessing of the U.N. Immediately war broke out causing 800,000 Jews to be forced to leave Arab countries where they had been living for two millennia. They moved to their new country of Israel, ready or not, as their native country had turned against them.

Living in Israel was not easy for them. These Jews had to compete with Ashkenazi Jews, many of which were more educated. The army duty was a place where all were treated the same and became a place of integration. Many of the towns these Jews came from were quite primitive, so they had cultural changes. Now we see that this new melting pot is doing quite well.

Resource: Stand With Us's Pocket Facts of Israel

The World of Moses

Nadene Goldfoot
                                                                           

According to the Jewish timeline, Moses was born in 1391 BCE and died at the age of 120 in 1271 BCE.  That was 3,411 years ago in Egypt.  He was born to the slaves Jochebed and Amram of the tribe of Levi in Egypt.  Israelites had wandered into the Egyptian land many years ago and at this period in time, the Egyptians had become worried about their increased growth and had solved the way to stem it.  They had decreed the slaughter of all new-born males of Israelites.  

Jochebed hid her baby Moses among the reeds of the Nile River where he was found by the Pharaoh's daughter who raised him in her own household as a prince.  When he grew up and learned of his ancestry, he took a great interest in them and wound up killing an Egyptian overlord who was beating a Hebrew slave and knew that he himself had to flee or be killed for it.  
                                                      

He fled Eastward to Midian, which was a Beduin tribe related to the Hebrews where he survived by becoming a shepherd of sheep for the local priest, Jethro, and even married his daughter, Zipporah who gave him two sons, Gersham and Eliezer.  The Midianites would travel in caravans of incense from Gilead to Egypt and later to other countries. 
                                                     

 The strange thing is that later on in the desert period, the princes of Midian cooperated with Moab against Israel, and even later on conducted a plundering expedition against the Valley of Jezreel, repulsed by the Hebrew,Gideon during the period of the judges.  They lived near the Moabites and Edomites.  From the 2nd Temple times of 539 BCE, the Land of Midian was thought to be located in NW Arabia. 
                                                                           

The miracle of Judaism lies in remembering and celebrating this event which was the foundation of Judaism, for Moses became the lawgiver for Judaism, though he never knew the name, Judaism, for that was the name of the last of the 12 tribes of Jacob, grandson of Abraham, the tribe of Judah.  They are the ones who carried on the laws of Moses for about the past 3,293 years.  To be able to want to do this shows us how powerful an event this had been.  That's why we read about it every year since then and remember it in our holiday of Passover where we reenact it at our table of special foods with the unleavened bread called matzos that we eat for 8 days in replacement of leavened (with yeast) bread.  We suffer in this way like our ancestors who were led by Moses to freedom of slavery.  
                                                         

The Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, of that time  was not remembered by his name.  Pharaoh means the "Great House", referring to their royal palace.  People have been guessing since then which pharaoh it was who decreed killing babies to control populations.  

Egypt, the powerful nation

Thutmose IV's rule is significant because he established peaceful relations with Mitanni and married a Mitannian princess to seal this new alliance. Thutmose IV's role in initiating contact with Egypt's former rival, Mitanni, is documented by Amarna letter EA 29 composed decades later by Tushratta, a Mittanian king who ruled during the reign of Akhenaten, Thutmose IV's grandson. Tushratta states to Akhenaten that:"

                                                        

From Thutmose IV's tomb in Valley of Kings in Egypt

Pharaoh Menkheperure Thutmose IV 1400-1390 BCE
Probably he was the pharaoh that Moses and Aaron, his brother,  had to deal with.  Moses is said to have been born in 1391 BCE, the year before his ended.

" Little is known about his brief ten-year rule. He suppressed a minor uprising in Nubia in his 8th year (attested in his Konosso stela) around 1393 BC and was referred to in a stela as the Conqueror of Syria, but little else has been pieced together about his military exploits. Betsy Bryan, who penned a biography of Thutmose IV, says that Thutmose IV's Konosso stela appears to refer to a minor desert patrol action on the part of the king's forces to protect certain gold-mine routes in Egypt's Eastern Desert from occasional attacks by the Nubians."

The first dynasty of pharaohs goes back far more than Moses does.  Moses was quite recent in Egyptian history.  They started having kings in 3,150 BCE or 5,170 years ago.  The pharaoh we are interested in was not of the old kingdom or the middle kingdom but of the New Kingdom who reigned from 1400 BCE to 1390 BCE and that was Thutmose IV. He was the son of Amenhotep II and ruled at the height of Egypt's power.  This was a period of the rulers of the 18th dynasty.                                      

Son of Thutmos IV:  Amenhotep III  

                                                                                                        
Or, it could have been the next king who was Amenhotep III, who ruled from 1390 BCE to 1350 BCE and was the grandfather of Tutankhamun.  He was the son of Thutmos IV. Remember,  Moses was born in 1391 BCE, the year before Amehotep III's rule.  

Notice that the intelligence of the Egyptians at this time could only fathom how to draw profiles but not a full face or even a three-quarter face, yet they could draw the front view of the body.  I remember going through that period as a young child in trying to draw the back of the head showing the hair.  I think this is a sign of their mental development.  We teachers of primary grades could understand a child's intelligence by a drawing test called "DRAW A MAN TEST."  i gave points for each part of the drawing.  Naturally, a stick figure was pretty low in age development.  Yet their ability to use clay and such in creating statues was remarkable for even us today.  It could be they just preferred this artistic style.  

King Tut or Tutankhamun , grandson of the pharoah known to Moses:1342-1325 BCE; this is his death mask.  

                                                     

Limestone crudely carved  Stela of  Pharaoh Thutmose IV
adoring goddess Astarte-of 18th dynasty.

A Torah, First 5 books of Moses:  Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy; in Hebrew
called: Bereishis, Shemos, Veyikra, Bamidbar and Devarim;
read every Saturday (Shabbat) morning in a synagogue
out loud to congregation in Hebrew, starting with the Cohens,
then the Levites, then the Israelites. A man will know if he is
a Cohen or a Levite, information passed on through the centuries.
  

 Compare this with the information given to Moses in laws through G-d.  Not only that, but the whole story of Moses is amazing.  How about the 10 plagues brought onto the Egyptians as a result of Pharaoh's refusal to permit the Israelites to leave the country after being there for 400 years?   They were:
1. water of the Nile turning to blood; 2. frogs all over the place, 3. lice attacking man and beast; 4. flies (tsetse) or wild beasts; 5. murrain affecting the cattle (mad cow disease?)(anthrax)(any infectious disease)  6. boils; 7. heavy hail; 8. locusts devouring crops; 9. 3 days of darkness; 10. death of 1st-born of man and beast.  Part of our Seder tells about this every year.   

Since Moses, we have the return of Jews to Palestine causing the birth of modern Israel on May 14, 1948.  In Israel, orthodox Jewry reign.  There are very few Conservative and Reformed Jews living there.  The opposite is true of the USA.  In 2016 it was found that Conservative and Reform outweigh Orthodox Jews 5 times over.  I must add that after living in Haifa and then Safed for over 5 years, one cannot help but become orthodox in their beliefs.  You are living and breathing in the air that does things to you.  Seeing and living in the paths of ancient people of the bible causes one to have goosebumps.  I myself changed from just teaching to become a writer and producer and actress in my own plays.  I wouldn't have done that in the states.  In Israel in 1980 you were a pioneer, and called upon all your resources in helping to achieve anything.  Moses called upon G-d.  Or was it that actually G-d called upon Moses.  

The laws Moses gave us that shaped Judaism are upheld the most in Israel where it all began.  There are 613 laws total we are to follow, most of which are done normally anyway today.  We can certainly appreciate our ancient laws of food and sanitation, like washing our hands, etc, in these modern days of the Corona pandemic.  In fact, that was where we were in trouble many times living in other countries when a plague hit.  They would die and Jews may have lived through it, thought to have brought it about.  The Arabs are trashing us with this ancient accusation right now from Gaza.  

We will miss our family seder during Passover this year due to the Pandemic virus, and hope that all stay safe during this time.  We will attempt to do what we can in order to remember this time and look forward to doing a bang up job of it next year to help our children to remember.  Samayach Pesach, everyone!!

Resource:  The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pharaohs 
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/03/15/unlike-u-s-few-jews-in-israel-identify-as-reform-or-conservative/
Honest Reporting: We are already seeing antisemites trying to blame Jews and Israel for the coronavirus, journalists accusing Israel of being isolationist or even racist by limiting entry into the country, and of course there’s media bias related to non-virus issues, like Israel’s democracy, borders and security. (4/1/2020)
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Moses-Hebrew-prophet

The Al-Aqsa Mosque Imam Declares War on Israel

                                               Al-Aqsa Mosque on Temple Mount
                                                                                                          

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                

Mosque of Omar or Dome of the Rock

War has been declared last week  by Imam Raed al Danna against Israel.  He's an Imam from East Jerusalem at the Al Aqsa Mosque.  He called all the surrounding Muslim nations to destroy Israel.  This Imam announced this while visiting in Milan, Italy at a Muslim conference.  He emphasized Egypt and Jordan, nations that have peace pacts with Israel to liberate the land from the Jews.  He is waiting for a legion of conquerors to take over Israel.   The leadership of this mosque had been in the hands of Muhammad Ahmad Hussein,  who was expected to avoid controversy and self-aggrandizement.  Now he serves as the 7th and current Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.The appointment came from Abbas.  

  

On January 9, 2011, while addressing a crowd at an event marking the 47th anniversary of the founding of Fatah, Hussein quoted a controversial hadith (saying attributed to the Prophet Muhammad), stating: "The Hour will not come until you fight the Jews. The Jews will hide behind stones or trees. Then the stones or trees will call: O Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him."  Hadiths supposedly have been written by people after Mohammad's death.  That could be why this is controversial.  This one makes very good anti-Semitic propaganda used to instigate war.  

The site has been a place of unrest lately. Just before Passover on Monday April 14th,   the Israeli police had to limit  attendance at Al-Aqsa because of the fear of more violence after clashes happening over the weekend.  Security measures taken are that the men under 50 couldn't attend.  Neither could any women until a security assessment of the possibility  of more disturbances had been taken.  What can they expect after this announcement by the head Imam?  5 people were arrested on Sunday during a clash.  Muslim rioters threw stones and many Molotov cocktails.  Police officers responded with stun grenades.  Members of Hamas were were in the crowd, probably leading the protesters.  They had to pick Passover to riot!  During major Jewish holidays, when Muslims prefer to attack, the military blocks the road to Israel from Judea-Samaria for 48 hours from midnight.  Entry would be permitted only to medical, humanitarian and exceptional cases.  

Jews are getting anxious to be able to pray at the holy site where the Temple once stood, but cannot get near it or be seen moving their body back and forth while standing in prayer by the Muslim guards.  Moshe Dayan in 1967 gave permission to rule on the site to the Muslim Imam.

"“We have returned to all that is holy in our land. We have returned never to be parted from it again.” 

–Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, upon reaching the Western Wall  

However, "Chief Rabbinate Council reminded the public that "in view of the fact that the holiness of the area never ceases, it is forbidden to ascend the Temple Mount until the Temple is built.  So the Muslims don't allow Jews there and our rabbis say it's not for us at this time as a place to pray.  That should keep things peaceful, but many Jews are not aware of this fact and try to get close, and the Muslims lie in wait for it to happen.  

The Muslims consider the Al-Aqsa Mosque as the "Farthest Mosque" mentioned in the Koran.  It infers this is in Jerusalem, but never mentions the word, Jerusalem.  This couldn't be since Mohammad, who was the author of the Koran, died in 632 and the mosque was built in the year 705 CE by the Umayyads who ruled in Palestine.  The mosque lies along the southern wall of Haram al-Sharif.  It has become the 3rd holiest site in Islam and is in the Old City of Jerusalem. This has a silver dome.   It sits on the same site with the Dome of the Rock or "Noble Sanctuary."

Muslims believe that Muhammad was transported from their Sacred Mosque in Mecca to al-Aqsa during the Night Journey on a flying horse named Buraq.

 Their tradition is that Muhammad led prayers towards this site until the 17th month after the emigration, when Allah directed him to turn towards the Kaaba.  Our Jewish tradition suggests that the change was due to his frustration with Arabian Jews who refused his attempts to convert them to Islam, his new religion.

 This site is called the Temple Mount on Mount Moriah, the holiest site in Jerusalem, the place where the Jewish Temple stood before being destroyed by the Romans in  70 CE, which was the 2nd time the original Temple had been restored.  The First Temple was built by King Solomon, ruler of Israel, who lived from 961 to 920 BCE, dedicated to G-d and as a place to keep the Ark-10 Commandments.  The Assyrians attacked and carted away Jews by 722 BCE after destroying the Temple in 721 BCE.  The Babylonians then attacked Judah in 597 and 586.  Cyrus of Persia (today's Iran)  freed them and told them to go back home and rebuild their Temple which they did.  Herod was appointed king of Judah by the Romans  after he attacked and captured Jerusalem in 37 with the Roman army and he renovated the Temple, but the Romans destroyed it when they seized Jerusalem in 70 CE.

It seems to be the custom of Islamists to build mosques over others' religious sites as a show of ownership.  The Dome of the Rock, otherwise called the Mosque of Omar, is the one with the beautiful golden dome that stands out in Jerusalem.  It was also built in the center of the Jewish Temple area called al-Harim ash Sherif by Caliph Abd al-Malik in about 738.  He had it built to replace the temporary building set up by Caliph Omar 100 years earlier.  It is situated on the traditional site of Mt. Moriah, too.

So Israel has many mosques.  There is freedom of religion for the 1.7 million Muslim citizens of Israel.  One of these days the 3rd Temple will be built.  The location is not known.

Update: 5/8/14:  The Muslim Waqf members saw a 16 yr old Jew's lips move and arrested him for praying.  http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/180358#.U2uclIFdU8o

Resource:  http://www.memritv.org/embedded_player/index.php?clip_id=4252 declaring war on Israel
http://midnightwatcher.wordpress.com/2014/05/02/imam-from-jerusalems-al-aqsa-mosque-calls-upon-surrounding-muslim-nations-to-destroy-israel/
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Aqsa_Mosque
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ahmad_Hussein
http://www.thesundaily.my/news/1016102
http://www.sixdaywar.org/content/ReunificationJerusalem.asp
http://my.telegraph.co.uk/abdulmuhd/amuhd/563/muhammad-claims-to-jerusalem-is-a-myth/

  

Jihad-a Sacred Duty for Hamas Against Israel

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                              

Hamas is not about to ever make peace with Israel, they say.  They were founded in 1987, so they've been warring against Israel for the past 27 years. Since 2001 shelling has come from Gaza upon southern Israel.  Hamas kicked out Fatah in 2007.   Fatah, on the other hand, was the PLO, Arafat's terrorists,  and they've been at it for the past 65 years one way or another.  The one way right now it not to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. The PLO started in 1964 and their ideology is that "armed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine.  They see the partition in 1947 which wasn't accepted by them as something illegal (not accepting the UN decision of creating 2 states).  They then think creating Israel was an illegal act.   They disbelieve the Jews claims of historical or religious ties with the land.  This comes out of their PLO charter of 1968.  Kerry should have read their charter first, and he would have known the stand they would inevitably take.

 The goals of both, as they've shown by teaming up together on many occasions, is to drive Israel into the sea.  Terrorists  have been shooting at southern Israel since 2001 with rockets, usually Qassams, mortars and missiles.  " Their main effect is their creation of widespread psychological trauma and disruption of daily life among the Israeli populace. Medical studies in Sderot, the Israeli city closest to the Gaza Strip, have documented a post-traumatic stress disorder incidence among young children of almost 50%, as well as high rates of depression and miscarriage." 

Hamas has dug many tunnels in Gaza to bring in weaponry or supplies to make weapons.  The Egyptian war has hurt them since they have destroyed hundred of these smuggling tunnels along the border between Gaza and Egypt.  Egyptian security measures include measures against Hamas.

Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas Prime Minister, spoke to a crowd at a mass rally and told his people that the Egyptian war has harmed his movement.  He's hoping that this rally will send a message to Israel and the PA and Egypt.  He wants to tell Egypt that despite the ongoing Egyptian blockade of the Gaza Strip, Hamas will not weaken.

On the 21st of March, a Friday, Israel found a tunnel that had gone for hundreds of yards into Israel.  They were very glad they had found such a large a tunnel, so Hamas downplayed the discovery and remarked, Oh, this old tunnel?   "“This tunnel was unsuitable for use,” said the spokesman, who was identified only as Abu Obaida. “This is not a new tunnel, and it was uncovered due to the rainstorm last week. The discovery was not an intelligence achievement, as the enemy tries to promote.”  Ha!  

The Egyptians have accused Hamas of terrorist attacks inside Egypt, said Yusef Rizka, a Hamas representative. Rizka went on to say that Jihad in Palestine ( here he is calling Israel "Palestine") is not terrorism."  " Jihad in Palestine is a sacred duty."  
                                                    

Since September 28, 2000 to December 31, 2005

Terrorism Against Israel 

25,770 terrorist attacks

147 suicide bombings causing 47% of all deaths

1,084 killed

7,454 injured

82% of dead and wounded were civilians between 2000 to 2004.  

March 12, 2014

5 rockets hit Israel- most all at once in 2 years

Israel responded.  "The military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, called the Al-Quds Brigade, claimed responsibility for firing dozens of missiles on  what it called "Israeli settlements."

60 rockets hit Israel -huge barrage

Israel caught an Iranian ship on March 5  with missiles headed for Gaza and confiscated them.  Afterwards, 60 missiles rained down on southern Israel from Gaza as punishment.  

They do have different moral and ethical standards than the rest of us.  To attack women and children is terrorism to us.  To them it's their moral duty.  That may have been okay  for people 4,000 years ago, but not today. Some of us  have advanced.   By 1,200 BCE, Moses brought to the 12 tribes of Jacob and other slaves that joined up with them a very moral code to follow; the Mosaic Law.    We follow it to this day.  Judaism equals morality and ethics.  That's what it's all about.  Left to man's imagination, we had the Holocaust.  We had savage brutality on the "Road to Bataan", a death march.     By 630 CE Mohammad gave a code similar to his people who became Muslims, didn't he?   Wasn't he the 3rd and final teacher, he said?   How can the Palestinian Arabs feel that killing helter-skelter other than warring against an army in battle is okay to do and is their moral duty?

What they do is shoot into southern Israel helter-skelter, not knowing what they will hit.  Only they know that what they are aiming at are homes with women and children, schools, etc and that's what they hope to kill. Unlike their own people who put their women and children in harm's way, Israelis have bomb shelters-that is-if they can get to them within the 3 minute warning.  

Since 2001 Hamas and other groups in Gaza have rained down rockets, mortars and missiles on southern Israel.

By holding such a rally shows  us that even if Abbas does a 180 degree turn around and signs an Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty, the Palestinians who took over Gaza will not stop plotting to destroying Israel.  It's in their charter.  If they ever rewrite their charter and take up ethical and moral goals, then of course peace would be on the horizon.  Even Abbas knows that he would not live a minute more if he signed such a treaty because Hamas, who is also in Judah and Samaria, would do him in quickly.  You cannot turn a missile into a plow just by looking and it and threatening it.  So it's the same with people on a course of utter hatred and war, Fatah and Hamas..

Since the war will continue from Gaza most likely, some day the terrorists will just fall through their land from digging so many tunnels, I guess.  Their only skill ever learned will be of digging tunnels. Anyone needing some tunnel diggers for a subway system they want to install?

Gaza had been under Egyptian control before it came into Israel's hands in 1949.  In May 1967 U Thant, the UN secretary-general, obeyed the demand by Nasser of Egypt to withdraw the UN force which led to events that started the Six-Day War of 1967.  Israel won and Gaza was again under Israeli control.  In 1967 there were 352,260 people in the Gaza Strip of whom 172,520 were refugees.

Resource:  http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4231/palestinians-dream-destroying-israel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/22/world/middleeast/israel-announces-discovery-of-a-tunnel-stretching-from-gaza.html?_r=0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gaza_(2007)
The New Standard Jewish Encyhclopedia
Israel 101, StandWithUs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gaza_(2007)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel,_2014

Messages From A Syrian Jew Trapped In Egypt: Authorhouse, Publishers

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                      

The novel, Messages From A Syrian Jew Trapped In Egypt, is hot off the press.  Use the publisher's page below to  read the overview and have a free preview of the book.    If you're interested in how the Syrian Civil War started, this book explains it with the fight between the Muslim Brotherhood and Assad, an Alawite.  It also tells about the Muslim Brotherhood and how they have affected Syria and Egypt.

The book is up to date telling about the plight of the Syrian refugees and one particular one, young tall, dark and handsome Vick, who is different from the rest.  He has a Jewish mother, making him by definition Jewish as well. This he must keep a secret as he lives in a Muslim world.    While he tries to find his mother,  he finds beautiful women who are  attracted to him.  All the while he works on defending Israel among his Muslim friends, a very dangerous step to take.

http://bookstore.authorhouse.com/Products/SKU-000905812/Messages-From-a-Syrian-Jew-Trapped-in-Egypt.aspx
Also found at amazon.com and Barnes and Noble online.
Update 4/20/14

Where Can Syrians Find Refuge From Civil War?

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                          

                                                              Fighting on streets in Syria

Syrians came into Egypt in 2011 at the beckoning of Morsi, who thought they would add votes to his Muslim Brotherhood.  When he was deposed, the Egyptians were ready to send the Syrian refugees back to Syria, but could not according to the UN.  Only some were registered as refugees at that point in time, then the deposed Morsi changed all that.  Now, the government has reason to have them leave since they've been there past the original time allowed.  Egypt has more than enough of their own poor to care for let alone refugees for they have a population of about 79,089,650.

The American embassy is closed in Egypt so that Syrians cannot go there  to get the needed visas to the USA.  The embassies are situated in a war zone anyway where so much rioting has been taking place. There are curfews at night needed for protection.   Egypt has not been the safe refuge they thought they were fleeing to.  The American embassy was not even answering the phone to help these people when people were still there.
                                                                       

Sweden has opened its doors to Syrian refugees, but the catch is that anyone with a Syrian passport has to have a visa to Sweden, and visas are going for around $5,000 or more. Even a visa to the USA for other people can go for as high as $2,000 for certain ones.   After two years of being away from jobs, most Syrians have gone through their savings and are now penniless.  They can't afford to get to Sweden.  These people burdened with Syrian passports could go to many Muslim countries, like Turkey, but the problem again is the high costs of living.  To go there they need money for rent and food, and jobs are not available, so they can't exist there unless they have family, which most all don't have.

Obama said that the USA would take in about 2,000 refugees, but so far have only taken in 90 people since the start of the Civil War.  More than 2 million Syrians have left their homes in Syria.  Syria's population before the war was about 22,505,000.  Well over 100,000 have died in the war, more like 150,000 today.

If one is an American friend of a Syrian wanting to come to the USA, he cannot sponsor the person.  Even a mother cannot sponsor her children, especially a son.  I found this out at the Lutheran Community Services, who seem to be the only ones who know about visas to the USA in our city.  It would be easier today for the child to sponsor the parent.    Political asylum isn't offered to Syrians, evidently.   Only if the Syrian is a famous scientist or a former security guard at the US Embassy in Syria, can they have reason to get to immigrate to the USA.

50 people were granted refuge in 2013 to the USA and an embassy guard was one of them.  In 2012 only 31 were allowed into the USA.  He reported that he had been arrested many times  and tortured for 10 days  in Syria with the accusation that he was an agent of the USA.  He's now living in Texas.  Syria didn't need many reasons to imprison and torture someone who stepped over the line of acceptable behavior.  Another reason was if you were even interested in joining the Masons, or if you were Jewish.

The only recourse for Syrian refugees turns out to be Jordan's refugee camps with the UN sponsored  Zaatari near the Syrian border in Mafrq, Jordan the most likely.  There are camps sponsored by Jordan only that are far more dismal and in need of sponsors.  People are not allowed to look for jobs if refugees in Jordan.  It's a pretty dismal life.  This is atrocious for people who have been industrious workers and not people used to being on the dole.  It would be like expecting all of Portland, Oregon to suddenly live in a camp in tents  or small boxlike structures in all sorts of weather and do nothing.  Can you see problems arising?  Of course.

Most all Jews in Syria had left in 1992 and 1994 with the assistance of Judith Feld Carr.  She is a Canadian that managed to take them out.  That was quite a feat considering Jews were not allowed to go abroad and had been kept in a ghetto since 1948 living under unimaginable restrictions.  Judith has been given awards from Canada and Israel for her bravery, determination  and chutzpa.

These are problems both Muslim and Christian Syrians and a few Jews are facing.  Most of the refugee camps are full of women and children.  The men are in smaller numbers.  Men don't want to return to Syria because they will be forced to fight for either the state or the various terrorist groups.  They truly have the reason to ask for political asylum, but are not being listened to or given this right.  Not all the Syrian men want to join up with some group and fight.

Who would want to stand by Assad?  What kind of person would back him?  Syrians had free education and free health care.  As a president who is a dictator in reality, he did give his Muslim constituents that much.  He was an evil man when it came to the Jews, however, who had lived in the Jewish Quarter in Damascus and in Aleppo, the hub of the business district.  He had taken all their rights and they were actually locked up in a ghetto-like existence.  The fear was that they would join Israel and fight against him, so the story goes.

Resource: Oregonian Newspaper page A7:  12/27/13 Few Syrian refugees resettling in the US by Anne Gearan, Washington Post
My book yet to be published, compiled references
Update: 1/4/14 http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2012/10/daily-chart-3

The Muslim's Omar al-Bashir Fights Against the Christian Salva Kiir in Sudan

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                              

              Omar al-Bashir, President of North Sudan

Here we have a country that has been divided in 2011 between Muslims and Christians, North and South Sudan, and it's not working out well at all.

Barack Hussein Obama has a scandalous half brother.  Word is on the streets that Malik Hussein Obama  is reported to be buying recruits in the Sudan for as much as $5,000 American dollars for the Muslim Brotherhood.  Where is he getting this money from?   Who he has formerly been known to associate with has been Omar al-Bashir who was behind the attack on the US embassy in Khartoum, Sudan.  This attack occurred at about the same time as the Benghazi attack. If the money is coming from Bashir, how is he getting so much American money?  It appears that the embassy attacks have lost momentum on the TV news.  Nothing much has been said about who the perpetrators were, though there was a lot of haggling over it.

Omar al-Bashir is the president of North Sudan.  He is known to have a despotic government.  Al-Basir is something like Hitler, an Islamic tyrant responsible for the deaths of over 3 million people in the name of Jihad.  He has held a war against Christians.

American embassies in Egypt and Libya have been attacked by Muslims.  Muslim mobs have now raided the British, German and American embassies in North Sudan and again, Omar al-Bashir is the one responsible.
                                                                           

                 Salva Kiir, President of South Sudan

Who seems to be stopping the revolution against this Omar al-Bashir?  By supporting the Islamic uprisings, it is President Obama.  His administration is in support of the rebels in Syria, so has condemned Assad.  Obama prevented Salva Kiir, the Christian president of South Sudan from aiding rebels who wanted to topple al-Bashir's regime.  Omar al-Bashir, a Muslim leader,  has been receiving a lot of protection from Obama.

Salva was President of South Sudan by gaining its independence from North Sudan in 2011.  Salva is a devout Christian.  ""Indeed, many political analysts and opinion leaders worldwide describe him as the Biblical Joshua who took the mantle of leadership from Moses just as the Israelites were on the verge of entering Canaan and capably established the then fugitives in the Promised Land," the South Sudan government says on its website.

 Malik Obama is the Executive Secretary for the IDO, (Islamic Da'wa Organization which is in Khartoum, Sudan.  Their primary focus is to expand Wahhabist Islam in Africa.

 Bashir was in Khartoum where he declared that he was going to make Sudan's  constitution 100% Islamic.   Malik Hussein Obama shares this ideal with Bashir.  Both men attended the general Conference of the Islamic Council of South Sudan and a meeting for the Islamic Da'wa Organization with the Board of Trustees.  Malik Obama is an Executive Secretary in the Dawa Organization.

A fatwa against Christians which Malik Obama is all for is the cause of violence against Christians in Africa today.  Bashir's thugs are slaughtering and attacking Christians in front of Kambouni playground with sticks and machetes.  Bashir's government is enforcing Arabic to be the language of the land and are deporting missionaries while bulldozing their churches.  It was in 2012 that Bashir gave Christians until March 1st to leave North Sudan, but one half a million were stranded there and became targets for shooters.

Sudan is the 8th highest Muslim majority country in the world out of 48.  The country has been 70% Sunni Muslim with 43,939,598 population.

Malik Obama is from  Kenya.  He is being accused by the Egyptian government of managing funds for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.   Egypt's Tahani al-Gebali, former chancellor and adviser to the constitutional Court of Egypt is claiming that Malik Obama is the architect of the Brotherhood's financial investments and this is the reason that the USA cannot fight the Brotherhood.   Malik heard the allegations and calls them nonsense.

Criminal charges have been filed in Egypt against Malik  on the basis of Gebali's accusation of him managing investments for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.  Malik says that he hasn't been in Egypt and that as a Muslim he doesn't promote hatred or violence and has never belonged to any extremist group in his life.  That would sure rule out the Muslim Brotherhood for they are all of that.  However, he is the secretary of IDO, created by the Sudanese government which is a terrorist state by the standards set by the USA State Department.

How this all involves Israel is very simple.  Malik is the chairman of IDO now, having been secretary.  He is very close with his boss, Al Dahab.  Al Dahab is very close with Hamas's prime minister, Ismael Haniyeh, and also the religious leader of Hamas, Qaradawi, formerly of Egypt.  In fact, when Morsi was president, he spoke to the people in Egypt.  Qaradawi is the head religious leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and of many Muslims.

In the 2000s, a large number of undocumented Africans entered Israel illegally through the fenced border between Israel and Egypt.  About 26,635 came by July 2010 and over 55,000 in January 2012.  They were seeking an asylum status under the UN laws.  Only a few were really eligible for this.  Most were citizens of Eritrea and Sudan and could not be forcibly deported from Israel.  Eritrea has a difficult internal situation and those people are defined as temporary humanitarian protection group.  Israel was in fear for the Sudanese and did not deport them back immediately.  Israel had to grant a temporary residence permit to be renewed every 3 months.  Most live in Tel Aviv and Eilat.  They were causing many problems and were accused of robbery. Now the Sudan is being stirred up again with plenty of fighting going on.

Resource:  http://shoebat.com/2013/05/24/obamas-brother-works-with-man-who-attacked-us-embassy/
http://www.wnd.com/2013/09/obamas-kenyan-brother-attacks-wnd/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_immigration_from_Africa_to_Israel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_al-Bashir
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12107760
http://shoebat.com/2013/05/28/confirmed-barack-obamas-brother-in-bed-with-man-wanted-by-international-criminal-court-icc-for-crimes-against-humanity/
Update: 12/27/13 http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/raymond-ibrahim/obamas-brother-muslim-brotherhood-leader/

USA In Danger: UnAmerican View of the World Today

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                           

Bloggers have been warning of the dangers of siding with Iran, but our newspapers haven't mirrored this fear.  Finally, Lt. Gen. Thomas G. McInerney voices concern when he warned that "we have an administration that has an entirely different view of the world."   He feels that Russia and Iran are influencing America's thinking. Ask most people today in the world and Russia is named as the top dog.   Our waning presence in the Middle East  is putting the US in a most dangerous situation, similar to where we were in the 1930's before WWII.
                                                                               

 Iran will not continue to feel the pain of sanctions-the slap on the hands for wanting to A Bomb Israel.  Who doesn't really understand her motives in this?  Iran has done the right thing religiously; warned Israel umpteen times of their motives.  It's not her fault that no one on the planet wants to heed their warnings except little Israel, the thorn in everyone's side, evidently.  Surely Obama must think so.  We're the pain in his neck, the teeny state raising all the ruckus of not wanting to be eliminated by their neighbors who reject their hold on their  real estate holdings.  How dare we insist on existing when nobody wants us!  Besides that, we just have the chutzpah to show up all the neighbors and make them look shabby with our Democracy, our strength and continual start up businesses that are being developed, not to mention all the fantastic medical technology coming out of this teeny state.

No, do you think that Iran will not continue because the USA has caved in and has offered $6 billion dollars to Iran to tide them over for the next few months while Kerry and staff stall around and try to come up with something they all love?  So isn't this the same as lifting the sanctions?  Well, I guess not, being the first offer was in the amount of $7 billion.  This would have allowed Iran to continue funding it's Lebanese proxy terror group, Hezbollah for 35 years, its military ICBM program for 21 more months or it's war budget for the next 9 months.  This is some crazy way to even dream while on drugs that this will end the problem with Iran and their outlandish plot to crush Israel and be the rulers of the Middle East.  Does the USA really want to partner up with such an evil empire?  Where, or where is John Wayne when we need him?  We've wound up with the wrong John and that's where our country is going.

Meanwhile, our ever alert administration is declaring that Israel's outlandish idea of needing Iran to totally dismantle its nuclear capacity will lead to war.  Oh sure, take away their toys of destruction making them unable to harm a country totally and finally and that's dangerous for the USA.  What kind of convoluted thinking is this?  Israel is very realistic while the USA is evidently thinking from cloud 9 these days.  Kerry actually said that Netanyahu's fear that this new deal of releasing money and easing sanctions will lead to Israel being vulnerable to destruction is unfounded.  Sure, I mean after all, nuclear weapons capability coupled with hatred and threats that are called for according to their religious thinking certainly can't harm anyone.  Where was Kerry when Japan was bombed by the USA?  Israel's fears are unfounded?  Oh yes, Israel lives in such a loving neighborhood.  Right?  We're not smoking weed, Kerry, we can still think straight.  Get off this kick.  The USA is losing or has already lost its status in the world.  You're adding salt to the wound with such statements.
                                                                         

Let's look at our nice neighbors, Hamas.  They are threatening Israel with their new missile range, probably missiles supplied by Iran that can reach Tel Aviv.  Mushir al-Masri, big shot Hamas in their parliament and but time terrorist said that if Israel hits Gaza-and it's been Gaza who has been hitting Israel during this cease fire period, they would fire missiles at targets north of Tel Aviv.  That means they're going to blast us for sure if we reciprocate with hits.  The fact that they upset the whole southern Israel full of over a million people is small potatoes to them-they feel that only they have the right to attack.  No one has the right to defend themselves in their eyes.

Getting down to the USA, we see that Iran and Russia now have influence over the USA, not Israel, not even in consideration that is noticeable except from the USA Senate.  The administration does not seem to listen to it.  The USA has used very selfish thinking in losing Egypt to Russia in that the USA was backing the wrong group, the Muslim Brotherhood, people who want to destroy Israel, for  Pete's sake.  Coupled with not having a presence in the Middle East that amounts to much, allowing the Ben Gazi embassy situation to go by the wayside, just ignored for so long that nobody knows nor cares what happened anymore,  has added up to the USA losing ground as the great country to be admired.  We are no longer number one in Egypt, I can tell you that much, despite what the politicians say to the microphones.  Egypt just signed a $4 billion dollar arms deal with Russia.  Egypt will now be able to be on par with the IDF.  Isn't that nice?  See how Israel is screwed again?

Somebody was able to delay Iran's capabilities via computers.  Remember?  Iran just got even by a a cybe-attack hit Wednesday that shut down a site for several hours of United With Israel's Stop Iran initiative.  It was a site with a petition to Obama to oppose any deal that didn't dismantle Iran's nuclear program. Rod Beckstrom of ICANN, a group overseeing the internet's architecture, thinks that the USA will give up their governance of the internet by 2018.  We're just giving up leadership in everything.   How about the show of probably forcing the Jews of Tehran to come out and protest against any interference.  The Jews in that country are most likely under a lot of stress and threats.
                                                                           

What we're not getting out of Kerry's deals are any meaningful nuclear concessions from Tehran.  We're just giving in a lot and giving back wiggle room that will be used to the utmost.  We've put a nerd into the ring with Goliath, and he ain't no David.  Not only have we lost our reputation but our safety net as well.  We're in bad shape and don't even care.

 The USA is also  in danger of an EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) attack by Iran which would have the power to shut down our electrical grid and we'd be living the TV program of Revolution that is so popular.  It's the story of losing our electricity and our government at the same time, and evidently Iran's capability has this within reach as well.    Iran has repeatedly called for a world without America, and has already practiced attacks on us using EMP  from barges in the Caspian Sea. We are as unprepared for this as the TV scenario's people are.  This was discussed in Washington DC in a conference about it.  Who knew such a thing could be a reality?  We'll be thrown back into the Dark Ages.  Our lives depend on electricity.
                                                                         

                   Where 12 Tribes of Jacob lived in the Holy Land of Israel -1271-721 BCE, and then Assyria attack in 721 BCE and carried off 10 of the 12 tribes (27,290 Israelites)  leaving Judah, the largest and strongest.  Once strong, King Hoshea (730-721BCE) wasn't guarding the henhouse when he should have.  He was a prophet who forecast Israel's exile but also had visions of restoration after the people's repentance.  After 2,000+ years of sufferings, how much more repentance is needed?  

Where we once thought the USA had Israel's back, we're now understanding that the word "back" has a much different meaning.  It's more like "back" to the 67 "lines" that Obama urged about, or back out of a promise and a friendship that Israel had for 65 years.  It's more like being stabbed in the back.  It's not a condition of it's either him or us.  It's a matter of not standing together.  It's parents where each are taking opposite viewpoints with their children, making their children crazy.  The whole matter is that these two, USA and Israel, were never married to each other in the first place.  It was a bad match.

Reference:  Arutz Sheva, Senior General:  US in greatest danger since 1930s by Ari Yashar & Orli Harari; UWI's "Stop Iran" initiative hit by cyber-attack by Ari Yashar;  UN Ambassador:  Iran being offered $6 billion in relief by Ari Yashar; US Official, Israel's Position on Iran could Lead to War by Elad Benari, Hamas:  Our rockets will reach north of Tel Aviv by Dalit haleva, Ari Yashar; Experts:  US "unprepared" for potential Iran attack by Daniel Perez, Orli Harari, Washington

What Obama's Backing of Muslim Brotherhood Has Led To

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                     

Egypt has not been idle.  Since benefits from the USA were cut because they wouldn't keep Mohamed Morsi, head of the Muslim Brotherhood, in the presidential office, they have found alternatives.They had been gifted annually by the USA,  $1.3 billion for defense and economic aid since 1979  when they signed a peace treaty with Israel.

  The USA has gone ahead and has  frozen $250 million in military aid to Egypt.  This is at a time when Egypt has been overrun with Syrian refugees that Morsi had instigated and allowed to come into the country, thinking they were all from the Muslim Brotherhood and would be just the ticket he needed to back up his organization.  Since he was ousted, the Egyptian government would like to send these refugees back home, but are not allowed according to the UN refugee laws.  However, they have been there a good year, now, and are being rounded up. Evidently they are there on tourist visas and the time is up.  Found, they will be charged with being illegal immigrants.   It's a bad situation.  Egypt has its own 79,089,650 population with a big % who are also always hungry.

 News right out of New York City is that "Egypt has detained over 1,500 refugees from Syria, which included 400 Palestinians and 250 children for weeks and often for months.  they will be held indefinitely until they leave Egypt.  They've been trying to migrate to Europe on smugglers' boats, as they're run out of savings they fled with and are facing xenophobia in Egypt.  Security forces are making arrests as recently as 11/4/13 according to UNHCR.  They have been coerced to leave and dozens have gone back to Syria.  They didn't get listed as refugees because of the change in the politics; Morsi bringing them in and Sisi's  leaders against them as they could be amongst the agitators and instigators of riots, etc.
                                                                         
 Note that not all of the Syrians who fled Syria are members of the Muslim Brotherhood, though, and they are living in terror now of becoming homeless.  If you are a Syrian, you cannot get to any USA port to claim political asylum.  The USA is not taking in any refugees at all.  A friend cannot sponsor a Syrian such as what Jews were able to do for Jews in the 1930's.  Even a mother has a hard time getting a son into the states if she immigrated first.  The American Embassy is closed and so are the Israeli and British Embassies.  Therefore, they cannot get a visa to come to these places anyway.  By being on a Syrian passport, they cannot go to the EU, either, only other Muslim nearby countries such as Turkey or Jordan.  If they are educated, young, and want to work and live a normal life, they are frozen in time; stuck! Facing a refugee camp which for them is the kiss of death-a dead end to life and their education!

Egypt has turned to Russia, who had a lot of presence in Syria and probably still does.  The Russian foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu visited in Egypt "and left with promises of new strategic relations."  Lavrov said, "We respect Egypt's sovereignty and the rights of Egyptian people to determine their future."  The BBC reported this comment.

Obama tried to manipulate Egypt instead and said they should re-instate Morsi and wait until voting time comes around again.  Obviously Egypt was so alarmed that they couldn't move fast enough to get rid of him.  Sometimes, democracy and voting isn't all up to what it should be in new Middle East countries.  It hasn't followed the same path it did with our Pilgrims.    In this case, they weren't ready; didn't vet Morsi well enough.  How he got elected has always been a mystery to me, showing me that I just didn't understand the Egyptian mind to do such as thing as to allow a Muslim Brotherhood to be a leader when Sadat, a man I admire, wouldn't let them have an inch in the government.  THEY WERE OUTLAWED!  The big disappointment to me was that Obama thought well of them, a group who threatens the lives of Jews and of Israel, who wants to drive Israel into the sea, whose Qaradawi-head religious leader for the Brotherhood wants to kill Jews with his bare hands if he could and preaches to others to do just that!  How little our Americans bother to check facts before making up their minds.  Now the Russians have saved the day for the Syrians AND the Egyptians.

General al-Sisi, Egypt's army chief and defense minister felt this signified "historic strategic relations" and a new era of "constructive, fruitful co-operation on the military level."  This comes from Al Jazeera.

Egypt hasn't closed the door completely on the USA, however.  Like a man looking around for a better job than the present one, they are keeping their options open.  Mohamed Gomaa, political analyst in Egypt said that "Egypt's foreign affairs are being restructured, but relations with Russia shouldn't be seen as a substitute for ties with the USA.  The Egyptians have no intention to drift away from the USA right now.  Unlike the USA, however, Russia will sell Egypt weapons and not give them away for free."  They are businessmen, after all.

Resource:  Arutz Sheva news@israelnationalnews.com  Eygpt and Russia Hold Historic Talks by Ari Yashar.
Human Rights Watch, Egypt:  Syria Refugees Detained, Coerced to  Return, November 10, 2013.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/07/20137319828176718.html