Palestine Copying Hezbollah-Run Lebanon Government

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                    

                                            Hezbollah, who run Lebanon today

Kerry went to Beirut, Lebanon yesterday to tell that country to pick a president and end their stalemate.  They haven't been able to do this because Hezbollah is in charge of the country.   Hezbollah (Party of God) came into power in 1982 when Israel let Major Hadad of Lebanon to go it alone and go to stop the PLO in their camp.  They had been fighting against Hadad and attacking Israel.  Hadad and his men were Christians, and the country, according to Lebanese law, needed a Maronite Christian to be the President of this Muslim majority  state.  Hadad was helping Israel to guard its northern border.

According to Wikipedia, Lebanon has a president who is Tammam Salam born 1945 and who started his term in office on May 25, 2014.  He is the incumbent of the Independent Party.  He had to step in because they hadn't been able to choose a Maronite Christian.  "This agreement had to be suspended three times, when two Muslims, the former Prime Ministers had to step in as Acting Presidents, Selim Hoss in 1988, Fouad Siniora in 2007 and Tammam Salam in 2014"  Since this isn't the first time they have had problems in picking a Maronite Christian but had solved the problem, did they really need Kerry to tell them to get with it and  end their political stalemate?  

Now, this united Hamas-Fatah government of Palestine that the USA is already accepting (PUG) is based on Hezbollah's model in Lebanon.  The deal is this:
1. Hezbollah terrorists are a part of the government
2. They  get to run their own large and independent army.
Conclusion:  Hezbollah controls most of Lebanon.  Lebanon is in an official state of war with Israel.

Hezbollah fought a guerrilla campaign against Israel in southern Lebanon until Israel withdrew in 2000.  Then they emerged as a leading political party in post-civil war Lebanon.  On July 12, 2006, Hezbollah launched a military operation against Israel and killed Israeli soldiers and abducted 2 as prisoners of war.  This caused Israel into having a major military offensive against Hezbollah. This 2nd Lebanon War ended on August 14, 2006.   The war lasted 34 days and 1,000 Lebanese were said to be dead from it in Lebanon.  1,000,000 were displaced. It was a stalemate.   This was seen as Lebanon coming out of it as heroes.  This helped them to topple Lebanon's government.  It looks like they are still in the driver's seat.  It was Iran who backed and supported Lebanon during the war and probably afterwards, too.  .

Hezbollah dominates the country's domestic and foreign policy and their military machine is better than the national army.  It makes the final say on appointments.  Hezbollah subscribes to the Iranian paradigm of wilayat al-faqih. The doctrine of Wilayat al-Faqih forms the central axis of contemporary Shi’a political thought. It advocates a guardianship-based political system, which relies upon a just and capable jurist (faqih) to assume the leadership of the government in the absence of an infallible Imam. However, although the guardianship of a high-ranking religious scholar is universally accepted amongst all Shi’a theories of governance, any disagreement is focused on the details such as the role of the jurist and the scope of his authority.  

 Ahmad al-Asaad, leader of the Shiite party, believes that "we must get rid of Hezbollah in order to build a viable state. Washington is funding the Lebanese Armed Forces which everybody knows is under Hezbollah control.
                                                                           

                                              Hamas Terrorists will have free reign.

Aren't we thrilled that Palestine is copying the Hezbollah terrorists' model for government?  Hamas will be just like them. They will run much of the show behind the scenes and also keep its independent army of terrorists and weapons.  Lee Smith, author of " THE STRONG HORSE, Power, politics, and the clash of Arab civilizations"  notes that their independent military organization will engage in terrorism.  The PA is only a legitimate cover while they wage war against Israel.  No doubt Washington will be funding the PA because Kerry is calling the Hezbollah terrorists a legitimate player when speaking in Lebanon and Syria.

Why bother labeling groups as terrorists when they are still involved and accepted by the USA?

Some are talking about the reason Kerry went to Lebanon, and don't think it was just for pushing for stability by electing a Maronite Christian as president.  It was to send a message to Israel.  Since Israel didn't bend in Kerry's running of a peace table, this could be quite vindictive of Kerry.  The USA is accepting a Palestine that has terrorists running the government, just like Lebanon has, and thus the USA will then be able to work with them.

Resource:  http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/john-kerry-visits-hezbollahs-lebanon-sends-message-to-israel/2014/06/05/
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/264741/Hezbollah
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Presidents_of_Lebanon
http://www.al-islam.org/shia-political-thought-ahmed-vaezi/what-wilayat-al-faqih
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Lebanon_War

Breaking USA Rules: Hezbollah and USA in Secret Talks

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                    

Hezbollah is an Iranian sponsored terrorist organization originating from Lebanon made up of Shiites who are fighting to destroy Israel.  They have 50,000 to 70,000 Iranian-supplied missiles sitting in civilian areas in southern Lebanon that are all aimed at Israel.  Their troops are fighting on the side of Assad in Syria and have helped to killed over 120,000 Syrian civilians and other rebel terrorist groups.
                                                                             

The USA has a law that prohibits the Administration from speaking with a group like Hezbollah who have political and military wings, but that isn't stopping our administration. 

 They are involved in secret indirect talks through London.  The talks supposedly are about fighting against the other main terror group, al Qaida.  What the USA is doing, they say, is hearing the views of this party and warming up to a direct relationship in the future.    Iran backs Hezbollah.  It's interesting that Rouhani, the Iranian president, spoke to David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, last week and then placed the talks in the context of the ongoing negotiations between the West and Tehran.  This makes Washington seem very willing to have diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic.  Britain and Iran's relations fell after the Iranians stormed the British embassy in Tehran in November 2011.  The odd thing is that a month before this happened, in October, Britain and Iran had renewed diplomatic relations and Britain named a new charge d'affaires to Iran. " The British Embassy in Tehran is closed following an attack on the Embassy on 29th November 2011. Sweden now represents British interests in Iran through a British interests section at the Swedish Embassy in Tehran. The UK has not cut diplomatic ties with Iran, although they remain at the lowest level consistent with the maintenance of diplomatic relations."  
                                                                       

Obama's administration is that of the Democratic party.  The Republicans are about a 180 reversal of what they are trying to do.  Senator Marco Rubio, Republican from Florida is opposed to the nuclear deal with Iran.  He calls Iran a "rogue state," and has pointed out that Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei will oversee implementation of the agreement and was calling Israel a "rabid dog" and accusing the USA of war crimes.   It must be remembered that Khamenei is their supreme leader and the country's head of state and holds more power than the President does.  It is Khamenei who is in charge of Iran's foreign policy which includes the nuclear agreement.  Some of the things Khamenei is throwing into the face of the USA are crimes in Iraq, drones in Pakistan, more drone crimes, Afghanistan's bombing, torture, killing, the Guantanamo prison, etc.  So he doesn't like the USA much less than he hates Israel.
                                                             

The USA most likely is talking with Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah which started in 1985.  Hezbollah is in the government of Lebanon, and is called a state within a state.  They call Israel the Zionist Entity when they are feeling nice.  He has said many quoted statements, but one was that "if Israel attacks Lebanon, Iran, Syria or Gaza, they will be met with a fierce response. "   Israel doesn't initiate attacks, only engages in defensive attacks after being hit or to squelch an oncoming attack.  He also refuses to believe that there is a legal state of Israel.  I guess news hasn't gotten to Iran in the past 65 years.

Al Qaeda is the terrorist group that Osama Ben Laden formed which is a global Sunni group out for all to follow the Sharia Law.  It came from Peshawar, Pakistan.  So we have Sunni against Shi'a terrorists, both all for Sharia Law but obvious competitors where both have been trying to take over Syria.  .

Resource:  http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Report-London-is-mediating-indirect-secret-talks-between-US-and-Hezbollah-333245 by Ariel Ben Solomon
Oregonian newspaper, December 1, 2013, page A2, politiFact.com Rubio calls out Iranian leader for referring to Israel as a "rabid dog".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hezbollah
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/h/hassan_nasrallah.html
http://abcnews.go.com/International/hezbollah-al-qaeda-fighters-edging-closer-confrontation/story?id=19144119
http://abcnews.go.com/International/hezbollah-al-qaeda-fighters-edging-closer-confrontation/story?id=19144119
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/10471509/Iran-and-the-US-learned-the-lessons-of-failure.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_diplomats_of_the_United_Kingdom_to_Iran

Hezbollah in Syria's Slaughter and Israel's Acts of Kindness

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                            

Shiite Hezbollah fighters are supporting President Bashar Assad's forces.   In the north of Syria is Aleppo, a former center of Jewish life.  Today, one of two main alliances who emerged in September is the Islamic Alliance.   In the south is the 2nd group, carrying the black flag of jihad,  which includes the Damascus suburbs. Both groups  are  Salafist organizations.   "Salafism is deemed a hybrid of Wahhabism and other movements since the 1960s.  Salafism has become associated with literalist, strict and puritanical approaches to Islam and, particularly in the West, with the Salafi Jihadis who espouse violent jihad against civilians as a legitimate expression of Islam,   though leading Salafi scholars have condemned attacks on civilians,  and Salafi who support such attacks are in a minority.
                                                                         

 Damascus was the home of the Jewish Quarter, whose Jewish population  were removed in 1994 when Israel managed a dangerous airlift to rescue them out of a severe situation of having been quartered there somewhat like what happened in the Warsaw Ghetto.  The other Salafist organization is The Army of Islam who has taken over this part of Syria.  These two groups want Shariah law.     They have denounced the Syrian National Coalition who has lost its power and is backed by the USA.

The in-politicians  of Assad and the rebels themselves  have no thought of their morality in how they treat their own people.  The paper reports about Marwan, a 35 year old Syrian refugee and former  clothing salesman from Homs, Syria, now living in the refugee camp in Mafraq, Jordan.  He was on his way to the grocery store and picked on as a possible opposition rebel and shot by a policeman in the knee and elbow  and then tortured.  So this was Assad's people who did this.   Officers hung him from the ceiling by his wrists and then beat him with sticks for a month and a half.  They wanted him to confess to fighting for the opposition.  He was then blindfolded and taken to Damascus where they put him in a 3 foot square cell for over 3 months with 4 others.  He was hung by his wrists again during the night every 3rd day, so I suppose this was better treatment  than before.  Finally he was released but without any documents saying he was innocent.

What this story leaves out has been filled in by a contact of mine.  People can be picked up who are innocent  and possibly more affluent and held for ransom.  $10,000 will get you out of jail.  Before someone coughs up the money, though, you will be tortured.  Often, the person is actually killed if the money doesn't come through.  Bodies of deceased will be visible for those alive and undergoing the torture.  This is how these rebels get money to proceed.
                                                                         

The rebels are mostly Sunnis.   What is happening is that rebel factions are fighting each other.   A thousand militias are trying to merge into a few big coalitions.  Do they even know what they are fighting for or have they just allowed themselves to become fighters without any forethought.  It seems as if the whole of Syria has turned into gangs fighting each other for turf and that's it and any sort of behavior goes as long as the outcome is success.  The civilians are just in the way of their actions.

This is why the United Nations thinks that another 2 million or more refugees will be added onto the already 2 million in 2014, which isn't that far away.  2.25 million might be displaced within the country before they get to a refugee center.  They are building a 2nd giant refugee camp in Jordan to hold 130,000 called Al Azraq.  Jordan can only take 300 per day into their country.  This is hard on their water supply and food.  Syria was at the start of the Civil War a country with a population of 22,505,000 with 90% Sunni/Shi'a following the Hanafi/Alevi  fiqh.  It was a state of Islamic people  that was neither  religious nor state controlled.  Their military power consisted of about 296,000 soldiers.  Now, about 10,000 foreign jihadists have joined the fight.

Speaking of food, you can imagine that this is running out in Syria. All the fighters should have realized by now that wheat growing in the fields has to get to the bakeries.  There are many steps that have to be taken before it gets there.    They have to provide food, water, electricity and schools besides defense.  Farming under these conditions has almost stopped as they're running out of fertilizer and money to operate.  Diesel prices are soaring even though they are living in an oil producing country. With bombs falling everywhere, I doubt if many people are out in fields working. People can't get food.  They'll be leaving on that reason alone.

 Some have resorted to eating bark off trees in Homs, Syria reports Batool, a 15 year old in the 9th grade in a refugee camp in Mafraq, Jordan.  They would like to go to France or Sweden but have had no replies to their applications.  She had 3 cousins shot and killed in Homs.  They still have family living there.  They're running out of savings.

Though Israelis are the hated and terrible "Jews, " there are  Jews who have been helping the refugees with medical aid  and food all along at the border who organized themselves.  Their comment is that nobody asked permission to kill, so we aren't asking permission to save lives. They've been helping out since 2000.  "Seventy tons of sanitation items, 670 tons of food, 120 tons of basic home items and 20 tons of medication are just a sample of the aid one Israeli NGO has delivered to Syrian refugees amid the current crisis."   Some wounded Syrians have even been taken into Israeli hospitals.   Such terrible people we are.

A mysterious website at www.stop910.com has a mission to bring attention to Hezbollah's "Unit 910" which is Hezbollah's international operations unit.  The mysterious website is offering a reward for information about this  international wing.  It's not known who is offering this or who is responsible for this website which is fighting against Hezbollah, the Shiite Muslim movement in Lebanon and is against Israel.  Shiites are mostly found in Iran, which is 98% Shi'a following the Jafari fiqh.  They have a lot of fighters to spare with a population of 76,923,300.  Supposedly they have an army of 545,000.

Resource:  Oregonian newspaper 10/26/13 page Frontpage and A13,, WAve of refugees heightens fears of spreading violence by Richard Read reporting from Baalbek, Lebanon,  Syria
http://www.jpost.com/National-News/Israeli-organization-delivers-hundreds-of-tons-of-food-medicine-to-Syrian-refugees-325579
http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2013/09/13/221991236/an-unlikely-refuge-some-wounded-syrians-get-treated-in-israel
Batool, 15 year old, Oregonian, 10/26/13 page A14 report about Homs, Syria
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/09/25/do-you-know-the-history-behind-the-black-flags-of-jihad-theblazes-buck-sexton-breaks-it-down/
Oregonian 10/26/13 page A12, The Buzz on anti-Hezbollah website
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salafi_movement

Who Are the Syrian Rebels That Obama Is Arming?

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                 

                                       Rebel in Homs, Syria

Out of about 100,000 rebels fighting in Syria's 22,505,000 populated country which had about 296,000 active military troops at their disposal, 10,000 are jihadists.  This includes foreign fighters that are linked directly to terrorist organizations like al Qaeda.  Add to that another 30,000 to 35,000 hardline Islamists who share the same philosophy as al Qaeda, but are focused on war in Syria.  The aim of many jihadists is to create a worldwide Islamic Caliphate.  Another 30,000 in the mix that also share their brother's Islamic character are more moderate than the rest .  The downside of this is that strictly nationalist groups wanting a piece of the Arab Spring, meaning a more democratic state, are a small minority of the rebels.  Secular groups are not in any leadership capacity.

"While many non-Muslims are now aware that there is a sectarian divide in Islam between Sunnis and Shiites, it is less commonly known that Syria is ruled largely by members of an esoteric Islamic sect, the Alawites, whose belief in the divinity of Ali, Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, is just one of the reasons that they were oppressed as infidels for centuries by other Muslims."  Syria has Lebanon and Iraq as neighbors who have gone through civil war.  Assad has warned that if he loses power, the country would be in a civil war.  That's quite ironic being he is now the cause of it in trying to hold on.  

Al Qaeda is the prevalent group.  It is a "global militant Islamist organization founded by Osama bin Laden in Peshawar, Pakistan, at some point between August 1988 and late 1989, with its origins being traceable to the Soviet War in Afghanistan. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad and a strict interpretation of sharia law."

So, ignoring these facts, our president of the USA, Obama, has waived two laws that were designed to prevent arming terrorists and our government has already started doing just this before his signing was even completed, meaning that Congress doesn't even get their 15 day warning about it.  We have already sent over weapons, vehicles, advanced communications equipment and advanced medical kits.  

McCain, our warrior, is all for it, probably thinking this is being most humanitarian.  His strategy is to provide "meaningful lethal assistance to moderate opposition forces."  Al Qaeda was lead by Osama bin Lauden who engineered the 9/11 attacks that downed the Twin Towers 12 years ago.  They are far from being moderate. 

Last month it was al Qaeda who launched 4 rockets from Lebanon into Israel on the trumped up charges that Israel was plotting with Hezbollah to fight against the Syrian rebels.  What a cock-a may-mee story this one is, and believe me, they will all believe it.   The Abdullah Azzam Brigade is not an honorable group.  They are the al Qaeda members who are spreading this propaganda.  

Hezbollah is a big  Shi'a terrorist group out of Lebanon.  They are also political, so there is competition here between Hezbollah and al Qaeda in who has the power, similar to Hamas and Fatah in Gaza and Judea/Samaria.  Hezbollah has a big hatred for Jews.  ""The anti-Semitism of Hezbollah leaders and spokesmen combines the image of seemingly invincible Jewish power ... and cunning with the contempt normally reserved for weak and cowardly enemies."

Our Arab Israelis have been joining the Syrian rebels lately. " There is a possibility that Arab Israelis who are being trained in Syria may use their knowledge against Israel – both by spreading ideologies and by using intel and military capabilities they've learned there."   These men are not forced into Israel's IDF and usually don't opt to join.  Actually, this hurts their opportunities to get better jobs, as an IDF service on one's resume is highly desirable.  Arab Israeli women have been reported to feel more nationalistic about Israel and have been joining up in the IDF.  

Lost in this morass of fighters is the honest nationalistic Syrian who wants to live a democratic life.  He is surrounded by other fighters who want something quite different.  Assad was a tyrant without a heart, but was able as an Alawite to keep control with his whip.  He was detestable to the Jewish community of Aleppo and Damascus and drove them all out, the last leaving in 1994 with Israel's help.  

Barack Hussein Obama II, our American president, is daring to take a very large step in overlooking the necessary steps in this recent enterprise of aiding and abetting the rebels.  The rebels are not all of one mind.  It's almost impossible for the USA to vet them.  He has waived the prohibitions set up to arm these rebels.  At the rate they are warring each other like Syria is warring against its own people, it won't take long for the arms to get into the hands that are the strongest, and that will be the large terrorist groups of al Qaeda and Hezbollah, who probably do a little recruiting on the side.    

Last year Israel announced that they knew of 200,000 missiles pointed in their direction.  Though they are ready for them,  Israel realizes that there are "growing threats Israel was facing: "a more hostile, more Islamic, more sensitive Middle East, one more attune to public sentiment, less controlled by the regimes, and less susceptible to international influence."  I guess we can thank the Arab Spring for a lot of this turmoil.  With a supreme take -over- all- the- land -attitude and force everyone to convert, Democracy just doesn't stand a chance.  The Muslim Brotherhood,  who is all for sharia law,  seems to work against any democratic values.  

The Brotherhood calls for jihad against “the Muslim’s real enemies, not only Israel but also the United States. Waging jihad against both of these infidels is a commandment of Allah that cannot be disregarded.” —Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Muhammed Badi, Sept. 2010.   

Reference:  http://frontpagemag.com/2013/arnold-ahlert/obamas-move-to-arm-al-qaeda-in-syria/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=f071ead496-Mailchimp_FrontPageMag&utm_term=0_57e32c1dad-f071ead496-156514682
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qaeda
http://freebeacon.com/al-qaeda-affiliated-group-claims-responsibility-for-rocket-attack-on-israel/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hezbollah
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4431574,00.html
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/some-200-000-missiles-aimed-consistently-at-israel-top-idf-officer-says-1.410584
https://www.standwithus.com/news/article.asp?id=1757#.Ujx5_dKOTqE on Muslim Brotherhood Charter
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/14/syrias-ruling-alawite-sect/?_r=0

Why Hezbollah is a Terrorist Organization

Nadene Goldfoot
Hezbollah is not a part of Lebanon's government.  They are supported by Iran and Syria.  After 1982 when Israel had to go into Lebanon to stop the PLO who were stationed there and had been blasting Northern Israel with rockets, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards stepped in and took these Shi'a Islamic militants that wanted to fight and trained them. Hezbollah has pretty much  taken over Lebanon, however.

In 2006, Hezbollah shot 4,000 rockets into Israel when they had a war that lasted for a month.  They had the range of 45 miles.  More than 24 cities were hit.  900 rockets landed in urban areas.  43 Israeli citizens were killed and 2,015 were injured.  Haifa suffered from 54 rockets that hit causing 16 deaths.  Karmiel, which is settled mainly by American Jews, suffered from 176 rockets. Kiryat Shmona, the city I drove to from Safed because they had a department store that reminded me of Meir & Frank, was hit by over 1,000 rockets.They were close to the border.   My city of Safed (Tzfat), which is on top of a mountain,  was hit by 471 rockets and Nitzan Rubin died from it.   July 13: Nitzan Rubin, 33, died from wounds sustained during the  Hezbollah rocket attack.  Tiberias, which is below the mountain,  was hit with 81 rockets.   The UN brought out a peacekeeping force, but it is thought that Hezbollah had stockpiled more, possibly 28,000 rockets since then.

By 2008 they were shooting Iranian rockets with the range of 185 miles, which would be able to hit Dimona.  This has all been done with the backing of Iran. By "early March, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reported Israeli claims that Hezbollah's arsenal includes 10,000 long-range rockets and 20,000 short-range rockets in southern Lebanon."  At the same time, Hamas from Gaza was raining down rockets and by 2008 had killed 13 Israelis that way.  Hamas even then had strong ties with Iran.

The Lebanese army has been working against Hezbollah.  On December 11, 2011 a rocket was shot only 6 miles from the border towards Israel but hit a Lebanese home in Hula and injured the woman inside. The next year on November 20, 2012, "A Lebanese army patrol discovered two ready-to-launch 107mm Grad rockets between the villages of Halta and Mari, about 2 miles from the Israeli border. The forces defused the rockets. IDF official Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai said Palestinian factions in Lebanon were probably behind the plot."  It's figured they were Hezbollahs being they were in Lebanon.  The next day "Two rockets fired from Lebanon at Israel landed within Lebanon, according to Beirut officials." The terrorists didn't give up.  The very next day "The Lebanese army disarmed an additional rocket aimed at Israel, in Marjayoun, again, about 6 miles or 10 kilometers from the border."  

Last July,  5 Israeli tourists were killed in a bus that was bombed in Burgas, Bulgaria, a Black Sea resort.  It was Hezbollah who were the terrorists.  They had a suicide bomber planted on that bus.  The bus driver was also killed in the explosion.

Tel Aviv was threatened by Lebanon's Shiek Hassan Nasrallah in 2012's battle with Gaza after a cease fire was declared.   Hezbollah had fired a Fajr-5 rocket then, and the threat is of thousands of them landing on Tel Aviv.  He was speaking to a crowd of thousands "attending an annual Shiite commemoration of the 7th-century death of Imam Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson." Lebanon is populated by half Sunni and half Shi'a Muslims..  Hezbollah also threatens to invade Israel's Galilee since they sit on the border. This would be the cities of  Haifa, Acre, Safed, Tiberias and Nazareth  while at other times have threatened cities from Kiryat Shimona to Eilat, which is the whole length of Israel.  The message is that if Israel hits Iran's site where they are making uranium for atomic weaponry, Hezbollah will hit Israel with about 60,000 missiles and rockets and can now reach the whole country.

Israel has repeatedly asked countries to brand Hezbollah a terror organization.  The US and Canada have agreed.  The European Union has not  and they have taken no action to do so.  Evidently it takes more for the Europeans to learn about the true character of Hezbollah.

 Israel is not going to attack Hezbollah for the Bulgarian bus attack of last summer.  "When Israel acts, it is in order to prevent a security threat, to prevent a concrete attack.  It is not in order to punish," said Boaz Ganor, Israel's counter-terrorism expert.

Resource: Oregonian newspaper, 2/6/13,  page A5, report blames Hezbollah for bombing.
 http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-03-27-israel-hezbollah_N.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/israel-seen-unlikely-to-respond-militarily-after-bulgaria-implicates-hezbollah-in-attack/2013/02/05/0d7bce2e-6fd6-11e2-b3f3-b263d708ca37_story.html
http://www.theisraelproject.org/site/c.hsJPK0PIJpH/b.2905175/k.B69E/Background_Israeli_Cities_Affected_by_Rocket_Attacks.htm
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2012/11/25/thousands-of-rockets-will-fall-on-tel-aviv-hezbollah-issues-chilling-warning-to-israel/
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2012/10/02/hezbollah-threatens-to-invade-israel%e2%80%99s-galilee-and-offers-interactive-infographic-on-how-it-plans-to-do-it/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hezbollah

Syria and Israel: Continuous Confrontations Through Time

Nadene Goldfoot

Since April 2011 the Baath Party of President Bashar al-Assad has been in a Civil War with his people and over 60,000 have been killed.  This has been part of the Arab Spring.

Yesterday's report coming out of Israel was that Israeli citizens have been ordering gas masks.  Sighting has been going on in the Syrian village of As-Safira, which is home to one of 5 chemical weapons storage facilities.  There has been warnings from experts that Hizbullah could easily acquire Syria's chemicals  since Syria's hold on their country is deteriorating.  The Israeli government is following events with concern, and yesterday had 12 jets fly to almost as far as Damascus to take out a convoy of missiles that might also contain these chemicals.  4,000 gas masks have been distributed compared to the average of 1,400 per week.  In all, 4.7 million gas masks have been distributed.  The population of Israel is nearly 8 million according to Arutz Sheva.  Israel is only 8,000 square miles big and right up on the border of Syria.

Syria has 22,505,000 people who live on 71,500 square miles of which 90% are Sunni or Shi'a Muslims.  It's almost 9 times larger than Israel.  The name of this country was Aram back in the Bible days.  The kings of Aram didn't succeed in creating a homogeneous state.  The land was made up of many peoples from the vicinity who even would wander into Palestine after 135 CE.  The coastal strip had been settled by the Phoenicians.  The history is recorded in the Bible and also found in Part I and Part II of Kings.  There was ongoing friction and fighting between Israel and Judah with Syria until the 8th century BCE when Syria was overrun by the Assyrians, just as Israel was in 722 BCE.

Jews had been living in Antioch, and were important to the Seleucid era but suffered from the hostile Greeks.  A few Jews remained living in Syria in the Talmudic Period and under Theodosius II in 408-50 CE.  They had restricted religious freedom and many synagogues were converted to churches.

Actually, things got better with the Arab conquest of 634-7 CE when Jews were allowed to be Jewish but were forced to pay a poll-tax, something Muslims did with people not of their faith, and they were called dhminnis.  Benjamin of Tudela wrote about the largest Jewish communities in the 12th century which were at Aleppo with 5,000 Jews.  This is where the action is taking place today. After all this civil war fighting, the city is about completely destroyed.   Also, 3,000 Jews lived in Damascus and there were 2,000 in Palmyra.  Jewish settlements increased after the Spanish Inquisition of 1492 because Jews from Spain and Sicily found refuge there and they were able to work in trading between Europe and Asia.

By 1840, the Damascus Blood Libel was laid on Jews getting attention worldwide.  "In February, at Damascus, a Catholic monk named Father Thomas and his servant disappeared. The accusation of ritual murder was brought against members of the Jewish community of Damascus."  Jews suffered from such things  throughout the ages and never did such things.  In the first place, blood is abhorrent to Jews.  It is not something that can be eaten much less touched.  By 1920 after WWI the French held the mandate for Syria and Jews finally obtained equal rights which were lost in WWII under the Vichy regime.

 Jews then emigrated to the USA or Lebanon and Israel.  From 1943  the Jewish population grew from  almost 30,000  to about 14,000 by1947, and then more left because of the fighting against Israel.  There have still been Jews living today in Damascus.  By 1973 there were 4,000.  Syria remains anti-Israel with their policies and continued acts of hostility since 1948 when they joined other countries to fight against Israel.  It was Syria who was so extreme and wanted the 6 Day War.  That again turned out that Israel won the battle, defeated the Syrian army and occupied the Golan Heights where Syrians had been bombarding Israel homes and businesses.  Today there are 22 Jews living in Damascus.  I imagine they are quite old.  That's what is left of the Syrian Jewish population.

In; 1982 when I lived in Safed, Israel, our IDF had to enter Lebanon as the Palestinian terrorists were shelling constantly.  I lived very close to the border and remember seeing our convoy of trucks go up Safed's hill when I was going down in a bus.  Our friend, the Christian Major Hadad of Lebanon patrolled the border with us.  He took his R&;R in our army hospital where I wound up.  Hadad asked Sharon for permission to go into the Palestinian camps and take care of them and Sharon agreed.  It did not have a good outcome.  It was evidently some type of slaughter and Sharon had to take responsibility.  This is when Hezbollah was created.

Hezbollah are terrorists who are followers of the Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini.  They are trained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.  They are funded by Iran and Syria.  These are the people we must keep chemicals from reaching as they will use them on Israel.  They are right when they stated that " the strike aimed to prevent Arab and Muslim forces from developing their military capabilities"  Who in their right mind is going to allow them to be able to gas people as well as  shoot missiles into Israel?  Knesset member Tzachi Hanegbi didn't  admit that Israel  hit the convoy, but said "Israel's preference would be if a Western entity would control these weapons systems,"  As I understand, 12 jets flew over to do the job.  Syria says they hit a scientific research center NW of Damascus and 10 miles from Lebanon's border.  Somehow that center looked an awful lot like a convoy of trucks carrying anti-aircraft weapons meant to use on Israel.

Resource:  Arutz Sheva news@israelinationalnews.com
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hezbollah
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/01/31/lebanon-hezbollah-condemns-israeli-airstrike-on-syria/
http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Asia-and-the-Pacific/Syria.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Jews
http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/109884/jewish-aleppo-lost-forever
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_civil_war

Terrorists' "Legitimate Claims" Says Obama

Nadene Goldfoot
Senator Barack Obama stated in May in the New York Times with columnist David Brooks that Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist organizations have "legitimate claims." He went on to say that their violence is weakening their claims.

Brooks was talking to Obama about Lebanese militias at the time, and felt Obama was naive to think that Hezbollah can be "mollified with a less corrupt patronage system and some electoral reform." Obama agreed that Hezbollah was not a political party and was not a legitimate group.

Hamas' official charter calls for the murder of Jews and the destruction of the Jewish state. It calls for Muslims to "pursue the cause of the Hamas Movement all over the globe." These terrorists have used suicide bombings, shootings and rocket attacks against Israel.

Hezbollah says it is fighting to liberate its "lands," referring to the Shebaa Farms, a small piece of territory it says is Lebanese but is being held by Israel. These terrorists have also carried out many attacks targeting Israel and the West, including the USA. they have now taken over the government of Lebanon, giving Israel threats from the north.

These are legitimate claims? How can Obama say such a thing!

Eight days after 9/11, Obama said the attacks were carried out because of a lack of "empathy" for others' suffering on the part of al-Qaida, who are also terrorists. He said this grows out of a climate of poverty and ignorance, helplessness and despair. He said the 9/11 attacks were part of a result of US policy. He urged action opposing discrimination against neighbors and friends of Middle-Eastern descent. I don't think he meant the Israelis, but their enemies who are the terrorists. He hoped that the USA would learn from the tragedy. He said Americans must imagine or connect with the humanity or suffering of others. I don't think he meant Israel's suffering from being constantly attacked by terrorists, but that he meant the terrorists themselves. He went on to end with a hope that we must work on raising hopes and prospects of children not just in the Middle East, but also in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and our own American children.

I say that the terrorists of Hamas have no legitimate claims and have no excuses for becoming terrorists against Israel. Their problems are created through their own folly of believing their wild leaders and following them into terrorism against a state who has more empathy for others than any state they will ever find in the Middle East or elsewhere. They are fighting against a group of people who have suffered and survived for over 2,000 years of being treated like an unwanted people, 2nd class citizens in Arab countries, sometimes worse in others. They know what suffering is like. They don't wish it on anyone. However, they are determined to survive despite the terrorism they now suffer from.

Obama has been reading material colored by the terrorists' philosophy, I'm afraid. I wish he would talk to someone on the Israeli side for a change. If he is so gun-ho towards change, he should not be listening to Condoleeza Rice with her pressure on Israel to give up parts of Jerusalem, the Judea and Samaria. Obama has so many people on his team who are haters of Israel, and if they don't hate, they fault it rather than praise it. It's easy lazy thinking to find fault with Israel nowdays. Where are the people who actually do some research to find out where problems do come from?

Obama, you may have found that problems in the projects of Chicago came from poverty, ignorance, helplessness and despair, but this is not the case with terrorists who are fighting against Israel. They came to the area in the first place to find jobs with the Jews who were building the country, and when attacked by the 7 Arab countries when Israel was pronounced a state, sided with the attackers. Those who stayed and embraced the new Jewish state are doing well. Just look at Haifa. Those who listened and fled are probably today's terrorists. They were greedier than most and lost. There's the problem. Now it's just their desire to wipe out the successsful state. I have no empathy for that. Isn't not coveting your neighbor's property one of the ten commandments?

http://www.israelunitycoalition.org/news/article.php?id=3118 Aaron Kleins' Obama: Terror groups have "legitimate claims".

Hezbolla and Hamas's Value of Life

Nadene Goldfoot
I just watched a video on my computer this morning by a famous news reporter reporting the 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon. Though Keven explained how media can be used as propaganda, he continues to do exactly that and presented a very one-sided program viewing the Lebanese Hezbollah as innocent victims and Israel as the advanced technically armed army, and therefore the bad guys.

There are some differences. Israel received statehood after waiting 2,000 years for it. We never forgot Jerusalem, and remembering it has been in our prayers ever since. "Next year in Jerusalem" is said every year by our families. Israel was born again May 14, 1948 through the U.N.'s vote. We are a certifiable state.

One of the things we have had to do is to keep an army and be updated in whatever armies use. The difference between the USA and Israel's army is that every man and many women in Israel have to serve. We're a very small group of people. Work just about comes to a halt and no one takes your place when there is a crisis. The population becomes the army.

I was there in 1982 when Israel went into Lebanon and saw this firsthand, being I was living in Safed, which is very close to Lebanon. Suddenly all the men teachers were called into service and I volunteered to cover their classes. It was horrible. It was a traumatic time for all of us, more so for the civilians-turned-soldiers who had to rush to their posts.

We work very hard to protect our citizens from the attacks of terrorists, which continue at this time from Gaza. When you're attacked, you have to try to stop it. I am appalled at the populations who have been taught to hate us, our neighbors in Lebanon and Gaza. They attack us and then cry and scream when we retaliate in defense. Do they think we will just throw stones at them? It's like a teeny dog attacking a huge dog and getting the worst of it. One has to have the sense not to take on an opponent who will obviously win.

So I come to the conclusion that our enemies do not value the life of their compatriots. They use them as pawns in their propaganda fight against us. Getting people to side with them is more important than the lives they say they are working for. All their crying and screaming means that they have succeeded in rousing their people in a hatred for us. They cry for Israel to lift its import and export punishment and return the electricity to them, but they continue to bomb us. We have had to use something as punishment for attacking us, thus the cutting of electricity during certain hours and hurting them economically. What we should have done was just go in and attack them with our army, I suppose, and kill them all. I think that's what they would have done to us, and is what Iran is threatening to do with atomic weapons. They have bombed our station that supplies them with electricity and then they cry about it. These people are showing that their value system is completely different from ours.

We will not be driven into the sea, as our neighbors have threatened to do to us. We are fighting very hard for a "next year in Jerusalem and another year in Jerusalem." We mean to stay, cousins. Since there are millions and millions of Arabs and only about 5 million Jews, I am grateful that the numbers of casualties reflect this difference between countries. If we lost the same numbers as they, it would certainly be lopsided. Kevin, realize the difference in population when you print loss of lives on both sides. Perhaps percentages would be a more accurate number. And remember, we didn't start this war. We don't want it or need it.