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

Baghdad: One Day Away From Jerusalem

                  The Cradle of Humanity

Nadene Goldfoot                                      Babylon-Babylonia 

                                                                                       

                             ISIS Terrorists Ready to Attack Baghdad

You know what's happening to Baghdad, capital of Iraq right now.  ISIS Sunni terrorists are approaching like a hoard of locusts, killing everyone in their path brutally.  CNN just showed them forcing a father and his two sons to dig their own graves, and the father pleaded for their lives, but they were all shot while in or near their graves.  They do a lot of beheading.  The aim of ISIS is to create an Islamic state across Sunni areas of Iraq and in Syria and they are doing it as brutally as possible.  It's causing soldiers to run and leave their weapons, weapons that were given to them by the USA.  

If we go back far enough, the land was also known in the bible as the land of Shinar or of the Kasdim (Chaldees).  It's the cradle of humanity and the scene of the Tower of Babel.  Abraham was born in Ur of the Chaldeans.  To the prophets, Babylon was the symbol of insolent pagan tyranny.  It was home to Nebuchadnezzar II (604-561 BCE) who attacked the Jewish kingdom of Judah. We read in the Torah, "By.the waters, Of Babylon. We lay down and wept, And wept, For thee Zion. We remember, Thee ..."    Zion was another name for Jerusalem.  They had been captured and taken to Babylon for slave labor.

Babylon became Iraq which became independent in 1932 when they then turned on the Jews and persecuted them. From 1932 to 1934 there were 5 governments. In 1939 there were 80,000 Jews living in Baghdad.    In 1941 when Nazi thought permeated the Middle East , there were violent acts against Jews in Baghdad.  A pogrom against Jews was from the Muslims there.  This was called the Farhud, a riot, and they killed about 180 Jews and is attributed to the hateful attitude Arabs kept towards Jews from then on.  This was during the revolt of Rashid Ali.  The population was led by Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Sharif of Jerusalem, called the Grand Mufti.  About 1/3 of Baghdad at that time was populated by Jews.  There are probably Muslims who carry genes of their Jewish ancestors today.

Iraq soldiers attacked Israel in 1948 a few minutes after Israel announced its statehood.  Iraqis lost but refused to signed an armistice agreement with Israel.  So 123,500 Jews left Iraq then for Israel in Operation Ezra and Nehemiah.  Their property was confiscated by Iraq.  For those that didn't leave, they were given severe restrictions, especially after the Six Day War of 1967 when they had attacked Israel again with Syria, Egypt and Jordan.  Their treatment was so bad that it aroused international protests.  By 1991, the Jewish population was 150 living in Baghdad where one synagogue still continued to operate.

In 1981 Israel bombed the Osirak  nuclear reactor the French had built for Iraq.  It is the world's first air strike against a nuclear plant. The reactor was 18 miles south of Baghdad.  "The 70-megawatt uranium-powered reactor was near completion but had not been stocked with nuclear fuel so there was no danger of a leak, according to sources in the French atomic industry."  The atomic bombs from this "would be of the Hiroshima size. Thus a mortal danger to the people of Israel progressively arose."

It acted then because it believed the reactor would be completed shortly - either at the beginning of July or the beginning of September 1981."

 Jews had been living in Babylon way before Islam ever came into existence in 637.    The Babylonians had attacked Jerusalem in 597 BCE and had carted off all the best Jewish men and again in 586 BCE.  They took them to their home and made them slaves, so sold them to neighbors for a high price.

Speaking of neighbors, Aleppo, Lebanon had an ancient Jewish community also.  Jews had been praying there in their Great Synagogue since the 400s CE.  Jews had been in that city since 300 BCE and were the oldest native sect in the city.  They were there first.  If a car leaves Jerusalem in the morning they will arrive in Aleppo by mid-afternoon today.  Baghdad is only a day's drive from Jerusalem, but the borders will cause it to take a little longer.

Iraq used to be called Mesopotamia.  When the Muslims conquered the city in 637 and converted everyone, the Jews were happy, hoping they would be delivered from the cruelty of the Sassanid persecution.  Jews had come there from Kufa who had been expelled from Saudi Arabia a few years before.  It was a famous Jewish center where the Exilarch, head of the Jewish community and the Gaon were thought of as the most knowledgeable Jews in the land and who came to them for matters that needed to be decided upon.  Benjamin of Tudela in 1170 said that 40,000 Jews were living in Baghdad when he visited there.  Many were distinguished scholars. Among the Jews were poets, physicians and talmudists.    Under Mongol rule from 1258, Jews fared well.  Some even reached high administrative positions.  A massacre happened in 1291.  Then Tamerland captured Babylon in 1300 and the Jews fled.  The Ottoman Empire counted Baghdad as a conquest in 1534 and held it until 1917 when they lost WWI to the Western Allies.

Today Iraq is the 11th largest Muslim majority country with 31,234,000 population before fighting.  97% are Muslims, who are both 27% Shi'a and 70% Sunni.  The state is listed as secular.  As a state, they have 254,418 active troops.  "Mainstream Sunnism has been said to be "about" Sharia, sacred law.   In contrast, the Shia also follow Islamic law with great "vigilance", but their belief is added with Ijtihad "Research" in the light of teachings of the Quran."

So this was the cradle of civilization.  It has been working on  becoming  the cemetery of civilization at this rate.  The leader of ISIS, a PhD, is Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi.   He even served four years in a U.S. prison camp for insurgents, at Bucca in southern Iraq -- a time in which he almost certainly developed a network of contacts and honed his ideology.   He was released in 2009 and went to work.

Resource:http://mosaicmagazine.com/essay/2014/06/mizrahi-nation/
 The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/293631/Iraq/22903/Independence-1932-39
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Iraq
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shia%E2%80%93Sunni_relations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ijtihad
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/7/newsid_3014000/3014623.stm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-Day_War
http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/12/world/meast/who-is-the-isis/

The Two- Faced Iran Complains About the Two- Faced Negotiations of Kerry

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                

1979, the Shah is overturned and the religious Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned.

Not too long ago, on June 20, 2009, there was a demonstration of the Iranian people who were aroused by the Arab Spring against their rulers, but that has been forgotten since their hard-line factions have seized more power. They were holding protests during their elections, and a beautiful Iranian girl was shot to death by the name of Neda Agha-Soltan, age 26.

Neda, a college student, was forced to quit school because of her dress and appearance of not covering her head and body.  That's why she attended the protest.  "She was shot in the heart by a Basij militia member who insisted he was not trying to kill her. Her death was captured on video by bystanders and broadcast over the Internet and the video became a rallying point for the opposition. It was described as "probably the most widely witnessed death in human history"

This time on Tuesday, millions of Iranians participated in rallies that the government backed which marked the 35th anniversary of the  Islamic revolution in 1979.  That was when on February 11th, Iranian religious revolutionaries declared victory over Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi who was backed by the USA.  Then the Shiite Muslim clerics came to power

The largest rally took place in their capital, Tehran,  where nuclear talks between Iran and and the USA and their allies were recalled, dominating the event.  They had posters and placards given out to the crowd which had slogans referring to John Kerry's recent remarks that, despite the discussions over the nuclear program, the military option remained on the table.   The placards therefore read, "We are eager for all options on the table."  Evidently they noticed a two-facedness from Kerry.  Young families pushing baby strollers were seen shouting, "Death to America!"  Other posters said, "We are ready for the great battle."  Other people called for the deaths of Obama and Kerry.

Back on the home front, Wendy Sherman, under secretary of state in the State Department  for political affairs,  conceded that the US failed to "shut down" Iran's working  on ballistic missiles.  These have long ranges and are the weapon to deliver a nuclear payload.  It's been 6 months of negotiating and they have to address this problem as part of a comprehensive agreement which will not be agreed on for at least another 6 months.  Tehran had a large window to perfect its weapons systems now.

The USA knows that Iran is going to launch 3 new satellites into space in the next few weeks.  This technology is like those used for ballistic missiles.  Leading experts are saying that Iran's space program is a cover for its ballistic missile work.  Iran's year ends on March 20th and they feel one of them will be launched by then.

Kerry and Wendy left all these problems unsolved.  They didn't address the delivery mechanism, the militarizing of nuclear arms.  Iran had breached a threshold everyone acknowledges and now they can build a bomb.  Senator Bob Corker, Republican from Tennessee, the committee's ranking member, asked them why this had happened.  Iran already has advanced centrifuges.  The situation had been left so that Iran is allowed to continue to perfect their nuclear delivery mechanism.  Few countries in the world possess both   the capability to enrich uranium to high levels and also have an advanced ballistic missile program.  Iran is now a nuclear power.  All they have to do now is to ramp up their uranium production.
                                                                         

Sherman said she is depending on the US to successfully convince Iran to give up its nuclear program.  In her opinion, Iran doesn't need to continue its work at Fordow or any need to the partially constructed heavy water reactor at Arak.  She has no doubt that Iran will have to scale back the number of nuclear centrifuges it is operating.  The question remains as to what will force them to do such a thing.  They are impervious to Kerry's suggestions.
                                                                         
Rouhani, the President of Iran, criticized the US threats against Iran already.  He said that if the negotiators respected Iran's rights, they would get a positive and appropriate answer from Iran, but he also warned that threats would only bring down the nuclear talks to a halt.  He didn't like the way they approached him in the past and doing so had put their nations, region and global welfare and stability in jeopardy.

The rally included re-enactments of scenes from the 1980s war between Iran and Iraq.  That war was so bad that children were serving as soldiers on both sides.
                                                                         

Remember when Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, warned the UN of how close Iran was in being able to make atomic weapons on September 27, 2012?   "Iran is 70 percent of the way there and ... well into the second stage," Netanyahu said while displaying the chart. "By next summer, at current enrichment rates, they will have finished the medium enrichment and moved on to the final stage. From there it is only a few more weeks before they have enriched enough for a bomb."  Everyone pooh-poohed him.  Now the window of opportunity is shut for Israel to halt their progress.  Kerry didn't comply with his warnings at all and now he can't call back the steps taken get Iran to the table to talk in the first place.  Everyone is just too eager to sell them their products being they have come into money.  What was working has been undone by the negotiators.

The Cuban missile crisis  happened when Russia and the USA were at odds.   "After the US had placed nuclear missiles in Turkey and Italy, aimed at Moscow, and the failed US attempt to overthrow the Cuban regime, in May 1962,  Nikita Khrushchev proposed the idea of placing Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba to deter any future invasion attempt. During a meeting between Khrushchev and Fidel Castro that July, a secret agreement was reached and construction of several missile sites began in the late summer."  Luckily that was averted. 

North and South Korea were going at each other just last year.   " It began because of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2087, which condemned North Korea for the launch of Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Unit 2. The crisis was marked by extreme escalation of rhetoric by the new North Korean administration under Kim Jong-un and actions suggesting imminent nuclear attacks against South Korea, Japan, and the United States.  North Korea denounced sanctions UNSC imposed under UNSC Resolution 2087. on the January 23 the government of North Korea announced the continuation of their tests not only devoted to missiles, but clearly with an effort to facilitate nuclear weapons purposes. Moreover, North Korea directly threatened the U.S., announcing that they could launch long-range missiles against that country.

Cuba and North Korea are enough to give the USA a headache as they are the opposite of such a Democratic country, but they are not in any way having a war of religion.  It's territory.  As with Iran, a Shiite country, this is a war of religions, and is much more serious.  Kerry doesn't seem to understand this.  Iran sees the end of the world coming and sees them in the power seat with the return of the 12th Iman.  It means to destroy Israel.  You can't put Iran in the same basket with Cuba and North Korea.  Netanyahu warned that you can't trust  Rouhani.  The negotiators did just that.  

Re: Oregonian newspaper, 2/12/14 page A7, Rallies back Iran's regime, draw millions, by Thomas Erdbrink, NY Times News Service
Act for America actforamerica@donationnet.net, Wendy Sherman/AP 2/4/14
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Neda_Agha-Soltan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_missile_crisis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Korean_crisis
http://www.dw.de/eleven-days-in-february-the-iranian-revolution/g-17423004
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/netanyahu-red-line-cartoon-twitter-202454562.html

The Assyrians Who Carried Away the 10 Tribes of Israel

                                                                         

The Assyrians attacked Israel and took away 10 of the 12 tribes of Jacob in 721 BCE.  Who were they?  Where did they come from?  Are they the Syrians of today?   That was 2,734 years ago.

They were also a Semitic people, just like the Jews who lived in Israel.   They were from the northern area of Mesopotamia (Iraq) , which was the land between the  Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and were centered at the city-state of Ashur, which is now the Saladin Province of Iraq.  Nineveh was also one of their major cities.  It was originally one of a number of Akkadian city states in Mesopotamia.  Once it had been a great power.  .   The Assyrians tried to create their own empire. They lasted for about 15 centuries.    They were stopped by the Babylonian king, Hammurabi, who ruled from Babylon from 1728 to 1686 BCE.  So we can say that Assyria was Iraq.

The Asiatic Hurrians (Mitanni) invaded Assyria, but they were overcome by the Hittite Empire that had been growing in strength.  However, the Hittites gave up control of Ashur because it was far away from their center, so gave the Assyrians their  independence in c 1400. BCE.

The successes of King David (1010-970 BCE) and his son, King Solomon (961-920 BCE) against the Aramean states in Mesopotamia and Syria probably helped Assyria's recovery.    Damascus was taken in 806 BCE which freed Israel from Damascus' control. Damascus was the capital of Syria and still is.  It had a Jewish connection since the days of King David  in whose realm it was comprised.  It was the capital of Aram-Dammesek which was important in the days of the kings of Israel and was either a friend or a foe of Israel in different periods. A lot of Jews lived in Damascus during King Herod's reign.  He had built a theater and a gymnasium there.  When the Jews revolted against Rome starting in 67 CE, many Jews were killed in Damascus.  

By 745-727 BCE, a leader named Tiglath-Pileser III tried to renew another period of Assyrian expansion.  At least 13 states came under their domination:  Uratu, Persia, Media, Mannea, Babylonia, Arabia, Phoenicia,  Nabateaa, Chaldea, Cyprus, Moab, Edom and the Neo-Hittites.

He became king of Babylon and the Assyrian empire now stretched from the Caucasus Mountains to Arabia and from the Caspian Sea to Cyprus.  Tiglath-Pileser III had organized the Assyrian army into a first rate professional fighting force.  He also improved the administration of his empire and set the example for others that followed him.  He introduced Eastern Aramaic is their own language.

Shalmaneser V (726-723 BCE) ruled after him for a short while and consolidated their power and stopped the Egyptian attempts to get a foothold in the Middle East by defeating and driving out Pharaoh Piye from the area.  He is even mentioned in the Biblical sources as having conquered the Samaritans and being responsible for deporting the 10 Lost Tribes of Israel to Assyria. His attack on Samaria, the capital of Israel, was a siege.   He took 27,290 Israelites to Assyria and Media and replaced them with  Syrian and Babylonian prisoners.  

Sargon II (722-705 BCE) kept the empire going.  He also drove out the Cimmerians and Scythians from Iran as they had invaded and attacked the Persians and Medes, which were now vassals of Assyria.   Israel fell to them in 721 BCE.  Mannea, Cilicia Cappadocia and Commagene were also conquered.  They ravaged the Uratuwas, and Babylon, Aram, Phoenicia, Israel, and Arabia.  Cyprus and Midas (King of Phygia) were all  forced to pay tribute.

Sargon's stele (pillar)  has been found as far west as Lamaca in Cyprus (found in 1845  It was their way to brag about their accomplishments.  

• "Introduction of Sargon, with royal titles and as the protégé of the gods"—paragraph 2.
• "Summary of the military successes: the subjugation of the Babylonian cities; the rule over all people between the Upper Sea and the Lower Sea; the victories against Elam, in Iran and inHatti; the humiliation of Urzana of Musasir and Rusa of Urartu; the defeat of Hamath"—paragraph 3.

 He conquered Gurgum, Milid, the Georgian state of Tabal, and all the Hittite kingdoms of the Taurus Mountains.

Egypt tried again to gain a foothold by supporting Israel's rebellion against the empire, but Sargon II crushed the uprising, and Piye was routed and driven back over the Sinai.  Sargon II was killed in 705 BCE while on a punitive raid against the Cimmerians, and Sennacherib succeeded him.

Sennacherib, king of Assyria from 705-681 BCE, Sargon's son,  was marching south and took the Phoenician cities one by one, defeated the Egyptians at Eltekeh in 701, took Ascalon and Joppa and 44 other cities and many prisoners, sacked Lachish and Jerusalem in 700 and ravaged Judah but didn't take it.  King Hezekiah of Judah was able to hold out and got some moderate terms of agreement by paying tribute and ceding some territory.  Sennacherib had to then leave as a plague hit his army.

Babylonia took  Judah finally in 597 and 586 BCE which was 100 years later.  This land is the scene of the Tower of Babel, also known as the land of Shinar or the Kasdim (Chaldees.).  Abraham was born in Ur of the Chaldeans but migrated to Canaan to live.  It was the symbol of insolent pagan tyranny.  The Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar II (604-561 BCE) inherited the Assyrian empire and took Judah in 597 BCE and again in 586 BCE.  He also exiled many Jews to Babylon,  for slavery,  most likely.   They probably came in contact with their previous Jewish tribal cousins of the captured 10 tribes.    Cyrus II (d: 529 BCE) king of Persia, had overrun the Babylonian Empire and took what had been Israel and Judah.  He  told the Jews when he conquered the land in 538 BCE  that they could return to their homes and even told them to rebuild their temple when they got there.   The Jews thought he was Divine!

What are these Semites that are Jews and Assyrians?  Our story is that Shem was one of the 3 sons of Noah, and the nations of Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad and Aram came from Shem.  Arpachshad was  father of Eber and ancestor of Abraham.  People that speak languages similar to Hebrew are called Semitic people and their languages are Semitic languages.  For example, Arabic is very similar to Hebrew.  It is called a cognate (related by descent from the same ancestral language) to Hebrew and is a branch of the Semitic languages.  There are many words that are exactly alike, and many that are almost exactly alike.  Shalom and Salaam are good examples, meaning hello, good-by and peace.  Since Ishmael and Esau were descendants of Abraham and forerunners of the Arabs, and Jews are also from Abraham and we both have Semitic languages, we say we are distant cousins.  We even share DNA that is very similar in that there is the haplogroup called the Cohen gene of J1c3d found in many Jews who are actually Cohens in the synagogue.  It's also found in some Arabs with a slight difference in it's title at the end showing it is a branch, but also labeled as J1c3d.   This should be the genes going back to Abraham and Noah.

Resource:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyria
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sargon_Stele

So, You Want to Talk About the Six Day War of 1967?

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                 

The Palestinians are talking to Netanyahu and Kerry only on the basis of talking about the pre-1967 borders of Israel.  In other words, they want to get what Israel has after being attacked by all the Muslim countries in 1967's June 5th to June 11th Six Day War.  They lost that terrible attack and now they want to erase that fact because it cost them.  Secretary of State John Kerry had to give Mahmoud Abbas a letter saying that the meeting is centered on this.

They had lost face again and they lost the rights to Judea and Samaria which rightfully was not theirs to be had in the first place.  Jordan had illegally just taken it over and occupied it in 1948 when Israel was battling for its very life.  It had been awarded to Israel as part of the Jewish Homeland by the League of Nations which every country in the world had signed onto.  As it turned out, Israel had to be satisfied with 20% of the promised Holy land while the Arabs, who have more land than they can handle, got 80% of it.  Why?  Oil.  The land they sit on has oil that the rest of the world needs.  Therefore promises have been broken in the name of economics and greed. The 67 war allowed Gaza, Judea and Samaria and East Jerusalem to come into Israel's hands as they did not start this war.  That must have been quite a picture:  4 large Arab nations with help from other Arab states against the only Jewish state of infinitesimal size who has the audacity to win!

So far, the Arabs have lost every battle they've started with Israel, and so they also blame the USA for that because Israel has bought weapons from the USA.  However, there never has been an American soldier fighting in America's name; only Jews, and mostly have been Israelis.  Jews entered Canaan under G-d's directions.  We feel we have still had G-d help. After all, the odds were all on the Arab's side to win in 1967, and they didn't.
                                                                       

   Where the 12 Tribes of Jacob Lived in Israel on 17,500 square miles; 45% being in Trans-Jordan.
    Israelites lived here under King David and son King Solomon (I Kings 5:4)Moses had led the Israelites out of Egypt.  Moses (1391 BCE-1271 BCE)  Jerusalem fell to the Romans in 70 CE.  Jews have been suffering from anti-Semitic actions ever since.  Israel was re-established May 14, 1948.

What they should rehash is the escalation which resulted in the Six Day War which consisted of 5 stages so that they won't happen again.

President Nasser of Egypt threatened on March 8, 1965, "We shall not enter Palestine with its soil covered in sand.  We shall enter it with its soil saturated in blood."  This war was highly pre-meditated and was to be a bloodshed for the Jews of Israel.

1. Syria, Egypt and the Soviet Union spread false reports of concentrations of Israeli forces on the Syrian frontier. They ignored on the spot reports by the UN that no such concentrations existed.  They fabricated such lies to have an excuse to attack.  Their reason for attack was to destroy and take Israel's 8,000 square miles.  Syria has 71,500 square miles and Egypt has 387,048 square miles already.  The Soviet Union had 8,144,228 square miles.

2.  The false reports were used by Egypt as a pretext for concentrating the bulk of its army in Sinai- 90,000 men and 900 tanks.

3. Egypt demanded that the UN Emergency Force withdraw on May 16th and they did which concluded the barrier they had been between Egypt and Israel.  Therefore Israel can never depend on outside help.They had been there since the 1956 Arab attack.

4. Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran  on May 22, 1967 to all navigation destined to Israel and called for war.THEY DECLARED WAR AGAINST ISRAEL.

5.  The Arab States formed a war pact against Israel.  The armies of:
     EGYPT, -led the pack
     JORDAN
     IRAQ
    SYRIA  began to concentrate their forces along the frontiers with Israel.  The Jordanian army was under the command of an Egyptian officer.

Arab leaders made speeches during this period affirming publicly their intention to destroy Israel.
President Nasser said on May 26, 1967:
"The Arab people want to fight.  We have been waiting for the right day when we would be fully prepared.  Recently , we have felt strong enough to triumph with God's help if we enter into battle with Israel.  On that basis, we have decided to take the actual measures.  Taking this step makes it imperative that we be ready to embark on a TOTAL WAR with Israel.

President Aref of Iraq spoke on June 1, 1967 on Radio Baghdad and said,
"We are resolved, determined and united to achieve our clear aim of wiping Israel off the map.  This is the day to wash away the stain.  God willing, we shall meet in Tel Aviv and Haifa.

Leader of PLO-Ahmed Shukairi on June 4, 1967 on native born Israelis:
"Those who survive will remain in "Palestine," but I estimate that not many of them will survive."

Israel waited for 3 weeks from May 15th for international intervention to stop the escalation and remove the threat from its frontiers.  The Great Powers and the United Nations were incapable of effecting any change in the situation.  On June 5th, war broke out.

About 250,000 Arab troops with almost half in the Sinai, more than 2,000 tanks and 700 aircraft ringed Israel.  

In 6 days, Israel destroyed the armies that had massed along its frontiers and menaced its vital centers.  Cease-fire lines were established along the Suez Canal, the Jordan River and the Golan Heights.  The Straits of Tiran were once again open to navigation.  Jerusalem was re-unified.  Israel had conquered more than triple the size of the area it controlled from 8,000 to 26,000 square miles.  Israel won the Sinai, Golan Heights, Gaza Strip and Judea and Samaria and unified Jerusalem.  Israel lost 777 soldiers and 2,586 were wounded.  It compares to the USA's 8 years of fighting in the war in Vietnam as far as population goes.  Cease fire was invoked on June 10th as Israeli forces broke through enemy lines and were in a position to march on Cairo, Damascus and Amman, Jordan.  The Arabs called "UNCLE!"

I would give them Bupkas!  Netanyahu is giving them back some of the killer Palestinians that have been in Israeli prisons. The Arabs want 350 of which 100 had been the deadliest of killers.   They are to be released in phases.  Their charges range from rock throwers, deadly assaults, shooting attacks to bombers.

Tzipi Livni, Israel's female negotiator, said she is hopeful after years of mistrust.

Resource: http://news.yahoo.com/palestinians-67-borders-basis-talks-201845747.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-Day_War
Myths and Facts by Dr. Mitchell G. Bard and Joel Himelfarb, Near East Reports
Facts About Israel, Division of Information, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem
The Secret War Against the Jews-how western espionage betrayed the Jewish people, by John Loftus and Mark Aarons--oil
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/170080#.UeswkNKOTqE kerry, Palestinians

Iraq the American's Mistake? Couldn't Have Happened to a More Evil Empire

Nadene Goldfoot
The USA may have erred in invading Iraq  thinking they were the lone instigators of 9/11,an attack on America,  but it couldn't have happened to a more evil state.  Iraq was about as close to a Nazi regime as you can get and was truly an evil empire.  When you get right down to it, none of the states in the Middle East except Israel were practicing what we call Human Rights, but Iraq was cruel beyond measure.

Almost every type of human rights was severely restricted or nonexistent.  Was this ever brought up in the United Nations?  Freedom of speech and press and of assembly and association were virtually nonexistent.  Iraqis couldn't do a thing to change their non-democratic government.

Their intelligence service conducted extensive surveillance and used extra-legal means, including extreme torture of all forms and even executed children as well as adults to suppress anti-regime activity.  Execution was an established Iraqi method for dealing with perceived political and military opponents of Saddam's government.  There was also no due process along with arbitrary detentions.  People would just disappear.

Their secret service was known to kill family members of dissidents that were inside or outside the country.  The public education system was government-controlled and encouraged children to inform on their parents for suspected anti-regime activities, just like the Nazis did.

As for the 150,000 Jews who had lived in Iraq with a history going back to Assyria when they invaded Israel in 721 BCE, followed up by the Babylonian invasion in 597 BCE.  This 2,700 year old Iraqi Jewish community had suffered horrible persecution in modern days.

In June 1941 when Germany was rounding up Jews, Rashid Ali, a Mufti-inspired pro Nazi   started rioting and a pogrom in Baghdad. All of the Ottoman Empire had been on the side of the Germans in WWI, and Arabs still clung to Nazi views about Jews.   Armed Iraqi mobs, with the help of the police and the army murdered 180 Jews and wounded almost 1,000.  More outbreaks of anti-Jewish rioting occurred between 1946-1949.  Of course Israel was born in a barrage of bullets or rockets May 14, 1948.

By 1950 Iraqi Jews were permitted to leave the country within a year IF they forfeited their citizenship.  One year went by giving Iraq time to freeze the property of the Jews who left and then economic restrictions were placed on Jews who decided to remain.  In May 1950, 113,000 Iraq Jews fled to Israel in Israel's "Operation Ali Baba."

By 1952 Iraq's government would not allow any Jews from emigrating and hung 2 Jews in public.  They had lied with a false charge  saying that they had thrown a bomb at the Baghdad office of the US Information Agency.

Ba'ath factions in 1963 were in competition for the government position (Saddam Hussein's party) so more restrictions were placed on the Iraqi Jews.  They couldn't sell their property as it was against the law now and all Jews were forced to carry yellow ID cards, from shades of Nazis.

After the Six Day War of 1967, more horrid measure were imposed.
1. Jewish property was expropriated
2. Jewish bank accounts were frozen
3. Jews were dismissed from public posts
4. Jewish business were shut down
5. Jewish trading permits were cancelled
6. Jewish telephones were disconnected
7. Jews were placed under house arrest for long periods of time or restricted to the cities.

By the end of 1968, the worst was happening to the Iraq Jews.  Many were jailed because the government said they discovered a local spy ring made up of Jewish businessmen.  14 men-eleven of them Jewish, were sentenced to death in pretend trials and hung in the public squares of Baghdad.  Others died from torture.

On January 27, 1969, Baghdad Radio called all Iraqis to "come and enjoy the feast."  Some 500,000 men, women and children as a mob paraded and danced past the scaffolds where the bodies of the hung Jews swung while chanting "Death to Israel" and "Death to all traitors."

This disgusting display brought a world-wide public outcry that radio Baghdad dismissed by saying, "We hanged spies, but the Jews crucified Christ."   Jews were under constant surveillance by the Iraqi government.  One Jew wrote in his diary in February 1970:

  "Ulcers, heart attacks, and breakdowns are increasingly prevalent among the Jews...The dehumanization of the Jewish personality resulting from continuous humiliation and torment...have dragged us down to the lowest level of our physical and mental faculties, and deprived us of the power to recover."  

International pressure forced the Baghdad government to allow the Jews to emigrate in the early 1970's.  The old folk that was left were forced to turn over title, without compensation to more than $200 million dollars worth of Jewish community property.  One synagogue was left in Baghdad.  The restrictions remained.  The Iraqi government was run by President Saddam Hussein by July 16, 1979.  

By 1991 there were 150 Jews that remained.  Travel was restricted, so that they could not go to Israel and could not contacts Jewish groups abroad.  This is true also of 1992.  Saddam remained in power until hung on December 30, 2006 by the Iraqis at the American-Iraqi military base, Camp Justice.    

Most likely, nothing was ever brought up in the UN to improve human rights in Iraq.  Just the past year of 2012 there were 1,346 civilians killed with 3,660 injured in their violence among each other.  "Many Iraqis still have limited access to basic services, including healthcare, education, and employment..They seem still unable to govern themselves, even though they've had almost a 10 year  trial run.  .

Though taking Iraq and Saddam Hussein was quick, ( USA and UK invading in March 2003 and capturing him on December 13, 2003) we stayed too long, long enough to lose in battle 4,486 good men from May 1, 2003 to 2012. We also have 32,000 wounded warriors.  It cost us $1 trillion dollars. " The Iraq war has changed America. We now have a $17 trillion debt. And obviously Iraq contributed to that."  Iraq, being who they are, are still fighting each other to this day. 

 I would say that the Iraqis, treated cruelly, taught to treat others cruelly, brainwashed and beaten down, will take a very long time in being able to understand what human rights are and learn to defend themselves in order to have such a precious thing.  

Resource:  Myths and Facts-a concise record of the Arab-Israeli conflict by Dr. Mitchell G. Bard, Joel Himelfarb 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddam_Hussein
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Iraq_War
http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/oreilly/2013/03/21/bill-oreilly-america-today-and-iraq-war
http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=12901&LangID=E
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Execution_of_Saddam_Hussein

Israel Stopping the Osirak Nuclear Reactor in Iraq

Nadene Goldfoot
Netanyahu warned the world on Thursday, September 27, 2012 from the UN General Assembly about Iran obtaining enough uranium to make nuclear weapons. He explained with a visual that there is a red line, a point at which Iran's nuclear program would reach at which it could no longer be stopped.  Netanyahu reiterated that sanctions were good but hadn't stopped Iran from speeding up their nuclear program.  The time to prevent their nuclear building was getting very late.

  It's been six months since Netanyahu's warning.  During Obama's recent trip to Israel on March 20, 2013, he said that he feels that  danger is at least a year away.  Netanyahu said on TV while with Obama that this is about right.  However, the red line he had warned against is closer in his view, from indications than Obama believes.  Obama feels there is still time to solve this diplomatically.  He pledged to keep Iran from nuclear weapons.  Obama spoke about the need to make the weapon itself now which will take a lot of time.

Israel is the target of such a weapon as Iran has called Israel every disgusting name in the book, and is so much closer to Iran than the USA happens to be, so she has far more reason to be wary. Iran's President  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel and to eliminate the Zionist regime.  He says the Holocaust never happened and has protested in such programs as "A world Without Zionism."  The man has derided Israel on many occasions. "Ahmadinejad said most Jews in Israel "have no roots in "Palestine"  but they are holding the destiny of Palestine in their hands and allow themselves to kill the Palestinian people."  He then came out with the idea that if the Europeans feel that the Holocaust existed and they feel guilty, they should create a home there for the Jews.  He does nothing but spout fanatic religious thoughts about Jews and wants to be in complete denial about Jews as to their history.
 

Israel has gone through this before.  In 1981, she became convinced that Iraq was approaching the capability to produce a nuclear weapon.  At this time, Israel was also widely criticized.  Critics minimized the importance of Iraq's nuclear program, claiming that because Baghdad had signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and permitted its facilities to be inspected, Israeli fears were baseless.

Israel knew that such a weapon was to be used on them, so they preempted the building of the weapon and launched their surprise attack and destroyed the Osirak nuclear complex in Iraq on June 7, 1981 in Operation Opera.   Iraq had bought a plutonium production reactor from France.  France had also built a research reactor and laboratories for them.     There had been a lot of diplomatic talk between Israel and Iraq.  "Israeli diplomacy engaged France, Italy (the main suppliers to the reactor) and the United States.  But it hadn't helped.  Even, internally, there was opposition from Peres, but Begin insisted that he “will not be the man in whose time there will be a second Holocaust."  Had they not done so, "American and coalition forces may have faced a nuclear-armed Iraq during the Persian Gulf War in 1991, and again during the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, had Israel not destroyed Iraq’s nuclear reactor in 1981.

  On June 19, 1981, the UN Security Council unanimously condemned the raid.  After the allied forced had announced the destruction of Iraq's nuclear facilities, the UN inspectors found Saddam's program to develop weapons was far more extensive than even the Israelis had believed.  Analysts had thought Iraq was unable to enrich uranium for bombs.  Saddam's Iraqi researchers used several methods, even an obsolete one, that were believed to have made it possible for Iraq to have built at least one bomb.  That's all it would take to wipe out Israel.

We were living in Israel at the time, attending classes in Haifa at the Ulpan where we lived in order to obtain our teaching degrees.  I wrote back to my family the following on July 26, 1981.  "We thought it was okay for Israel to bomb the atomic plant in Iraq.  Everyone should know what they've been up to.  It's too bad that now that it's out in the open, France or someone else will rebuild it for them..  At least the world will know what can happen with a country like Iraq."    

Then Iraq invaded oil rich Kuwait on August 2, 1990."Saddam Hussein declared that the nation of Kuwait no longer existed; Iraqi forces held the country for seven months, until U.S. and coalition forces liberated the occupied country in the first Gulf War from this date on to February 28, 1991.".  Iraq had a population of 31,234,000 and Kuwait only had 3,399,637 people.  This caused US officials to finally  acknowledge to everyone that Baghdad had been developing nuclear weapons and that it was far closer to reaching its goal than they had thought.  This brought out people who said that the Administration was only trying to justify having a war with Iraq for their oil after the USA went in again in 2003!  

Resource:  Myths and Facts by Dr. Mitchell G. Bard, Joel Himelfarb p. 278-279
Letters From Israel, page 120
http://www.policymic.com/articles/15438/israel-red-line-netanyahu-un-speech-gets-tough-on-iran-nuclear-program
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2013/mar/20/on-israel-visit-obama-pledges-to-keep-iran-from/It's
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Osirak.html
http://www.thetakeaway.org/2010/aug/02/iraqs-invasion-kuwait-remembered-20-years-later/#13640571780151&%7B%22ready%22%3Atrue%7D
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Ahmadinejad_and_Israel

Lee Smith, Speaker at Portland AIPAC Meeting

Nadene Goldfoot
Our Portland AIPAC meeting hosted Lee Smith, author of  "The Strong Horse:   Power, Politics, and the Clash of Arab Civilizations."

 He spoke to us about the current position of Iran and Israel last night.  The thought is that since North Korea just had a successful 3rd nuclear test only last Tuesday on the 12th and that observers were there from Iran could mean that Iran has the means  to build a weapon as well.  North Korea could be testing for both countries.  They've been working together for the past 10 years. Secretary Kim Ki Nam told the people gathered at Pyongyang Square that their  country's third test  was a self-defensive measure against U.S. hostility.  China and South Korea are also very upset with this test.  

So much going on depends on the background and situation of the surrounding countries, such as Egypt.  The clash of the Arab civilization plays a most important part in all of the current events of the Middle East.  For instance, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are competitors.  So are Iran and Iraq who have had a long war.  In fact, some of the Shi'ite  places of religious tombs are in Iraq.  Iran has been backing Syria.  Terrorist groups are vying for power.   The Sunni and Shi'ite aspects of Islam also must be taken in consideration.  Russia will take the opposite side that the USA is on.  

We in Portland have been upset over Qatar's influence in education in the USA.  Their secondary goal seems to be influencing our young people to their way of thinking toward Jews and Israel, as well as other political attitudes.  This was voiced last night.  It seems to be an aspect that others have overlooked.  We've had evidence of this in our Lincoln High School where the Jewish students were completely shaken up over a group of Palestinian singers who were sponsored by Qatar who sang raps about how terrible the Jews were in Israel. Qatar is funding an Arabic class that does not share with other educators about what they are teaching, and we adults do not read Arabic to keep in contact with materials used.  Hebrew is not considered to be taught in this older well-known high school who sits in the center of an older Jewish community.   We feel the threat from both outside and inside as well.  It's something that Hillary Clinton and our administration have been amiss to see, too.

Just to better understand the involvement of Jews, Israel and Iran, who were the ancient Persians, I have created a timeline.  at http://israel-nadene.blogspot.com/2013/02/does-iran-have-bomb-jews-and-usas.html.
Again, you cannot understand present conditions without knowing about the past.  It's quite an eye-opener.

Our outgoing president, Ken Kwartler, will not end his service with AIPAC but will keep on informing us of all eventualites along with our new president.  He's an excellent representative of what AIPAC does to help the USA and Israel to have good relations and understandings.  My book, The Strong Horse, book will arrive in a few days and I hope to be further enlightened after the preview last night.

Resource: Speaker Lee Smith
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/asia/korean_peninsula/AJ201302150021  from Japan
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/world/asia/north-korea-nuclear-test.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0


  

Keeping Score on Muslim Adversaries

Nadene Goldfoot
It's hard to keep up with what Muslim faction is either friendly or enemies with other Muslims.  One big player is the Muslim state of Iran who happens to follow the Shi'a -Jafari Muslim path. They happen to have the 6th largest Muslim population in the world with more than 98% of  their 76,923,300 people.

 Some people from Pakistan, Turkey, Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria,  Azerbaijan Lebanon, Kuwait and Bahrain have players that are either Shi'a or Sunni.  The rest of the states follow the Sunni traditions. The state religion of Egypt's 90% of a population of 79,089,650, the 5th largest Muslim population in the world, are Sunni following the Shafi'i teachings.

President Morsi went to Iran in August of last year for a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement.  So it's news that Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad just came to Cairo, Egypt on a visit.  It's a first since the 1979 revolution,when Iran's secular Shah was replaced by the religious Ayatollah Khomeini.   Morsi and Ahmadinejad smiled, shook hands and kissed, probably because of Egypt electing a Muslim Brotherhood leader.   Ahmadinejad will meet today with the Grand Sheikh of the al-Azhar Mosque which is 1,000 years old,. one of the oldest seats of Islamic learning in the Sunni world.  Last month, Iran's foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi met the sheikh and stressed the importance of Muslim unity.

 Iran and Iraq had a war from September 22, 1980 to August 20, 1988 called the First Persian Gulf War,  so peace is not always the mode between Shi'a and Sunni Muslims.  They had some hot and heavy disputes over their borders. The attacker that time was Iraq.  Syria's ruler is not hesitant to kill its own people and neither has Iraq who gassed its Kurdish citizens on March 16, 1988 when they gassed and killed from 3,200 to 5,000 people and injured from 7,000 to 10,000.  They used bombs with chemicals.  .The idea of Iran being able to manufacture atomic weapons is making Saudi Arabia very nervous.  They are the 14th largest Sunni population with 27,601,038 people that follow Sunni's Hanbali teachings.  .  

For the past 30 years Israel and Egypt have been at peace which was started by Sadat.  Now, it looks like the only thing holding it together is the $1.3 billion in aid each year from the USA for the Egyptian military.  Morsi's government stands for wiping out Israel being that's the Muslim Brotherhood charter's goal.  They've established close ties with Hamas which is backed by Iran.  Hamas also shares that goal.  Egypt is lacking money, so that might be their first priority.

Ahmadinejad came to Cairo for Wednesday's Islamic summit.  Besides wanting to be the first astronaut in Iran, Ahmadinejad wants to visit the Gaza Strip to visit with the people on this trip.  Iran is backing Hamas financially and with weapons.   In November of last year Iran was preparing a shipment of missiles for Gaza at the same time a cease fire took place.  Sudan has been a transit site for Iranian arms to get to Gaza. They've been aiding and abetting terrorism.

One thing that bothers Egypt is Iran's support for President Bashar Assad of Syria.  An uprising that crushed the former President Mubarak and put Morsi into power is being crushed by Assad to the tune of killing 60,000 revolutionaries..  Though Egypt's revolt caused Morsi to be elected, the people are now having a change of heart and have been rebelling against him after just realizing what Sharia law is all about.  Christians are under attack.

Morsi's Egypt also maintains good relations with Gulf Arab states that supplement Cairo's finances and they are not that friendly with Iran.  Morsi also wants to remain friends with the USA in order to continue receiving their financial aid.

Hamas and Egypt have established close ties with each other that makes Iran happy but not the West as Hamas had been shooting rockets, mortars and missiles at southern Israel since 2006 and only recently stopped when Israel finally retaliated but good.  It would be a bad move if Egypt restores full relations with Iran now, the state that calls Israelis descendants of monkeys and pigs.  You can laugh off children's name calling of each other, but when a Muslim adult does it, you take their threats quite seriously.

Shi'a and Sunni are followers of different leaders.  Muhammad had a daughter, Fatima, but no son to take his place when he died, so the Shi'a are followers of his son-in-law who also happened to be his nephew.  Sunnis are followers of  Muhammad's good friend, Abu Bakr. "The fundamentals of the Islamic faith are agreed upon by all Muslims. These fundamentals include the belief in the oneness of God, the role of the Prophet Muhammad as his final messenger, prayer, the requirement to perform Hajj once in one's lifetime, and the requirement to give to charity."

Resource: http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=302186# Iran's Ahmadinejad lands in Egypt on historic visit by  Reuters
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Iraq_War
http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Islam/2001/02/Sunni-Shia-Differences.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Revolution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halabja_poison_gas_attack
http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=293324 Satellites show Iran moving quickly to rearm Hamas

What Syrian Government Has Been Manufacturing and the Burden on Israelis

Nadene Goldfoot

Israeli Jets Over Lebanon

In  March 1988, Saddam Hussein gassed 5,000 Kurdish men, women and children  in his own country of Iraq.

The entire world has been watching Syria and takes developments in the past 22 months there most seriously.  Iran can be leading Syria  in such negative directions, being they have already killed 60,000 of their own people.   Besides attacking most of their own population, they have been working on  harming Israel and the West.  "Syrian forces began combining chemicals that would be used to make deadly sarin gas for use in weapons to attack rebel and civilian populations, a U.S. official told CNN in December 2012."  Besides that, it's possible that Assad may be losing his grip on the country and its arsenal of all sorts of weapons including the non-conventional ones.  What Israel may have bombed was a "scientific research center"  which was making weapons.  The trucks outside making up the convoy were full of the Russian missiles that were hit.

Syria owns advanced anti-aircraft defense systems including the Russian-made SA-17 and possibly the Russian's S-300, which are long-range anti-aircraft missiles.  If Hezbollah got their hands onto such weapons, it would be devastating.  Then Israel would have difficulty flying over Lebanon to stop Hezbollah from wiping out Israel.

The target that Israel's jets hit in around the border of Syria and Lebanon was their anti-aircraft systems, or a convoy of components for such systems such as the SA-17 anti-aircraft missile defenses.  The target also could have been called electronic radar equipment used for the GPS system of drones.  The US unmanned aerial surveillance vehicle that went down over Iran in 2011 contained such a piece of equipment.  What I saw on TV were huge missiles.

 The site was by a building which manufactured chemical and biological weapons.  The installations were 7 miles away from Assad's palace which is guarded by Iranian Revolutionary Guards.  Trucks in the convoy were also destroyed, of course.  The installation was reported to be badly damaged.  The raid stopped immensely horrible consequences for Israel but has raised the hornet's ire, mainly from Iran.  Their Deputy, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian,  is calling for significant implications for Israel.  Well, what's new?  Already Syria is adding fuel to the fire with threatening surprise retaliations, so Israel is patrolling the skies.  The White House offered advice to Syria saying they should not further destabilize the region by sending weapons to Hizbullah.  Doesn't Syria have enough problems?

Israel is facing Syria and Lebanon in the north who actively conspire with Iran to destroy her.  On the west and south Israel has Egypt with a new government in shatters that is in complete chaos with wild demonstrations.  Jordan on the east is under threat.  The only good thing is the snow that has come to Israel which people are enjoying.

It is at this point that the UN demands to come into Israel and inspect with their Human Rights Committee.  Israel is denying them entrance.  Enough is enough.  From Geneva through Reuters comes the news that the U.N. human rights investigators called on Israel on Thursday to halt settlement expansion and withdraw all half a million Jewish settlers from the occupied West Bank, saying that "its practices could be subject to prosecution as possible war crimes.A three-member U.N. panel said private companies should stop working in the settlements if their work adversely affected the human rights of Palestinians, and urged member states to ensure companies respected human rights."  The UN is not the law in the world.  Their actions are always centering on Israel even while Syria's government has killed 60,000 of its own people.  They get a pass.  It's Israel that concerns the Muslims.

So what are the Iranians now doing?  On Thursday they reported that they are going to upgrade their nuclear facility at Natanz and just told the UN agency about planning to install more sophisticated equipment.  Then they will be able to accelerate the processing of uranium.  This could speed enrichment by 2 or 3 times.

I would say that Netanyahu has his plate full.  To top it off, Yair Lapid, the new popular leader in the new party of Yesh Atid, who came in 2nd in the election, is following his own agenda.  He's pushy and seemingly controlling.  Chaim Weizmann once said that he was Prime Minister of 2 million prime ministers and Netanyahu is trying to work with one of them.  Everyone feels that Lapid is more interested in becoming the next prime minister and is making it hard on Netanyahu by setting impossible demands on negotiations to form a coalition.  Netanyahu is working on forming as broad a coalition as possible.

  Lapid's strong hand is pinching out the 2 very orthodox parties from the coalition because he plans to have all men called into the draft and that means yeshiva students will all go into the army like others.  This Tal Law allowing exemptions went into affect only 10 years ago and the high court in 2012 had found it unconstitutional and expires in August anyway.  This will allow 14,000 more men to be in the army.   Arab Israelis are exempt.  Druze serve as well as other Israelis from 18.  Men serve for 3 years and women for 2. For a month out of every year they are called back in for the "milueem" period until they are 55.  .

It's enough to realize that missiles heading your way just might be also carrying biological and chemical weapons from very hateful and sick people, but to have all these other problems?  I think Israel is very lucky to have such strong people at the helm of their government.  We pray for them.

Resource: http://backchannel.al-monitor.com/index.php/2013/01/4170/israeli-jets-said-to-have-struck-alleged-weapons-convoy-in-syria/#ixzz2JWahghYb.
Arutz Sheva
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israeli-ultra-orthodox-confident-yeshiva-students-won-t-be-drafted-to-idf-1.414219
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_Israel
http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/12/03/source-syria-preparing-chemical-weapons/
http://hnn.us/articles/862.html
Oregonian newspaper 2/1/13 page A8, Israeli air attack spurs syrian  threat by Bassem Mroue AP and Israel faulted for expansion of settlements by John Heilprin, AP, Iran to upgrade nuclear facility, wire report

Chuck Hagel on Docket for Defense Secretary Quite Troubling

Nadene Goldfoot
High on the list to fill the opening for Defense Secretary is Chuck Hagel which is causing many in the American Jewish community to feel nervous.  Both Caroline Glick and Bret Stephens have written about this.
Charles Timothy Hagel, age 66 (born October 4, 1946) in North Platte, Nebraska is a former US Republican Senator from Nebraska.  He is now a professor at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown U.  Since 2009 he has served as chairman of the Atlantic Council and co-chairman of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board.

You might think that because he is a former Republican senator that he is sympathetic towards Israel, but it doesn't seem to be the case.  He has a "Jewish problem."  He has this idea that the "Jewish Lobby" intimidates a lot of people in Washington.  Fact is, there is no "Jewish Lobby."  What there is that he must be accusing is AIPAC, which is the only group supporting Israel who bothers to educate people with accurate facts.  People involved in any "Jewish Lobby" or "Israel Lobby" includes non Jews like Christian Zionists.  Not all Jews are members of AIPAC.  To many people who are not in the "know", Zionist is a dirty word.  All it means is that they support the right of Israel's existence.

Nebraska is not a very heavily populated Jewish state.  I'm surprised to hear that there are about 6,100 Jews in the state of only 1.8 million people, so Hagal probably has not met many or knows much about Jews.  His family, stemming from Catholic Poland and Germany,  could have even raised him without hearing kind words about Jews. He is now Episcopalian, but attitudes often linger.   He might even have this in mind thinking that legislators who might be friendly with AIPAC are doing so out of fear and not out of political conviction.  He has been most emphatic in saying, "I'm a US Senator, not an Israeli Senator," as he stated to US diplomat Aaron David Miller in 2006.  He told him he supported Israel but...but his first interest isn't Israel."  One could feel that he is thinking that Jews all have dual loyalty and is questioning that.  I might add that Jews should be involved more in the current events and past history of the problems Israel is facing and be more informed than others, but this isn't always the case.  For those of us who are such students, we will be supportive of Israel.  This doesn't mean we will turn against our home country, the USA.  He shouldn't have to worry.  Israel and the USA are still allies having common beliefs and goals in life.

Hagel served in Vietnam in the army infantry and became Sergeant from 1967-68, the same period of Israel Six Day War in 1967.  He was highly decorated.  When he returned home he became a radio newscaster and talk show host in Omaha while attending college using the GI Bill.  Then he was hired as a staffer for a congressman in Nebraska for 4 years, and then -as a real lobbyist for Firestone Tire and Rubber Co.  The next job was as an organizer for Ronald Reagan.  Following positions got him into the Veteran's Administration and becoming involved with the Agent Orange issue.  He concludes that we should have never been involved in Iraq and was highly against the Bush administration for that.   "In July 2006, Hagel criticized the Bush administration on its handling of the Israel-Lebanon issue saying "The sickening slaughter on both sides must end and it must end now. President Bush must call for an immediate cease-fire. This madness must stop"  I always note that no one ever speaks out against the Palestinians for bombarding Israel since 2001 with mortars, missiles and rockets, but let Israel finally and belatedly turn about and defend themselves  after warnings after warnings, and it's all ..."stop Israel."

There are situations that give us lots of pause about Mr. Hagel.  In 2002, two years after Yasser Arafat was offered a state by PM Ehud Barak at Camp David, after 457 Israelis were killed in terrorist attacks, Hagel said that "Israel must take steps to show its commitment to peace."    Not the Palestinians?  There is no one more interested or deserving of peace than Israel.  No one is more under the microscope than this tiny state of almost 6 million Jews and 1.4 million Arabs.  No one has been more hated because of religious bias than Jews.  For 2,000 years Jews have been without their homeland living under other's laws and being scapegoats in every situation.  Hagel has the audacity to remind Israel that they should show that they want peace?  Perhaps that's because in past dealings with the Palestinians, it has always been Israel who has given in to ceding land for peace.  Not once have the Palestinians ever given into anything important to Israel.  They have refused the opportunities offered to them since 1948 to have their own state.

He did it again in 2006 in his senate speech where he said, "The US and Israel must understand that it is not in their long-term interests to allow themselves to become isolated in the Middle East and the world."  The world has never been pro-Jews, as far as I can see.  History speaks of this.  The Holocaust is a good example as well.  The Middle East is made up mostly of 48-49 Muslim majority countries whose Islam religion has become radically against Jews to the point of their head religious leaders having fatwas to kill all Jews due to their newly found political dogma.  They're all for apartheid, exclusion of Jews, which they then turn around and accuse Jews of being.  Since they dominate much of the UN, there is no sense thinking they'll be better friends than Jordan has been.   At least Mubarak of Egypt was keeping the peace, but we saw to that, didn't we,  in not supporting him even vocally?  Now the Muslim Brotherhood, with a charter to destroy Israel, is at the helm with Morsi.  So who tipped the scales in Egypt?  Not Israel.  At least the Egyptians were getting lots of tourism coming from Israel to help their economy.

Obama, who disagreed with Netanyahu on camera over the 1967 border,  seems to be intent on choosing people that are not friendly with Israel.  Hagel is one.  John Kerry, Democrat, possible next Secretary of State,  is another.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Hagel
WSJ.com Wall Street Journal, Stephens:  Chuck Hagel's Jewish Problem-"the would-be secretary of defense has some curious views" by Bret Stephens.
http://www.carolineglick.com/e/2012/12/chuck-hagel-for-defense-secret.php

Added 12/19/12 from Front Page: http://frontpagemag.com/2012/ari-lieberman/chuck-hagel-and-the-jewish-lobby/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=6008a01641-Mailchimp_FrontPageMag

Continued Facts on How USA Sold Arms to Saudi Arabia

Nadene Goldfoot

 Oliver North was known to be favorable towards Israel and an Iraq-hater. From 1981-82 Caspar Weinberger was in Defense and Bill Casey at the CIA wanted our policy to favor Iraq but was being blocked.

 Reagan's first two years saw Secretary of State Alexander Haig as having an anti-Iraq pro-Israel line, including sending weapons to Iran to fight against Iraq. North was being snubbed and was thrown out of the inner circle that wanted to save Iraq from military loss.

 So in February 1982, CIA director Casey met with the head of the Iraqi secret service and was sending Saddam Hussein AWACS intelligence which he got from planes recently sold to the Saudis over Israel's strenuous objections.

 By 1983 Casey had a secret CIA group in Baghdad, giving Saddam Hussein everything from satellite photos to Iranian plans of battle.

 Here we are aiding and abetting Iraq who was also against Israel one minute and then killing off Saddam later. Now the USA is also in peril from Iran's ire from supposedly being such friends with Israel.

Whatever goes on with high level friendships always leads to one thing; Israel's danger. This is only one of many events.

 Resourc: The Secret War Against the Jews by John Loftus and Mark Aarons

Remembering King Abdullah of Transjordan at the Birth of Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
Serious fighting in Palestine started with the UN announcement of partition on November 29, 1947 between Jews and Arabs.

The War of 1948 was at an end and the Israelis had fought their last campaign.  In Rhodes of March 1949, the Israeli delegation informed the Jordanians that the southern Negev had been allotted to the Israelis under the UN partition plan and that they planned to occupy it.  The next day of March 11, the two delegations signed a preliminary cease-fire agreement.  Agreements had already started on the 12th of January with Arab countries. 

Some 64 years ago personalities were different.  Mecca, Saudi Arabian born King Abdullah (Abdullah I bin al-Hussein) of Transjordan spoke for himself.  In dealing with the Israelis, he finally met face to face by inviting them to his palace for a conference. He was also receiving advice from the USA and Great Britain and had included British Charge d'Affaires Gordon and American Charge d'Affaires Wells Stabler, who was assigned to the Amman, Jordan office on February 18, 1949.

He hadn't liked Golda Meier and referred to her as Mrs. Golda Myerson.  When told she had become Israel's Ambassador to Moscow, he was happy as he remembered their cold meeting with her on May 10, 1948.  He told her then not to hurry in declaring a state.  She told him that "we've been waiting for 2,000 years already.  Is that hurrying?

He felt he couldn't have bargained with a woman seriously.  He hoped she would stay in Moscow.  She did until 1949.  Golda was one of 24 people who had signed the Declaration of Independance of Israel on May 14, 1948.  She was one of two women who did so. The next day they were attacked by Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Transjordan and Iraq. Other units from other Arab countries also joined in.

He made a speech when talking to the Israelis that was also intended for his own ministers.  In it he said that the Jews belonged to a united, advanced nation and that the Arabs belonged to weak, backward nations.  He said the West was against them.  He realized that they had not won the war against the Israelis and  copped a plea that they really hadn't intended to fight but that it was the Egyptians and other Arab nations that pushed them into war.  As he spoke he yelled at his ministers in attendance, saying that he told them so from the start that they had no chance to beat the Israelis, but that they didn't listen to him.

He continued saying that he was a Bedouin and that Bedouins have a saying:  When you're riding a mule that is overloaded with goods and your enemy chases you, you have one of two choices.  You either fall prisoner with your goods or you run away, ridding yourself gradually of the load.  He had invited the Israelis to listen to him in order to get rid of the load.

The Jordanians in attendance were very uncomfortable.  Iraqis had said that they would refuse to sign an armistice agreement with Israel.  Israel really wished to have peace guarantees from all the Arabs who had fought against them.  Damascus-born Jewish Eliahu Sasson had met with King Abdullah on January 30th saying that Israel might attack the Iraqis unless the King could persuade Iraq to withdraw her troops.   Sasson suggested that Arab Legion forces should replace the Iraqis on their front.  He thought Ben Gurion would not attack Legion troops. They would be led by John Bagot Glubb (Glubb Pasha). This made the King happy so that he could extend his control over large areas of Palestine without military effort.  The Iraqi army hadn't received any payment for months and was on the verge of revolt anyway,.  Iraq couldn't keep up the fight alone.  The new Regent agreed to withdraw their forces. 

Before they had started the conference, Munich-born Israeli Diplomat Walter Eytan  handed King Abdullah a gift of a rare Old Testament, telling him that Prime Minister Ben-Gurion was giving it to him.  It was a gift of simple material value but precious in its meaning and meant it as a symbol of friendship between the two countries signifying good will from the Israeli government.

King Abdullah opened it and was shocked with the first page being a map of Israel from the days of King Solomon.  It showed areas of the nation then being in the hands of Jordan now.  Eytan explained that it was a map of ancient Israel.  The King thought a bit, smiled and then said he also had a gift.  He presented Eytan with an ornamental silver dagger.

 King Abdullah changed the name of Transjordan to Jordan in April 1949 after taking over illegally Judea and Samaria and calling it the West Bank in the War of 1948.  It wouldn't be till June 1967 when Israel was again attacked by all the surrounding Arab nations that Israel would gain it back again.  Israel has not annexed it but it is under Israel's military control.  Both Israelis and Arabs live there but not together. 

The Arab countries signed an armistice in 1949. 
1. Egypt signed on February 24, 1949
2. Lebanon       on March 23, 1949
3. Jordan          on April 3, 1949
4. Syria            on July 20, 1949
5. Iraq didn't sign but withdrew, handing over their sector to Jordan's Arab Legion instead. 

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezra_Danin
http://www.answers.com/topic/eliyahu-sasson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Eytan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golda_Meir#Ambassador_to_Moscow
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golda_Meir
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/1948_War.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_I_of_Jordan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1949_Armistice_Agreements
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Foreign+Relations/Israels+Foreign+Relations+since+1947/1947-1974/Israel-Jordan+Armistice+Agreement.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Bank
http://history.state.gov/countries/jordan
http://www.historyandtheheadlines.abc-clio.com/ContentPages/ContentPage.aspx?entryId=1281298&currentSection=1271019&productid=16
Book: Genesis 1948-The First Arab-Israeli War by Dan Kurzman